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Meanwhile in a second case in the 9th Circuit Court, the Obama administration has increased its defense of secrecy surrounding an alleged CIA program of torture flight, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/
The Obama administration, under pressure to turn over key memos written by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, has asked the federal judge in New York for another 90 days to consider its position on a Freedom of Information Act case brought by a coalition of civil liberties advocates. But the judge may not be inclined to grant the request.
As earlier reported in ACLU Lawsuit Tests Obama Openess Policies, the three memos at issue were written by then-OLC director Steven Bradbury and reportedly authorized abusive interrogations of suspected terrorists and decided that such extreme tactics would not violate the law. The Bush administration repeatedly refused to turn them over, but given President Obama's promises to open government and increase disclosure under FOIA, the Justice Department now is under considerable pressure to change its position and release the documents, which could be critical to any future investigations or prosecutions of Bush officials.
The New York Times reported in October 2007 that the memos provided "explicit authorization to barrage terror suspects with a combination of painful physical and psychological tactics, including head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures." These did not, the memos concluded, amount to "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" -- which would have been banned by international law, as well as a bill Congress was then considering.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which sued for the memos along with several other organizations, argues the memos don't fall under an exception to FOIA because they constitute adopted policy, not confidential legal advice. Although the ACLU agreed to give the Justice Department some additional time to respond to the request, it argued in court this week that 90 days is too long. The case has already been going on for more than five years.
"The Obama administration deserves credit for its disavowal of torture and for the commitment it has made to transparency, but the public has waited long enough for the disclosure of these memos," said Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU's National Security Project, in a statement released today.
"There is a public debate taking place right now about the role of the CIA going forward and about accountability for the abuses of the last eight years. The immediate release of the memos would allow the public to participate more meaningfully in that debate. While we applaud the administration for its promise of transparency, it's now time to make good on that promise."
On Friday, Judge Hellerstein ordered both sides to appear in his court next Wednesday to discuss how long a delay is warranted. "I take that as a good sign," Jaffer told me Friday. "But we'll see what happens on Wednesday."
Will the Bush administration be held accountable for war crimes? The answer ought to be yes, if the verdict of the Senate Armed Services Committee Inquiry into the Treatment of Detainees in US Custody is to mean anything. The bipartisan report, released on December 11 by senators Carl Levin and John McCain, concluded that the torture and abuse of prisoners was the direct result of policies authorized or implemented by senior officials within the current administration, including President George W. Bush, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and Vice President Dick Cheney's former legal counsel (and now chief of staff) David Addington.
Since the scandal of the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq broke in April 2004, over a dozen investigations have identified problems concerning the treatment of prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo, but until now no official report has looked up the chain of command to blame senior officials for authorizing torture and instigating abusive policies. The Bush administration has been able to maintain, as it did in the wake of the Abu Ghraib scandal, that any abuse was the result of the rogue activities of "a few bad apples."
This is now untenable. As the report states: "The abuse of detainees in US custody cannot simply be attributed to the actions of 'a few bad apples' acting on their own. The fact is that senior officials in the United States government solicited information on how to use aggressive techniques, redefined the law to create the appearance of their legality, and authorized their use against detainees. Those efforts damaged our ability to collect accurate intelligence that could save lives, strengthened the hand of our enemies, and compromised our moral authority."
Though containing little new information, the report is damning in its revelation of how senior officials sought out and approved the reverse engineering of techniques taught in the US military's SERE schools (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) for use on prisoners captured in the "war on terror." These include "stripping detainees of their clothing, placing them in stress positions, putting hoods over their heads, disrupting their sleep, treating them like animals, subjecting them to loud music and flashing lights, and exposing them to extreme temperatures." In some circumstances, the measures also included waterboarding, a notorious torture technique which involves controlled drowning.
After noting that these techniques were taught to train personnel "to withstand interrogation techniques considered illegal under the Geneva Conventions," and that they are "based, in part, on Chinese Communist techniques used during the Korean war to elicit false confessions," the authors laid out a compelling timeline for the introduction of the techniques, beginning with a crucial memorandum issued by Bush on February 7, 2002. This stated that the protections of the Geneva Conventions, which the authors noted "would have afforded minimum standards for humane treatment," did not apply to prisoners seized in the "war on terror."
established Bush's role as the initial facilitator of abuse, the report
then implicated those directly responsible for implementing torture,
explaining how Pentagon general counsel William J. Haynes II began
soliciting advice from the agency responsible for SERE techniques in
December 2001, and how Addington, Justice Department legal adviser John
Yoo, and White House counsel Alberto Gonzales attempted to redefine
torture in the notorious "Torture Memo" of August 2002. The memo
claimed that the pain endured "must be equivalent to the pain
accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment
of bodily function, or even death."
The authors also noted how Rumsfeld approved the use of SERE techniques at Guantanamo in December 2002 (after Haynes had consulted with other senior officials), and explained how the techniques migrated to Afghanistan in January 2003, and were implemented by Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of coalition forces in Iraq, in September 2003.
Even so, the report is not without its faults. The authors carefully refrained from ever using the words "torture" or "war crimes," which is a considerable semantic achievement, but one that does little to foster a belief that the officials involved will one day be held accountable for their crimes. They also, curiously, omitted all mention of Vice President Dick Cheney, and ignored the importance of the presidential order of November 2001, which authorized the capture and indefinite detention of "enemy combatants," even though Barton Gellman of The Washington Post has established that Cheney played a significant role in this and all the other crucial documents that led to the torture and abuse of detainees.
Responses in the US media have been mixed. Oddly, most major media outlets chose to focus solely on Rumsfeld's responsibility for implementing abusive techniques. More thoughtful commentators have questioned whether Barack Obama would pursue those responsible, noting that he will be unwilling to antagonize Republicans, whose support he needs to tackle the economic crisis, and that many Democrats in Congress knew about the administration's policies, and in some cases were involved in approving them. A recent article in The Nation noted that such complicity made "an unfettered review seem unlikely," but the article also noted, more hopefully: "A growing body of legal opinion holds that Obama will have a duty to investigate war crimes allegations and, if they are found to have merit, to prosecute the perpetrators."
As of December 17, those concerned with pursuing Bush administration officials for war crimes can at least be assured that the perpetrators now include Cheney. In an interview with ABC News, the vice president stuck to a now-discredited script, declaring "we don't do torture, we never have," but admitted for the first time that he knew about the use of waterboarding on a handful of "high-value detainees," and that he considered its use in their cases "appropriate."
Only time will tell if Cheney's admission will be regarded as a stalwart defense of national security, or as the last defiant gesture of a war criminal.
Huzaifa Parhat, a fruit peddler, has been imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay Detention Center for the last seven years. He is not a terrorist. He's a mistake, a victim of the war against al Qaeda. An interrogator first told him that the military knew he was not a threat to the United States in 2002. Parhat hoped he would soon be free, reunited with his wife and son in China. Again, in 2003, his captors told him he was innocent. Parhat and 16 other Uighurs, a Muslim ethnic minority group, were living in a camp west of the Chinese border in Afghanistan when the U.S. bombing campaign against the Taliban destroyed the village where they were staying. They fled to Pakistan, but were picked up by bounty hunters to whom the U.S. government had offered $5,000 a head for al Qaeda fighters.
The Uighurs were officially cleared for release in 2004, but they remain at Guantánamo. They cannot be repatriated to China, because they might be tortured, and no other country will take them. The U.S. government does not want to allow them into the United States for fear of setting a precedent that might open the door for detainees it still considers dangerous. In 2006, after again being told that they were innocent, and becoming desperate, some of the Uighurs began mouthing off to their captors. They were sent for a time to Camp Six, a $30-million "supermax" prison for holding al Qaeda suspects in isolated cells.
In the tomb-like confines of this concrete prison, some of them began to crack up, says P. Sabin Willett '79, J.D. '83, a Boston-based attorney with Bingham McCutchen, the firm that has represented the Uighurs pro bono since 2005. "The Department of Defense has studied what happens to human beings when they are left alone in spaces like this for a long time and it is grim," Willett notes. "The North Koreans did this to our airmen in the 1950s. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations went to the floor of the General Assembly and denounced the practice as a step back to the jungle."
Continue reading The War and the Writ: Habeus Corpus and Security in an Age of Terrorism.


