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La decisión la adoptó el tribunal integrado por los jueces Mario Héctor Juárez Almaraz, María Alejandra Cataldi y Federico Santiago Díaz y se aplica a las audiencias fijadas para los días 28, 29 de abril y 5 de mayo. Con esta medida se pretende “garantizar el derecho de defensa de la imputada”, ya que Milagro Sala, manifestó su voluntad de designar “nuevo abogado defensor”, según da cuenta un comunicado de prensa emitido por el organismo judicial. En el mismo se destaca que “el letrado que designe podría hacer uso de la facultad de compulsar la causa en los plazos que le confiere el Art. 112 del Código Procesal Penal de la Nación. La pasada semana también se tuvo que suspender las audiencias Debido a que el Fiscal del caso, Francisco Snopek pidió su inhibición en la causa "por una cuestión moral". Snopek, se había manifestad a favor de la probation que pidieron los defensores de Sala y que la Justicia le negó. La dirigente social llega a esta instancia acusada de instigar el escrache violento contra Morales en el Consejo de Ciencias Económicas de esa provincia en octubre de 2009. En esa ocasión, mientras el entonces senador y el extitular de la Auditoría General de la Nación, Leandro Despouy, participaban de una conferencia en la que se analizaba el uso de los fondos que manejaban las organizaciones sociales, sufrieron un feroz escrache. Gerardo Morales, hoy gobernador de la provincia a través de sus asesores legales, manifestó que declarará por escrito en el juicio y se solicitará la condena máxima prevista por el Código Penal para el caso: seis años de prisión.

The Indians announced that they’ve designated right-hander A.J. Cole for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to newly acquired right-hander Nick Wittgren. If Cole’s time with the Cleveland organization is up, his stay will have been brief; the Indians only claimed him off waivers from the Yankees back on Jan 11. He’d have been in line to compete for a bullpen job in Spring Training and may still have that opportunity, though he’ll first need to clear outright waivers. If another club claims Cole, that new team will have to open the season with him on the Major League roster or else once again expose him to waivers, as Cole is out of minor league options. Cole, who turned 27 earlier this month, gave the Yankees 38 innings of 4.26 ERA ball after being acquired from the Nationals in 2018, pitching in primarily a multi-inning relief role. Along the way, he averaged a strong 11.6 K/9 and registered an enormous 15.9 percent swinging-strike rate with a very good 34.3 percent opponents’ chase rate on out-of-zone pitches. However, he was also immensely susceptible to home runs, as he averaged 2.13 homers per nine innings pitched with the Yankees. In all, between New York and Washington, Cole yielded a staggering 15 home runs in 38 innings. That said, Cole was at one point considered to be among the most promising pitching prospects in all of baseball, and surely the strikeout rate, swinging-strike rate and chase rate could hold appeal to another team — particularly one that is thin on rotation depth and/or has multiple bullpen spots up for grabs. He’ll need to learn to keep the ball in the yard, but the level at which Cole missed bats in 2018 would be elite if he proved it to be sustainable; the 15.9 percent swinging-strike rate he logged as a Yankee would’ve ranked 12th in the game among qualified relievers last year.

ANN ARBOR—It looks like Mother Nature was wasting her time with a multimillion-year process to produce crude oil. Michigan Engineering researchers can “pressure-cook” algae for as little as a minute and transform an unprecedented 65 percent of the green slime into biocrude. “We’re trying to mimic the process in nature that forms crude oil with marine organisms,” said Phil Savage, an Arthur F. Thurnau professor and a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Michigan. The findings will be presented Nov. 1 at the 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh. Savage’s ocean-going organism of choice is the green marine micro-alga of the genus Nannochloropsis. To make their one-minute biocrude, Savage and Julia Faeth, a doctoral student in Savage’s lab, filled a steel pipe connector with 1.5 milliliters of wet algae, capped it and plunged it into 1,100-degree Fahrenheit sand. The small volume ensured that the algae was heated through, but with only a minute to warm up, the algae’s temperature should have just grazed the 550-degree mark before the team pulled the reactor back out. Previously, Savage and his team heated the algae for times ranging from 10 to 90 minutes. They saw their best results, with about half of the algae converted to biocrude, after treating it for 10 to 40 minutes at 570 degrees. Why are the one-minute results so much better? Savage and Faeth won’t be sure until they have done more experiments, but they have some ideas. “My guess is that the reactions that produce biocrude are actually must faster than previously thought,” Savage said. Faeth suggests that the fast heating might boost the biocrude by keeping unwanted reactions at bay. “For example, the biocrude might decompose into substances that dissolve in water, and the fast heating rates might discourage that reaction,” Faeth said. The team points out that shorter reaction times mean that the reactors don’t have to be as large. “By reducing the reactor volume, the cost of building a biocrude production plant also decreases,” Faeth said, though both she and Savage cautioned that they couldn’t say for sure whether the new method is faster and cheaper until the process is further developed. Current commercial makers of algae-based fuel first dry the algae and then extract the natural oil. But at over $20 per gallon, this fuel is a long way from the gas pump. “Companies know that that approach is not economical, so they are looking at approaches for using wet algae, as are we,” Savage said. One of the advantages of the wet method is that it doesn’t just extract the existing fat from the algae—it also breaks down proteins and carbohydrates. The minute method did this so successfully that the oil contained about 90 percent of the energy in the original algae. “That result is near the upper bound of what is possible,” Savage said. Before biocrude can be fed into the existing refinery system for petroleum, it needs pre-refining to get rid of the extra oxygen and nitrogen atoms that abound in living things. The Savage lab also is developing better methods for this leg of biofuel production, breaking the record with a biocrude that was 97 percent carbon and hydrogen earlier this year. A paper on this work is currently under review. Once producing biofuel from algae is economical, researchers estimate that an area the size of New Mexico could provide enough oil to match current U.S. petroleum consumption. And, unlike corn produced for ethanol—which already accounts for half that area—the algae won’t need to occupy good farmland, thriving in brackish ponds instead. The research, “The Effects of Heating Rate and Reaction Time on Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Microalgae,” was funded by the Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation program of the National Science Foundation. The university is pursuing patent protection for the intellectual property, and is seeking commercialization partners to help bring the technology to market. Related Links: U-M Sustainability fosters a more sustainable world through collaborations across campus and beyond aimed at educating students, generating new knowledge, and minimizing our environmental footprint. Learn more at sustainability.umich.edu.

feeling the difference I can actually FEEL a difference when I consume this stuff. That's HUGE, because pretty much all of pills, lotions, and potions I have consumed over several decades, I never felt the different--at all. This stuff is different! I can distinctly tell the difference in focus, mental stamina, speed, and alertness taking this stuff vs. not. I take it in coffee and it mostly dissolves easily. It doesn't have a weird or unnatural taste at all. Neither does it make my stomach run for the hills as liquid MCTs does.

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The functional and imperative programming paradigms we use today were first explored mathematically in the 1930s with lambda calculus and the Turing machine, which are alternative formulations of universal computation (formalized systems which can perform general computation). The Church Turing Thesis showed that lambda calculus and Turing machines are functionally equivalent — that anything that can be computed using a Turing machine can be computed using lambda calculus, and vice versa. Note: There is a common misconception that Turing machines can compute anything computable. There are classes of problems (e.g., the halting problem) that can be computable for some cases, but are not generally computable for all cases using Turing machines. When I use the word “computable” in this text, I mean “computable by a Turing machine”. Lambda calculus represents a top-down, function application approach to computation, while the ticker tape/register machine formulation of the Turing machine represents a bottom-up, imperative (step-by-step) approach to computation. Low level languages like machine code and assembly appeared in the 1940s, and by the end of the 1950s, the first popular high-level languages appeared. Lisp dialects are still in common use today, including Clojure, Scheme, AutoLISP, etc. FORTRAN and COBOL both appeared in the 1950s and are examples of imperative high-level languages still in use today, though C-family languages have replaced both COBOL and FORTRAN for most applications. Both imperative programming and functional programming have their roots in the mathematics of computation theory, predating digital computers. “Object-Oriented Programming” (OOP) was coined by Alan Kay circa 1966 or 1967 while he was at grad school. Ivan Sutherland’s seminal Sketchpad application was an early inspiration for OOP. It was created between 1961 and 1962 and published in his Sketchpad Thesis in 1963. The objects were data structures representing graphical images displayed on an oscilloscope screen, and featured inheritance via dynamic delegates, which Ivan Sutherland called “masters” in his thesis. Any object could become a “master”, and additional instances of the objects were called “occurrences”. Sketchpad’s masters share a lot in common with JavaScript’s prototypal inheritance. Note: The TX-2 at MIT Lincoln Laboratory was one of the early uses of a graphical computer monitor employing direct screen interaction using a light pen. The EDSAC, which was operational between 1948–1958 could display graphics on a screen. The Whirlwind at MIT had a working oscilloscope display in 1949. The project’s motivation was to create a general flight simulator capable of simulating instrument feedback for multiple aircraft. That led to the development of the SAGE computing system. The TX-2 was a test computer for SAGE. The first programming language widely recognized as “object oriented” was Simula, specified in 1965. Like Sketchpad, Simula featured objects, and eventually introduced classes, class inheritance, subclasses, and virtual methods. Note: A virtual method is a method defined on a class which is designed to be overridden by subclasses. Virtual methods allow a program to call methods that may not exist at the moment the code is compiled by employing dynamic dispatch to determine what concrete method to invoke at runtime. JavaScript features dynamic types and uses the delegation chain to determine which methods to invoke, so does not need to expose the concept of virtual methods to programmers. Put another way, all methods in JavaScript use runtime method dispatch, so methods in JavaScript don’t need to be declared “virtual” to support the feature. The Big Idea “I made up the term ‘object-oriented’, and I can tell you I didn’t have C++ in mind.” ~ Alan Kay, OOPSLA ‘97 Alan Kay coined the term “object oriented programming” at grad school in 1966 or 1967. The big idea was to use encapsulated mini-computers in software which communicated via message passing rather than direct data sharing — to stop breaking down programs into separate “data structures” and “procedures”. “The basic principal of recursive design is to make the parts have the same power as the whole.” ~ Bob Barton, the main designer of the B5000, a mainframe optimized to run Algol-60. Smalltalk was developed by Alan Kay, Dan Ingalls, Adele Goldberg, and others at Xerox PARC. Smalltalk was more object-oriented than Simula — everything in Smalltalk is an object, including classes, integers, and blocks (closures). The original Smalltalk-72 did not feature subclassing. That was introduced in Smalltalk-76 by Dan Ingalls. While Smalltalk supported classes and eventually subclassing, Smalltalk was not about classes or subclassing things. It was a functional language inspired by Lisp as well as Simula. Alan Kay considers the industry’s focus on subclassing to be a distraction from the true benefits of object oriented programming. “I’m sorry that I long ago coined the term “objects” for this topic because it gets many people to focus on the lesser idea. The big idea is messaging.” ~ Alan Kay In a 2003 email exchange, Alan Kay clarified what he meant when he called Smalltalk “object-oriented”: “OOP to me means only messaging, local retention and protection and hiding of state-process, and extreme late-binding of all things.” ~ Alan Kay In other words, according to Alan Kay, the essential ingredients of OOP are: Message passing Encapsulation Dynamic binding Notably, inheritance and subclass polymorphism were NOT considered essential ingredients of OOP by Alan Kay, the man who coined the term and brought OOP to the masses. The Essence of OOP The combination of message passing and encapsulation serve some important purposes: Avoiding shared mutable state by encapsulating state and isolating other objects from local state changes. The only way to affect another object’s state is to ask (not command) that object to change it by sending a message. State changes are controlled at a local, cellular level rather than exposed to shared access. by encapsulating state and isolating other objects from local state changes. The only way to affect another object’s state is to ask (not command) that object to change it by sending a message. State changes are controlled at a local, cellular level rather than exposed to shared access. Decoupling objects from each other — the message sender is only loosely coupled to the message receiver, through the messaging API. objects from each other — the message sender is only loosely coupled to the message receiver, through the messaging API. Adaptability and resilience to changes at runtime via late binding. Runtime adaptability provides many great benefits that Alan Kay considered essential to OOP. These ideas were inspired by biological cells and/or individual computers on a network via Alan Kay’s background in biology and influence from the design of Arpanet (an early version of the internet). Even that early on, Alan Kay imagined software running on a giant, distributed computer (the internet), where individual computers acted like biological cells, operating independently on their own isolated state, and communicating via message passing. “I realized that the cell/whole-computer metaphor would get rid of data[…]” ~ Alan Kay By “get rid of data”, Alan Kay was surely aware of shared mutable state problems and tight coupling caused by shared data — common themes today. But in the late 1960s, ARPA programmers were frustrated by the need to choose a data model representation for their programs in advance of building software. Procedures that were too tightly coupled to particular data structures were not resilient to change. They wanted a more homogenous treatment of data. “[…] the whole point of OOP is not to have to worry about what is inside an object. Objects made on different machines and with different languages should be able to talk to each other […]” ~ Alan Kay Objects can abstract away and hide data structure implementations. The internal implementation of an object could change without breaking other parts of the software system. In fact, with extreme late binding, an entirely different computer system could take over the responsibilities of an object, and the software could keep working. Objects, meanwhile, could expose a standard interface that works with whatever data structure the object happened to use internally. The same interface could work with a linked list, a tree, a stream, and so on. Alan Kay also saw objects as algebraic structures, which make certain mathematically provable guarantees about their behaviors: “My math background made me realize that each object could have several algebras associated with it, and there could be families of these, and that these would be very very useful.” ~ Alan Kay This has proven to be true, and forms the basis for objects such as promises and lenses, both inspired by category theory. The algebraic nature of Alan Kay’s vision for objects would allow objects to afford formal verifications, deterministic behavior, and improved testability, because algebras are essentially operations which obey a few rules in the form of equations. In programmer lingo, algebras are like abstractions made up of functions (operations) accompanied by specific laws enforced by unit tests those functions must pass (axioms/equations). Those ideas were forgotten for decades in most C-family OO languages, including C++, Java, C#, etc., but they’re beginning to find their way back into recent versions of most widely used OO languages. You might say the programming world is rediscovering the benefits of functional programming and reasoned thought in the context of OO languages. Like JavaScript and Smalltalk before it, most modern OO languages are becoming more and more “multi-paradigm languages”. There is no reason to choose between functional programming and OOP. When we look at the historical essence of each, they are not only compatible, but complementary ideas. Because they share so many features in common, I like to say that JavaScript is Smalltalk’s revenge on the world’s misunderstanding of OOP. Both Smalltalk and JavaScript support: Objects First-class functions and closures Dynamic types Late binding (functions/methods changeable at runtime) OOP without class inheritance What is essential to OOP (according to Alan Kay)? Encapsulation Message passing Dynamic binding (the ability for the program to evolve/adapt at runtime) What is non-essential? Classes Class inheritance Special treatment for objects/functions/data The new keyword keyword Polymorphism Static types Recognizing a class as a “type” If your background is Java or C#, you may be thinking static types and Polymorphism are essential ingredients, but Alan Kay preferred dealing with generic behaviors in algebraic form. For example, from Haskell: fmap :: (a -> b) -> f a -> f b This is the functor map signature, which acts generically over unspecified types a and b , applying a function from a to b in the context of a functor of a to produce a functor of b . Functor is math jargon that essentially means “supporting the map operation”. If you're familiar with [].map() in JavaScript, you already know what that means. Here are two examples in JavaScript: // isEven = Number => Boolean const isEven = n => n % 2 === 0; const nums = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]; // map takes a function `a => b` and an array of `a`s (via `this`) // and returns an array of `b`s. // in this case, `a` is `Number` and `b` is `Boolean` const results = nums.map(isEven); console.log(results); // [false, true, false, true, false, true] The .map() method is generic in the sense that a and b can be any type, and .map() handles it just fine because arrays are data structures that implement the algebraic functor laws. The types don't matter to .map() because it doesn't try to manipulate them directly, instead applying a function that expects and returns the correct types for the application. // matches = a => Boolean // here, `a` can be any comparable type const matches = control => input => input === control; const strings = ['foo', 'bar', 'baz']; const results = strings.map(matches('bar')); console.log(results); // [false, true, false] This generic type relationship is difficult to express correctly and thoroughly in a language like TypeScript, but was pretty easy to express in Haskell’s Hindley Milner types with support for higher kinded types (types of types). Most type systems have been too restrictive to allow for free expression of dynamic and functional ideas, such as function composition, free object composition, runtime object extension, combinators, lenses, etc. In other words, static types frequently make it harder to write composable software. If your type system is too restrictive (e.g., TypeScript, Java), you’re forced to write more convoluted code to accomplish the same goals. That doesn’t mean static types are a bad idea, or that all static type implementations are equally restrictive. I have encountered far fewer problems with Haskell’s type system. If you’re a fan of static types and you don’t mind the restrictions, more power to you, but if you find some of the advice in this text difficult because it’s hard to type composed functions and composite algebraic structures, blame the type system, not the ideas. People love the comfort of their SUVs, but nobody complains that they don’t let you fly. For that, you need a vehicle with more degrees of freedom. If restrictions make your code simpler, great! But if restrictions force you to write more complicated code, perhaps the restrictions are wrong. What is an Object? Objects have clearly taken on a lot of connotations over the years. What we call “objects” in JavaScript are simply composite data types, with none of the implications from either class-based programming or Alan Kay’s message-passing. In JavaScript, those objects can and frequently do support encapsulation, message passing, behavior sharing via methods, even subclass polymorphism (albeit using a delegation chain rather than type-based dispatch). You can assign any function to any property. You can build object behaviors dynamically, and change the meaning of an object at runtime. JavaScript also supports encapsulation using closures for implementation privacy. But all of that is opt-in behavior. Our current idea of an object is simply a composite data structure, and does not require anything more to be considered an object. But programming using these kinds of objects does not make your code “object-oriented” any more than programming with functions makes your code “functional”. OOP is not Real OOP Anymore Because “object” in modern programming languages means much less than it did to Alan Kay, I’m using “component” instead of “object” to describe the rules of real OOP. Many objects are owned and manipulated directly by other code in JavaScript, but components should encapsulate and control their own state. Real OOP means: Programming with components (Alan Kay’s “object”) (Alan Kay’s “object”) Component state must be encapsulated Using message passing for inter-object communication Components can be added/changed/replaced at runtime Most component behaviors can be specified generically using algebraic data structures. Inheritance is not needed here. Components can reuse behaviors from shared functions and modular imports without sharing their data. Manipulating objects or using class inheritance in JavaScript does not mean that you’re “doing OOP”. Using components in this way does. But popular usage is how words get defined, so perhaps we should abandon OOP and call this “Message Oriented Programming (MOP)” instead of “Object Oriented Programming (OOP)”? Is it coincidence that mops are used to clean up messes? What Good MOP Looks Like In most modern software, there is some UI responsible for managing user interactions, some code managing application state (user data), and code managing system or network I/O. Each of those systems may require long-lived processes, such as event listeners, state to keep track of things like the network connection, ui element status, and the application state itself. Good MOP means that instead of all of these systems reaching out and directly manipulating each other’s state, the system communicates with other components via message dispatch. When the user clicks on a save button, a "SAVE" message might get dispatched, which an application state component might interpret and relay to a state update handler (such as a pure reducer function). Perhaps after the state has been updated, the state component might dispatch a "STATE_UPDATED" message to a UI component, which in turn will interpret the state, reconcile what parts of the UI need to be updated, and relay the updated state to the subcomponents that handle those parts of the UI. Meanwhile, the network connection component might be monitoring the user’s connection to another machine on the network, listening for messages, and dispatching updated state representations to save data on a remote machine. It’s internally keeping track of a network heartbeat timer, whether the connection is currently online or offline, and so on. These systems don’t need to know about the details of the other parts of the system. Only about their individual, modular concerns. The system components are decomposable and recomposable. They implement standardized interfaces so that they are able to interoperate. As long as the interface is satisfied, you could substitute replacements which may do the same thing in different ways, or completely different things with the same messages. You may even do so at runtime, and everything would keep working properly. Components of the same software system may not even need to be located on the same machine. The system could be decentralized. The network storage might shard the data across a decentralized storage system like IPFS, so that the user is not reliant on the health of any particular machine to ensure their data is safely backed up, and safe from hackers who might want to steal it. OOP was partially inspired by Arpanet, and one of the goals of Arpanet was to build a decentralized network that could be resilient to attacks like atomic bombs. According to director of DARPA during Arpanet development, Stephen J. Lukasik (“Why the Arpanet Was Built”): “The goal was to exploit new computer technologies to meet the needs of military command and control against nuclear threats, achieve survivable control of US nuclear forces, and improve military tactical and management decision making.” Note: The primary impetus of Arpanet was convenience rather than nuclear threat, and its obvious defense advantages emerged later. ARPA was using three separate computer terminals to communicate with three separate computer research projects. Bob Taylor wanted a single computer network to connect each project with the others. A good MOP system might share the internet’s robustness using components that are hot-swappable while the application is running. It could continue to work if the user is on a cell phone and they go offline because they entered a tunnel. It could continue to function if a hurricane knocks out the power to one of the data centers where servers are located. It’s time for the software world to let go of the failed class inheritance experiment, and embrace the math and science principles that originally defined the spirit of OOP. It’s time for us to start building more flexible, more resilient, better-composed software, with MOP and functional programming working in harmony. Note: The MOP acronym is already used to describe “monitoring-oriented programming” and its unlikely OOP is going to go away quietly. Don’t be upset if MOP doesn’t catch on as programming lingo. Do MOP up your OOPs. Learn More at EricElliottJS.com Video lessons on functional programming are available for members of EricElliottJS.com. If you’re not a member, sign up today.

For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter. Presidential budgets, released annually, are aspirational documents—they display an administration’s intentions and goals, but are typically considered “dead on arrival” in Congress, which ultimately sends its own federal spending proposal to the White House. This year’s version, which has no chance of clearing the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, sends a jarring message to a key Donald Trump constituency: large-scale farmers who rely heavily on federal programs. The proposed budget calls for a 31 percent cut to a program that subsidizes crop insurance, a key support for corn and soybean farmers during extended periods of low prices, such as the one currently in effect. This, even though Trump enjoyed strong farm-country support in 2016 and loves to flatter “our Great Patriot Farmers,” as he once put it on Twitter. The budget would also slice about 10 percent—$9.1 billion over 10 years—from the US Department of Agriculture’s conservation programs, which provide farmers with incentives to use practices that keep soil in place and reduce water pollution. The news lands as farmers are still reeling from a rough 2019, a year marked by soil-destroying mega-storms, export-killing trade wars, low crop prices, and spiking bankruptcies. After launching the trade wars in 2018, the administration came up with a pot of money ultimately worth $28 billion to compensate farmers for exports sacrificed in the tariff standoff. That program ended in early February. Trump has hailed recent agreements with key trading partners like China and Mexico as a boon to farmers. “I’ve told everybody, ‘You got to buy a lot of land, and you’ve got to get much bigger tractors right now,’ because we did a great deal with China,” he boasted at the annual American Farm Bureau Federation meeting in January. The coronavirus crisis is putting a chill on global trade, just at the moment when trade agreements with China seemed poised to increase farm exports and boost prices. But 2020 is shaping up to be another rough stretch in farm country. Prices for key crops like corn and soybeans are “treading water right now,” said Iowa State University agricultural economist Chad Hart. The reason: the coronavirus crisis is putting a chill on global trade, just at the moment when trade agreements with China and other key trading partners seemed poised to increase farm exports and boost prices. “The trade deals took us one step forward and coronavirus takes us one step back, and sort of leaves us where we’ve been for a while,” Hart said. In other words, despite Trump’s big promises about a coming export boom, the farm economy is still in tatters. It remains to be seen whether his desire to cut support for farmers during hard times will erode his popularity in farm country during an election year. The USDA programs Trump wants to cut are embedded in the farm bill, that twice-per-decade omnibus legislation that was renewed in 2018 and won’t be up again for renewal until 2023. “But they do send a signal of [the administration’s] intentions for the next farm bill should they get a second term,” said Ferd Hoefner, senior strategic advisor at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. “Farmers and farm groups should take them seriously as a signal—scaling back conservation funding just as we are building public support for a significantly increased investment to combat climate change and deal with water quality and water shortages would take us in exactly the wrong direction.” Some farmer groups are taking note.”As both a presidential candidate and now as president, Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his appreciation for and dedication to American farmers,” National Farmers Union president Roger Johnson said in a statement in response to the budget release. “Yet year after year, his budget has failed to address the very real economic challenges facing rural communities.”

Editor’s note: This article is not to strike fear into the hearts of those pursuing and reporting the truth, even about pedophile rings. Rather it is simply to remind you to count the costs associated with speaking and presenting the truth for the purpose of justice being brought upon those who are acting lawlessly. With that in mind, Lydia Cacho Ribeiro is certainly a woman to be admired not only for honest, investigative reporting, but her courage as well. On July 23, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called for Mexican authorities to protect investigative reporter Lydia Cacho Ribeiro. Two days prior, unidentified thugs broke into the journalist’s home, killed her two dogs, stole a laptop, audio recorder, three cameras, memory cards, and ten hard drives “containing information about sexual abuse cases the reporter was investigating,” according to the CPJ and Cacho. The attackers also damaged personal belongings including photographs. This is my personal response to the new attack we recieved at home. Thank you for your solidarity. We must focus on facts and evidence regarding the extent of impunity and how it empowers the mafias. #WeWillNorSurrenderToSilence #JournalismIsAlive pic.twitter.com/aEJoKbITT1 — Lydia Cacho (@lydiacachosi) July 25, 2019 take our poll - story continues below Will You Be Voting In Person November 3rd? Will You Be Voting In Person November 3rd? Should the Government be Mandating Masks? * Yes No My State Is Not Allowing In Person Voting Email * Phone This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Completing this poll grants you access to DC Clothesline updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to this site's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. It’s remarkable Cacho is still alive. In 1999, she was beaten and raped in retaliation for her investigations. Despite this, she continued to report on sex rings and the trafficking and murder of Mexican girls. In 2005, she published Los Demonios de Edén (“The Demons of Eden ”), a book exposing a child sex trafficking ring involving politicians, government officials, and businessmen. Cacho was arrested and charged with defamation following the book’s publication. Trending: Hundreds Charged Worldwide In Takedown Of Largest Child Pornography Website 6,360 views CPJ reported at the time: The underlying defamation case is based on a complaint filed by Puebla-based clothes manufacturer José Camel Nacif Borge, the Mexican press said. In a book released in May titled, “The Demons of Eden,” Cacho described the activities of a child prostitution ring that she said operated with the complicity of local police and politicians. She alleged that Nacif had ties to an accused pedophile, which the businessman said damaged his reputation. Borge is one of the wealthiest men in Mexico. Known as “El Rey de la Mezclilla” (the Denim King), he amassed his wealth by manufacturing clothing for Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Chaps, Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch, and American EagleOutfitters. An investigation by the Game Commission of Nevada looked into Borge’s links to drug smuggling and gun-running. Threats against Cacho’s life were serious enough to warrant protection by the federal police. In 2006, a transcript of telephone conversations between Borge and Mario Marín, then governor of the state of Puebla, was published by the Mexico City daily La Jornada. Borge and Marín discussed having Cacho arrested and thrown in jail where she would be beaten and abused. In November 2009 the Supreme Court of Mexico ruled that Chaco’s arrest on defamation charges did not violate her rights as a journalist. The ruling was made despite the fact at least 30 public officials, including Marín, had conspired to harass her, according to The New York Times. Por más que lo intenten no dejaré de investigar. El miedo no colonizará mi espíritu. Soy periodista, soy feminista y defensora de #DerechosHumanos el poder conlleva responsabilidad social. A los que me amenazan les digo: #AquíNadieSeRinde #Justicia #NiñezPrimero pic.twitter.com/WW3J2P3xGd — Lydia Cacho (@lydiacachosi) July 22, 2019 The Demons of Eden exposed a pedophile ring in Cancún. In the book, Cacho accuses a businessman, Jean Succar Kuri, of luring poor, under-age girls to his home and coercing them into having sex with him and his friends. She also mentioned a businessman from Puebla, Kamel Nacif, and said he was paying for Mr. Succar Kuri’s defense. (Mr. Succar Kuri, who is awaiting trial on child pornography and child molestation charges, maintains his innocence.) Succar Kuri was convicted of child pornography and child sexual abuse and sentenced to 112 years in prison on August 31, 2011. The Epstein case exposed how the elite engages in pedophilia without serious consequence. Investigative journalists such as Conchita Sarnoff and Vicky Ward have yet to confront the sort of treatment suffered by Lydia Cacho and others for revealing details on the Epstein case, including the involvement of former president Bill Clinton. However, this may change if names other than celebrities and a former president and Israeli politician are made public. CBS46 reporter Ben Swann discovered what happens when you look too closely at the possibility the elite operate pedo sex rings. Although he made it clear “there is no proof here that there is a child sex ring being operated out of a D.C. pizza parlor,” he was suspended from the news network and his social media accounts and web page disappeared from the internet. You Might Like Courtesy of The Washington Standard Article posted with permission from Kurt Nimmo

Before the crash that she blamed on speculators, Senator Elizabeth Warren made a bundle by flipping houses. Nearly two years after Veo Vessels died, her daughter, 70-year-old Mary Frances Hickman, decided to sell the home her mother had left to her. A sprawling brick house in Oklahoma City’s historic Highland Park neighborhood, it was built in 1924, just a year after Mary’s birth. Decades later, one of Vessels’ great-grandchildren fondly recalls the wood and tile floors, the fish pond, the butler’s quarters, and the multi-car garage where children played house. “It was really, really nice,” says Hickman’s granddaughter, Andrea Martin. That’s part of the reason she’s so surprised her grandmother sold the home in 1993 for a mere $30,000. Despite a debilitating stroke, Martin says Hickman remained sharp, and she had always been business-savvy. As an Avon saleswoman, she had at times ranked among the top ten in the country. “So I don’t know why,” Martin says. “Maybe she just wanted out from underneath it, but to sell it for such a low number — I don’t know. Maybe she got bad advice, maybe she was just tired.” The home’s new owner: Elizabeth Warren, today a Massachusetts senator who has built a political career on denouncing the sort of banking titans and financial sophisticates who make a buck off the little guy. Five months after purchasing Veo Vessels’ old home, Warren flipped the property, selling it for $115,000 more than she’d paid, according to Oklahoma County Property Assessor records. RELATED: Why Elizabeth Warren Is More Politician Than Populist Warren rose to political prominence in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis as a crusader against big banks and a dispenser of common-sense economic advice. She campaigned for the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, intended to shield people from the predations of the mortgage and credit-card industries, among others. In her 2006 book All Your Worth, co-authored with her daughter, Amelia, Warren lists as a top myth the idea that “you can make big money buying houses and flipping them quickly.” She has made a career out of telling people how to behave in financially responsible ways, and out of creating laws that will make it illegal for them to do otherwise. Five months after purchasing Veo Vessels’ old home, Warren flipped the property, selling it for $115,000 more than she’d paid. But Warren bought and sold at least five properties for profit at a different time in her life, before the cratering economy and a political career made her a star. Her life story has been the subject of much interest, and her 2014 memoir, A Fighting Chance, chronicled her rise from humble beginnings in small-town Oklahoma and her struggle to make ends meet. It didn’t much mention, though, the early 1990s, years when her children were teenagers and she was once again happily married. These are years when she wasn’t yet the multimillionaire she is today, and, she has said, she was voting Republican. As a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania, and later as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, she was doing well for herself, building both her professional profile and her wealth. She owes at least part of her considerable financial success, it seems, to snapping up these properties in her native Oklahoma and turning them for a profit — though today that’s not a practice she endorses for the many people looking to emulate her success. The Boston Herald reported on these purchases during Warren’s Senate run in 2012, noting that she invested in “the often topsy-turvy real-estate market of the 1990s” and that her actions “don’t seem to square with her public statements about the latest real estate boom and bust.” (By our deadline, Warren’s office did not respond to our request for an interview with the senator or for a request for comment from the senator’s spokesperson about the home sales.) RELATED: ‘The Game Is Rigged,’ But Not the way Elizabeth Warren Thinks Hickman’s granddaughter Martin says of the home flip: “I don’t think it’s right, but I don’t really know much about it. . . . You flip houses to make a profit, so I can’t really fault [Warren] much. I think my grandmother made a mistake by selling it for so cheap. . . . She had worked hard all her life and was a self-made woman.” Don Vessels — a grandson of Veo Vessels, and the nephew of Mary Frances Hickman — said he had not known that Warren had purchased the family home, but “my reaction is that it’s kind of par for the course.” He added: “What’s said and what’s done in politics are two different things. Mary Hickman, being the executor of the estate, should have sold it for the highest price on the market, which I’m not sure she did. But the house was not in fantastic shape, I can tell you that. It was a very nice house when it was purchased, but my grandmother kind of let it fall into disrepair.” Records show Warren bought the house Hickman inherited from her mother, located at 200 N.W. 16th Street, in August 1993 and quickly obtained permits to do plumbing and electrical work, selling it five months later for a 383 percent gain. RELATED: Bankers’ Lobbyists Love Elizabeth Warren House flipping is commonly defined as the practice of buying and selling a home within six months, as the future senator did with the Hickman property. Warren held onto at least four other properties for longer periods, sometimes waiting a year before relinquishing ownership and, at other times, as long as seven years. Warren bought two homes after they’d fallen into foreclosure. And though she spent money fixing up the Hickman home before selling it, records suggest she sold others at a significant profit without making any meaningful upgrades. Warren bought two homes after they’d fallen into foreclosure. Records suggest she sold them at a significant profit without making any meaningful upgrades. In 1993, Warren bought a foreclosed property on N.W. 14th Street in Oklahoma City for $4,000. National Review attempted to contact the couple who had owned it. No phone number or email could be found on record for them, and they did not respond to a letter mailed to their last known address, in Colorado. No public records could be found elaborating on the events that led to the foreclosure of their home. In 2004, Warren transferred the home to her brother, John Herring, and his wife, who sold it for $30,000 in 2006, a 650 percent increase over what Warren initially paid for it. Neither Warren nor her brother filed any permits to make improvements. In June 1993, Warren bought another foreclosed property in Oklahoma City, this one on West Wilshire Boulevard, for $61,000 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Because properties purchased from HUD are sold as is, and because foreclosed homes can have damage ranging from simple poor upkeep to stripped copper, “the only reason you do that is for profit,” says Steve Stout, residential field supervisor at the Oklahoma County Assessor’s Office. On the national stage, Warren has been outspoken about the dangers of home foreclosure. In a 2002 book, The Fragile Middle Class, co-authored with Teresa Sullivan and Jay Lawrence Westerbrook, she wrote that foreclosures are “notorious for fetching low prices.” And as a professor at Harvard Law School, in the wake of the financial crisis, Warren served as a member of the congressional panel overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The panel produced, among other things, a report on the foreclosures taking place across the country. It began with a paean to the place of the home in American life: “Foreclosures are about the home,” it said, which is “the physical and emotional nexus of many households as well as the centerpiece of many Americans’ finances.” Foreclosures, it concluded, “can harm other homeowners both by encouraging additional foreclosures and by reducing home sale prices, while decreased property values hurt local businesses and reduce state and local tax revenues.” A year after buying the foreclosed property on West Wilshire Boulevard, Warren also bought the house next door for $72,000. Despite filing no building permits to renovate at either property, Warren pocketed $34,000 in profits when she sold the first house in December 1994, and she and her husband, Bruce Mann, made an additional $32,000 when they sold the one next door in 1998. That same year, Warren sold another home she and Mann owned for a sizeable profit. The couple had purchased the property, at 4721 Dove Tree Lane, in 1991, filing permits for mechanical and plumbing repairs, according to Oklahoma County Assessor’s Office records. “We’re talking about more than just painting or minor repairs,” says Stout, adding that it could add up to tens of thousands of dollars. “It’s serious work.” Still, the investment seems to have paid off: Warren and her husband paid only $50,000 for the house and sold it for $109,500, a 119 percent gain. The profits from these flipped homes adds up: Even excluding the property sold by her brother, Warren and her husband have made at least $240,500 flipping homes (before deducting the unknown sum they invested in remodeling). In her 2014 autobiography, Warren wrote of the events that precipitated the financial crisis that “everyone seemed to have a story about someone they knew who was getting rich by flipping houses.” She omitted a crucial one. Editor’s Note: This piece has been updated since its original posting.

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Guest post by James Padgett Many of you are aware that the concept of continental drift, proposed by Alfred Wegener, was widely ridiculed by his contemporaries. This reaction was in spite of the very clear visual evidence that the continents could be fit together like a giant puzzle. I think this is where we are in climate science today. There is an obvious answer that many experts cannot see even though a young child would understand when presented with the evidence. Our current crop of experts cannot see simple solutions. Their science is esoteric and alchemical. It is so complex, so easy to misunderstand, that, like the ancient Greek mystery religions, there is a public dogma and then there are the internal mysteries only the initiated are given access to. And then there are the heretics who challenge their declared truths. That isn’t to say that many climatologists aren’t smart. On the contrary, they can be very smart, but that doesn’t preclude them from being very wrong on both collective and individual levels. One of the most brilliant men alive in the last century, John von Neumann, believed that by the 1960’s our knowledge of atmospheric fluid dynamics would be so great, and our computer simulations so precise, that we’d be able to control the weather by making small changes to the system. It is true that the climate models used today do a very good job with fluid dynamics, but despite that understanding we can neither predict nor control the weather (and the climate) to the degree he imagined. An incredible genius, he made a mistake. He didn’t understand the fundamental chaos that made his vision impossible. In regard to the climate, I hope my simple vision is closer to reality than the excuse-filled spaghetti hypothesis that currently brandishes the self-given title of “settled science.” My proposal, that climate is primarily driven by solar and oceanic influences, is probably believed by more than a few skeptics, but hopefully I can make a compelling case for it that both small children and climate scientists can understand. To that end I’ll take a quick look at the temperature record from 1900 until the present. I will explain the case for the oceanic/solar model and articulate the excuses given by the anthropogenic camp for the decades that inconveniently do not line up with the hypothesis of carbon dioxide being the primary driver of climate change. 1900-1944: This period is largely warming. What could possibly be the cause of that? The sun seems to be the obvious answer. It is so obvious in fact that even most mainstream climatologists admit its influence in these years. Some also say there is an anthropogenic effect in there, somewhere, and they could be right, but it certainly isn’t obvious. And while the Atlantic is in its cool phase over the earlier part of this period, the largest ocean, the Pacific, is warm,especially in the last couple decades, but when it turns into its cool phase…. 1945-1976: We get 30 years of cooling in the surface station record. According to proponents of the anthropogenic model, the unprecedented increase in carbon dioxide following World War II was not only masked, but overpowered by sulfate emissions. That is an interesting excuse, but this cooling period exactly matches the cool phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). So much so that when it goes into its warm phase in… 1977-1998: We get 20 more years of warming: which is kicked up a notch towards the end as the Atlantic goes into its warm phase: That leaves us with the final period from… 1999-Present: After the super El Nino of 1998 temperatures have largely flat-lined and perhaps even dropped slightly. Both the Atlantic and Pacific are in their warm phases and the sun remains at the “high” levels following the recovery from the Little Ice Age, but the Pacific seems to be wobbling cooler and cooler as it shifts back into its cool phase. True we are the “warmest decade on record,” but we are also the only decade on record with both oceans in their warm phases in a time of relatively high solar activity. The only comparable time would be during and around the 1930’s and early 1940’s, around the time of the Dust Bowl, and the sun wasn’t as active back then – and that’s assuming the records are an accurate reflection of global temperatures back then. So how do climate scientists explain this lack of warming for over a decade? Ah, well they blame the sulfates again – a classic excuse, while others say that the heat has teleported deep into the oceans. I say teleported because there is no record of the journey of that missing heat into those unmeasured depths from the well-measured depths it would normally have had to travel through in order to get to that abyss. Of course, others say this time period is simply not statistically significant, but the only period of heating we can’t directly trace to the sun, the time from 1977-1998, a mere twenty year period, is certainly statistically significant in some minds. To that I only have one question for them: Are you smarter than a 5th grader? Cheers, James Padgett Share this: Print Email Twitter Facebook Pinterest LinkedIn Reddit Like this: Like Loading...

