text:
cjm 100: Criminal justice since 2010
Jamie Bennett, Joe Sim, Peter Squires, Robert Reiner and Barry Loveday offer their own recollections of a stand out subject from the past 26 years
Jamie Bennett - Rex Bloomstein's films of reflection and empathy
Through his documentaries, Rex Bloomstein has charted the experience of imprisonment over the last 40 years. His films are carefully constructed, often drawing upon observational material harvested over long periods of time, and featuring extended interviews, sometimes revisiting people over many years. His early films, such as The Sentence (1976) and Parole (1979), focused on the criminal justice process, showing the viewer how critical decisions were made and exposing them to interviews with people subject to those decisions. This approach puts the viewer in the uncomfortable position of becoming a participant-observer, experiencing the complexity and enormity of the everyday judicial decisions. His films Release (1976) and Prisoners' Wives (1977) cast light upon the experiences of those leaving prison and those left behind when someone is sent to prison.
His most well known series, the eight-part Strangeways (1980), was an intimate study of HMP Manchester that remains one of the most important films to be made about a prison. Its detailed, almost ethnographic, attention to this prison revealed the dynamics of everyday life. The film received two BAFTA awards and was cited by a future Director General of the Prison Service, Martin Narey, as an influence on his decision to work in prisons. In 1983, he made Lifer, focussing on the life sentence process and the diverse people serving that sentence. The interviews filmed for this were also developed into a seven part series, Lifers (1984).
In 2000, Bloomstein made Strangeways Revisited, in which he returned to the prison he had documented 20 years before. This film looked at how the prison and its population had changed in the intervening years, a period which included the devastating 25-day riot in April 1990. He also interviewed several of those who he met in his original films, documenting their subsequent lives. This approach was repeated in Lifer: Living With Murder (2003) a follow-up to Lifer and Lifers, in which he met with several people featured in those films. Their lives had panned out in varied ways and some had rebuilt their lives, whilst others had remained entangled in the criminal justice or mental health systems.
His most recent contributions have looked at two ends of the age spectrum. Kids Behind Bars (2005) featured children in custody including local authority secure homes and young offender prisons. This was followed by his Sony award-winning radio documentary Dying inside (2012) which looked at the experience of older prisoners, the fastest growing group in prison, many of whom faced ending their lives in custody.
Bloomstein's contribution has been to maintain a space in popular culture for more measured reflection and empathy, The polemics and stereotypes, that so often characterise public discourse about crime and punishment, fall away as the viewer is exposed to a fuller expression of human experiences. Watching his films can be an uncomfortable and unsettling experience as they undermine those simplicities.
Joe Sim - Strangeways: twenty-five years on
Lasting 25 days, the demonstration at Strangeways prison in Manchester, in April 1990, remains the longest, and most seismic disturbance in British prison history. The demonstration came on the back of a series of interlocking crises that had gripped the prison system throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In February 1991, Lord Justice Woolf, at that point a Lord Justice of Appeal, published his analysis of the disturbance to wide acclaim, at least within liberal prison reform and media circles. The report was less welcomed by John Major's Conservative government, who on the day of publication had begun the process of undermining Woolf's liberal proposals. It was also less welcomed, although for very different reasons, by those who had adopted a more critical position regarding the place of the prison in brutalising prisoners, and the institution's wider role in reproducing an inequitable social order.
Events since 1990 have demonstrated, and continue to demonstrate, the limitations of Woolf's liberal analysis in the context of a beleaguered prison system, whose everyday existence in the second decade of the twenty-first century continues to be beset by systemic crises and whose very legitimacy remains seriously contested. The prison (and the increasing number of brutalising, public and private, satellite institutions that have emerged since 1990), remains a place for the delivery of punishment and pain for the dispossessed and powerless. Self-inflicted deaths, and incidents of self-harm, issues consistently highlighted by INQUEST, provide chilling examples of how penal power impacts on the confined on the ground. For them, penal institutions are not simply places of fear, loathing and brutality but are experienced as places of psychic terror. These institutions are their nemesis. They place all prisoners 'at risk', not just the vulnerable few on whom so much of the policy debate has focussed.
Successive Home Secretaries, Ministers of Justice, fly-by- night Ministers of State (three since 2010 alone) and prison reform organisations, remain fixated on a penal policy built around a series of regressive, binary divides: private prisons vs. state prisons, overcrowding vs. alternatives to custody, increasing expenditure vs. cutbacks. In reality, these classifications fail lamentably to address the fundamental issues confronting the prison system which, as Michel Foucault pointed out four decades ago, have been central to the prison crisis since the institution's birth at the end of the eighteenth century. The stultifying reformist agenda, as exemplified in the Woolf Report, has been the dominant discourse since that time with baleful outcomes.
Foucault's point suggests that the prison crisis is also a crisis of liberalism in that this discourse offers very little beyond the endless, debilitating cycle of crisis-reform- crisis. Ultimately, this lugubrious, entrenched mind-set does little to rehabilitate those few lawbreakers who are actually caught and processed by the criminal justice system. Additionally, it does little to protect the wider public (especially women) from conventional crime or from the desperate social harms and corrosive transgressions committed by the powerful. In these soul-crunching times, there is a need to shift away from the philistine policies currently being pursued and to confront what Henry Giroux calls the 'disimagination machine', which is central to the state's construction of a common sense law and order mentality, Instead, a radical, redemptive and ultimately abolitionist position on prisons, and criminal justice more generally, needs to be developed. Idealistic and Utopian though this might seem, at least to those who support reducing the politics of prisons to banal sound bites or to those who are profiting from the privatisation agenda, anything less at this moment will only reinforce the current crisis inside. Perhaps, it might also generate another Strangeways with catastrophic consequences for prisoners and staff.
Peter Squires - From Dublane to Duggan: the rise and fall of British gun crime
March 2016 will mark the twentieth anniversary of the shooting massacre at Dunblane Primary School, when 16 five-year old children and their teacher were killed, by a lone gunman carrying four (licensed) handguns. The two decades since frame an important chapter in the evolving story of gun crime in Britain. Superficially, it may appear a simple story of rise and fall, problem and response, but looked at more closely it is rather less simple, and it may not yet be concluded.
The story begins before 1996: gun enabled crime had been steadily rising since the 1960s, although Michael Ryan's August 1987 shooting spree through the town of Hungerford, (31 people were shot, 16 fatally) marked a key turning point. The media focused on his legal possession of a Chinese model AK47 semi-automatic assault rifle, and government went on to prohibit semi-auto rifles and shotguns (though not handguns, with which Ryan also killed). A Firearms Consultative Committee, dominated by shooting interests, was established to advise the Home Office - but 'safer shooting' rather than 'gun control' was envisaged. Hungerford also gave the green light to the generalised adoption of 'armed response units' by police forces.
After Dunblane, Lord Cullen's carefully crafted inquiry proposals were overwhelmed by public outrage and, between them, the outgoing Conservative government and incoming New Labour, prohibited all handguns. Banning lower calibre handguns became part of Blair's capture of the 'law and order' issue; elite sports shooting interests breathed a sigh of relief, having avoided tougher controls. The gun problem now settled on the urban hand-gunner - legal and illegal - rather than 'field sports', which survived yet another Select Committee scrutiny (the 3rd) following Derrick Bird's killing spree in Cumbria in 2010.
In fact, the urban gun crime problem was changing shape; urban gang cultures generated a demand for cheap handguns and new sources of supply became available including: converted weapons, air weapons, reactivated weapons, imitation weapons, antiques and BB guns. These supplies of 'junk guns' to inner city gangs - a form of weapon displacement - helped inflate recorded gun crime figures (an 105% increase 1998 - 2003/2004 to a peak of around 11,000 offences (excluding air weapons) or 0.3% of recorded crime) even after the handgun ban had made fa tory quality weapons relatively harder to come by. New legislation, effective intelligence and proactive policing were still playing catch up.
