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Blizzard posted a very lengthy blog post with a massive overview of all of the systems and features for Diablo IV from BlizzCon 2019. There is so much to go through.
From Runes and gear to World bosses and Monster families to re-imagined affixes as well as Dungeons that you could get a key for and make that dungeon more and more powerful. Check it all out below in greater detail.
We know you're all eager to learn as much about Diablo IV as possible, and we're incredibly excited to share everything with you! To get you started, we're taking a comprehensive look over the features and details we're sharing at BlizzCon 2019 and answering a few of the most common questions you undoubtedly have about the next mainline entry in the Diablo franchise.
The Classes of Diablo IV
At launch, Diablo IV will have five unique character classes, each bringing its own distinct mechanics that embodies their respective fantasy. Today, let's talk about the first three we're bringing to life: the Barbarian, the Sorceress, and the Druid.
A brutal, physical warrior, the Barbarian roams around the battlefield constantly, dishing heavy damage and wielding an array of powerful weapons with ease. With the Arsenal system, Barbarians can swap between different types of weapons, such as from a heavy two-handed mace to a pair of sharp, agile hand axes, depending on the situation, skill, and your player needs.
Barbarians will be able to haul around four total weapons and swap between them dynamically at any time. You'll also be able to assign specific weapons to different skills, allowing advanced players even greater depths of customization.
Harnessing potent elemental powers, the Sorceress is brimming with all your favorite flavors of magic. Fragile but destructive, this high-risk, high-reward hero weaves between Fire, Cold, and Lightning. Her mastery of magic is an iconic and indelible part of the Diablo power fantasy, and we've only continued to build upon this sturdy foundation.
You'll be able to control and dominate enemies with a new Chilling mechanic. The more Cold damage you deal, the more foes will be slowed, frozen, and eventually shattered by your attacks.
The master of shapeshifting makes his triumphant return to Sanctuary! Seamlessly changing forms from human to Werebear to Werewolf, his command over earth and storm magic is second to none.
Different skills utilize different forms, and entirely new skills like Cataclysm will annihilate hordes of enemies with the unbridled fury of nature itself. Storm magic persists on the battlefield, so you'll be able to unleash torrents of lightning, wind, and rain before shifting forms to ravage foes.
Skill Points & Talent Trees
Diablo IV will feature permanent character progression as well as personal customization. To accomplish this, we're reintroducing both Skill Points and Talent Trees.
Skill Points will be earned by leveling up as well as by hunting down rare tomes out in the world. You can choose to spend Skill Points as you go, save them up to invest more heavily in skills that are unlocked at higher levels, spread them out between multiple skills, or focus on your favorites to make them more powerful.
Each class also has a dedicated Talent Tree for further character customization, though your choices may come at a cost. For example, the Sorceress concentrate on skills that emphasize mobility or Lightning damage while passing up more powerful Cold powers in the process. The Druid might choose to become a tanky melee combatant by investing in Werebear talents, though this doesn't prevent him from using his Werewolf or Caster skills; they'll just be less optimized. Where you want to specialize is up to you, and your Talent investments will reflect these decisions.
Talents get more powerful the further down the tree you travel, so make sure you're choosing wisely as you grow!
Open World & Multiplayer Gameplay
Unlike previous Diablo games, Diablo IV is fully open world. This means you can explore any of the five distinct regions in any order, at any time, and travel seamlessly between them. Sanctuary will become a living, breathing place to explore and plunder. With introductions like monster ecologies tied to regions, a shared player world with public events, and town points of interest that act as social hubs, Diablo IV will feel a little less lonely (though no less bleak).
The distinctive regions we're introducing are connected contiguously, for streamlined adventuring from area to area with no loading interruptions.
Home to the Druids, this verdant and rainy land is heavily forested and borders the coast. Werewolves lurk in the thick foliage and the new monster family, the Drowned, crowd the haunted coastlines, waiting to drag unsuspecting victims to a watery doom.
Fractured Peaks
Snowy and secluded, a sect of devout priests find refuge in the isolation of this high mountain range. They seek enlightenment while remaining unaware of the horrors that dwell in the dark cave complexes below.
Dry Steppes
The unforgiving, harsh environment of the Dry Steppes is home only to the hardiest—or desperate—souls. Be warned; the denizens of this land will do anything to survive, resorting to anything from petty banditry to savage cannibalism.
Witches and zealots call this snake-infested swampland home, scouring the murky depths for ancient artifacts. The unaware will quickly find themselves in dire straits.
As we've seen from previous visits to Alcarnus and Caldeum, the desert shadows of Kejhistan make excellent cover for a group of rising cultists. They quietly plumb abandoned ruins, seeking power to aid the return of the ancient Prime Evils.
To Party or Not to Party
Whether you're prone to partying up or an independent adventurer, Diablo IV will have a way for you to play.
When it comes to the Campaign, you'll be able to play through the entire story at your own pace or alongside friends, with progress syncing up to the party leader so there's no question about what's been done or what's next on the checklist.
While most of the world is socially open, certain, smaller parts of each region are campaign specific. Once the campaign objectives have been completed, those areas will also dynamically open to other players. This means you might see another party of adventurers pass you by or you could organically stumble into an event or World Boss other players are already battling. You won't need to party up to enjoy these activities; whether you decide to join the fray or continue your own journey, that decision remains yours.
Delving Dank Dungeons
Dungeons will be separate, instanced experiences. While you won't see wandering adventurers alongside you as you delve an abandoned ruin, you can opt to bring up to a party of four players in to tackle tougher challenges for greater rewards.
As has become hallmark to Diablo, Dungeons are randomized experiences, including both their layouts and the events that might occur within them. They can be interior or exterior landscapes, may mix and match between different tilesets, and offer totally seamless exploration; moving from one level or scene to another is now a natural, loading screen-free process.
We're also introducing Dungeon Objectives, which help guide your adventure and offer greater rewards and increased danger. As you complete Dungeon Objectives, the goals you have will continue to update, and the Dungeon itself might respond by sending tougher enemies and challenges your way. Each Objective has been custom designed to give their Dungeons their own identity and character, and there are hundreds of dungeons with tons of events, ensuring each delve is a unique one!
We're also evolving endgame Dungeons by building them around three pillars: variety, strategic depth, and player agency. One new system we're sharing today is what we're calling Keyed Dungeons. By finding a key out in the world of Sanctuary, you can upgrade an existing Dungeon into a special endgame version with increased difficulty, greater rewards, and dungeon affixes. Between the natural randomization, knowing the strength and affixes you're going to face, and choosing your skills and equipment in advance, we're hitting all three of these pillars for a unique, ever-evolving endgame.
Monsters of Sanctuary
You know where you're going to kill things, and how you're going to kill them. But what, exactly, is threatening you? Let's look at some of the enemies you can expect to face in Diablo IV.
Monster Families
To breathe new and realistic life into the world of Sanctuary, we're taking a fundamentally new approach to how we create and design monsters. Each monster is now part of a Monster Family, which usually includes a handful of different enemies based around a theme and location. Check out one of our new families, the Drowned.
The Drowned are watery entities that can be found around the coasts of Scosglen. You won't find them anywhere else in the world, and if you're looking specifically to hunt them down, you'll need to travel to find them. Each member of the family has a specialty or signature ability that synergizes with other members of that family, becoming stronger when they're fighting together.
Reimagining Affixes
Affixes work a little differently this time around. While you'll still see expected effects like Molten, you might be surprised at how the Multishot affix changes up strategic gameplay depending on which enemy it affects.
For example, take the Fallen family. A Multishot enchanted ranged Fallen might throw three projectiles at you, as you'd probably expect. Put that Multishot enchantment on a Fallen Shaman, though, and your priorities change as he begins to revive three of his friends at a time instead of just one. Affixes should change the way you look at and strategize against your enemies, as well as offer different gameplay depending on the monsters they affect.
Ashava and World Bosses
If you got your hands on our BlizzCon demo or watched our gameplay trailer closely, you may have noticed a massive new addition: Ashava. Ashava, the first of our new World Bosses, is an ancient demon lurking below Sanctuary who will take more than just one mighty hero to fell.
