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My third suitcase came around the baggage carousel, the largest of my set. I could tell it was mine because of the four multicolored zip ties I secured to the handle. I braced myself, grabbed it as it was going by, and heaved it onto the floor. Watching the carousel for all of my suitcases and placing them in a collection was like reuniting a long-lost family, right there in the Brisbane International Airport.
This was the fifth airport I had traversed in the last 24 hours with my three overstuffed rolling suitcases, a shoulder bag, fully loaded backpacking pack and a pillow tucked under my arm. Here I was, one solitary young woman in the international terminal loaded down with her whole world; who just crossed an ocean to start an adventure in a foreign place, filled with unfamiliar faces, for the most extended amount of time I'd ever been away from home.
I scanned the crowd for the other travelers I would spend the next six months with. Some of them were on my flight. I looked for anyone with a massive amount of luggage like me. A few people gathered all wearing hiking backpacks, and one girl had a similar number of suitcases on a metal trolley as I did, but I had the most luggage by far of anyone. Suddenly, I felt very aware of all of the things that had crossed the world with me loaded in the belly of a 747. I felt embarrassed to have gone overboard and packed too much.
I lugged my suitcases up the stairs to the second floor of the flamingo pink bunkhouse, where I politely begged pardon as I lumbered over to a vacant bunk. I unpacked my clothes into the empty chest of drawers, smashing 30 pairs of underwear into a submissive corner to make room for all the shirts and jeans. I unrolled my sleeping bag over the mattress, puffed my pillow and placed my photo album on the nightstand. I set about recreating my Oregon home in Australia, and the anxiety dissipated as my things surrounded me with familiarity. I didn't realize how much faith I put in my possessions to fend off homesickness until it all came crashing down.
Months later, our group was gearing up to spend several weeks road-tripping up the Queensland coast, but we were supposed to completely clear out our bunks before leaving. A new mission group was coming to the base who would need the use of the space while we were gone. I packed the essentials in my backpack and left everything else locked in a storage locker. A pang of anxiety perked in me as I considered where I would sleep when we returned, but I was reassured it would be sorted out.
We slept on the ground in tents, explored the Great Barrier Reef, and drove dusty red dirt roads crammed in a bus with 25 people in the Australian bush. The trip was liberating, filled with joy and new friendships as I let my guard down. I finally felt like I belonged with this new group of people. Somewhere between the beach and the bush, I realized that the fewer items I possessed, the less time I spent worrying about them. I had everything I needed on my back. I spent precious little time worrying about feeling at home and instead focused on cultivating friendships and living each day right up to the hilt. I made memories I've carried with me the rest of my life.
While on the road, I felt like I was over my homesickness, but even the most thirsty wayfarer needs a home base, to regroup, catch a breath and rest. It is in rest where all the lessons taught by adventure are given the space to percolate and embed themselves in the heart.
In the waning hours of the trip, I longed to wash the road dust out of my hair and fall asleep in a real bed that was all mine, next to new friends.
We pulled into the driveway and parked between two gum trees. I was mapping it all out in my head—unpack my bag, shower and take a nap—but our leader said there were some problems with sleeping arrangements at the base. We wouldn't have a place to crash just yet but would be able to rest in someone else's bed for a few hours.
I crawled up to the top bunk and laid on top of some girl's red sleeping bag. The smell of her shampoo wafted up from the pillow, her tchotchkes and reminders of faraway friends and family were scattered all around. This was her home away from home. All I wanted was a bunk with my own sleeping bag on it and reminders of home around me, but there wasn't any room for that. All I had was the stuff on my back and items still in the storage locker, which was unavailable to me. The sense of home I struggled to create for months was gone.
I broke down. My head pounded and angry tears streamed down my face as I talked to my group leader.
I can't do this.
I just need a place to crash that isn't temporary, where I can be without thinking I am inconveniencing the other girl who sleeps here.
I just need to sleep.
I was a hysterical mess. Somehow I knew something had to change because I wasn't going home for several more months. I knew this feeling of homesickness would eat me alive if I didn't change the narrative.
I thought when I left Oregon, went someplace I'd never been, to do things I'd never done with people I'd never met, that the more stuff from home I had around me, the less homesick I would be. I thought it would insulate me from the pain of having no one who knew my history, my quirks, my personality; from having to start from scratch. Because no one had shared memories with me, I thought my possessions could stand in.
The idea of home and not having one flooded my mind, but I realized I wasn't pining after Oregon, but of finding home within myself for the first time. The more time I spent sitting among the things I brought with me from home, fretting over where I should store them while I answered the call of adventure, the less I actually could be present and available to experience all that a once in a lifetime experience on the other side of the world could offer. I realized that every superfluous insulating item would have to go, especially the things that I tried to hide behind.
I donated the majority of the clothes I brought from home. I gave my iPod to a man from the Netherlands. With my suitcases nearly empty and heart full, I took a deep breath, lighter and free. Home is more than a place and things; it is the heart of a person. Nothing can replace the need for connection and belonging.
It has been 15 years since my walkabout Down Under. One of the lessons that great adventure taught me is to put as little emphasis on things as possible, to have what I need and not a lot more. My time living out of a backpack was my first foray into Minimalism before it was a buzzword. It is a guiding principle in my family today, to never let things come between the relationships we have with one another. In our home, we believe people mean more than things. I hope to teach my children that home is a place to cherish; to hold with open hands and hearts as a place of connection instead of a fortress of isolation and complacency. To grab onto connection, I let go of things that get in the way. Through this experience, I have learned the value of home, the comfort of familiarity and the reality that even when I'm away from home, the most important things I carry cannot be crammed in a suitcase, but are the treasures held in my heart which are never things to leave behind.
Featured image by Hill Smiley Photography
Jennifer Van Winkle lives in Seattle with her husband and three children (twin boys and a girl). She is a teacher, musician, and currently a stay-at-home mom. She loves fueling the imaginations of her children with creativity, songs, all things science, good food and lots of play indoors and out. She blogs at Pepper Sprout Home and you can also find her on Instagram.


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For Time:
200 Meter Kettlebell or Dumbbell Famers Walk, Right Hand
Three Rounds of;
21 Barbell Push-Press
12 Pull-ups
200 Meter Kettlebell or Dumbbell Farmers Walk, Left Hand
Note: Today's workout comes from San Diego Police Department's CrossFit Affiliate gym. Weight on the Kettbell or Dumbbel for the Farmers Walk (or run!) is 35lb. for men and 25lb. for women. Barbell weight is 75lb. for men and 55lb. for women.
Graham and Aaron
In the photograph above, Graham and Aaron display the newest addition to our gym. Last summer, Operator Andy Green and members of the Stockholm SWAT Team visited our gym to train in Krav Maga and CrossFit. To show their gratitude, they sent us a photograph of their Team during a training mission, a letter, and their official SWAT patch. Thanks guys!
Join us today from 1:30 to approximately 3:00 PM for the CrossFit Pleasure Point Endurance WOD.Today's workout will be an endurance run coupled with hill sprints.

subset: commoncrawl


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Vincent Charlot
Vincent Charlot Le Fruit de ma Passion 2014
Made from a selection of parcels. A superbly saline nose. Loads of blackcurrant and notes of oystershell on the finish. Such a delightful wine and one of our absolute favourites from the house.
House Profile
Where do we start!? Vincent is a truly unique winemaker nestled just west of Epernay. Fully biodynamic from 2013, (Demeter), creating a myriad of peculiarities every year. In excess of 15 different cuvées every year, all tiny plots, some no more than a few hundred bottles. It is easy to get lost in his wines and we almost demand that you do. Exquisite, rich, complex and true to the very man that he is. They will take you away to a better place...