A drive-by gang shooting in Birmingham in which two young women were killed, led to tougher mandatory sentences and a series of high profile policy summits focussing upon gang-related gun crime. In London, the MPS Operation Trident began to target 'black on black' gun crime. But after 2004-2005 recorded gun crime began to fall. In part this was due to sections 37-9 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 which reclassified misuse of air and imitation weapons in a public place as 'ASB offences' rather than 'gun crimes'. Subsequently new restrictions on air weapons, realistic imitations and progressive controls on 'readily convertible' firearms (Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006) have closed further loopholes.
Vitally important in containing demand for illegal firearms have been anti-gang, intelligence-led, policing initiatives in a number of major conurbations, aided by the introduction, from 2008, of the National Ballistics Intelligence Service (NABIS) which maintains a live database on criminally active firearms (drawn from trace evidence, cartridge cases, crime scenes and intelligence reports). NABIS is a major resource for tracing illegal firearm use and supply both into and across the country. With recorded gun crime in England and Wales falling almost 50% throughout the past decade (3,000 firearm offences - excluding air weapons - in 2012-2013), NABIS spokesmen are reporting less than 1,300 criminally active firearms. In the wake of the Paris shootings it was reassuring to see so few AK47s, favourite of terrorists, amongst these. So far.
One might hope that falling gun crime - anti-terror preparations notwithstanding - would ease the pressure for more police armed deployments, except that police arming reflects other pressures (witness the single-crewing, police morale issues wrapped up in the recent Police Federation demand for Tasers). Police deploy firearms often but shoot very seldom, although when they do, as the recent cases of Jean Charles de Menezes, Azelle Rodney and Mark Duggan in their own ways reveal, they trigger a major crises for law and order, and for trust and confidence for the police.
Robert Reiner - Do the powerful still need the police?
The Conservative-led coalition government's policing policies embody a profound rupture in the politics of policing. The Conservatives have been tougher on the police in the name of 'austerity' than any 'old' Labour government would ever have dared to be.
The government claims its cuts do not threaten public safety because they are accompanied by fundamental reforms incentivising the police to produce more from less. But the coalition package amounts to a dramatic weakening of police power, autonomy, pay, and conditions of service. Why has this has happened at the hands of the Tory Party, formerly the avid paramour of the police, and why now?
The programme, self-billed as 'the most radical change to policing in 50 years', is not proposed because of a law and order crisis. Crime has been falling for two decades, and there isn't even a hint in the government's statements of any special emergency. In one sense so revolutionary a package is happening under the Tories because it could only happen under the Tories. If a Labour government had attempted anything as radical it would have been attacked as soft on crime but tough on the police, charges that would have been hugely electorally damaging. But this still leaves a big question. What has happened to the cultural capital of the police? Why do the cries of police spokespersons that cutting cops is Christmas for crooks no longer carry the clout they used to?
Most official and media commentary suggest the political power of the police has been weakened by police own goals, from Orgreave and Hillsborough in the 1980s, to Plebgate. However, such malpractices were prevalent when the police occupied a pedestal in public opinion. So the question remains, why have the police plunged in political clout sufficiently to allow the deep transformation in their resources and powers?
At one level the cut backs on police are congruent with the larger neo-libertarian Tory agenda of trimming state expenditure. In the Thatcher era the police were treated as a special case, pivotal in bringing to heel trade unionism, especially during the 1984-1985 Miners' Strike, and combating the urban disorders resulting from the unemployment and deprivation generated by monetarist economic policies. However, in the 1990s politically edged public disorder receded. In addition, for reasons that remain debated, recorded crime began a sustained fall (throughout the Western world). The part played by policing in the crime drop is questionable, but it has taken pressure off the remorseless demand for more police.
The fundamental source of the transformation of the policing landscape, however, lies in deeper change in the political economy and culture of British society: the embedding of the hegemony of neo-liberal free market economics and a culture of narcissistic individualism. The key link between neo-liberal political economy and policing is the return of massively greater inequality. The rise of the publicly provided police in the early nineteenth century was part of a modernist project of constructing a broadly universal order, and a common status of citizenship in which all shared, albeit unequally. It is significant that the creation of the modern police was opposed not only by the citizenship, but also by the aristocracy and gentry who saw state policing as an unnecessary expense, as they were protected by physical segregation and private retainers. Analysts of the growth of private security have long seen this as a return to pre-modern policing forms, a 'new feudalism' in which the privileged float free, cocooned from the masses in security bubbles.
The bottom line politically permitting the Conservative police reforms is that the powerful are simply less dependent on public police protection, benefiting from bespoke services. Conservative theorists have long argued that only a 'night watchman' state can be justified as a call on taxation. But this overlooks the degree of redistribution represented by publicly financed policing. In the present conjuncture the police are being rolled back with the rest of the state, and privatisation - with no mandate for the public good - flourishes.
Barry Loveday - Labour's election proposals for the police service: taking the wrong road
Last week [at the time of writing before the election] the Shadow Home Secretary and Policing Minister, Yvette Cooper, unveiled Labour's plans for criminal justice and policing. While a number of these are to be welcomed, it is evident that for the police service the plans outlined by Labour represent a major step backwards. If implemented they would return England and Wales to a failed system of limited accountability of police that pertained prior to arrival of Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs). It would effectively re-establish a professional monopoly of local' police governance by chief officers. Not that planned police forces would be that local, of course. This reform would also see the creation of large regional police forces led by a much reduced number of chief officers.
This proposal has been a long term goal of ACPO (and HMIC) and would end local policing as we know it. It would also establish distant police bureaucracies subject to only limited accountability by indirectly elected councillors. This, of course, it based on earlier proposals laid out in the 'independent' Stevens Report on Policing which placed a professional policing model at the centre of any desired reform. In reality, the Shadow Opposition appears to have surrendered entirely to the police lobby which, as expected, has lined up against both the current police force structure and, of course, the new PCCs.
PCCs, not surprisingly, are clear targets for senior officers as they have very effectively rebalanced responsibility and control of the police away from the professionals and towards the public. Just how necessary this reform might be judged to be is now being played out on a daily basis with the current inquiry into the Hillsborough disaster (and subsequent police cover-up). However what is most striking about the performance of PCCs to date, is how effective Labour PCCs have proved to be.
This has been most recently highlighted in a recent Fabian publication, edited by Vera Baird, PCC for Northumbria. In Letting in the Light: Lessons from Labour's Police and Crime Commissioners, the Labour PCCs outline what they have been able to achieve since taking office. As several were former members of police authorities, they have also flagged up just how much more effective the PCC role has proven to be, and the contrast this provides to what went before.
It is also of interest to note that the evident discomfort of some Chief Officers has reflected the decision of PCCs to use their powers within the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011, and not to back down when confronting intransigent senior police managers. As in Avon and Somerset, Gwent and most recently Northumbria, the old power position of the Chief Constable has been successfully challenged and arguably, not before time. It is too early to rush to judgement, but the PCC experiment has served to highlight the need, long overdue, to subject police forces to more effective scrutiny and oversight.
There is of course room for further change. As the House of Lords Committee on Standards in Public Life is likely to recommend, there is a palpable need to make PCCs more accountable to local communities between PCC elections. This could be achieved by giving local Police and Crime Panels (PCPs) more scrutiny powers over both the PCC and Chief Constable, Currently the PCPs are the weakest link in the chain and their future role would benefit from enhancing their status and powers. This would offer a much more attractive (and far less expensive) option to those on offer from Labour. Sadly this party appears to be committed, not to the future, but rather to returning to the very questionable police-dominated structures that so evidently failed us all in the past.
Jamie Bennett
Joe Sim
Peter Squires
Robert Reiner