With the first official photos of Brie Larson's Captain Marvel recently revealed and word coming that a trailer is about to hit , let's take a look at everything we know about Carol Danvers' much-anticipated movie and how she will fit into the MCU. Loading Early Development Loading The Cast Captain Marvel: Every Character Confirmed 12 IMAGES The Setting Loading The Comic Book Inspirations Future Captain Marvel Appearances Marvel Cinematic Universe: Every Upcoming Movie and TV Show 22 IMAGES Distress Call Loading As that symbol showed up at the end of Avengers: Infinity War in the after credit scene, attention began turning to Marvel Studios' 2019 lineup. Next year will kick off with Captain Marvel, a movie that marks the debut of Brie Larson as Air Force pilot-turned cosmic superhero Carol Danvers and has a release date of March 6, 2019.Marvel has been pretty tight-lipped about the project so far, but that's starting to change... so here's everything we know so far about the cast, story and how Captain Marvel fits into the larger MCU!We know that development has been underway on a Captain Marvel movie since at least 2013, with Marvel Studios recognizing the growing need to add a female-driven superhero film to the MCU. At the time, Carol Danvers was named as one of several potential candidates alongside Black Widow and Agent Carter (who later starred in an ABC TV series). The Captain Marvel movie was officially announced in October 2014, as Marvel boss Kevin Feige revealed the studio's Phase 3 lineup of films.Captain Marvel was originally scheduled for release on July 6, 2018, a date that eventually went to Ant-Man and the Wasp. The film was pushed back first to November 2, 2018 and then to March 8, 2019.Feige revealed at SDCC 2016 that Marvel Studios had narrowed down its list of potential directors , which included Niki Caro, Lesli Linka Glatter and Lorene Scafaria. However, the official announcement didn't arrive for nearly a year, as Mississippi Grind's Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck were revealed as directors in April 2017. Guardians of the Galaxy co-screenwriter Nicole Perlman and Inside Out co-screenwriter Meg LeFauveere were on scripting duties.Marvel hired Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Tomb Raider) to pen a new draft of the screenplay in August 2017. She described it as " more of an action-comedy ."Brie Larson will star as Carol Danvers, an Air Force pilot who gains superhuman powers and becomes a warrior fighting alongside the alien Kree in outer space.Larson will be joined by Jude Law, who is rumored to be playing Mar-Vell (an alien warrior and Carol's mentor), Gemma Chan as the Kree Minn-Erva and Ben Mendelsohn as the leader of the villainous Skrull aliens, Talos. (As a shapeshifter, he also lives a double life as a human S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in the film.) Lashana Lynch plays Carol's close friend and fellow Air Force pilot Maria Rambeau. She has a daughter named Monica, and her call sign “Photon” is a reference to the comic-book character Monica Rambeau, who was known as Photon as well as... Captain Marvel for a time on the printed page.The film will also feature several returning characters from past MCU films. Samuel L. Jackson will return as Nick Fury, although since the film is set in the 1990s, this younger Fury (Jackson will be de-aged via CG) is just a "desk jockey" at S.H.I.E.L.D. He doesn't even have his eye patch yet! Clark Gregg's Phil Coulson and Cobie Smulders' Maria Hill are also returning, as are Lee Pace's Ronan the Accuser and Djimon Hounsou's Korath.Other actors whose roles have yet to be revealed include Algenis Perez Soto, Rune Temte and Mckenna Grace.If you're wondering how Captain Marvel can feature characters like Ronan and Korath when they already died in 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy, that's because the movie is set in the past. Most if not all of Captain Marvel will take place in the '90s, a time when these Kree villains are still alive.Look for the film to take advantage of the retro setting by paying tribute to classic '90s action movies. "We hadn’t necessarily done anything like that before either, so there are definitely homages to our favorite ‘90s action films within Captain Marvel," Feige told Entertainment Weekly . Feige also revealed that Captain Marvel is actually the first superhero Fury encountered during his long tenure at S.H.I.E.L.D.It remains to be seen how the film will explain Carol's absence in current MCU films. Given her ties to the Kree Empire, it's likely that she's spent a great deal of time away from Earth since the '90s.Captain Marvel will start with Carol already in space and in possession of her powers, reports EW , as part of the elite military team Starforce on the Kree planet Hala. Jude Law's character is the leader of the group, while other members include Gemma Chan's Minn-Erva and, interestingly enough, Korath (Djimon Hounsou, whose character was a bad guy in Guardians of the Galaxy). Ronan is, according to the report, "an outcast with extremist views, but here, he’s still a high-ranking member of Kree society." Feige revealed at SDCC 2017 that the comic book storyline "The Kree-Skrull War" is a major influence on the film. As such, the film will also mark the debut of the Skrull Empire, a long-time cosmic rival to the Kree."Captain Marvel will be our 21st film in the cinematic universe, and we've never seen the Skrulls. How come?" Kevin Feige told IGN. Answering his own question, he continued, "We thought it would be fun. There's an entire section of our comics that deal with the Kree/Skrull war, and we haven't tapped into that at all, and we thought that would be an amazing, huge part of the mythology to belong to Captain Marvel."For more on the premise of The Kree-Skrull War and how it might influence the movie, check out our breakdown of that classic comic book storyline Naturally, Captain Marvel isn't the only place fans can expect to see Carol Danvers in the years ahead. The character is widely believed to be joining the Avengers in The Avengers 4, due out a couple months after the release of Captain Marvel in 2019. No doubt she'll continue to play a recurring role in the MCU as Phase 4 gets underway.As it turns out, though, Marvel originally considered debuting Captain Marvel much sooner. Feige told Badass Digest that the character was included in an early draft of Avengers: Age of Ultron, where she would have appeared as part of Captain America's revamped Avengers team. "[Captain Marvel] was in a draft," he said. "But to me, it would have done that character a disservice, to meet her fully formed, in a costume and part of the Avengers already when 99% of the audience would go, ‘Who is that?’ It’s just not the way we’ve done it before."Of course, those who stayed through the end credits of Avengers: Infinity War saw the tease for Captain Marvel, as a disappearing Nick Fury seemed to send a distress call... somewhere. The last thing we see after Fury enters oblivion is the Captain Marvel logo on his little beeper device. Yep, she's coming! Jesse is a mild-mannered writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter , or Kicksplode on MyIGN

Pressure Cooker Baby Back Ribs was one of the first dishes we’ve made in the pressure cooker. And boy! We were blown away by how the meat was so tender and flavorful after a short prep and cooking time. But what is the best pressure cooking time for baby back ribs? We had some fun with a couple of pressure cooking experiments. We were overwhelmed by the positive responses for our How to Make the Most Tender, Flavorful Pot Roast in Pressure Cooker Experiment. So, time for another little test with one of our favorite Baby Back Ribs in Pressure Cooker. Time for some ribs baby! SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE RECIPES + TIPS Tried & True Recipes Delivered To Your Inbox Weekly. 100% Free! SUBSCRIBE! Please check your inbox (sometimes Junk Box) and confirm your subscription! Then, add our email address to your contact list to ensure you will receive our recipes, tips, and giveaways! Materials & Methods for Pressure Cooker Baby Back Ribs Test Pressure Cooker: Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker Altitude: close to sea level Meat: Rack of Baby Back Ribs Meat Thickness: the thickest part of the meat is roughly 1/2 inch thick Meat Weight: 1.5 – 1.8 lbs Pressure: High Pressure (10.15~11.6 psi) Cooking Time: 16 minutes, 25 minutes, 30 minutes Release Method: Full Natural Release Cooking Method for the Pressure Cooker Baby Back Ribs: Remove the membrane from the back of the baby back ribs Dry rub the baby back ribs Pressure cook at High Pressure Full Natural Release Cover the baby back ribs with aluminum foil and set aside Reduce the BBQ sauce Apply BBQ sauce Finish in the oven Pressure Cooker Baby Back Ribs Testing Results Since baby back ribs is a tender cut, the resulting meat juice, meat flavors, and the sauce were all quite similar among the 3 cooking times. The meat were moist and flavorful. The main difference stands in the meat texture. Test 1: 16 Minutes Pressure Cooker Baby Back Ribs Meat Texture: The meat was tender with a bit of chew. We were able to pick up the baby back ribs with tongs without worrying the bones falling off. Test 2: 25 Minutes Pressure Cooker Baby Back Ribs Meat Texture: The meat was very tender. We had to pick up the baby back ribs very carefully with tongs or else the bones will fall off. Test 3: 30 Minutes Pressure Cooker Baby Back Ribs Meat Texture: The meat was literally fall off the bone tender. We couldn’t pick up the baby back ribs with tongs without the bones falling off. Side Note: When should we cook baby back ribs directly in the liquid in the pressure cooker? Some of the baby back ribs’ meat flavor will transfer to the liquid when cooking it in the pressure cooker. It only makes sense to place the ribs in the cooking liquid if you are making the sauce in the pressure cooker at the same time. Because all the flavor that has gone into the sauce will be brushed back onto it. When should we cook baby back ribs on a trivet in the pressure cooker? However, if you’re discarding the cooking liquid in the pressure cooker afterwards or you’re using an already made/store-bought BBQ sauce, you should place the ribs on a trivet when cooking in the pressure cooker to preserve the flavors.

Periodic reminder: right now all our Northwest flags are homemade, mostly by Comrade Steve, although there are a few others who have made their own. Steve may be contacted at [email protected] As far as I can recall, a standard-sized 3 X 5 Tricolor runs $50.00 plus shipping. Please don’t stiff Steve; I take altogether too many free flags from him as his “Party dues.” -HAC

Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Does She Know? Farrah Abraham's New Boyfriend Accused Of 'Verbal Abuse' & 'Violent Rages' –– Read The Restraining Order Does She Know? Farrah Abraham's New Boyfriend Accused Of 'Verbal Abuse' & 'Violent Rages' –– Read The Restraining Order Does She Know? Farrah Abraham's New Boyfriend Accused Of 'Verbal Abuse' & 'Violent Rages' –– Read The Restraining Order Teen Mom OG star Farrah Abraham seems so blissfully in love with her new boyfriend, real estate agent Simondeep “Simon” Saran, that the couple even plays happy family with her 5-year-old daughter Sophia. But RadarOnline.com can reveal that the 23-year-old’s Fresno, California-based lover has a sordid past with accusations of “violent outbursts” and “verbal abuse” in a romantic relationship. Saran’s ex-girlfriend and former coworker, San Diego native Josie Leisz, filed a temporary restraining order against the 26-year-old in August 2011, eight months after she says the relationship ended. In California court documents obtained exclusively be Radar, Leisz claimed Saran emotionally abused her during their relationship, hurling insults including “f***ing b*tch” and “stupid wh*re,” and exhibited “jealous and controlling” behavior. READ THE SHOCKING COURT DOCUMENTS “Simondeep would…take my phone and send messages to guys who texted me,” she said. “In these messages he would tell them to leave me alone and that I don’t like them, pretending to be me. Simondeep also did the same thing with my email account and facebook account.” After she ended the relationship, Leisz says an enraged, verbally abusive Saran refused to move out of her home, leaving her no choice but to move out herself. Two months later, Leisz claimed Saran “burst into a violent rage” when he ran into her at San Diego’s Ivy Hotel and Nightclub. “Simondeep came over to my table and very violently flipped the table over,” she recalled. “Simon then began screaming things at me and my friends and scaring us. Simon was yelling things to my friends like ‘I f***ed that b*tch every night’…The club manager had to kick him out of the club for the night.” She also alleged that his work behavior created a hostile environment. “We work together in real estate and he intentionally calls me to create an argument about work related things,” she wrote. “His abuse has left me unable to work without disruption.” The final straw came when Leisz accused Saran of breaking into her home on the morning of August 6, 2011 and threatening a male houseguest. “I’m gonna beat your ass f****t!” she claimed he screamed at the male friend. Leisz said she filed a police report. “I am filing a restraining order so that I can resume my life and feel safe when I go out with friends at night and when I go to work,” she said. A judge granted Leisz the temporary order of protection, and Saran was ordered to stay at least 100 yards away from his ex’s home, vehicle, workplace and school. The drama continued when Leisz filed another restraining order in January 2012, accusing Saran of obsessively texting and calling her, hacking into her email, swiping $4,000 form her PayPal account, and even stealing her truck. Saran denied his ex’s accusations. “I have not abused or threatened her and I am not a danger to her,” he insisted in court papers. “I have never caused, attempted to cause or threatened to cause her bodily harm.” In February 2012, he was granted his own restraining order against Leisz. He claimed his ex-girlfriend broke into his home the month prior and stole $1,700 cash, his checkbook, pictures and other personal items. “On May 7, 2011 she accessed my email account and sent obscene and sexually crude messages to a female friend of mine,” he wrote. “On January 15, 2011 she screamed at me, grabbed a pen and stabbed me several times in my chest area, ripped my shirt off, pulled my hair while calling me a ‘stupid Middle Eastern’ and ‘piece of sh*t.'” Leisz later filed a lawsuit against Saran and Empire West Reality, claiming unfair business practices, intentional infliction of emotional distress and defamation. Not to be outdone, Saran and his colleagues denied the charges, and responded with a lawsuit of their own. Should Farrah head for the hills? Sound off in the comments.

FRESNO, California — Aaron McGlothin works as a corrections officer at the federal prison in Mendota, California. He’s had a decades-long, stable career in corrections. But with no paycheck in sight due to the government shutdown, the 43-year-old has started driving for Uber to help make ends meet. “It can be a little embarrassing,” he told VICE News while driving around Fresno in the rain on Saturday, looking for rides. “The embarrassing thing is, it's like, well — you have a job, you know? And then when people see this they're going to realize that, well heck, yeah you got a job, but you're not getting paid.” It’s a slow day, and after two hours of Ubering, McGlothin makes less than $10 — but at this point, anything’s worth it. “I live paycheck to paycheck,” he said. “I've got to have food on my table. I've got to have gas in my tank to get to and from work because I'm not getting paid. I've got to have heat, gotta have my lights on. I've got to have my electricity on.” McGlothin is one of 40,000 Federal Bureau of Prisons staffers nationwide, most of whom were deemed “essential” and therefore required to work without pay until the shutdown ends. Bureau staffers say they’re already dealing with low morale after years of cutbacks in their prisons, meaning more inmates with fewer guards and gear they worry is inadequate to protect them. And now they’re working without knowing when they’ll get paid. “Everybody's scared. They don't know what the hell's going on because this is different than 2013. We all went through the 2013 shutdown, and it was 16 days,” McGlothin said. “There was a different sense in Washington. They wanted to reopen. There's not that sense right now.” This shutdown started Dec. 22, and both sides seem pretty dug-in. The uncertainty means that some employees are having to forego child support payments, leave healthcare bills unpaid, and choose between putting food on the table or enough gas in their tanks to go to work. And John Kostelnik, a local union president at the federal prison complex in Victorville, California, says he’s worried about the mental toll the stress may take on his workers. “You walk behind these prison walls and deal with the worst of the worst. See some things you never want to see in your entire life,” he said.

If the managerial economist brings certainty to the managerial decision by estimating his special knowledge, the ability of managing and uncertainty with technical information. then he will be very successful in his work. Following are the Role And Importance Of Managerial Economics: 1. Useful in Business Organization In any institution or firm. How should any production be done, and for whom should be produced? The answer to all these questions remains only with the managerial economy. Because he plays the most important role in these tasks. So we can say that managerial economics plays a very big role and significance in the important decisions of the business. So this is a very good Role And Importance Of Managerial Economics In Choosing Right Decisions of any business. 2. Helpful in Chalking Out Business Policies The art is only in business economics to maximize the profit of any institution and minimize cost. And whatever policies are made from this. It is very useful for any business or firm so that every firm and business can get the maximum benefit. Then we can say that there is a huge contribution of managerial economics to profit maximization and determining policies. It also helps in doing it. 3. Help in Business Planning Business economics is very useful in planning a complete prospect among the successful operation and production of any business or firm. Which acts as a balance bridge between the production tools and operating systems and where to go. So, this is the biggest and important role of business economics in any business or firm. 4. Helpful in Cost Control Managerial economics decides the business is going towards profit or loss. managerial economics decides which way is good for the business. And it is only possible when managerial economics plays a very big and important role in cost control decisions. Thus, the Role And Importance Of Managerial Economics In Choosing Right Decisions is very powerful. 5. Useful in Coordination of Business Activities Managerial economics is useful in coordinating the various activities of a business. 6. Useful In Demand for Casting Managerial economics provides useful tools for economics managers in demand forecasts and is useful in demanding production planning. The managerial economy deals with future losses easily. So that any business can be protected against future losses. 7. Helpful in Profit Planning and Control Managerial economics helps managers to decide on the planning and control of the benefits. Managerial Economics is synchronized between the planning and control of any institution or firm and hence its importance increases. Thus, It plays a huge role in business decisions. So its Role And Importance Of Managerial Economics In taking Right Decisions. Managerial Economics: Definition, Nature, Scope (Notes) 8. Helpful for Business Prediction It is not known to anyone about what is going on in the business. therefore, business economics tells us that the business can see what is troubling in the future. So Then the managerial economics gives its solutions. So that they can be avoided and the benefits can be increased. 9. Helpful in Price Determination Managerial Economics provides the necessary guidance in managing the pricing of its business. This proves this in order to raise the required data in pricing and get the maximum benefit. So, That is the major role of managerial economics in the business decision critical. Without this, no business can progress. Find More: 10. Helpful in Solutions of Business Taxation Problems Managerial Economics provides useful guidance in solving problems caused by various types of tax done in business. And contracting of business helps reduce problems. To maximize profit at low cost and minimize business costs. 11. Useful in Understanding the Mechanism of Economic System Managerial Economics/Business economics is useful in understanding the complex cause of the entire economy. From which business decisions get help. The entire economy is very complex but business economics solves it with ease. it is helpful to understand that in this way. So we can say that business economics has a very important role and role in business decisions. Elon Musk’s Top 12 Tips for Every Entrepreneur & Student (@elonmusk). 12. Helpful in Analysis of Effects of Government Policies Business economics/Managerial Economics helps in analyzing the effect of the various policies of the Government in the operation of the business sector. Reducing their bad influence and giving benefit to the good effect. When the government changes the day-to-day policy which has a bad effect on different types of businessmen. But Managerial Economics exploits this easily and benefits the business. 13. Attempt to Put Out the Friendly Business Managerial Economics guides managers to adjust to suit the external conditions of the business. It may be the type of external environment. such as government policies or business cycles, and many other conditions which affect the business. and give security business economics. 14. Supporting the Manufacture and Use of Models Managerial Economics creates an economic model for managers to inspire their use in business. In order to maximize production and maximum profit, at least cost can be paved. Thus, Business economics only tells how to manage everything in a way that everything should be corrected in order to maximize profits. Business economics has a very important role and role in doing all this work in business decisions. 15. Useful in Showing the Path of Economic Well-Being Managerial Economics inspires managers to operate the business in such a way that the path of maximum economic welfare is paved. 16. Gives the Right Direction Inside the business, managerial economics has a very big role because it handles that business. He shows the right path to every member of the business, and also gives the right direction of what his duty and job. 17. Maintains of Costs It is the job of managerial economics to say how much to spend in business and how to spend those expenses so that it can get more profit at lower costs and increase business growth. 18. Distribute Profit Inside any business, managerial economics tells us how to distribute the profits and invest in where to make the business more profitable in the coming time and more growth in the business field. 19. Measurement of the Efficiency of the Firm Managerial Economics provides useful tools for managers in measuring the efficiency of the business firm. Managerial Economics plays big salient features and significance of managerial economics In choosing the right decisions in helping business in many ways. It shows the firm’s successful operation 1. demand forecasting, 2. Business planning and profit maximization and economic well-being.

If you want a look at what it's like to be a woman working in the video game industry, then take a look at the #1ReasonWhy hashtag that's been trending on Twitter this week. Hundreds of female game developers, designers, publicists, journalists and other professionals are in the midst of detailing the sexism they've experienced in the workplace, encountered while playing video games and found in the gaming community at large. After Luke Crane, Games Project Specialist at Kickstarter, tweeted the question "Why are there so few lady game creators?" the #1ReasonWhy hashtag became the launching point for not only answering that question, but for outlining exactly why women don't feel comfortable or welcome in the video game industry in the year 2012. And this is the ugly truth as laid out by those who do work in the industry: "#1reasonwhy because when I tell people I'm a designer, I without fail get 'Really? You don't look like you play games. Guys must love you,' " tweeted game designer Alexis De Girolami. "#1reasonwhy b/c when my desk was nr the door, most clients thought I was the receptionist. This didn't happen to male dev after desk swap," writes developer Helen Smailes. "Because I got blank stares when I asked why a female soldier in a game I worked on looked like a porn star," tweeted designer Caryn Vainio. Stephanie Harvey, a game designer at Ubisoft and professional "Counter Strike" player, tweeted "Here is what I get everyday," as she shared a link to a collection of screenshots she's captured revealing the insults (most of them unprintable) leveled at her when she's gaming. Meanwhile, Tara J. Brannigan, community marketing manager for PopCap Games, tweeted that she has "been groped by strangers at least once at nearly every major (game) conference." And she's not alone. Wrote Filamena Young, "Because conventions, where designers are celebrated, are unsafe places for me. Really. I've been groped." And that's just the beginning. The hashtag has spawned an outpouring of tweets about unequal pay (which Lindsay Morgan Lockhart, "Halo 4's" narrative designer, calls "staggering") uncomfortable working environments and an industry where women gamers are little more than an afterthought. As a lifelong gamer and a game journalist for more than a decade, I can say that I have learned to expect that vicious, sexist comments will be hurled my way should I dare write about the preposterous outfits female game characters are put in. I've learned that using a female avatar or female-sounding gamertag in an online game means dealing with unwelcome and unwanted advances. And I've grown used to trolls who question whether I really play hardcore games or who deride me for writing about casual "women's" games. (Apparently I'm not capable of the former and am not a "real gamer" if I enjoy the latter). Clearly, this is not about one reason why ... this is about hundreds, even thousands of reasons why. Of course, the Twitter uprising hasn't been without its detractors and trolls — these are the men who basically prove the point that the #1reasonwhy hashtag is so elegantly making. "I look at #1ReasonWhy and I laugh at all the feminists who think they matter. If you were good in your field, you wouldn't be misrepresented," tweeted Dillon Paradis. But as upsetting and maddening as it is combing through these experiences and the backlash, one thing is clear: This outpouring is just the latest sign that women (and men) are fed up with the game business as usual and have no intention of quietly putting up with the sexism any longer. Not only has the website Fat, Ugly or Slutty been outing the online gaming ugliness with humorous flair, but at the Penny Arcade Expo this summer, the video game convention saw a half dozen panel discussions addressing and looking for solutions to the harassment and sexism that not only women gamers, but gay and transgender gamers, face. Check out this video from the "Harassment and Bullying in Online Games: Technical Solutions" panel for a fascinating look at the problem and some of the proposed solutions. Meanwhile, women game industry pros are seizing this moment, harnessing the #1reasonwhy fervor and turning the ugliness they've revealed into a catalyst for change. "Tomb Raider" and "Mirror's Edge" writer Rhianna Pratchett, started the hashtag #1reasontobe, highlighting reasons women should work in the game industry. "#1reasontobe Because I get to explore my creativity in a rapidly evolving medium, full of unique, exciting challenges," she tweeted. And even more importantly, women game professionals are using the movement to start a mentoring program. "Speak up if you're willing to be a mentor to women looking to get into the industry!" tweeted Ann Lemay, a writer for BioWare, promoting the new #1reasonmentors hashtag. And many women and men in the industry — from game companies big and small — have responded to the call for mentors, offering their time and advice to women who dare and dream to join this troubled industry. (You can find a list of the mentoring resources compiled here.) Artist and animator Emily Compton, perhaps summed it up best, "If #1reasonwhy made us mad about our industry today, #1reasonmentors makes us hopeful and glad. Onward and upward." Winda Benedetti writesabout video games for NBC News. You can follow her tweets about games and other things on Twitter here @WindaBenedetti and you canfollow her on Google+. Meanwhile, be sure to check out the IN-GAME FACEBOOK PAGE to discuss the day's gaming news and reviews.

This is the latest post in my ongoing series on Right wing failures. Our civilization is suffering from a failure of coordination. We are no longer able to organize mass movement with an achievable purpose, and nowhere is that more evident than in the still birth of Right wing movements. This is because every attempt at a movement compromises it’s purpose for a lower common denominator that will attract more adherents. Note that this isn’t the lowest common denominator – that would be McDonalds. “Do you like hamburgers? Of course you do, now eat your Happy Meal and shut up.” The denominators we choose have to be complex enough to contain some sort of syntactical value beyond bestial urges, but they’re far short of the sort of ontological statements which are necessary for civilizational drive. Gamergate: “We don’t like the SJW infiltration, and their Walking Simulators are terrible games.” The Alt Right: “We hate Democrat freaks, Hail Trump.” The Pro-Life Movement: “Murdering young children in the womb is wrong.” Reaganomics: “All these taxes are crushing the economy.” Like a misguided attempt at Seasteading, these slogans can unite the various ideological rafts which are being buffeted by the cultural seas, but as soon as the slogan has served its purpose, the nascent movement drifts apart. With no central authority defining the tenets and purposes of the seasteaders – only charismatic leaders who appeal to this or that subgroup within them – internal divisions come back to the fore, and each group goes off on their own. Gamergate’s been covered before: the most obnoxious SJWs were abandoned by the big publishers, while simultaneously concessions were made to the movement at large. Charismatic mouthpieces of either side walked away with full bank accounts, while the soldiers who made up the movements were left without a goal, a purpose, or a victory. Thesis, meet Antithesis: the new Synthesis serves no-one but those who were already in charge. The Alt Right created a coalition of traditionalist Christians, Neo Satanists, and Transsexuals: with Trump’s victory, their dissolution was inevitable. Reagonomics brought about the promised tax cuts, while behind the scenes regulation increased (isn’t it interesting how all of Karl Marx’s specific goals – universal pensions, social safety nets, government-administered unions – have all come to pass?). And as for the Pro Life Movement, their exclusive focus on one aspect of the problem (baby murder) without addressing its route causes (the social conditions which result in so many unwanted pregnancies) relegates it to irrelevancy. The problem with trying to choose a denominator that’s only two or three steps above the lowest common denominator, is that the latter becomes corrosive to the former. Gamergate might war against the SJWs over video games, but both sides can agree on eating at McDonalds. Even the Vegans can climb aboard that train, now that they’ve replaced the deep frier’s beef tallow with rancid vegetable oil. Every group can be accommodated by the ‘free’ market, especially when market research has concluded that one size does, in fact, fit all. The lowest common denominator which our civilization is founded upon is Freedom: freedom to do what you want, to believe what you want, to behave as you want. Brett Stevens sums it up nicely when he writes: Take a walk down a modern Western street. The obese blue-haired feminists have nothing in common with the Muslim Arabs they walk alongside, but in the grand tradition of human stupidity, they try to find “common ground” and alight on a few lowest common denominator ideas, like that everyone wants a paycheck and not to be punished for their own mistakes, and so they agree to be Leftists together. This is not progress, but decline. An average middle class white family finds themselves surrounded by Chinese, Mexicans, Italians, Russians, Jews, Falun Gong, Juggalos, Black Panthers, Flat Earthers, Pentacostals and Scientologists. They have nothing in common with these groups, but are sure to tell people how they knew their own marriage was right because “we have so much in common.” … We keep slapping band-aids on the problem. Anti-drug laws, workplace regulations, locks on cockpit doors, chemical signatures in gunpowder. But we will be defeated by the fact that when you have a country of people who have nothing in common and no purpose, the only remaining task is to destroy each other in outrage at how meaningless, tedious and humiliating modern life has become. So long as you respect the ‘rights’ of others, you’re free to do your own thing. Drink this soft drink instead of that soft drink. Support this sportsball team over that one. You have an endless array of meaningless choices you can embrace, subcultures you can join, identities you can adopt, so long as you don’t claim that your lifestyle is fundamentally superior to any others. Hot Topic and The Gap coexist in the same space; why can’t you? This is why Trump denounced both the Alt Right and the Alt Left in the same speech. The problem with both movements is that they make claims of exclusivity. The former wants to shut down Black churches, the latter wants to shut down White churches. And as problematic as churches are to our idea of atomized freedom, shutting them down would be a statement of purpose. Islam circumvents this with their practice of Taqiya; lying to unbelievers. When ISIS attacks the West – on the rare occasion when they’re not operating with explicit approval by the CIA – this only bolsters their position; it affords them an opportunity to practice a tenet of their faith. “How dare you blame Islam?” says the Moderate Muslim, fully aware that ISIS is following their scripture to a T. “By trying to blame terrorism on our Religion of Peace you are showing your true nature as a colonial aggressor!” We allow this mendacity – we outright embrace it – not just because our civilization is fat and lazy, willing to do anything to avoid a struggle, but also because mendacity is at the core of our being. Colonialism is bad, not merely because it’s something White people did, but because it implies that one thing – civilization – is better than another – savagery. “I don’t care what people do behind closed doors.” Not even when Stephen Paddock is building up an arsenal? “Live and let live, it doesn’t affect you.” Even when homosexual bathhouses are creating a breeding ground for the next epidemic? The problem with purchasing an identity at the shopping mall, or defining yourself by what beer you drink, is that it’s all a lie. It’s a narcissistic shell you present to the world – your own personal taqiya – “I’m such and such a person, I drive an F-350 with a Harley Davidson logo on it!” – but none of your behaviour backs that up. You want to be recognized and respected as some sort of badass (or a charitable person, or a connoisseur of the arts, or… or… or…) but you work as an accountant and you haven’t been in a fist fight since… ever. Pretend to respect other people’s identities, and they’ll respect yours in return. This is the freedom and tolerance which we hold as sacrosanct. But the moment you start to walk the talk – the moment you actually contribute something concrete and useful to the world – you become a threat to other people’s narcissistic shells. Our civilization doesn’t promote virtue and greatness; it demands conformity, and people who stay within the lines. So long as you don’t make any waves, you can pretend to be whatever you want. Right wing movements are no different. It’s all about claiming membership within the movement – waving the flag of Kekistan, and wearing a Black Sun patch on your vest, without ever asking where it came from. Stay within the lines, and proclaim the shibboleths which are demanded of you (“Do you believe in the Fourteen Words???”), but make absolutely certain that you only achieve symbolic victories – anything concrete will force us to ask the existential questions that we’re all trying desperately to avoid. Nihilists! ..Fuck me. I mean, say what you want about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it’s an ethos. ~Walter Sobchak, The Big Lebowski Say what you will about the tenets of Islam, at least it’s a gravitational core. We love their lies because we’re liars ourselves, but underneath their lies is a purpose and a cause. Beneath our own patina yawns the abyss, and so we cling to our false beliefs with desperation, trying to forestall the void of eternity with solipsistic hedonism. The lowest common denominator consumes all others, and reduces us to nothing. Individual cancer cells waiting to explode. Only through acknowledging and pursuing the absolute, and the virtues which lead us there, can we overcome the inevitability of the endless Prisoner’s Dilemma we find ourselves in. Either we find this, and remember who we are, or we continue rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. There’s an iceberg coming. Will we acknowledge it, and choose life, however difficult and painful it might be? Or will we slip silently into that eternal night? ͼ-Ѻ-ͽ

The $100 million Breakthrough Listen search for alien civilizations will use the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia to track 'Oumuamua, the first-ever interstellar object found passing through the solar system. Alien-hunting scientists are lending a (telescopic) ear to 'Oumuamua, a mysterious object recently spotted speeding through the solar system. 'Oumuamua, first detected in October with the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawaii, is the first likely visitor from interstellar space to ever be spotted in Earth's solar system. The object reached a peak speed of 196,000 mph (87.3 km/s). During its closest approach to Earth, also in October, the reddish, potentially cigar-shaped object passed by about 85 times the distance from Earth to the moon. It's up to a quarter-mile long (400 meters). The global SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) program Breakthrough Listen, funded by Yuri Milner, a Silicon Valley technology investor, announced today (Dec. 11) it will turn the 100-meter (330 feet) Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia to listen for potential alien signals from the object. ['Oumuamua: Our 1st Interstellar Visitor Explained in Photos] Scientists have been intrigued by the reddish, elongated object because of its long and thin shape, which is unlike the asteroids and comets researchers have seen that are native to the solar system. "Researchers working on long-distance space transportation have previously suggested that a cigar or needle shape [like 'Oumuamua exhibits] is the most likely architecture for an interstellar spacecraft, since this would minimize friction and damage from interstellar gas and dust," Breakthrough Listen representatives said in the statement. "While a natural origin is more likely, there is currently no consensus on what that origin might have been, and Breakthrough Listen is well positioned to explore the possibility that 'Oumuamua could be an artifact." The telescope will begin observing the object tomorrow (Dec. 13) at 3 p.m. EST (2000 GMT) across four radio bands, from 1 to 12 GHz, and will observe over a total of 10 hours for its first phase, broken up into four segments based on the object's rotation. At the object's current distance from Earth, it would take less than a minute for the telescope to detect a transmission with the power of a cellphone's, Breakthrough Listen representatives said. Even without a signal, the telescope's radio inspection could reveal additional information about water or ice on the object, or a coma of gas surrounding it, neither of which have yet been spotted, they added. "'Oumuamua's presence within our solar system affords Breakthrough Listen an opportunity to reach unprecedented sensitivities to possible artificial transmitters and demonstrate our ability to track nearby, fast-moving objects," Andrew Siemion, director of Berkeley SETI Research Center, said in the statement. "Whether this object turns out to be artificial or natural, it's a great target for Listen." Email Sarah Lewin at [email protected] or follow her @SarahExplains. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

Ah, the old air-quotes defense. According to Spicer's new argument, Trump didn't necessarily mean wiretapping when he said “wire tapping” — and reporters should know this because he put the phrase in quotation marks. By “wire tapping,” Trump could have been referring to any one among “a whole host of surveillance types.” Obviously. AD AD This is quite a remarkable standard Spicer is trying to set for his boss. None of the “several reports” Spicer referenced actually claim that Trump or his aides were wiretapped, despite claims to the contrary. Fox News Channel's Steve Doocy said on the air Monday morning that “there's no doubt about the fact that at least Michael Flynn was wiretapped,” and counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway said on CNN a short time later that “we know that General Flynn was wiretapped.” Wrong. The Washington Post reported last month that pre-inauguration phone calls between Flynn, who resigned as national security adviser, and Russia's ambassador to the United States were intercepted by U.S. intelligence agencies because the ambassador was wiretapped. That's a key distinction that the president's aides and media boosters seem determined to obscure. If Trump has evidence that Flynn or anyone else on his team was bugged, he has not produced it, and news reports do not support his charge against Obama. But Spicer contended in the briefing room that Trump is nevertheless right by an incredibly loose definition of “wire tapping” that includes a wide range of investigatory tactics.

Coinprism, the blockchain technology company that developed the Open Assets standard “colored coins” that is now used by the likes of NASDAQ and Overstock has released Openchain, an open-source distributed ledger targeting financial institutions. Openchain, unlike bitcoin is based on a central, distributed ledger that will allow any enterprise user, company, or institution to use their own version of the chain. This functionality helps with lowering costs, reducing transaction times and Openchain users can also use the chain to interconnect with each other. Instead of transactions being validated by anonymous users, as in the case of bitcoin, Openchain offers the required features for an institution to gain full control on transaction validation while maintaining transparency with the ledger. A press release from Openchain read: Openchain features a powerful hierarchical account system, hybrid between a file system and a double-entry accounting system. This lets the administrator of an Openchain instance define their business rules (such as AML/KYC) by setting various permissions on accounts, with different levels of granularity. Openchain takes from bitcoin’s functionality and features by giving the means for the Openchain ledger to be “fully transparent and auditable,” thereby lowering auditing costs as a transparent and verifiable ledger. Additionally, the open-source distributed ledger also builds upon bitcoin’s features such as security and the irreversibility while ensuring low transaction costs. Taking Away the Blocks and Faster than the Bitcoin BlockChain In recognizing the limitations of bitcoin’s networks within environments where millions of regulated transactions are conducted on a daily basis, Openchain negates the need for miners by chaining transactions directly. Bitcoin movements are limited to 7 transactions per second with confirmation times taking anywhere from minutes to several hours. In contrast, Openchain facilitates instant confirmations of transactions. The ledger uses a “simplified and trust-based consensus mechanism,” allowing it to process transactions at a much higher rate than Bitcoin with instant validation for transactions in real-time. A two-way peg is also possible between Openchain and the bitcoin blockchain or other Openchain ledgers, turning it into a federated, efficient, and instant sidechain. “While proof of work is central to building a fully autonomous, decentralized currency such as Bitcoin, it actually becomes a burden when you start tokenizing assets”, said Flavien Charlon, founder and CEO of Coinprism, “with Openchain, we have taken all the key characteristics of a Blockchain like immutability, auditability, and programmability, but removed the legacy of proof of work. This allowed us to build an extremely efficient and scalable platform with no compromise”. The open-source ledger is available on GitHub and Coinprism is offering developers and users a test wallet at wallet.openchain.org. Charlon also adds that several enterprises and financial institutions are testing Openchain internally. Images from Coinprism.

Though a few factors ganged up to threaten the traditional opener of the Oregon Dungeness crab fishery, the fleet of more than 400 vessels went on to put in a banner year. “Everything that could possibly line up against us did,” said Hugh Link, executive director with the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission. Domoic acid, that toxic villain of recent seasons past, was present in some areas. But those areas weren’t likely to see pots splashed anyway, as the crab were “light,” meaning their shells hadn’t filled with enough meat to make them favorable in the market. But that’s not all. “On Jan. 15, we still hadn’t settled on a price, the weather was bad, and the crab were light,” said Tim Novotny, communications manager for the commission. Novotny notes that the prices settled on Jan. 22, and the fleet left to set gear under a rule that allows crabbers to set their gear three days before the official opener. The season technically opened on Jan. 25, and fishermen began pulling their gear. A new rule that went into effect earlier this year allows managers to issue an evisceration order when domoic acid levels exceed 30 parts per million in Dungeness crab. The order allows fishermen to continue fishing in the same area, but documents that all landed crab hits the cookers to kill the toxin. This year’s season saw the order put into place but only for about a week, said Novotny. The problem of light crab plagued some processors, even late in the season. “The recoveries were low,” says Scott Adams, of Hallmark Fisheries, in Charleston, Ore., adding that the percentage of actual meat to the total weight of the sections was down by about 10 percent. Adams notes that processors from Canada reported similar conditions and that product he bought out of Alaska came in light. Despite the hurdles, the 2018 season will go down as a record breaker. Novotny, who’s keeping tabs as final numbers roll in, said in September that revenues for the Oregon fleet neared $75 million. “The ex-vessel value was just outstanding,” he said. Ex-vessel averages of $3.20 per pound helped drive that value. “It was the biggest year ever, money-wise,” echoed Adams.