Not only will you need to group up (or at least join several other players) to challenge Ashava, but you'll want to pay close attention to her abilities and carefully make use of your skills. Avoid her deadly strikes with the baseline Evade ability and leverage the new Stagger mechanic in your favor. Rather than having bosses be immune to crowd control effects, they can instead become Staggered, losing some of their capabilities or powering down once a certain threshold has been met. When battling Ashava, Staggering her will shatter her arm blades and greatly diminish the range of her whirlwind attack, making her a little less deadly for you and your friends.
It's not a Diablo game without tons of new loot to find, and we want to share a broad, top-down approach to our itemization. First, you'll see the familiar return of most item categories:
Normal -> Magic -> Rare -> Legendary/Set -> Ancient -> Mythic
In Diablo IV, we want Legendaries to be just as, if not more, powerful than Set items. We don't want you to feel beholden to one particular class set to play your chosen style. Ancient items are a system we'll be leveraging for Seasons, but we'll dig into that at a later date. As for Mythic items, these will be so powerful you'll only be able to equip one of them at a time, so choose wisely!
When it comes to combat statistics, we've simplified the math problem. Players should spend more time thinking about stats that change how they play rather than solving arithmetic. Attack and Defense will be your bread and butter; one stat for increasing your damage, and one stat for decreasing damage taken.
More complex stats like Attack Speed or Melee Damage Reduced will still exist; however, these are stats that can change your approach to combat in more than a numerical way. While they might still increase your damage output or reduction, they do so in ways that make you think about the battlefield or which skills work best in different situations.
Some items will also boost individual Talents, effectively acting as bonus points spent in them. If you want to go all-in on Pulverize, you can do so with Skills, Talents, and items!
Legendary Powers
Legendaries should fundamentally change the gameplay of abilities, and that's exactly the approach we're taking in Diablo IV. The best way to illustrate this is to review a few powers we've worked on for the Sorceress skill Teleport.
One Legendary might increase your defense shortly after you Teleport, making it a great defensive escape tool. Another might increase your damage for a short period of time after you Teleport, making you more likely to want to jump into the fray. Still another removes the Teleport cooldown entirely, but now sends you in a random direction, so you have high, but unpredictable mobility. Lastly, we have a power that adds a burst of area damage to enemies upon your arrival.
Combining all these Legendaries can result in some pretty wild and satisfying results, and it's up to you (and perhaps a little luck) to decide which ones to combine.
Runes are back and better than ever! Runes in Diablo IV translate to another layer of gear customization. They come in two types: Conditions and Effects. It's as easy as socketing in one Condition and one Effect to create your own Legendary power. There will be a great variety of both types of Runes and we can't wait to see what sorts of combinations you come up with.
Frequently Asked Questions
Have a question not covered above? Check out the FAQ below.
Q: Will there be trading?
A: Yes. While we're still working on the details, we know this is a huge community request and we want to reintroduce some level of trading while still preserving the loot-finding experience.
Q: Will there be clans?
A: Yes! Clans will be a key feature in Diablo IV.
Q: Will there be PvP?
A: Yes. Some areas of the world will offer opt-in PvP experiences where you'll need to watch your back while you adventure.
Q: Will there be Seasons?
A: Yes! Seasons will be returning, and we'd like them to heavily impact your approach to gameplay. More details to come.
Q: Will there be Hardcore?
A: Yes! We've loved this feature ever since it started as a player-created and self-imposed challenge in the original Diablo.
Q: Is Diablo IV coming to consoles?
A: We are working with our partners to bring Diablo IV to both PC and console, including Xbox One and PS4. We have no additional platforms to announce at this time.
Q: What about [insert game feature we haven't yet mentioned here]?
A: We know you have a lot of questions about what the final form of Diablo IV will look like. While we've been hard at work on all the art, story, and systems we've shown so far, we're far from done and still quite early in the development process. What you've seen this weekend is a high-level overview. As we continue working to get the next iteration of Diablo into your hands, it's likely many things will change.
A Lot to Share, More to Work On
Diablo IV is early in development, but we just couldn't wait any longer to share with you where we are so far. While we don't have any news on when we'll be moving into our first public access stage, we will be keeping up with quarterly updates available here on the Diablo community site and mirrored on our forums for your easy access.
We've got a lot of work to do and even more hell to raise. We can't wait to see you on the other side!
Want to continue to discussion? Head over to the General Forum!
What do you all think of the massive features we are getting in Diablo IV? Obviously some of these may change before launch, but let us know what you think in the comments & forums.


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It's not all glossy brochures and white-sand beaches out there. Here are nine dirty little secrets that airlines, rental-car companies, cruise lines, and others don't want you to know. Hint: "Don't drink the water" is good advice in a lot more places than you might think.
9 Dirty Little Secrets of the Travel Industry
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Airlines Lie About Estimated Arrival Times
How many times has your plane taken off late only to "make up the time" in the air and arrive on schedule? Turns out, your pilot might not be speeding through the sky—airlines often say a flight will take longer than it really does in order to inflate their on-time-arrival stats. Why is this a problem? Because flights that are actually on time (as in, flights that do not use those extra minutes) may have to wait longer for a gate, since they tend to arrive earlier than scheduled. According to USA Today, the average scheduled flight time in 2012 was longer than it was in 1995 on 93 percent of domestic routes—and that's not because planes are slower.
Airlines Lie About Estimated Arrival Times
How many times has your plane taken off late only to "make up the time" in the air and arrive on schedule? Turns out, your pilot might not be speeding through the sky—airlines often say a flight will take longer than it really does in order to inflate their on-time-arrival stats. Why is this a problem? Because flights that are actually on time (as in, flights that do not use those extra minutes) may have to wait longer for a gate, since they tend to arrive earlier than scheduled. According to USA Today, the average scheduled flight time in 2012 was longer than it was in 1995 on 93 percent of domestic routes—and that's not because planes are slower.
There Are Really Only Three Rental-Car Companies in America
Think you have lots of choices when it comes to selecting a rental car? Think again. There are actually only three major rental-car companies in America—and those big three control 94 percent of the market. No wonder rental-car prices are pretty much the same from company to company. Are you now trying to name all the ones you've seen ads for? Most of them are actually the same company—Avis owns Budget and Zipcar, Hertz owns Dollar and Thrifty, and Enterprise owns Alamo and National.
Your Plane Is Probably Old
These days, while boarding a flight, you're more likely to be greeted with a run-down plane than a shiny new one. According to The Airline Monitor, the average age of the major airlines' fleets (including American, Alaska, Delta, Southwest, United, and US Airways) is about 14 years old. If you're looking for a new ride, avoid American and Delta, which were found to have the oldest planes (16 years old, on average). Don't worry, though, a plane's age is more likely to affect your comfort than your safety—aviation analyst Richard Aboulafia tells CNN, "From a safety standpoint, a lot of the older planes were built tougher, and with proper maintenance, there's no reason why a plane can't stay safe for 25 to 30 years."
Some Cruise Lines Are Harming the Environment
Cruising seems more eco-friendly than flying—after all, a cruise's carbon footprint can't be as bad as that of a round-the-world flight, right? Unfortunately, going by ship might not be any better for Mother Earth. At sea, untreated cruise-ship waste (including raw sewage) can legally be dumped directly into the ocean as long as it's at least three miles out from shore. (Think about that the next time you're swimming.) Cruise ships contaminate more than water—their emissions seriously contribute to air pollution. Some cruise ships work to manage their sewage and pollution in an environmentally friendly manner, but others don't. If you care about the environment, research the eco-policies of your ship before you cruise. Friends of the Earth's cruise-ship report card is a good place to start.
Pilots Are Overworked and Underpaid
Here's something you don't want to hear from the pilot who literally has your life in his or her hands: "The truth is, we're exhausted. Our work rules allow us to be on duty 16 hours without a break. That's many more hours than a truck driver. And unlike a truck driver who can pull over at the next rest stop, we can't pull over at the next cloud." That quote, from an anonymous captain at a major airline, is just one of many included in a Reader's Digest interview.