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Zambia 50 years after colonial rule
Charles Mwewa
IN 2011, I published Zambia: Struggles of My People. In this book I rather presciently predict the future of Zambia from what has gone before. I detail our struggles from pre-colonial days to colonial days to post-colonial days. It is documentation in time of the real struggles of the Zambian people. It is barely three years after Struggles of My People and as I look back I am still touched by the quandary of my people.
2014 announced a Zambian Jubilee, 50 years of self-rule, of self-determination and of freedom from colonial bondage from the former British Empire. It was on October 24th, 1964 when the red-green-orange-black flag was lifted and a new nation called Zambia was created. She was no longer a habitat of Cecil John Rhodes (Northern Rhodesia). The people of Zambia had become tired of being "boys" and wanted to be "men." Today after 50 years of that so-called independence we are still left with so many questions.
Foremost among these questions is: are we better off 50 years after the fact? It is clear that the answer or response to that cannot be "fair," "good" or "best". We may have to search deeply into our souls to be able to provide a better answer. But whatever route we may take politically, economically or religiously, things have not been getting better. Some people might even say that things have worsened. However, such an indictment would be blatant disregard of the efforts and the progress the Zambian people, in particular, and some African states in general, have made.
Taking the case of Zambia as an example, successive Zambian governments have built some notable infrastructures in terms of schools, colleges or universities and hospitals. Most of these were built after independence. We may as well note that in terms of socio-political stability Zambia — which in 2014 was ranked the third most peaceful nation in Africa and 44th in the world, according to the 2014 Global Peace Index and beaten only by Mauritius and Ghana — has been a successful story. Zambia can also boast of being a regional heavy weight in the way she has postured herself as a fountain of refuge and protection for all those running away from war, civil wars and regional distress.
Zambia has registered massive successes in the integration of tribal aggregates into a One-Zambia One-Nation formulation. This in part can be attributed to the spirit of compromise and tolerance our fore-fathers under the Kenneth Kaunda era tried and strived to impart at every level of government. In a way, it can be said that Zambia has recorded notable economic stability post-Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) era. This though, is relative and may not be accepted by all reasonable Zambians.
Politically it is an elephant in the room, but speaking from an historical nuance Zambia has done well in political changes after 1991. Kenneth Kaunda's rule of 27 years cannot be justified even given the sometimes uncouth records of those who succeeded him Frederick Chiluba; Levy Mwanawasa; Rupiah Banda; and Michael Sata (President Sata died on Tuesday). Credit should however, be given to Chiluba for ushering in the most coveted multi-party politics; Mwanawasa for setting into place an agenda for economic progress; Banda for a short but frugal determination to hand over power peacefully to the Patriotic Front (PF) after failure to win the 2011 presidential elections; and Sata despite his frail health, for showing that with courage a staunch Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) government could be changed without resorting to the bullet.
In spite of the aforementioned and putting politicking aside a genuine question to be answered is still this: are we better off than we were before independence? We have done much to quell and curb repression and the rule of emergency regimes; we have instituted a working two-tenure presidential regime; and we have removed excesses in the quartered regime vis-à-vis our copper mining sector. But we still are tormented by the huge number of our people living in abject poverty, with hunger in rural areas, with lack or poor and inadequate education, and of course, our precious people dying from curable diseases. From whatever angle you look at it, and as I mentioned politics aside, we have a long way to go to create conditions that favour a much more magnanimous and prosperous society. Zambia is still bleeding internally.
Earnestly, I ask this question: can we let this quagmire, this state of impoverishment follow us into the next 50 years? We have seen, we have heard, we have touched and we have felt, but it is time to do! And going by what has gone before, the current crop of the Zambian politicians ran out of ideas in the 1980s. Even post-1991 they have not regained tract. They are old and tired, and if they are young, they cannot admit it they have been made redundant by the ineffective policies and the 1970 economic models they still espouse, mostly engineered by the old guards!
Zambia needs new blood, new formulae and new assistants to drive the Zambian economic and political machines. We, the up and coming hope of Zambia cannot insult the spirit and hard work that built our structures. No, we should not! We cannot ignore the good efforts the previous regimes have worked to instill. Even that, we should not! We cannot overlook the good intentions of those who died for the causes of our freedom and independence. That would be an error of historical proportions. But we should also not forget that if we sit and do nothing we will end up with the same poor, stagnant and attendant results.
Where are the vibrant, the innovative, and our contemporary thinkers? Where are our educated lot, our exposed statesmen, and our assiduous intellectuals? Where are the young, with their new and progressive ideas? Where are the women, who still hold a key to Zambian, and African progress? Where are you, with your brain, your intellect, your time, your experience and your resourcefulness? Where are we when Zambia, and Africa, needs us most?
Zambia, in particular, needs a progressive and golden thinker-brand. Zambia needs a new dream, a new hope, and a new perspective on how to run government and set priorities. If we don't want to change Zambia no-one will change her for us! It's Time!
Charles Mwewa is author of Zambia: Struggles of My People and Sail Without Ship: Poetry of Post-Independence Africa, A case of Zambia.


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[wpsqt name="What Generation Are You" type="survey"]
Gen 1 Fighters (born in 1944 or before)
Generation 1, in my taxonomy, is the civil rights generation — the generation of those who participated in or simply bore witness to the defining 20th-century battle for racial equality. It is the generation (born in 1944 or before) that forced modern-day America to acknowledge that blacks are real human beings.
They ushered in a new age, fighting not only on the civil rights battlefield but also in law firms, corporations and segregated communities. But in breaking through the walls that Jim Crow had built, they got scars, deep and painful, which left many of them unwilling to fully trust in the kindness and goodwill of whites. ….(More)
What do you think?
Gen 2 Dreamers (born between 1945 and 1969)
Gen 2s (born between 1945 and 1969) did not, generally speaking, play a pivotal role in the civil rights movement. But they were, without question, the children of "the Dream." They took Martin Luther King Jr.'s words to heart and pushed America to make them come true. Gen 2 "Dreamers" were the first and second waves of African Americans to pour into universities, corporations and other institutions that previously excluded them. And many ran into a wall of prejudice once they arrived. .….(More)
What do you think?
Gen 3 Believers (born between 1970 and 1995)
Gen 3s (born between 1970 and 1995) came of age in an era when Jim Crow was ancient history and explicit expressions of racism were universally condemned. Many of the more privileged were raised in predominantly white neighborhoods and, from the beginning, attended predominantly white schools.
Competing with other racial groups is nothing new to them. Their identifying characteristic is their fervent — if not totally universal — belief that they personally can overcome whatever obstacles prejudice might set in their way. They don't believe that America is color-blind, race-neutral or "postracial." They do believe, however, that the old racial limits no longer apply and that the old racial boxes cannot contain them. And some of them are a bit fed up with the attitudes and advice of their elders. ….(More)
What do you think?