The clip quickly went viral, proof to viewers that the election had thoroughly gone off the rails. "It wasn't anything against her, but I've said time and time again that I don't agree with Mr. Trump's comments or those words," Hughes told me. "To me, that word, to women, is the same word as the N-word to African-Americans, and there's no tolerance in my book for it. It doesn't exist in my household, it doesn't exist in my vocabulary in public. I just don't do that." Still, she was surprised by the reaction. "I didn't think it would explode like that." Of course, Hughes has good reason to know what will and will not explode. In the vast and unsettling constellation of surrogates yammering on behalf of Trump, she has the distinction of being the OG. Hughes signed on in July 2015, a few weeks after Trump announced his candidacy in the atrium of Trump Tower. At the time, she'd been working for the Tea Party News Network and appearing on cable—CNN, though also Fox News and Fox Business—to little fanfare. But she caught the eye of Sam Nunberg, the blustery Trump campaign hand who would soon be fired after the emergence of racist comments he'd made on Facebook some years prior. Nunberg called her with the invitation to become an official Trump surrogate—telling her that the campaign would help book her on more shows to talk up Trump's candidacy. "'We noticed you've been saying positive things on air,'" she remembers him telling her. Although at the time she hadn't made up her mind whether to support Trump or Ted Cruz, she accepted. Two months later, she found herself on the tarmac at LaGuardia, onboard Trump's plane, marveling at the humble spread of Subway sandwiches and bottled water. "It's like the song from Journey," she said, remembering the moment, "just a small-town girl!" Trump called over to her: "Hey, you want to go up there for takeoff. You will want to remember this." She made her way up to the cockpit and watched the pilots steer the jet into the sky. It was, she said, "amazing." When they arrived in Dallas, she introduced Trump onstage. "That's really what put my name and Trump in the same sentence," she told me. Turn on a cable news network at nearly any time of day and you're likely to find a Trump supporter served up by the campaign to spin the conversation in his favor. Hillary has them, too, a faction of familiar faces: old campaign workers and Democratic strategists who've been appearing on TV for ages, like Paul Begala, James Carville, Donna Brazile, and so on. Of course, Hughes and many of the other Trump surrogates (much like the candidate himself) are an undisciplined and self-motivated group. Mostly, they're opportunists who perhaps see a little of themselves in Trump and a little of Trump in them. With few exceptions, they're new to the surrogate game—a fact that makes them seem, at times, crazy…or hilarious…or scary… or desperate. Or in way over their heads. Getting other people to talk you up in public is as old as the presidency itself. In the early days of the republic, campaigning was considered so undignified (and isn't it?) that the candidates left it almost exclusively to others. Even by the time that tradition had largely died out and candidates were expected to hit the trail, Benjamin Harrison came up with a good reason to send others out there instead. "There is great risk for meeting a fool at home," he said, "but the candidate who travels cannot escape him." When William McKinley ran in 1896, he dispatched some 1,400 surrogates to press his case among the fools. That strategy inspired Newt Gingrich—who fancies himself a historian and today serves as a Trump surrogate—to suggest to Bob Dole that he leave the campaigning in 1996 to the likes of his wife, Elizabeth, and George H. W. Bush, among others. Trump has accumulated enough surrogates to populate every green room in America at every hour of the day, making his name and his worldview a constant presence in our living rooms. In modern times, the candidates obviously cannot escape campaigning. But the role of the surrogate has nonetheless grown in importance recently, according to Larry Sabato, the director at the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. That's because the demands on the campaign staffers and the candidates are only increasing. "The advent of social media has added more pressure," he said, noting the incredible number of people now paid to hype the candidates. "2016 has topped all previous elections. I never knew there were so many strategists in politics. CNN has tables of them." In the last 16 months, Trump has accumulated enough surrogates to populate every green room in America at every hour of the day, making his name and his worldview a constant presence in our living rooms—even when the candidate himself isn't speaking. "It's tough to turn on the TV and go very long without seeing a Trump surrogate," Jason Miller, the campaign's senior communications adviser, told me, boastfully. When it can, the campaign will make joyful use of Trump's three eldest children or the various politicians—Newt Gingrich, Chris Christie, Rudy Giuliani, Ben Carson—in its stable. It's also got members of Trump's staff like Kellyanne Conway, the campaign manager; Michael Cohen, Trump's hyperactive lawyer; and Miller. And now and again, you'll see Scott Baio, or Apprentice star Omarosa Manigault, or even former boxing promoter Don King—who once stomped a man to death, mind you—jammed in front of a camera. But the lion's share of the television talk-time falls to a motley crew of political neophytes that includes Hughes. In a sense, the Trump campaign has become a jobs program for fledgling political leaders and aspiring media stars who want a fast track to relevance. The difficulty of the actual job—making sense of Trump's policies—only adds to this. Rather than promote the candidate's message and clarify his positions, an impossible task given the nature of the man, they often seem content with simply preventing opposing voices from getting a word in edgewise—second nature, anyway, for the characters who want the gig. And the gig is to fill as much airtime as possible arguing with hosts, reporters, and Clintonites. This is where Hughes fits, along with her fellow CNN contributors Corey Lewandowski, Trump's short-fused ex–campaign manager; Jeffrey Lord, the cotton-haired former Reagan political director; and Kayleigh McEnany, a recent law school grad who wears a crucifix so large it's a wonder her neck hasn't snapped on air. And then there's a group who officially work for the campaign: people like Katrina Pierson, famous for sporting a necklace made of bullet shells and for suggesting 9/11 was an inside job; A. J. Delgado, who used to write for the media gossip blog Mediaite and once said on Hannity that Ray Rice was the real victim of his domestic abuse; and Boris Epshteyn, a fratty fashionista who tends to repeat Vladimir Putin's talking points.

The new Egyptian Foreign Minister has called the Gaza blockade a violation of int’l law, Angry Arab reports, and David Kenner translates (h/t Ali Gharib). The Foreign Minister is Nabil Elaraby, who was a judge in the historic Int’l Court of Justice Ruling against the separation wall, in 2005, and whose concurrent opinion went further than the other judges, and held that the occupation was illegal. Meantime, Dennis Loh reports that a march from Egypt to Gaza to bring cement into the blockaded strip today succeeded in getting in the first bag of cement. From Facebook:

Facing a shortage of pilots, dollars, and training time, the Pentagon wants private pilots and fighter jets to play the bad guys during dogfighting and other drills with military pilots. While contractors have long been used in various kinds of military training, top Defense Department officials believe this new role could free up uniformed pilots to fly in combat squadrons. “That is something that is actively under consideration,” Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said Tuesday at a Defense One leadership briefing. “We have to see how the dollars and cents work out.” The military uses “aggressor squadrons,” like the one commanded by “Viper” and “Jester” in the 1980s film “Top Gun,” to simulate enemy tactics. Sometimes they even fly enemy aircraft. During the Cold War, the Air Force actually got its hands on Soviet MiG-17, MiG-21 and MiG-23 fighters, secretly flying them from a remote air force base in the Nevada desert. For adversary training today, the Air Force uses T-38 Talons, jets that date back to the 1960s. It also operates aggressor squadrons of F-16s at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada and Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. Those jets, painted in blue, brown or black camouflage, fly against American combat pilots in high-end war games. In 2006, Gen. T. Michael Moseley, the Air Force chief of staff, added F-15 Eagles to the aggressor wing at Nellis, but that unit was deactivated in 2014. But fying and maintaining high-end aggressors, like the F-15 and F-16, is expensive and removes pilots from combat squadrons, according to defense executives. Now the military is considering companies to fill that void. "It is a training approach that could well work,” James said. The list of companies with private fleets of high-performance, military aircraft, and pilots who can simulate foreign tactics is fairly small. Among them is Florida-based Draken International, which flies adversary missions for the U.S. and foreign militaries. Draken is working with Montreal-based CAE to compete for a Canadian aggressor contract, a deal that if won could broaden the cooperation between the two firms. There’s also Discovery Air, headquartered outside of Toronto (it's defense business is based in Montreal), the current provider of aggressor training for the Canadian Forces and German air force. The market is also attracting new entrants. Earlier this month, Rhode Island-based Textron created Textron Airborne Solutions to compete for this type of business globally. It recently acquired the Airborne Tactical Advantage Company, whose jet aircraft already do this type of work for the U.S. military. Cadres of former military pilots at these companies largely fly decades-old fighter and training jets, like the K-21 Kfir, A-4 Skyhawk, Mk-58 Hawk Hunter and L-39 Albatros. “What we see out here is a growing interest and a growing need for outsourcing certain traditional military training tasks that [the Pentagon] used to always handle,” said Russ Bartlett, CEO and president of Textron Airborne Solutions. The Airborne Tactical Advantage Company trains Navy Super Hornet pilots who are learning to fly the jet for the first time or studying advanced tactics at Top Gun, the Navy Fighter Weapons School, said Jeff Parker, CEO of the Airborne Tactical Advantage Company. Carrier Strike Groups made up of ships and aircraft train against the firm’s aggressor jets before deployments. The company also trains ground controllers who call in airstrikes. “The industry that we began is literally exploding,” Parker said. The company flies about 6,000 training hours per year. Now, the Air Force and Navy are looking to outsource thousands more hours, Parker said. Bartlett said that would double the existing market by 2018. “And that’s just scratching the surface of what’s out there,” he said. Bartlett said he sees his new unit of Textron acquiring and growing the unit as the demand exists. There are also global opportunities. “This [market] is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, these days,” he said. “It could easily be a multibillion-dollar market in five years.”

Map originally found on reddit The map above shows what the borders of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa might look like if they were based on the dominant Y-DNA haplogroup rather than ethnicity and/or any other political considerations. Here’s some very basic information about each group: Haplogroup R1b: “It is the most frequently occurring paternal lineage in Western Europe, as well as some parts of Russia (e.g. the Bashkir minority) and Central Africa (e.g. Chad and Cameroon). It is also present at lower frequencies throughout Eastern Europe, Western Asia, as well as parts of North Africa and Central Asia.” Haplogroup R1a: “It is distributed in a large region in Eurasia, extending from Scandinavia, Central Europe and southern Siberia to South Asia.” Haplogroup N: “It has a wide geographic distribution throughout northern Eurasia, and it also has been observed occasionally in other areas, including Southeast Asia, the Pacific, Southwest Asia and Southern Europe.” Haplogroup I1: “The haplogroup reaches its peak frequencies in Sweden (52 percent of males in Västra Götaland County) and western Finland (more than 50 percent in Satakunta province).[6] In terms of national averages, I-M253 is found in 35–38 per cent of Swedish males, 32.8% of Danish males, about 31.5% of Norwegian males and about 28% of Finnish males.” Haplogroup I2: “The haplogroup reaches its maximum frequency in the Dinaric Alps in the Balkans, where the men are on record as being the tallest in the world, with a male average height of 185.6 cm (6 ft 1.1 in).” Haplogroup J1: “This haplogroup is found today in significant frequencies in many areas in or near the Middle East, and parts of the Caucasus, Sudan and Ethiopia. It is also found in high frequencies in parts of North Africa, Southern Europe, and amongst Jewish groups, especially those with Cohen surnames. It can also be found much less commonly, but still occasionally in significant amounts, throughout Europe and as far east as Central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent.” Haplogroup J2: “It is found in Western Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Europe and North Africa, but it is usually associated with Northwest Asia. It is thought that J2 might have originated between the Caucasus Mountains, Mesopotamia and the Levant.” Haplogroup E: “Most members of haplogroup E-M96 belong to one of its identified subclades, and the E-M96(xE-P147, E-M75) is rare. E1a and E-M75 are found almost exclusively in Africa. By looking at the major subclade frequencies, five broad regions of Africa can be defined: East, Central, North, Southern and West. The division can be distinguished by the prevalence of E-V38 in East, Central, Southern and West Africa, E-M78 in East Africa and E-M81 in North Africa.” Haplogroup G: “At the level of national populations, G-M201 is most commonly found in Georgia; it is found at even higher levels among many other regional and minority populations in The Caucasus. G-M201 is also widely distributed at low frequencies, among ethnic groups of Europe, South Asia, Central Asia, and North Africa.” To learn more about DNA and Haplogroups have a look at the following books: Also if you’d like to get your DNA tested have a look at: If you found this map interesting please help by sharing it:

It was a tie party in the fourth week of the 2016 European League Championship Series. For the first time in LCS history, all the matchups ended in a draw. Teams with varying degrees of success this season have scored a point each, and that includes Team ROCCAT and the Unicorns of Love, two teams with different fortunes early this season. Pierre "Steeelback" Medjaldi once wore UoL's colors, and following a stint in the North American Challenger Series, he was determined to return to the European LCS at any cost. "I tried out for some teams, and it went really well with the Unicorns, so I went there," he recalled. Editor's Picks East vs. West: Street Fighter V at CEO 2016 Best/Worst - The 2016 Summer LCS so far The 2016 top 10 esports draft 2 Related But four weeks into the LCS spring split, visa issues plagued the team as Danil "Diamondprox" Reshetnikov, the squad's jungler, had to leave the team. Diamondprox had laid the foundations for UoL's early surge in the 2016 spring split, and morale was at an all-time high. "[Diamondprox] was really good in the jungle. He knows almost everything [there is to know]. He explained everything to us, always," noted Steeelback. The ensuing situation in the jungle -- a revolving door of sorts -- caused motivation levels to drop despite the AD carry's efforts to revitalize the squad. "I tried to stay in the team," he said. "I tried to ask everyone to pool more effort, but we couldn't make it work. [UoL and I] then decided to part ways because I wasn't happy about the result. I don't think anyone was happy, but I didn't think that I could reach the World Championship with them." His decision to join Team ROCCAT, a squad that ranked ninth in the 2016 LCS spring split, may have seemed illogical as some would perceive such a move as a downgrade based on the difference in rankings between it and the Unicorns of Love (sixth in the spring split). But Steeelback specifically chose to join the organization, despite receiving offers from other teams in the league. "I really liked the players that remained -- Airwaks and Betsy. I thought they were really good," he pointed out. In a way, Team ROCCAT and the Unicorns of Love had a lot in common, especially when it came to frequent swaps within the roster. But he wanted to build a powerhouse from scratch and settle down, and ROCCAT presented itself as his best option. "I changed teams often, and I would like to go to a squad and build something as YellOwStaR did in Fnatic, or stay in a squad and try to shoot for the top," he justified. "It's really hard to do, and you need to be a captain. That's what I'm trying to learn." But, unlike the Unicorns of Love, Team ROCCAT stands within playoff contention -- and it has more to do with ROCCAT's recent acquisitions, and its ability to communicate as a team. Before week four, ROCCAT was one of the only two teams to secure a tie against G2 Esports, a squad that looks nearly unstoppable since the acquisition of Alfonso "Mithy" Aguirre Rodriguez and Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen. According to Steeelback, even though he and Airwaks contribute the most to the team's calls, he and his teammates all contribute to the overall shot-calling. That includes Raise, whose contribution contrasts with the minimalistic one of his shy top laner, Parang. "Raise talks a lot," he added. "He isn't afraid to talk. He shot-calls even though his English isn't that good at the moment." But so far, the squad's shot-calling has been hit-and-miss, and the primary issue seems to be its tendency to overcommit to calls. "For now, we throw games, and we struggle, but since we went 0-4 [in Week 3], I felt that we improved a whole lot," Steeelback said. "I felt we took bad fights. We didn't know when to back away. We always wanted, even when ahead, to be even farther ahead. So we ended up going too far and throwing the game." The squad's head coach, Fabian "GrabbZ" Lohmann, is assisting his players in their effort to prevent themselves from overcommitting and to take a more patient approach: warding, farming and controlling the map. He also has helped them refine their in-game communication. Steeelback noted, as an example, "After the game, he goes to a player and tells him, 'You should have told them that you were recalling,' or, 'You should have told them that we were team-fighting.'" Practice yields results, but it is a process. The 1-1 record against the Unicorns of Love stands as an example. A botched team fight in the first game allowed UoL to secure a landslide victory, and the AD carry indicated, "We took a fight when Airwaks was really low [health], but we didn't notice. So we still fought, and we all died." "I'd like us to stay the course," the French AD carry concluded. "Even if we lose some games, that we don't feel down, and that we keep it up because, in the end, it's the playoffs that matter. We want to be in the top six."

These are the display colors in RGB. The game is actually displaying extended ASCII characters in OpenGL, so you can modify the colors.

Image caption Thorium could prove to be safer in reactors than uranium Nuclear scientists are being urged by the former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix to develop thorium as a new fuel. Mr Blix says that the radioactive element may prove much safer in reactors than uranium. It is also more difficult to use thorium for the production of nuclear weapons. His comments will add to growing levels of interest in thorium, but critics warn that developing new reactors could waste public funds. Mr Blix, the former Swedish foreign minister, told BBC News: "I’m a lawyer not a scientist but in my opinion we should be trying our best to develop the use of thorium. I realise there are many obstacles to be overcome but the benefits would be great. "I am told that thorium will be safer in reactors - and it is almost impossible to make a bomb out of thorium. These are very major factors as the world looks for future energy supplies." Image caption Hans Blix says the world should try its best to develop thorium His enthusiasm is shared by some in the British nuclear establishment. Scientists at the UK’s National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) have been encouraged by the government to help research on an Indian thorium-based reactor, and on a test programme in Norway. The Norway tests at the OECD’s nuclear trials facility in Halden are conducted in a Bond-style underground bunker. A couple of charming Nordic homes perch on top of a hill at the edge of the town. Below them a garage door in a cliff face leads into a tunnel deep into the hill where the reactor hall lies. In theory, at least, the mountain protects the town from an accident. The thorium tests are being carried out by a private firm, Thor Energy (the element itself was discovered in Norway in 1828 and named after the Norse god of thunder). The company hopes to get thorium licensed alongside uranium in current water-cooled reactor plants. The British government says it would be useful to increase the fuel options for nuclear operators, as thorium is believed to be three times more plentiful than uranium. It is also currently being produced as a by-product from mining rare earths. Staff from NNL have been advising Thor on the use of mixed oxide fuels (MOX). NNL has also been helping the Indian authorities develop a thorium reactor, as India sits on top of the world’s biggest thorium reserves. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Inside Norway's experimental nuclear power plant The Thor project represents an evolutionary approach, using thorium in existing reactors together with uranium or plutonium. Oystein Asphjell, chief executive of Thor Energy told BBC News: "There is lots of thorium in the world, very well distributed all over the globe. In operations, in a reactor, it has some chemical and physical properties that make it really superior to uranium as well. On the waste side, we don’t generate long lived waste." China is going for a revolutionary approach, devising a next-generation reactor which its supporters say will enable thorium to be used much more safely than uranium. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Inside a mine rich in thorium When a uranium reactor overheats and the fuel rods can’t contain the chain reaction, as happened at Fukushima, the crisis continues. If something happened to a thorium reactor, technicians could simply switch off the stimulus which comes from uranium or plutonium in a small feeder plant and the thorium reaction would halt itself. Prof Carlo Rubbia from Cern previously told BBC News: "Thorium will be able to shut itself off without any human intervention... You just switch off the beam.” "There are also no long-lived waste products... We estimate that after something like 400-500 years all the radioactivity will be dissipated away." These advantages, if they were realised, would be huge. But thorium still has many technical problems to overcome. What is more, countless billions have been ploughed into uranium-based research and development, and in the words of Mr Blix, uranium has a very deep furrow, backed by vested interests. Canada, China, Germany, India, the Netherlands, the UK and the US have experimented with thorium as a substitute fuel in the past. Image caption The nuclear trials at Halden are conducted underground Questions are being raised, though, about the advisability of pinning the world’s energy ambitions on another nuclear dream. Environmentalists often allege that if renewable power had commanded a fraction as much research funding as nuclear it would already be much cheaper and more common. Dr Nils Bohmer, a nuclear physicist working for a Norwegian environmental NGO, Bellona, said developing thorium was a costly distraction from the need to cut emissions immediately to stave off the prospect of dangerous climate change. "The advantages of thorium are purely theoretical," he told BBC News. "The technology development is decades in the future. Instead I think we should focus on developing renewable technology - for example offshore wind technology - which I think has a huge potential to develop.” If thorium ever makes it as a commercial nuclear fuel, uranium may be seen as a massive and costly diversion. Some supporters of thorium believe that it was bypassed in the past because governments wanted the plutonium from certain conventional reactors to make atomic bombs. They believe thorium was rejected because it was simply too safe. Follow Roger on Twitter

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One of the NFL's most classic-looking teams -- or its most boring-looking team, depending on your point of view -- is headed for a face-lift. That's the word out of Cleveland, where Browns owner Jimmy Haslam has announced that the team will be getting new uniforms for 2014. Haslam says the team's helmets won't be changed, but everything else is presumably fair game. Naturally, we can't trust the Browns, the NFL or Nike to do this job correctly, so the task falls to you: Fire up your digital design software -- or break out your pack of magic markers, as the case might be -- and come up with a new uniform set for the Browns. The rules are simple: • Your entry must include a primary logo, a dark-jersey uniform and a white-jersey uniform. (If you like, you can also include secondary logos and one alternate uniform, but those aren't required.) • Your uniform designs must include the team's current helmet, since that won't be changing. Sorry. • Your designs can be created in any digital or analog medium (Illustrator, Photoshop, crayon, whatever) and can be submitted in any standard digital format (JPG, PDF, tiff, etc.). • Please include your name and email address somewhere on the image file, like this. Also, your file names should include your last name (examples: Lukas.jpg, Lukas-home.pdf, etc.). • Email your entry here. If you have more than one concept, feel free to enter as many times as you like. • Deadline: Thursday, Jan. 31, noon ET. The winning entries will be showcased in a future Uni Watch column. OK? OK! Now get crackin'.

Socks the Cat Rocks the Hill Socks the Cat Rocks the Hill is one of the most sought after and intriguing unreleased SNES games now that Star Fox 2 has been released. The game was one of many licensed platformers set to be released for the SNES, but its concept has captured the imagination of SNES fans everywhere. What is the story of this lost game? Read on. Thanks to Ellen Fuog for a bunch of the information here, as well as many great scans! Also thanks to billscat-socks, Jonny and Nathan Eveland for information used in this article. By: Evan G Last updated: April 1, 2012 First off, I'd like to thank Nathan Eveland who produced an earlier article that appeared on this site for many years. It was of high quality, though as I have dug into this game during the past month, it became apparent there were several factual errors, and I felt it was time to update it. Socks the Cat Rocks the Hill was one of two games planned by Kaneko USA featuring the Socks the Cat license. A Genesis game, Socks Rocks the Hill, was going to be a completely different game, not a port, and is also unreleased. The Socks the Cat license actually was not owned by the Clinton administration - rather a not-for-profit fan club based in Arlington, Virginia, known as Presidential Socks Partnership, Inc., controlled this license. The fan club was run by Robert Platt and Jay Wind, and their website on Geocities still exists in archives. In exchange for use of the license, Kaneko donated money to charity. The June 20, 1993 issue of the Chicago Tribune gave the details of this agreement: Then there is Socks, barely out of his first 100 days as First Cat and already starring in two video games-one from Sega and another from Nintendo - as well as appearing as a plush toy and a logo for coffee mugs and key chains. How does anybody go about securing licensing rights to Chelsea Clinton's personal cat? The answer is, by law, Socks is nobody's personal cat. His image belongs to the person who copyrights it first, and Bob Pratt, of Presidential Socks Partnership, won the race, along with the right to license his image. Though he didn't have to do it, Pratt has promised a share of his profits to the Humane Society and the Children's Defense Fund, which happens to be one of Hillary Rodham Clinton's favorite charities. Socks himself didn't even get a bag of catnip out of the deal. Kaneko was featured in Playthings Magazine (scan courtesy of Ellen Fuog) Even back when it was announced, this game was a curiosity, if not scoffed at for its unusual concept. Though at the time of its announcement, Socks was a big deal, and even when I was a kid, I remember the celebrity position that Socks had. The game was developed by Realtime Associates, who developed a number of games during the 16-bit era, such as Aaaaah! Real Monsters and Beavis & Butt-head: The Game. Apparently the game was complete. Kaneko gets the Socks The Cat license Being an upstart video game company, Kaneko quickly latched onto big name licenses to survive in the crowded 16-bit platforming market. The only two games that came out using this strategy carried the Chester Cheetah license, though they had plans to release games based on Fido Dido (the mascot for 7-Up) and Socks the Cat. In the June 1993 issue of Playthings magazine, there is a feature piece on Kaneko's products, and they clearly thought they had a winner in these licenses. Socks mania was in full force, and there was a big demand for anything Socks related. Given the popularity of the 16-bit systems was ramping up by the middle of 1993, it was a logical choice to create a video game. Without raising a whisker, "Socks the Cat" has settled into his new White House home and created "Socksmania" across the country. In less than four months of the new administration, the White House cat has gained national attention by appearing on numerous episodes of "Entertainment Tonight" and in newspaper and magazine articles including Time Magazine and The Wall Street Journal. Socks the Cat was the hit of the recent International Toy Fair in New York City and now graces everything from his own plush doll likeness to T-Shirts, bumper stickers, and of course, socks. In his video game debut, entitled "Socks Rocks the House", he will venture from the basement of the White House to the Oval Office to create havoc with the President's allergies. Along the way, while the cat's at play, Socks must push Millie the dog out the front door as well as avoid Arab terrorist felines. Early box art for Socks the Cat "Rocks the House", from Playthings Magazine (courtesy of Ellen Fuog). The Playthings article gives an early working title of the game (Socks the Cat Rocks the House), as well as an initial release date of fourth quarter 1993. A later blurb from the June 15 1993 issue of US Today narrowed the release to January 1994 (and the Genesis game to November 1994). CRUSADER CAT: At least one member of the Clinton clan is as popular today as he was upon entering the White House. Socks has shown up on T-shirts, mugs, stationery. Next up? Socks Rocks the House, a video game from Surge Entertainment in which the four-footed furball searches for an ex-KGB agent intent on detonating the Rush Lim-Bomb and destroying Washington, D.C. The $49.95, 16-bit video game from licensee Kaneko USA, Ltd., will be out in November for use on the Sega Genesis Entertainment System; Socks Rocks the Hill, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System 16-bit format, is due in January. I tried to find information on Surge Entertainment, but I came up empty. I think it must have been an error. Socks shown at Summer CES Back before E3 became the dominant trade show for video games, CES was the primary place for developers to show off new games. At the Summer CES held on June 1993 in Chicago, Kaneko showed off their games based on Chester Cheetah, Fido Dido and Socks the Cat. They held a cocktail party event to unveil the games on June 2nd. Needless to say, Socks the Cat stood out among all of the games shown at the CES. From the June 18, 1993 issue of the Chicago Tribune's overview of the games shown at the CES: Most Politically Correct Software: Socks the Cat Rocks the House (Kaneko) puts you in the role of the First Cat, escaping "from the basement to the Oval Office to create havoc with the president's allergies." I am not making this up. The August 1993 Nintendo power also mentioned the game along with the other Kaneko games in their CES overview. It was clear that Socks the Cat was attracting attention. This is a flyer which likely was given out at CES, with a real picture of Bill Clinton playing the saxophone. Early advertisement presumably for CES (courtesy of Ellen Fuog) Late '93 release? Clearly, Kaneko did intend to push for the release to be in the fourth quarter. It is mentioned in the September 1993 issue of Gamepro that it would be released in January 1994 (probably reiterating what was said at CES). There is a small preview in the November 1993 issue of EGM. A full page advertisement of the game appeared in the November and January 1993 issues of Gamepro. The ad says the game should have been available in Fall 1993. Call it 'capital punishment,' but Socks the Cat, the nation's first feline, is at play on Capital Hill. Suddenly, 'political party' takes on a new meaning in these two new humorous games for Genesis and SNES. 'Socks Rocks the Hill', is a madcap adventure to save the world from nuclear annihilation. Socks, the White House cat, discovers the missing portable nuclear launch unit in his favorite napping spot, the basement of a foreign embassy. To avoid mass destruction, he must return to the White House and alert the first family. But, a foreign spy ring has their own political agenda. They want to see Socks run, and not for political office! The chase begins. Socks must overcome the likes of foreign spies, Enemy Animal Agents, politicians, secret service agents and the ever-present media corp. To keep the party alive, Socks pounces, tumbles, and negotiates his way out of the intricate secret passages and puzzles of Washington. This cat is in a ring of trouble, but not over the hill yet! 'Socks Rocks the Hill' is a one or two player 8 MEG game for Genesis and SNES. Comedic action, scrolling graphics and playful movement make this game a platform to run on, and on and on. Rock on with Kaneko USA's 'Socks Rocks the Hill.' Available nationwide this fall! Advertisement for Socks the Cat, from the November 1993 issue of Gamepro (scan courtesy of Retromags). Screenshot from the advertisement Courtesy of Retromags Kaneko shuts down Clearly, the game did not meet its original deadline. Nintendo Power had a short preview in the May 1994 issue. In it, they state that the content might be considered a bit controversial, but that enemies were quite comical. Preview from Nintendo Power Reviews for Socks the Cat started to appear in magazines between June and July 1994, indicating the game was reaching completion. From the June 1994 issue of Nintendo Power: Review in Nintendo Power (scan courtesy of Retromags). From the July 1994 issue of Gamepro: Review in Gamepro (scan courtesy of Retromags). From the June 1994 issue of EGM: Review in Gamepro (scan courtesy of Retromags). Clearly, Socks the Cat was considered an above average platformer with some imaginative enemies based on political figures. As a bit of a political junkie, I probably would have enjoyed this cute game. The Ross Perot boss seems to have really impressed the reviewers. The Nintendo Power review mentions that the game can be challenging due to poor control, though confusingly the Gamepro review gives it a "beginner" challenge rating. Gamepro review screenshots. Nintendo Power review screenshots Alas, the game was not to be. Kaneko closed its doors shortly before the release of the game. Though the game was reviewed, the former Kaneko employees I contacted say it was not complete. There has been speculation on the Internet that this game met its end because of Nintendo's censorship policies, but this was not the case. I asked Ellen Fuog, former VP of marketing for Kaneko USA about this: Socks absolutely did not fall victim to any Nintendo censorship policies. Quite the contrary, they liked the idea; they liked the game. Everyone did. Most unfortunately, Kaneko did, indeed, shut down its US office around that time (summer 1994). Jeff Hill, the former director of product development at Kaneko, says the game was nowhere near completion: Socks the Cat pretty much headed straight for the litterbox. The game barely got off the drawing board and never got close to being a finished product. All we had at the time development was canceled was part of its first level. Discontinuation of its development had nothing to do with censorship. The game had a long, long way to go and Kaneko closed its US office in July of ’94. The game was never submitted for approval either to NOA or Sega – and certainly never manufactured. I was the guy who would have submitted it! Honestly, the game was nowhere near complete – and development was stopped at least six months before Kaneko closed the US office. I was there to the bitter end – and about five months beyond (retained as a subcontractor to close up shop). Someone says they have a copy and like the game! Someone else has a screenshot of the title screen. Amazing – because there was no game other than some early-development eproms (there were screenshots, though!). I also asked Ellen about the status of the game when Kaneko shut down, and she thought it wasn't close to completion. However, Anne McDonald, who worked on the game at Realtime Associates, says the game was complete: The game was never released. Kaneko Japan chose not to produce it when Kaneko U.S. was closed. The game did clear Nintendo and was complete. No know copies exist. I also asked David Warhol, the owner of Realtime Associates: Yes, we developed and completed Socks Rocks the Hill for SNES. The Genesis version was done by another studio and was called "Socks Rocks the House". I'll tell you this - it was VERY irreverent. The level bosses were main political figures of the time in situations that parodied their political lives. All I remember is that we had Nixon calling in bomb raids and we had Ted Kennedy driving a car around on a bridge. Maybe it's better it didn't come out after all! So, the developer of Socks the Cat says the game was complete and ready for release. The fact that box art was ready for this game also suggests it was close to production. Socks the Cat box - front Socks the Cat box - back Prototype DreamTR owns a prototype of Socks the Cat Rocks the Hill. There is a short film of one of the levels: The video supports the assertion by Realtime Associates that the game was near or at completion. The graphics in the level are the same two of the screenshots available from the reviews of the game. In all likelihood, we'll never see any gameplay beyond this shaky video. Summary Socks the Cat Rocks the Hill probably would have been lost in the sea of 16-Bit platforming games had it been released in 1994. However, its unique political concept has given it an air of legendary mystique amongst us SNES fans. I for one would have loved to see the Rush Lim-Bomb move. Scans Socks The Cat ad (large) Preview in the November 1993 issue of EGM review of the game in Gamepro (large) review of the game in Nintendo Power (large) Cover of the article in Playthings Magazine Playthings Magazine article CES pamphlet (large) Article in Forbes (includes artwork for the Genesis version of the game) Article in the CES Trade News Daily from June 2nd, 1993 Invitation to the Kaneko cocktail event, where they unveiled Socks the Cat Bibliography Gamepro , Review (score: 3.5/5) , Publication date: July 1994, Volume: 60 , Pages: 100 , , Publication date: July 1994, Volume: , Pages: 100 Electronic Gaming Monthly , Preview , Publication date: November 1993, Volume: 52 , Pages: 131 , , Publication date: November 1993, Volume: , Pages: 131 Electronic Gaming Monthly , Review (scores: 6, 5, 5, 7, 6) , Publication date: June 1994, Volume: 59 , Pages: 33 , , Publication date: June 1994, Volume: , Pages: 33 Nintendo Power , Pak Watch - Summer CES , Publication date: August 1993, Volume: 51 , Pages: 113 , , Publication date: August 1993, Volume: , Pages: 113 Nintendo Power , Pak Watch - preview , Publication date: May 1994, Volume: 60 , Pages: 113 , , Publication date: May 1994, Volume: , Pages: 113 Nintendo Power , Review (score: 3.1/5) , Publication date: June 1994, Volume: 61 , Pages: 102-107 , , Publication date: June 1994, Volume: , Pages: 102-107 Playthings Magazine , featured article on licensing in video games , Publication date: June 1993, Volume: , Pages: 50 , , Publication date: June 1993, Volume: , Pages: 50 Socks the Cat on Unseen64 (link) Discussion of Socks the Cat on the Lost Levels forum (link) Discussion of Socks the Cat on Digital Press (link) Discussion of the prototype on Nintendo Age (link)

madals Profile Blog Joined June 2011 United Kingdom 623 Posts Last Edited: 2014-05-30 15:30:28 #1 Hi Everyone, I'm pleased to announce another show matches I am going to be putting on! The $200 prize pool has been kindly sponsored by xtornzvt - check him out on twitter. If you would like to contribute, look below for how you can help make more events like this possible! When? Tuesday, Jun 03 5:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Welmu (P) vs Sacsri (Z) Welmu is currently 25th on the WCS global standings for 2014 and is a very well established Protoss player. He has been a professional player since May 2010 - with $30,000 of prize money so far! Sacsri is newer to SC2 than Welmu, having had his first game in May 2012. This first map though was in Proleague season 2 vs sOs! Until recently he was on SKT1, having left at the start of May - now, he has recently joined mYi! What the stats say: + Show Spoiler + The main English stream will be Madals VODS: will be uploaded immediately after the showmatch to Youtube There is $200 on the line. Winner gets $150, loser $50. As I said earlier, the $200 prize pool has been kindly sponsored by xtornzvt - check him out on twitter. If you would like to help more events like this happen though, please consider if you could.... There are 3 ways you can contribute that will allow me to put on more events in the future. As this is a new venture, please be assured that 100% of revenue is currently going into the prize pool for more events. I am not "paying" myself with these events. So how can you help and contribute? Subscribe to my twitch channel. It is $5/month but means I have some consistent money to put on this sort of event / show match. More subs = more content. Consider donating! Not as fantastic as subs, as it isn't monthly and therefore I cannot plan around it but still is hugely helpful. You can donate any amount you want here: Click here to donate via Pay Pal Turn off Adblock when watching streams you enjoy. This one is simple, it is free and gives the broadcaster a SMALL amount of revenue per ad. Hi Everyone, I'm pleased to announce another show matches I am going to be putting on!The $200 prize pool has been kindly sponsored byIf you would like to contribute, look below for how you can help make more events like this possible!When?Welmu is currently 25th on the WCS global standings for 2014 and is a very well established Protoss player. He has been a professional player since May 2010 - with $30,000 of prize money so far!Sacsri is newer to SC2 than Welmu, having had his first game in May 2012. This first map though was in Proleague season 2 vs sOs! Until recently he was on SKT1, having left at the start of May - now, he has recently joined mYi!What the stats say:VODS:As I said earlier, the $200 prize pool has been kindly sponsored byIf you would like to help more events like this happen though, please consider if you could....There are 3 ways you can contribute that will allow me to put on more events in the future. As this is a new venture, please be assured thatof revenue is currently going into the prize pool for more events. I am not "paying" myself with these events. Caster: @Madals91 http://www.youtube.com/Madals91 <--

The 74-year-old head coach of the University of San Diego football team begins a conversation on concussions in football with a pronouncement of perspective. “I played during the dark ages,” Dale Lindsey said. There were no facemasks when Lindsey first pulled on a hard leather helmet in middle school. He suffered, by his count, six concussions. And to be sure, spending any time at all with the man who played in the NFL from 1965 to ‘73 is cause to hope to be nearly as mentally and physically agile as he is in his eighth decade. Lindsey occasionally demonstrates a dismissive air about the relationship between football and long-term brain trauma. But he is no Neanderthal. He is knowledgeable about the science of concussions and said he won’t compromise his stance of not allowing one his players who has been “dinged in the head” to continue playing that day. “Nobody is going to be permanently damaged here for a football game,” he said. The scary fact, however, is no one can say that with any authority. And across the USD campus, there are those who wonder how long it can be pretended that anyone can. So it was that the Faculty Assembly of the College of Arts & Sciences at USD, whose monthly meetings often delve into the tedium of bureaucracy, was the occasion of a spirited 35-minute discussion on the prudence of an institution of higher education sanctioning an activity that may be dooming its participants to debilitation. At the behest of three faculty members, a non-binding resolution was proposed to ban USD’s highly successful football program. “As faculty members, one of our primary duties is to safeguard the well being of our students,” history professor Kenneth Serbin explained of the trio’s opposition to football on the basis of its purported links to long-term brain trauma. “… We believe playing tackle football, especially in (light of) the scientific evidence, is a danger to our students. The vote was not close — a 50-26 defeat with 30 abstentions. Even had the resolution passed, there would have been many more steps before it had any chance of leading to the abolishment of football on the campus. School President James Harris is on record saying he supports the football program and that the concussion issue is “complicated” but that he is open to further discussion pending new information. “I think we are at the end of the road,” associate professor of psychology Nadav Goldschmied said of the effort put forth by he, Serbin and physics professor Daniel Sheehan. Maybe. For now. But it is not impossible to believe that one day we would look back and tell about the time the psychology professor, the history professor and the physics professor walked into a meeting. And it wouldn’t be a joke. Is it so absurd to think that universities, where the chief aim is to improve minds, could someday not too far in the future decide they can’t be party to an endeavor that has the unfortunate side effect of harming minds? Remember, there was a time the world didn’t look twice at a pregnant woman sipping wine. Even more recently, inhaling smoke filled with toxins was not seen as all that ridiculous of a behavior. “We would hope this would spark other universities to follow in our footsteps,” said Serbin, who believes this was the first vote of its kind on any college campus. “We don’t see the vote as a total loss. We see the vote as a starting place.” For the record, these educators are sounding the alarm on a sport they respect for its abundance of redeeming qualities. Especially as it is played at USD, even the most strident believers that football is a danger to those who play it would acknowledge the game provides lessons in perseverance and teamwork that are difficult to replicate even in other sports. The Toreros, who don’t award football scholarships, graduate their players at a greater rate than the general student population. While they are highly competitive in the Football Championship Series level, having just won their fourth consecutive Pioneer Football League title and made their third FCS playoff appearance, it is a source of pride among coaches that players sometimes miss practice for required classwork. “We have a model intercollegiate football program,” Athletic Director Bill McGillis said. “… Performance is important while focusing on outstanding academic achievement.” The problem, as the professors see it, is this, in the words of Serbin: “If you don’t have a healthy brain you cannot enjoy those experiences.” For Sheehan, it got to be too much for too long. He would on occasion over the years see football players in his class with their heads down, unable to concentrate. As a physicist, he began looking into the effects of head collisions in football, conducting his own research and absorbing the growing number of studies that indicate head trauma inherent to football causes long-term damage. There is, famously now, the recent Boston University study of 111 brains of deceased NFL players in which the degenerative brain disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy was found in 110. The same researcher found CTE in 48 out of 53 (91 percent) brains of football players who stopped playing after college, and almost half of those exhibited severe pathology. The NFL and others have dismissed this and other studies as subjective. And perhaps that will prove to be the case. But what if it’s half-right. What if 45 percent of college football players end up with CTE and 28 percent of those exhibit severe pathology? For the professors, this data, even if it needs more replicable study, cannot be ignored. To them, those sanctioning football might not have the inherent evilness of Big Tobacco, but the results of their complicity is just as devastating. “We are pretty dumb,” Goldschmied said. “If you see two people banging their heads repeatedly against each other, this is likely to bring about danger, sickness. It’s so obvious. Now we have scientific evidence, we have something to back it up. … This is not a healthy game. This is a dangerous game. It is clear. There is no gray area here.” Where McGillis, Lindsey and so many others almost unfailingly point out research that says football results in fewer concussions than girls’ soccer, basketball and volleyball, Sheehan counters that the rules of those sports can be sufficiently altered to greatly reduce head trauma. Football is a collision sport played by increasingly large men who are increasingly strong and are running increasingly fast into each other. “The laws of physics are stringent, and they make it very difficult for football to be safe without head impacts,” Sheehan said. “You either slow the game down or outlaw head impacts. … In 20 years, football as we know it will not exist, I don’t think. Too much is being known.” That is a thought taking hold in many corners, including within the NFL. The sport’s future most likely hinges on as-yet-unrealized advances in helmet safety. Perhaps technology progresses as rapidly in developing “safe” helmets and/or helmets that can measure the force of hits to the head as it does with mobile phones. An incredulous Lindsey said this: “We have sent men to the moon. You mean to tell me there isn’t some dude out there who can’t figure this out, that could make something would give us more protection?” Those of us who love and appreciate football can only hope. Otherwise, time is running out — if not for football itself, then for people who sanction the sport to continue to not address the very same questions posed by the psychology and physics and history professors. [email protected]

Need to skim the iTunes terms and conditions Just in case they try to sell me to slavery or make me sign over all my possesions 157 shares

Dew Drop Inn LoW will be playing an all ages show "outside" at the Dew Drop Inn Friday Oct. 2nd 2020. 7:30pm - 10pm

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — After recording two wins in its first three matches, Ireland could reach the knockout rounds of the Cricket World Cup for the first time if it can win one of its remaining three games. In the previous two World Cups, Ireland defeated Pakistan, Bangladesh and England. This year, it opened with victories over West Indies, a two-time champion, and the United Arab Emirates before losing Tuesday to South Africa, considered one of the three favorites for the World Cup. While the Irish cricket team is on an upward trajectory, perhaps the biggest wonder is why it has taken the country so long to make it this far, considering the country has excelled in other sports with British roots, like soccer and rugby. An easy answer: history. “In terms of field sports being participated in, if you exclude athletics, then by the 1870s cricket is without question the most popular field sport in Ireland,” said Paul Rouse, a specialist in Irish sport and a lecturer at University College Dublin. There were over 300 cricket clubs in Ireland, and the game bridged class and sectarian divides.