If you want to be even more scared, read this Los Angeles Times article that describes a typical workday in the life of a regional airline copilot—one who makes about $28,000 per year to be on duty 12 to 13 hours a day, four days a week, often enduring a long commute and even sleeping in the airport just to get to his first flight.
Hotel Beds Are Disgusting
It's bad enough that most hotels don't change the bedspreads between guests (only the sheets), but did you know that the mattresses themselves are probably pretty filthy as well? Many hotels don't use waterproof mattress covers to protect the mattresses from the millions of skin cells, bodily secretions, bacteria, dust mites, and other allergens that guests leave behind.
And as for those not-so-fresh bedspreads, Reneta McCarthy, a lecturer at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration, tells CNN, "Is it possible that a bedspread might only be changed four times a year? Yeah, it is." Sweet dreams!
Flight Attendants May Delay Your Flight on Purpose
When George Hobica, founder of our sister site Airfarewatchdog, asked his flight-attendant friends to anonymously tell him the secrets of the industry, they confessed, "If a flight is late, the airline might have to pay us overtime. If the flight is going to be late anyway, we've been known to delay it even further in order to make sure overtime kicks in, which on our airline means up to double the hourly pay. We might find some minor defect in the aircraft or use some other ruse to make up for the money we don't get paid waiting for takeoff." But we don't advise accusing flight attendants of this strategy, unless your plan is to get kicked off the plane.
Some Hotel Housekeepers Polish Glasses with Furniture Polish
Jacob Tomsky, author of the tell-all book Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality, worked as everything from a valet to a front-desk employee for more than a decade—so he's seen some things. One of those things? Housekeepers cleaning hotel-room drinking glasses with Pledge. Apparently it keeps glassware looking spotless and streak-free—so we suggest you just admire the sparkle and drink from disposable cups instead.
Airplane Water Might Not Be Safe To Drink
Tests conducted by the EPA a few years ago found that 14 percent of tank water in planes tested did not meet federal safety standards and contained bacteria like E. coli. Some airlines use tank water for more than just the airplane bathrooms—they use it to make coffee and tea, to fill the large bottles of water on the beverage trolley, and to make ice. Thankfully, not all airlines follow these practices. But do you really want to chance it?
Do you know any of the travel industry's dirty secrets? Confess in the comments!
More From Smartertravel:
- 9 Signs the Airlines Are Trying to Kill You
- 8 In-Flight Mistakes That Could Ruin Your Trip
- 10 Urban Legends About Flying That Aren't True
We hand-pick everything we recommend and select items through testing and reviews. Some products are sent to us free of charge with no incentive to offer a favorable review. We offer our unbiased opinions and do not accept compensation to review products. All items are in stock and prices are accurate at the time of publication. If you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission.
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Gombe Stream National Park, located on the western border of Tanzania and the Congo, is most famous for Jane Goodall, the resident primatologist who spent many years in its forests studying the behaviour of the endangered chimpanzees.
Situated on the wild shores of Lake Tanganyika, Gombe Stream is an untamed place of lush forests and clear lake views. Hiking and swimming are also popular activities here, once the day's expedition to see the chimpanzees is over.
Gombe Stream's main attraction is obviously the chimpanzee families that live protected in the park's boundaries. Guided walks are available that take visitors deep into the forest to observe and sit with the extraordinary primates for an entire morning — an incredible experience and one that is the highlight of many visitors' trips to Africa. Besides chimpanzee viewing, many other species of primates live in Gombe Stream's tropical forests. Vervet and colobus monkeys, baboons, forest pigs and small antelopes inhabit the dense forest, in addition to a wide variety of tropical birdlife.
An excited whoop erupts from deep in the forest, boosted immediately by a dozen other voices, rising in volume and tempo and pitch to a frenzied shrieking crescendo. It is the famous 'pant-hoot' call: a bonding ritual that allows the participants to identify each other through their individual vocal stylizations. To the human listener, walking through the ancient forests of Gombe Stream becomes a spine-chilling outburst which is also an indicator of imminent visual contact with man's closest genetic relative: the chimpanzee.
Gombe is the smallest of all the Tanzania's national parks: a fragile strip of chimpanzee habitat straddling the steep slopes and river valleys that hem in the sandy northern shore of Lake Tanganyika. Its chimpanzees – habituated to human visitors – were made famous by the pioneering work of Jane Goodall, whom in 1960 founded a behavioural research program that now stands as the longest-running study of its kind in the world. The matriarch Fifi, the last surviving member of the original community – that was only three-years old when Goodall first set foot in Gombe – is still regularly seen by visitors.
Chimpanzees share about 98% of their genes with humans, and no scientific expertise is required to distinguish between the individual repertoires of pants, hoots and screams that define the celebrities, the powerbrokers, and the supporting characters. Perhaps you will see a flicker of understanding when you look into a chimp's eyes, assessing you in return – a look of apparent recognition across the narrowest of species barriers.
The most visible of Gombe's other mammals are also primates. A troop of beachcomber olive baboons, under study since the 1960s, is exceptionally habituated, whereas the red-tailed and red colobus monkeys – the latter regularly hunted by chimps – stick to the forest canopy.
The park's 200-odd bird species range from the iconic fish eagle to the jewel-like Peter's twinspots that hop tamely around the visitors' centre.
After dusk, a dazzling night sky is complemented by the lanterns of hundreds of small wooden boats, bobbing on the lake like a sprawling city.
About Gombe Stream National Park
Size: 52 sq km (20 sq miles), Tanzania's smallest national park.
Location: 16 km (10 miles) north of Kigoma on the shore of Lake Tanganyika in western Tanzania.
Getting there
Kigoma is connected to Dar and Arusha by scheduled flights, to Dar and Mwanza by a slow rail service, to Mwanza, Dar and Mbeya by rough dirty roads, and to Mpulungu in Zambia by a weekly ferry.
From Kigoma, local lake-taxis take up to three hours to reach Gombe, or motorboats can be chartered, taking less than one hour.
What to do
Chimpanzee trekking, hiking, swimming and snorkeling;
Visit the site of Henry Stanley's famous "Dr Livingstone I presume" at Ujiji near Kigoma, and watch the renowned dhow builders at work. .
Strict rules are in place to safeguard you and the chimps. Allow at least 2 days to at least see them – this is not a zoo so there are no guarantees where they'll be each day.


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Genesee Depot Shower Remodel
A good shower experience at any time of the day can only impact life positively. Starting the day with a nice, warm shower can set a joyful mood for the whole day. A long and relaxing shower at night after everything the day has wrought can provide a personal sense of comfort and peace.
If you're not able to have these experiences, chances are you're only settling for a dysfunctional, inconvenient shower unit, and it's time for a change. You need an industry-level Genesee Depot, WI shower remodel from Milwaukee Bath and Shower.
For your visitors, a functional shower unit may not be as important as it is to you. A shower is a personal space meant to provide convenience, relaxation, and delight to the people living in the house. With a shower remodel from Milwaukee Bath and Shower, you'll have the chance to remake your shower unit into one that perfectly fits your needs.
Milwaukee Bath and Shower is here to provide the complete set of services involved in remodeling any type of shower unit into a perfect, high-quality shower suited to our clients' needs. Our long list of previous successful projects will prove that you can trust our services.
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We are also here to share our expertise with you so you can find the best solutions for your Genesee Depot shower remodel project. To start, here are a few considerations you should know about when it comes to remodeling a shower unit.
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Shower Remodeling Ideas We Offer
After talking with you in the planning stage, we'll be able to see what kind of services are necessary to achieve your vision for your shower unit. Rest assured that Milwaukee Bath and Shower can conduct virtually all types of construction services related to bathroom improvement, and we provide them at the highest quality possible.
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1. Shower waterproofing
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4. Time-saving installation
5. Low-maintenance shower
6. Spa-like experience
7. Light-filled shower
8. Two-in-one (shower and steam room)
9. Indoor-outdoor combo
10. Modern trends
11. Niches for storage
12. Materials upgrade
Don't worry if you think you will need an extremely customized shower unit with very specific construction requirements. We are here to listen to what you need and provide all the resources and services needed to achieve it. No matter how big or small the project is, Milwaukee Bath and Shower is here to serve you.