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Lille, France – Lille claimed a crucial victory at the Stade Lille-Metropole on Sunday, defeating Toulouse 2-1 to inch closer to securing a coveted Champions League qualification spot.
Rudi Garcia's men now have a six-point cushion in third place of Ligue 1 as Sunday's win helped them pull further away from fourth-place Toulouse.
Lille's hottest property, Eden Hazard, got the home side off the mark when he earned, and converted, a penalty kick in the 13th minute.
Hazard then helped Lille double the lead by setting up Dimitri Payet in the 32nd minute.
Serge Aurier cut Toulouse's deficit in half in the 59th minute to give the visitors a chance for a comeback, but that opportunity was quelled by the sending off of Pantxi Sirieix, who was dismissed for a reckless challenge on Nolan Roux eight minutes from time.
Lille has won three straight in Ligue 1 play to occupy third place on 56 points, while Toulouse sees its six-game unbeaten run come to an end as it remains fourth in the table on 50 points.
Rennes 1, Lyon 1
Rennes, France - Two goals on opposite sides of halftime saw Rennes and Lyon play to a 1-1 draw at the Stade de la Route de Lorient on Sunday.
Melvut Erdinc had put Rennes in front after just four minutes, but Lisandro Lopez struck 15 minutes from time to see Lyon come away with a point.
The result snaps a three-game winning run for Lyon but moves the club into fourth place on 50 points. Rennes remains seventh on 45 points.
Caen 0, Ajaccio 0
Caen, France - Caen's survival hopes took a hit on Sunday as it played to a 0-0 draw with Ajaccio at the Stade Michel d'Ornano.
Pierre-Alain Frau struck the crossbar with a penalty kick late on, costing Caen three vital points in its quest to remain in Ligue 1.
Caen has not won in league play since Feb. 22 and sits third from bottom on 30 points. Ajaccio has only fared two points better as it sits 15th in the table on 32 points.


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Guns and Safety
ON Jan. 1, a new law went into effect in Texas, allowing residents who had obtained permits and completed a training course to begin carrying concealed weapons. Proponents of the law said it would make Texans safer, giving them a chance to defend themselves against criminals. Last week, however, a welding-supply repairman with just such a permit shot and killed a delivery-truck driver who had started a fist fight with him after the two were involved in a minor traffic accident.
The shooting serves as a tragic reminder of how the Texas measure, and others like it, can lead to an increase in violence, rather than its desired effect - greater safety and protection. It will be up to a jury to decide whether the man's use of force was justified. (The Texas law allows those with permits to use their guns in cases of aggravated kidnapping, murder, sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated robbery.) But one thing is certain: It didn't have to happen and wouldn't have, had the driver (who had no previous criminal record) been unarmed.
In recent years, 26 states have passed laws allowing citizens to carry concealed guns under varying conditions. At the urging of the powerful gun lobby, many state lawmakers are introducing measures that would relax the restrictions on these statutes.
In Georgia, while current law requires licensed gun-owners to carry their weapons in full view in most cases, a recently introduced bill would allow them to hide the gun under their jacket or coat. Virginia has introduced legislation that would empower circuit court clerks and their deputies to issue concealed-weapons permits in routine, noncontroversial cases, rather than clearing the application with a judge, as is currently the case.
As we have said before, there is little benefit and considerable likelihood of trouble with the unrestricted ''right to bear arms.'' The National Rifle Association has had its share of losses, with the passage of the Brady gun-control law, as well as federal and even tougher state assault-weapon bans. But in the case of concealed weapons, the NRA has successfully used scare tactics, convincing people the only way they'll be safe is with a handgun in purse, pocket, or holster.
In Massachusetts last week, a beauty salon owner was killed when a robber burst into her shop. She reportedly reached for her hidden gun and, as a result, was shot several times. Though gun advocates say the woman did the right thing in trying to protect herself, it's clear that a gun is no guarantee of safety. This incident and the one in Texas should alert more people to the need for stricter legal limits on tools of deadly force, rather than weaker ones.


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It was an absolutely stunning wedding day and not because the weather was particularly nice (although the rain did hold off well enough) and not even because of the locations (although they were quite lovely), no it was a stunning wedding day because of the couple themselves. Chantal + Mathieu are just the sweetest, most thoughtful people and because of this, their wedding day was full of beauty, memorable moments and most of all, it was full of love.
When Chantal + Mat met up with me back in May to capture their engagement session, I knew instantly that their wedding day was going to be something truly special. They really are two of the nicest people and their session was not only wonderful to look at, but it was just such a pleasant experience all around (including the drive out to Gatineau Park, which I normally screw up at least once, but that time I managed to get there without any unplanned detours).
And their wedding day was just more of that wonderful pleasantness mixed in of course among all of that gorgeousness! Chantal's dress was oh so perfect for her and the details she and Mat had picked out for their day matched their personalities and style so well. The entire day really did fit them like a glove.
And although Mother Nature didn't quite give them the true Fall background they were planning for (seriously lady, what's up with the sea of green trees in the middle of October?!), I am oh so happy with the images we were able to create with them and their entire wedding party. Speaking of which, this wedding party were all absolutely breathtaking, fun and all around a joy to work with – but you'll see more of that in their full preview later on.


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Jul 5, 2018
Emeralds and rubies meet aluminum at Chopard for fashion week
Jul 5, 2018
Necklaces dripping with emeralds took centre-stage at Paris Haute Couture Week on Thursday as Chopard and other jewelers joined fashion houses in showing off their most elaborate creations.
Switzerland's Chopard mixed gemstones and precious metals with less noble metals such as aluminum that can be dyed and worked into lightweight, ornate structures. "It allows us to produce very creative pieces," said Celine Wackie-Eysten, director of communications at the brand.
Chopard's latest "high jewelry" display - where pieces can fetch more than 1 million euros, though prices are not disclosed - included a necklace in red aluminum adorned with rubies and shaped into pompoms.
Another highlight was a large cameo pendant mounted onto an necklace made out of iridescent heron and pheasant feathers.
LVMH's Chaumet and diamond company De Beers, part of Anglo American, were also showcasing their collections.
© Thomson Reuters 2023 All rights reserved.


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EXCLUSIVE: Chávez Mafia Ties Exposed!
Quico says: Caracas Chronicles has obtained exclusive reports of an imminent face-to-face meeting between Venezuelan Pres. Hugo Chávez and the head of one of Colombia's most notorious criminal...
Quico says: Caracas Chronicles has obtained exclusive reports of an imminent face-to-face meeting between Venezuelan Pres. Hugo Chávez and the head of one of Colombia's most notorious criminal organizations.
After an exhaustive investigation, Caracas Chronicles can now confirm that the Venezuelan government is ready to hold contacts at the very highest levels with a Colombian criminal who has strong links to paramilitary death squads, leads a major drug trafficking operation and has been linked to neo-Nazi movements in the region.
Our sources in Caracas can confirm that Chávez's new Colombian partner has actively conspired to prevent FARC from releasing hostages in the past. He is, moreover, determined to prevent any further hostage releases in the future because, our source says, he does not want peace in Colombia and lacks all respect for human life.
Our confidential source stressed the dangers of collaborating with such a figure, noting that Chávez is unwittingly building bridges with a man who "makes don Vito Corleone look like a rookie." He added that Chávez must tread carefully in enmeshing himself with figures "better suited to running a mafia."
The decision to move ahead with the talks sparked outrage among Chávez's left-wing allies, where his new negotiating partner and the criminal syndicate he leads are roundly denounced as "cowardly, lying, manipulating provocateurs."
The news surfaced on the heels of troubling new reports that the Venezuelan government has agreed to cooperate with an organization led by the world's number 1 terrorist, a genocidal drunkard and head of the notorious Equus asinus crime family that, according to our source, may actually be Beelzebub, the prince of darkness, himself.
UPDATE: Unable to sustain its blanket denials in the face of massive pressure generated by this Caracas Chronicles exclusive, the Venezuelan government is now acknowledging that President Chávez is due to meet this notorious criminal today.
Caracas Chronicles is 100% reader-supported.
We've been able to hang on for 21 years in one of the craziest media landscapes in the world. We've seen different media outlets in Venezuela (and abroad) closing shop, something we're looking to avoid at all costs. Your collaboration goes a long way in helping us weather the storm.Donate