The start of spring is good timing for a winter weather comparison.
The catch is I'm going by Naples, Fla's definition of winter.
this graph should end that discussion ( ).
Residents of the south peninsula don't need any reminder of the brutal descent of arctic air that plunges daytime highs below 70° F and nighttime lows below 40° F.
Naples had 8 days of winter and 3 such nights. Compare that to Orlando which had 24 winter days and 6 winter nights or tundra-bound Tallahassee that recorded 59 days of winter (That adds up to two months!) and 49 nights.
The picture grows bleaker by the state as you move north.
Then there is Fargo, North Dakota. All I can do is shake my head in fright .
At least the Olive Garden there is warm!
Now why didn't I think to curl my frozen fingers around a couple of warm bread sticks in each pocket on those 3 cold nights this season? Or perhaps I should have tucked them in with my poor potted impatiens that managed to kick the bucket and it didn't even get to 32. The pansies! But actually, real pansies would have scoffed at the cold.
It's incredible that Miami didn't have a single night drop into the 30s. It was a warm winter by any measure, but that sums it up.


With 332 million users from over 200 countries and 2 new members joining every minute, LinkedIn is not yet the giant that common social media Facebook and Twitter are, but it's getting there.
More than 4 million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages.
Over 39 million students and recent grads are on LinkedIn and this is their fastest-growing demographic.
100 percent of Fortune 500 companies from 2013 were on LinkedIn.
92 percent of Fortune 100 companies use LinkedIn's corporate talent solutions for recruiting.
CEO's have an average of 930 LinkedIn connections.
100% of the top 50 law firms in the US have a LinkedIn page.
57% of US Charities and Non-profits use LinkedIn.
Read job descriptions and identify keywords for the jobs you're applying for. Use these keywords in your headline. This is like SEO for LinkedIn. Up your chances of getting noticed by the right recruiters by speaking their language. Check out this link for a lesson in dissecting a job description to identify keywords.
This may be difficult for some people who have many skills or who've had established careers in a number of different areas, but specificity is the name of the recruiting game. What job are you looking for at this moment? What career do you want now? Focus on that. If you're not specific about what you do, how can you expect recruiters to find you? No matter how interesting your profile may be, recruiters are going to contact people who speak to their needs and who leave no doubt as to what they're about. The sooner you can get this message across (i.e. in your headline), the more likely you will be reached out.
LinkedIn's default headline is your current job title and company. But job titles can be incredibly vague and don't say nearly enough about what you do. Office manager? Sales Representative? What does that really tell the recruiter? How about "RN (registered nurse) with 15 years experience caring for end stage cancer patients"? That tells a story and it's specific. Recruiters looking for an RN with experience caring for cancer patients would likely contact a person with this headline.
Early Childhood educator with 8 years of experience taking your children off your hands and molding them into angels. You're welcome.
The Mercedes Whisperer, 20 years of specialized Mercedes auto mechanics.
The above tips are a formula with many variables and the most successful headline could include any number of combinations. Do some A/B testing by changing your headline every couple of months. Keep track of the responses you got with each headline and see which one seemed to work best. This not only gets you in the practice of writing effective LinkedIn headlines for yourself but keeps your profile fresh and interesting for the ones checking it out.
Cari Bennette, professional writer and content manager for custom writing service JetWriters.com. She has 4 years of experience in writing, editing and proofreading in different areas.


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Q: jQuery mouse events on disabled form field Which jQuery mouse events are actually fired on a disabled form field like a disabled checkbox ?