Finest Shower Remodeling in Genesee Depot, WI
As your leading Genesee Depot shower remodel company, we know we have what it takes to bring you the highest quality of services that the industry can offer. This is because we already have a proven track record of satisfied customers throughout the years.
Rest assured that you won't regret partnering with us, as you will see our industry-grade product quality and the passion of our experts' work ethic and craftsmanship. We are here to assist you in every way possible, from deciding on your shower unit's specifications to executing all the technical services needed in installation.
We are a team of professionals dedicated to keeping our work's quality and our clients' trust. We exist to provide life-changing transformations to people's lives through expertly working on their bathroom units.
Let's Talk – Free Consultation
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Today, Munich Re went way over the line when it issued a highly misleading press release attributing disasters in 2010 to climate change. The press release is titled:
Two months prior to Cancun Summit/Large number of weather extremes as strong indication of climate changeThe text of the press release would seem to suggest that Munich Re can't back up this claim, other than with empty speculation (emphasis added):
The rise in natural catastrophe losses is primarily due to socio-economic factors. In many countries, populations are rising, and more and more people moving into exposed areas. At the same time, greater prosperity is leading to higher property values. Nevertheless, it would seem that the only plausible explanation for the rise in weather-related catastrophes is climate change. The view that weather extremes are more frequent and intense due to global warming coincides with the current state of scientific knowledge as set out in the Fourth IPCC Assessment Report.The press release then goes on to list a number of phenomena that it asserts are being driven by climate change:
There are at present insufficient data on many weather risks and regions to permit statistically backed assertions regarding the link with climate change.
[T]here is evidence that, as a result of warming, events associated with severe windstorms, such as thunderstorms, hail and cloudbursts, have become more frequent in parts of the USA, southwest Germany and other regions. The number of very severe tropical cyclones is also increasing. One direct result of warming is an increase in heatwaves such as that experienced in Russia this summer. There are also indications of a higher incidence of atmospheric conditions causing air mass formation on the north side of the Alps and low-lying mountain ranges, a phenomenon which can result in floods. Heavy rain and flash floods are affecting not only people living close to rivers but also those who live well away from traditionally flood-prone areas.The actual state of the science is that no connection has been shown between greenhouse gas emissions and thunderstorms, tropical cyclones, Russian heatwaves or European floods. Regrettably, Munich Re has made a jump from making a tenuous assertion to propagating incorrect information.
The press release concludes with this statement:
In the two months preceding the World Climate Summit, Munich Re will be drawing attention to the climate change issue with a series of communications and publications. The ERGO Insurance Group and MEAG, the asset manager of ERGO and Munich Re, are also planning to issue press releases in the next few weeks on insurance products related to natural catastrophes and renewable energy as well as business activities designed to reduce carbon emissions.Enough said.


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Privacy Policy
Internet Privacy Policy
GRENADA TOURISM AUTHORITY ("GTA") takes your online privacy seriously. We have created this Privacy Policy to demonstrate our commitment to the individual`s right to data protection and privacy. This Privacy Policy outlines how we handle information that can be used to identify, directly or indirectly an individual ("Personal Data").
GRENADA TOURISM AUTHORITY ("GTA") publishes this Privacy Policy to inform you of our practices concerning the collection and use of ("Personal Data") you provide us through interactions with our websites, email communications and GTA affiliated online vendors.
Data Controller. The data controller is Grenada Tourism Authority, Burns Point, St. George's, Grenada W.I., 1 (473) 440-2001. Where a registration form is presented on this website, the data controller/processor may vary depending on the actual offering or the purpose of the data collection, but it is in any case displayed on the individual registration form's privacy statement. The GTA data protection officer is Reid McFarlane, E-Business Officer, email@example.com
Our commitment to the security of your data: To prevent unauthorized parties from accessing your data and maintain the accuracy and cleanliness of our own data while ensuring the correct use of it, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online. If you have additional questions about our privacy policy or how we use data? Email: Reid McFarlane, E-Business Officer, firstname.lastname@example.com
When does this Privacy Statement apply? This Privacy Statement applies to Personal Data that you provide to GTA or which is derived from the Personal Data as outlined below. The use of and any information that is gathered by cookies or other web technologies is subject to the disclosures and options provided, which can be found in this document and on the relevant website or online communication.
Duration of processing of Personal Data. Where GTA is processing and using your Personal Data as permitted by law or under your consent, GTA will store your Personal Data (i) only for as long as is required to fulfil the purposes set out below or (ii) until you object to GTA's use of your Personal Data (where GTA has a legitimate interest in using your Personal Data), or (iii) until you withdraw your consent (where you consented to GTA using your Personal Data). However, where GTA is required by mandatory law to retain your Personal Data longer or where your Personal Data is required for GTA to assert or defend against legal claims, GTA will retain your Personal Data until the end of the relevant retention period or until the claims in question have been settled.
Why am I required to provide Personal Data? As a general principle, your granting of any consent and your provision of any Personal Data hereunder is entirely voluntary; there are generally no detrimental effects on you if you choose not to consent or to provide Personal Data. However, there are circumstances in which GTA cannot take action without certain Personal Data, for example because this Personal Data is required to process your subscription or provide you with access to a web offering or newsletter. In these cases, it will unfortunately not be possible for GTA to provide you with what you request without the relevant Personal Data.
Where will my Personal Data be processed? GTA processes data primarily through its own facilities, vendor affiliates and third-party service providers within the authority of the Unites States but may from time to time utilize data processors within as well as outside of the European Economic Area (the "EEA"). Consequently, whenever GTA is using or otherwise processing your Personal Data for the purposes set out in this Privacy Statement, GTA may transfer your Personal Data to countries outside of the EEA including to such countries in which a statutory level of data protection applies that is not comparable to the level of data protection within the EEA. Whenever such transfer occurs, it is based on the Standard Contractual Clauses (according to EU Commission Decision 87/2010/EC or any future replacement) to contractually provide that your Personal Data is subject to a level of data protection that applies within the EEA.
Data subjects' rights. You can request from GTA at any time information about which Personal Data GTA processes about you and the correction or deletion of such Personal Data. Please note, however, that GTA can delete your Personal Data only if there is no statutory obligation or prevailing right of GTA to retain it. Kindly note that if you request that GTA delete your Personal Data, you will not be able to continue to use any GTA service that requires GTA's use of your Personal Data.
Furthermore, you can request from GTA that GTA restricts your Personal Data from any further processing in any of the following events: (i) you state that the Personal Data GTA has about you is incorrect, (but only for as long as GTA requires to check the accuracy of the relevant Personal Data), (ii) there is no legal basis for GTA processing your Personal Data and you demand that GTA restricts your Personal Data from further processing, (iii) GTA no longer requires your Personal Data but you claim that you require GTA to retain such data in order to claim or exercise legal rights or to defend against third party claims or (iv) in case you object to the processing of your Personal Data by GTA (based on GTA's legitimate interest) for as long as it is required to review as to whether GTA has a prevailing interest or legal obligation in processing your Personal Data. Please direct any such request to Reid McFarlane, E-Business Officer, firstname.lastname@example.com
Right to lodge a complaint. If you believe that GTA is not processing your Personal Data in accordance with the requirements set out herein or applicable EEA data protection laws, you can at any time lodge a complaint with the data protection authority of the EEA country in which you live or with the data protection authority of the country or state in which GTA has its registered seat.
Links to other websites. This website may contain links to foreign (meaning non-GTA Group companies or entities) websites. GTA is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of websites outside the GTA Group of websites or newsletters. Therefore, we recommend that you carefully read the privacy statements of such foreign sites.
GTA's legitimate interest. Each of the statements below constitutes a legitimate interest of GTA to process or use your Personal Data. If you do not agree with this approach, you may object against GTA's processing or use of your Personal Data as set out below.
Questionnaires and surveys. GTA may invite you to participate in questionnaires and surveys. These questionnaires and surveys will be generally designed in a way that they can be answered without any Personal Data. If you nonetheless enter Personal Data in a questionnaire or survey, GTA may use such Personal Data to improve its products and services.