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subset: commoncrawl


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Yes, Americans want bacon with that.
Square, the mobile payments company used by millions of small businesses, has been compiling information on customer ordering behavior since April 2013. That's when it released an item modifier tool as part of its point-of-sale product to help businesses -- especially cafe and restaurant owners -- customize orders.
From ice cream toppings, to condiment choices, to types of milk with your iced coffee, looking at the most commonly used modifiers reveals customer tastes and can clue business owners in to what people really want.
The data, which is based on tens of millions of orders, reveals that in five out of eight major U.S. cities, bacon was among the top 20 most commonly used modifiers.
So, if you're a restaurant owner in those five cities (Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Minneapolis), it would behoove you to boost your bacon inventory.
In fact, across the country, customers are 145% more likely to choose bacon over sausage and 38% more likely to want bacon instead of tomato.
Related: Refugees cook for the masses
Restaurant owner Seth McCoy has been using the modifier tool since it first rolled out.
When he launched a new menu at his restaurant Groundswell in St. Paul, Minn., this month, Square's modifier tool played an integral role.
"You have your perceptions about what customers like or don't like," explains McCoy. "We have tacos [on our menu] and we were selling them individually. We thought people would just buy them at happy hour -- that it would be a small snack meal."
But when he crunched the numbers from Square's tool, he was surprised at what he found: People wanted tacos for meals.
As a result, McCoy added taco plates to both his lunch and dinner menus and dropped the roast beef sandwich, one of the worst selling items.
"I don't know that we would have thought to do that without Square knowing what people are ordering and when they're ordering it," he said.
Related: From Meetup group to full-blown business
Square's findings also reveal that customers prefer to be highly, highly caffeinated -- they're more than 132% more likely to add a shot of espresso than to opt for decaf.
And, not surprisingly, bigger is better. Customers are 58% more likely to choose a 16 oz. beverage than a 12 oz. one.
Square spokeswoman Faryl Ury said the company's real-time data can really benefit small businesses if used smartly.
"A seller might be wondering, "Should I offer customers the option of adding bacon to any sandwich?'" she said. "As the data shows, the answer is yes."


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U.S. elections and the economy
As America's elections approach, with President Barack Obama slightly in front of his Republican challenger, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, pollsters still rate the races for control of the presidency and the United States Senate too close to call, with the House of Representatives likely to remain in Republican hands.The differences between the candidates are considerable, and highly consequential for American economic policy and the global economy, although enactment of their programs will depend on the makeup of Congress.
The most important differences between the two candidates can be summarized as follows:
Spending. Obama has dramatically increased spending. He would likely continue many of his temporary programs (as Milton Friedman once observed, "There is nothing so permanent as a temporary government program."); double down on having government pick winners and losers in green energy; expand spending on education and infrastructure; and substantially reduce defense expenditures.
Romney, by contrast, favors limiting overall federal spending, currently 24 percent of GDP, to 20 percent, and keeping defense at 4 percent. He wants private markets, not government, to choose winning firms and technologies.
Democrats oppose most nondefense spending cuts, arguing that reductions would cause the economy to contract. That case is strongest if the spending reductions are large and abrupt in a weak economy. If phased in over a multi-year period as the economy recovers, as Romney proposes, thrift would likely be expansionary.
For example, federal spending relative to GDP fell by five percentage points from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s in the U.S., and by an even larger margin in recent decades in Canada - that is, through periods of strong economic growth.
Taxes. Obama would raise the top marginal tax rates on wages, capital gains, dividends, interest, and estates, especially on higher-income individuals and small businesses. Yet he has never proposed comprehensive reform of either the personal or corporate income tax.
By contrast, Romney would reduce America's corporate tax rate (the highest in the OECD) to 25 percent and tax American multinationals on a territorial, rather than a worldwide, basis in order to increase their tax competitiveness. He would also lower personal tax rates by 20 percent, and make up lost revenue by limiting tax deductions and credits, particularly at the upper end, thereby raising about 18.5 percent of GDP, just above the historical average, at full employment.
Romney's fiscal plan thus reduces deficits sufficiently to decrease the debt-to-GDP ratio. He favors a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution, and hopes to balance the budget over eight years.
Obama, by contrast, would run larger deficits - his spending increase is much larger than his tax increase - which imply large tax hikes in the future. Moreover, he would run far larger debt ratios than Romney, because the main driver of the debt is entitlement spending.
Entitlements. Obama has remained silent about reform of Medicare and Social Security, whose long-run deficits are several times the national debt. Vice President Joe Biden has even said that "no changes" to Social Security are to be made.
Romney supports gradually increasing retirement ages, a premium-support model for Medicare and shifting Medicaid (health insurance for the poor) to the states via block grants. The Obama campaign is pummeling Romney on Medicare, and the Romney campaign is hammering Obama for his refusal to negotiate or even propose a solution.
The Obama policy would thus lead to ever-higher deficits and debt ratios well over 100 percent of GDP, a level that numerous studies imply would reduce U.S. economic growth by one-third or more and might induce a sovereign-debt crisis. Some observers suggest that Obama's unspoken plan is ever-growing entitlements eventually paid for by a European-style value-added tax.
Trade. Obama is the first U.S. president in a long time who has not played a leading role on global trade liberalization. The Doha Round of global trade talks remains stalled, and Obama delayed the three bilateral free-trade agreements that awaited approval when he came into office. Romney is a proponent of free trade, but has said that he would be tougher on China's trade practices and currency policies.
Regulation. Obama wants to expand federal command-and-control regulation further (though the courts have stopped his extension of some regulatory powers). Romney vows an economically balanced approach that would reform Obama's major health-care, environmental and financial-services regulations.
These policies would affect U.S. economic growth, the budget deficit, national saving and hence global trade and capital flows. With larger deficits under Obama than under Romney, America would need more capital from Europe, Latin America and Asia, while higher taxes and debt would impede U.S. growth and thus undermine these regions' exports. Obama would steer America in the direction of European social-welfare states; Romney's agenda is designed to prevent that.
Whoever wins, a fiscal cliff looms at the end of 2012. Previous legislation, if not reversed, will lead to large abrupt tax hikes and spending cuts, which the Congressional Budget Office forecasts would likely cause a recession in 2013.
While a post-election, lame-duck session of Congress will address the fiscal cliff, the deep differences between Republicans and Democrats on taxes and spending remain wide and difficult to bridge.
With uncertainty plaguing Europe's finances and China slowing, the last thing the global economy needs is a stagnant or shrinking U.S. economy. But it will take strong leadership by the president-elect to avoid it.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2012
* The author is professor of economics at Stanford University and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution.
by Michael Boskin


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free pattern - click to get larger size and print!
Ah, those sneaky saucepans, luring shy, innocent veggies to their saucy deaths!
I, for one, was so shocked by this saucepan's behavior that I added a stern message below:
free pattern - click to get larger size and print!
In addition to the "death by saucepan" motif, there's a cute cooking boy as well:
If you were around for the first time I shared this pattern, you may have been privy to our comments on the baker's generously-sized derriere. The baker pattern was hereby christened, "Baker got back." See, I don't even have to come up with this stuff. I rely on you guys for the really good ones. :) Also on my sheet, there's a teacup-headed baseball player "stepping up to the plate" (har, har), a smiling flour canister making eyes at a scoop, cross stitch borders and veggies, salt and pepper shakers and salad dressing, smiling milk and mixing bowl, and moustachioed frying pan brandishing a faceless frankfurter while a horrified egg looks on, (whoa, violence galore on this one!) a baking girl that says "Bake on Saturday", and a mammy-looking pattern with a cake. By the way, thank you to my stitching friend Drewzel, for sending me the rest of this pattern!


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For those who haven't got it yet, the Water charges are just another 'Stealth' Tax. It was NEVER intended to fund water services. It was an excuse to tax the people of Ireland, suggested to them by the Troikia to pay for the Bank Bailout.
If you think that 0.005€ per liter is magiclly derived from average water usage, to arrive at ~280€ per month you would have been shocked if it had been 1.00€ per liter to arrive at that same monthly figure had the usage data been lower.