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At AEI panel, economists debate PR's post-María future
Seven weeks after Hurricane María devastated Puerto Rico, most of its 3.4 million inhabitants still don't have electricity. And the island's deeply indebted economy — already in crisis before the storm — is in worse shape than ever, warned a panel of economists meeting Tuesday afternoon in Washington.
"María turned everything upside down," said José B. Carrión, chairman of Puerto Rico's Financial Oversight and Management Board. "I will spare you the description, but its aftermath is forcing everyone in Puerto Rico to rethink everything, and the oversight board is no exception. The minute María was done, we knew we'd have to work toward a new reality."
Carrión was one of half a dozen speakers at the American Enterprise Institute, the conservative think tank that sponsored the two-hour panel discussion, "Puerto Rico After Hurricane María."
Also on the panel was Alex J. Pollock of R Street Institute; economist Anne Krueger of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies; John Mosseau of Cumberland Advisors; Antonio Weiss of Harvard Business School, and AEI resident scholars Andrew Biggs and Desmond Lachman.
Carrión, quickly summarizing what his board has done to lead post-hurricane recovery efforts, said his main priority has been to restore power as soon as possible while reforming Puerto Rico's electricity sector.
"Hurricanes Irma and María have not altered the core purpose of [the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act] PROMESA. In fact they have underscored the importance of returning the island to fiscal responsibility," he said.
"Recovery-related expenses are substantial, and not all will be reimbursed by federal aid. Many of the cost-saving measures built into the budget must be looked at with a fresh perspective, given the demands of the recovery process," he added.
Krueger argued "Puerto Rico ought to be the jewel of the Western Hemisphere, in much the same way Singapore is the jewel of Asia."
But that, she said, cannot happen unless the island's leaders change the way they do business — especially given that Puerto Rico's economy was already in deep trouble.
"In a dollar-based economy, once you can't borrow, there's nothing you can do except cut back spending," she said. "In Greece, there was never any question that police and fire services would continue. In Puerto Rico, there is. If the government doesn't have the money, they can't pay. And outmigration, deficits and no growth or negative growth had been going on for quite awhile."
Since 1970, the number of schoolchildren in Puerto Rico has shrunk by 40 percent while the number of teachers has risen by 30 percent. The island has no more hotel rooms on the island today than it did 47 years ago. And only 38 percent of Puerto Rico's inhabitants are in the labor force, compared to 63 percent on the U.S. mainland.
The island's tax exemptions — aimed at spurring manufacturing investment — are "erratic" and "have not helped" at all, said Krueger.
"The control board was just getting off to a good start when the hurricane hit," she said. "Reconstruction efforts depend in part on what insurance will cover, and what Congress will do. There will certainly be a loss of revenue, with fewer workers left to pay taxes. Short-term expenditures will go up, but taxes won't go down. Where will the money come from when you can't print it and you can't borrow it?"
Making PR more 'business-friendly'
Krueger said the long-term focus must remain how to restore economic growth to Puerto Rico by making it more business-friendly.
"Today it is not," she complained. "The government needs to move away from restrictive measures that do nothing to benefit anybody on the island — for example, a law that says no employee may be asked to work no more than eight hours in a 24-hour period. Think what that does to the tourist industry. There are lots of things like that in Puerto Rican law."
Antonio Weiss of Harvard Kennedy School warned that a failure to help Puerto Rico now "could become one of the most tragic cases of neglect of fellow American citizens in U.S. history."
Noting that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has never disbursed funds to a bankrupt entity, he said "there is simply no playbook for how to address Puerto Rico today" and decried what he called "an overwhelming lack of coordinated response" to the devastation wrought by María.
"Congress will have to appropriate tens of billions of dollars in funds for disaster relief and recovery," he said. "This will be across all federal agencies, not just FEMA. And the quid pro quo of that must be transparency, accountability and governance over the disbursement of those funds."
Weiss suggested that the current oversight board's powers could be expanded to deal with disbursement of emergency funds, or that a new recovery and reconstruction board could be created for Puerto Rico, drawing on those who have relevant experience with previous hurricanes such as Sandy and Katrina.
"Longer term, there needs to be Medicaid parity as opposed to a minimum wage reduction. In the here and now, I would emphasize the congressional appropriations."
Yet with the focus on affordable healthcare, immigration, tax reform and the ongoing investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 elections, very little legislative attention has been paid to Puerto Rico, which Weiss called a "clear and present danger" to all Americans.
"Either this will be the occasion that actually spurs Puerto Rico back to growth as recovery and reconstruction create a better energy system, or it will go down in history as an example of neglect that risks leaving behind an aging population," he said. "I find it hard to think anybody would be in favor of that."