Creation of anonymized data sets. GTA may anonymize Personal Data provided under this Privacy Statement to create anonymized data sets, which will then be used to improve its and its affiliates' products and services.
Recording of calls and chats for quality improvement and audit purposes. In case of telephone calls or chat sessions, GTA may record such calls (after informing you accordingly during that call and before the recording starts) or chat sessions to improve the quality of GTA's services.
In order to keep you up to date/request feedback. Within an existing business relationship between you and GTA, GTA may inform you, where permitted in accordance with local laws, about its products or services (including webinars, seminars or events) which are similar or relate to such products and services you have already used from GTA. Furthermore, where you have attended a webinar, seminar or event of GTA or purchased or used products or services from GTA, GTA may contact you for feedback regarding the improvement of the relevant webinar, seminar, event, product or service.
Right to object. You may object to GTA using Personal Data for the above purposes at any time by emailing to Reid McFarlane, E-Business Officer, email@example.com. If you do so, GTA will cease using your Personal Data for the above purposes (that is to say, under a legitimate interest set out above) and remove it from its systems unless GTA is permitted to use such Personal Data for another purpose set out in this Privacy Statement or GTA determines and demonstrates a compelling legitimate interest to continue processing your Personal Data.
How We Collect Information. GTA collects personal information in a variety of ways, including when you register with GTA on our websites or through initial interactions via our email communications, when you subscribe to GTA services through our websites, when you use GTA products or services via the websites, when you visit GTA websites or the websites of certain GTA partners, and when you enter Internet-based promotions or sweepstakes sponsored or administered by GTA.
User Registration. When you register on our websites, we ask for and collect information such as your name, email address, zip code, occupation, industry as well as other pertinent information. For some products and services, we may also ask for your address and information about you and/or your business's activities. Once you register with GTA and sign into our services, you are not anonymous to us.
Email Broadcasts. Users may elect to participate in a variety of GTA email broadcasts, ranging from daily news to supplier hot deals. GTA collects personal information in connection with the registration for and use of such services.
Contests. Users may elect to participate in promotions and/or promotional contests that GTA conducts from time to time on behalf of itself or partners. GTA collects personal information in connection with user registration for and participation in such promotions and contests.
Educational Programs. Users may elect to participate in educational programs such as 473 Connect Program, Seminars, Webinars, etc. that GTA conducts from time to time. GTA collects personal information in connection with user registration for and participation in such programs.
Events. Users may elect to participate in events that GTA conducts from time to time. GTA collects personal information in connection with user registration for and participation in such programs.
Event profiling. If you register for an event, seminar, or webinar of GTA, GTA may share basic participant information (your name, company, and email address) with other participants of the same event, seminar, or webinar including sponsors of the event for the purpose of communication, exchange of ideas and lead generation.
Cookies. "Cookies" are small pieces of information that are stored by your browser on your computer's hard drive. GTA or its advertisers may send a cookie to your computer through your browser. GTA uses cookies to track page requests and the duration of each user's visit and the use of cookies allows us to provide a user's browser with information tailored to the visitor's preferences and needs and to also streamline the user's visits to our websites. You can choose whether to accept cookies by changing the settings of your browser. You can reset your browser to refuse all cookies or allow your browser to show you when a cookie is being sent. If you choose not to accept cookies, your experience at our websites may be diminished and some features may not work as intended.
IP Addresses. GTA automatically receives and records information on our server logs from your browser, including your IP address, GTA cookie information, and the website page you request. GTA uses this information to help diagnose problems with our servers, for system administration, and to examine our website traffic in aggregate. The information may be collected and used to improve the content of our Web pages and to customize content and/or layout for each user.
Purchases. If you are purchasing something from a GTA website, we need to know personally identifiable information such as your name, email address, mailing address, credit card number, and expiration date. This allows us to process and fulfill your order and to notify you of your order status. This information may also be used by GTA to notify you of related products and services. Credit card information will not be shared or sold to unaffiliated third parties for any purpose without your express permission, except as necessary to process the transaction. Credit Card specific information is NOT stored on any GTA controlled online databases.
Use of Information. If you elect to provide us personal information, we use it primarily to deliver the service you requested. GTA may use personal information in a variety of ways including the following:
GTA may use personal information collected through its websites to send out targeted email promotions on behalf of its advertisers and industry partners.
GTA may combine information about you that we have with information we obtain from business partners or other companies to better deliver products and services that may be of interest and benefit to you.
GTA may use personal information to contact users regarding renewing participation to GTA services and products.
GTA may use personally identifiable information to send notification of GTA's or our partners' products and services by such methods as email and/or postal mail.
If you provide financial information, we use that information primarily to verify your credit and collect payments for your purchases, orders, subscriptions, etc.
GTA may send product announcements or special edition e-letters to online registrants.
If you participate in a GTA educational program, virtual tradeshow, or other time-sensitive program, we may contact you to remind you of upcoming deadlines or additional information concerning these programs.
GTA occasionally conducts subscriber and/or user surveys to better target our content to our audiences. The aggregated information collected is sometimes shared with our partners; however, we will do not share specific individual information with a third-party.
GTA operates several websites featuring its travel-related content and services. GTA may share personal information collected from users of its websites internally across these websites to better serve its users.
GTA offers lead generation opportunities to its travel industry partners. These opportunities may become available when you complete an education course or other online programs. GTA may externally share contact information (which includes street addresses, phones numbers and email addresses) collected from users of its websites/lead generation programs. Users of these products may opt-out of sharing contact information in our lead generation program at any time.
GTA has numerous products and services and therefore numerous email and promotion lists. In an effort to allow users to tailor their participation in GTA services and promotions, GTA provides users the ability to choose specific lists or products of interest or to be removed from participating in these lists. All email promotions sent from GTA provide an opt-out link at the bottom of the email pursuant to which users can opt-out of specific products and promotions. If you receive one of these emails and wish to unsubscribe please follow the instructions given in each email or contact Reid McFarlane, E-Business Officer, email@example.com.
From time to time we may use customer information for new, unanticipated uses not previously disclosed in our Privacy Policy. If our information practices change at some time in the future, we will post the policy changes to our websites and email communications.
Sharing of Information Collected with Third Parties. In general, GTA does not rent, sell, or share personal information about you with other people or nonaffiliated companies except to provide products or services you have requested, when we have your permission, or under the following circumstances:
We may provide personal information about our users to trusted partners and vendors who work on behalf of, or with GTA under confidentiality and similar agreements prohibiting such parties' further use of the information. These companies may use your personal information to help GTA communicate with you about offers from GTA and our marketing partners. However, these companies do not have any independent right to use or share this information.
When you register for an educational program, contest, event, webinar, or other promotion that is sponsored by a third party, the third party will be provided personally identifiable information unless otherwise posted in connection with the promotion. The third party may contact you regarding current or future educational opportunities, contests, events or promotions.
GTA may offer white-labeled products to its third-party partners that may include contact information of users of its websites/education programs/lead generation programs. The products are solely offered to third-party partners to help travel professionals generate more leads. Users may universally opt out of these programs.
GTA may from time to time share personal information such as email addresses with trusted third parties who deliver content that is likely to be of interest to the user and subject to opt-out obligation on the part of such third party.
We may share personal information where we have a good faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with a judicial proceeding, a court order, or legal process served on GTA, or to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims.
We may share such information where we have a good faith belief that it is necessary to investigate (or assist in the investigation of), prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of GTA's terms of use, or as otherwise required by law.
If GTA is acquired by or merged with another company, we will transfer information about you to this other company in connection with the acquisition or merger.
Forums/Chats/Blogs. Discussion groups may be available for our users on our websites. Participants should be aware that information disclosed in these discussion lists is made available to all members and thus becomes public information. We suggest that you exercise caution when deciding to disclose any personal identifiable information in such discussion groups. GTA is not responsible for the personally identifiable information you choose to submit in these forums.