A: All of jQuery mouse events not working with disabled input.
But you can make overlay element located above input and bind events to him jsfiddle

A: Probably none of them. That's meaning of "Disabled"
<input disabled="disabled" />
<script>

$("input").click(function(){
     alert("Clicked");
});
</script>

alert is not thrown

A: To follow up on ant_Ti, while this is true that no events work. You can wrap it in a container: http://jsfiddle.net/zcHc4/4/

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is creating a new fruit orchard using 60 local variety apple, pear and plum trees at the Trust's Vell Mill nature reserve near Newent.
Over the last 30 years traditional orchards have declined by 67% in the county , and the Trust is calling upon the help of the local community and it's supporters to take part.
The idea is to make this a living legacy so that when I am no longer here my son will have something to remember me by.
60 different fruit tree varieties will be planted, including the traditional Gloucestershire varieties, Jackets and Waistcoats, Lemon Pippin and Jacob Plum.
Many of the trees are being dedicated to individual people, 12 will be planted in recognition of Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust's past Chairmen, and a number will be planted for the local community.
All the trees will be given special treatment by being blessed using the old custom of balancing cider-soaked toast on the branches, and adding a trickle of local cider to water the roots.


At Yestermorrow you will find a friendly, hard-working, engaging, and creative learning community. Outside the classroom, mealtimes and off-hours provide an opportunity to interact with students in your class and from other classes, as well as with instructors and staff. The discussions and professional networking that occur outside of the classroom are an added bonus and often reported to be as beneficial as the classes themselves.
The Yestermorrow campus offers educational opportunities as well, with demonstration projects, mechanical systems, and examples of student work providing insight into everything from joinery techniques to solar hot water systems, and from daylighting options to strawbale building methodology. You'll also find a school that is living the design/build philosophy, with a growing and evolving campus.
While Yestermorrow classes are intensive and don't leave students a lot of free time, the campus offers options for activity and entertainment. The school library is open 24 hours a day with a large selection of books, periodicals, and videos. In summertime, the surrounding woods offer quiet getaway spots, and in the evening students often gather around the fire pit or in the kitchen for an impromptu jam session. The lawn outside the main building is frequently host to games of soccer or Frisbee. The campus hosts trails to explore year-round. Along the nearby Mad River there are many swimming holes to enjoy, stunning vistas, and great recreational opportunities abound.


Great grain, solid dark walnut wood. Green turned oval shaped bowl with level rim.
15'' long X 14 1/4" wide x 4 1/2'' tall. Rim is 5/8'' thick. This is the bowl you will receive. Multiple coats of an FDA approved hardening oil makes a very durable and low maintenance finish. Touch up instructions provided with purchase. Great price on an exceptional bowl.


The drivers for Wi-Fi devices for Acer Aspire 1400 series laptop for Windows all systems were not found. Download DriverPack to select the driver automatically.
Download drivers for Wi-Fi devices for Acer Aspire 1400 series laptops for free.


Press Release: Here at the beginning of the 21st century, I get the feeling that advances in scientific and information technology, such as the internet, have made the world more knowable than it has ever been in the past. And yet even in our immediate surroundings there remain countless enigmas – mysteries that remain inexplicable by science or reason. At the same time, many of the things we have long taken for granted, such as the concepts of time and space, are being transformed by those same technological developments.
In this, the fourth edition of the Yokohama Triennale, which will be titled "OUR MAGIC HOUR – How Much of the World Can We Know?" I intend to focus on works of art that refer to the mysteries of the world and our everyday lives – such things as magic-like powers, supernatural phenomena, mythology, legend and animism.
I did not choose to focus on these issues out of a desire to question the limits of science, elevate mysticism, or pursue art as a form of entertainment. I pose these questions so that we can turn our eyes to those areas that cannot be figured out by science or reason – areas that have been marginalized; values that we once respected but have forgotten; relationships between nature and humankind that need to be reconsidered, and so on. By investigating these questions, we can get an idea of more flexible, open relationships with the world and alternative views on history and events.
historical objects such as Coptic tapestry fragments, the exhibition will include a wide range of artworks in terms of both age and material.
One of the distinctive features of this triennale will be that there will be unexpected "encounters" at various corners of the exhibition space. The Triennale will not only include works that involve the participation of viewers, but it will present works with such diverse themes, ages, generations, cultural backgrounds and genres that unlikely dialogues and relations will spring up between them, allowing viewers new interpretations and creative inspiration. A voyage of art appreciation that is entirely unrestricted by existing categories and preconceived ideas will be possible. In addition, because the Yokohama Museum of Art is now one of the main venues, some of the artists work in collaboration with works in the museum's collection. Thus the museum itself will be presented in an entirely new light.
"By learning to accept mysteries and contradictions, by learning to change our perspectives, we might find that suddenly, like magic, the world is open and accessible to us." With this message in mind, Yokohama Triennale 2011 approaches the present age of uncertainty and confusion as an attempt to rethink human existence and our surroundings with the pure curiosity, flexibility and imagination of a child, and without the limiting influence of existing structures and ideas.


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Three Senators Suspended
By Tracey Petersen	 Published Mar 28, 2014 12:14 pm Updated Mar 29, 2014 10:34 am
California State Capitol
Sacramento, CA — The California Senate has voted to suspend three Democrats who face criminal charges. Those suspended are Senator Leland Yee of San Francisco who was indicted on federal charges this week that included accepting bribes and coordinating an international gunrunning operation. Senator Ron Calderon also faces federal corruption charges in regards to accepting bribes in order to steer legislation for his benefactors. Senator Rod Wright was convicted of voter fraud and perjury.
Today's vote was 28-to-1 in favor of SR38 a resolution that prevents those Senators from exercising any power of their office until the pending criminal cases against them have been resolved. All three will retain their pay while suspended. That does not sit well with the lone no vote cast by Republican Sen. Joel Anderson of Alpine. He argued that all three should be expelled outright, stating it is wrong for them to get their salaries with such serious charges and crimes hanging over their heads.
State law only allows no pay if a lawmaker is expelled or resigns. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg wants to change that. He is calling for a constitutional amendment that will let lawmakers deny pay to suspended lawmakers. Steinberg adds Yee has refused to resign or take a leave, as he requested.
Written by Tracey Petersen.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The club had a good turn-out of workers come out to to the Trials Park Saturday, April 14th. Several sections were cleared, as well as the loop. A new section was also cut in. Perfect weather and a lot of work done.