text: On Thu, Feb 9, 2017 at 9:57 AM, Matthew Johnson <matthew at anandabits.com> wrote: > > On Feb 8, 2017, at 5:48 PM, Xiaodi Wu <xiaodi.wu at gmail.com> wrote: > > I agree very much with rationalizing access levels, but I'm not sure I > like this proposal for public vs. closed. How would the compiler stop me > from editing my own code if something is closed? The answer must be that it > can't, so I can't see it as a co-equal to open but rather simply a > statement of intention. Therefore I think use cases for the proposed > behavior of closed would be better served by annotations and proper > semantic versioning. > > > The most important point IMO is that they *are* co-equal in the sense that > they define a contract between library authors, library users and the > compiler. > Certainly, `open` and your proposed `closed` both represent contracts among library authors, users, and the compiler. But so do other features that are not access modifiers--unless your intent is to make all the (not yet totally finalized) resilience attributes such as `@inlineable` become access modifiers. That both `open` and the proposed `closed` are both contracts doesn't make them both access modifiers. To me, the reason one _could_ justify `open` being spelled like an access modifier (which I was not supportive of, actually, though I was fine with `public` not allowing subclassing) is that it quacks like an access modifier in some ways. In particular, since it offers more "access" to a class than does `public` by allowing subclassing, one can argue that it fits at the top of a hierarchy of access levels. As you define it, `closed` also makes additional guarantees to the end user than does `public` by (self-)imposing restrictions on the library author. Thus, it does not fit into a hierarchy of access modifiers where each level is more "accessible" than the next. Put another way, my point here is that `closed` is not the opposite of `open` in key ways, as the names might suggest. In fact, from the perspective of a library user, both `closed` and `open` would allow you to do more than `public`. As you note, there are some differences in how the `closed` contract is > supported. But that is far less important than the meaning of the contract > itself. > Since the additional guarantees of both `open` and your proposed `closed` impose burdens on the library _author_ and offer more flexibility to the library _user_, I feel it is highly misleading to make them co-equal but antonyms. They are not the "opposite" of each other and the spelling would be misleading. Dave's comment about tools to assist with contract-compatible API evolution > is the right way to think about this. Of course you *can* make breaking > changes, but we want to make it clear when you *are* making a breaking > change, both for source and for ABI compatibility. This will help library > authors, but it also helps users as well as the compiler reason about code > when we are able to offer stronger guarantees. > Yes, this is totally fair. > Most notably, the behavior of public enums *already* has the API contract > of `closed` and we do not want to remove that capability. This proposal > only formalizes how that contract is specified and makes it consistent > across all kinds of types. It *does not* introduce the idea of a closed > semantic contract for a type. > > As this change didn't seem in scope for Swift 4 phase 1, I've held off on > discussing my own thoughts on access levels. The idea I was going to > propose in phase 2 was to have simply open and public enums (and > protocols). I really think that completes access levels in a rational way > without introducing another keyword. > > > The reason I posted now is because formalizing this API contract for enums > must happen before ABI is locked down, and also because there is at least > one protocol in the standard library (`MirrorPath`) which is documented > with the intent that it be `closed`. > > I understand the reluctance to introduce another keyword. It isn't clear > to me what semantics you assign to `open` and `public` enums. > > Are you suggesting that they match the semantics defined in my proposal > and suggesting closed enums (i.e. matching the current behavior of `public` > enums) would require an `@closed` annotation as suggested in the Library > Evolution document? > Yes, I am. > I am opposed to this approach because it penalizes the API contract that I > think is often the most appropriate for enums. I strongly prefer that we > adopt the same neutral stance that we when we introduced `open`. > I would not characterize `open` as a neutral stance. But that's neither here nor there. The problem (as I see it) with your argument is that, in general, the following two thoughts are incompatible: (a) the additional burden of a public API contract should be opt-in; vs. (b) there should be neutrality as to whether or not one assumes the burden of a particular public API contract. Opting in means that one has made the deliberate effort of rejecting some sort of more natural or default choice. Writing `@closed public enum` can be easily thought of as opting in, because doing so very clearly requires actively choosing to add something more than the alternative `public enum`. Writing `open class` is harder to justify as opting in, because it is not as obvious that `public class` is some sort of default. (Hence, why I did not think that `open` should have been an access level, though I was fine with the proposal otherwise.) The saving grace there is that, in the linear hierarchy of access levels, `open` is two steps away from the default access level of `internal`, whereas `public` is only one step removed. So, one can make the passable rationalization that in choosing `open` one is escalating from `internal` to `public` to `open`--i.e., that going the extra step can be regarded as the act of opting in by choosing not to stop at `public`. As I see it, one can only be said to opt in to B (vs. an alternative A) only to the extent that A and B are not neutral choices but rather in some sort of hierarchy. Again, I'm unconvinced `closed` fits into a linear hierarchy of access modifiers, and therefore I see spelling `closed` like `open` as problematic. On the other hand, you might be suggesting that `public` enums maintain > their current behavior and we simply introduce `open` as a modifier that > reserves the right for the *library* to introduce new cases while > continuing to prohibit *users* from introducing new cases. This approach > has inconsistent semantics for both `public` and `open`. These keywords > would indicate a different API contract for enums than they do for classes > and protocols. In fact, `open` for enums would have a contract analagous > with `public` for classes and protocols. This feels like a recipe for > confusion. IMO, having consistent semantics for each keyword is pretty > important. We already have, and desire to continue to have, three distinct > semantic contracts. If we want keywords with consistent semantics we are > going to have to introduce a new keyword for the third meaning. > > > On Wed, Feb 8, 2017 at 17:05 Matthew Johnson via swift-evolution < > swift-evolution at swift.org> wrote: > >> I've been thinking a lot about our public access modifier story lately in >> the context of both protocols and enums. I believe we should move further >> in the direction we took when introducing the `open` keyword. I have >> identified what I think is a promising direction and am interested in >> feedback from the community. If community feedback is positive I will >> flesh this out into a more complete proposal draft. >> >> >> Background and Motivation: >> >> In Swift 3 we had an extended debate regarding whether or not to allow >> inheritance of public classes by default or to require an annotation for >> classes that could be subclassed outside the module. The decision we >> reached was to avoid having a default at all, and instead make `open` an >> access modifier. The result is library authors are required to consider >> the behavior they wish for each class. Both behaviors are equally >> convenient (neither is penalized by requiring an additional boilerplate-y >> annotation). >> >> A recent thread (https://lists.swift.org/pipermail/swift-evolution/ >> Week-of-Mon-20170206/031566.html) discussed a similar tradeoff regarding >> whether public enums should commit to a fixed set of cases by default or >> not. The current behavior is that they *do* commit to a fixed set of cases >> and there is no option (afaik) to modify that behavior. The Library >> Evolution document (https://github.com/apple/swift/blob/master/docs/ >> LibraryEvolution.rst#enums) suggests a desire to change this before >> locking down ABI such that public enums *do not* make this commitment by >> default, and are required to opt-in to this behavior using an `@closed` >> annotation. >> >> In the previous discussion I stated a strong preference that closed enums >> *not* be penalized with an additional annotation. This is because I feel >> pretty strongly that it is a design smell to: 1) expose cases publicly if >> consumers of the API are not expected to switch on them and 2) require >> users to handle unknown future cases if they are likely to switch over the >> cases in correct use of the API. >> >> The conclusion I came to in that thread is that we should adopt the same >> strategy as we did with classes: there should not be a default. >> >> There have also been several discussions both on the list and via Twitter >> regarding whether or not we should allow closed protocols. In a recent >> Twitter discussion Joe Groff suggested that we don't need them because we >> should use an enum when there is a fixed set of conforming types. There >> are at least two reasons why I still think we *should* add support for >> closed protocols. >> >> As noted above (and in the previous thread in more detail), if the set of >> types (cases) isn't intended to be fixed (i.e. the library may add new >> types in the future) an enum is likely not a good choice. Using a closed >> protocol discourages the user from switching and prevents the user from >> adding conformances that are not desired. >> >> Another use case supported by closed protocols is a design where users >> are not allowed to conform directly to a protocol, but instead are required >> to conform to one of several protocols which refine the closed protocol. >> Enums are not a substitute for this use case. The only option is to resort >> to documentation and runtime checks. >> >> >> Proposal: >> >> This proposal introduces the new access modifier `closed` as well as >> clarifying the meaning of `public` and expanding the use of `open`. This >> provides consistent capabilities and semantics across enums, classes and >> protocols. >> >> `open` is the most permissive modifier. The symbol is visible outside >> the module and both users and future versions of the library are allowed to >> add new cases, subclasses or conformances. (Note: this proposal does not >> introduce user-extensible `open` enums, but provides the syntax that would >> be used if they are added to the language) >> >> `public` makes the symbol visible without allowing the user to add new >> cases, subclasses or conformances. The library reserves the right to add >> new cases, subclasses or conformances in a future version. >> >> `closed` is the most restrictive modifier. The symbol is visible >> publicly with the commitment that future versions of the library are *also* >> prohibited from adding new cases, subclasses or conformances. >> Additionally, all cases, subclasses or conformances must be visible outside >> the module. >> >> Note: the `closed` modifier only applies to *direct* subclasses or >> conformances. A subclass of a `closed` class need not be `closed`, in fact >> it may be `open` if the design of the library requires that. A class that >> conforms to a `closed` protocol also need not be `closed`. It may also be >> `open`. Finally, a protocol that refines a `closed` protocol need not be >> `closed`. It may also be `open`. >> >> This proposal is consistent with the principle that libraries should >> opt-in to all public API contracts without taking a position on what that >> contract should be. It does this in a way that offers semantically >> consistent choices for API contract across classes, enums and protocols. >> The result is that the language allows us to choose the best tool for the >> job without restricting the designs we might consider because some kinds of >> types are limited with respect to the `open`, `public` and `closed` >> semantics a design might require. >> >> >> Source compatibility: >> >> This proposal affects both public enums and public protocols. The >> current behavior of enums is equivalent to a `closed` enum under this >> proposal and the current behavior of protocols is equivalent to an `open` >> protocol under this proposal. Both changes allow for a simple mechanical >> migration, but that may not be sufficient given the source compatibility >> promise made for Swift 4. We may need to identify a multi-release strategy >> for adopting this proposal. >> >> Brent Royal-Gordon suggested such a strategy in a discussion regarding >> closed protocols on Twitter: >> >> * In Swift 4: all unannotated public protocols receive a warning, >> possibly with a fix-it to change the annotation to `open`. >> * Also in Swift 4: an annotation is introduced to opt-in to the new >> `public` behavior. Brent suggested `@closed`, but as this proposal >> distinguishes `public` and `closed` we would need to identify something >> else. I will use `@annotation` as a placeholder. >> * Also In Swift 4: the `closed` modifier is introduced. >> >> * In Swift 5 the warning becomes a compiler error. `public protocol` is >> not allowed. Users must use `@annotation public protocol`. >> * In Swift 6 `public protocol` is allowed again, now with the new >> semantics. `@annotation public protocol` is also allowed, now with a >> warning and a fix-it to remove the warning. >> * In Swift 7 `@annotation public protocol` is no longer allowed. >> >> A similar mult-release strategy would work for migrating public enums. >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> swift-evolution mailing list >> swift-evolution at swift.org >> https://lists.swift.org/mailman/listinfo/swift-evolution >> > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <https://lists.swift.org/pipermail/swift-evolution/attachments/20170210/3497dfcf/attachment.html>