Users may elect to participate in user forums to exchange information relevant to and of interest to Users of the website. To participate in the forums, users will be required to submit information such as a public username, identifying picture or image, areas of expertise, biographical information, and other similar personally identifying information. Your forum username, number of posts, date and time of your post, areas of expertise, and uploaded picture or image will be publicly available to Users of our websites. In addition, and other information designated by you in the registration process for public display will also be available to any User of our websites.
Security. GTA websites take commercially reasonable precautions to protect your personal information. When we transfer and receive certain types of sensitive information such as credit card and payment information, we re-direct users to industry standard SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encrypted servers. As a result, sensitive data you submit to our websites such as credit card and payment information is transmitted securely over the Internet.
Disclaimers. GTA is not responsible for any breach of security or for any actions of any third parties that receive the information as allowed by law. GTA also links to a wide variety of other sites and may contain advertisements of third parties. We are not responsible for their privacy policies or how they treat information about their users.
Children & Privacy. Our websites are general audience websites and are not directed to children under the age of 13. We will never knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13 without verifiable parental consent. If you are under the age of 13, please do not provide us with personally identifiable information of any kind whatsoever. If we become aware that a user is under the age of 13 and has submitted Personal Information without verifiable parental consent, we will remove his or her personally identifiable information from our files.
We understand that children may not fully understand all the provisions of this Privacy Policy or make informed decisions about the choices that are made available to adult users of the websites. We encourage parents and guardians to spend time with their children online and to be familiar with the websites they visit. GTA does not sell products to persons under the age of 18. If you are under the age of 18, you are required to seek the consent of your parent or guardian to purchase products from our websites.
Update/Change Your Data
To update your email address or change your email preferences please contact our support vendor at email@example.com.
GTA reserves the right, at any time and without notice, to add to, change, update or modify this Privacy Policy, simply by posting such change, update, or modification on our websites. Any such change, update or modification will be effective immediately upon positing.
What Else Should I Know About My Privacy When Online?
GTA websites contain many hyperlinks to other websites. GTA websites also may contain advertisements of third parties. GTA is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such third-party websites or advertisers. GTA does not share any of the individual personal information you provide GTA with the websites to which GTA links, except as stated elsewhere within this Privacy Policy, although GTA may share aggregate data with such websites (such as how many people use our Site(s)).
Please check with those third-party sites to determine their privacy policy. When GTA embeds third party content into one of its GTA web pages, GTA will use reasonable efforts to advise our users that they are viewing content from a third party-controlled website. In many cases, your browser settings will indicate content not controlled by our websites, while in other cases, this operation will be transparent. Under no circumstances can GTA be responsible for content controlled by third parties. Customers/users should read and understand any privacy policy noted on all third-party websites visited.
Please keep in mind that whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information online – for example through email, discussion lists, or elsewhere – that information can be collected and used by others. In short, if you post personal information online that is accessible to the public, you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return.
Ultimately, you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your personal information. Please be careful and responsible whenever you're online.
Under a provision of California law, a California resident who has provided personal information to a business with whom he/she has established a business relationship for personal, family, or household purposes ("California customer") is entitled to request information about whether the business has disclosed personal information to any third parties for the third parties' direct marketing purposes. Alternatively, the law provides that if the company has a privacy policy that gives either an opt- out or opt-in choice for use of your personal information by third parties for marketing purposes, the company may instead provide you with information on how to exercise your disclosure choice options.
Our Site(s) are intended for use on a business-to-business basis, this provision of California law will not apply, in most cases, to the information collected.
To the extent a California resident using this Site(s) for personal, family, or household purposes seeks information covered the law, this Site(s) qualifies for the alternative option. As stated in our Privacy Policy, users of the Site(s) may opt-out or opt-in to the use of your personal information by third parties. Therefore, we are not required to maintain or disclose a list of the third parties that received your personal information during the preceding year for marketing purposes. To prevent disclosure of your personal information for use in direct marketing by a third party, do not opt-in to such use when you provide personal information on the Site(s).
Please note that whenever you opt-in to receive future communications from a third party, your information will be subject to the third party's privacy policy. If you later decide that you do not want that third party to use your information, you will need to contact the third party directly, as we have no control over how third parties use information. You should always review the privacy policy of any party that collects your information to determine how that entity will handle your information.
California residents who utilize this Site(s) for personal, family, or household purposes may request further information about our compliance with this law by e-mailing Reid McFarlane, E-Business Officer, email@example.com. You should put the statement "Your California Privacy Rights" in the subject field of your email. Please note that we are only required to respond to one request per customer each year, and we are not required to respond to requests made by means other than through this email address.
Limitations on Liability
Your Consent to This Policy
By using our website(s), products and/or services, you consent to the collection and use of information by GTA as specified in this policy. If you do not agree to the terms of the Privacy Policy, please do not use the websites, products and/or services.
Please send any questions about GTA's Privacy Policy to Reid McFarlane, E-Business Officer, email@example.com or mail to:
Head Office
Grenada Tourism Authority
P.O. Box 293
St. George, Grenada
E: email@example.com
Grenada Tourism Authority, USA
685 Third Avenue
11th Floor, Suite 1101
New York, NY 10017
E: firstname.lastname@example.com
Grenada Tourism Authority
90 Eglinton Ave East
Suite 605
Toronto, Ontario
E: firstname.lastname@example.com


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We began at 8:30 and didn't finish until almost 6:00. Mostly, the time was spent in listening to the prosecutor's lumbering and disorganized cross examination of our expert witnesses.
The best news came at the end the of the day when our attorney told us he is "thrilled" with where we are.
The prosecutor has tried to divert attention from the issues that we have raised, but we all hope the judge sees through this ploy.
Our forensics expert, a retired detective who used to supervise internal affairs, strongly criticized the treatment of evidence in Todd's case. Called it unprofessional and inexcusable in the strongest terms. At the end of the day, an investigator from the State Attorney General's Office admitted that the knife alleged by the state to have been the murder weapon had been altered while in police custody, and he just didn't know how that could have happened.
Our legal expert also testified that had the jury been able to hear the full medical story, they'd likely have reached another verdict. The deputy in charge of Todd today, told Todd the this witness was doing a "really good job" for him. We agree with the police on that point!
We expect another full day tomorrow. And the hearing may continue on Thursday.
By the way, today is our granddaughter Maya's 11th birthday. Son Joel's girlfriend, K8t, showed her a good time in Colorado Springs while the rest of the family was at the hearing. Everyone is pulling together and we can't begin to express the gratitude we have for the support we've received from so many wonderful people.
Throughout the day tomorrow, I'll provide updates on Twitter (http://twitter.com/bnewmiller) and on Facebook (http://facebook.com/newmiller).
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
A long day in court
Monday, August 09, 2010
Hard Questions for the El Paso County Colorado DA
Although the scope of Todd's 35c hearing, which begins in a few hours, is narrowly focused on on constitutional issues, the citizens of Colorado Springs deserve to know how the DA's Office so badly botched the investigation of a tragic killing. Here are a couple questions I'm sure the DA doesn't want to address:
- Why did Prosecutor Amy Mullaney rush to cut a deal with Brad Orgill--the only person seen fighting with victim Anthony Madril? Madril, according to witnesses entered into the fight enthusiastically, fought fiercely, and emerged covered in blood and saying, "I just got stabbed." Mullaney cut a deal with Orgill: He would get a few hours of community service in exchange for saying that Todd confessed. The deal was struck before the physical evidence had all been sent to the state crime lab for testing, and long before the Metro Crime Lab did a crime scene analysis.
- Why did prosecutors let Orgill get away with violating his plea bargain? Only a few months after Mullaney struck the deal with Orgill, a nineteen-year-old woman accused Orgill of rape. Orgill claimed the sex was consensual, and, despite physical evidence, the case never went anywhere. During the investigation, however, Orgill admitted to giving his underage accuser alcohol--a clear violation of his plea agreement, which in addition to community service required that he keep his nose clean. That is, that he commit no infraction more serious than a four-point traffic ticket.
Sunday, August 08, 2010
A day in court--finally
For a long time, I've been silent on this blog. Not because I'd nothing to say, but because we've been working hard behind scenes to advance Todd's case on the legal front. Now, after four and a half years of unjust incarceration, Todd arrived on the eve of a court hearing where we will make our plea that his original trial was deeply flawed and profoundly unfair.