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Liverpool Eye Shock Move for Serge Aurier as Long-Term Replacement for Glen Johnson
By Naveen Ullal
June 4, 2014 07:10 BST
Liverpool are considering a shock move in signing Arsenal defender target Serge Aurier this summer, according to the Metro.
The Toulouse right-back has been in fine form in the Ligue 1, which has seen him being linked with a move to the Emirates. Bacary Sagna has confirmed that he will leave the Gunners and the Ivory Coast international is reportedly set to replace the French international at North London.
The report claims the Reds have now made contact and have opened talks with Toulouse in the race to beat Arsenal in signing Aurier. The North London side were set to make a £7m bid in acquiring the services of the 21-year-old.
However, Liverpool are looking to hijack the deal so that they can get Aurier as a long-term replacement for Glen Johnson at Anfield. The England international will turn 20 in August and his contract with the Reds will run down after the end of the next season.
Aurier has already confirmed that he will join Arsenal this summer. However, the Ivory Coast defender's agent has admitted there has been no contact from Arsene Wenger's side for his client's signature.
"There is no agreement with Arsenal. We've talked in past but there has been nothing recently. We're in talks with another English side," Aurier's agent Stephane Courbis.
Brendan Rodgers is hoping that Aurier would snub the chance to join Arsenal and that he would be able to tempt him to sign for Liverpool this summer. Should the Reds secure a deal for the right-back, it will be a major blow for Wenger and Arsenal as they are in the market for Sagna's replacement.
Meanwhile, Southampton star and Manchester United summer target Luke Shaw has praised Rickie Lambert after the striker completed his switch from St Mary's Stadium to Liverpool on Monday.
"So happy for Lambo, he deserves everything he gets. Been a massive part of Southampton's recent success, his dream really is coming true and I wish him all the best and success in his new journey. Thanks for everything," Shaw explained.
Rickie Lambert Arrival Will Not Force Fabio Borini Out of Liverpool, Insists Agent
Barcelona Midfielder Cesc Fabregas Would Suit Liverpool – Robbie Fowler
Lawrenson: Lambert Signing Shows Rodgers Has Taken Charge of Liverpool\'s Transfers
Related topics : Liverpool FC Brendan Rodgers Arsenal FC


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trending Market Intelligence /marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/4xnjfbung8-a3st8xck2yg2 content esgSubNav
Report: Indian government considers sale of entire IDBI Bank stake
Banking Essentials Newsletter: January 11th Edition
Banking Essentials Newsletter December 21st Edition
The Road to Basel IV: Navigating the challenge facing European banks
Basel Framework- Utilizing data to analyze the capital position of European banks.
Author Regina Liezl Gambe
Theme BankingInsurance
The Indian government is considering selling its 85.96% stake in IDBI Bank Ltd. as part of efforts to privatize the lender, Mint reported June 11, citing a person familiar with the development.
A potential sale of the government's entire stake in IDBI Bank to institutions such as state-run Life Insurance Corp. of India was one option being discussed in talks between senior bankers and the government, the source said, adding that talks are in an advanced stage.
Earlier in June, Mint reported that the government was considering selling a 51% stake in IDBI Bank to a strategic partner or private equity investors to reduce its stake to less than 50%. This was followed by a report from The Economic Times that the government was also mulling paring its stake through a preferential share issue in order to allow multiple investors to participate in the planned stake sale.
The Indian government has been trying to privatize IDBI Bank for the past two years following rising losses and bad debt. If IDBI Bank is privatized, the government would be relieved of the responsibility of recapitalizing the lender.
IDBI Bank posted a net loss after minority interest of 81.32 billion Indian rupees for the fiscal year ended March 31, compared to net loss of 50.16 billion rupees for the prior fiscal year. Its gross nonperforming assets ratio clocked in at 27.95% as of March 31, up from 24.72% at Dec. 31, 2017, and 21.25% at March 31, 2017.
The government is also considering merging IDBI Bank with other state-owned banks to enable weak lenders to divest assets, reduce overheads and shut down unprofitable branches.
As of June 12, US$1 was equivalent to 67.48 Indian rupees.
Regina Liezl Gambe
BankingInsurance


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Convergent Evolution - Co-evolution between genes and their environment
Convergent evolution describes the independent acquisition (or loss) of a trait in different evolutionary lineages, often in response to the same adaptive pressure. Convergent evolution has been documented at the level of morphology and physiology in many examples including hind limb reduction in swimming mammals and oxygen affinity in species at altitude. The powerful consequence of convergent evolution is that multiple independent realizations of the phenotype provide statistical leverage to identify shared genetic elements underlying that phenotype, even amid the substantial noise in whole-genome scans.
Our work in convergent evolution addresses two driving needs:
1) To identify adaptive changes that evolve in response to environmental challenges, and
2) to assign high-level biological functions to genomic elements.
To achieve these goals we have created the RERconverge R package [https://github.com/nclark-lab/RERconverge] to computationally scan for genes and regulatory sequences underlying convergent phenotypes. To date we've applied this and other genomic/proteomic approaches to the evolution of aquatic adaptation, subterranean mammals, and long lifespan. We are also developing studies of high-altitude adaptation, hair follicle development, and other convergent phenotypes.
Aquatic Adaptation and Diving
Mammalian lineages have undergone the transition to an aquatic lifestyle many times. We apply computational and experimental approaches to understand which adaptations accompany this transition. Adaptations include changes to the lungs, skin, and mechanisms to combat oxidative stress, among others. Many of these adaptations are related to the ability to make repeated and prolonged dives and to abrogate the damage done by diving cycles.
Subterranean Mammals and Regressive Evolution of the Eye
The lab also studies the evolutionary changes accompanying transition to a subterranean environment. Many of these are regressive changes related to degeneration of the eye. Because genetic regions involved in eye development and function are degrading in these blind species, their contrast with sighted species is a powerful method to identify new genes and regulatory regions important for ocular function. We are experimentally characterizing these new regions in animal models and sequencing them in patients with congenital eye disease for use as new diagnostic regions.
Evolutionary Rate Covariation (ERC) – Co-evolution between genes
We have advanced a computational method to study sequence-based signatures of co-evolution between genes, termed Evolutionary Rate Covariation (ERC). Generally, genes participating in the same biological function have higher ERC correlations than genes in disparate functions. As such, ERC has been used to identify new genes participating in specific pathways of interest for labs around the world. We also offer ERC results through a public web server (http://csb.pitt.edu/erc_analysis).