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The autumn chills are turning into winter. This is a hunting outfit. An urban one.
Dressed down with a beret. For those chilly waits at the station. When the train is late because there are the wrong kinds of leaves on the track. And the pretty 1050s original hat. One of the first things I bought on Etsy. you have seen it here with my Boden squirrel dress and in September with a Dirndl look.
orange dress: Debenhams, ca. 2013
jacket: H+M, a few years old, bought 3nd hand 2016
sleeves: orange bolero, eBay 2015
hat: true vintage, via Etsy, bought 2014
60s springbock handbag, brown beret, 70s pheasant scarf, 50s mink scarf + 50s deer marcasite brooch: true vintage
gloves: LindyBop, 2016
heels: Deichmann, 2015


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Espresso Trenza {Women's Leather Sandals}
Don't forget your leather conditioner
Our Trenza Sandal is handcrafted with full grain vegetable tanned leather for every day comfort. The intricate woven design combines beauty and simplicity so they can be dressed up or down depending on the occasion.
Please note:
Shoes are your hardest working accessory and scuffing and wear are inevitable. Don't forget to add our favorite leather care products to your cart to restore your leather and keep it looking great. You can find them here.
Product details:
- These handmade leather boots are made in Nicaragua by our head cobbler Marvin and his skilled team.
- Our shoes are made using high quality, 100% full grain vegetable tanned leather that is custom made for Adelisa & Co. You can read more about our leather and how to care for them here.
- Soles are flexible, lightweight and guaranteed durable.
*Please note that no two leather hides are exactly the same, therefore slight variations in leather tone and finish are considered normal. Some hides will naturally be lighter or darker and each will present different unique markings. Because this item is handcrafted, slight variations in detail are also considered normal.
We are fortunate to work with some of the most talented shoemakers in Nicaragua to produce these high-quality leather shoes. Each Adelisa & Co. leather shoe is individually cut, stitched and crafted by hand from start to finish in the home of our head cobbler and his skilled team. We personally choose the materials, work with our team to create designs and are continually striving to improve our quality.
The result is a shoe that so many individuals have put thought, care, and love into creating. We are so proud to partner with our artisans to bring you these Adelisa & Co. leather shoes and we hope you love them as much as we do!
We are committed to paying our artisans fair wages and giving back to the beautiful country where our products are made. By supporting our shop, you are not only creating jobs, but you are also helping families in need in Nicaragua. Check out our blog to see where a portion of our proceeds go.
We have a Buy/Sell/Trade group with over 10k members where you can sell your used shoes! Join HERE!


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Point Grey Water Works Department water service ledger
- Series
- 1911-1916
Part of City of Vancouver fonds
Series consists of water service ledgers detailing, for each property, the date, owner, occupier, number of taps, date of account, and record of payments. Arranged chronologically and by district lot number.
South Vancouver (B.C.). Water Works Department


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Do elephants call ''human!''?
African elephants make a specific alarm call in response to the danger of humans, according to a new study of wild elephants in Kenya.
Researchers from Oxford University, Save the Elephants, and Disney's Animal Kingdom carried out a series of audio experiments in which recordings of the voices of the Samburu, a local tribe from North Kenya, were played to resting elephants. The elephants quickly reacted, becoming more vigilant and running away from the sound whilst emitting a distinctive low rumble.
When the team, having recorded this rumble [listen to the rumble here], played it back to a group of elephants they reacted in a similar way to the sound of the Samburu voices; running away and becoming very vigilant, perhaps searching for the potentially lethal threat of human hunters.
The new research, recently reported in PLOS ONE, builds on previous Oxford University research showing that elephants call 'bee-ware' and run away from the sound of angry bees. Whilst the 'bee' and 'human' rumbling alarm calls might sound similar to our ears there are important differences at low (infrasonic) frequencies that elephants can hear but humans can't.
'We concede the possibility that these alarm calls are simply a by-product of elephants running away, that is, just an emotional response to the threat that other elephants pick up on,' Lucy tells me. 'On the other hand, we think it is also possible that the rumble alarms are akin to words in human language, and that elephants voluntarily and purposefully make those alarm calls to warn others about specific threats. Our research results here show that African elephant alarm calls can differentiate between two types of threat and reflect the level of urgency of that threat.'
Significantly, the reaction to the human alarm call included none of the head-shaking behaviour displayed by elephants hearing the bee alarm. When threatened by bees elephants shake their heads in an effort to knock the insects away as well as running – despite their thick hides adult elephants can be stung around their eyes or up their trunks, whilst calves could potentially be killed by a swarm of stinging bees as they have yet to develop a thick protective skin.
Lucy explains: 'Interestingly, the acoustic analysis done by Joseph Soltis at his Disney laboratory showed that the difference between the ''bee alarm rumble'' and the ''human alarm rumble'' is the same as a vowel-change in human language, which can change the meaning of words (think of ''boo'' and ''bee''). Elephants use similar vowel-like changes in their rumbles to differentiate the type of threat they experience, and so give specific warnings to other elephants who can decipher the sounds.'
This collaborative research on how elephants react to and communicate about honeybees and humans is being used to reduce human-elephant conflict in Kenya. Armed with the knowledge that elephants are afraid of bees, Lucy and Save the Elephants have built scores of 'beehive fences' around local farms that protect precious fields from crop-raiding elephants.
'In this way, local farmers can protect their families and livelihoods without direct conflict with elephants, and they can harvest the honey too for extra income,' says Lucy. 'Learning more about how elephants react to threats such as bees and humans will help us design strategies to reduce human-elephant conflict and protect people and elephants.'


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Employment and Social Development Canada
Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) works to improve the standard of living and quality of life for all Canadians. We do this by promoting a labour force that is highly skilled. We also promote an efficient and inclusive labour market.
Services and information
Privacy breach affecting current and former federal employees
If you have used BGRS or SIRVA Canada relocation services, your personal information may have been compromised. Learn about what precautionary measures are available to you.
Employment Insurance
Benefits, Canada EI Commission, Wage Earners Protection Program, and economic regions.
Benefits payment calendar
Payment dates for recurring Government of Canada benefit payments.
Find a job
Job opportunities, work permits, Social Insurance Number, criminal record checks and security clearances.
Public pensions
Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security pension and related benefits, the Canadian retirement income calculator and retirement planning.
Family benefits
Maternity and parental leave, Employment Insurance, Canada Child Benefit, and survivor's pension.
Disability benefits
Pensions, child benefits, savings plans, education funding, and gas tax refund program.
Hire a temporary foreign worker with an LMIA
Hiring streams and positions, employer compliance and obligations.
Explore careers by education program, apprenticeship, and training programs.
Housing benefits
GST/HST housing rebate, buying a home, and financial assistance to fix your home.
Funding programs
Grants and contributions that support jobs, training, and social development.
Workplace standards
Labour laws, workplace standards, health and safety standards and labour relations.
Student financial assistance for college and university; apprenticeship, continuing education, co-op, and internships.
Corporate information
Our mandate, portfolio, partners, access to information and transparency.
Benefits by audience
Benefits for Indigenous Peoples, active Forces members, veterans, people with a disability, retirees, and victims.
Publications and reports
Evaluations, audits, annual reports, and other departmental and program reports.
Promotional campaigns and initiatives led by ESDC.
Community Outreach and Liaison Service
Expands services within communities to increase awareness of and access to Service Canada's programs and services.
About ESDC
The Honourable Randy Boissonnault
Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages
The Honourable Jenna Sudds
Minister of Families, Children and Social Development
The Honourable Steven MacKinnon
Minister of Labour and Seniors
The Honourable Kamal Khera
Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities
The Honourable Terry Beech
Minister of Citizens' Services
The Honourable Marci Ien
Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth
Parliamentary Secretaries
Irek Kusmierczyk
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages
Élisabeth Brière
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development
Terry Sheehan
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Labour and Seniors
Sameer Zuberi
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities
Stéphane Lauzon
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizens' Services
Lisa Hepfner
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth
Focus on
Indigenous peoples
Programs and services for First Nations, Inuit and Métis
Services for current and former military, RCMP and their families
Programs and services for teenagers and young adults
Black communities
Programs and services for Black communities and Black-led organizations
Page details
- Date modified:


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New error-correcting codes guarantee the fastest possible rate of data transmission
Error-correcting codes are one of the triumphs of the digital age. They're a way of encoding information so that it can be transmitted across a communication channel — such as an optical fiber or a wireless connection — with perfect fidelity, even in the presence of the corrupting influences known as "noise."
An encoded message is called a codeword; the noisier the channel, the longer the codeword has to be to ensure perfect communication. But the longer the codeword, the longer it takes to transmit the message. So the ideal of maximally efficient, perfectly faithful communication requires precisely matching codeword length to the level of noise in the channel.
Wireless devices, such as cellphones or Wi-Fi transmitters, regularly send out test messages to gauge noise levels, so they can adjust their codes accordingly. But as anyone who's used a cellphone knows, reception quality can vary at locations just a few feet apart — or even at a single location. Noise measurements can rapidly become outdated, and wireless devices routinely end up using codewords that are too long, squandering bandwidth, or too short, making accurate decoding impossible.
In the next issue of the journal IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, Gregory Wornell, a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, Uri Erez at Tel Aviv University in Israel and Mitchell Trott at Google describe a new coding scheme that guarantees the fastest possible delivery of data over fluctuating wireless connections without requiring prior knowledge of noise levels. The researchers also received a U.S. patent for the technique in September.
Say 'when'
The scheme works by creating one long codeword for each message, but successively longer chunks of the codeword are themselves good codewords. "The transmission strategy is that we send the first part of the codeword," Wornell explains. "If it doesn't succeed, we send the second part, and so on. We don't repeat transmissions: We always send the next part rather than resending the same part again. Because when you marry the first part, which was too noisy to decode, with the second and any subsequent parts, they together constitute a new, good encoding of the message for a higher level of noise."
Say, for instance, that the long codeword — call it the master codeword — consists of 30,000 symbols. The first 10,000 symbols might be the ideal encoding if there's a minimum level of noise in the channel. But if there's more noise, the receiver might need the next 5,000 symbols as well, or the next 7,374. If there's a lot of noise, the receiver might require almost all of the 30,000 symbols. But once it has received enough symbols to decode the underlying message, it signals the sender to stop. In the paper, the researchers prove mathematically that at that point, the length of the received codeword is the shortest possible length given the channel's noise properties — even if they've been fluctuating.
To produce their master codeword, the researchers first split the message to be sent into several — for example, three — fragments of equal length. They encode each of those fragments using existing error-correcting codes, such as Gallager codes, a very efficient class of codes common in wireless communication. Then they multiply each of the resulting codewords by a different number and add the results together. That produces the first chunk of the master codeword. Then they multiply the codewords by a different set of numbers and add those results, producing the second chunk of the master codeword, and so on.
In order to decode a message, the receiver needs to know the numbers by which the codewords were multiplied. Those numbers — along with the number of fragments into which the initial message is divided and the size of the chunks of the master codeword — depend on the expected variability of the communications channel. Wornell surmises, however, that a few standard configurations will suffice for most wireless applications.
The only chunk of the master codeword that must be transmitted in its entirety is the first. Thereafter, the receiver could complete the decoding with only partial chunks. So the size of the initial chunk is calibrated to the highest possible channel quality that can be expected for a particular application.
Finally, the complexity of the decoding process depends on the number of fragments into which the initial message is divided. If that number is three, which Wornell considers a good bet for most wireless links, the decoder has to decode three messages instead of one for every chunk it receives, so it will perform three times as many computations as it would with a conventional code. "In the world of digital communication, however," Wornell says, "a fixed factor of three is not a big deal, given Moore's Law on the growth of computation power."
H. Vincent Poor, the Michael Henry Strater University Professor of Electrical Engineering and dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton University, sees few obstacles to the commercial deployment of a coding scheme such as the one developed by Wornell and his colleagues. "The codes are inherently practical," Poor says. "In fact, the paper not only develops the theory and analysis of such codes but also provides specific examples of practical constructions."
Because the codes "enable efficient communication over unpredictable channels," he adds, "they have an important role to play in future wireless-communication applications and standards for connecting mobile devices."
Provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology


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Avengers: Age of Ultron – Sokovia, what's in the name?
The recent installment in the Avengers franchise has a curious plot. I found it exciting not because of all the action but rather because of the American subconsciousness related to the world of politics emanating from the story.… Read the rest


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01. Noyonika Chatterjee
Noyonika has been the queen of the ramp for over a decade. She was one of the first models to break the stereotype of light-skinned models. Till today, her warm complexion is her biggest asset. She not only walks the ramp but also trains new models and choreographs shows.
They have become much more than people who represent the vision of the designer. Today, a model is a brand in herself and represents the fashion fraternity as a whole. Here are the Top 10 female models who have completely transformed the face of the Indian fashion industry. 09 more after the break...
02. Nina Manuel
She was a part of the new wave of dusky models who were taking the fash frat by storm. She is one of the most celebrated models in the country today owing to her blessed looks and potential.
03. Madhu Sapre
Madhu Sapre scandalised the nation when she had a naked photoshoot with co-model Milind Soman. She was one of the boldest models and was catalytic in bringing about a revolutionary change in the perception of models in India.
04. Sheetal Mallar
Sheetal beat Madhu Sapre to win the Femina Look of the Year in 1994 and there was no looking back for her post it. After her stay on top for years, Sheetal bid adieu to the ramp last year.
05. Diandra Soares
Diandra was probably the first bald model to ever be seen on the runway. Huffington Post described her as the most beautiful bald model ever seen. Her knack for being passionately different led her to the top of her game.
06. Bipasha Basu
Before she became an actress, Bipasha was a top-notch model. She won the Gladrags Supermodel Hunt early in her career and was one of the most sought after models of her time. She reportedly got bored of modelling which is why she moved on to acting and found success there too.
07. Nethra Raghuraman
This South Indian beauty has been a prominent face on the ramp and the tele screens for years. Shehas worked in several acclaimed movies but her first love remains modelling and fashion lovers will never complain.
08. Ujjwala Raut
Ujjwala Raut can be called the most successful model in terms of international acclaim. Having walked the ramp for Roberto Cavalli, Dolce and Gabbana, Gucci, Valentino, Oscar de la Renta and Victoria's Secret, Ujjwala is the most recognised Indian face on the international fashion scene.
09. Carol Gracias
Her beautiful complexion commands admiration whenever she struts down the runway. She showed the world her professionalism with the way she handled her infamous wardrobe malfunction. Till date, her presence at any show adds class to it.
10. Jesse Randhawa
Jesse is also known as the runway tigress. Her magnanimous presence at the ramp overshadows all others. Married to choreographer Sandeep Soparkar, Jesse has also evolved to become a great dancer. Modelling or dancing, Jesse knows how to do it best.


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Can I arrange for it to be collected from someone else?
Yes, Parcel Monkey allows you to arrange a collection of your package from wherever you want it to be collected from as long as you provide a valid address.
Our courier services can help you book a collection for somebody else, maybe a relative, so that all they have to do is print the shipping label and any customs documents and attach them to the package.
Sometimes people selling on eBay might not be willing to arrange the shipping, so you can use the Parcel Monkey shipping calculator to sort your own shipping and then the sender just has to prepare the package and hand it over to the courier when they come to collect.
There is a long list of reasons why you might need to have a package collected from someone else at an alternate address.


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Most surprising of all in "Atonement" is the shockingly amazing performance of little Saoirse Ronan, who commands the screen and nearly makes as good a performance as Helen Mirren in The Queen. She takes a character that is almost immediately unlikable and gives her a soul that you simply can't look away from. Ronan is Briony, she's a 13 year old girl who lives the rich life in the English countryside circa the early 1940s. She's an intelligent young girl, since she writes plays for her and her cousins to act in for fun, but she's still just a little girl. Certain circumstances lead her to accuse her older sister Cecelia's (Keira Knightly) gardener lover Robbie (James McAvoy) of something very heinous. This sends McAvoy away to prison and eventually to fight in World War II. These are two lovers that just can't be together and it's all because of a little girl's simple misunderstanding.
Of course, we assume it's a misunderstanding, but remember I said Briony isn't a stupid girl. She's a friggin' playwright for God's sake! Perhaps it's a little bit of jealously between her and her sister that causes this mess or perhaps it's simply the innocence of being a child. Who knows really. But what's so special here is the way the screenplay let's us see events from multiple points of view. We see what goes on between Cecelia and Robbie from Briony's point of view. We interpret it as a child but then we see what really happens and we're back to being adults. This is a movie that hinges on an important and influential role and Ronan nails it (as do Romola Garai as Briony at age 18 and Vanessa Redgrave who is so memorable in nearly two scenes as an elderly Briony still seeking atonement for the actions of her childhood).
What a technical achievement this film really is. Director Wright employs a nearly six minute tracking shot when Robbie goes to war that is simply stunning. There are too many beautiful shots to even mention. Each scene is a portrait of the time. And each actor is terrific in reflecting that time period. And probably my favorite of all is Dario Marianelli's terrific music, which incorporates the sounds of a typewriter into his score. The pounding of keys goes perfectly with Briony's rigid movements. This is "Mickey Mousing" at it's best and most complex.