A DOD whistleblower detail an attempt by a covert U. S. team to plant weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The team was later killed by friendly fire due to CIA incompetence. Pentagon Whistleblower Reveals CIA/ DoD Fiascos http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2003/06/266752.shtml 20.06.2003 [08:07] In a world exclusive, Al Martin Raw. com has published a news story about a Department of Defense whistleblower who has revealed that a US covert operations team had planted "Weapons of Mass Destruction" (WMDs) in Iraq – then "lost" them when the team was killed by so-called "friendly fire." The Pentagon whistleblower, Nelda Rogers, is a 28-year veteran debriefer for the Defense Department. She has become so concerned for her safety that she decided to tell the story about this latest CIA- military fiasco in Iraq. According to Al Martin Raw. com, "Ms. Rogers is number two in the chain of command within this DoD special intelligence office. This is a ten-person debriefing unit within the central debriefing office for the Department of Defense. The information that is being leaked out is information "obtained while she was in Germany heading up the debriefing of returning service personnel, involved in intelligence work in Iraq for the Department of Defense and/or the Central Intelligence Agency. "According to Ms. Rogers, there was a covert military operation that took place both preceding and during the hostilities in Iraq," reports Al Martin Raw. com, an online subscriber-based news/analysis service which provides "Political, Economic and Financial Intelligence." Al Martin is a retired Lt. Commander (US Navy), the author of a memoir called "The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran Contra Insider, " and he is considered one of America's foremost experts on corporate and government fraud. Ms. Rogers reports that this particular covert operation team was manned by ex-military personnel and that "the unit was paid through the Department of Agriculture in order to hide it, which is also very commonplace." According to Al Martin Raw. com, "the Ag Department has often been used as a paymaster on behalf of the CIA, DIA, and NSA and others." Accordng to the Al Martin Raw. com story, another aspect of Ms. Rogers' report concerns a covert operation which was to locate the assets of Saddam Hussein and his family, including cash, gold bullion, jewelry and assorted valuable antiquities. The problem became evident when "the operation in Iraq involved 100 people, all of whom apparently are now dead, having succumbed to so-called `friendly fire.' The scope of this operation included the penetration of the Central Bank of Iraq, other large commercial banks in Baghdad, the Iraqi National Museum and certain presidential palaces where monies and bullion were secreted." "They identified about $2 billion of cash in US dollars, another $150 million in Euros, in physical banknotes, and about another $100 million in sundry foreign currencies ranging from Yen to British Pounds," reports Al Martin. "These people died, mostly in the same place in Baghdad, supposedly from a stray cruise missile or a combination of missiles and bombs that went astray," Martin continues. "There were supposedly 76 who died there and the other 24 died through a variety of 'friendly fire,' 'mistaken identity,' and some of them – their whereabouts are simply unknown." Ms. Rogers' story sound like an updated 21st Century version of Treasure Island meets Ali Baba and the Bush Cabal Thieves, writes Martin. "This was a contingent of CIA/ DoD operatives, but it was really the CIA that bungled it, Ms. Rogers said. They were relying on the CIA's ability to organize an effort to seize these assets and to be able to extract these assets because the CIA claimed it had resources on the ground within the Iraqi army and the Iraqi government who had been paid. That turned out to be completely bogus. As usual." "CIA people were supposed to be handling it," Martin continues. "They had a special `black (unmarked) aircraft to fly it out. But none of that happened because the regular US Army showed up, stumbled onto it and everyone involved had to scramble These new Iraqi "Asset Seizures" go directly to the New US Ruling Junta. The US Viceroy in Iraq Paul Bremer is reportedly drinking Saddam Hussein's $2000 a bottle Napoleon era brandy, smoking his expensive Davidoff cigars and he has even furnished his Baghdad office with Saddam's Napolean era antique furniture The Iraq Debacle Du Jour has evidently been extensively documented by the DIA debriefing teams with "extensive tape recordings of interviews with the Iraqi returnees, the covert operatives (as well as their affidavits)." Al Martin Raw. com has dubbed this "Operation Skim Iraq."

Kindly Share This Story: The Federal Government on Friday gave an assurance that it would complete the ongoing N537 million Ojutu bridge in Ilobu, Osun. Mr Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Works, Power and Housing, said this while assessing the level of work on some ongoing Federal Government projects in the state. Represented by Mr Adetunji Adeoye, the South-West Director of the ministry, Fashola said that he was impressed with the level of work done at the site. The minister, who noted that the contract was awarded in April 2017, said that the contractor had been paid N137 million out of the total contract sum. Fashola also said that government was committed to ensuring that all the ongoing projects in the state and other parts of the country were completed on schedule. He further said that the infrastructural projects had created jobs for the residents of the state. Also speaking, Mr Wasiu Atitebi, the Federal Controller of Works in the state, told newsmen that the contract was awarded and to be completed in 12 months. Atitebi said that the project was already 50 per cent completed, adding that government was not owing the contractor. Mr Humphrey Eihebholo, the representative of Preconsmith Construction Company handling the project, confirmed that government was not owing the firm. Eihebholo said people from the town were employed at the project site, adding that it would be delivered by July. Some of the residents, who spoke with newsmen, commended the Federal Government for embarking on the project. Mr Kayode Oladimeji, a motorist, said the old bridge connecting the town to Osogbo the state capital, was too narrow and old. Oladimeji said that with the construction of a new bridge by the Federal Government, there would be easy flow of traffic. Another motorist, Mr Wasiu Olatunji, said that he was happy with the construction of the bridge. Olatunji said that the bridge after completion would boost the economy of the community. NAN Kindly Share This Story:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Maria Butina, who has admitted to working as a Russian agent to infiltrate an influential gun rights group and make inroads with U.S. conservative activists and Republicans, will be sentenced on April 26, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said on Thursday. FILE PHOTO: Maria Butina appears in a police booking photograph released by the Alexandria Sheriff's Office in Alexandria, Virginia, U.S. August 18, 2018. Alexandria Sheriff's Office/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo Butina, a former graduate student at American University who publicly advocated for gun rights, pleaded guilty in December to one count of conspiring to act as a foreign agent for Russia. She has remained in custody since her arrest in July 2018. The 30-year-old native of Siberia wore a green jail jump suit during the brief hearing in Washington, but said nothing. Chutkan said during the hearing that sentencing memos from prosecutors and Butina’s defense team will be due a week before the sentencing date. Prosecutors and defense lawyers approached the bench for a discussion with the judge, but the subject of those talks was not made public. Butina has admitted to conspiring with a Russian official and two Americans from 2015 until her arrest to infiltrate the National Rifle Association and create unofficial lines of communication to try to make Washington’s policy toward Moscow more friendly. The NRA is closely aligned with U.S. conservatives and Republican politicians including President Donald Trump. Chutkan in February had delayed the sentencing at the request of prosecutors, who said Butina was cooperating in their ongoing investigation. Butina’s attorney, Robert Driscoll, said at the time his client was ready for sentencing. Russia in December accused the United States of forcing Butina to falsely confess to what it described as the “absolutely ridiculous charges” of her being a Russian agent. Court records have pointed to the involvement of several others with Butina’s actions including Paul Erickson, a conservative political activist with deep Republican ties who was romantically linked to her. Erickson is referred to as “Person 1” court records, which stated that he helped advise her on which American politicians to target for meetings. Erickson’s attorney William Hurd declined to comment. Federal prosecutors in South Dakota have charged Erickson with 11 counts of wire fraud and money laundering unrelated to the case against Butina. Erickson’s indictment appeared to make references to her when it said he made a payment of $8,000 to an “M.B.” in June 2015 and another payment of $1,000 to “M.B.” in March 2017, as well as more than $20,000 to American University in June 2017. Alexander Torshin, who was a deputy governor of Russia’s central bank, has been identified as the Russian official involved in Butina’s case. The charges against Butina were not part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s now-concluded investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. election.

DENVER (BUSINESS WIRE), March 11, 2016 – Independent mobile analytics firm RootMetrics® has just released a new RootScore® Report showing Sprint continues to have the fastest network in Denver, with a #1 ranking in network speed and data performance, and a tie for #1 in overall network performance. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160311005110/en/ This is Sprint’s second consecutive outright win for network speed in Denver. It is Sprint’s first outright win in data performance – previously Sprint shared the first place data performance award with Verizon. “We’re proud to have our network once again be ranked as the fastest with the best data performance. We’ll keep investing to further improve performance and we’re committed to giving the Mile High City an exceptional wireless experience. With 50% off the competition, there’s never been a better time to join Sprint.” Greg Post, President, Mountain Southwest Region Fastest Network in Denver This is the tenth time RootMetrics has tested Denver, with the last test occurring in August 2015. RootMetrics drove a total of 1,428 miles and conducted 20,419 tests in Denver. During testing RootMetrics was able to experience Sprint’s carrier aggregation technology on the 2.5GHz spectrum band. This feature of Sprint’s super-fast LTE Plus Network creates a wider lane that allows more network traffic to travel at higher rates, enabling Sprint to provide Denver customers with even faster data speeds. In addition to deploying some of the most advanced technologies in wireless, Sprint has relentlessly focused on expanding and fine-tuning the network in Denver. Network performance has continued to improve with the addition of new cell sites, increased coverage and capacity, and systematic optimization of each cell site to maximize performance. Sprint is currently upgrading its indoor wireless system at Denver International Airport. Denver, Switch to Sprint and Save 50% In addition to offering the fastest network in Denver, consumers switching to Sprint can take advantage of the biggest wireless offer in U.S. history – 50 percent off the price of most Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile rate plans.1 Customers who switch get 50 percent off most current rate plan prices from their current carrier. And, Sprint will pay switching fees up to $650 per line.2 About RootMetrics RootMetrics, an independent mobile analytics firm that offers insights into the consumer mobile experience, tests the networks of all four major wireless carriers in the U.S. twice per year. The company provides objective, unbiased assessments of performance across a broad range of consumer-oriented mobile activities including data usage, calling, and texting. Network reliability measures a customer’s ability to establish and keep a data connection, make and retain a call, and send and receive texts. Rankings based on RootMetrics Denver (February 2016) RootScore Report for mobile performance as tested on best available plans and devices on 4 mobile networks across all available network types. The RootMetrics award is not an endorsement of Sprint. Your results may vary. See www.rootmetrics.com for details. About Sprint Sprint (NYSE: S) is a communications services company that creates more and better ways to connect its customers to the things they care about most. Sprint served more than 58.4 million connections as of December 31, 2015 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; leading no-contract brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Sprint has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) North America for the past five years. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint. 1Discount applies to base monthly service plan and access charges only. Discount does not apply to certain charges such as taxes, surcharges, roaming, premium content, add-ons, and apps. New plan features may not be an exact match. Discount offer limited to regular rates on consumer plans as of 3/31/16 for: Verizon’s shared data rate plans as of 3/31/16 for 1GB, 3GB, 6GB, 12GB, 18GB, 20GB, 25GB, 30GB, 40GB and 50GB; T-Mobile’s Simple Choice rate plan prices as of 3/31/16 for 2GB, 6GB and 10GB; and AT&T’s shared data rate plans as of 3/31/16 for 300MB, 2GB, 5GB, 15GB, 20GB, 25GB, 30GB, 40GB and 50GB. Discount does not include competitor promotional or sale prices. Plans exclude unlimited music and video streaming, data carryover, and cloud options that other carrier plans may offer. Offer/coverage not available everywhere or for discounted phones. Subject to new-line, $36 activation fee, credit, valid port-in. Customer must choose from same porting carrier rate card. 2Requires valid port-in, submission of previous bill, current phone turn in and online registration. Via American Express Reward Card. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160311005110/en/

News The Expansion Draft Cometh: Defenders Edition by Alex Schieferdecker on 16 November 2016 This week and the next, we’ll be taking a look at who Minnesota might take in the upcoming MLS Expansion Draft. The Loons will get five selections of players left unprotected by the other twenty teams in the league. Atlanta will also get five selections, and they have the first pick. To start this series, we’ll be looking into the defensive options. Prior to this series, four 55.1 writers made lists of the players on every team that we’d protect if we were that team. Looking at our selections in aggregate should give a good sense of which players are likely to be available. Likely Unprotected: Listed below, in team alphabetical order, are the defenders who were not protected by any of our writers. Bolded players�are on my list of targets: Michael Harrington (CHI), Eric Gehrig (CHI),�Tyson Wahl (CLB), Corey Ashe (CLB), Joseph Greenspan (COL), Bobby Burling (COL), Dennis Castillo (COL), Kofi Opare (DCU), Chris Korb (DCU), Luke Mishu (DCU), Aubrey David (DCU), Maynor Figueroa (FCD), Jalil Anibaba (HOU), Agus (HOU), Kevin Garcia (HOU), Abdoulie Mansally (HOU), Leonardo (LAG), Daniel Steres (LAG), Amadou Dia (MTL), Donny Toia (MTL), �Kyle Fisher (MTL), Jordan McCrary (NER), Je-Vaughn Watson (NER), Darrius Barnes (NER), Donnie Smith (NER), Ethan White (NYC), Maxime Chanot (NYC), Connor Brandt (NYC), Ronald Zubar (NY), Chris Duvall (NY), Justin Bilyeu (NY), Aur�lien Collin (NY), Karl Ouimette (NY), Kevin Alston (ORL), David Mateos (ORL), Taylor Washington (PHL), Ken Tribbett (PHL), Ray Gaddis (PHL), Jermaine Taylor (POR), Gbenga Arokoyo (POR), Nat Borchers (POR), Amobi Okugo (POR), Taylor Peay (POR), Chris Klute (POR), Demar Phillips (RSL), Chris Schuler (RSL), Jordan Stewart (SJ), Andr�s Imperiale (SJ), Dylan Remick (SEA), Tony Alfaro (SEA), Oniel Fisher (SEA), Jimmy Ockford (SEA), Damion Lowe (SEA), Chance Myers (SKC), Ever Alvarado (SKC), Nick Hagglund (TFC), Diego Martinez (NYC), Eriq Zavaleta (TFC), Josh Williams (TFC), Mark Bloom (TFC), Cole Seiler (VAN), David Edgar (VAN), Marcel De Jong (VAN), Brett Levis (VAN) Possibly�Unprotected: Listed below, in team alphabetical order, are the defenders who were protected by�not all of our writers. Bolded players�are on my list of targets: Waylon Francis (CLB), Nicolai N�ss (CLB), Gaston Sauro (CLB),�Marc Burch (COL), Sean St. Ledger (COL), Sean Franklin (DC), Zach Loyd (FCD), DeMarcus Beasley (HOU), David Horst (HOU), Sheanon Williams (HOU), Ashley Cole (LAG), Dave Romney (LAG), Hassoun Camara (MTL), Victor Cabrera (MTL), Jason Hernandez (NYC), R. J. Allen (NYC), Andoni Iraola (NYC), Connor Lade (NY), Kemar Lawrence (NY), Luke Boden (ORL), Brek Shea (ORL), Vytautas Andriu�kevi?ius (POR), Steven Taylor (POR), J�mison Olave (RSL), Aaron Maund (RSL), V�ctor Bern�rdez (SJ), Clarence Goodson (SJ), Tyrone Mears (SEA), Ike Opara (SKC), Kevin Ellis (SKC), Nuno Andr� Coelho (SKC), Seth Sinovic (SKC), Kendall Waston (VAN), Sam Adekugbe (VAN) Analysis: As friend of the site Bruce McGuire will tell you (if you give him the chance), expansion teams in MLS need to get the defense right. It’s much, much harder than it looks. In 2015, NYCFC and Orlando ranked in the bottom four teams in the league in goals allowed. In 2016, both teams�still�ranked in the bottom four teams in the league in goals allowed. Just ask Toronto fans about how an expansion club can get the defense wrong (and keep getting it wrong) for years and years. It’s for that reason that I’m a huge proponent of Minnesota using the expansion draft to draft defenders. Maybe not with all five picks, but how about with three? It won’t thrill the home faithful, but we’ll all appreciate an iron skillet-free backline come March. The expansion draft is the best possible time to stock up on proven MLS talent in a critical and often overlooked position. Here’s who I’m targeting: Nick Hagglund (TFC, USA, 24) Hagglund had a poor 2015 season, but has been excellent for Toronto this year. However, all of our writers left the American unprotected. The problem for the Reds is how much talent they have. As good as Hagglund has been, defenders Drew Moor and Steven Beitashour are more likely to be ruled out, and TFC may leave it up to Atlanta and Minnesota to decide whether to scoop Hagglund or his defensive partner Eriq Zavaleta. I like Zavaleta too, but I prefer Hagglund. �Although only 6’1”, he is among the league’s most dominant defenders in the air and a decent distributor on the ground. He’s also only 24, which means he’s at the league minimum, and could be a building block for the Loons for years to come. Ike Opara (SKC, USA, 27) Kevin Ellis (SKC, USA, 25) Nuno Andr� Coelho�(SKC, Portugal,�30) Every writer left at least one of these three Sporting Kansas City defenders available, but each were also protected by at least one other writer. The Sporks struggled to find playing time for these three�and�Matt Besler this year, and so it makes sense that at least one of this impressive group will make their way into the expansion draft. Of the three, I think Opara is the best defender, but he’s also a serious injury risk. This past year was his first healthy season in a long time. Ellis, a KC native and former homegrown player, is the cheapest, youngest, and maybe the worst of the group, though he’d still be a good selection. Coelho is reasonably expensive, at $275,000, and 30 years old. But he showed himself to be a good player this year�and�brings global experience. I’d be happy to have any of these three�head north�to Minnesota. Waylon Francis (CLB, Costa Rica, 26) Nicolai N�ss (CLB, Norway, 23) Gaston Sauro (CLB, Argentina, 26) Quite similar to the situation in Kansas City, Columbus have three enticing defenders and are not likely to protect them all. The problem with the Crew’s offerings is logistical, all three possible options are internationals, at least two of the three are expensive, and the whole unit played poorly this year. Francis was recognized as among the league’s better fullbacks not too long ago, but his star has been eclipsed a bit after the Crew’s dreadful year. He makes $200,000. N�ss is a smaller center back who likely comes cheaper and is young. He was the first choice for The Massive after he was signed midseason. Sauro is an imposing Argentine, and he has the best pedigree of the bunch.�But he spent much of the past year injured, and he earns an incredible $585,000. It’s a bit difficult to say exactly how the deep and talented Crew will react after their inexplicably poor year. But the Loons are bound to get a shot at some good defensive options from this club. Ray Gaddis (PHL, USA, 26) There may not be a player in MLS who went from essential to expendable so quickly as right back Ray Gaddis did this past year for the Union. The literal face of the franchise (he appeared on the Union-specific cover of FIFA 15), Gaddis signed a new contract last offseason, and was promptly beaten for his spot by the excellent rookie Keegan Rosenberry, who went on to play every minute of the 2016 season. That means that Gaddis is likely to be available in the draft, and that he’s still likely to be the player who played 110 games for Philly from 2012 to 2015. Gaddis makes $150,000 and doesn’t take up an international spot. He’d be a shrewd addition. (I like Connor Lade, a similar type of player, as well). Clarence Goodson�(SJ, USA, 34) Jason Hernandez�(NYCFC, Puerto Rico, 33) Maynor Figueroa�(FCD, Honduras,�33) These three veterans all were left unprotected by several writers. While their ages are eye-catching, each�may still have something left and could be valuable mentors for the Loons’ fledgling defense. Goodson is the biggest risk. The occasional US international played just two games this year thanks to�a serious injury (herniated disk). He also makes $315,000. If the Loons could get someone of his experience and leadership for a cheaper sum, it could be a good investment. Hernandez has been NYCFC’s best defender, which isn’t saying a lot. But the MLS veteran is a seasoned competitor who never quits, and earns a reasonable $200,000. He was picked by the Pigeons in the last expansion draft, funny enough. Finally, Figueroa didn’t exactly cover himself in glory in the MLS Cup Playoffs, but the Premier League veteran was solid for Dallas all year. He earns just $115,000, which is startlingly low. Others: There will be no shortage of experienced defenders available.�Aur�lien Collin (NY) is perpetually moving teams, but he’s a good (albeit expensive) defender. There’s also stalwarts like Bobby Burling (COL), Zach Loyd (FCD), and Corey Ashe (CLB), as well as decent mid-career guys like�Kofi Opare (DCU), and Aaron Maund (RSL). These are options who I’d be pleased to see on the team, but I don’t prefer them over the other likely choices. Mock Draft: After selecting protected players, all of our participating writers made lists of who they’d take in the draft. Comparing my list to those of other writers and considering the rules of the draft (a team can only lose one player), here’s how my mock draft came out: Ryan Meara (GK, RBNY) Nick Hagglund (CB, TFC) Oalex Anderson (FW, SEA) Ike Opara (CB, SKC) Ray Gaddis (RB, PHL) Tomorrow,�we’ll look at the options in goal! Tags: Expansion Draft

Liane Hentscher/FOX on NBC. That's a long time for a television show. So long, that actor Rainn Wilson was initially averse to acting in another TV series. He told the following anecdote at the AOL Build Speaker Series on Jan. 20: "I was finishing up 'The Office' in the final week, and my agent called, and they were like, 'we want you do read this script,' and I was like, 'okay,' and they said it was a TV pilot, and I was like, 'you're fired.'" He was joking about firing his agents, but he wasn't kidding about how much it was going to take for him to do another television series. So what ultimately convinced him? A good script, a rich character, and a seat at the producer's table made it an enticing choice for Wilson. "The part was insane," he said. "...Interesting and complex and difficult, and I was like, I have to play this role." A great script and a rich character made "Backstrom" a television show worth doing. Frank Ockenfels/FOX The series is based on Swedish author and criminologist Leif G.W. Persson's books about a nasty, boorish detective, Evert Bäckström (changed to Everett Backstrom for the American television series). The books are incredibly successful in Scandinavia. Wilson was initially approached to do the series not long after "The Office" bowed in 2013. At that time, the series was set to air on CBS. However, after the network passed on the series, it eventually landed at FOX. Ultimately, Wilson got a "nice year off," as he puts, it before filming the 13 episodes. It also doesn't hurt that this time around, he's not just a featured player. He's the titular character and also a producer on the show, with showrunner Hart Hansen, Persson, and Persson's Scandinavian literary agent, Niclas Salomonsson, acting as executive producers. "I [wanted] to have a place at the table ... a lot of the time as an actor, you're left out," he said. "Backstrom" premieres on Fox Thurs., Jan 22 at 9 p.m.

From: Joshua Reich <[email protected]> To: Shamir Karkal <[email protected]>; Jerry Neumann <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, July 17, 2009, 3:43:08 PM GMT+2 Subject: lets start a retail bank What would it take to start a really boring, simple bank? As I see it, a bank provides basic functionality: 1. A place to hold my money so I don’t need an oversized wallet or mattress 2. Electronic payment & transfer interfaces 3. Ability to lend my cash to others in exchange for a risk adjusted return 4. The opposite of 3 = borrowing. Atop of this banks go to great lengths to optimize revenue. They invent products with fictitious boundaries so that they may extract the maximum revenue from each consumer. And to do so they make it very difficult for the consumer to rationally evaluate these products by hiding information. My bank knows more about my financial behavior than I do, yet it makes it very difficult for me to rationally choose banking products. The interface that they provide for viewing my home loan transactions, for example, is terribly obtuse. It would take a herculean effort on the part of the average consumer to compare the pros and cons of two competing loan types given the information barrier that is artificially maintained between the bank and the consumer. Why not simply build a bank that provides the infrastructure to perform the 4 basic functions listed above? But instead of earning money by hiding information from the consumer — adopt an open information policy. The role of the bank simply becomes a gatekeeper for your money. Products are no longer offered directly by the bank. Instead the bank provides you with the ability to perform the basic financial transactions PLUS have complete and open access to your data. This data is then shared, in a privacy compliant fashion, with 3rd party financial products that are available to the consumer in a marketplace. If I want to get a home loan, I go to the bank operated market for home loans, and the bank uses all the data it has available about me to help me best evaluate competing loan offerings. By not implementing the loans, the bank is no longer conflicted, and takes the role of financial assistant rather than duplicitor. To put the same idea another way, think of eBay. eBay provides an electronic marketplace for goods and it provides a basic infrastructure for buying and selling goods. I want a ‘bank’ that provides the infrastrcture for basic retail financial transactions and using the information it knows about my transaction history, it assists me when I need to choose from competing financial products that are offerred in the bank operated marketplace. Once this is done, the bank can cut through all the crap. I don’t need 6 different bits of plastic in my wallet to access my money. These cards reflect artificial distinctions atop of the concept of ‘let josh use his money.’ I don’t need a chequing, savings and home loan account. These are artifical abstrasctions of the ‘hold my money for me’ concept. Make banking simpler. Remove the conflict of interest that motivates banks to obscure information from consumers. The bank should be my agent, working with me to make better financial decisions. How would one build this? Josh — Joshua Reich 123 456 7890 i2pi simplicity . depth . scalability

VICTORVILLE-(VVNG.com): “I would die and kill for Allah” yelled 57-year-old, Mohamed Ahmed Elrawi as he chased his terrified neighbor with a sword during a dispute. Just before 5:10 p.m. on Monday, December 7th deputies from the Victorville Station responded to a subject that was brandishing a weapon on the 14000 block of La Paz Drive. Due to the nature of the investigation, a search warrant was obtained for the search of Ellrawi’s home. During the execution of a search warrant detectives located a Koran along with several other undisclosed items leading investigators to believe Elrawi may be a radicalized Muslim. “Sheriff’s Intelligence Division was notified of the investigation. Deputies began surveillance and at a little after midnight, Elrawi returned to his apartment and was quickly taken into custody without incident,” said Sgt. Dave Burgess. There were no injuries reported as a result of this incident. Elrawi’s past church has attempted to debunk the radicalization accusations, saying that mental illness was the cause of the incident. Elrawi was booked into the High Desert Detention Center in Adelanto for attempted murder and criminal threats. He is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail. Elrawi is scheduled for an arraignment hearing at the Victorville Superior court on Thursday, December 17th. Anyone with any information is urged to contact Detective M. Mason or Sergeant Dave Burgess at the Victorville Police Department reference report # 171514867 at 760-241-2911. Callers wishing to remain anonymous can call the We-Tip Hotline at 1-800-78-CRIME (27463) or you may leave information on the We-Tip website at www.wetip.com.

The new Afghan strategy announced by U.S. President Donald Trump, which attacked Pakistan for providing safe havens to terrorists and offered India a greater role in Afghanistan, has put Islamabad in a tight spot. The political and military leaderships, usually divided on every governing issue, have come on “one page” to strongly condemn Mr. Trump’s remarks. Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi called for a joint session of Parliament to discuss the issue. He also chaired a National Security Committee meeting, which rejected President Trump’s Afghan strategy, and stated that Indian policies were inimical to peace in the region. In the words of Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, the Americans are scapegoating Pakistan for their failure in Afghanistan. Opposition politicians also joined the government in slamming the U.S. Imran Khan, leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, asked the country to learn from its past mistakes. “This should teach Pak once and for all a valuable lesson: never to fight others wars for the lure of dollars. Our economy suffered over $100 billion in losses. In addition, there were intangible costs on our society. Time for Pakistan to say: Never again,” he tweeted. Pakistan fought two wars for the U.S. in Afghanistan, both under military regimes. In the 1980s, during General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq’s rule, the military went into covert operations in Afghanistan, along with the CIA, to fight the Soviet Red Army. Later, after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S., the Pakistani military joined the war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda, when General Pervez Musharraf was the ruler. In return, the U.S. flooded Pakistan with billions of dollars in aid. Jihadist links Pakistan’s policy towards Afghanistan and India has historically been dominated by the military. After the Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, the U.S. lost interest in the country. But not Pakistan. Former military chief General Aslam Beg and former Inter-Service Intelligence chief Hameed Gul came up with a plan to make Afghanistan its proxy through jihadist organisations. The objective was to secure the western border from Indian influence. Though Gen. Musharraf later joined the American-led war against the Taliban, the security establishment did not entirely sever ties with militants as Pakistan’s foreign policy doctrine of retaining influence in Afghanistan through militancy never changed. Past American Presidents overlooked this double game and maintained a working relationship with the military. But the Trump administration appears to be getting tougher, raising questions over the future of the alliance itself. “I don’t think this is the end of the road, but certainly both countries need to make sure that how the trust deficit can be reduced,” said Amir Rana, director of the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies. “The U.S. needs to give assurance to Pakistan that it will act against terrorist groups in Afghanistan who plan and attack inside Pakistan, while Pakistan also needs to allay the U.S. concerns that it will act against the groups on its soil.” The Americans know that to put pressure on Pakistan, all they need to do is to take a pro-India line. A senior government official told The Hindu that the greater role the Trump administration is offering India in South Asia could prompt Pakistan to rethink its decades-old policy. Yet, Pakistan is left with no choice but to continue to fight the war in Afghanistan, said the official. “If the U.S. is angry, Pakistan has got a new master and financier — China.”

Andreas Antonopoulos: Bitcoin's Name Sucks, I’d Rename it to ‘TrustNet’ Bitcoin expert Andreas Antonopoulos recently spoke at Barcelona’s FabLab with his “thoughts on the future of money,” as his speech was aptly titled. Interestingly, the author of “Mastering Bitcoin,” admitted that he dislikes the name Bitcoin and would rename it if he got the chance. Also read: Estonia’s Supreme Court Decision Criticized as Anti-Bitcoin Bitcoin’s Name ‘Just Sucks’ Speaking in front of Barcelona’s Bitcoin community on March 24, Antonopoulos admitted that the name of the world’s first “network-centric” currency is “terrible” and unappealing to the general public. “I really like the idea of network-centric money,” he said. “In fact, in my opinion, the word ‘Bitcoin’ is a terrible name. It just sucks.” Bitcoin’s public image has of course suffered due to negative headlines in the press, resulting in many people associating it with cyber crime and the black market. But is Antonopoulos making a valid point in that the name is also a problem? Since it not only sounds like something a computer geek would come up with, but also doesn’t capture the true essence of this groundbreaking technology. “If you’re a designer, think about it for a second,” he continued. “’Bits,’ which either means small or it means the person who just said that is a geek. None of which is appealing to the general population; and ‘coin’ — a physical token of money used to describe the least physical form of money we’ve ever designed.” It’s certainly true that upon hearing the word “Bitcoin,” your first thoughts are not about decentralized, peer-to-peer commerce, the “first ever neutrality-exhibiting financial network,” as Antonopoulos himself puts it, or including billions of unbanked people in the global economy. So what name would a talented marketing team come up with if they got a chance to rename Bitcoin? Antonopoulos shared his choice with the audience: If I could rename it, I’d rename it ‘TrustNet’ because that’s what Bitcoin is. It’s a network that allows you to replace trust and institutions, trust in hierarchies, with trust on the network. The network acting as a massively diffuse arbiter of truth, resolving any disagreements about transactions and security in a way where no one has control. Indeed, something that better captures the functionality of the technology could gain more traction with the general public. Though ever since the name “Bitcoin” was coined by its mysterious creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, in 2008, there have been hundreds of other cryptocurrencies appearing in its wake all attempting to build on its success. Cryptocurrencies such as NXT, Dash (rebranded from Darkcoin), Stellar, and Monero are just some of the few examples of companies and communities going their own way as far as names are concerned. But Bitcoin has all but become a household name already, for better or for worse. It is undoubtedly the most recognizable cryptocurrency today, and chances are it will stick around for years to come. Meanwhile, thousands, if not millions of new cryptocurrencies will emerge in the future under more marketable names, offering something new and even better than the originator. But by that time, the name “Bitcoin” will probably be perceived a whole lot differently than it does today. You can watch the full talk below: Would you rename ‘Bitcoin’? What would you rename it to? Let us know in the comments sections below! Images courtesy of Exmo.com, bitcoinbarcelona.cat