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I Came As A Shadow (Used Hardcover) - John Thompson
The long-awaited autobiography from Georgetown University's legendary coach, whose life on and off the basketball court threw America's unresolved struggle with racial justice into sharp relief.
John Thompson was never just a basketball coach and I Came As A Shadow is categorically not just a basketball autobiography.
After three decades at the center of race and sports in America, the first Black head coach to win an NCAA championship makes the private public at last. Chockful of stories and moving beyond mere stats (and what stats! three Final Fours, four times national coach of the year, seven Big East championships, 97 percent graduation rate), Thompson's book drives us through his childhood under Jim Crow segregation to our current moment of racial reckoning. We experience riding shotgun with Celtics icon Red Auerbach, and coaching NBA Hall of Famers like Patrick Ewing and Allen Iverson. How did he inspire the phrase "Hoya Paranoia"? You'll see. And thawing his historically glacial stare, Thompson brings us into his negotiation with a DC drug kingpin in his players' orbit in the 1980s, as well as behind the scenes of his years on the Nike board.
Thompson's mother was a teacher who couldn't teach because she was Black. His father could not read or write, so the only way he could identify different cements at the factory where he worked was to taste them. Their son grew up to be a man with his own life-sized statue in a building that bears his family's name on a campus once kept afloat by the selling of 272 enslaved people. This is a great American story, and John Thompson's experience sheds light on many of the issues roiling our nation. In these pages--a last gift from "Coach"--he proves himself to be the elder statesman whose final words college basketball and the country need to hear.
I Came As A Shadow is not a swan song, but a bullhorn blast from one of America's most prominent sons. Huddle up.


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Patnem, India
Ahh…. woke up early to Bob's 67th Birthday! I have to say he is in remarkable shape for this advanced age and is still in fine fettle. He had a card and a kiss from me but we are buying his present (new IPAD) in either Hong Kong or San Francisco. His choice.
When we set off for Salida there was a massive road crew working outside to re-tarmac the road from Patnem to Palolem. Long overdue. It has been frankly disgraceful in parts due to monsoon damage. Most of the road labourers are women, working in saris. An odd sight for Western eyes but they work sooooooooooo fast. By the time we came back tonight they had laid the new road all the way to the Palolem t junction and very fine it is too! A huge difference when travelling by tuk tuk.
Nice day at the beach. Bob had calls from both girls and another sizeable Amazon voucher from them which is just the BEST thing to have when you are a long way from home. He was so pleased to hear from both of them.
Had a good surprise planned for tonight. John and Sue had stopped off in Margao on their way back from Old Goa yesterday and bought a bumper firework selection as a finale to Bob's day. Some totally mega bangers – like bazookas! – and a box of more scenic large fireworks. They snuck them down to Cuba in the morning before coming to Salida for breakfast.
Anyway, tonight Suresh came and picked us up and drove us to Boomshankar for sundown cocktails. Lovely drinks but a disappointing sunset as it went hazy at the end. It is a very scenic bay anyway so it was nice. I had my usual Passage to India as did Sue. Bob had a strawberry daquirii, and it must be said that they make the best ones there. John opted for a Goan Margarita which was a frozen sort and made with fenni and not tequila. To say it was vile would be to compliment it. And not only that, but it gave him a sever brain freeze on first suck followed by the realisation it tasted like frozen petrol. On second round he had something different LOL.
Walked down to Cuba and they'd laid us a special table out on our own on the beach. Just lovely under the stars. Nice tandoori food and g&ts. Serenaded by Leonard Cohen's greatest hits that we've discovered we all like! Finally…… the fireworks…… they were spectacular. Started with two enormous bangs and showers of light, then a long spell of colourful high fireworks and finally….. well…. this mega blaster. It nearly blew the poor waiter who lit it up the beach. His friends who'd come down to watch were in fits of laughter. I don't think I've seen a more blinding flash than when this thing went off. Just a wall of white light. I was so stunned, I didn't catch it with the camera,, jjust the afterglow but you'll get the idea of the size of the lights.
A really nice day. Muchly enjoying Sue and John's company and so glad they are liking Goa so much.


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Upon its release last September, Other People garnered critical praise from the likes of The Los Angeles Times' Gary Goldstein and RogerEbert.com's Christy McGuire, who said the Molly Shannon vehicle "breathes new life into the formulaic, dark comedy about death."
Written by comedian Chris Kelly, head writer of Saturday Night Live, the general consensus was that the film is thoughtful, carefully written, and funny while being cathartic.
Related: Twitter freaks out after straight actor says his gay character "acts straight and acts normal"
Except some person. Some person didn't like it. Some person didn't like that there were gay people in an ostensibly mainstream movie.
Kelly shared that review on Twitter last weekend:
Just stumbled upon this beautiful review of my movie #OTHERPEOPLE. This is why I create!!! pic.twitter.com/QetnXMatKV
— Chris Kelly (@imchriskelly) September 9, 2017
And let it suffice to say Twitter was quick to go after the review:
"Look, im not homophobic. I just didn't like all that gay stuff."
— scott rosenberg (@scottrosenberg9) September 9, 2017
people are dumb. it's a fantastic movie… I cried the entire time (10/10 I do recommend to watch again)
— Cat (@catchampney) September 9, 2017
It never gets less awful when people say "I'm not phobic/-ist" and then proceed to show that they are indeed phobic/-ist.
— Lindsey Decker (@alindseydecker) September 9, 2017
I loved this movie and felt that the depiction of a homosexual relationship as nothing out of the ordinary was it's most stunning element.
— Benigma85 (@Benigma85) September 9, 2017
I think it's fantastic the Vice President of the United States still writes film reviews.
— Danny Kourianos (@grkboy) September 9, 2017
You can watch the trailer here:
h/t: The Advocate