text:
Backpacking 10
Gay and Lesbian 10
Party Holiday - Singles Life 10
Stag Destination 10
Bangkok: Flights
The City of Angels
Cheap Flights to Bangkok
Finding discount airline flights to Bangkok is no easy task. To make this task simpler, we carry out a daily airfare search to provide you with the latest flight deals and special airfare offers for Bangkok. Whether you are traveling for a weekend business trip, a short city break or a long relaxing holiday, you will find the cheapest Bangkok flights. While we opt for the cheapest airfares, we also select sponsors and airlines that offer the most direct flight routes, ensuring your comfort at all times.
How to Find Flight Deals to Bangkok
Local Travel Info in Bangkok
To and From –
Suvarnabhumi Airport
The airport is located about 25 km east of downtown Bangkok. Suvarnabhumi is one of the busiest airports in Asia and Bangkok's primary airport for all international airline flights. The airport inherited the airport code BKK from Don Mueang after the older airport ceased commercial flights. A modern motorway connects the airport to Bangkok, and there are also plans to open a rail link to the city centre. There are several bus services running from the airport to the city and a taxi stand in the departures area.
Don Mueang International Airport is Bangkok's second airport. It was closed in 2006 following the opening of Bangkok's new Suvarnabhumi Airport. After some problems at Suvarnabhumi, flights resumed at Don Mueang on March 24, 2007. Currently the airport caters for non-connecting domestic flights. Three airlines are now using the airport, which includes Thai Airways, Nok Air, and One-Two-GO Airlines. Don Mueang Airport is now in operation along with Suvarnabhumi Airport. You can find numerous bus services running to the city and several taxis are easy to locate.
Taxis from the airports - The average fare for a taxi ride from Suvarnabhumi airport to central Bangkok is 250-450baht. From Don Mueang International airport to central Bangkok expect to pay 200-300. There is a 50baht surcharge from the departures exit so if you are on a budget head to the taxi's coming in at the arrivals entrance. The journey will take 30-45 min. depending on traffic.
Additionally, flat-fare limousines are available at the Arrivals Level (2nd floor). Limousine services are provided by AOT. The Thai Royal First service is discontinued.
Buses from the airports- The airports operate numerous airport express bus routes to downtown Bangkok. The buses are air-conditioned with ample luggage space. The fare from Suvarnabhumi airport is 150 baht for the entire route. From Don Mueang airport it is 100 baht. Additionally, many more city bus routes are operated by Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA). City buses offer a cheaper alternative of Bt35 flat fare, compared with the airport express bus.
Bangkok by Taxi
Probably the easiest and most convenient way to get around Bangkok is by taxi. Most taxis are new and spacious offering a pleasant ride. Finding a taxi is not a hassle, especially around hotels, shopping malls and other tourist attractions.
Tuk-tuks in Bangkok
Tuk-tuks or 'sam lor' (three-wheeled) used to be everyone's favourite way of getting around Bangkok before the BTS, MRT and colourful taxis took over. Cheap fares are often found if you barter well.
Bangkok Skytrain (BTS)
The Bangkok Transit System (BTS) or Skytrain, is an elevated rail system which crosses the city and connects many of the most popular areas. A cheap, clean, easy and air conditioned way to get around the city.
Bangkok Underground (MRT)
Relatively cheap, fast and efficient, the Mass Rapid Transit network (MRT) has been a welcome and well-used addition to Bangkok's public transport network. The trains run every five minutes in peak times (07:00 - 09:00, 16:00 - 19:00) and every seven minutes at other times from various stations throughout the city.
Boats & Ferries in Bangkok
Boats & ferries are a nice way to get around the famous riverside area. There are many historical attractions to view along the river and you can explore the 'klongs' (canals) for a glimpse of yesteryear Bangkok. There are several kinds of boats (express boats, river taxis and tail-boats) that go up and down the Chao Phraya River for tourists and there are many boats connecting with the local suburbs on the Thonburi side and along the river. The ferries can be used to cross the river at various points.
Buses in Bangkok
The buses in Bangkok are an interesting experience. They provide an incredibly cheap way to travel from one side of the city to another. The signs and bus destinations are all in Thai so it may be a tricky adventure if you are travelling as a non Thai speaking tourist. Very cheap and quite rustic the buses are a great way to see the real Bangkok. You don't often use the same routes if you're travelling by other means of transportation. Although buses give you a ringside seat to the streets of Bangkok and the locals of the city, they're not the most favourite means of getting around. Many bus drivers are obnoxious, there are aggressive bus conductors, bad traffic, pollution and sweaty fellow passengers.
Motorbike Taxis in Bangkok
Motorbike taxis in Bangkok are one of the fastest ways to get around town when you are in a rush. Having to dodge the almost constant gridlock and dart in and out between cars and buses, however, is very dangerous. Motorbike taxis in Bangkok are cheap and a very quick way to get around, especially during rush hours, you just have to be as careful as you can be.
Bangkok By Car
Finding your way around the many one-way traffic systems in Bangkok is hard work, traffic can be mayhem and often road signs in Bangkok are in Thai only. The pace of the city is overwhelming and there are 1000's of cheap taxi's, tuk-tuk's, buses and a great skyline service to get around the city. However, if you decide to rent a car there are a number of car rentals in the airport at the departures lounge. The airport has 5 main access routes. Among these the most convenient route is via the Bangkok Chon Buri Motorway (Highway No. 7). Another main airport entrance is in Samut Prakan province via the expressway from Bang Na to Bang Pakong.
Hitchhiking in Bangkok
With a huge variety of cheap travel solutions and great travel services hitchhiking in Bangkok is not common. If you are on a budget, hitchhiking is a much better idea when outside of Bangkok and it is more welcomed by the locals in the surrounding areas. Note that the wave is preferred to the thumbs-up.


HI has relaunched its mine clearance activities in Casamance. These activities had to be interrupted more than a year ago due to a lack of funding. Between now and July, our teams plan to demine 70,000 square metres of land (the equivalent of 10 football fields) in the towns of Djibanar and Niagha, where some 22,500 people live; adding to the 400,000 square metres of land already cleared in the region since 2008.
Twenty years after the ratification of the Ottawa Treaty by Senegal, over 1.2 million square metres of land are still contaminated by anti-personnel mines and other explosive remnants of war in Casamance. This contamination dates back to the 1980s and 90s, when violent clashes took place between the Senegalese army and Casamance independence fighters.
Contamination affects main roads, country lanes and, most importantly, a lot of farmland - a vital source of income for the region's inhabitants. Through its mine clearance activities, HI aims to restore this land to the families who own it, enabling them to return in safety, to travel freely and to farm without fear.
In the long term, these mine clearance activities aim to have a direct positive impact on the economic development of these districts and, indirectly, on the whole region. These positive changes should also encourage the return of some of the thousands of internally displaced people who fled Casamance, and who have been afraid to return home.
HI's teams have been present in Senegal since 1996. They started working in Casamance in 1999, in order to provide mine casualties with physical and psychological rehabilitation care and to inform local communities on the risks associated with explosive remnants of war.
In the following years, HI implemented a large-scale survey to determine and define with people living in 82 municipalities in Casamance the areas presenting a particular risk, and those to be cleared as a priority.
In 2008, based on the results of these surveys, HI launched its first weapons clearance activities in Casamance. The organisation is, to date, the only humanitarian operator engaged in mine clearance in Senegal.