We pray that the judge, who will hear this care, Judge John McMullen, will listen with wisdom and decide rightly that Todd's conviction should be vacated.
Judge McMullen has blocked off three days for the hearing, which begins tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. in the El Paso County Courthouse, Room W450.
As the hearing proceeds, I'll post updates. The blog entries won't come until the end of the day, but as I'm able to, I'll tweet throughout the day during any recesses. You can follow those tweets at http://twitter.com/bnewmiller. They'll also be echoed to my Facebook page, http://facebook.com/newmiller.
Finally, a great big thank you to the many people who have supported Todd and our family throughout the nightmare of his wrongful conviction.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Faulty Forensics
The case of David Kofoed feeds directly into horror our family has faced these last few years. Kofoed was the Director of CSI for Douglas County, Nebraska. Last week Kofoed was convicted of planting blood evidence to be used against the suspect in a murder case. The Associated Press reports that a flood of appeals is expected on the heals of Kofoed's conviction.
With David Kofoed's conviction the list grows of cases where forensic agencies have been caught doctoring evidence. In part, the federal government has tried to address this problem through the Coverdell Forensic Improvement program, which requires any forensic agency that receives funding under Coverdell grants to investigate allegations of negligence or abuse.
We filed a Coverdell allegation in May of last year, an allegation we've made available online. Followers of Bearing False Witness know that evidence altered by state authorities was central to Todd's wrongful conviction. Although the allegation was filed almost a year ago, and although the National Institute of Justice has sent additional queries to Colorado authorities, we have so far not even received an acknowledgement from those responsible for investigating the allegation.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
An Update on the Legal Battle
It's been a long time since I've posted here. At the time of my last post we were facing a deadline for filing a 35(c) motion, which in Colorado is a motion for post-conviction relief. In it we asked for a hearing where we can raise issues of unfairness in Todd's trial that have not been previously addressed. I'm happy to report that we will receive a 35(c) hearing. It's not yet scheduled, but we're hopeful that it will occur in the next few months.
Presiding at the hearing is Senior Judge John McMullen from Denver, who has been assigned to the case after a ruling that none of the judges in our local Colorado Springs district could hear the case.
Central to the hearing will be medical evidence provided by state "experts" that was misleading, inaccurate, and went unchallenged in the trial.
The prosecution's theory of the crime was that Todd, unseen by any of the six witnesses, stabbed the victim in the heart (a horrific wound that punctured both ventricles). And then the victim went on to a fierce fight with another person--a fight that he entered energetically and that was seen by all witnesses.
State medical witnesses testified that the victim's seemingly miraculous ability to engage in a fierce fight with his heart slashed resulted from a medical condition called "cardiac tamponade."
There are two problems with this theory that never came out at the trial. First, there is much physical evidence indicating that cardiac tamponade did NOT occur. Second, cardiac tamponade is itself a serious condition that leads quickly to death.
We'll keep you updated as events unfold.
In the meantime, please take a look at Todd's latest blog. He along with others is blogging for the National Coalition for Criminal Justice Reform, a newly founded organization chartered in Idaho by the national network of activists that came together for last summer's Freedom March to raise awareness for wrongful convictions.
Saturday, September 05, 2009
New Book on False Confessions
John Maki from the Northwestern Center on Wrongful Convictions writes that Rob Warden and Steve Drizin's new book, True Stories of False Confessions, contains 39 compelling accounts of false confessions—articles adapted from newspapers, magazines, and books by distinguished writers, including Sydney Schanberg, Alex Kotlowitz, and John Grisham.
The book includes the account of Chris Ochoa, who spent nearly 12 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. Chris talks about how interrogators extracted a false confession from him in this video:
Of the book, John Maki writes, "True Stories of False Confessions shows that these cases are not aberrations, but rather evidence of flaws in the criminal justice system that demand reform. To this end, Warden and Drizin organize the stories of false confessions into categories, such as brainwashing, child abuse, and fabrication, and include a postscript for each case, providing legal updates and additional information."
The royalties from the book will go to the Center on Wrongful Convictions.
True Stories of False Confessions is available at Amazon. Learn more about True Stories of False Confessions at http://falseconfessionsbook.com/.
Friday, September 04, 2009
Bad Science + Amateur Expert + Snitch = Execution of an Innocent Man
In this week's New Yorker David Grann chronicles the tragic story of Cameron Todd Willingham. Willingham lost his children in house fire in Corsicana, Texas. A local fire inspector called it arson. A jailhouse snitch said that Willingham confessed. A two-day trial followed by a four hour deliberation sealed Willingham's fate. He was executed in 2004.
Unfortunately for Willingham, a re-analysis of the fire, done by a real scientist with a real degree, Gerald Hurst,--an analysis that revealed the fire was not the result of arson--was ignored by those in Texas who were hell-bent on injecting sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride into Willingham's veins.
What runs through the mind of an innocent man facing imminent execution? Willingham's last communications with his parents tell us. When he received word that Governor Rick Perry had denied a last-minute stay of execution, he told his mother, "Don't be sad, Momma. In fifty-five minutes, I'm a free man. I'm going home to see my kids." He told them, "Please don't ever stop trying to vindicate me."
Willingham's heart stopped beating on February 17, 2004, at 6:20 P.M. His death certificate listed the cause of death as "homicide." Who murdered him is clear. They remain at large.


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This makes us all very proud! Its a pleasure and an honor to work for GIZ knowing it is very serious about gender equality . Commiting to engage and work specifically on issues related to Women's Economic Empowerment, advocating for equality of opportunity and rights. Empowering women in business by closing the gender gap in wage distinctions is a big move in our day and age. In this day and age, this seems so basic, and is yet so required!
The best news so far, this GIZ Gender Week! 🙂
In Solidarity, Scherry
Technical Expert – Gender and Cross Cutting Issues,
GIZ India -
Great work in addressing gender among communities.
I would like to open the live stream but I receive a server error
New BACKUP Health factsheet 'Addressing sexual and reproductive health and HIV needs among key populations'
The factsheet summarises the results of the past collaboration between BACKUP and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) on the 'Shadows and Light' project. The factsheet and the documentation of four related webinars can be accessed here: https://www.giz.de/expertise/html/21632.html
Is there any information available on the gender activities this year 2017?
Wird es auch eine virtuelle Möglichkeit der Teilnahme an der Veranstaltung geben? Oder beschränkt sich dies auf Umfragen während der Veranstaltung?
VG, Anne Ramp -
Thank you for sharing this. Very important information for us as GIZ Gender Focal Points. Also, this is a very good approach to be taken by DAC.


text:
The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure (Hardcover)
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New York Times Bestseller • Finalist for the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction • A New York Times Notable Book • Bloomberg Best Book of 2018 • One of Bill Gates's Top Five Books of All Time
"Their distinctive contribution to the higher-education debate is to meet safetyism on its own, psychological turf . . . Lukianoff and Haidt tell us that safetyism undermines the freedom of inquiry and speech that are indispensable to universities." —Jonathan Marks, Commentary
"The remedies the book outlines should be considered on college campuses, among parents of current and future students, and by anyone longing for a more sane society." —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Something has been going wrong on many college campuses in the last few years. Speakers are shouted down. Students and professors say they are walking on eggshells and are afraid to speak honestly. Rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide are rising—on campus as well as nationally. How did this happen?
First Amendment expert Greg Lukianoff and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation, show how the new problems on campus have their origins in three terrible ideas that have become increasingly woven into American childhood and education: What doesn't kill you makes you weaker; always trust your feelings; and life is a battle between good people and evil people. These three Great Untruths contradict basic psychological principles about well-being and ancient wisdom from many cultures. Embracing these untruths—and the resulting culture of safetyism—interferes with young people's social, emotional, and intellectual development. It makes it harder for them to become autonomous adults who are able to navigate the bumpy road of life.