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Here is last year's Super Bowl spread post, and the second in a series of three. That's because next week we will unveil a new Super Bowl spread on Grub For Guys.
Buffalo Turkey Meatballs, Steak Bites, Olive Poppers, Smoky Chipotle Dip, and Fiery Snack Mix
Hey guys….last year, we introduced you to some dude-friendly Super Bowl eats that you could pile on your plate before settling in for kickoff. This year, we took that concept a bit further, but without making things any more difficult than need be. Because really, you've got all that pre-game stuff to watch, and you have to drink a few beers to prime your gut for the barrage of awesome food that will ensue. Well, that's just a suggestion. Meanwhile, here is what we came up with for Super Bowl 2010. All recipes serve four, so multiply them accordingly…….
Buffalo Turkey Meatballs
You know, I think I have published more than a few recipes that feature Buffalo chicken sauce. That's because for guys, that spicy, tangy, peppery awesomeness stimulates our salivary glands like a Victoria's Secret model. Well, here's a way to get that wing sauce flavor without the mess of chicken bones.
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
3-4 baby carrot sticks, finely chopped
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. Ground turkey
1 egg
1/3 cup bread crumbs
1/3 cup Buffalo chicken sauce (we like Buffalo Wild Wings medium sauce), and more for dipping
2 oz. crumbled blue cheese
Salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat oil in a large, ovenproof skillet over medium heat and then add celery and carrots. Sautee for about 5 minutes, or until they begin to soften. Allow to cool slightly, then place in a bowl with turkey, egg, wing sauce, blue cheese, breadcrumbs, and salt and pepper to taste. Form into 1-inch meatballs. Re-heat skillet, which should have some remnants of olive oil left, and add half of the meatballs, browning on all sides. Put meatballs on a plate and add second batch, browning them on all sides. Then put reserve meatballs back in skillet and place in oven. Bake for 10-12 more minutes, or until cooked through. Heat about a cup of wing sauce in a small saucepan and serve meatballs with a few spoonfuls of sauce on top.
Steak Bites
This one is super easy, and on Super Bowl Sunday, you need easy!
1 pound steak, preferably two 8 oz. New York strip steaks
½ bottle prepared marinade (we like KC Masterpiece Spicy Mango)
Cut steak into 1-inch cubes and place in a large zip-loc bag. Pour marinade over steak, seal bag and place in the fridge for 30 minutes or up to 4 hours. Then preheat grill or grill pan, and put beef cubes on metal skewers. Grill for about 7-8 minutes, turning once or twice, until steak is just beginning to brown with nice grill marks. Serve as is, or with barbecue sauce on the side.
Olive Poppers
If you have high blood pressure, you might want to steer clear of this one. But if you don't have to worry about that, and/or if you like olives, cheese and all things fried, you'll love this fried, cheesy, salty goodness.
1 16 oz. jar large pimento stuffed green olives (or pitted large black olives)
2 oz. Velveeta or processed American cheese
¼ cup flour
1-2 eggs, beaten in a bowl
½ cup panko breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil for deep-frying
Drain olives and remove pimentos, discarding or setting aside for another use. Cut cheese into tiny cubes and stuff into each olive until cheese barely fits. Pour about 2 inches of vegetable oil in a large, deep skillet and heat on medium for 5-7 minutes or until it reaches about 350 degrees (I like to place my hand about two inches from the oil, and if you feel instant heat, the oil is ready). Roll olives in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs, and fry for about 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel lined plate and serve immediately.
Smoky Chipotle Dip
Sometimes simple creations like this exceed the creator's expectations, and that was the case with this kickass dip.
3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 16 oz. container sour cream
½ envelope taco seasoning mix
Place chipotles in a food processor, adding a few drops of water for consistency. Puree until smooth. Place sour cream in a serving bowl, and stir in chipotles and taco mix. Refrigerate for about an hour to blend flavors. Serve with chips or vegetable sticks.
Fiery Snack Mix
Snack mix has become a favorite of just about everyone over the past two or three decades, and to go along with the spicy theme of most of these recipes, we think you'll love this variation on basic Crispix or Chex mix.
3 cups Crispix cereal (or rice or corn Chex)
1 cup small pretzels
1 cup Goldfish crackers or other small cheese flavored crackers
½ cup dry roasted peanuts
4 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp. Buffalo chicken sauce
1 tsp. lime juice
½ teaspoon Cajun seasoning
¼ teaspoon garlic salt
¼ teaspoon chipotle powder
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Pour cereal, pretzels, crackers, and peanuts into a large baking dish. Combine butter and remaining ingredients in a small bowl, and stir to combine. Pour over snack mix and stir to combine. Bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
Posted in: On the Grille, Recipes, Tailgating, Your Kitchen
Tags: Buffalo chicken recipes, Buffalo Turkey Meatballs, dude friendly Super Bowl snacks, fiery snack mix, football food, Grub For Guys, guilty pleasures, guy friendly Super Bowl snacks, midnight snacks, olive poppers, smoky chipotle dip, Steak Bites, Super Bowl food, Super Bowl food ideas, Super Bowl recipes, Super Bowl snacks


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"Winning is nice if you don't lose your integrity in the process." –Arnold Horshak, Welcome Back, Kotter
Forget steroids. Forget asterisks. Forget gambling, sideline taping, dogfighting, DUIs, and firearm possession. While they all are the headlining stars of the dramatic Demise of Sports feature film, they are also eclipsing other infractions that may be technically legal, but are much more cancerous.
The most salacious sins and underhanded offenses occur squarely in the gray area, the insidious trap of loopholes and defendable vices. On the contrary, performance-enhancing substances and criminal misdemeanors stack up neatly in the black and white areas, the right and wrong silos.
As disgraceful as these wrongdoings may be, at least they uniformly recognized as unacceptable. But when it comes to things like basic humanistic integrity and moral fiber, there's no irrefutable litmus test.
Word of Joe Torre's controversial contributions to The Yankee Years have been lighting up the news reels for the past week, sparking heated discourse with fans of every team as to what this does to Torre's once-ennobled reputation.
Regardless of what anyone thinks of A-Rod or Steinbrenner, and regardless of what kind of tyranny Torre was subjected to at his players or boss's hands, he was out of line.
This is a manager who made no bones about his disapproval over David Wells' notorious Yankee memoir, Perfect I Am Not.
"What happens in the clubhouse, stays in the clubhouse" was the Skipper's fundamental golden rule, and he was ticked off that Wells didn't honor it. Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone, Joe.
No, he's no longer sporting pinstripes. Yes, he was thrown under the bus. And no, technically he has no remaining obligation to his old stomping grounds. But the fact that so many Yankee fans feel betrayed is evidence enough that what he did, quite simply, wasn't right.
Does it matter if there's an explanation, or he can produce a viable defense? It certainly won't when we see No. 6 on some new outfielder, instead of Monument Park.
You're better than that, Torre. C'mon.
But it's not just this. There's a whole legion of slime in need of watching the final monologue in Scent of a Woman.
The other New York club isn't any stranger to stomach-punching either, as demonstrated in the abhorrent firing of Willie Randolph last year. Firing a guy's one thing. Breaking the news circa midnight in effort to sidestep morning press, when the firee's on the opposite coast and about to fly home…despicable.
I don't care if the Mets were 0-68 at the time. Nothing should transcend basic respect.
And what of the girl's highschool basketball team that won 100-0? What kind of coach allows this? What kind of people were in the stands that didn't storm the court in protest? And what kind of girls continue to take jump shots from behind the arc, even after a 30-point lead, let alone the fourth quarter?
These lapses in empathetic decency are perhaps more disturbing because the game isn't on the line, literally. It's not about cutting corners to get a win. It's about personal vendettas and ulterior motives.
How would the Mets franchise have suffered if they waited 'til Willie was back in New York? What did Torre have to gain by airing the locker room banter? Book sales? He doesn't need the money.
An unnecessary evil, this kind of departure from basic class speaks volumes.
I know what I'm dealing with with sports, and I don't expect or even want it to be akin to some kind of summer camp, arm-linking, fireside, friendship celebration. I think bench-clearing brawls are entertaining. I think throwing a 65-year old man to the ground is crossing the line.
Breaking up a double-play by sliding hard into second is part of the game. Stealing second when up by 10 has no place in the game. Laying down a bunt during a perfect game when the score's 2-0, is the right thing to do. Staying out of the game to preserve your batting average when the batting title's at stake is pathetic.
Sports don't exist in a vacuum, so it's unrealistic to hold them to impossible standards. The game will never be immaculate, it never was and never will be. Every legend has a transgression to his name, whether it's Babe Ruth's carousing and drinking, Michael Jordan's gambling, Larry Bird's absentee fatherhood, Ty Cobb's existence, etc…I don't ask for or expect sports to be unblemished, or even close to it.
What's tarnishing the integrity of the game isn't the rampant yet ambiguous drug use. It's the general dereliction of fundamental class. Sports were born from the spirit of competition, but are morphing into a Lord of the Flies-esque cut-throat war.
The bottom line, the grey area of anything grants its inhabitants immunity from culpability. There are no rules delineating the right and wrong way to handle things. You can technically get away with passing on fourth down when up by 30. There's no law against exposing your team's dirty laundry. And no jury will convict you for humiliating someone.
I remember in my old neighborhood, there was a short little stone tunnel/overpass-type structure. I think it was more for aesthetic purposes, because nothing really went over it, per se. It was right in the middle of residential, two-way side street, but it was only narrow enough for one car to pass through. It was an exercise in chivalry and courtesy, almost, whenever you saw another car through the other side.
You just waited for it to go through, or vice versa. Then one day, they put a traffic light up on either side of it, and my mom hated it because whenever someone had let her go through the little breezeway, she considered it a mini-celebration of human decency.
I know, it's a stretch, but I empathize. I get like that if someone gives up their subway seat. But the point is, the traffic light made the grey issue a black and white one. No one technically has the right of way in that type of situation, but it relied on an unwritten code.
A moral rubric will never be published, nor should it, as doing so will effectively transform "ethics" into "laws." However, as it is, as nebulous as ethics may be, they still pull rank on whatever else is at stake, whether it's a job, a game, or money.
Maybe time has eroded the honor of the game. Maybe it will never be played with the class it once had. Or maybe athletes back then knew the spirit of the game was a function of the players themselves.
Ted Williams knew. He played a double-header against the Philadelphia A's in 1941, when he could have locked up his .400 by simply passing on the at-bats. But instead he went 6 for 8 and ended the year on .406.
He stood to gain nothing. But he knew how to play the game. He knew it wasn't about what you can get away with, and what's admissible by the official rulebook. Because when it came down to it, he was willing to risk losing a record before he'd risk losing his integrity.
And that's the way the game should played.