We host Denver's most fun & funny events!
We offer walking and chauffeured tours in the Denver metro area, where business professionals, families, and individuals can experience something unique, fun, & interesting. Our claim to fame is being Colorado's first craft distillery bus tour operation, but we also offer historic, paranormal, social gaming, live music, & team building experiences.
Rick has been a tour guide for the last eight years. He has traveled the world and led tours in Manchester, New Hampshire's mill town, Gillette Stadium, the U.S. National Mall for the Smithsonian's American History Museum, and Denver and Boulder, Colorado. Rick has a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from the University of Maryland–Europe, and another in American History from the University of New Hampshire.
Our founder started his adult career as a Security Forces officer in the U.S. Air Force, and has since found his passion in travel and tourism. He worked as a tour manager/guide for Segway Inc., the Manchester Historic Association, Colorado Segway Tours, Stranahans Colorado Whiskey, the Colorado State Capitol, and the Denver Brews Cruise.
Rick has enjoyed immensely his time leading tours around the country and thinks there is simply nothing more rewarding than creating a lasting experience for tour guests. Rick's goal is to not only educate locals and tourists about our beautiful state but also to provide a healthy and entertaining option for guests in all seasons.
In 2016 we doubled in size when David Hanan joined the team. David is an extremely talented, Denver Tour Guide/Comedian. His passion for the industry and unselfish dedication to the guest experience has launched our young company to the next level, and we are so lucky to have him.
David runs the only Comedy Bus Tour in Denver, and with the infusion of libations & a touch of cannabis, you can bet he will have you rolling in uncontrollable laughter.


text:
Q: Jquerymobile + PhoneGap + Blackberry webworks + enable overflow-x scroll on non touch devices I Am developing a phoneGap application on Blackberry webworks. the overflow scroll property works fine on android, iphone..but it is not working on blackberry webworks on nonTouch devices.
Here is my code.

....

  css:
   .ExternalClassTable{
     width : 90%;
     max-width : 520px;
     overflow-x : scroll;
     }

A: BlackBerry doesn't support overflow-x or overflow-y, just overflow.
You may want to do something like this:
#container {
    overflow: hidden;
    overflow-y: visible;
    -webkit-overflow-scrolling: touch;
}


Loved by those who appreciate its inquisitive and loving nature, the Bengal is a medium to large cat renowned for its richly colored, highly contrasted coat of vivid spots or distinctive marbling. Originally developed from crosses between the domestic cats and the Asian Leopard Cat, the Bengal is the only domestic cat that can have rosettes like the markings on Leopards, Jaguars and Ocelots. Today's domestic Bengal cat comes only from breeding Bengals to other Bengals and requires no specialized care. Since their beginnings in 1986, the Bengal's regal beauty and alluring charm have quickly made it one of the most popular breeds. Employing scientific insights and a cooperative spirit, Bengal breeders continue to develop these stunning cats with careful selection for temperament, health and beauty. Bengals participate in TICA shows throughout the world and have a devoted following of happy pet owners who couldn't imagine sharing their lives with anything other than these feline beauties.
Throughout history, there are indications of a profound human fascination with the large and small wild felines that inhabit the jungles and forest of the world. In 1963, Jean S. Mill crossed the domestic cat with the Asian Leopard Cat, a spotted five to twelve pound shy wild cat species from Asia. This was the first effort to use hybrid offspring to create a breed of domestic cat with the loving nature of a favored fireside tabby and the striking look associated with Leopards, Ocelots and Jaguars. The modern Bengal breed traces to cats bred by Mrs. Mill beginning in the early 1980's. The breed's name is a reference to the scientific name of the Asian Leopard Cat, Prionailurus bengalensis. The hybrid crosses are registered as Foundation (F1, F2 & F3) Bengals that are not eligible for show and only the females are used for breeding.
While you can train a Bengal to have "good manners", they are an active, inquisitive cat that loves to be up high. If you don't like a cat to leave the floor, a Bengal is probably not the right cat for you. Bengals are busy by nature. They are very affectionate and can be a "lap cat" whenever THEY want to be, but in general their idea of fun is playing, chasing, climbing and investigating. When a Bengal is in full play mode, it's rather like trying to hold on to running water! They'll often save the cuddle time for when they want to sleep. Many Bengals enjoy water and may join you in brushing your teeth or taking a shower. Some Bengals are vocal while others are more quiet and selective about using their voice.
Bengals will also, in general, ALWAYS want to be where you are. After all, that's where the action is! And Bengals are all about "The Action". When given the choice of a static toy, and one that does wild, unpredictable things, Bengals will always choose the "wild" one! For individuals or families who enjoy rambunctious, funny, beautiful and dynamic feline companionship, consider the Bengal.


This timesaving cutoff or parting tool holder is designed to hold the cutoff blade upside down for use on the "back" side of the part. This allows the holder to remain mounted to the crosslide where it is out of the way while the regular tool holder stays mounted on the front of the crosslide. A .040″ parting tool blade is included.
Sherline also offers a conventional holder that is the proper height to hold the cutoff tool for use on the front side of the part. See P/N 3002. With the use of a P/N 3016 cutoff tool rear mounting block, this holder can also be used on the back side of the part, but if that is going to be your primary intended use, the P/N 3018 holder will do the job easier and without the extra cost of the rear mounting block.
Never use a parting tool on a part mounted between centers. The part can bind on the cutter and result in a scrapped part or a broken tool. A small amount of cutting oil is a must. Parting off free-machining material over a 1.00″ (25 mm) diameter will always be a problem on a machine of this size.
The rear mount cutoff tool holder can remain mounted to the lathe table. It is out of the way on the "back" side until needed for a cutoff operation.


Master the technique of controlled depth fishing with downriggers from Big Country Camping. We carry a variety of helpful manual and electric downriggers to control the depth of your lures. We carry well known brands like Scotty, Big Jon, and much more. You can also find other downrigger accessories such as line releases, risers, and mounts that you can install on your vessel.