Lukianoff and Haidt investigate the many social trends that have intersected to promote the spread of these untruths. They explore changes in childhood such as the rise of fearful parenting, the decline of unsupervised, child-directed play, and the new world of social media that has engulfed teenagers in the last decade. They examine changes on campus, including the corporatization of universities and the emergence of new ideas about identity and justice. They situate the conflicts on campus within the context of America's rapidly rising political polarization and dysfunction.
This is a book for anyone who is confused by what is happening on college campuses today, or has children, or is concerned about the growing inability of Americans to live, work, and cooperate across party lines.
About the Author
Greg Lukianoff is the president and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). Lukianoff is a graduate of American University and Stanford Law School. He specializes in free speech and First Amendment issues in higher education. He is the author of Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate and Freedom From Speech.
Jonathan Haidt is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University's Stern School of Business. He obtained his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992, and then taught at the University of Virginia for 16 years. He is the author of The Righteous Mind and The Happiness Hypothesis.
Praise For…
"A disturbing and comprehensive analysis of recent campus trends . . . Lukianoff and Haidt notice something unprecedented and frightening . . . The consequences of a generation unable or disinclined to engage with ideas that make them uncomfortable are dire for society, and open the door—accessible from both the left and the right—to various forms of authoritarianism." —Thomas Chatterton Williams, The New York Times Book Review (cover review and Editors' Choice selection)
"So how do you create 'wiser kids'? Get them off their screens. Argue with them. Get them out of their narrow worlds of family, school and university. Boot them out for a challenging Gap year. It all makes perfect sense . . . the cure seems a glorious revelation." —Philip Delves Broughton, Evening Standard
"The authors, both of whom are liberal academics—almost a tautology on today's campuses—do a great job of showing how 'safetyism' is cramping young minds. Students are treated like candles, which can be extinguished by a puff of wind. The goal of a Socratic education should be to turn them into fires, which thrive on the wind. Instead, they are sheltered from anything that could cause offence . . . Their advice is sound. Their book is excellent. Liberal parents, in particular, should read it."— Edward Luce, Financial Times
"Their distinctive contribution to the higher-education debate is to meet safetyism on its own, psychological turf . . . Lukianoff and Haidt tell us that safetyism undermines the freedom of inquiry and speech that are indispensable to universities." —Jonathan Marks, Commentary
"The remedies the book outlines should be considered on college campuses, among parents of current and future students, and by anyone longing for a more sane society." —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Perhaps the strongest argument in Haidt and Lukianoff's favour, though, is this: if you see this issue as being about little more than a few sanctimonious teenagers throwing hissy fits on campus then, yes, it is probably receiving too much attention. But if you accept their premise, that it's really a story about mental wellbeing and emotional fragility, about a generation acting out because it has been set up to fail by bad parenting and poorly designed institutions, then their message is an urgent one. And it is one that resonates well beyond dusty libraries and manicured quadrangles, into all of our lives." —Josh Glancy, The Sunday Times (UK)
"Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff's new book, The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure, persuasively unpacks the causes of the current predicament on campus – which they link to wider parenting, cultural and political trends . . . The Coddling of the American Mind is both an enlightening but disquieting read. We have a lot of challenges in front of us." —Quillette, Matthew Lesh
"The authors remind us of some of the campus happenings that, since 2015, have afrighted old liberals like me . . . In the end [despite some objections] I agreed with Messrs Lukianoff and Haidt that protecting kids has gone too far, and that some campus behaviour is absurd and worrying." —David Aaronovitch, The Times (UK)
"The speed with which campus life has changed for the worse is one of the most important points made by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt in this important if disturbing book." —Niall Ferguson, Sunday Times
"Rising intolerance for opposing viewpoints is a challenge not only on college campuses but also in our national political discourse. The future of our democracy requires us to understand what's happening and why—so that we can find solutions and take action. Reading The Coddling of the American Mind is a great place to start." —Michael Bloomberg, Founder of Bloomberg LP & Bloomberg Philanthropies, and 108th Mayor of New York City
"Our behavior in society is not immune to the power of rational scientific analysis. Through that lens, prepare yourself for a candid look at the softening of America, and what we can do about it." —Neil DeGrasse Tyson, director, Hayden Planetarium, and author of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
"Lukianoff and Haidt explain the phenomenon of "helicopter parenting" and its dangers—how overprotection amplifies children's fears and makes them less likely to become adults who can manage their own lives. Children must be challenged and exposed to stressors—including different perspectives—in order to thrive." —Susan McDaniel, University of Rochester, former President of the American Psychological Association
"An important examination of dismaying social and cultural trends." —Kirkus Reviews
"I lament the title of this book, as it may alienate the very people who need to engage with its arguments and obscures its message of inclusion. Equal parts mental health manual, parenting guide, sociological study, and political manifesto, it points to a positive way forward of hope, health, and humanism. I only wish I had read it when I was still a professor and a much younger mother." —Anne-Marie Slaughter, President and CEO, New America, and author of Unfinished Business
"A compelling and timely argument against attitudes and practices that, however well-intended, are damaging our universities, harming our children and leaving an entire generation intellectually and emotionally ill-prepared for an ever-more fraught and complex world. A brave and necessary work." —Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Emeritus Chief Rabbi of UK & Commonwealth; professor, New York University; and author of Not in God's Name
"No one is omniscient or infallible, so a willingness to evaluate new ideas is vital to understanding our world. Yet universities, which ought to be forums for open debate, are developing a reputation for dogmatism and intolerance. Haidt and Lukianoff, distinguished advocates of freedom of expression, offer a deep analysis of what's going wrong on campus, and how we can hold universities to their highest ideals." —Steven Pinker, professor, Harvard University, and author of Enlightenment Now
"This book synthesizes the teachings of many disciplines to illuminate the causes of major problems besetting college students and campuses, including declines in mental health, academic freedom, and collegiality. More importantly, the authors present evidence-based strategies for overcoming these challenges. An engrossing, thought-provoking, and ultimately inspiring read." —Nadine Strossen, past President, ACLU, and author of HATE: Why We Should Resist it with Free Speech, Not Censorship
"How can we as a nation do a better job of preparing young men and women of all backgrounds to be seekers of truth and sustainers of democracy? In The Coddling of the American Mind, Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt provide a rigorous analysis of this perennial challenge as it presents itself today, and offer thoughtful prescriptions for meeting it. What's more, the book models the virtues and practical wisdom its authors rightly propose as the keys to progress. Lukianoff and Haidt teach young people—and all of us—by example as well as precept." —Cornel West, professor, Harvard University, and author of Democracy Matters; and Robert P. George, professor, Princeton University, and author of Conscience and Its Enemies
"Objectionable words and ideas, as defined by self-appointed guardians on university campuses, are often treated like violence from sticks and stones. Many students cringe at robust debate; maintaining their ideas of good and evil requires no less than the silencing of disagreeable speakers. Lukianoff and Haidt brilliantly explain how this drift to fragility occurred, how the distinction between words and actions was lost, and what needs to be done. Critical reading to understand the current campus conflicts." —Mark Yudof, president emeritus, University of California; and professor emeritus, UC Berkeley School of Law
"This book is a much needed guide for how to thrive in a pluralistic society. Lukianoff and Haidt demonstrate how ancient wisdom and modern psychology can encourage more dialogue across lines of difference, build stronger institutions, and make us happier. They provide an antidote to our seemingly intractable divisions, and not a moment too soon." —Kirsten Powers, author of The Silencing
"We can talk ourselves into believing that some kinds of speech will shatter us, or we can talk ourselves out of that belief. The authors know the science. We are not as fragile as our self-appointed protectors suppose. Read this deeply informed book to become a more resilient soul in a more resilient democracy." —Philip E. Tetlock, author of Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction
"In this expansion of their 2015 piece for the Atlantic, Lukianoff and Haidt argue that the urge to insulate oneself against offensive ideas has had deleterious consequences, making students less resilient, more prone to undesirable "emotional reasoning," less capable of engaging critically with others' viewpoints, and more likely to cultivate an "us-versus-them" mentality . . . the path they advocate—take on challenges, cultivate resilience, and try to reflect rather than responding based solely on initial emotional responses—deserves consideration." —Publishers Weekly


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