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What we now call Black History Month originated in 1926, founded by Carter G Woodson as Negro History Week. The month of February was selected in deference to Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln who were both born in that month.
The son of a slave, Carter G Woodson was born in New Canton, Virginia on December 19, 1875. He began high school at the age of 20 and then proceeded to study at Berea College, the University of Chicago, the Sorbonne, and Harvard University, where he earned a Ph.D.
in 1912.
Carter G Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915 to train Black historians and to collect, preserve, and publish documents on Black life and Black people. He also founded the Journal of Negro History (1916), Associated Publishers (1922), and the Negro Bulletin (1937). Woodson spent his life working to educate all people about the vast contributions made by Black men and women throughout history. Mr. Woodson died on April 3, 1950 and Black History Month is his legacy.


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Jagga Jasoos is an ambitious movie that I'd love to rate more highly. There were portions of the film that I liked very much, and I appreciate the world director Anurag Basu built and the way he told his story. Yet Jagga Jasoos is bloated with material and far too long.
Jagga Jasoos opens with a framing device featuring Katrina Kaif's character Shruti as a children's entertainer and author of a comic book series about her friend Jagga, a teenage detective. A troop of kids under her direction reenact scenes from the comics, before the action transitions to the world of the books, starting with Jagga's childhood and his adoption by a man he calls TutiFuti (Saswata Chatterjee, best known to Bollywood fans for playing the unassuming assassin Bob Biswas in Kahaani).
TutiFuti coaches young Jagga to sing as a way to overcome the boy's stutter, a device that enables Jagga Jasoos to be a traditional musical, with much of the plot and dialogue sung rather than spoken. The movie is punctuated by standalone tunes to accompany dance numbers and montages, with the best of those songs being the forlorn "Phir Wahi."
TutiFuti is called away on a secret mission by a man known as Blackmail Sinha (Shaurab Shukla), leaving Jagga to grow up alone in a boarding school. By the time he reaches his teenage years, Jagga (now played by Ranbir Kapoor) has developed a knack for solving mysteries.
He stumbles onto an arms-smuggling caper with international implications, involving a journalist — Shruti — and possibly even TutiFuti. Shruti and Jagga travel to Africa to find TutiFuti and uncover the secret mission he's been on for so many years.
The whimsy factor is high in Jagga Jasoos, not only because of all the singing but because of a visual style reminiscent of director Wes Anderson (whom Jagga Jasoos cinematographer Ravi Varman praises in the Scroll.in interview linked to below). Basu incorporates a number of comparatively low-tech special effects — such as deliberately using obvious stock footage of African animals or showing a plane flying over a map instead of actual land — for a fresh take on retro movie-making. The modern CGI effects that aim for realism and fall short draw more attention to themselves than effects that are intentionally outmoded.
Jagga Jasoos is at its best when Jagga and Shruti are together in his hometown along the border with Myanmar. The town and school have their own charms that help to create an immersive environment. When the duo leave town, they leave that quaintness behind for a plot that is grander in scale but less engrossing.
Removing geographical boundaries frees Basu to inject untold (and unnecessary) amounts of quirkiness into the film, particularly regarding the unseen criminal mastermind Bashir Alexander. By the time Jagga and Shruti board Bashir Alexander's personal circus train, I had reached my limit.
Disney India would've been better off splitting its swan song into two films, a la Baahubali, rather than making one film to serve as both a setup for a hopeful sequel and a catch-all in case box office numbers deem a sequel unwarranted. Forcing Basu to cram as many ideas as possible into one film not only inflates the runtime beyond a reasonable limit, but it cuts short plot development in favor of visual spectacle. I'm still not sure what Blackmail Sinha's goal was or who he was working for, and the framing device isn't well explained either. Shruti's students sing a song about not caring about the world's troubles because they are protected by a "sign on the door," but it's unclear to what they refer.
For all its ambition and innovative ideas, Jagga Jasoos isn't the movie — or movies — it could have been.


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Backup Code, database before doing this.
It is depend on how you installed, we will tell you how to uninstall it. There are 2 main method to install a Magento extension: 1. Composer; 2. Copy-and-paste
1. Uninstall via composer¶
Go to Magento root folder and run uninstall command
composer remove mageplaza/module-name
php bin/magento setup:upgrade
php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy
2. Uninstall (Copy-and-paste method)¶
- Delete the following files, folders::
- Run the following command line::
php bin/magento setup:upgrade
Delete database tables: (Optional)
Open a Mysql mangement such as PHPMyAdmin
Open your database > Find database with prefix:
Just delete all the database tables related to
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at https://www.mageplaza.com/contact.html


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35.43" x 51.18" x 1"Medium: OilMaterial: CanvasStyle: SurrealismFramed: NoSubject: PeopleRoom: BedroomProduced in Year: 2021
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1: Our Old Shelter
The old shelter was situated in an apartment block owned by our founder Du Yufeng.
Dogs (and cats) were housed on different levels of the high-rise building. This building was in a residential area and complaints by neighbours about the noise were regular.
In 2013, we received over $11,000 in donations. Our founder, Du Yufeng, wanted to thank you for your kindness. The donations were used to help build a new, bigger shelter for the animals of Bo Ai Animal Protection Centre. This video shows Du going to the bank to confirm receipt of the donations and then thanking you from inside the high rise apartment block.
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