“A number of lefties are softening their criticism and some are even announcing their support for Bernie Sanders. Yet: Those who have watched Sanders for years – e.g., anti-war activists from Vermont – know better than to trust Bernie “Chavez is [a] dead, communist dictator” Sanders. When push comes to shove, he will side with imperialist power – e.g., voting against the invasion of Iraq but voting to fund the occupation.” –Phil Rockstroh (2/27/19) “One keeps looking for the moral clarity of Gene McCarthy, Wayne Morse or Mike Gravel from Bernie Sanders on issues of war and peace. Yet what we are offered is mush and drivel. One might be tempted to blame it on his age. But like Reagan, he knows exactly what he is saying and why.” –Jeffrey St. Clair (2/23/19) The Democratic Party has an undeserved reputation for being anti-war. The last time the party ran an anti-war candidate for president was George McGovern in 1972. The 1980’s was the last decade when it was typical of candidates to pledge “defense” cuts or nuclear arms reductions. Dennis Kucinich has been the only exception to that rule this century. In fact, the most successful anti-war candidate of the last twenty years was a Republican: Ron Paul, who made a notable splash in both 2008 and 2012. Though he is not a member of the political party that writer Paul Street regularly refers to as the “dismal, dollar-drenched Dems,” Vermont’s Senator Bernie Sanders is once more seeking its presidential nomination and has signed the requisite “loyalty oath.” Sanders is often considered anti-war, but this is wishful thinking. His decades-long record in office demonstrates otherwise. It’s telling that Sanders has been more likely to cast a vote that could be deemed anti-war when a Republican is president. That betrays an allegiance more to partisanship than principle. Given this pattern, one can rightly wonder if he would have pushed his resolution against US support of Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen if Hillary had been elected. (Also note that the resolution would not end the US’s role even if Trump does not veto it, as he is expected to do.) (Props: I must acknowledge that the biggest source for this piece was Counterpunch editor Jeffrey St. Clair’s 2016 book, “Bernie & the Sandernistas: Field Notes from a Failed Revolution,” which I quote frequently. Page numbers in brackets refer to that volume.) IRAQ Sanders’ vote against the Iraq war authorization in 2002, like Obama’s (and unlike Hillary’s) is held up as some real anti-war cred, but as St. Clair writes: “More problematic for the Senator in Birkenstock’s is the little-known fact that Bernie Sanders himself voted twice in support of regime change in Iraq. In 1998 Sanders voted in favor of the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, which said: ‘It should be the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and to promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime.’ “Later that same year, Sanders also backed a resolution that stated: ‘Congress reaffirms that it should be the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and to promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime.’ These measures gave congressional backing for the CIA’s covert plan to overthrow the Hussein regime in Baghdad, as well as the tightening of an economic sanctions regime that may have killed as many as 500,000 Iraqi children. The resolution also gave the green light to Operation Desert Fox, a four-day long bombing campaign striking 100 targets throughout Iraq. The operation featured more than 300 bombing sorties and 350 ground-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles, several targeting Saddam Hussein himself” [pp. 37-38]. St. Clair adds: “Recall that over the 8 years of Clinton Time, Iraq was bombed an average of once every four days.” SERBIA The Bosnian War was the largest armed conflict in Europe since the end of World War II and caused over 100,000 deaths. The involvement of the USA and NATO in the war was a matter of controversy. Certainly, there was an anti-war stance to take, but Bernie didn’t rise to the occasion. As St. Clair writes, “[Sanders] voted in favor of the war on Serbia: once, twice… and on April 28, 1999, he did it again. This was the astounding 213-213 tie vote, which meant that the House of Representatives repudiated the war on Serbia launched by Clinton in violation of Article One of the US Constitution., which reserves war-making powers to Congress. So if the ‘socialist progressive’ ‘anti-war’ Sanders had voted in line with the anti-war sentiments he has forged a career upon, the result would have been a straight majority for the coalition of Republicans and radical Democrats” [p. 2]. GEORGE W.’S WARS Sanders voted for the 2001 Authorization for Unilateral Military Force Against Terrorists (AUMF), which, in St. Clair’s words, “pretty much allowed Bush to wage war wherever he wanted” [p. 37]. Not at all an anti-war vote, and one that had – and continues to have – far-reaching consequences. VENEZUELA On few other subjects of foreign policy are people in the USA more misled – including most liberals, and including Bernie – than on Venezuela. Most people here seem to think it’s some kind of authoritarian regime (while ignoring that the US is, to use Jimmy Carter’s words, an “oligarchy with unlimited political bribery”). Wrote St. Clair in 2015: “In the wake of Jeremy Corbyn’s smashing victory as the new leader of Britain’s Labour Party, Hillary’s super-PAC, Correct the Record, tarred Sanders as a Corbyn-like renegade who had cozied up to untouchable figures like Hugo Chavez. “About a decade ago, Sanders was part of a delegation that negotiated a sensible deal to bring low-cost heating oil from Venezuela to poor families in the northeastern United States. But instead of defending his honorable role in this ex parte negotiation, Sanders wilted. In a fundraising email to his legions of Sandernistas, Bernie fumed at being ‘linked to a dead Communist dictator.’ “Of course, Hugo Chavez represented everything that Bernie Sanders claims to be. Chavez is an independent socialist whose immense popularity in his own country led to his Bolivarian Party winning 18 straight hotly-contested elections since 1996, not to mention surviving several coup attempts backed by the CIA and the editorial board of the New York Times, plots that elicited not a squeak of dissent from Bernie the Red” [p. 21]. Hugo Chávez was very popular in Venezuela for good reasons. As Gabriel Hetland wrote in “The Truth about Chávez,” Chávez’s policies “led to vast improvements in access to health care, education, housing, and pensions. Poverty in Venezuela was cut in half between 2003 and 2008, with extreme poverty falling by 72%. …By 2012 Venezuela was the most equitable country in Latin America.” Bernie’s recent remarks about Venezuela were hardly a strong statement against US meddling. Rather, after mischaracterizing the nation’s governance, economy and actions towards dissent, all Bernie could tepidly condemn was “a long history of inappropriatelyintervening in Latin American countries” [my emphasis] as if there is way of “appropriately” intervening. No, this is not an anti-war sentiment. Ajamu Baraka put it well when he said: “There will be no peace as long as we allow the mythology to persist that the U.S. is a benevolent nation committed to human rights and democracy. This is [the] basis of arrogance that allows the U.S. to trample on international law & invade and destroy nations and peoples.” The common fallacy Baraka describes here is one that Bernie seems to subscribe to, as well as many of his supporters. This idea has no place in an anti-war platform. As long as it is embraced or accepted, the true nature of the U.S. cannot be seen clearly, which is imperialism. RUSSIA The Cold War between the US and the USSR ended thirty years ago, but was revived against the Russian Federation by Hillary and the Democrats during the 2016 presidential race. This dangerous development has pushed the world closer to nuclear conflict, an unimaginably terrifying prospect. It has also resulted in a new McCarthyism that, with the enthusiastic help of big tech giants like Facebook, Google and Twitter, has led to the marginalization of leftist alternative media and activism online. Sanders has been totally on board. He has consistently supported sanctions against Russia (notwithstanding one particular vote against them, which he cast because of the bill’s stance on Iran). He voted for the 2014 $1 billion package to support the anti-Russian, neo-Nazi forces in Ukraine, another provocative move. He has also professed confidence in the Russia/Trump/collusion conspiracy theories, the pursuit of which has only ratcheted up tensions more, and served to distract the populace from reasons to oppose Trump that are not at all difficult to prove. THE F-35 FIGHTER JET The F-35 fighter jet program is notoriously expensive and the plane itself infamously buggy. With a price tag of $1.5 trillion, and a development process that started in 2001, it is considered one of the single most profligate Pentagon projects ever (see Scientific American, the Atlantic and yes, Fox). Even war-monger John McCain called it an “incredible waste of the taxpayers’ dollars.” Yet Bernie has been a staunch supporter since the beginning. Says St. Clair says of the Senator’s enthusiasm: “He’s a Cold War Liberal lost in a post-Cold War world. [He] clings to his death-dealing supersonic relics, most fervently to the F-35 Lightning II fighter jet. As Andrew Cockburn reported in Harper’s, Sanders and his Vermont colleague Patrick Leahy waged a fierce bureaucratic fight to bring the jet to the Burlington Air Base as the premier weapon of the Green Mountain Boys, the 158th Fighter Wing of the Vermont Air National Guard. At $191 million per aircraft, the F-35 represents a technological wish-fulfillment for the defense lobby. Larded with the latest high-tech thanatic gizmos, the porcine and unstable Stealth fighter will prowl cloud-free skies (too dainty to fly in rain) on an endless quest to confront an enemy that no longer exists, and perhaps never did” [p. 22]. Activist Carl Gibson put Bernie on the spot about this topic in person, and Bernie said: “for better or worse, that is the plane of record right now, and it is not gonna be discarded. That’s the reality.” But that wasn’t a good answer to Gibson, who wrote: “So, while Bernie Sanders is saying we should cut military spending to fund free college for everyone, his defense of the F-35 means that despite everything else, Sanders is still just a politician. Sooner or later, the F-35 will eventually be replaced by something even more expensive, while the F-35 joins the thousands of other unused fighter jets in the boneyard. But rather than lying to people and saying the program is already a done deal and that there’s nothing he can do, Sanders could stand by his principles and introduce an amendment in the next National Defense Authorization Act to strip the F-35 program of its funding. That remaining $700 billion could make college tuition-free for everyone for at least a decade.” CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS FROM “DEFENSE INDUSTRY” According to opensecrets.org, in the 2016 race, Sanders took $366,458 from the Defense Industry, only 8% less than Trump and about 1/3 as much as Hillary accepted. Given that even peacenik Jill Stein is down for $26,395 in this category, one might wonder how it is defined, but that’s just too much to be called anti-war. WHY DOES IT MATTER? “This is the bottom-line, if you support imperialist politicians, no matter what ‘freebies’ they are promising, you support murder. We cannot, or should not, have ‘nice things’ here in [this] country when we are bombing so many more. Something has to give, and it has to be imperialism.” – Cindy Sheehan First, there are ethical considerations. That is, the idea that war is intrinsically wrong on moral grounds, and that conflicts should be settled by other means that are non-violent (with exceptions for legitimate self-defense). Pacifism has been preached and practiced by religious and secular people alike during the entire history of the US. Certainly, it has been more or less popular during different periods – and seems to be suffering a nadir at the moment, at least as a visible and vocal cultural force – but it has never completely withered. Such people and organizations operate as a vital conscience for the nation. From this standpoint, Sanders is flatly unacceptable. Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. –Eisenhower Secondly, there is the financial reality that war-making is bleeding the US dry. Every dollar for bomb-building is money that cannot be spent on projects that actually keep people safe, housed, fed, healthy and productive for the common good. Think of the bridges falling down, the homeless on the streets, the children who need free school lunches, the prohibitive cost of “healthcare” and the amount of creativity and labor sucked up by industries that are destructive (resource extraction, defense, big ag), soul crushing (the service industry, advertising, tech) or unnecessary (the FIRE sector: finance, insurance and real estate). This is a profoundly sick society indeed. In his speech announcing his entry into the 2020 race, Sanders called for cuts to military spending that have been described as “deep” but have not been quantified so far. Given the contradictions in his record, Peace activists Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies rightly ask: “’Which Bernie would we see in the White House?’ Would it be the one who has the clarity and courage to vote ‘No’ on 84% of military spending bills in the Senate, or the one who supports military boondoggles like the F-35…?” St. Clair, again: “It is one of the great failures of the Sanders campaign that he didn’t try to puncture some of the comforting illusions about American foreign policy. As cruelly as we treat our own citizens, Americans like to believe, in fact must believe, that our country remains a force of light and goodness in the most troubled precincts of the world. We are reluctant warriors, heroes for humanity. Sanders had a rare chance to expose America’s savage imprint on the world to his followers. With more than 800 military bases sprawling across the globe, the American military machine keeps the unruly living under a constant state of nuclear terror, each transgression against the imperial order disciplined and punished by SEAL team assassins, cruise missiles and drone strikes out of the clear blue skies” [pp. 2-3]. Last, but not least, is the stark reality of the planet’s dire environmental condition. Pollution is poisoning virtually all living things and climate change is threatening the existence of a large percentage. This has been the legacy of agriculture and industrialization. To address this challenging situation, we need global cooperation. But such teamwork is impossible while the USA is such a bellicose bully. A tremendous amount of the world’s energy, resources and time go into fending off or paying off the USA and its resource-extracting corporate overlords. This current state of affairs must end and be replaced with a real camaraderie in spirit and in labor. (And by the way, the Pentagon is also the world’s largest institutional polluter.) So, given the existential crisis that humanity is facing at this moment in history, to demand that the president of the USA be dedicated to a real anti-war platform is not a “purity test.” It is an entirely practical matter. Nothing less will do than a drastic reduction in “defense” spending and a complete turn-around of US foreign policy. I’m not naive. I realize that no such candidate would be allowed to run on either major party ticket, and that third parties don’t have a chance. So, it is not into candidates or elections that we should put our efforts, but movements. An anti-war movement of sufficient size and energy could successfully guide the actions of whomever lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. So let us put our hopes not in heroes but ourselves.

HARARE, Zimbabwe — An explosion rocked a stadium in Zimbabwe where President Emmerson Mnangagwa was addressing a political rally on Saturday, his spokesman said, adding the head of state was unhurt and taken to safety. State media described the blast as an assassination attempt. Vice President Constantino Chiwenga and his wife sustained minor injuries, a source close to Mnangagwa told Reuters. "There has been an incident at Bulawayo (White City Stadium) where the president was addressing a rally. This is now a police issue but the president is safe at Bulawayo State House," spokesman George Charamba told Reuters, adding that the explosion happened in the VIP tent. Injured people are attended to as they lay on the ground following an explosion at President Emmerson Mnangagwa's rally in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, on Saturday. AP Mnangagwa had been speaking in Zimbabwe's second-largest city of Bulawayo ahead of next month's election. Witnesses told The Associated Press that the blast occurred just as Mnangagwa finished addressing the crowd and was leaving the podium. The president was immediately whisked to a state house in the city to ensure his safety, according to the state-run Zimbabwe Herald. "Attempt on ED's life," the Herald's headline said, referring to the president by his initials. Footage posted online showed Mnangagwa waving to the crowd, turning to step off the podium and walking into the open-sided VIP tent, where seconds later the explosion occurred. People ducked and screamed and smoke billowed. State television immediately cut its broadcast. Bulawayo has traditionally been an opposition stronghold. 'Multiple Attempts' Spokesman Charamba told The Herald that investigations were underway, and pointed out that there have been "multiple attempts" on Mnangagwa's life over the years. The president himself has openly joked about the attempts, including during his campaigning. Mnangagwa took power in November after his former ally, longtime leader Robert Mugabe, stepped down under military pressure. That dramatic transfer of power began when Mnangagwa was fired as Mugabe's deputy and said he had to immediately flee the country for his life. The July 30 election will be the first without Mugabe in the southern African nation since independence in 1980. Mnangagwa has pledged to hold a free and fair election, inviting Western observers for the first time in almost two decades. Past votes have been marked by allegations of violence and fraud, and the United States and others have said a credible vote is key to lifting international sanctions.

A former US Marine who sees himself as the right-wing equivalent of famed street artist Banksy has been busy plastering Los Angeles with posters supporting the Republican Party and Donald Trump. The man, who calls himself Sabo, believes he is the only one on the right of the political spectrum doing such street art, and he has made a living out of his political art. “I’m a right-wing guerilla artist, as far as I’m concerned or as far as I know I’m the only person that does it. On the other side you’ve got Shepard Fairey, Banksy, Robbie Conal and I’m pretty much the only one on my side that does this 24/7.” The Republican supporter prints his pieces in the format of posters and t-shirts, which he sells by the dozens internationally every week. READ MORE: Will police arrest Banksy for offering anti-Tory voters a limited edition print? “I think Trump is as punk rock as punk rock has ever been,” the artist said. Quite how a 70-year-old billionaire property magnate and reality TV star president is “punk rock” Sabo does not explain. One thing, however, is clear – he loves his president, though he also likes to “party” with those on the left. READ MORE: Banksy’s Bethlehem hotel offers room with a view of West Bank barrier (PHOTOS) “If I was to think of the left, I would think they’re great to party with, great to get stoned and high with, drunk with, I love the left. But when it comes to them governing they’re fucking crazy. It’s like they wanna take control of every aspect of your life.” The artist gained national attention among Republican Party supporters during the US primaries thanks to a poster of Republican Candidate Ted Cruz depicted as convicted gang member covered in tattoos.

The official census figures are considered unreliable and an underestimate of the number of Christians in India. Some efforts toward correcting this by Christian missionaries follows: According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity (CSGC), a demographic research center located on the campus of Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, Massachusetts, USA, Christians account for 5% of Indian population in 2015: Another estimate from CSGC reveal Christians numbering 4.7% of Indians in 2010 and projected to reach 4.9% in 2020: The same institute estimates that Christians constitute 9.0% of Telugu-speaking people in 2013: Telugu is the 3rd largest mother tongue of Hindus (67.5 million), and 9.0% of its mother tongue speakers are Christian. — Global Christianity (@CSGC) April 25, 2013 Christian Aid estimated Christians in India as numbering 71 million (5.67%) in 2013. Projections In the book The future of the Global Church: History, Trends and Possibilities by Patrick Johnstone (2014), the author estimates that India had 64.5 million Christians (6.19%) in 2000 and that India will become the fourth largest Christian country in the world after USA, Brazil and China with a Christian population of 159.3 million in 2050: According to the same book, the estimate of the number of Protestants in India is 21 million (1.97%) in 2000 while it is set to become 48 million by 2050: A color-coded map from the book illustrates the percentage distribution of Christians in South Asia today: Credit: @sighbaboo

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We’ll always have a soft spot in our hearts for our go-to summer favorites, but these days we’ve been wanting to shake it up a bit. When Mother Nature decides to crank up the heat, we suggest cooling down with a cocktail that’s a bit more unique. Sorry, margarita, you’ve been replaced. Tequila-Watermelon Cocktail: Watermelon is everywhere in the summer, and we’re all about using seasonal ingredients whenever we can. This tequila-watermelon creation from chef Bobby Flay is sure to put a festive spin on any backyard barbecue. See recipe Watermelon Gin Fizz: Make sure to save some of that leftover watermelon, because you’ll definitely be wanting one of these. The season’s favorite snack becomes a refreshing, tangy drink, thanks to gin, ginger ale, and lime juice. See recipe Strawberry-Lemon Mojitos: In the mood for something girly? (Don’t worry, we’re not here to judge.) With the addition of fresh strawberries and bright lemon, this twist on the classic Cuban cocktail hits all the right notes. See recipe White Sangria Popsicles: Who says popsicles are just for little kids? Freeze a big batch of white wine sangria for an adult version of the childhood treat. Just sit back, relax, and pretend it’s summer vacation all over again. See recipe Red, White, and Blueberry: No one knows about battling heat better than the people of the South, so we knew we had to include a cocktail that takes its inspiration from one of the region’s signature drinks. Made with bourbon, simple sugar, and fresh mint, this concoction is a lot like a mint julep. Tart citrus and ripe berries make it especially appealing on a hot afternoon. See recipe Planning on sipping these hot weather cocktails outdoors? We certainly hope so! Make your imbibing all the easier and invest in zero gravity lounge chairs with cup holders attached. Photo credit: Some rights reserved by Didriks

Another day, another video of police brutality. The family of 17-year-old Marcel Hamer has released a cell-phone clip of a plainclothes New York City police officer hitting the teen while he lies in the gutter pleading one afternoon over the summer. Lawyers for Hamer say their client was suspected of smoking marijuana, but was ultimately just charged with disorderly conduct. “Mister, it was just a cigarette, sir,” says Hamer in the video, right before a partially obscured strike that appears to leave him unconscious. “Do you wanna get fucked up?” the officer says. “Yeah, get it on film,” he tells the boy’s friends. Brooklyn Paper reports that the June 4 incident is under investigation by the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau. Hamer’s family says he has suffered from memory loss, dizziness, and headaches ever since. The video comes the day after equally disturbing footage showing officers swinging at and pistol-whipping an unarmed 16-year-old a few months later in nearby Bed Stuy. “It is pervasive now, throughout the department,” said Hamer’s attorney, William Thompson, a former state Supreme Court judge. “It is indicative of an attitude in the police department that is, ‘Them against us. Let’s do whatever we want.’”

S-a trecut destul de ușor peste faptul că marți, 14 noiembrie, toți senatorii PSD și ALDE din Comisia de Apărare au lipsit de la ședința în care urma să fie dezbătut proiectul de lege privind achiziția sistemului de rachete Patriot. În absența tuturor parlamentarilor puterii ședința nu a avut cvorum și legea nu a putut fi discutată. Gravitatea evenimentului vine din faptul că avem de a face cu un boicot organizat și strident al coaliției de guvernământ. Dacă ar fi lipsit unul sau mai mulți parlamentari, puteam vorbi de o întâmplare. Nu ar fi prima oară când absenteismul blochează lucrările unei comisii sau chiar ale Parlamentului. Dar toți parlamentarii a două partide nu lipsesc decât dacă formațiunile sau liderii lor decid să blocheze un proiect. Și mai relevantă este maniera în care liderii Liviu Dragnea și Călin Popescu Tăriceanu au înțeles să comunice decizia lor de a îngreuna, deocamdată, sau poate chiar a bloca în Parlament o componentă esențială a sistemului de apărare al României. Cei doi puteau opri discuțiile din Comisia de Apărare și dacă ar fi rugat doar câțiva parlamentari să absenteze. Ar fi fost o tactică la fel de eficientă dar discretă, care nu ar fi născut reacții publice și nu ar fi dat ocazia partidelor de opoziție să ia o atitudine vehementă, așa cum s-a întâmplat. În același timp, resorturile ”întâmplării” ar fi fost pricepute rapid de destinatarii mesajului: guvernul și armata SUA, companiile implicate. Faptul că au ales calea boicotului arată că au vrut să transmită un mesaj de forță. Că s-a depășit momentul discuțiilor amiabile și că sunt pregătiți de o confruntare deschisă și dură inclusiv cu Statele Unite ale Americii. Au dat cărțile pe față și într-o manieră cât se poate de brutală au transmis că au puterea dar și voința de a bloca achiziția rachetelor Patriot. De ce fac acest lucru, în condițiile în care guvernul a aprobat deja, săptămâna trecută, proiectul de lege și l-a trimis la Senat, cu solicitarea de a fi dezbătut in procedură de urgență? Nu este tot guvernul coaliției PSD-ALDE? Și de ce s-au răzgândit între timp? Ce s-a întâmplat între 8 și 14 noiembrie? Un singur lucru notabil. Liviu Dragnea a fost inculpat în dosarul ”TelDrum”. Sunt liderii PSD și ALDE dispuși să arunce în aer cea mai importantă garanție de securitate a României, parteneriatul strategic cu SUA, din cauza problemelor pe care le au cu justiția? Sunt dispuși să vulnerabilizeze țara pentru a supraviețui politic? Există multe indicii că la ambele întrebări răspunsul ar putea fi afirmativ. Mai grav, planurile lor nu vizează doar relația cu America. Cu asta au început pentru că unul dintre ei se amăgește, în continuare, cu speranța că o intervenție salvatoare ar mai putea veni doar de la Washington. Chiar dacă, oficial, secretarul de stat american Rex Tillerson a poposit la București, miercuri, doar ”pentru a înnopta” există informații potrivit cărora escala sa a avut exact scopul de a spulbera aceste iluzii. De aceea, poate, imaginile de la întâlnirea din aeroport dintre Rex Tillerson și Teodor Meleșcanu seamănă izbitor cu cele de la întâlnirea, tot din aeroport, dintre Victor Ponta și William Hague. Se întâmpla pe 17 iulie 2012, cu două săptămâni înaintea referendumului pentru demiterea președintelui Traian Băsescu. Cum suna comunicatul oficial emis după întâlnirea Hague – Ponta? ”William Hague a apreciat asigurările date de premierul Victor Ponta privind aplicarea deciziilor luate de Curtea Constituţională şi organizarea referendumului din data de 29 iulie în conformitate cu decizia privind Legea Referendumului formulată de Curtea Constituţională.” Vă amintiți ce s-a ales atunci, rapid, de asigurările date de fostul lider al PSD? Praful. Nu este exclus ca un deznodământ similar să aibă și întâlnirea din aeroport, ediția 2017, dintre Tillerson și Meleșcanu. De ce? Pentru că reacția frontului condus de Liviu Dragnea și Călin Popescu Tăriceanu la punerea sub acuzare a șefului PSD în dosarul ”TelDrum” întrunește toate condițiile pentru a declanșa cea mai gravă criză politică, socială și diplomatică din România, din ultimele decenii. Prin comparație, criza din 2012 a fost o ceartă de cartier. Să luăm pe rând cele trei planuri pe care se va manifesta conflictul între nucleul dur al coaliției aflate la putere și forțele care i se opun. Dar și detaliile care îi demonstrează potențialul distructiv, de o magnitudine fără precedent. Dar mai întâi să clarificăm un lucru. De ce ar fi reacția la inculparea lui Liviu Dragnea în acest al treilea dosar declanșatorul crizei? Nu suntem deja în ea, încă de la începutul anului? Ce este nou și mai grav, de fapt? Nou și foarte relevant este că punerea oficială, pe tapet, a detaliilor penale ale afacerii ”Dragnea-TelDrum” și anuțul OLAF că a sprijinit direct și substanțial investigația DNA, i-a spulberat șefului PSD ultimele speranțe că și-ar putea negocia libertatea. Că președintele Iohannis sau altcineva ar fi dispus să încerce, măcar, să blocheze anchetele care îl vizează în schimbul unor avantaje politice sau economice. În urmă cu două luni, pe 12 septembrie, Liviu Dragnea a avut poate cea mai dură ieșire publică, la Antena 3, împotriva adversarilor săi: președinte, DNA, servicii de informații. ”Vor da socoteală! Mai e foarte puțin! Fac greșeală după greșeală. Sunt disperați. Vor fi mulți care vor începe să vorbească! Vom auzi foarte mulți! Au început să se pregătească. Sunt sigur că vom auzi foarte multe lucruri. CCR nu mai e în câmpul tactic. Vor fi multe nopți de nesomn pentru unii. Au depăşit linia roșie. Nu stiți cum e mămăliga românească? Odată bubuie. Nu țineți minte ce tare era Ceauşescu? Era Dumnezeu. Doar atât a trebuit.” În acel moment, am făcut observația că virulența șefului PSD este fără precedent. Cu toate acestea, scriam, ”nu ar fi făcut risipă de amenințări dacă era decis să treacă la treabă fără să mai aștepte ceva. Ce așteaptă? Ce așteaptă din februarie încoace. Ca Iohannis să-l invite să se târguiască. De altfel, nici nu ascunde asta. Este a nu știu câta oară când repetă într-un interviu fraza asta: ”Ar trebui să înceapă de la el (Iohannis – n.m) discuţia. Sunt deschis oricând pentru o astfel de discuție sănătoasă, asumată. Fără patimă, fără interese. Am așteptat și încă mai aștept. Nu e obligatoriu să purtăm această discuție, dar asta nu înseamnă că ceea ce s-a pornit se va opri,” a spus Dragnea. Câtă deschidere! Și mai ales cât de străvezie este amenințarea din final. De ce insistă Dragnea cu discuția sănătoasă? De ce nu trece direct la atac, ca să îi liniștească odată pentru totdeauna pe președinte și pe aliații săi? Pentru că îi este frică. Dragnea nu știe ce cărți are Iohannis în mână. Nu știe nici ce au procurorii, ce au serviciile, ce au americanii sau germanii, nici ce vor pune pe masă și nici când. Se teme de tăcerea președintelui, de refuzul său încăpățânat de a se târgui cu el. Și tocmai pentru că se teme de o lovitură iminentă a decis să atace el primul.” În ciuda amenințărilor proferate la Antena 3 și a arsenalului insituțional pe care l-a montat pentru a-și convinge adversarii că stă în puterea lui să îi lase fără prerogative și să le paralizeze capacitatea de reacție, Liviu Dragnea nu dorea altceva decât să-și negocieze pacea. Știa că nu își permite să subestimeze forța celor care îl vor debarcat și de aceea cursa înarmării în care a intrat în decembrie 2016 nu a avut alt scop decât găsirea unei soluții diplomatice: să obțină libertatea și să împartă puterea cu Klaus Iohannis, printr-un pact de neagresiune similar celui dintre Băsescu și Ponta, la a cărui materializare a contribuit din plin. După toate aparențele, ieșirea de pe 12 septembrie a lui Liviu Dragnea a fost motivată de spaimă. A aflat că inculparea sa în dosarul TelDrum a intrat în linie dreaptă și că este o chestiune de săptămâni până când va fi oficializată. De aceea a ținut să își etaleze din nou armele, să reafirme că este decis să le folosească și, în final, să facă o nouă ofertă de negociere președintelui. Dovadă ca așa au stat lucrurile: după ce a văzut că președintele tot nu îl cheamă la discuții a făcut un pas înapoi. Mare! Reacția sa față de propunerea de modificare a legilor a justiției, prin care președintele ar fi rămas doar cu un rol decorativ în procedura de numire a procurorilor șefi, a fost una foarte rezervată. Evident, a nu se înțelege că în spatele ușilor închise Dragnea nu ar fi fost de acord cu soluția tandemului Tăriceanu-Toader anti-Iohannis. Însă, faptul că a ales să spună public altceva demonstrează clar că a vrut să semnaleze că este în continuare dispus la negocieri cu președintele. Că, la o adică, dacă primește ce vrea, ar putea să nu susțină modificările care îl ating pe șeful statului. O atitudine care l-a iritat pe șeful ALDE, fiind o nouă dovadă că Dragnea s-ar debarasa fără ezitări de el dacă asta ar fi parte din prețul pe care i l-ar cere președintele. Odată, însă, cu deschiderea dosarului TelDrum, Liviu Dragnea a realizat că nu mai are ce spera. Nu din România, cel puțin. Că jocul său dublu nu mai are niciun sens. De aceea, anunțul făcut luni de DNA echivalează cu alinierea totală și fără rezerve a poziției celor doi lideri ai coaliției de guvernământ. De abia acum, Dragnea și Tăriceanu joacă în tandem. Iar parteneriatul lor a fost cimentat definitiv de convingerea că niciunul nu mai are nicio portiță de scăpare individuală. Ori înving împreună, ori părăsesc scena politică împreună. Din această schimbare derivă noutatea esențială: chiar dacă, poate, nu a căutat asta niciodată deliberat, președintele nu mai poate conta pe ezitările sau speranțele deșarte ale liderului PSD pentru a pune frână planurilor lui Tăriceanu dar și ale altor grupări, care doresc în egală măsură subordonarea justiției și scoaterea României din parteneriatele strategice cu Occidentul. De aceea, este de așteptat ca toate mișcările tactice pregătite pentru atingerea celor două obiective strategice enunțate mai sus să fie declanșate cu și mai mare rapiditate și duritate decât s-a întâmplat până acum. Ceea ce va generea, după cum spuneam la început, efecte politice, sociale și diplomatice dramatice. Criza politică. Consecințele schimbării legilor justiției conform planului nucleului Toader-Iordache-Nicolae ar crea condițiile pentru ca DNA dar și instanțele să se întoarcă sub controlul politic existent înainte de 2005. Ceea ce va face ca dezbaterile din Parlament pe acest pachet de legi să se desfășoare într-o atmosferă paroxistică. Tensiunea va fi maximă pentru că aprobarea lor va fi echivalată cu un vot dat pentru un prim pas spre desprinderea României din parteneriatele cu UE și SUA. Având în vedere că opoziția a dat semne, în ultimele zile, că se trezește și că înțelege să profite de criza prin care trec PSD și ALDE, s-ar putea să asistăm la scene pe care nu le-am mai văzut în Parlament din anii 90. Nu este exclus, însă, să asistăm și la declanșarea unei crize în interiorul PSD. Este limpede că numărul vocilor care îi contestă dreptul lui Liviu Dragnea de a folosi partidul drept scut personal crește. Dar sunt departe de a face masă critică. Este puțin probabil să asistăm la o debarcarea pașnică a liderului, așa cum ar vrea cei ce doresc să-i ia locul, într-o ședință de Comitet Executiv. Iar până la Congres mai e mult. Dacă există un scenariu realist pentru ca Liviu Dragnea să plece din fruntea PSD el este identic cu cel în care Victor Ponta a fost împins să demisioneze din fruntea Guvernului. Sub presiunea străzii și la imboldul unor colegi la fel de grijulii cu imaginea partidului cum a fost și Liviu Dragnea în noiembrie 2015. Criza socială. Este greu de crezut că mulți dintre cei ce au ieșit în stradă în februarie vor asista impasibili la acțiunile parlamentarilor. Cel mai probabil, tensiunea din interiorul Palatului Parlamentului va contamina și strada. Ceea ce ar face ca o decizie a liderilor PSD și ALDE de a merge până la capăt cu planurile lor, indiferent de reacția societății civile și a partenerilor externi, să împingă nivelul de nemulțumire peste pragul atins iarna trecută. Chiar dacă ultimele două proteste nu au atins nivelul maxim al celor din februarie este posibil ca suprapunerea nemulțumirilor deja existente față de ”revoluția fiscală” cu cele generate de compromiterea independenței justiției să formeze un cocktail extrem de periculos. Așa cum, de exemplu, în 2012, nu a existat. A doua încercare de demitere a președintelui Băsescu nu s-a jucat în stradă, ci în instituții. Criza diplomatică. Aici lucrurile sunt pe cât de clare, pe atât de grave. PSD și ALDE au reușit să îngrijoreze Europa și America în egală măsură. Implicarea OLAF în ancheta ”TelDrum” arată că toate marile puteri continentale urmăresc cu mare atenție încercările liderilor PSD de a scăpa de urmările acțiunilor sale care, potrivit DNA, au creat prejudicii semnificative. Reacția lor va fi cel puțin la fel de fermă precum cea la încercările USL de a răsturna ordinea de drept, din 2012. Criza în relația cu Statele Unite este și mai serioasă. Washingtonul a fost foarte dur și în 2012. Astăzi are un motiv în plus să reacționeze cu și mai multă fermitate. După boicotul de marți, din Comisia de Apărare, puțini mai cred că Liviu Dragnea și Călin Popescu Tăriceanu nu ar merge atât de departe încât să pună în pericol partneriatul strategic România – SUA. Și nu pentru că nu ar vrea să cumpere rachete PATRIOT, ci pentru că ar face-o doar dacă ar primi la schimb ceva, în interes personal și în contradicție flagrantă cu interesul național. Este în primul rând în interesul României să fie un stat de drept și să aibă o justiție independentă. Este în interesul nostru ca hoții să ajungă la închisoare. Și este tot în interesul nostru ca să avem sisteme de apărare moderne și eficiente de apărare. Am fi avut nevoie de ele chiar și dacă Rusia nu și-ar fi etalat cu forță ambițiile neo-imperialiste. Nu vom fi niciodată o țară puternică fără o armată puternică. De aceea, am solicitat Americii să cumpărăm rachete PATRIOT și tot de aceea este aberant refuzul parlamentarilor încolonați la comanda șefilor lor de a mai discuta legiferarea achiziției, la nicio săptămână după ce propriul lor guvern și-a dat acordul. Nu am avea o armată puternică și fără rachetele PATRIOT? Nu am avea o armată puternică fără sisteme performante de apărare anti-aeriană și anti-rachete! Am fi putut, bineînțeles, să cumpărăm astfel de sisteme și din alte țări. Dar nu ar fi fost o dovadă că nu apreciem la justa lor valoare eforturile și costurile pe care SUA și le asumă pentru apărarea României? Nu asta înseamnă parteneriat, la urma urmei? Ca ambele părți să suporte costurile unui proiect comun, după posibilități? Și da, apărarea țării este un proiect comun româno-american, pentru că nu ne permitem să fie doar proiectul nostru. Nu își permite nicio țară din vecinătatea europeană a Rusiei, dar noi suntem la o extremă, suntem cei mai puțini capabili. De ce? Din cauza jefuirii sistematice a avuției comune și a incapacității liderilor de a ne transforma într-o economie solidă care să ne permită să ne achităm singuri notele de plată. Fie ele pentru pensii, fie pentru rachete. Nu știu aceste lucruri liderii PSD și ALDE? Ba da! Și cu toate astea, atitudinea lor față de cetățenii României, față de țările de care ne leagă angajamente oficiale și solide sfidează nu doar logica și morala, ci chiar instinctul de supraviețuire. Dacă ei doresc să se sinucidă politic, îi privește. Dar faptul că încearcă să ne convingă pe toți ceilalți să îi urmăm, depășește orice închipuire.

The BBC has been severely criticised on social media after ruling that BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty breached impartiality guidelines by suggesting that Donald Trump’s “Go home” comments directed at a number of BAME Congresswomen were “embedded in racism“. In off-script comments made earlier this year on the BBC Breakfast programme, Munchetty said she was “absolutely furious” about tweets posted by Donald Trump which suggested that four BAME Democratic Congresswomen – three of whom were actually born in the USA, with another arriving to the country as a child refugee – should “go home“: “Every time I have been told, as a woman of colour, to “go home” or “go back to where I came from”, that was embedded in racism.” “Now I’m not accusing anyone of anything here, but you know what certain phrases mean.” Munchetty went on to say: “I can imagine lots of people in this country will be feeling absolutely furious that a man in that position feels it’s OK to skirt the line of using language like that.” "I've been told as a woman of colour to 'go home'…"@BBCNaga shares her experience as we discuss the reaction to comments made by President Trump. pic.twitter.com/u0HL5tEdgt — BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) July 17, 2019 Immediately following her comments, Munchetty received praise on social media for calling out Donald Trump’s “blatant racism“. Sign up to be notified of new Evolve Politics articles Name Email* However, following a number of complaints made to the corporation, the BBC has now decided to rebuke Munchetty, declaring that her comments breached their impartiality guidelines. In an official statement, the BBC stated: “The ECU ruled that while Ms Munchetty was entitled to give a personal response to the phrase ‘go back to your own country’ as it was rooted in her own experience, overall her comments went beyond what the guidelines allow for.” The BBC’s decision to rebuke a BAME presenter for calling out unequivocally racist comments made by the US President came in for stinging criticism on social media, with one user stating: “I saw this interview live and thought @BBCNaga’s comments were balanced and relevant given the topic and her experiences as a woman of colour. I challenge anyone to provide an example where telling a person to “go home” to a different country isn’t steeped in racism or prejudice.” I saw this interview live and thought @BBCNaga's comments were balanced and relevant given the topic and her experiences as a woman of colour. I challenge anyone to provide an example where telling a person to "go home" to a different country isn't steeped in racism or prejudice. — Andrea Smart (@ThatSmartPerson) September 25, 2019 Whilst another Twitter user simply stated: “How can you ever be impartial over bigotry?“ Miqdaad Versi, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, said the BBC’s decision was “appalling“, writing on Twitter: “The BBC has ruled that factually stating Trump’s racist call (4 politicians to “go back” to their home countries), is “embedded in racism”, is apparently not OK for BBC journalists like the brilliant @BBCNaga Calling out racism is not partisan Appalling” The BBC has ruled that factually stating Trump's racist call (4 politicians to “go back” to their home countries), is "embedded in racism", is apparently not OK for BBC journalists like the brilliant @BBCNaga Calling out racism is not partisan Appallinghttps://t.co/ZoMJJNadzf — Miqdaad Versi (@miqdaad) September 25, 2019 Whilst Jess Brammar, the former Deputy Editor of the BBC’s Newsnight programme – now the Executive Editor for HuffPost – said she also thought her former employer’s decision was wrong, stating: “Been writing and deleting longer tweets on this, because it’s depressing and/but I love BBC & often defend it. I think Naga talking about her experience of racism was powerful television, I think it was fair for her to reference Trump’s comments in that context, which were racist” Been writing and deleting longer tweets on this, because it's depressing and/but I love BBC & often defend it. I think Naga talking about her experience of racism was powerful television, I think it was fair for her to reference Trump's comments in that context, which were racist — Jess Brammar (@jessbrammar) September 25, 2019 Munchetty herself has not yet responded to the BBC’s decision.