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Defining Effective Learning and Service Experiences
Initial Publication Date: November 30, 2010
Service-learning emphasizes the learning, service, and civic engagement components of a course. Preparation requires a clearly articulated set of learning, service and civic engagement goals. The goals chosen will help the instructor identify potential community partners, the type of service experience chosen for your students, and the type of reflective opportunities and assignments appropriate for the course.
Characteristics of Effective Learning Experiences
Achieving effective learning outcomes:- begins with clearly established learning goals which identify both the academic content and tasks or competencies that students will be expected to perform upon the completion of the course. Learners should understand what they must do to achieve a specified competency
- involve formative assessment to enhance student learning throughout the service-learning course. Reflection activities before, during, and after service that emphasize connections between classroom learning and service activities in the community provide opportunities for formative evaluation
- involve well-defined learning outcomes appropriated for summative assessment of student course content understanding and skills
Characteristics of Effective Service Experiences
Designing an effective service experience requires careful thought. Effective service experiences involve:Learn more about how service learning can be used to connect classroom learning with societal issues (from the InTeGrate project).
- Dialog between faculty, students and community members. When possible, all participants in the service-learning experience should participate in discussion of community needs and the development, implementation, and evaluation of service project
- Student preparation for service activities.
- Students should receive necessary information about the community, its needs, and their community partner before service.
- Students should be prepared for their service experience which includes an understanding of:
- service goals
- their task and role
- information required to serve
- awareness of necessary safety precautions
- an awareness and sensitivity to the people they work with and serve
- Opportunities for students to develop skills necessary to be a contributing members of their communities . To be effective students need a variety of civic engagement skills. Battistoni (2002) defines the practical skills of engaged citizenship as:
- Political knowledge and critical thinking skills
- Communication skills
- Public problem solving skills
- Civic judge
- Civic imagination and creativity
- Collective action
- Community/Coalition building
- Organizational analysis
- Well-defined and meaningful service activities that are necessary and valued by the community. Service activities should make a difference in the community in measurable ways. Students should be involved in activities that have measurable goals and academic integrity


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Prison Legal News v. MS DOC, Dismissal Order, GTL phone, 2010
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~~1t51 A TRUE COPy t\ FILED JUN 1 0 2009 IN TH CHANCERY COURT OF HINS COUNTY, ~~~ ;.HA~YCLE FIRST JUDICIAL DIS~l..7.";~"" BY V ("~ D.C. , ":i"" PRISON LEGAL NEWS ~\ PLAINTIFF ~~ ~ "" ..I * "- :: VS. ~AUSE NO. 2009-391 T/1 THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF CORRÖ\-i~ 111\\ GLOBAL TEL*LINK CORPORATION ~"'-G#.N,,~:1~iAØlji41 DEFENDANTS AGREED FINAL JUDGMENT OF DISMISSAL WITH PREJUDICE CAME BEFORE THE COURT FOR HEARIG the joint motion ore tenus of Plaintiff Prison Legal News ("Plaintiff') and Defendants The Mississippi Deparment of Corrections and Global Tel*Link Corporation (collectively, the "Defendant") to settle and compromise the claims between them at issue in this matter. Having been advised that the claims have been resolved between the paries and finding that there is no just reason for delay, pursuant to their agreement, it is therefore, ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that all claims brought by Plaintiff Prison Legal News against Defendants The Mississippi Deparent of Corrections and Global Tel*Link Corporation, in this civil action shall be, and hereby are, dismissed, with prejudice, with each par to bear its respective costs, fees and expenses. It is fuher, ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that this is a Final Judgment within the meaning of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure and that any appeal of this Order must be brought within the time provided by law from the date of entry of same. ~ :r~r\ so ORDERED, this the _lll-day ofMt2009. /S/ J. DEWAYNE THOMA HINDS COUNTY CHANCERY JUDGE BY. Robert B. Duff, Esq. Sibyl C. Byrd, Esq. 767 North Congress Street Jackson, Mississippi 39202 ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFF PRISON LEGAL NEWS P. Ryan Bec (SB #99524) BUTLER, SN W, 0 MARA, STEVENS & CANNADA, PLLC 17th Floor, i s Plaza Post Office Box 22567 Jackson, Mississippi 39225-2567 ATTORNEY FOR GLOBAL TEL * LINK CORPORATION Q~\- David K. Scott, Esq. Special Assistant Attorney General Mississippi Deparment of Corrections P.O. Box 220 Jackson, Mississippi 39205-0220 ATTORNEY FOR THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF CORRCTIONS Jackson 3931831v.l 2


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This Is What I Know About Snow
We're going on Day 4 of this ridiculous Snow Showdown (Storm Cleon??!!?) and, my friends, the weather is most definitely winning. (WHAT even IS A FREEZING FOG?!?)
It's Sunday night and school is (for sure) cancelled for tomorrow, as it was Friday.
The last time I was not IN my house was Friday morning and that is only because we packed our bags and headed to the in-laws Thursday evening when the forecasts all called for Epic Ice Storm. (Visions of last years horrific week long Christmas present power outages were dancing in our heads; the in-laws have since purchased a generator. Our new neighbors warned us our street is a magnet for power outages and, despite having a wood burning fireplace and a couple of propane heaters, the call of electricity from a generator was too great.)
Per the usual Arkansan approach to snow, everybody did a little bit of panicking (ourselves included - see above). My company coordinates Little Rock's Holiday Parade that was to take place on Saturday; we cancelled it Wednesday. Karl's company work Christmas Party that was to take place on Friday night (complete with an overnight date night compliments of the inlaws!), also cancelled Wednesday.
Thankfully, the ice was not enough to down power lines (at least not in our area), but it was enough to cover the streets. An inch, maybe? Definitely still grass peeking through in my front yard. Mostly, all precipitation stopped Friday. And this, my friends, is where the apocalyptic type shutdowns begin, because, regretfully, the only thing Arkansas REALLY has to combat ice and snow is sun and warmth. Neither of which has yet to return.
We headed back home to our house Friday morning and, um, yep STILL HERE.
Initially we were all YEA SNOW DAY! FUN! We let the kids play, we made hot chocolate, we remained IMMENSELY thankful to have a house (and one with power!) during the frigid temps.
We created a parade of snow people. (See all that grass poking through? THIS shuts us DOWN!)
We hit the streets with the sled. (Because God knows NO cars would attempt to drive this street and definitely no snow plow!)
We let this kid play for hours and hours and hours. Literally hours. He definitely has some Yankee blood - the cold was his friend. NK... not so much. We spent more time getting her dressed than she spent in the snow. (Ice? It really can't be called snow.) Perhaps she will change her mind when she discovers how awesome sledding is.
Then, we got PRODUCTIVE. I think I ran my dishwasher three times today. I cooked multiple meals. I cleaned out the fridge. I CAN'T EVEN DO A LOAD OF LAUNDRY BECAUSE I DID IT ALL. And put it all away. I almost ironed. (Gasp!)
Then, we gave in and watched like four hours straight of Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Yo ho mateys AWAY.
Then, right before dinner, school was officially cancelled for Monday.
And everyone sighed and dreamed of just last Wednesday, when it was 78 and we were at the park in shorts and t-shirts.
SIGH. MAKE IT COME BACK. Or at least, you know, deliver our mail and open our schools!
Much love!


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Faraday Cage c/o jeddaniels.com
We've established that an EMP incident will fry all electronics. This occurs whether or not they are plugged in or turned on. This also affects automobiles, batteries, computers, medical equipment, etc. Needless to say, in such an instance, life as we know it will change dramatically. Even more distressing is the fact that the strike of an EMP is not likely to give any warning. You don't see it. You don't feel it. You are simply left with the sudden consequences and whatever preparedness you have on hand. So, other than your preparedness supplies, your new best friend may be a Faraday cage. In fact, with the knowledge of the protection that a Faraday cage can provide you, you may be able to enjoy nearly as comfortable a lifestyle as you did prior to any electromagnetic pulse. While being mentally prepared to live in the Stone Age may be helpful, it's not necessary. Aren't you glad? First of all, allow me to dispel some myths about Faraday cages—and boy, howdy, there are a LOT of them.
- Whether or not your electronics are plugged in, how long of an antenna you've got on something, what voltage it is, or whether or not they operate with batteries—all non-protected electronics will be affected by an EMP.
- Batteries will be affected, usually in the form of "shorting" as well.
- Electronic phone systems will also be damaged.
- Surge protectors are useless in the event of an EMP exposure.
- Just because your car has rubber tires, it will not be impervious to the effects of an EMP. Rubber containers are insufficient protection against an EMP.
- And oh yeah—yes, your Faraday cages DO need to be grounded. If it's NOT grounded, then the Faraday cage merely becomes a reflector or an amplifier.
- Yes, a microwave can act as a Faraday cage, but why in the world would you want to use it for that? That's just silly when you can make one simply.
- Faraday cages do not have to be solid, thus the name "cage" instead of the oft misused term—"box." In fact, many of them that you can build yourself or will see on the internet will resemble a bird cage or a very finely meshed chicken coop wire.
- Also, contrary to what you may see on the internet, a sheet of foil on a box will not protect you. It's not thick enough to withstand the pulse. However, you CAN protect your items if they are buried a couple of feet underground in every direction (up and sideways.)
- Last, but not least, a car is NOT a Faraday cage sufficient to withstand an EMP incident. It has some similar components, yes. Most cars made today consist of fiberglass and disjointed parts, not a continuous metal material. In addition to that, they are on tires. Tires on a car do NOT serve as grounding. Folks are simply getting an EMP strike confused with a lightening strike. Now, IF you had an old fashioned car that was made of metal, that had its tires removed, that was also attached to an Iron or copper pole and that was ALSO on dirt—not gravel—then yes, you may have a car that doubles as a Faraday cage. (Kind of like the old clunker my dad has out in his "back forty."
- The cages do not have to be solid, but they do have to be constructed continuously without gaps between the protective material.
There. Now that we've discredited 90% of the internet information out there, let's continue.
Faraday cages are named after Michael Faraday who invented them in 1836. They block out external electrostatic fields and electromagnetic radiation. One mistake many people make when it comes to an EMP is to compare it to a lighting bolt. The effects of an EMP and a direct lightening bolt are very similar, but they are not at all similar in terms of their visibility, and affect on the body. An EMP is more like a radio wave, not a visible bolt of light or electric current. It's the substrate layers of the diodes and transistors that make them susceptible to a magnetic pulse attack. Electronics are made up of diodes and transistors and substrate layers. A computer, car, television, and cell phones are made up of tons of transistors. When hit with a powerful magnetic pulse, the substrate layers are destroyed. However, early 1960's and before electronics did not use substrate layers. They used vacuum tubes. This is why older electronics are less susceptible to damage. This is why a human or animal body will not be affected. Yes, our bodies consist of an electric volt. But understand there's a difference between electricity and electronics. I just want to reiterate this again. It's important that any Faraday cage that you plan to use is grounded. It has to be grounded in order to disperse the energy. What you should know though is that a Faraday cage is not fool proof. The higher the frequency of the magnetic pulse, the faster it is. This is what causes the burn out. The cages must be grounded, continuously connecting, and the openings of them cannot be too large. Chicken coop wire would work, but only if you double or even triple layered it as the opening are too large. For a reference of opening size, look at the front of your microwave door. It's a small mesh. Just a like a snake can slither its way through the right sized hole, so can an electronic wave.
You can have an instant Faraday cage with a galvanized trash can or a large stock pot like they use in restaurants. (Be sure to clamp the lid down. Remember—continuous connection is key. Since Faraday cages are not fool proof, depending on the strength of the pulse, I would recommend burying such containers 2 feet under the ground, storing survival electrical and battery items. (Including batteries). An easy way to make a Faraday cage would be to acquire some 2 x 4 brass mesh sheets. (Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel did a couple of experiments using this successfully.) Make a box frame with the 2 x 4's and staple the brass mesh to the outside. Create a securely attached/connected access entry within the frame. Solder a ground wire to one of the corners and ground the cage. Scrap metal and mesh wires can easily be obtained in junk yards, on E-bay, the clay modeling section of a craft store, or at your local hardware or "farm and feed" store. The important aspect of this to remember though is that mesh or sheet metal only shields magnetic fields if the frequency is up in the RF range. To properly stop the wave, you need some iron, steel, or some slabs of thick copper. Most electronics are useful in the VHF/UHF/SHF range today and will need more substantial protection. Remember when you're browsing the internet. Protecting against sparks is not the same as protecting against a strong magnetic pulse. You can make your "cage" as small or as large as you'd like. It wouldn't be out of the question to continuously line a basement storage room or hole in the ground with copper mesh wire and a grounding rod. Bottom line, with an appropriately constructed Faraday cage, you can likely protect that which is inside from the electromagnetic attack of an EMP incident or solar flare, thus preserving the function of all that is contained therein. Here is a very simple example of how Faraday cages work. (DO NOT try this at home, please) Note that the Peeps are put into a mesh bowl and covered with a mesh cover. They are then put in the microwave. The one Peep that wasn't put in the microwave met his untimely death, while the others were still intact. For a little bit of a science lesson on the workings of a Faraday cage, check out this YouTube link. The science professor is EXCELLENT. Note though that he does say that a car is a Faraday cage, however, I want to reiterate that it is NOT sufficient to extinguish the effects of an EMP attack.
Be selective in what you protect. It makes no sense to protect a cell phone, for example, as the cell towers will be useless. If it were me, I would protect radios, communication devices (such as a HAM radio), batteries and all of their respective tools, thumb drives loaded with all of my vital information, and a laptop. Keep in mind that a Faraday cage should be your LAST concern in terms of protecting every electronic that you enjoy presently. It's not like if you preserve your television you're going to have any "juice" to plug it into. Don't focus on a Faraday cage and its time, effort, and expense at the risk of neglecting food, water, and medical supplies. It would be better for you to read up on solar power, wind and steam energy instead. EMP 101 Series