Fifty years ago evangelicals in Germany formed what became known as the Confessing Church. They opposed the German Christian Church Movement sponsored by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945. As Nazi dominance increased, the Confessing Church was forced underground. In 1935 the Confessing Church formed a preachers’ seminary near Zingst on the Baltic Sea, which soon moved to Finkenwalde. The principal and main teacher of the twenty-five students was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a 29-year-old pastor and university professor from Berlin. Bonhoeffer led the students in a disciplined life together that included daily prayers, meditation, worship, study, recreation, and work. All the seminarians knew they lived on the edge of eternity in those frightening days. In September 1937 the seminary was closed by the Nazi police, and in November the seminarians were put under arrest. That same year Bonhoeffer published a book entitled, The Cost of Discipleship, and in September of 1938 put in book form the lessons of Finkenwalde entitled, Life Together. Here we have insights into how to be Christians in a community when life is being lived on the brink. In March 1943 Bonhoeffer participated in an attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler. He was arrested April 5, and two years later, April 9, 1945, Bonhoeffer was hanged by the Gestapo in the Flossenberg concentration camp at the age of 39. One of his students in the Finkenwalde days recollected, Bonhoeffer wanted a genuine, natural community in the Preacher’s Seminary, and this community was practiced in play, in walks through the richly wooded and beautiful district of Pomerania, during evenings spent in listening to someone reading, . . . in making music and singing, and last not least in worship together and holy communion. He kept entreating us to live together naturally and not to make worship an exception. He rejected all false and hollow sentiment. (I Knew Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 155) The Testimony of Bonhoeffer’s Life Together Bonhoeffer’s little book, Life Together, is a word for our times because we are plagued in America by a kind of laissez-faire Christianity that lacks the vigorous camaraderie and discipline that unites a kingdom in wartime. We don’t have a wartime mentality and therefore our young men and women do not gather late at night in basement rooms and plot their strategies to detonate Satan’s bridgehead and liberate some of his captives. We don’t see ourselves as insurgents in the alien territory of sin planting explosives of righteousness and truth at every fortified wall; and so our eyes don’t meet with a flame of eternal friendship on Nicollet Mall and say without a word amid a thousand aliens: “You and I will die for this cause and join hands in the resurrection.” We don’t feel like a fifth column devoted with all our strength to sabotage the rule of Satan in this world; and therefore our life together is not intense but petty. There are no coded handshakes of joy, or secret passwords. And there are few tearful embraces and songs of thanks because a squad of witnesses has returned safely even bringing some liberated captives home. Bonhoeffer’s words about “life together” have the ring of authenticity for us because they were written not at the nerve center of comfort but on the brink. They have the taste of radical commitment that all of us dream about, many of us crave, and only a few pursue. He wrote, The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer . . . It is true, of course, that what is an unspeakable gift for the lonely individual is easily disregarded and trodden underfoot by those who have the gift every day . . . Among earnest Christians in the Church today there is a growing desire to meet together with other Christians in the rest periods of their work for common life under the Word. Communal life is again being recognized by Christians today as the grace that it is, as the extraordinary, the “roses and lilies” of the Christian life. (Life Together 8–10) Then Bonhoeffer comes to a very solemn point that I want to emphasize this morning. He writes, If somebody asks [a Christian], Where is your salvation, your righteousness? he can never point to himself. He points to the Word of God in Jesus Christ, which assures him of salvation and righteousness. He is as alert as possible to this Word. Because he daily hungers and thirsts for righteousness, he daily desires the redeeming Word . . . But God has put this Word into the mouth of men in order that it may be communicated to other men. When one person is struck by the Word, he speaks it to others. God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of a man. Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. He needs his brother man as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation. He needs his brother solely because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain; his brother’s is sure. (Life Together, 11–12) The Means of Persevering to the End Turn with me to Hebrews 3:12. I want to show you from Scripture how true and essential Bonhoeffer’s words are for us today at Bethlehem. The question to ask yourself as we read these verses is: How important is it to live with other Christians in such a way that I can give to them and receive from them the word of God every day? Take care, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we share in Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end. Three observations from this tremendously important text: Sin wages a constant battle to deceive and harden the hearts of professing Christians. If it succeeds, a person slips into unbelief and falls away from the living God. The evidence and confirmation of whether we have any share in Christ is whether we hold our first confidence firm to the end. Hebrews sees two possibilities for professing Christians: either they hold fast their first confidence to the end and show that they have really become sharers in the life of Christ, or they become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin and fall away from God with a heart of unbelief and show that they did not have a share in Christ. The means appointed by God to enable the saints to persevere to the end is daily exhortation from other saints. “Exhort one another every day as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” “The saints will persevere to the end and be saved.” Twitter Tweet Share on Facebook It is written that the saints will persevere to the end and be saved. Those who have become sharers in Christ by the new birth will hold their first confidence to the end and be saved. But one of the evidences that you are among that number is that when God reveals in his holy word the means by which you will persevere, you take him very seriously, you thank him, and you pursue those means. This text makes it very clear that the means by which God intends to guard us for salvation (1 Peter 1:5) is Christian community. Eternal security is a community project. Not just prayer, not just worship, not just the sacraments, not just Bible reading, but daily exhortation from other believers is God’s appointed means to enable you to hold your first confidence firm to the end. The Imperative of Meeting Together One of the most important questions facing the leadership of this church is: What should we do to encourage and enable you to live together or meet together in smaller groups where you can obey this text and exhort each other with the promises and warnings and commands of Scripture? How can we make the priesthood of all believers a reality? How can we help you to form the kind of group life or community life that makes Hebrews 3:13 a fact and not a fairy tale? “Exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Part of the answer for us at Bethlehem is given in Hebrews 10:23–25. Here the writer is concerned not only how to help people hold fast their faith but also how to help them become ablaze with love. Faith toward God and love toward men — how shall they be stirred up and preserved? Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging (same word as in 3:13) one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. The closer we get to the second coming of Christ, the more we ought to meet together to encourage each other to hold fast our hope and to pour ourselves into acts of love. The text envisions not just haphazard meetings on the street but planned gatherings for the purpose of exhortation. Bonhoeffer said, “The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer.” Hebrews says: “Meet together!” “Meet together!” Meet in homes. Meet at work. Meet in restaurants. Don’t neglect meeting. How else can we exhort each other to hold fast to our confidence? How else can we stir each other up to love and good works? And when you meet, don’t throw it away with glib conversation: Consecrate it with the Word of God and prayer. Do you see the warning in this text? “Don’t neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some.” Professing Christians are always in danger of forming the habit of not meeting with other Christians to encourage and be encouraged in faith and love. Have you fallen out of that habit? Are you a part of a regular gathering of Christians which is small enough so that you can give and receive personal exhortation from Scripture? Bonhoeffer was speaking biblical truth when he said, “A Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged.” Three Relationships Every Believer Must Pursue Let me try to put this ministry in a wider context. Over the past year, the pastoral staff has worked through a philosophy of ministry that shapes what we do and how we plan. That philosophy says that there are three relationships of life which every maturing believer must pursue. First, and most important, is your personal relationship with God, characterized by trust, devotion, worship, and obedience. Second is your relationship with other believers in the body of Christ, characterized by mutual exhortation to strengthen each others’ faith and stir each other up to love. Third, and flowing out from the first two, is your relationship to unbelievers and to Christ’s global purpose of redemption, characterized by witness in words of hope and deeds of love. Now you can see the wider context of today’s message. Last Sunday provided the biblical foundation of priority number one: going hard after the holy God. Today provides the biblical foundation for priority number two: helping each other endure to the end as believers. Next Sunday, Lord willing, will provide the biblical foundation for priority three: extending to unbelievers the joy of salvation. “Our relationships will be deepened if we focus our attention and affection on God himself.” Twitter Tweet Share on Facebook A radical, all out God-centeredness will remain priority number one under our leadership at Bethlehem — I don’t think you would have it any other way. That’s why we stress worship and seek to guard this one hour in the week from the ever-present encroachments of the horizontal. All our relationships with each other and with the world will be deepened and empowered and purified if in this hour we focus our minds’ attention and our hearts’ affection on God himself. Even when I preach, as I am today, about the horizontal dimension of life in Christ, I try to do it in such a way that it is not chatty or familiar, but rather has behind it the authority of God, the aroma of his sovereignty, and the tremendous seriousness of heaven and hell. The Calling of Pastors-Teachers From this philosophy of ministry and from Ephesians 4:12 we believe that we are called as pastor-teachers to study the word of God and to pray and to equip you to do the work of the ministry — ministry toward God in worship, ministry toward each other in biblical exhortation, and ministry to the world in witness. Nothing will bring us more joy than to see our people growing to maturity in each of these priorities while the Lord adds many people to the church. We will be praying and thinking and planning in this year how we can better help you to exhort each other every day lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief. We will be studying how we can successfully urge you all to be a part of a regular meeting of Christians small enough to allow you to give and receive personal biblical exhortation to help you fight the fight of faith and be fired up to love and good works. We Are in Wartime In the meantime, why don’t you go ahead and take the initiative to seek out some fellow-believers? If we knew that the Gestapo was closing in on us, if we knew that at any time some could disappear from our number never to be heard from again, we would gather often in our homes and in secret rendezvous to strengthen our hands in God. And love would cover a multitude of sins, and our handshakes and embraces and the meetings of our eyes would be like gifts of roses and lilies from the bottom of the heart. Well, we are in wartime. We are in enemy territory. Thousands of lives hang in the balance. The danger of hard hearts and unbelief and cool love and American luxury lurks everywhere. Oh, how we need to exhort one another every day to have strong confidence of victory in Christ, and to dream of new strategies of love to sabotage the enemy’s concentration camps of unbelief! Last Friday I called Daniel Fuller in Pasadena to ask if I could quote a letter he sent me a few weeks ago. He is a priceless friend and Professor of Hermeneutics at Fuller Seminary, and son of Charles Fuller. He is a mature Christian with more knowledge of Scripture than anyone in this room. Therefore what he says should inspire all of us to obey Hebrews 3:13. He wrote,

Our APK Insight into the new Google Home app this week revealed a new “Gaming preferred” setting for Google and Nest Wifi. Intended for Stadia, a support document now details what network prioritization will be occurring when this preference is enabled. Google describes how the “best gaming experience” requires a “fast pathway to and from cloud servers without being overly delayed by an underperforming router or competing traffic on the same network.” The former is a ding on other networking devices, while the latter is unavoidable in a modern smart home. With “Gaming preferred” enabled, Nest Wifi (and presumably the first-generation Google Wifi given their interoperability) “automatically optimizes your Stadia traffic.” This works regardless of whether you’re using a Chromecast Ultra, desktop, laptop, or mobile device, and does not require any other user tuning. Gaming preferred prioritizes Stadia so your gameplay doesn’t get slowed down by other devices or activities on your network, like someone streaming TV or browsing the web in the other room. Gaming preferred will work when you’re playing games on Stadia. While the setting is on by default after setting up Made by Google routers, the company notes how it’s only active when you’re streaming a game from Stadia. This being a feature exclusive to first-party connectivity equipment speaks to how Stadia could possibly advertise Made by Google gear as ensuring the absolute best gaming experience come November 19th. Full instructions for toggling on/off are available below: Open the Google Home app . Choose Wi-Fi . Select Settings in the top corner. Toggle “Gaming preferred” on or off . Update 12/11: First available in the Google Home app for the new Nest Wifi, “Gaming preferred” is now available for the old Google Wifi following an update (version BV10175_RC0005) to the companion app. Disabled by default, the option is somewhat hidden: Settings tab > Network & General > Advanced networking > Gaming preferred (at the very bottom) More about Google Stadia: FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More. Check out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news:

Since saying "I do" to the International Olympic Committee in 1998 the National Hockey League and Winter Games have endured an often tumultuous relationship, one that ended last year in an acrimonious separation. In sporting terms this had been an arranged marriage and after five consecutive Winter Games together the NHL, feeling unappreciated and taken advantage of, told the IOC their players would not compete at the Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. During protracted negotiations to get the world's best ice hockey players to the Olympics there had been plenty of finger pointing and take-it-or-leave-it ultimatums. The NHL, already convinced it could get by just fine without the exposure offered by the Olympics, relaunched its World Cup of Hockey in 2016 and made that tournament its top international commitment. The jilted IOC huffed and warned NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman not to come knocking in four years time when the 2022 Olympics will be in Beijing, a market that every major sports league covets. While NHL players will not be in South Korea for the Feb. 9-25 Olympics, the league has already begun flirting with China having staged their first exhibition games there last September. International Ice Hockey Federation president Rene Fasel said this month it is his mission to get the NHL back on Olympic ice while NHL Players Association head Donald Fehr said the players want to return to the Winter Games. "The Olympics is a unique event and it provides not only an opportunity to play at an elite level but there's a real element of patriotism and national pride that's involved and it matters a lot," Fehr told Reuters. "I think that it is very likely as we go forward that getting back into the Olympics will be something the players will want to pursue." "It will be a significant issue." New CBA could impact future Olympics Significant enough that the Olympics will be a carrot dangled when players and owners negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement sometime between now and 2022. It remains to be seen what the players might be willing to give up to get back on the global stage that is offered by the Winter Games. When the NHL dangled Pyeongchang participation in front of the NHLPA in exchange for an extension of the current CBA the proposal was flatly rejected. "From my personal standpoint not only do the players want to participate in it but I think that participation in the Olympic Games, if it is handled right, is a very significant potential marketing and exposure opportunity for NHL players and therefore NHL hockey," said Fehr. "I would hope that we get to the point where that is recognised." 'Huge opportunity' in China While the NHL saw little upside in shutting down operations for almost three weeks to accommodate Olympic participation, the 2022 Beijing Games represent a gateway into the Chinese market. To grow hockey in China the NHL will need infrastructure and the Chinese government and businesses have already displayed a keen interest in helping the cause by building ice rinks. "I guess they [NHL] are a little late to the [China] party but better to do it right than do it fast," David Carter, executive director at the USC Sports Business Institute and a member of the Los Angeles Kings advisory board, told Reuters. "They would more likely look back and rue the day they didn't figure this thing out than looking back and saying it was a wise move to forego the Games. "It is a big market to penetrate and it is something that has captivated people in sport business for awhile. "But that doesn't get you anywhere unless the home country is willing to spend time, money and invest capital in it." The key to getting the NHL back on board for the 2022 Games will not be as simple as the lure of tapping into a new market. The NHL has long bristled at paying for the privilege of competing at the Olympics while, in their view, getting very little in return beyond the prestige and a two-week global platform for their product. "China is a completely different economic opportunity than South Korea," Neal Pilson, head of Pilson Communications and former president of CBS Sports, told Reuters. "There was really no way to figure out any possible benefit for the NHL allowing its players to play in South Korea but the league could negotiate a much better deal for its ownership when you are talking about teams, the league, the sport growing in China. "I know they are thinking about how they can develop hockey in that nation. "China is a huge opportunity for the NHL."

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$\begingroup$ Many famous results were discovered through non-rigorous proofs, with correct proofs being found only later and with greater difficulty. One that is well known is Euler's 1737 proof that $1+\frac{1}{2^2}+\frac{1}{3^2}+\frac{1}{4^2}+\cdots =\frac{\pi^2}{6}$ in which he pretends that the power series for $\frac{\sin\sqrt{x}}{\sqrt{x}}$ is an infinite polynomial and factorizes it from knowledge of its roots. Another example, of a different type, is the Jordan curve theorem. In this case, the theorem seems obvious, and Jordan gets credit for realizing that it requires proof. However, the proof was harder than he thought, and the first rigorous proof was found some decades later than Jordan's attempt. Many of the basic theorems of topology are like this. Then of course there is Ramanujan, who is in a class of his own when it comes to discovering theorems without proving them. I'd be interested to see other examples, and in your thoughts on what the examples reveal about the connection between discovery and proof. Clarification. When I posed the question I was hoping for some explanations for the gap between discovery and proof to emerge, without any hinting from me. Since this hasn't happened much yet, let me suggest some possible explanations that I had in mind: Physical intuition. This lies behind results such as the Jordan curve theorem, Riemann mapping theorem, Fourier analysis. Lack of foundations. This accounts for the late arrival of rigor in calculus, topology, and (?) algebraic geometry. Complexity. Hard results cannot proved correctly the first time, only via a series of partially correct, or incomplete, proofs. Example: Fermat's last theorem. I hope this gives a better idea of what I was looking for. Feel free to edit your answers if you have anything to add.

「い・ろ・は・す」から「い・ろ・は・す サイダー」が登場します。サイダー!!!!! 「い･ろ･は･す サイダー」はほんのりとした甘みとやさしい刺激の炭酸が特徴の新ラインアップ。100％国産素材にこだわって作られたサイダーで、きめ細かな泡がしゅわしゅわと口の中を踊ります。保存料不使用なのもうれしい！ 3月14日より全国のコンビニエンスストア、自動販売機・スーパーマーケットなどで販売開始。515mlと1.5Lペットボトルの同時発売です。 ちなみに「い･ろ･は･す サイダー」のペットボトルには、植物由来の素材を一部に使用したプラントボトルを採用。さらに、ボトルの軽量化により515mlペットボトルでは樹脂使用量を10％削減、1.5Lペットボトルでは約5％削減し、環境にも配慮しています。 （太田智美）

De Blasio likens Trump’s comments to a 'third-world dictator' New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Donald Trump’s refusal to say whether he would concede if he loses the presidential election in November is something expected from a “third world dictator, not from an American presidential candidate.” During an interview with CNN on Thursday morning, de Blasio, a surrogate for Hillary Clinton, said Trump’s remarks made during the third and final presidential debate are “dangerous” and “something you’d expect from a military leader about to attempt a coup in a foreign country.” Trump’s comments came after spending months spreading the unsubstantiated claim that the election will be “rigged” against him, and suggesting that he will contest the results. Still, his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, has repeated that she does not think the election will be “rigged” and said after the debate that he will concede if he loses the election fair and square. But his comments sparked wide criticism and concern, even among some Republicans. Sen. Lindsey Graham issued a statement saying, “Trump is doing a great disservice by continuing to suggest the outcome of this election is out of his hand.” He added, ”If he loses it will not be because the system is rigged, but because he failed as a candidate.” Other Republicans leaped to Trump's defense, saying he wouldn't be the first candidate to contest an election. “This is exactly what Al Gore did,” former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said to reporters in the spin room Wednesday night after the debate. “It was their Democrat, Al Gore.”

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Todd Akin Compares Opponent To A Dog More sensitive phrasing from the man who brought you "legitimate rape." Claire McCaskill "fetches" government from Washington, he says. (Via PoliticMO)

The demoltion of a civil war-era log cabin has caused tension among the Detroit Land Bank Authority and local historians and archaeologists. Before the cabin had been razed, it had been discovered by an archaeologist late last year. Located on the 2000 Block of Halleck, it was at one time a part of Hamtramck Township. One wouldn't have noticed the structure however, due to another century-old house being built around the cabin. Upon studying it, history buff Greg Kowalski said moves were in place to relocate the cabin to Hamtramck. "We took every step that was proper because as soon as we saw what was here, we contacted the landbank and asked them to put a hold on the demoltion and we supplied them with information," said the Hamtramck Historical Museum historian. Except, a few days later demo crews came through and knocked it down. Because the house's demolition had been contracted out by the land bank, officials with the authority say there was little they could do without losing money already contracted out. "By the time we found out about it, it was already listed for demo, at that stage an average of about $10,000 in taxpayers money has already been spent on the process and we would have no way to recoup those costs," said Alyssa Strickland, spokewoman for the Detroit Land Bank. Strickland said the authority wouldn't be able to get that money back. However, preservationists say they wish they were given more time. "There was never any mention of a demolition, so had we known that there would’ve been a demolition we could’ve at least gone in there one more time and gotten more information about the property," said Krysta Ryzewski, a Wayne State associate professor of Archaeology. The land bank did however save another cabin similar to the one that had been knocked down. The reason? They say its because they had more time to work with historians. "Unfortunately in this case it wasn’t about not being able to work with them, it was simply too far into the process," Strickland said, "too much taxpayer money had already been spent for us to pull it out of demolition at that time.

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. DENVER — Murder suspect Robert Feldman officially fired his public defender Monday and rehired private defense attorney David Kaplan. The move was made possible by a Colorado Supreme Court decision in June that says the law firm is an independent third party who was given the funds legally before the Probate Court tried to have them frozen. Feldman, 55, was charged with first-degree murder in 2018, three years after his wife Stacy was found dead in the couple’s shower. Investigators say Feldman staged his wife’s death to look like she slipped and fell. Prosecutors say Stacy was strangled to death hours after she confronted her husband about an extramarital affair. Soon after Feldman was charged, he agreed to pay David Kaplan’s law firm $550,000 to defend him, using funds from Stacy’s $751,000 life insurance policy. Stacy’s family sued in Probate Court, citing Colorado’s slayer statute. The measure is intended to prevent murderers from profiting off their crimes, usually through a movie or book deal. Denver’s Probate Court sided with Stacy’s family and ruled the life insurance funds should not be allowed to benefit Feldman. Soon after, Kaplan withdrew from the case and Feldman was forced to rely on a public defender. However, Feldman appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court, which ruled Stacy’s family acted too late to stop Feldman from using the funds. “The Probate Court, according to the Supreme Court, can’t freeze the money already given to a third party. If Robert Feldman had the money in his account, Probate Court did have jurisdiction to freeze that money but it was already with the law firm,” said criminal defense attorney Dan Recht, who interpreted the ruling for FOX31. Recht said the high court found Kaplan’s law firm acted properly in accepting funds for a legitimate purpose even if it seems unseemly to Stacy’s family. “Let’s say the killer takes the proceeds of an insurance policy and buys a car. [The] car dealership doesn’t know anything is wrong, they haven’t done anything wrong. They just received money and gave somebody a car. Well, should they have to give the money back if he’s (Feldman) found guilty of murder? Arguably not,” Recht said. But Democratic state Rep. Jonathan Singer of Longmont says he finds the practical result of the ruling troubling. “We need to go back to the legislature next year and revisit this and reopen those books and look at the real intent of this (Colorado Slayer Statute), which was to make sure that killers never profit from their victims,” Singer said. Monday morning, Kaplan officially rejoined the case as legal counsel for Feldman. A judge set Feldman’s arraignment for October and set aside two weeks in April 2020 to hold the murder trial.

１週間の価格変動率を予想するオプション市場で、ユーロに対して円の下落を見込む取引が22日、過去最高水準に達した。日本銀行が政策決定会合で一段の緩和策を導入するとの観測が広がっている。市場の持ち高とセンチメントの指標とされるボラティリティ・スキューは急速にスティープ化し、円のプットオプション（売る権利）がコールオプション（買う権利）を0.74ポイント上回って取引されている。これはブルームバーグがデータの集計を開始して以来、投資家心理が円に最も弱気に傾いていることを示す。 原題：Yen Downside Bets Hit Record High as BOJ Seen Easing: Chart （抜粋）

Añade soporte para decodificar por VP9 y refresco variable sobre HDMI 2.1 para monitores Gsync entre otras características Nos llegan noticias de que Nvidia acaba de lanzar un nuevo driver beta para Linux con numeración 440.26, y que trae novedades interesantes entre las que destacan el soporte para decodificación VP9 para el driver VDPAU, el refresco variable sobre HDMI 2.1 para monitores que soporten frecuencia adaptativa GSYNC y enlazado paralelo de shaders GLSL. Además, trae mejoras específicas para los juegos Saints Row IV y Saints Row: The Third, soporte para nuevas extensiones multicast de Vulkan y las correspondientes mejoras y parches a todos los niveles. Una vez que sea estable, el driver debería aparecer en pocos días en los repositorios habituales de cada distribución. Si quieres saber más en profundidad lo que trae este nuevo driver tienes toda la información en este enlace.

Earlier this month one of my new FB friends, Maria, who actively participates on my SB Canning page challenged me to come up with a jam that had the flavor that she loved during the holidays. That flavor was gingerbread. Now being a long time lover of making gingerbread houses, gingerbread cookies, and gingerbread pumpkin bread I instantly had an idea of the ingredients needed and took that challenge. I did a small batch and presented it for her to try. I thought the flavors were, as they say spot on, and on a scale of simple to complex, this was easy even for the beginner. Maria then went into action and create her version which has many layers of flavor and the amount of different ingredients and spices gave hers a very gourmet feel and flavor. A bit more complex for a beginning canner, but at our canning group today the verdict was in. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t cloud the group by telling them about the challenge but had them do Maria’s recipe as part of their extravaganza today. Once the recipe was complete I pulled out the jar I had of my recipe for them to try. They thought they were tasting what the end result would be that was in the pot, so I had to explain. Here are the two recipes, mine now converted to a full batch, for you to try and decide for yourself. I don’t want to cloud your judgement by telling you which they liked best. If you get a chance to make both, please comment below on which you like! Enjoy! Gingerbread Jam Gingerbread Jam (SB Canning version) Print Recipe Pin Recipe Prep Time 10 mins Cook Time 1 hr Total Time 1 hr 10 mins Course Dessert Cuisine American Servings 30 Ingredients 6 cups apples, peeled and chopped (Sweet apples not tart!) 4 T. crystallized ginger, minced 1 cup molasses, original (not unsulfured) 1 1/2 cup sugar 1 t. ground ginger 2 T. bottled lemon juice Instructions Cook down apples for 20 minutes in a stainless steel pot till soft adding 1/2 cup water(or apple juice) so the apples don't burn. Add all the rest of the ingredients and continue to cook, mashing the apples, and creating a smooth consistency. You can use an immersion blender to get the texture you want. Ladle the recipe into a 5 sterilize half pint jar leaving 1/4" headspace. Remove air, wipe rims, and add hot lids/rings. Water bath for 10 minutes once the water has come back to a full boil. Keyword Gingerbread Jam

lok-sabha-elections Updated: Apr 05, 2019 08:08 IST In the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the Ram temple movement started gathering momentum, religion had become the leitmotif of politics in eastern Uttar Pradesh. People from the region travelled in droves to Ayodhya, the epicentre of the temple movement, to pay homage at what Hindus believe is the birthplace of the warrior-god Ram. What was remarkable was that despite being home to a sizeable Muslim population, the region wasn’t religiously polarised. The impact of the temple movement, and communal polarisation that ensued, was greater in western UP. First came the 1987 communal violence in Meerut’s Maliyana that left an estimated 350 people dead. The communal feelings that kept simmering beneath the surface exploded again in 2013 in Muzaffarnagar, claiming more than 60 lives. The warring sides were Jats and Muslims. Eastern Uttar Pradesh, in contrast, was calm. Traditionally, eastern and western Uttar Pradesh have been vastly different in terms of their political temperaments, demography and the economy. The success of the Green Revolution in the region in the 1960s brought prosperity to western Uttar Pradesh, where the land, too, is more fertile and land holdings are larger than in the east. As the two regions prepare for the April-May general elections, local factors will again play a key role in how they vote, forcing political parties to customise their campaigns in the two regions. The three Cs — cane, caste and communal polarisation — will decide which way the electoral wind blows in the west. In the east, caste, personality and national issues will be key. To be sure, if there’s one common theme, it’s that of national security, which is at the core of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s campaign after the February 14 Pulwama terror attack and the February 26 air strike on a terrorist camp in Pakistan’s Balakot by the Indian Air Force. Every party in the elections has its pockets of influence in the west. If Agra is called Bhim Nagari (after Dalit icon Bhimrao Ambedkar) because of the concentration of Dalits, the main support base of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP),the Samajwadi Party’s Yadav and Muslim vote bank is also spread across the western belt. Even Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal has influence in Jat-dominated Meerut and Baghpat. Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Manoj ji (that’s how he is known), from the Saharanpur division, said: “National interest and decisive leadership are the two prime poll issues in 2019. As for the temple, we have decided to do 13 crore ‘jaaps’ (chanting of mantras) on April 6, 2019.” April 6 marks the start of the Hindu festival of Navratri. Putting farmers upfront The Green Revolution brought prosperity to the west. Most politicians in the region tend to come from the farming community, and their issues have traditionally dominated electoral politics. Former prime minister, the late Jat leader Chaudhary Charan Singh, not only brought farmers’ issues to the forefront of electoral politics but also united the different castes using the issues. His son and grandson, Ajit Singh and Jayant Chaudhary, have followed the legacy, focusing their electoral politics on farmers’ issues, besides caste. The consolidation of so-called backward classes started in western UP much before the issue of caste-based quotas in government jobs and educational institutions flared in the late 1980s. According to Jagat Singh, a farmer in Meerut, who has observed the politics of the state since the days of Charan Singh, sugarcane is the lifeblood of the region. In the words of farmers’ leader Choudhury Diwakar, the 5.3 million sugarecane growers of the region influence the outcome of elections, from the local ward level to the Lok Sabha. The scenario started changing in the 1990s, when western UP it became a lab for the BJP to reinforce its Ram temple campaign. The BSP’s Dalit movement, too, struck a chord first in the west. BSP leader Mayawati won her first Lok Sabha election from the region’s Bijnore in 1989. Dalit activist Satish Prakash says, “Dalits are economically and socially strong in west UP, which has now become a centre of the Dalit movement.” While the BSP is aspiring for Dalit-Muslim unity to sail through the choppy waters of western UP, its alliance partner SP is eyeing Yadav-Muslim consolidation in the Yadav belt. Demographically, the Dalits, especially the Jatavs (Mayawati’s caste) and Jats, and Muslims, dominate the region although Yadavs, Gujjars and Vaishyas make up sizeable numbers. Hindutva It was in 2014 that chief minister Yogi Adityanath was first deployed in western UP for campaigning. Prior to that, Adityanath had concentrated on Purvanchal. His Hindutva politics paid dividends as the BJP won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, and came to power in the state in 2017. Diwaker says the electoral outcome this time around would depend on the candidates fielded by the SP-BSP alliance as well as the Congress. “It will be advantage BJP if Congress fields strong candidates (to cut into the votes of the alliance). However, the election in many of the constituencies will be on Hindu-Muslim lines though the candidate’s caste would also decide the behaviour of voters,” he added. As for the Muslims, their first preference is the SP, the second is the candidate most capable of defeating the BJP and the third a Muslim. In such a scenario, the Congress will have to push hard to make its mark in the region. Neither the caste factor nor the communal polarisation is going to help the party that had won three seats in the west, 10 in central UP, one in Bundelkhand and seven in the east in the 2009 polls, when its tally of 21 was its best performance in UP since the early 1990s. Now, the East! Eastern UP has sent six prime ministers to the Lok Sabha — Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Chandra Shekhar and Narendra Modi — but remains the most backward region of the state. Somehow, it hasn’t been able to reap its share of the dividend of economic development and punches below its weight when it comes to influencing electoral outcomes. Anjana Prakash, who was in the past associated with the SP and the Poorvanchal Banao Samiti, said: “Though it is the most backward area of UP, people largely vote for national issues, personality and their ideology. Caste remains the main ingredient in electoral politics across UP.” Interestingly it is the East that has the maximum number of political heavyweights in the fray —Prime Minister Narendra Modi ( Varanasi), Congress president Rahul Gandhi (Amethi), United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareli) and former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav (Azamgarh) are among the candidates fighting for election to the Lok Sabha from the region. Demographically, the area is dominated by upper castes and backward classes with Muslims, Yadavs and Dalits having a say in small pockets. Farmers, with small land holdings, have little say in the electoral politics of the region. That is why their issues hardly figure in elections. Vinod Chand Dubey of Allahabad, who hails from western UP and worked closely with socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia and later SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, said: ‘While the politics of dharnas (sit-ins) and demonstrations run in the east, the west, which has a large farming community, avoids brawls. They are development-oriented.” Political expert KC Rana, from Agra, recalls how a demonstration call given by Charan Singh to protest the infamous Maya Tyagi rape case (1980) of Baghpat had drawn bigger participation from the east than the west. Which way will they vote? Partly because of the increasing penetration of mobile handsets in rural areas, some sections of the eastern and western regions of Uttar Pradesh have started voting uniformly, as was visible in the elections of 2012, 2014 and 2017. Since the 2014 polls, social media has been a major tool of campaigning in elections. Before the 2012 assembly polls, the mufti of Muzaffarnagar Zulfiqar Ali had said lyrically, “Jo hawa purab ke kheton khaliyanon se chali hai wo ab ganne ke kheton tak pahunch gayi hai” (The wind that started blowing from the agricultural fields of the east has now reached the cane fields of western UP.) What will happen this time around? Will the east and west find common factors to unite on electorally? Experts say it happens only when the elections are swept by a 2014 or 2017-like political wave in favour of the BJP. Otherwise, while the west will vote on communal lines and on farmers’ issues, personalities and castes will hold sway in the east. What could blur the divide is nationalism, if it continues to dominate the political narrative until the voter steps into the polling booth.

RECENTLY, a reader asked me to define what makes a man attractive. After mulling over the question, I came to a singular conclusion. The answer, to me, seemed obvious. But yet the question was asked and is constantly asked – in literature, advertising, movies, and politics. We’re constantly sold it, told what it is, given new measuring sticks and quotas to meet. And as a result, we’re constantly asking ourselves, in one way or another if we measure up – if we’re good enough. Usually, we’re not. When I set out to start talking about life advice and dating, this was the kind of article I wanted to avoid. I’m sure you’ve seen them before: ‘5 ways to become more attractive’, ‘the 5 traits every woman loves’ – an article where some shithead on the internet tells you how to behave as a man is nothing new – and often, offers advice that does more harm than good. Self-help and personal development are not ubiquitous road maps, but instead journeys – and trying to force someone down your path often just reinforces the fact that they weren’t good enough to find their own way. That’s not a narrative I want to contribute to. But yet, I was asked the question. So I was going to have to try and answer it. And because I’m the enterprising shithead that I am, who desperately wants to avoid any sense of guruhood* – I decided to do something new. Whilst I was certain of my opinion, I’m at least humble enough to realize it comes from just one perspective, specifically a male opinion – one that I wanted to test. So I did something different – I asked every woman I knew for her opinion on that one question: ‘What makes a man attractive?’ And well, the response was overwhelming. The responses came in all shapes and sizes – superficial responses, reasoned responses, emotional responses, responses directed at my own failings (thanks), responses that read like manifestos against exes; there was talk of height, penis size, income, beards, tattoos, and style. Personality traits cropped up, patterns began to show – and slowly, I had the answer. And it wasn’t a good one. WHAT MAKES A MAN ATTRACTIVE? These are the fundamentals as they occurred in all the responses I collected. I’ve listed them in order of the frequency with which they were mentioned, as well as the emphasis placed on their importance. Every response contained, in some way, at least one of these but often contained most, if not all. CONFIDENCE / STRENGTH / ASSERTIVENESS The most common and immediate response. Typically defined as someone who has the certainty of character to follow his conception of himself (morals, values) and pursue his goals. Well defined boundaries and a strong sense of respect, especially self-respect. Eye rolling in its predictability and in my opinion the least understood of all traits. But more on this later. RELIABILITY / TRUSTWORTHY / ACCOUNTABILITY / EMOTIONAL MATURITY / EMPATHY This one was almost tied with confidence. The idea can be distilled down to someone who has a decent emotional understanding of himself, his motivations, his strengths, and weaknesses; and as a result, interacts with the woman from a position of acceptance, equality and chiefly predictability – she knows he’s got her back, and can invest in that trust. Essentially the trait that runs counter to almost the entire body of pick up theory. AMBITION / DRIVE Enormously important. A man who is going places, internally driven towards some kind of goal that he is taking real and practical steps to achieve. That last bit was crucial – he’s actually going after what he wants. Whether or not he’d achieved it was never specified as being necessary, and the word successful was never used. I would distill this down to a lifestyle design or goal that is actively pursued and prioritized. SENSE OF HUMOR / FUNNY / FUN Definition: you can make her laugh. Can come in any form. Goofy, sarcastic, being a dick, being a dork, self-deprecating, one-liners – whatever. It’s about the effect, not the delivery system. INDEPENDENCE This was never specifically mentioned by name but alluded to (almost in every case) in stories of failed relationships. The over-invested boyfriend, the guy who texts too much, who needs to see her every day – in essence, the guy who needs her, rather than the one who wants her. Some women interestingly cited independent men as ones who prioritized their own needs first. The women, in every case, wanted a man who didn’t need her in his life. He wasn’t dependent on her. This is, in effect, neediness. A useful barometer for this is the degree to which you’d be willing to walk away from the relationship. Symbolic examples of this trait in its failed state included men who had very few friends, lived at home and weren’t financially independent (employed). ATTENTIVENESS Paying attention to the details of her personality, and bringing that attention to life in the form of tailored experiences. Examples such as: “never buy me lingerie” to taking her to a Frozen singalong. Investing in her personality rather than applying a one size fits all approach to women. COMPLACENCY The only trait that consistently came up in every form as a negative (even when the question wasn’t asking for negatives) was complacency. It was such a negative, in fact, that its effect can only be described as complete revulsion. This is where the man in some form or another begins to stagnate in life, or perhaps worsen. It is the opposite of ambition. Think of it as instead of drawing things into your life, the flow has halted, or worse – is now flowing the other way. The word ‘provider’ was often used in conjunction here. A complacent man makes for a bad provider – and a bad provider is extremely unattractive. You’ll probably need this too. And ice cream. SOUNDS SIMPLE RIGHT? So by now, I imagine you’ve read through those traits – seen many you expected, perhaps some others you didn’t or gained a fresh perspective on – and now you’re thinking about where you measure up, and where you don’t. But here’s the thing – the traits are not that helpful. I asked the women a simple question ‘what are the fundamental characteristics of the attractive man?’. All of them without exception assumed this referred to a long-term partner. Not a single one assumed I was referring to a short-term hookup. In fact, that was scarcely mentioned, and when it was, the only correlated trait was height (the importance of which was greatly outweighed by the aforementioned traits). Ironically, the majority of these women have at least had one experience of being picked up in a bar or club, by someone they’d never met before. In fact, some of them were picked up by me – and they had no idea as to where I fell on the spectrum of desirable traits, all they could see was some asshole necking vodka. The lesson here being that these traits, whilst attractive – are also contextual, and subject to contradiction; you can still be attractive when none of them are present. That’s the statistical equivalent of dogshit. But where the answers became really interesting was where a woman disagreed with the trend or had a specific niche taste. This didn’t just happen often, it happened a lot. Where three of them would cite confidence as the most desirable trait, another would state she was perfectly confident in herself and liked shy men as a result. Where every woman stated traits that fell into the aforementioned patterns, they would also state traits unique to them, which were equally fundamental but fell into no pattern – for example; creativity, competitiveness, persuasiveness, intellectually challenging, philosophical or, enjoys video games and/or comic books. Confused? The point to take away from this is that not every girl is going to be interested in you – even if you develop all the traits. Despite all your efforts at self-improvement, the numbers game rules the roost, and all your efforts simply lead you to a girl who probably would have liked you anyway. THE ONLY TRAIT THAT MATTERS When the reader first asked me ‘what are the fundamental characteristics of the attractive man?’ I initially thought of a few – but slowly, as I ran them through my mind, many of them began to fall away as they were slowly disproved by my own experience until I was left with only one: He can make a move. There are times when I’ve been shy and still got the girl. There are times when I’ve been incredibly confident and gone home empty-handed. There are times when I’ve been empathetic, a complete dick, had something going for me, had nothing going me – each getting the opposite result I’d expect and the listed traits would imply. But when I got the girl, when she was ‘attracted to me’, and I capitalized on this, I made a move. And this is all that mattered. That is my fundamental. This is what makes a man attractive. A lot of guys believe you have to be confident to make a move. That they have to achieve X, Y, Z or do A, B, C personal-development-meditation-hack-morning-routine to be able to make a move. This is only reinforced by the fact that women will tell you in the blink of an eye that confidence is the most attractive trait in a man, so surely you have to be confident to make a move right? No. No, you really don’t. The thing about confidence is that you get it after you make a move. Not before. That’s how it works. Making a move is leaning into vulnerability, not being too confident to feel it. Another reason I really harp on about making a move is that in my experience, female attraction is amplified by a man expressing his desire. Provided it exists in them to begin with – their desire will be amplified by you expressing your own. They’re aroused by you finding them arousing. The less you fuck around with your own intentions, the faster you’ll end up fucking around with each other later. THE ATTRACTION PARADOX One of the best pieces of advice I ever read was ‘if you have to ask, it’s not going to happen.’ It made me reflect on how I’d been engaging with personal development up until that moment. I’d been searching for the way that worked for others, rather than the way that worked for me. My desire for self-improvement had stemmed from a lack of self-worth, rather than a desire to see myself achieve my goals – and as a result, I couldn’t trust myself to find my own way. And that’s where the question of ‘what are the fundamental characteristics of the attractive man?’ goes wrong. As the answers from the women flooded in, I began to see the flaw at the heart of the reader’s question. The patterns and anomalies in the answers didn’t just fall under the parameters of female attraction, but instead something grander. The traits all described a man who was simply invested in his own development, for the developments sake – for his sake. And that’s the flaw. So much dating advice is concerned with telling you how to be attractive, how to react to the rules and conditions that are required in order to be attractive. It’s a mindset, which in asking the question ‘what are the fundamental characteristics of the attractive man’, already puts you in a position where you’re fundamentally unattractive. You’re pursuing a path of development that’s for her, rather than for you. This is something I’ve come to call the Attraction Paradox™. The more you try to be attractive to her, the less attractive you actually are. This paradox is fundamental to what makes a man attractive. You want to know what’s going through my mind when I’ve done well with women? I want her, so I’m gonna get her. You want to know what’s going through my mind when I’ve completely wiped out over and over again? How do I get her? What would get her? One mindset is all about me, one is all about her. Imagine how you’d behave from each mindset. The more you invest in your own needs, your own character, and your own desires – the more inherently attractive you actually are. You’re not a man who’s trying to be attractive, you’re a man who already is. This truth is why I think all the answers fell under the spectrum of a man who was engaged in his own healthy personal development. They weren’t attracted to the man who was engaged in becoming better with women, but instead the man who was engaged in becoming a better him. Why do you think complacency rated so highly as a repulsive trait? It’s an abandonment of development. And you know what’s a recipe for complacency? Giving your development an end goal, in this instance, women. As soon as you get it, the need for improvement stops. And that can’t happen. Development is an endless project. Slowly developing yourself over years and years of effort – isolating your weak points over time as your self-awareness grows, then working on them. MOVING FORWARD As a culture, we’ve become fixated on the idea of what is attractive and desirable to the opposite sex*. We’re beaten down by a narrative that tells us we don’t measure up, and we aren’t good enough. Objectively, this exists to influence us as consumers. Subjectively, it makes us feel like crap. But worse than that – it’s just a shitty way to go about being attractive. In writing this article, I was asked to compile a list of the traits that women found attractive. The fundamental traits, the ones that couldn’t be missed. This list, if true, presumably offers a roadmap to the heart of every woman on the planet. But in fact, it does quite the reverse. Adhering to a list like this is in itself, not what makes a man attractive. In fact, it’s fundamentally unattractive. The secret of attraction doesn’t lie in a checklist. You’re not ticking the boxes of what she wants. It’s not about that. No, The secret of attraction is simple. It’s not about what she wants, it’s about what you want. It’s about a desire to live well and improve. For no one but yourself. *I am no guru. I’m just a guy. In reality, I’m someone who spends most of his time imploding as a result of his flaws. Just like everyone else. *Imagine a million bearded, tattooed men, with undercuts, falling off a conveyor belt into a fresh plaid shirt. Forever until infinity. WANT A BETTER DATING LIFE? Yeah, I know. You’ve read enough. But this is important. I made a dating course. Like, a really big dating course. It’s over 8 hours of video content, 30 lessons, and over 80 exercises. It covers everything you need to know from making yourself more attractive, building sexual confidence, having great dates, and finding the right women for you. It’s based on years of experience, a library’s worth of scientific research, and just the right amount of common sense. So stop listening to me and check it out for yourself. CLICK ME!

Organizer and activist DeRay Mckesson explores news, culture, social justice, and politics through deep conversations with influencers and experts, and the weekly news with fellow activists Brittany Packnett and Sam Sinyangwe, and writer Clint Smith. Clint, Brittany and DeRay are on to discuss the overlooked news, including the impact of economics on the ability to evacuate from a hurricane, college access, and North Carolina gerrymandering. Sam joins remotely to share his news about a House bill that would reclassify dozens of offenses as “crimes of violence.” Anand Giridharadas joins DeRay in the studio to talk about his new book, Winners Take All.

Phil Veasley | CEO ATLSportsHQ It’s just preseason, but the Hawks went out and had fun Monday evening. The Atlanta Hawks took to the court for the first time Monday after a long off season which saw many changes. For the most part, the Hawks played with energy and cohesion that more so resembled a regular season game than a glorified scrimmage. While the final score doesn’t really matter in preseason, the 116-102 win and 37-14 3rd quarter showed a glimpse of what can happen on nights when things go “right”. Here are a few things that stood out to me. John Collins John Collins is GOOD. We already knew that of course but Collins appears poised to take his game to the next level this season. He can do much more than dunk but lets just appreciate this dunk for a minute. Miles Plumlee Miles is Miles, still fumbling and bumbling passes. However, he does appear to be more toned up and in shape than last season. Even with his massive contract, it may be hard for him to touch the floor this season outside of major injury circumstances. Alex Len Hopefully the change of scenery and diminished expectations for Alex Len will do him good. While the stat line wasn’t impressive, (3 Points, 8 Rebounds, 4 Blocks) his energy was impressive especially on the defensive end. Alex Poythress Alex had himself an impressive showing. While he is a long shot to make the squad, putting up another 13-5-2 line may raise a few eyebrows. Even if we end up cutting him look for him to catch on with another NBA team or Erie. Hey Alex, we saw that postgame greeting of Hawks’ Owner Tony Ressler after the final buzzer. Tyler Dorsey Dorsey surprisingly found himself glued to the bench until the 4th quarter. He made the most of the late game minutes, driving to the whole with ease and snatching rebounds. Jeremy Lin and Vince Carter The two vets will bring much needed leadership on and off the court for our very young squad. Throughout the game the two could be seen chatting with various members of the team offering words of encouragement and advice. Leadership is something the Hawks have really lacked since 2014-15. Trae Young It wasn’t the best shooting night (5-16 1-6 from 3) but Trae had several impressive drives and dished out 8 flashy assists while only committing 2 turnovers. The shooting percentage likely won’t be pretty this year, but Young is in the perfect scenario to learn and grow. DeAndre’ Bembry Dre turned in a masterful performance Monday night. Everyone say it with me right now: Please stay healthy, please stay healthy. What to watch for Friday: Can Dre do it again? Can Trae find his shot? Is Poythress for real? Phil Veasley | @_ATLPhil Twitter/IG Be sure to tune into GameTime Radio Sunday Evenings at 6PM to hear E-Dub, Ty and myself discuss all things sports! GameTime Radio can be heard live in Atlanta on 1100 AM, on Facebook Live, iHeartRadio or TuneIn. Also available OnDemand in the iTunes Podcasts App. Share this: Twitter Facebook Reddit

Barbra Streisand has walked back her controversial comments about Michael Jackson's sexual abuse accusers, saying she feels "deep remorse" for dismissing the trauma they experienced as children. “I am profoundly sorry for any pain or misunderstanding I caused by not choosing my words more carefully about Michael Jackson and his victims,” the icon wrote Saturday in a statement on Twitter. “I didn’t mean to dismiss the trauma these boys experienced in any way. "Like all survivors of sexual assault, they will have to carry this for the rest of their lives. I feel deep remorse and I hope that James (Safechuck) and Wade (Robson) know that I truly respect and admire them for speaking their truth.” Backlash set in after wide-ranging interview published Friday, in which Streisand told The Times of London that she believes the accusations made by Robson, 36, and Safechuck, 40, in the recent HBO documentary, "Leaving Neverland." "Oh, absolutely. That was too painful," says Streisand, who recalled Jackson as "very sweet, very childlike." Asked about the abusive behavior alleged in the documentary, Streisand says: "His sexual needs were his sexual needs, coming from whatever childhood he has or whatever DNA he has. You can say ‘molested,’ but those children, as you heard say, they were thrilled to be there. They both married and they both have children, so it didn’t kill them.” She acknowledged having a combination of feelings about the situation. "I feel bad for the children. I feel bad for him. I blame, I guess, the parents, who would allow their children to sleep with him.” Earlier Saturday, the singer tried to explain her remarks to The Associated Press in a sympathetic statement that read: “To be crystal clear, there is no situation or circumstance where it is OK for the innocence of children to be taken advantage of by anyone.” Jackson's close friend and mentor Diana Ross also touched on the controversy over the weekend. “This is what’s on my heart this morning,” Ross wrote Saturday on Twitter. “I believe and trust that Michael Jackson was and is a magnificent incredible force to me and to many others.” The Jackson estate has condemned "Leaving Neverland," noting that Jackson, who died at age 50 in 2009, was acquitted of molestation charges in a trial in 2005. “The legacy and the fans around the world, this is not going to do anything to them because they know the truth,” the superstar's nephew, Taj Jackson, told USA TODAY in February. Contributing: Bill Keveney, Andrea Mandell and The Associated Press

Il y a quelques mois, une journaliste m’avait demandé si j’avais des données qui permettraient de rendre compte de la variation géographique des dénominations du sandwich à la viande grillée, que l’on appelle « kebab », « dürüm, « döner », « grec » ou encore « sh(a)warma ». Désolé, j’avais répondu par la négative, mais promis d’ajouter lors de la mise au point de la 7e édition de notre série d’enquêtes sur les spécificités locales du français de nos régions, la question suivante: Les mots désignant le sandwich que l’on réalise avec la viande que l’on voit sur la photo varient d’un bout à l’autre du territoire. Comment appelez-vous ce sandwich ? – un döner – un dürüm – un grec – un gyros – un kebab – un kebap – un shawarma (shwarma, shawerma ou shoarma) – autre (précisez): Six mois plus tard, plus de 8.000 internautes francophones (8.229 pour être exact) avaient répondu au sondage. L’enquête clôturée, il a été possible d’analyser et de cartographier les résultats. Je les présente dans ce billet (PS: les formes kebap, shawarma et variantes et gyros n’ont pas fait l’objet d’un grand nombre de votes, et n’ont donc pas donné lieu à des cartes). Quel français régional parlez-vous? 8e édition! Vous êtres francophones, connectés à Internet? Vous pouvez vous aussi participer à l’une de nos enquêtes et nous aider à mieux comprendre comment le français varie d’un bout à l’autre des territoires où il est parlé. Comment appelez-vous le bout d’une baguette de pain? Que dites-vous à quelqu’un quand il éternue? En été vous vous rafraîchissez plutôt avec un granité ou un granita? Comment prononcez vous les mots jadis, juillet, août, épais, Catherine? Dites-le-nous en répondant à quelques questions de ce sondage en ligne (anonyme et accessible depuis n’importe quel support connecté); si vous êtes originaires d’Amérique du Nord, cliquez ici! Méthode de cartographie Pour réaliser les cartes de ce billet, nous avons utilisé différentes librairies du gratuiciel R, notamment les librairies kknn, raster et ggplot2 et téléchargé les fonds de carte du site GADM. Sur la base des codes postaux des localités où les participants ont indiqué avoir passé la plus grande partie de leur jeunesse, nous avons d’abord calculé pour chaque réponse les pourcentages d’utilisateurs de chaque arrondissement de France et de Belgique, ou de district en Suisse. Nous avons ensuite utilisé différentes méthodes d’interpolation pour obtenir une surface lisse et continue du territoire, comme on peut le voir ci-dessous: Fig. 1: Vitalité et aire d’extension du mot döner d’après les enquêtes Français de nos Régions (7e édition), avant (à gauche) et après (à droite) interpolation. Les traits épais délimitent les frontières entre la France et la Belgique d’une part, entre la France et la Suisse d’autre part. Plus la couleur est sombre, plus le pourcentage est élevé. Kebab Notre première carte rend compte de la vitalité et l’aire d’extension de la variante kebab. À la lecture de cette carte, on comprend que partout en France et en Suisse romande, cette variante est connue et employée avec des pourcentages relativement élevés. Il n’y a guère qu’en Belgique où la forme n’est pas en usage (47% en moyenne, le maximum étant atteint pour l’arrondissement de Mouscron, 91%): Dürüm Si le mot kebab n’est pas (ou presque) employé en Belgique, c’est parce que les Wallons appellent dürüm le sandwich réalisé sur la base de la viande grillée, telle qu’on peut la voir sur l’image qui illustre l’en-tête de ce billet: Döner La réponse döner montre qu’en Alsace (et un peu en Moselle), le mot kebab n’est pas la seule appellation existante. La forme kebab y est en effet employée en alternance avec la forme döner, une ellipse du syntagme döner kebab: Grec Enfin, l’examen de la réponse grec permet de faire apparaître une aire dont le centre est Paris, mais qui s’étend plus ou moins fortement du nord-ouest au sud-ouest de l’Hexagone: De façon surprenante, les données révèlent un intéressant effet d’âge. Le montage ci-dessous, réalisé avec Juxtapose, permet d’apprécier les différences entre les réponses des participants les plus jeunes (moins de 25 ans, à gauche, N=3.627), et les réponses des participants plus âgés (50 ans et plus, à droite, N=1.243).  Fig. 6: Vitalité et aire d’extension du mot grec (au sens de sandwich à la viande grillée) d’après les enquêtes Français de nos Régions (7e édition), en fonction des réponses des participants de moins de 25 ans (à gauche) et des participants de plus de 50 ans (à droite). Les traits épais délimitent les frontières entre la France et la Belgique d’une part, entre la France et la Suisse d’autre part. Plus la couleur est sombre, plus le pourcentage est élevé. Chez les moins de 25 ans, la réponse grec est beaucoup plus répandue sur le territoire, alors que chez les plus de 50 ans elle ne s’entend guère en dehors de Paris. On peut donc faire l’hypothèse que l’utilisation du mot grec pour désigner un sandwich à la viande grillée est une innovation récente, née à Paris. Carte de synthèse La carte ci-dessous permet d’avoir une idée de l’aire d’extension relative de chacune des variantes en circulation à l’heure actuelle en français pour désigner le sandwich réalisé à partir de viande grillée à la broche. En pratique, pour la France, où partout domine la forme kebab, on a décidé de retenir en plus les variantes grec et döner pour les arrondissements où les pourcentages obtenus pour ces réponses étaient supérieurs à 20%. On a appliqué ensuite une méthode d’interpolation pour obtenir une surface lissée du territoire, similaire dans le principe à celle qui a été appliquée pour les cartes précédentes. Un peu d’histoire et d’étymologie Avant de terminer ce billet, il nous reste à mentionner d’où viennent les différentes dénominations en présence, et faire des hypothèses qui permettraient d’expliquer leur aire d’extension. Le mot kebab est un emprunt à l’arabe کباب, kabāb, qui signifie littéralement « viande grillée, grillade », et qui désigne dans les pays orientaux différents plats réalisés à partir de cette viande. En français, le mot kebab renvoie non seulement à la viande, mais aussi au sandwich et au restaurant où on le sert. Quant au terme döner, c’est un raccourci de donner kebab, tournure turque que l’on peut traduire par « grillade tournante ». Il est à noter que le mot est particulièrement répandu en Allemagne, où la majorité des vendeurs de kebabs sont d’origine turque (l’inventeur serait d’ailleurs un immigré turc installé à Berlin!). Rien de surprenant qu’il soit utilisé dans les départements français adossés à l’Allemagne! Le mot dürüm est également un mot d’origine turque (il signifie « enroulade »), et désigne une préparation enroulée dans une galette turque. C’est donc une différence non pas linguistique qui oppose les Belges et les Français, mais une différence d’objet. En Belgique, le sandwich est préférentiellement réalisée à partir d’une galette, et non de pain. Enfin, en ce qui concerne l’utilisation de la variante grec (ou sandwich grec), il s’agirait selon Wikipédia d’une innovation parisienne, assez récente, ce qui est confirmé par nos données: En région parisienne, le kebab est souvent appelé familièrement sandwich grec, voire grec. Cette appellation erronée — et pratiquement inconnue dans les autres régions de France — trouve son origine dans l’apparition, dans les années 1980, de vendeurs grecs de gyros (spécialité grecque très proche du kebab mais à base de pain pita), dans le 5e arrondissement de Paris (quartier latin, rue de la Huchette, rue Mouffetard), qui furent les premiers à commercialiser ce type de sandwichs à destination de la population à la fois étudiante et touristique propre à cet arrondissement. Par la suite, lorsque les kebabs germano-turcs proprement dit firent leur apparition dans toute la région parisienne dans les années 1990, majoritairement tenus par des Maghrébins, le terme grec subsista dans le langage courant, y compris parmi les restaurateurs eux-mêmes, qui n’hésitent pas à mentionner grec sur leurs menus. Finalement, peu importe le nom que l’on donne à ce sandwich, l’important c’est qu’il soit bon!

アニメーションと実物の異性、どちらにときめく？そんな判定ができるセンサーの体験コーナーが、千葉市の幕張メッセで開催中のアジア最大の家電・ＩＴ（情報技術）の見本市「ＣＥＡＴＥＣ ＪＡＰＡＮ（シーテック・ジャパン）２０１５」に登場し、来場者の人気を集めている。 半導体メーカーのローム（京都市）と、新興企業のテクマク（同）が共同開発した。来場者は、美形のアニメキャラクターと実物モデルの異性から、それぞれ「愛の告白」を受ける。手のひらの脈拍などの動向をローム製の光センサーがとらえ、テクマクの技術で解析し「ときめき度」を測定。どちらに心を動かされたかを判定する。 男女を問わず行列ができており、今のところ結果は「３次元の方に分がある」（ローム担当者）という。 体験した女性（２５）は「２次元でもときめいたが、やっぱり３次元が出てくると違う。もっとどきどきした」と話していた。 この技術は今後、ゲーム開発などに応用される。

The students of Covington Catholic High School are facing expulsion and need our help. On January 19, a now-infamous video took the internet by storm, depicting a gaggle of students from Covington Catholic High School looking on as an elderly Native American man played the drum in front of them. The boys, as they looked on, appeared enamored. However, when the video of this event hit the internet, their looks of enamor were soon mischaracterized. Scores of public figures flocked to social media, decrying the students supposed bad behavior, labeling them racists, bigots, and white supremacists. Many even called for their expulsion from Covington Catholic High School. Early Sunday morning, the Diocese of Covington and Covington Catholic High School released a statement: We condemn the actions of the Covington Catholic High School students towards Nathan Phillips specifically, and Native Americans in general, Jan. 18, after the March for Life, in Washington, D.C. We extend our deepest apologies to Mr. Phillips. This behavior is opposed to the Church’s teachings on the dignity and respect of the human person. The matter is being investigated and we will take appropriate action, up to and including expulsion. We know this incident also has tainted the entire witness of the March for Life and express our most sincere apologies to all those who attended the March and all those who support the pro-life movement. However, as this episode has played out, new videos have emerged, directly in conflict with the narrative of the mainstream media. It was not the students from Covington who approached the Native American. It was the Native American who approached the students from Covington. It was not the students from Covington who chanted "Build The Wall". It was, however, one of the Native Americans who told the students from Covington to "go back to Europe". It was not the students from Covington who instigated this fiasco. It was Native American activist, Nathan Phillips. The #BoysOfCovington need our help.

It's been nearly three months since, but Black Caps captain Kane Williamson admits he still hasn't watched a replay of the Cricket World Cup final. Your playlist will load after this ad "I saw it live so I don't really need to," he told 1 NEWS. Despite that, he still gets to relive the match - a heartbreaking super over loss to England marred by a controversial boundary call - when he's spotted by Kiwi fans on the street. "You think about it when people come up to you and talk about it," he said. "That's probably within every 10 or 15 metres," he joked. For more on this story, watch 1 NEWS at 6pm. Source: 1 NEWS Williamson said he didn't mind the encounters, though, as it showed how passionate fans were about the game and how the sport captivated the country. "It's been full on in terms of the amount of people who appear to have watched the match and stayed up all night," he explained. "They just want to chat about it and almost unload and I'm like, 'Yeah, it's okay'.

Leikkelehyllyllä siihen havahtuu. Pienessäkin lähiömarketissa leivän päälle tarjotaan ohutta, ohuen ohutta, keskipaksua ja paksua. Kevyttä, ultrakevyttä, lihaisaa ja Kunnon makkaraa. Palvattuna, pippurisena, ylikypsänä, reilun kypsänä ja hunajapaahdettuna. Sikaa, nautaa, broileria tai kalkkunaa. Poroa ja hevostakin löytyy. Päivittäistavarakauppa ry:n mukaan kauppojen valikoimat ovat viimeisten 20 vuoden aikana kolminkertaistuneet. Kuluttajat ovat oppineet vaativiksi, ja kaupat haluavat vastata tarpeeseen parhaansa mukaan. Leivän päälle kaivataan vaihtelua Lihatuote- ja valmisruokayritys Atria valmistaa tällä hetkellä sataa erilaista itsepalveluleikkelettä. – Juuri leivänpäälliset ovat sellaisia, joihin ihmiset kaipaavat tyypillisesti vaihtelua. Siipikarjapohjaiset tuotteet ovat juuri nyt kasvava tuoteryhmä, ja tässä taloustilanteessa uusia tuotteita kehitetään myös hintakategorian alapäähän, Atrian lihavalmisteiden ja valmisruokaliiketoiminnan johtaja Matti Perälä kertoo. Juuri leivänpäälliset ovat sellaisia, joihin ihmiset kaipaavat tyypillisesti vaihtelua Matti Perälä Uutuuksia yhtiö tuottaa yleensä jokaiselle myyntijaksolle, eli syksyyn, kevääseen ja kesään viidestä kymmeneen kappaletta. Vanhoja poistuu markkinoilta sitä mukaa kuin niiden myynti hiipuu. – Uutuuksien merkitys on meille tietenkin suuri. Niiden avulla tuoteryhmä säilyttää houkuttelevuutensa vaihtelunhaluisten kuluttajien silmissä. Mutta tietenkin liiketaloudellinenkin puoli on tärkeä, niiden avulla valikoima pysyy elinvoimaisena. Suosituimpana yksittäisenä tuotteena yhtiöllä on kuitenkin edelleen vaaleiden leikkeleiden valtias, 50-vuotias Gotler. Seuraavana tulee lähes yhtä perinteinen saunapalvi. Asiakkaat täytyy pitää tyytyväisenä Keskikokoinen Citymarket Kuopion Päivärannassa möi viime vuonna 22 000:ta erilaista elintarviketta. – Tähän tulee tietenkin lisäksi vielä ne, joita ei myyty laisinkaan, kauppias Pasi Toppari laskee. Sellaisiakin kaupan valikoimiin mahtuu useita. Topparin mukaan heikomminkin myyvä tuote kannattaa pitää valikoimissa niin kauan kuin suurin osasiitä ei mene hävikkiin. Kyllähän vähemmälläkin varmasti tulisi toimeen Pasi Toppari – Kyllähän vähemmälläkin varmasti tulisi toimeen. Mutta onhan se kilpailuetu, että asiakas voi luottaa siihen, että saa kaikki tarvitsemansa tuotteet saman katon alta. Toppari kertoo itsekin havahtuneensa valikoiman suuruuteen viimeksi juuri lihajalosteiden ja valmisruokien hyllyä järjestäessään. – Vielä alle vuosikymmen sitten valikoimassa oli 1 300 erilaista artikkelia. Nyt luku on 1 898. Haussa uusi kuluttaja-asenne Valtaisan valikoiman varjopuolena on valtaisa hävikki. MTT on mitannut sen viimeksi vuonna 2011, jolloin se oli Suomessa runsaat 65 miljoonaa kiloa. Entisen MTT:n, nykyisen Luonnonvarakeskuksen ohjelmapäällikkö Juha-Matti Katajajuuren mukaan hävikin vähentäminen vaatisi uudentyyppistä kuluttaja-asennetta. – Se tarkoittaisi, että laskisimme vaatimustasoamme, eli emme vaatisi aina niin montaa eri sortimenttia. Myös siihen pitäisi saada asennemuutos, että esimerkiksi ale-ruokien ostaminen ei ole noloa. Se tarkoittaisi, että laskisimme vaatimustasoamme Juha-Matti Katajajuuri Katajajuuri kertoo havainneensa, että kaupatkin ovat heränneet asiaan uudella tavalla. – Esimerkiksi hedelmä- ja vihannesosastolla, jossa hävikkiä tulee ylivoimaisesti eniten, myydään usein alennettuun hintaan muun muassa kakkoslaatuisia, mutta edelleen täysin käyttökelpoisia tuotteita. Ongelmana Katajajuuri näkee kauppojen palveluhalun. – En tiedä, kuka uskaltaisi olla kehityksen etujoukoissa. Sehän voi tarkoittaa pettyneitä asiakkaita, ja sitä kaupat tuskin tahtovat.

Before the Internet, editors compiled power lists using a complex system of favor-trading and slow-news-cycle holidays. Now, it's done by algorithm! Anyone can indulge their narcissism and quantify their own "influence." But only one can be on top. Or several. What's true for the Internet is true for Twitter: on the Internet, you can make your voice heard, if not necessarily listened to. Are men listened to more than women, as is often the case in previous public discourse? It depends which evidence you choose to read. According to a recent study by Brian Solis, Klout, and PeopleBrowsr, which looked at the 50,000 most influential Twitter users (using Klout's algorithm), the difference between male and female users' influence was not sweeping: While women represent a greater portion of the overall Twitter population, men edged slightly ahead in terms of Twitter's top influencers. Yet that power balance shifts when looking at influence across the entire Twitterverse as women hold a higher level of influence within the general Twitter population. Recently, Twitter Grader helpfully compiled a list of the top 100 female users. Sitting at the very top: a conservative woman named Jan Simpson. She has 78,153 followers, though she follows even more than that. She tweets aggressively and sociably. Although her profile lists "Operation Rescue," the rabidly anti-abortion group, Simpson's most recent tweets have focused on animal rights and Florida politics. Also, she doesn't seem too impressed by Sarah Palin. She contains multitudes. G/O Media may get a commission Subscribe and Get Your First Bag Free Promo Code AtlasCoffeeDay20 Why did they have a separate list of female users and not one of men? Probably because the overall top 100 was a mix of institutional accounts (with Fox News at the top) and individual dudes. Simpson only clocks in at #25 on that one. An HP study released earlier this month defined influence as getting people to actively participate, not just having lots of followers. When put that way, here were the most influential users: @mashable, @jokoanwar, @google, @aplusk, @syfy, @smashingmag, @michellemalkin, @theonion, @rww, @breakingnews Plenty of these are aimed at the tech-savvy (or tech-curious) — Smashing Mag, Mashable, and RWW (Read Write Web), Google. The Onion, Breaking News, and Syfy are pretty obvious. Joko Anwar is an Indonesian filmmaker who clearly has figured out this social media thing. And then there's the only woman on that list: Michelle Malkin. Does she need an introduction? If so, here's a recent tweet. Factcheck: the number of vacation days Obama has taken to date is 48 versus Bush's 115. But who needs facts when you can have influence? The 100 Most Powerful Women On Twitter [TwitterGrader] What Makes A Tweet Influential? [HP Labs] Influence Is Bliss: The Gender Divide Of Influence On Twitter [Brian Solis] Earlier: Girl Talk: How Men Dominate Twitter Is Facebook Girly? How Men And Women Use Social Media

If you’re used to the usual compact SUVs and sedans from Kia, then the 2018 Kia Stinger GT is going to come across as something unexpected and unique. Or maybe not that unexpected. In 2011, Kia introduced their GT Concept, and the journey has led them from there to the new Kia Stinger GT. This is a car that Kia believes will define their history as “pre-Stinger” and “post-Stinger” — it’s that important to the brand, and it’s that impressive as a vehicle. So let’s back up for a moment and talk about the meaning behind a Grand Touring or Gran Turismo vehicle, commonly called a GT. A true GT is not just a four-door family wagon that’s been tricked out to look sportier and tuned to have a more impressive exhaust sound. A true GT is a vehicle that’s been built from the ground up for speed, distance, style, safety, and comfort; they are elegant and fast. GT vehicles are usually front engine with rear-wheel drive, and they are made to transport up to two couples and their luggage comfortably. Kia set out to design a car that drove as good as it looked; one that could “fit two couples and their things, to arrive in style at a fabulous location, and to also do it incredibly rapidly, ride comfortably, but with a lot of speed.” How fast can the Kia Stinger GT go? 167 is its top speed, and it can do 0-60 in 4.7 seconds. I’ll come back to that in a moment. Albert Bierman, the former chief engineer of BMW’s M division, joined Kia in 2015. When he was first going through his interview rounds, he saw some sketches of the Stinger. His response to the sketches was, “that car has to drive as good as it looks.” Once he joined Kia, he made it clear that he wanted to work on the vehicle and make it amazing. If Kia was going to do it, they wanted the design to be true to the original GT Concept, they wanted to get the proportions just right to really celebrate the fact that it’s a RWD car, and they wanted the performance, handling, and dynamics of the vehicle to deliver on the promise of the design. Kia says that Bierman also brought a testing prowess to the company. He really pushed the Stinger GT — over 6,000 miles on the Nürburgring, braking runs on a hill in Austria that is known for being “hell on brakes”, which brings up the subject of brakes. The Kia Stinger has Brembo brakes that have been set well. This car, from about 1800 rpm to about 4,000 will “pull like a donkey”, it is really fast, but you’ll feel like you can safely do that because the brakes are great, and they will pull you back in. The Kia Stinger GT has been winter tested in Sweden, and as a result, the traction control and the handling balance have really been finely tuned. It’s also been extensively tested in the Mojave Desert. Kia says that “this car has been through a lot to bring it to this point.” Kia wanted the Stinger GT to be able to compete in the premium space against other GT-like cars, so they ensured that the Stinger would have the best technology and all of the amenities. Kia created what they call a reference set, so they took a look at what was available in the space. They looked at the Audi A5 and A7, they looked at the BMW 440 Grand Coupe and the 640 Grand Coupe, and at what Kia considered the penultimate vehicle in this space — the Porsche Panamera. Kia had very lofty, ambitious goals. The 2018 Kia Stinger GT is all about proportions. They wanted to celebrate rear wheel drive proportions, the critical dimension between a front wheel, front axle center, and the front dash. This space that you can only get with a rear wheel drive vehicle. There is a short front overhang, and the wheels are really pushed out to the corners for a wide, athletic stance. They wanted it to be a fastback, with a sporty silhouette seen in the GT Concept. The Stinger has a beautiful, almost coupe-like shape with a classic GT proportion. The Stinger has broad shoulders that haunch over the rear wheels. The Kia Stinger GT is not a compact sports performance sedan; it’s larger than the BMW 3 series, it’s larger than the Lexus LS; it’s larger than the other vehicles in this space. With a 114.4″ wheelbase, it’s comparable to an Audi A7 in size. Kia designers insisted on premium, quality amenities inside the vehicle. They looked at their reference set, and determined that everything you see in the vehicle should be real metal; they used hand-stitching for the dash, steering wheel, middle console, and door panels, basically anywhere you look. The Napa hides used for the seats are hand selected and approved.

Abstract Most elections in the United States are not close, which has raised concerns among social scientists and reform advocates about the vibrancy of American democracy. In this paper, we demonstrate that while individual elections are often uncompetitive, hierarchical, temporal, and geographic variation in the locus of competition results in most of the country regularly experiencing close elections. In the four-cycle period between 2006 and 2012, 89% of Americans were in a highly competitive jurisdiction for at least one office. Since 1914, about half the states have never gone more than four election cycles without a close statewide contest. More Americans witness competition than citizens of Canada or the UK, other nations with SMSP-based systems. The dispersed competition we find also results in nearly all Americans being represented by both political parties for different offices. DOI:10.1561/100.00017161

(doc) A fost lansat cel de-al doilea număr al Ghidului Uniunii Europene în Moldova Dacă primul număr al Ghidului Uniunii Europene în Moldova a explicat pe înțelesul tuturor ce înseamnă Uniunea Europeană și care sunt avantajele Moldovei, atunci numărul doi se concentrează pe investițiile făcute de UE în Moldova. Suplimentul numărul doi poate fi găsit în română și în rusă și conține următoarele subiecte: #. În ce mod susține Uniunea Europeană medicina din Moldova #. Cât investesc partenerii europeni în Moldova #. Ce se întreprinde pentru dezvoltarea regiunilor moldovenești #. Cine conduce Uniunea Europeană #. Poate oare Moldova deveni membru al UE Pentru a acoperi subiectele de mai sus, puteți vedea următoarele materiale: #. Mijloace de îngrijire medicală #. După chip și educație #. Fluxul de numerar #. Relevanța rurală #. Comisarii Europei Unite #. Dirk Schuebel: „Nu exclud că Moldova poate să devină membru al UE în viitorul apropiat” Ghidul în română îi puteți găsi/ downloada aici: Ghidul UE în Moldova. Investiții, iar versiunea în rusă aici: EU Guide Ghidul a fost realizat cu sprijinul Ambasadei Britanice la Chișinău. Primul numărul al Ghidului îl puteți vedea aici: Ghidul Uniunii Europene în Moldova

Twi is always great, especially when coming from you heh. I really love how you've done this & her expressions really is shown well in here. The eyes are great & the little shine in them. I love the texturing of this & the unique way you painted this with your style. The colors really capture the mood in here & the darker sort of colors with the fear or shocked look that Twi has in here. I reallllllllllly love this! The stuff that you can convey with your art is so lovely & the shading with the realistic look towards the lighting, coloring & just overall is well done <333

Tyler Parker is an illustrator and real human being. theartoftylerparker.com email:[email protected]

EASTERN LEAGUE ANNOUNCES CHANGE TO SPLIT SEASON FORMAT PORTLAND, MAINE - The Eastern League of Professional Baseball has announced the league will be changing their playoff format from a full season format to a split season format. Under the new format the first place team from each division during both the first and second halves of the season will qualify for the postseason. This change will go into effect immediately, starting with the 2019 season. The first half of the season will end on the 76th day of the regular season and the second half of the season will begin on the 77th day of the regular season. For the 2019 season, the final day of the first half of the season will be on Tuesday, June 18th, with the second half of the season kicking off on Wednesday, June 19th. The second half of the season will conclude on Monday, September 2nd, the final day of the regular season. Postseason berths will be awarded to the first place teams in both the Eastern Division and the Western Division during the first half and second half of the season. In the event the same team finishes in first place in their division in both halves of the season, the second playoff spot for that division would be awarded to the team from that division that had the best full season record. The standings for postseason berths will be determined using the won-loss record (games behind column), with winning percentage having no impact on the standings. The first round of the postseason will feature the first half winner from each division facing the second half winner from their respective division. The team that finishes in first place in the first half will host games three through five of the best-of-five opening round series. The second half winner will host games one and two of the opening round series. Winners from each opening round series will advance to the Eastern League Championship Series, which will feature a 2-3 format, with the series beginning in the Western Division in even numbered years and the Eastern Division in odd numbered years.

A 9-year-old New Mexico boy caught a 42-pound catfish over the weekend after it put up a fight for several minutes. Alex Flores, of Las Cruces, was on a Nov. 10 fishing trip with his father, Kris, at Elephant Butte Reservoir when he caught the blue catfish. "I've been a fisherman since I was 6 months old. When I had my son, I had him out on the water, too, when he was very young," Kris Flores told The Las Cruces Sun-News. "Right before he caught the fish, it was getting cool on the lake and the kids wanted to go back in and warm up. The sun had just set and the lake was like glass when one of the rods doubled over and Alex began to reel." Alex, a fourth-grader, named the fish Wailord after a Pokemon character. The fish was released back into the water after taking photos and videos, said Kris Flores, who runs a catfish guide service at the reservoir and has his own YouTube channel, "Muddy River Catfishing." He said he has a policy of releasing any fish weighing over 10 pounds. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP "Anything over 10 pounds we release back into the water because that means that fish is the one that passes the genes," he said. The largest blue catfish ever caught at Elephant Butte weighed 78 pounds and measured four feet long, according to the New Mexico News Port.

It's always exciting to catch a re-run of that special Yuletide movie you cherished as a kid. Peruse this season's lineup of holiday programming on network TV to find all the classic holiday films---A Christmas Story, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street and more. Thursday, Nov. 20

Although the Google Photos app is only 10 months old, the service has already amassed more than 100 million monthly active users. The reason Google's cloud-based photo management software has gained so many users so quickly? It makes organizing photos dead easy. It automatically backs up all your images from all of your devices into one central location, plus it collects pictures of the same people or objects into groups, and helps you find images in your archive with text searches. No wonder it's already become an integral part of photo organization for so many people. One of its best features is the Assistant, which is sort of a little robotic helper that keeps your photos in check when you just don't have the time. It combs through your photos, stitches together GIFs and collages, and suggests enhancements and edits to improve your shots. Today, Assistant will start doing something else: Auto-creating albums and selecting your best shots without any user input whatsoever. It should be especially handy for vacation photos, as it'll also chart your trips on a map, and automatically recognize and tag famous places in each frame. These new Assistant-created albums are actually a souped-up version of the existing "Stories" feature, which created little pan-and-scan montages out of related photos. Google says Albums—both manual and Assistant-created—will replace Stories. Auto Focus In the case of an out-of-town trip, Google Photos will recognize the start and end dates of the journey, identify the "best" images, create an album from them, and add a basic Google Map of your journey as a title card. From there, you can edit which photos appear in the album, fine-tune the locations in the map, and add captions to the album. Once you're done, you can share the album with your contacts and even make it a collaborative effort. But how, exactly, does an algorithm pick your "best" photos? And will turning off location services and geotagging affect the accuracy of Google Photos' vacation-tracking ways? Not so, say two Googlers involved in the project. "There's a bunch of ways we can select the 'best' photos," says Google Photos product manager Francois de Halleux. "We use a lot of machine learning to detect the elements in a photo that make it of better quality than another. We also eliminate duplicates." In many cases, the system pegs photos with landmarks in them as the "best" shots. And it can identify those famous places without using your location data at all, although geotagging does help with some fact-checking. In the most-useful cases, it will identify and provide names of landmarks—helping you remember where you went or simply spell things correctly. "We can detect landmarks, we have 255,000 landmarks that we automatically recognize," says de Halleux. "It's a combination of both computer vision and geotags. Even without the geotags, we'd be able to recognize a landmark." In those cases, Google's system would recognize a landmark, then double-check that recognition against a location or the photo's geotagging. In some cases, it helps the system identify the real deal versus a replica. "If we see a photo of the Eiffel Tower, we know the person is in Paris... or in Las Vegas," explains Google Photos product lead David Lieb. Vacations aren't the only use case for the new Assistant-created albums, but they're likely to be the most common scenario for the auto-generated albums. Lieb and de Halleux say that the Assistant looks at the distance you are away from your home as a trigger for album auto-creation, but it also pays attention to how many pictures you've taken in a short period of time and whether it's a national holiday or other significant day. Facing Forward Outside of those situations, you may still have some albums created and suggested by the Assistant. In those cases, it looks for group shots with the faces of people it deems "important" to you—faces that show up regularly in your other pictures. It also picks the ones where everyone has their eyes open or is smiling. Ideally, both. While recognizing faces in photos and grouping them together in the "People" section of the app is as impressive as it is creepy, Google says its machine learning stops short of assigning real-world identities to those faces. Users can tag a person as "Mom" or "Grandpa," for example, but they're private tags for sorting and organizational purposes within your own photo roll. The Assistant recognizes if a person is important to you based on the frequency of their appearance in your pictures. "We think it's a way to get all the benefit of this face-grouping stuff without any of the creepiness or problems that might ensue from it," says Lieb. "We think it's the right place to be on that privacy spectrum." The new Assistant-created albums will roll out today on the Google Photos app for Android and iOS, as well as the web version of Photos. You'll likely need to wait for the Assistant to work its magic, but to see if it has created any album suggestions for you, tap the "Assistant" tab at the bottom of the main screen. You can also create your own albums by tapping the "+" button at the top of the app and selecting "Create new Album."

12:15～13:00 Live Stage A new hero joins the fight!? "ファイアーエムブレム無双" Special Stage/Live Broadcast Introducing the newest hero in the game! Producer Hayashi, Director Usuda and Special Guest Hikaru Midorikawa will introduce brand new information on the game. Appearance: Producer Yosuke Hayashi, Director Hiroya Usuda Special Guest: Hikaru Midorikawa (Marth) The applications have been closed.