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Amid the past month's disturbing revelations about child sexual abuse at Penn State and Syracuse—and the debates over morality and complicity and punishment—it can be easy to forget that pedophilia is a mental illness, and that legally, it only becomes a crime when acted upon. Yet the key to preventing and treating the disorder may lie in its clinical details.
Among psychiatrists, views on pedophilia differ. Some researchers liken it to an addiction, others to sexual orientation; still others put their faith in brain scans. Yet pedophilia is consistent in the criteria that define it: erotic desire directed wholly or partially towards pre-pubescent children, typically under the age of thirteen. And for reasons not definitively established, there are undeniably more male than female pedophiles; by some estimates, men perpetrate as many as 94 percent of sexual offenses against children.
Studying the disorder is complicated by the fact that, in the U.S., laws that went into effect in the 1990s require therapists and physicians to report to child protective services (and other authorities that vary by state) anyone they believe poses a threat to a child. The legislation trumps patient-doctor confidentiality in these circumstances. Since reporting a potential pedophile results in legal action, the law has deterred many pedophiles from voluntarily seeking psychiatric help—which troubles some researchers, since the disorder can be easier to prevent than treat.
As a result, almost all research on pedophiles is based on convicted sex offenders—those who have already acted on their desires—most of whom are or have been in prison. As Judith Herman, a psychologist who works with abused children at the Victims of Violence clinic in Boston told The Daily Beast in an e-mail: "Truthfully, I don't think the psychiatric profession has much of a clue about pedophiles. Most studies are based on…the 5 percent who get caught—a very unrepresentative group." In other words, most pedophilia research subjects are outliers.
Still, a small community of psychiatrists is working to better understand the disorder—work that could ultimately help to prevent the kind of suffering we've recently come to hear all too much about.
Fred Berlin, a psychiatrist and director of the sexual behavior unit at Johns Hopkins, is one of the country's best known and respected researchers on pedophilia. In his view, knee-jerk moral condemnation is beside the point. "We don't know why we experience the sexual desires that we do. For so long, we've looked at it as if it's simply a moral issue—people are supposed to have certain attractions—and often society said if you experience a different kind of sexual temptation or feelings, you're not as morally worthy a person," he said. "It's not someone's fault they have the condition, but it is their responsibility to do something about it. Telling me that someone has pedophilia is like someone saying about me that I'm heterosexual. It doesn't tell you whether I'm kind or cruel, introverted or extroverted, caring or not caring, intelligent or not intelligent."
Berlin stresses the diversity of the pedophiles he's worked with. "There are people with pedophilia that are often in denial, the way some alcoholics deny having a drinking problem," he said. "There are some who believe that society should change, and that we shouldn't insist that they not act on their attractions. In my experience, that's been a minority. There are others who are desperately looking for help to try and make sure they stay in control, and many of them are very pleased to learn that there's a medicine that might help."
Indeed, one of the few treatments these patients can seek out is medication that lowers testosterone levels, to blunt the intensity of the erotic desire. Clinicians also sometimes prescribe anti-depressants, both to address co-existing psychiatric problems and for the common side effect of lowering sex drive. They also often recommend psychotherapy that involves cognitive-behavioral methods, to challenge patients' skewed belief systems.
Judith Becker, a psychiatrist and professor at the University of Arizona—who has evaluated more than a thousand pedophiles—conducts this kind of therapy. She commonly asks her patients to consider how old they felt when they were engaging in sexual acts with kids. For some, she says, this question has been an "aha moment," helping them realize that, in their involvement with children, they've actually regarded themselves as being of the same age as their victims. During these encounters, Becker said, it's as if they slipped back to a much earlier phase in their own development—or perhaps never graduated beyond it in the first place.
Becker has also studied how this perception plays into the so-called "grooming" of victims widely reported in the media in the wake of the Penn State scandal. Pedophiles will often spend months insinuating themselves into a child's life, taking them to ball games, showering toys and gifts on them and becoming a part of the child's universe—to the point where a child can't recognize that a clear transgression has occurred when the interaction turns sexual. Or if the child does feel uncomfortable, he or she may still feel entangled with the adult and fear losing the relationship.
Yet according to Becker, the elaborate process isn't exclusively about the sexual gratification they expect to gain from the effort. The bonding itself is a source of satisfaction, since many pedophiles identify so strongly with children. During therapy, Becker will attempt to facilitate relationships between pedophiles and other adults, helping them gain the social skills they often lack.
Becker also points out that many pedophiles don't operate with cold clarity about the ethics of what they're doing. Instead, they weave "cognitive distortions," absolving themselves of guilt or responsibility. For example, they might tell themselves, "The child didn't say no when I started," or "somebody did it to me when I was a child, and I thought it was okay for me to do it too," or "I truly love the child."
Mark Deantonio, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at UCLA, echoes friends and neighbors of pedophiles who stress how "normal" offenders can seem; how functional and unassuming. The erotic fixation on pre-pubescent children that defines pedophilia is "one area of horrible deviance in someone who can otherwise maintain a normal existence," he said. Their sexual desires are completely "compartmentalized."
Yet this doesn't necessarily accord with the findings of James Cantor, an associate professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Toronto, who is one of the few researchers in the world studying pedophilia from a biological perspective, searching for brain-based and other physical differences that distinguish pedophiles from non-pedophiles.
Notably, Cantor has found that, on average, pedophiles have an IQ that is 10 points lower than the average population, they are 2.5 centimeters shorter, and they are significantly more likely not to be right-handed (i.e., they're left-handed or ambidextrous). Non-right handedness has been shown to occur more often among people with both autism and schizophrenia, two "clearly biologically based" psychiatric conditions.
Cantor's most potentially consequential finding, however, is his most recent one, published in a 2008 study. Using brain-scanning technology, he discovered significant differences in the white matter—the substance that connects one brain region to another—of pedophile versus non-pedophile brains (both groups were composed of convicted criminals, to rule out the confounding variable of criminality). In the pedophile group, Cantor found significantly less white matter in two different regions, suggesting a connection deficit.
Cantor doesn't shy away from talking about causality. "The brain has a network that's responsible for detecting what in the environment is a potentially sexual object," he said. "And when there's not enough white matter, that network doesn't function like it's supposed to." He theorizes that, due to abnormal functioning in these networks, the instinct that children provoke in pedophiles is erotic, rather than the typical urge to nurture and protect. He also believes that the finding is one more piece of evidence for the case that pedophilia is caused by a biological susceptibility that starts before birth.
Cantor believes that prevention, more than treatment, is the great hope for this disorder—and that "pinpointing the point when things go awry," as he put it, could allow for intervention. He emphasizes what many outside the field might find difficult to accept: Pedophilia is "a medical condition, rather than a moral failing," he said. "Nobody chooses to be a pedophile."


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Fastest Plane in the World
What is the fastest plane? A question we often hear. Here's the Answer
The topic "Which is the Fastest Aircraft in the World" is not that simple. A nice overview of the 10 fastest planes in the world can be found on MiGFlug's blog, that makes for a nice overview. Some count the fastest vehicle, the Apollo module as record holder. The command module had Top Speeds around Mach 30, that is around 36,750 km/h or over 22,830 mph. But the Apollo can't be counted as Aircraft. Also, the Space Shuttle reached around 17,500 mph or 28,000 km/h during atmospheric reentry. But we do not count those spacecraft as planes. If the Spaceplanes would be included in the competition, they would unsurprisingly win with high margin.
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird: Fastest air-breathing, manned plane
Another distinction is between air-breathing planes and Rocket planes. Rocket planes are incapable of breathing air, so they are in another category. The fastest air-breathing plane is the fascinating Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. The SR-71 is a Mach 3.3 strategic US reconnaissance aircraft, in service from 1966 to 1998. Only 32 SR-71 have been built. The SR-71 reached the Top Speed of over 3530 km/h (>2200 mph and >1900 kts). It was developed by the legendary Skunk Works.
The Russian interceptor MiG-25 Foxbat reached Mach 3.2, but at that speed the engine has been damaged. So actually it could fly "only" at Mach 2.83. The MiG-25 was constructed to intercept supersonic bombers like the Convair B-58 (Top Speed 2300 km/h) and the Lockheed A-12, the precursor of the famous record-holding SR-71.
By the way – here is quite a funny story of an SR-71 Blackbird pilot trolling a bragging F/A-18 pilot.
Fastest Fighter Jet – MiG-25 Foxbat
The Sovjet Mikoyan MiG-25 Foxbat is the fastest Fighter Jet ever built. 1190 MiG-25 have been built and it is still active with the Russian Air Force. The MiG-25 holds a series of records, for example the altitude record with 37,650km or 23.4 miles altitude. Also, it reached 25km in 2 minutes and 34 seconds. These values have been achieved with Parabola flights which are also used for Zero Gravity, not with parallel flights. That means the MiG-25 is rather shooting up like a bullet and comes down again, it is not able to stay at this record altitude.
The Two-Seater on that picture was available for Tourist Edge of Space Flight experiences on Zhukovsky Airbase near Moscow until 2006. During tourist flights, the MiG-25 reached up to 25 km. Today the fastest jet available for tourist flights is the MiG-29 Fulcrum. At the same time, it is the last possibility for Civilians for a supersonic flight.
Fastest Rocket plane: North American X-15
The fastest manned plane flight was by Pete Knight in 1967. He achieved a Maximum Speed of 7,274 km/h or 4,510 mph in the experimental aircraft X-15. The North American X-15 also reached the Kármán line, also known as Edge of outer Space. The Kármán line lies at 100 km or 62 mi. Unmanned rocket planes are even faster: The hypersonic NASA X-43 achieved 12,144 km/h or 7,546 mph in 2004, using a "scramjet", which means supersonic-combustion ramjet. Both rocket planes, the X-15 and the unmanned X-43 need a carrier plane to start. The X-43 has now been replaced by the Boeing X-51, also an unmanned Scramjet, a joint "Waverider" program by US Air Force, NASA, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), Boeing and Pratt & Whitney.
Fastest Plane SR-71 – Video
Here you can see a short video of the fastest plane, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird.
Additional Articles and Ressources
- Fly with the Blue Angels
- What happened to Thunder City?
- Fighter Jet Rides
- Edge of Space Flights
- MiG-29 Supersonic Flight in Russia


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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- With governments in the United States and Europe considering stricter fuel economy regulations, car companies all over are wondering how to meet the proposed demands.
But Porsche is worried that its status as a preeminent sports car maker could be regulated out of existence.
"We are an extreme niche player and we only offer higher performance cars," Peter Schwarzenbauer, chief executive of Porsche North America said in an interview with CNNMoney.com.
People who buy Porsches are paying for performance. And they pay a lot for what Schwarzenbauer calls "the Porsche experience," which is a good bit more than just a quick zero-to-sixty time.
Porsche has recently expanded its line-up from just sports cars to SUVs. In the next couple of years, a four-door sedan is expected. But despite its new offerings, the Porsche name is still, above all else, associated with the ultimate in driving, said Schwarzenbauer.
Current fuel economy rules now being considered don't make exceptions for high-performance cars or for companies that sell nothing but those vehicles.
Tighter Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) rules in the U.S. would be a hurdle for an auto maker like General Motors, but a company of GM's size and breadth has options.
GM could try to improve the fuel economy of all its cars.It's boosted the fuel economy of its large SUVs, but it could also work to sell more small, inherently fuel-efficient cars, like the Chevrolet Aveo, to offset sales of vehicles like the Chevrolet Corvette and GMC Yukon and boost its average.
Porsche, on the other hand, has no economy cars in its fleet to compensate. Nor will it, because cars like that just aren't what Porsche is about and never will be, said Schwarzenbauer.
The company has improved the fuel efficiency of its products, he insists. "Every new engine generation we've brought out in the last 10 years has had less fuel consumption," he said.
If the "Porsche experience" Schwarzenbauer speaks of were just about speed, the answer to bigger improvements would be simple: hybrids.
Porsche expects to introduce a hybrid version of its Cayenne SUV in a couple of years and, later, a hybrid version of the yet-to-be-released Panamera sedan.
The Cayenne Hybrid is expected to get 25 percent better fuel economy than the non-hybrid. It's also expected to be able to cruise under electric power alone at speeds of up to 70 miles per hour.
But that's not likely to be the answer for a sports car like the Porsche 911 or Cayman, said Schwarzenbauer.
"From what I'm seeing right now, not in the foreseeable future," he said. "The impact on a sports car is that you add weight to it."
An SUV, like the Cayenne, is already a heavy vehicle where weight balance isn't critical. But for sports car buyers, especially those who can afford a Porsche, balance and weight are key criteria because they affect handling. A sports car couldn't easily accommodate the bulk of a hybrid power train without being turned into a car that is merely fast, said Schwarzenbauer.
Not surprisingly, Paul Williamsen, lead technical instructor for Toyota's Lexus division, disagrees with Schwarzenbauer's outlook on hybrid sports cars.
Toyota recently won a 24-hour race in Japan with a hybrid car called the Supra HV-R. And Toyota's Lexus luxury division includes performance-oriented hybrid sedans. And at January's Detroit Auto Show, Toyota showed off a version of a possible production hybrid sports car, the FT-SH.
New hybrid electric motor systems, including one being introduced this fall by General Motors, allow hybrid drivetrains to be packaged in the space currently used by the car's transmission alone.
The one remaining challenge, Williamsen said, is improving batteries to take up as little space as a tank of gasoline. "With each generational change we've more than doubled energy density of our battery packs," he said.
There's enough space that's "not mission critical," he theorized, to fit more powerful batteries without upsetting the car's balance - even in a rear-engined 911 sports car. Space used by the car's front luggage compartment and its largely nominal rear seats could be taken over for batteries.
To further reduce weight, Williamsen said, Porsche could take advantage of the extra power from the hybrid system to use a smaller gasoline engine in the car. "The goal would be to get 3.6-liter performance out of a 2.7-liter engine."
Diesel engines, which use much less fuel than gasoline counterparts, could offer another solution. Half of all cars sold in Europe, including half of all BMWs sold there, run on them. In the United States, Mercedes-Benz sells a diesel version of its E-class that is by no means lacking in performance.
But, again, points out Porsche spokesman Tony Fouladpour, those are sedans, not sports cars. Diesel engines are heavier than gasoline engines. That weight difference is less critical in a sedan, but it could ruin a small sports car.
Diesel engines also operate at lower running speeds, typically "red-lining" at about 4,500 RPM where a gasoline engine can rev up to 7,500 or 8,000 RPM. That high-revving sound is a big part of the experience of driving a Porsche, Fouladpour said.
Schwarzenbauer also pointed out that removing all of the company's cars from the road immediately would cut down on greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles by about 0.001 percent.
Porsche isn't against greener cars, he insists. "We just want to have legislation where we compared to our segment," he said, "to our real competitors."
Otherwise, the "Porsche experience" might have to change a great deal.


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SAS recognizes global partner innovation and collaboration
At its annual Partner Awards ceremony during SAS® Global Forum, SAS recognized the collaboration, innovation and contributions of its valued alliance community.
"Our partners bring our software to life, creating innovative new applications to solve business problems, guiding our customers through deployment, and helping them get the most out of SAS for all of their analytics needs," said Helen Morin, SAS Vice President of Global Alliances and Channels. "We congratulate all of our 2019 award winners and look forward to continued partnership with them on projects that help transform the world."
A robust partner community is critical to address the growing customer demand for evolving analytics solutions and delivery models. This is underscored by an increasing need for cloud solutions by midmarket customers with a desire to purchase through trusted local partners. SAS' strong partner program of consulting firms, resellers, OEMs and managed analytic service providers continues to help customers implement SAS technology in the way that best fits their individual needs to solve their most complex business problems.
At the event, the following partners were honored:
Global Partner of the Year – Accord Business Group
Accord Business Group is headquartered in the United Arab Emirates and has branches in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. A SAS Silver partner, Accord provides professional services, outsourcing and software development support for a variety of SAS solutions, including advanced analytics, fraud, customer experience and data management. Accord also works closely with SAS on Data for Good initiatives in the region, including work with the Special Olympics in Abu Dhabi.
Channel Partner of the Year – ITOCHU Techno-Solutions
This is the second consecutive year that Japanese systems integrator ITOCHU Techno-Solutions has been named SAS Channel Partner of the Year. A SAS Gold partner, ITOCHU has helped expand SAS' presence in the manufacturing, utility and life science industries while leading significant deals with dozens of top-tier Japanese customers.
Excellence in Innovation – FACTS Consulting
FACTS Consulting is a Gold Partner based in South Africa providing cyber forensics, information security training and services, and data analytics services in the private and public sectors. SAS awarded FACTS with the Excellence in Innovation award for its development of a SAS based fraud framework solution for procurement integrity, based on years of local and international procurement fraud investigative experience. The solution monitors and prevents procurement fraud, waste and abuse, and it has been implemented as a continuous-control monitoring solution in a major energy company in South Africa.
SAS recognized the following organizations as Regional Partners of the Year:
- Asia Pacific: EY.
- Canada/Latin America: Vert.
- Northwest EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa): Accenture.
· Southwest EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa): KPMG.
· United States: KPMG.
Today's announcement was made at SAS Global Forum, the world's largest analytics conference, with more than 30,000 business and IT users of SAS software participating on-site and online.
About SAS
SAS is a global leader in data and AI. With SAS software and industry-specific solutions, organizations transform data into trusted decisions. SAS gives you THE POWER TO KNOW®.
Editorial contacts:
- SAS Corporate HQ
Kate Ulveling (919) 531-2676


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Aguieus is a Military Training and Consulting company that specializes in providing strategic consulting services to governments and businesses in the defense, national security and high-technology arenas.
Aguieus' advisory staff builds on the company's world-leading intelligence and information services, combining specialized tactical training expertise with extensive research and proven methodologies. Aguieus produces pragmatic military training courses, fact-based findings and tactical recommendations tailored to support clients' strategic modernization objectives.
Aguieus values revolve around people, relationships, and integrity. As a Global Tactical Training and Defense Consultant Firm, our people are our most important assets. We ensure that we recruit, retain and continuously develop the skills of our employees. We seek to develop long-term relationships with our clients. This means genuinely focusing on their interests before all else, including our commercial gain.
We believe that this ethos enables us to become a trusted military advisor to our clients. We hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards in everything we do. Our code of ethics has been created for us by leading constitutional and human rights lawyers, and incorporates the Voluntary Principles. Our standards are monitored by a Board-Level Ethics Committee, which has the right of veto over any project we may undertake.


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Echo Theme in Fedora Development
Echo Theme has been packaged and is available in the Fedora repository.
yum install echo-icon-theme
Echo is now hosted on https://git.fedorahosted.org/cgit/echo-icon-theme/. To grab the source, execute the following command
git clone git://git.fedorahosted.org/git/echo-icon-theme
Discussions and feedback can be posted to fedora-art-list .
Bug Reporting, Testing, and Quality Assurance Before filing a bug, please read through the list of existing bugs for echo-icon-theme. If your bug does not exist, enter a bug report using the Bugzilla bug entry page .