For the skeptics, the case pretty much ends there. The tax was abolished? That means it was unworkable. Even “the most egalitarian European societies” have “moved away in droves from far less ambitious wealth taxes” than those Democrats are debating, the Harvard economist Lawrence Summers and Penn law professor Natasha Sarin wrote in The Washington Post. “Most … countries that implemented [a wealth tax] in the ’90s have taken it off the books,” observed Liz Peek, a Fox News contributor and former Wall Street analyst. (No matter that France, Germany and Sweden removed such taxes under conservative governments, which typically oppose taxes of this sort.) But this interpretation of the European experience is superficial. Taxes are bound neither to fail nor to succeed: Governments can choose to make them work or allow them to fail, and European governments made wrong choices, letting tax avoidance fester. The taxes envisioned by Warren and Sanders — which we helped design — could be rendered largely immune to the problems that undermined wealth taxation abroad. In other words, the United States is in a good position to make this work. AD AD To understand why requires delving into the reality of how wealth was (and in Norway, Switzerland and Spain, still is) taxed in Europe. Although there were some differences across countries, the failed attempts share three distinctive, preventable flaws. First, Europe tolerates tax competition. A tax-averse Parisian just needs to move to Brussels to become immediately free from taxation in France; his friends remain a 90-minute train ride away. The European Union has never restricted tax competition: Any common tax policy requires the unanimity of all member states, which makes such a policy extraordinarily unlikely. What’s more, E.U. member states don’t try to tax their nationals living abroad. Tax competition was probably sufficient to kill European wealth taxes on its own. Sweden’s richest man, Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad, left that country in the early 1970s to escape its wealth tax, only returning in 2014. (Sweden dropped the tax in 2007.) In France, Emmanuel Macron’s government stressed the threat of expatriation in abolishing the wealth tax. AD AD The situation in the United States is different. You can’t shirk your tax responsibilities by moving, because U.S. citizens are responsible to the Internal Revenue Service no matter where they live. The only way to escape the IRS is to renounce citizenship, an extreme move that in both Warren’s and Sanders’s plans would trigger a large exit tax of 40 percent on net worth. Europeans also tolerated tax evasion to a foolish degree. Until January 2018, the E.U. did not require banks in Switzerland (and other tax havens) to share information with national tax authorities, which made hiding assets child’s play. A recent study , based on leaks from offshore banks (the “Swiss Leaks” from HSBC Switzerland and the Panama Papers), found that in 2007, the wealthiest Scandinavians evaded close to 20 percent of their taxes through hidden offshore accounts. The United States has been more aggressive on this front. In 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, which compels foreign financial institutions to send detailed information to the IRS about the accounts of U.S. citizens each year, or face sanctions. Almost all foreign banks have agreed to cooperate. Due to its current underfunding, the agency is not exploiting this information as much as it could, but both the Warren and Sanders plans come with extra funding for the agency. AD AD The European wealth taxes also included myriad exemptions, deductions and other breaks that the Warren and Sanders plans forgo. Consider the French program that was in place from 1988 to 2017. Paintings? Exempt. Businesses owned by their managers? Exempt. Main homes? Wealthy French received a 30 percent deduction on those. Shares in small or medium-size enterprises got a 75 percent exemption. The list of tax breaks for the wealthy grew year after year. According to some commentators, any U.S. wealth tax would inevitably develop similar loopholes, even if it didn’t start off with them. But one reason such deductions were deemed politically necessary in Europe is that wealth taxes fell on a much broader population than those proposed here. In Warren’s plan, recall, all net wealth below $50 million is exempted; in the Sanders version, the exemption is $32 million. In Europe, wealth taxes have tended to start around $1 million, meaning they hit about 2 percent of the population, compared with about 0.1 percent for the proposed U.S. plans. In Europe, then, the “merely rich” (as opposed to the super-rich) owners of fairly valuable houses and smallish businesses lobbied for exemptions from the wealth tax, claiming that they faced liquidity constraints: Their money was tied up in their houses or businesses. In some cases, this might have even been true. But the notion that someone worth $100 million doesn’t have enough cash on hand to pay a $1 million tax, the bill that would be due under Warren’s plan, is self-evidently absurd, and it’s hard to imagine the argument developing any political support. AD AD We recently calculated that, considering all taxes at all levels of government, the richest 400 Americans pay 23 percent of their income in taxes, a lower rate than the working and middle classes pay. Tax dodging is not a law of nature, an unchangeable fate that dooms tax justice. In Europe, a choice was made to let wealth taxes fail rather than to shore up their weaknesses. It may not have been a conscious or democratic choice, the product of a rational deliberation by an informed citizenry, but it was a choice nonetheless. We needn’t make the same one, and the European experience suggests we shouldn’t. Twitter: @gabriel_zucman

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is urging Microsoft Corporation to fix the problems it will cause when it shuts down the MSN Music validation servers, making it impossible for customers to transfer their music files to new computers or even upgrade their operating system. In an open letter sent to Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer today, EFF outlines five steps Microsoft must take to make things right for MSN Music customers -- including a issuing a public apology, providing refunds or replacement music files, and launching a substantial publicity campaign to make sure all customers know their options. "MSN Music customers trusted Microsoft when it said that this was a safe way to buy music, and that trust has been betrayed," said EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry. "If Microsoft is prepared to treat MSN Music customers like this, is there any reason to suppose that future customers won't get the same treatment?" MSN Music sold song downloads encumbered with digital rights management (DRM), allowing the music to be played only on approved devices. If you upgraded your computer or operating system, you needed to "reauthorize" your music files with MSN Music's DRM server. But last week, Microsoft announced that it would deactivate those servers because of the complexity of maintaining the technology -- meaning that customers face losing the ability to play their purchased music if they get a new computer or if the hard drive crashes on the old one. Microsoft's only suggestion for customers so far is to export all purchases onto a CD and then recopy it back onto new computers. "Microsoft is asking its customers to spend more time, labor, and money to make degraded copies of music that was purchased in good faith," said EFF Executive Director Shari Steele. "This outcome was easily foreseeable from the moment Microsoft chose to wrap MSN Music files in DRM. Microsoft customers should not have to pay for Microsoft's bad business decisions." EFF's letter also calls on Microsoft to eliminate DRM from its Zune music service now -- or at least to publicly commit to compensating future customers for the inevitable future DRM debacles. "With MSN Music, Microsoft has admitted just how expensive, clumsy, and unfair DRM is. It's time for Microsoft to reject this sloppy technology, and for customers to demand something better," McSherry said. For the full open letter: http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/04/28/microsoft-open-letter Contact: Corynne McSherry Staff Attorney Electronic Frontier Foundation [email protected]

One of the many petitions circulating on the Internet in the wake of leaks about the US government's massive surveillance programs is aimed at major Internet and technology companies. It calls on them to push Congress to investigate and stop the abuses. This is, of course, a good idea. It may even help, now that some members of Congress are having misgivings about the programs they've worked so hard not to understand. Had companies like Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Apple and Yahoo done this in the first place – and had they been as ardent to protect privacy as they are to collect data on their users – the spying programs might not have metastasized to such a degree. This could be a turning point for the tech industry. The biggest companies providing cloud-based Internet services, and some smaller ones as well, are under pressure amid increasing public unease about the government's insistence that privacy is all but a dead letter against the threat of terrorism. They have a chance to regain trust. To do so they will need to rethink a lot of their methods – not least their adoption of systems, based in large part on monetizing their own data-mining, that are inherently insecure in the face of orders from people who command armies, and may be insecure in more general ways. Let's be clear on one thing: the industry has, at the very least, been forced to cooperate with secret disclosure requests that include orders not to speak publicly about what's going on. It remains possible, their wholesale denials aside, that some or all of these companies have been not just cooperating but actively collaborating with the surveillance state. We can't know for sure. By design, the system is opaque. This helps explain why several of these companies have implored the government to make the National Security Agency letter data orders more transparent. They realize that their credibility has taken a serious jolt, and that they are in the position of trying to prove a negative, something that is more difficult when they're told, under threat of prosecution, that they can't talk about it beyond the most vague and meaningless statements. The tech companies would be more convincing if their industry hadn't been so complicit in the development of the surveillance state in the first place. Silicon Valley and its global analogs made it possible, and have made vast amounts of money in the process as government suppliers. They've been arms dealers not just to American spies but to the world's most repressive governments as well. Moreover, even the Internet-related tech companies that haven't actively helped the dictators and spies have been creating large businesses based on collecting, massaging and making money off of the data their users and customers provide in their day-to-day use of the services. And even if the companies themselves haven't been abusing their ownership of these giant data collections, they have by definition left themselves and their customers vulnerable to government overreach. I do not put all of the companies mentioned above in exactly the same category, by the way. While I don't trust Google absolutely, I trust it more than, say, Facebook when it comes to these issues, based on long observation of both. (What should worry you, no matter who you trust today, is the possibility that the next generation of corporate leaders will have different policies.) It is difficult, moreover, to take their denials of complicity fully to heart. Consider the Yahoo statement about the Prism program. Nothing is going on that should worry us, the company insists. Then look at a line-by-line analysis of the statement by the American Civil Liberties Union's Christopher Soghoian, who makes clear on his personal blog that "Yahoo has not in fact denied receiving court orders … for massive amounts of communications data." Statements and letters to Congress won't solve their problem, even if Congress by some miracle changed the law to restrict the overweening data gathering and by a greater miracle President Obama – an ardent surveillance-statist leader, contrary to his campaign promises – were to sign it. (The biggest miracle of all would be compliance with such a law by the government.) The tech companies need to rethink the way they do business entirely. They need to stop collecting so much data in the first place. Then they need to create systems that protect users' data even from people inside the companies, and be absolutely clear about the situations when they can't promise this. For the rest of us, it's time to look for services and products that provide us with more security. The trajectory of surveillance, government and corporate, suggests we should assume we are being recorded at all times on unencrypted networks, for example. We need to adopt encryption and other countermeasures much more widely. I'll discuss there in upcoming columns. Meanwhile, I'm hoping the tech companies will grab this opportunity. They can't prove a negative, but they can take positive actions to regain – or gain for the first time – our trust. Will they?

By the time BMW is ready to field a Level 5 fully autonomous vehicle, some older BMW enthusiasts might be very ready for a self-driving car, since they may be too old to pass the eye test—or, for a few very senior BMW fans, the "still breathing" test. That's because a fully autonomous BMW—Level 5, in the self-driving hierarchy—is at least ten years away, according to Dirk Wisselmann, a senior engineer for automated driving at BMW. In an interview with Drive Mag, Wisselmann pointed out that there is a difference between safety systems and cars that can take over all driver functions completely. “Safety systems will help, but not take over 100%. We've got at least ten years ahead of us of assisted driving in such situations, not autonomous driving,” explained Wisselmann. Controlling the car is not the issue. The challenge lies in the vehicle's self-driving systems being able to make all the right decisions in all possible situations. To understand what the developers of self-driving cars are up against, it might be helpful to review the six levels of driver intervention and attentiveness required to classify vehicles as autonomous. These classifications were published by SAE International in 2014. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) adopted these classes in September 2016: Level 0: Automated system has no vehicle control, but may issue warnings. Level 1: Driver must be ready to take control at any time. Automated system may include features such as Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Parking Assistance with automated steering, and Lane Keeping Assistance (LKA) Type II in any combination. Level 2: The driver is obliged to detect objects and events and respond if the automated system fails to respond properly. The automated system executes accelerating, braking, and steering. The automated system can deactivate immediately upon takeover by the driver. Level 3: Within known, limited environments (such as freeways), the driver can safely turn their attention away from driving tasks, but must still be prepared to take control when needed. Level 4: The automated system can control the vehicle in all but a few environments such as severe weather. The driver must enable the automated system only when it is safe to do so. When enabled, driver attention is not required. Level 5: Other than setting the destination and starting the system, no human intervention is required. The automatic system can drive to any location where it is legal to drive and make its own decisions. As you can see, there is a big difference between Levels 4 and 5. Other car companies, such as Ford, are projecting a market-ready Level 4 vehicle by 2021. Last year during its centenary, BMW said it would have a self-driving car by 2021. In looking at the standards and after reading Herr Wisselmann's remarks, we can only conclude that a 2021 BMW autonomous vehicle would be Level 4 at the most as well. Many of us have said that BMW has another consideration when it comes to self-driving vehicles: they must have a switch to turn self-driving off. We still consider the operative word in BMW's "Ultimate Driving Machine" slogan to be "driving." According to Wisselmann, BMW is thinking of that, too, and that the self-driving technology of the future will work seamlessly with the human-driving technology. “You can switch it on when you need it, and off when you don’t need it. Autonomous driving just takes care of the most boring parts of driving and lets the driver enjoy his BMW when he wants. There's no fun to commute on a very busy highway. But in the countryside, or on winding roads, you'll still be able—and encouraged—to take matters into your own hands,” said Wisselmann. Who knows what effect the combination of technology, consumer preference, government regulation, and economics will have on the cars of tomorrow? It's nice to know that with BMW, we probably have at least ten years before we're faced with a fully self-driving choice and even then, BMW will still give us the option of being drivers.—Scott Blazey [Photos courtesy of BMW AG.]

If you’re a T-Mobile customer in the USA and still waiting for news on when your device might receive the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) update then we have some interesting news for you today. A leaked T-Mobile roadmap has come to light with various dates for the update for smartphones such as the Galaxy S2 and more. We must stress that these are leaked details so as always we caution readers that this is not set in stone. However, the leaked roadmap is enlightening and also gives away some info on other devices. First off those ICS updates and owners of the Galaxy S2 (S II) will be pleased to learn that the upgraded OS should be headed your way on May 14, so not too much longer to wait. Two more devices are also scheduled for the ICS update on the roadmap and they are the HTC Sensation 4G and the Amaze 4G. The release date of ICS for both of those phones is June 16. The rest of the roadmap concerns new devices to be released and those include the Huawei Astor (low-end phone) on May 9, the Huawei Buddy (myTouch QWERTY) and Phoenix (myTouch) and Samsung Gravity TXT (new color) all on July 11, the Samsung T159 Cacao (low-end phone) on August 1 and the Samsung Apex Q (unknown device) on August 15. News of the roadmap came to us from Tmo News. Equally as intriguing are the devices NOT shown on the leaked roadmap. If you were hoping for the Galaxy Note variant, Galaxy S3 or HTC One X then they are all noticeably absent which will be very disappointing for some of you. T-Mobile carried the Galaxy S2 but it looks as though the Galaxy S3 might be missed. Of course don’t take this as read just yet. As we said, this is a leaked roadmap so we cannot confirm this but if may give you some food for thought. Are you waiting for any of the ICS updates detailed above? Maybe you’re more concerned that the Galaxy S3 doesn’t appear on the leaked T-Mobile roadmap? We’re always interested to hear from our readers so send your comments to let us know your thoughts.

bitcoin: maar wat is het? Inhoudsopgave Staatsloterij wintips: www.slimwinnen.nl Bitcoins - maar wat zijn het? Bitcoin is een munteenheid. Net zoals euro en dollar. Verschil is, is dat het volledig digitaal is en gebruik maakt van peer-to-peer technologie (en blockchain). Bitcoins worden afkort naar 'BTC' (zoals dollars 'USD' zijn en Euro 'EUR'). Je kunt er op sommige plekken mee betalen. Die plekken zijn dan in 99 van de 100 gevallen wel op het internet want winkels gewoon in de stad accepteren meestal geen bitcoins. Hoewel, wel steeds vaker. Met name in Arnhem. Een korte uitleg kun je vinden op de Nederlandse Wikipedia en een uitgebreide op de engelse. bitcoin.org is de officiele website en www.bitcointalk.org het officiele forum. Als jij euro's bij de rabobank (of ing etc) hebt, dan ligt er niet ergens een stapel biljetten of muntjes in een kluis. Het enige wat je dan hebt is een bestandje op de computers van rabobank waarin staat "jan pietersen heeft 10 euro". Bij bitcoins is dit vrijwel hetzelfde met 't verschil dat het bestandje niet bij een bank staat maar op jouw eigen computer. Overigens betekent dat niet dat je het eenvoudig kunt aanpassen en dat je daarna meer bitcoins hebt want daar zijn beveiligingen tegen. Bitcoins zijn eigenlijk niet meer dan een bestandje op je pc ("wallet.dat" - backup die file! want die file kwijt of stuk: geld kwijt!). Als je nu iemand iets wil laten betalen aan jou, dan laat je je bitcoin programma een adres genereren. Dat adres geef je dan aan die ander, en die ander kan daar dan bitcoins naar laten sturen. Het duurt dan nog even voordat je er wat mee kunt: een betaling vereist een aantal "confirmations" (bevestigingen): anderen in het bitcoin-network moeten bevestigen dat die betaling heeft plaatsgevonden (dat is om te voorkomen dat geld dubbel uitgegeven wordt). Alle bitcoin-transacties die plaatsvinden worden verspreid over het hele bitcoin-netwerk. Iedereen kan zien dat er vanaf adres x een bedrag naar adres y gegaan is. Doordat iedereen dat weet, is het onmogelijk geld 2x uit te geven. Zo'n bitcoin adres ziet er bijvoorbeeld zo uit: 1LVyTtygdCnESJcQWE136nxKjNr6s4qB5f (dit is een echt bitcoin "adres" waar je ook echt bitcoins naar kunt sturen - ik dank je alvast hartelijk). De lol van bitcoins is o.a. dat het niet onder bestuur valt van 1 organisatie of land. Het bestaat doordat over de hele wereld heel veel mensen een bepaald programma (de bitcoin client) op hun computer(s) draaien. Voor het verrichten van een betaling is er niet 1 specifieke tussenpersoon nodig: het hele Bitcoin netwerk is als het ware de tussenpersoon (zie "confirmations"). Ook is het open source maar dat is voor het concept niet relevant. Bitcoin is bedacht ergens in 2009 door Craig Wright. Hij publiceerde eea onder de pseudoniem "Satoshi Nakamoto". - klopt niet, zie deze pagina Wat is toch die blockchain? Eigenlijk de belangrijkste peiler waarop bitcoin steunt is de "blockchain" (keten van blokken). In de blockchain wordt iedere bitcoin transactie opgeslagen die wordt uitgevoerd. Betalingen, nieuwe bitcoins, alles. Die blockchain staat bij iedere bitcoingebruiker op z'n computer. Daardoor kan iedereen nagaan of als iemand een transactie inschiet dat die wel geldig is. Of iemand niet bijvoorbeeld probeert twee keer geld uit te geven of probeert te betalen met geld dat hij of zij helemaal niet heeft. Op blockchain.info kun je rondneuzen in die blockchain zonder 'm te downloaden. Technische details: de blockchain bestaat uit blokken. Die blokken hangen cryptografisch aan elkaar (dmv hashing") in een lange keten. Op zich kun je die blockchain die op je lokale pc staat wel aanpassen. Je kunt die wijzingen alleen niet in het bitcoin netwerk "uploaden" omdat de wijzingen zouden worden afgekeurd. Pas als je meer dan de helft van alle gebruikers van bitcoin kunt overtuigen dat jouw aangepaste blockchain de juiste is, zullen deze wijzigingen worden toegepast (zie consensus). "Blockchain" is overigens niet specifiek voor bitcoin. "Altcoins" als ethereum en coinmagi zijn anders dan bitcoin maar gebruiken ook weer een eigen blockchain. Maar ook om te kunnen bewijzen dat een document er was op een bepaald moment wordt blockchain gebruikt. De Nederlandse overheid is aan het kijken of ze wat met deze technologie kunnen en ook banken kijken er naar. Naast blockchains waarbij het echt een chain is, een keten, heb je ook bijvoorbeeld Iota waarbij het een "tangle" is; een soort van web van blokken. Bitcoins kopen Dit kan op verschillende manieren. Als je bekend bent met IRC, ga dan naar bitcoin-otc.com. Wil je gewoon vanaf je bankrekening geld overmaken e.d., ga dan naar bitonic.nl of naar bitstamp.net. Bitstamp is de grootste bitcoin exchange, bitoinic.nl een Nederlandse. Lang geleden was Mt.Gox.d de grootste, die zijn echter door fraude failliet gegaan. Dat gebeurd wel vaker trouwens. Als je wat googlet, dan zul je ook allerlei websites vinden die de weg van PayPal bewandelen. Let daar echter wel bij op: PayPal staat de handel in Bitcoins via hen niet toe (voor een plausibele reden die ik vrijwel vergeten ben maar het had er mee te maken dacht ik dat je een bitcoin transactie niet kunt terugdraaien). Sinds een tijdje is er ook een Nederlandse website waar je tamelijk anoniem BTC kunt kopen: www.btc4euro.nl. Om daar iets te kopen voer je in hoeveel BTC je wilt, je BTC adres en daarna krijg je een code. Vervolgens doe je het bedrag in euro's in een envelop met daarbij een briefje met de code en stuur je het naar het post-adres van btc4euro.nl Een paar dagen later heb je dan je geld. Ik heb 't niet zelf getest overigens. December 2017: lijkt er op dat deze website 't niet meer doet. Naast de gereguleerde(!) exchanges zoals bitstamp (en die bank in Frankrijk (via bitcoin-central.net)) is er ook een "grijs circuit" (al is "grijs circuit" wat gek omdat je zou kunnen zeggen dat het hele bitcoin verhaal een groot grijs circuit is) in chat-kanalen (op bijv. IRC) waar je kunt handelen. Betalingen gaan dan vaak via bijv. paypal en mensen kennen elkaar punten toe om zo een betrouwbaarheidsgetal te verkrijgen zodat anderen weten of het vertrouwd is om met jou te handelen. Een andere aanbieder is BitRush. Het voordeel van Bitrush zijn de scherpe prijzen (zie deze pagina voor een overzicht van de prijzen van een aantal Nederlandse bitcoin aanbieders). Bitcoins verkopen Misschien wil je ooit van je bitcoins af, of je krijgt je salaris in bitcoins maar de albert heijn accepteert nog geen bitcoins. Op je rekening storten Als je dollars op je rekening bij de bank wil laten storten dan deed je dat bijv. via GWK (grens wisselkantoor). Banken hebben die dienst ook maar het is iets speciaals; want ze kopen die dollars van je en storten dat als euro op je rekening. Je kunt dus niet beiden euros en dollars op je rekening hebben staan (ja bij sommige banken kun je dan een extra rekening aanvragen voor een andere munteenheid maar dat even terzijde). Dus wil jij bitcoins op je rekening storten, dan moet dat via een tussenpersoon die bitcoins accepteert en daar euro's voor in ruil geeft. Misschien dat er banken zijn maar dan alleen buitenlandse banken want van Nederlandse banken die dat doen heb ik nog niet gehoord. Je zult het dus via een ander kanaal moeten doen. Daar zijn heel wat bedrijven voor. De ene wat betrouwbaarder dan de ander. Waar ikzelf mee samenwerk (ik plaats reclame voor hen op mijn site en krijg daar geld voor terug) is BTCdirect. Hoeveel zijn ze waard? Een ogenblik, ophalen gegevens... (het resultaat komt hier te staan). Illegaal? V.z.v. ik weet zijn bitcoins (en het gebruik daarvan) niet illegaal (zondag 17 december 2017). Mogelijk dat dat anders wordt omdat het bij Bitcoins lastig is om te traceren hoe geldstromen lopen (maar niet onmogelijk! verhalen dat het absoluut anoniem zou zijn kloppen niet (helemaal)!). Er wordt op allerlei manieren gewerkt aan methoden om het echt helemaal anoniem en ontraceerbaar te maken (via cryptografische truuks en door e.e.a. over FreeNet te versturen), mogelijk dat dat een trigger gaat zijn om bepaalde processen te versnellen qua illegaliseren. Denk nu niet dat je gewoon het via Tor kunt versturen om te anonimiseren omdat dat alleen de route van verzenden verbergt, bijv. niet parameters als tijden waarop, welke bedragen en naar wie (met wat dataminen is uit o.a. die gegevens heel wat af te leiden). Daarnaast kun je een bedrag laten overmaken via sites als bitcoinfog.com (de methode van die site werkt niet als maar weinig mensen er bitcoins via overmaken). Hier en daar zijn er op het internet plaatsen waar in drugs (voorheen "Silk Road"), wapens en what not gehandeld wordt waarbij bitcoins worden gebruikt voor de betalingen. Helaas komt het Bitcoin principe vaak alleen vanwege dat in het nieuws. Jammer want is ook bruikbaar voor het doen van betalingen naar mensen in onderdrukkende regimes. Naast handel in illegale zaken is ransomware die 't losgeld in bitcoin willen ontvangen nogal in opkomst (2017). Een ander ding waar je op moet letten: door hoe het bitcoin-mechanisme werkt zal te achterhalen zijn dat een bitcoin-bedag dat bij een criminele actie is gebruikt, dat dat van jou vandaan komt. Ik heb hierover gesproken met Arnoud Engelfriet (een bekende Nederlandse internet jurist) en ondanks dat het in theorie mogelijk is dat recherche jou een bezoekje brengt (omdat je in de historie van een misbruikte bitcoin zit) acht Arnoud het niet waarschijlijk. Mocht je "niet waarschijnlijk" niet veilig genoeg vinden, dan zijn er mogelijkheden je geld los te koppelen van z'n historie. Zie het tabelletje hieronder voor websites die daarmee kunnen helpen. Arnoud verwacht overigens niet dat bitcoins illegaal worden gemaakt in Nederland, hooguit regulering van handel in/uitgifte van - het is immers een financiele dienst. In oktober 2012 heeft de Europese Centrale Bank een rapport laten verschijnen waar men virtuele currencies bekijkt. Zie hier voor dat rapport. Dit is interessant omdat ze, naast Linden dollars (Second Life - een spel dat ooit eens enorm populair was bij zowel de spelers als allerlei bedrijven) ook BTC de revu laten passeren. Sites waar je BTC's kunt ontkoppelen van hun historie Minen Net zoals het betaalmiddel goud moeten bitcoins eerst "gevonden" worden. Het idee achter een bitcoin is namelijk dat het een bepaald getal is wat aan bepaalde cryptografische regels voldoet. Het uitrekenen van zo'n getal is niet triviaal. Hoe snel een computer zoiets uitrekent wordt uitgedrukt in "gigahashes per seconde". Als je er een gevonden hebt, dan zit er een constructie in het bitcoin netwerk dat er voor zorgt dat je 25 bitcoins (april 2013) krijgt. Dat waren er eerst meer maar er is wat ingebakken in bitcoin dat er voor zorgt dat naarmate er meer bitcoins zijn, die "vergoeding" steeds minder wordt tot je uiteindelijk bij 21 miljoen bitcoins geen vergoeding meer krijgt. Dat is zo gemaakt om er voor te zorgen dat er niet eindeloos veel bitcoins bijgemaakt kunnen worden tbv inflatie. Ja het kan wel, maar het levert je niets op. Een pc (met bijv. een AMD Phenom processor) doet ongeveer 12 megahashes per seconde. Een videokaart (een ATI 7970) doet er 440-500 per seconde. Ga je met je pc minen, dan moet je energieverbruik afzetten tegen wat het oplevert. Zo'n ATI7970 videokaart gebruikt zo'n 250Watt aan energie. Als je die getallen invult op https://alloscomp.com/bitcoin/calculator dan zie je dat zo'n videokaart practisch niets meer oplevert (0,01 dollar per maand! (22/6/2017)). Je kunt ook minen mbv ASICs. Dat zijn chips die gemaakt worden om speciaal 1 doel te kunnen doen, niet alles wat je maar kunt bedenken zoals de processor in je laptop. Doordat ze zo specifiek opgebouwd zijn, kunnen ze veel sneller een taak verrichten. Die videokaart waar ik het net over had doet maximaal 500 megahashes, een asic minstens 60000 megahashes per seconde bij een fractie van het energieverbruik. Bijvoorbeeld AntMiner produceert en verkoopt dergelijke apparaten (zie ook deze site voor een overzicht). Kijk op deze website om aanwijzingen te vinden hoe zelf met het minen te beginnen. In het kort: vroeger installeerde je een paar snelle videokaarten en wat software en dat was 't. Die tijd is al lang voorbij. Nu koop je een dedicated miner (ik noem er geen want over een paar dagen is die informatie al weer verouderd). Je kunt ook mining-capaciteit huren. Een ander draait dan de apparatuur en jij hebt de winst. Ja of het verlies. Je spreekt namelijk vooraf af wat je betaalt per eenheid. Als dan de koers daalt of stijgt heeft dat invloed op je winst. Daarom is het interessant voor mensen om capaciteit te verhuren: je weet zeker dat je een bepaald bedrag gaat krijgen, los van de koers. Er komt overigens een moment dat alle 21 miljoen (zoveel zijn het er maximaal) bitcoins gevonden zijn, minen heeft dan geen zin meer. Denk nu niet dat dat betekent dat maximaal 21 miljoen mensen 1 bitcoin kunnen hebben en het dus niet schaalt: bitcoins gaan in een aantal cijfers achter de komma (ik dacht 8) dus er is "wat ruimte". Waarom minen? Het "minen" is een belangrijk onderdeel van bitcoin: iedere keer dat er een nieuw blok gemined wordt kunnen er een aantal transacties gebundeld worden en in de blockchain worden opgenomen (en de miner krijgt dan ook een aantal bitcoin "gratis" toegewezen en krijgt alle transactiekosten van de transacties die gebundeld worden). Zelf een exchange (wisselkantoor) beginnen Dit is niet eenvoudig. Zowiezo zul je toch echt even met de belastingdienst moeten gaan praten hoe je dit moet aangeven. Verder heb je mogelijk (zie hieronder) een bankvergunning nodig. Dat is niet een kwestie van een pdfje uitprinten en opsturen. Ook zul je met de belastingdienst in conclaaf moeten, de beveiliging op orde hebben (physiek, digitaal), een onderneming als dit gaat criminaliteit aantrekken. Je zult niet de 1e exchange zijn die gehacked wordt en al z'n bitcoins kwijtraakt, of dat je server crashed en dat je backups niet goed blijken te zijn. Zoals al aangegeven staat PayPal het niet toe via hun dienst betalingen te laten doen voor geldwisseltransacties (mogelijk dat daar verandering in komt (24 april 2013) maar iDEAL heeft aangegeven (22/8/2012) dat die het wel toestaan ("DEALbetalingen zijn mogelijk voor alle diensten en producten die volgens de Nederlands wet zijn toegestaan"). 29 april 2013 gaf een woordvoorder van De Nederlandsche Bank het volgende aan: "...dat vooralsnog het oordeel van de Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) is dat Bitcoins als zodanig buiten de reikwijdte vallen van zowel de elektronisch geld richtlijn als de betaaldienstenrichtlijn. Dit is in lijn met de visie van de ECB zoals die blijkt uit het recent verschenen rapport over 'virtual currency schemes'. Let wel: het is niet uitgesloten dat dienstverlening met betrekking tot Bitcoins, bijvoorbeeld met betrekking tot de uitvoering van betalingstransacties daarmee, onder omstandigheden als betaaldienstverlening in de zin van de Wet op het financieel toezicht kan worden aangemerkt (bijvoorbeeld dienst 3) en daarmee vergunningplichting zou zijn. Zie voor verdere informatie de volgende link: http://www.toezicht.dnb.nl/2/50-226036.jsp." Er iets mee doen Mocht je bitcoins hebben, dan wil je er ook wat mee doen uiteraard. Er zijn al opvallend veel winkels, bedrijven, hobbyisten die met bitcoins betaald kunnen worden. Op de officiele bitcoin-wiki wordt een lijst bijgehouden. Begin je zelf iets, zelf dat dan vooral jezelf ook op die wiki. Dit is ook wel een leuke: forbitcoin.com: een soort van "heitje voor een karweitje" waar je dan betaald met bitcoins. Uiteraard veel mensen die bloot voor de webcam gaan zitten, maar ook lui die je tuin omspitten of je website hosten of je facebookvriend worden, etc. etc. En natuurlijk gokken. Op Bitcoins Poker vind je een overzicht van alle sites die BTC accepteren. Op bijvoorbeeld deze site kun je pokeren met als inzet BTC. Ook op bitcoinpokersites.net vindt je uitgebreide uitleg en relevante links. Handelen Kado? Sites voor handelen met bitcoins 'come and go'. Eentje met een forum-achtige structuur is bitcointrading.com Global Standard Bank verkoopt kaarten die je vervolgens kunt inwisselen voor BTC, lovebitcoins.org ook en bitcoinsforchristmas.com en coinapult.com doen het via e-mail. Ook in Nederland zijn er vvv-bon achtige kado-kaarten te koop: www.bitcoincadeau.nl - jammer, al die doe-bitcoin-kado-sites zijn verdwenen! forex-, aandelen- & future trading Geautomatiseerde forex-trading kan op bitstamp.net en campbx.com. "binary options" kan via bijv. www.binaryuno.com. Bitcoins accepteren in je (web-)winkel Voorheen duurde het te lang om een bitcoin transactie in een "physieke winkel" plaats te laten vinden. Omdat er echter toch wel de behoefte is bij veel winkeliers zijn een aantal bedrijven in dat probleem gedoken. Zo is er bijvoorbeeld BitKassa wat het heel makkelijk maakt. Met een eenvoudige tablet van een paar tientjes ben je dan al klaar (verder geen andere startup kosten). Een voordeel van BTC kan zijn dat de klant niet het bedrag kan teruboeken. Is de betaling gedaan, dan zal het geld aankomen in je wallet, hoe dan ook. Andere voordelen zijn dat je geen transactie kosten hebt (mits het bedrag boven een bepaald minimum is) en dat je ook betalingen uit het buitenland kunt accepteren. Voor een webwinkel zijn er een aantal opties. Zo kun je zelf wat software gaan schrijven tegen de bitcoin-applicatie aan en dat verbinden met je webwinkel software. Ook kun je de betalingen uitbesteden aan bijvoorbeeld het Nederlandse Mollie. Ik heb er zelf niet zoveel ervaring mee (anders dan een "quick hack" die ik zelf geprogrammeerd heb) maar op deze link staat een minstens complete lijst van "bitcoin winkelkarretjes". Over die veel te ingewikkelde adressen Om een betaling te doen heb je een adres nodig. Die adressen zijn een (te) lange combinatie van letters en cijfers. En dan ook nog eens hoofd- en kleine letters door elkaar. Mocht je een algemeen BTC adres willen opnemen in bijv. drukwerk (brieven, posters, etc.), dan gaat dat niet werken want geen klant zal de moeite nemen om zo'n adres over te tiepen. En het is ook risicovol: 1 tiepfout en het geld verdwijnt voor altijd in het niets (!). Nuja, ik moet dit wel enigzins nuanceren: het bitcoin adres bevat een controle getal. Klopt dit getal niet, dan weigert de bitcoin applicatie je transactie. Dit staat beschreven in de bitcoin wiki. Zie dit controle getal maar als de 11 proef die banken gebruik(t)en bij bankrekeningnummers. Dit probleem met die lange adressen geldt ook voor web-adressen dus daar is wat op gevonden: QR-codes. QR-codes zijn een vierkant met daarin ook weer vierkantjes die een patroon vormen. Dat patroon kan herkend worden door bijv. je telefoon of door software op je pc. Die software kan dan uit die QR-code een web-adres of in dit geval een BTC adres halen. Hoe zo'n QR-code te maken? Daar zijn allerlei software oplossingen voor. Wat je doet is: je pakt het adres dat je wil publiceren, zet er "bitcoin:" (zonder quotes) voor en laat dat omzetten naar een QR-code. Er is nog niet echt een algemene standaard voor en sommigen laten dat "bitcoin:" weg. Op www.wolframalpha.com kun je je adres laten omzetten. Voer daarvoor in: "qr code ..." (en vervang ... door het BTC adres, eventueel voorafgegaan door "bitcoin:"). Dit geeft dan iets als: Die btc.to heeft ook nog een andere leuke feature: het kan een adres als 1LVyTtygdCnESJcQWE136nxKjNr6s4qB5f omzetten in een web-adres als http://btc.to/70p: wanneer iemand naar dat web-adres surft, dan wordt het volledige BTC adres getoond. Belastingen Stel je begint een winkel of je verleent diensten waarbij je je laat uitbetalen in bitcoins, hoe gaat het in z'n werk met de belastingdienst? Begin september 2012 heb ik dit gevraagd en dit is het antwoord: "In artikel 8, zesde lid van de Wet op de omzetbelasting 1968 is bepaald dat indien de vergoeding in een andere munteenheid dan de euro is uitgedrukt, de wisselkoers vastgesteld dient te worden overeenkomst de laatst genoteerde verkoopkoers op het tijdsstip waarop de belasting verschuldigd wordt." "In dit geval betekent dit dat als u wegens een levering of een dienst een factuur moet uitreiken, de wisselkoers moet worden genomen die geldt op de dag waarop de factuur is uitgereikt of uiterlijk uitgereikt had moeten worden. Als er gen verplichting tot het uitreiken van een factuur is, dan wordt de omzetbelasting verschuldigd op het tijdstip waarop de ondernemer de vergoeding ontvangt." Op deze site kun je lezen wat de belastingdienst zegt over je vermogen in BTC: "Omdat u deze bitcoins kunt inwisselen tegen geld en de bitcoins daarom een bepaalde waarde vertegenwoordigen vormen deze bitcoins een onderdeel van uw vermogensbestanddelen. De waarde dient dan ook aangegeven te worden in box 3." Ageras.com geeft een rekenvoorbeeld hoe je je bitcoins moet aangeven bij de belastingen en wat het dan gaat kosten. Op deze website staat het volgende statement van de belasting dienst over loon in BTC: "Bitcoins zijn een niet in geld genoten inkomst op het moment dat iemand de beschikkingsmacht over die Bitcoins heeft verkregen. Als je als werknemer je salaris in Bitcoin ontvangt, zal de Belastingdienst dit dus waarschijnlijk aanmerken als loon in natura." Volgens nu.nl heeft het europesche hof van justitie (oktober 2015) nog eens benadrukt dat voor het handelen in bitcoin (de munt zelf, niet de goederen die je ermee koopt) er geen btw afgedragen hoeft te worden. Is bitcoin te stoppen/verbieden? Of bitcoin te stoppen is is een moeilijke vraag: niemand kan de toekomst voorspellen immers. Alleen hebben al heel veel mensen aanzienlijke bedragen geinvesteerd in bitcoin. Bijvoorbeeld bitcoins gekocht maar ook dingen als mining-hardware gekocht, websites begonnen, business modellen aangepast. Ja het kan dat opeens iedereen het vertrouwen verliest, dan daalt te koers snel. Het gaat hier wel om 10 miljard dollar aan bitcoin inmiddels. Dan het verbieden: dat is lastig. Ja alle "zichtbare" websites (bijv. www.thuisbezorgd.nl) kunnen gedwongen worden te stoppen met accepteren van bitcoin als betaalmiddel, en alle exchanges zoals BitStamp kunnen gedwongen worden te stoppen, maar daarmee is bitcoin nog niet uit de lucht. Mogelijk dat het bitcoin netwerk gewoon blijft bestaan. Want ook als het gefilterd zou gaan worden zijn er weer talloze manieren om dat de omzeilen (die echt niet zo ingewikkeld zijn). Geen conclusie. Links bitcoinsvergelijken.nl is een site die websites vergelijkt waar je bitcoins kunt kopen bitcoinspot.nl is een leuke Nederlandse site met bitcoin-nieuwtjes Op deze pagina vindt je een lange lijst van wisselkantoren en websites. stackechange: een community site waar mensen vragen stellen over bitcoin gerelateerde zaken. Niet alleen hoe je met de software omgaat, maar ook over hoe de BTC economie werkt, filosofische zaken, etc. http://eprint.iacr.org/2012/584: "Quantitative Analysis of the Full Bitcoin Transaction Graph" complementaire-economie.startpagina.nl startpagina site over alternatieve economiën De schrijver dezes werd in 2013 geinterviewed in spits!nieuws. Nog vragen? Heb je nog een vraag? Stuur een mail naar: [email protected]. Adverteren op deze pagina? Achtergrondfoto van Deze site maakt zelf geen cookies aan. De advertenties wel.Achtergrondfoto van www.schweizfotos.com Stuur me even een mailtje. Geen banner of logo's etc., alleen een tekstueel linkje.