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IDW's Star Trek/Legion Of Superheroes #5 Arrives Feb. 15
February 8, 2012 5:24 AM PST
The end is nigh. IDW Publishing and DC Comics are approaching the end of their unique Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes crossover, with Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #5 – the fifth of six titles – set to land in comic book stores on February 15. Once again, Star Trek's legendary Enterprise crew shares the page, not to mention an epic adventure, with DC favorites including Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Chameleon Boy, Shadow Lass and Brainiac 5.
Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #5 finds one team of Starfleet officers and Legionnaires in the distant past, where they encounter the force that erased both their timelines from existence. Meanwhile, in an altered 23rd century, another team of Starfleet officers and Legionnaires comes face to face with the latter-day version of that same powerful force. Fully aware of how history was changed, both teams must confront the question of whether or not anything can be done to set things right.
Chris Roberson wrote Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #5, while Jeffrey Moy and Philip Moy handled the art and Phil Jimenez and Mike Allred did the cover honors, with Allred, Roberson's I, Zombie artist, providing a 1-in-5 cover. The title will run 32 pages, cost $3.99 and be available at comic retail stores. For additional details, contact your local comic book retailer or visit www.comicshoplocator.com to find a store near you. And keep an eye on StarTrek.com for news about the final crossover adventure, Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #6.
More From Star Trek: Uncategorized
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Spoilers for season one, episode seven of Star Trek: Prodigy...
Recap: Star Trek: Prodigy - First Con-tact
The last episode of Star Trek: Prodigy closed with some shoc...
Seven of Nine Was Always Queer
This article was originally published on June 9, 2020.
An Original Star Trek: Picard Audio Drama Announced Starring Two Fan Favorites


text:
.PHONY: image

IMAGE?=xphyr/k8s_isi_provisioner
GIT_VERSION := $(shell git describe --abbrev=4 --dirty --always --tags)

image: isi-provisioner
	docker build -t $(IMAGE) -f Dockerfile.scratch .

isi-provisioner: $(shell find . -name "*.go")
	glide install -v
	GOOS=linux CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -a -ldflags '-extldflags "-static" -X main.version=$(GIT_VERSION)' -o k8s_isi_provisioner .

.PHONY: clean
clean:
	rm -rf vendor
	rm k8s_isi_provisioner

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: Open facebook specific post form android app i am trying to open facebook specific post from android app in facebook app currently i am doing this but the facebook app is not showing my post its giving error
public static String FACEBOOK_URL = "https://www.facebook.com/" + PAGE_ID
                + "/posts/" + post.getId;

public String getFacebookPageURL(Context context) {
    PackageManager packageManager = context.getPackageManager();
    try {
        int versionCode = packageManager.getPackageInfo("com.facebook.katana", 0).versionCode;
        if (versionCode >= 3002850) { //newer versions of fb app
            return "fb://facewebmodal/f?href=" + FACEBOOK_URL;
        } else { //older versions of fb app
            return "fb://post/" + post.getId();;
        }
    } catch (PackageManager.NameNotFoundException e) {
        return FACEBOOK_URL; //normal web url
    }
}

is there some kind of facebook sdk to open posts and pages ?

A: please checkout this link, which is of Facebook API

https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/android

also you can get particulate post from Facebook
see this link
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/graph-api/reference/v3.2/post


Todd Howard has been a chief designer and director at Bethesda Game Studios since before Elder Scrolls and Fallout went 3D. He went on to guide both series into the third dimension, and has kept both franchises at the forefront of gaming consciousness, growing them with each landmark release.
Howard joined back in 1994, first working as a Producer and Designer on The Terminator: Future Shock and SkyNET. He worked on The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall and the spinoff Adventure Redguard, but his promotion to Director of Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind was where he would truly impact the industry, and begin his legacy.
Howard's vision for Morrowind was to give the player true freedom in playing the way they wished. As an evolution of the ES series, Howard wanted the NPCs and environments to feel more unique. Morrowind's NPCs were just like the playable character, having their own stat sheets and inventory. As Howard put it, if you spotted a cool helmet on an NPC, you could try to swipe it and see what happens.
The environments of Morrowind were now hand-crafted as opposed to the random generation of previous entries. This is a remarkably huge task for such a large game, especially when you consider how much of the game will not be seen by players.
For me, Morrowind nailed the feeling of exploring a new land as a nobody. Arriving as a foreign prisoner in a place that hates foreigners was unforgettable. Stepping off the ship to navigate your mysterious quest stuck with me deeper than Oblivion and Skyrim could.
In the beginning, half the Elder Scrolls team worked on Oblivion tech, while the designers and artists toiled on Morrowind expansions. The team was fractured again to optimize the PS3 code, which was different from the Xbox 360 hardware. Howard called the 360 the easiest to develop for, criticizing the PC landscape as a "random amalgamation of graphics cards and RAM and processors…".
After Morrowind's success, Howard had a slightly different vision for the sequel. A tighter experience with less 'filler'. Oblivion would feature improved AI, physics, and visuals, as the team was given extra time to develop for the new generation of consoles. Bethesda produced procedural-generation tools to create varied landscapes that required less hands-on time from the team.
Oblivion featured "full facial animations, lip synching, and full speech for all dialogue". It was the hi-tech vision of the series that struck a chord with mainstream audiences. And because of its success, the next ES would be monumental.
But first, Bethesda would bring another giant franchise into the modern era.
For me, Fallout 3 was a landmark game. At that time, I still frequently gamed on various consoles, but hadn't kept up with the 360/PS3 generation until a girlfriend bought me a PS3 for Christmas of 2009. Fallout 3 was one of the first games I tried and it sucked me in hard. Although I lost interest in the main story when it became a formulaic fetch quest of turning on switches at a water facility, I loved my time exploring the wasteland. The first moments emerging from the Vault and then moving on from Megaton city, when roving bandits still felt incredibly dangerous, were just as impactful as my time spent with Morrowind the previous generation.
Fans of the first two Fallouts have lobbied plenty of criticism at Fallout 3's 'Elder Scrolls with guns' formula. They claim Bethesda lost the grey area tone and mature character interactions of Fallout in favor of a flashy VATS system and simplified morality (blow up town or not blow up town).
While Fallout 3 is definitely simplified, it still managed a great sense of atmosphere and immersion, winning a new legion of fans.
Oblivion and Fallout 3 introduced a large audience of console gamers to open-world RPGs and this made Skyrim's release a monumental event.
Howard spoke with Game Informer about Skyrim's large reach and the core vs casual argument. PC owners have historically feared their favorite franchises also appearing on consoles after Deus Ex: Invisible War made significant sacrifices to appear on PC and Xbox.
Howard wanted Skyrim to get back to the mysterious exploration of Morrowind.
"With Oblivion, we're dealing with the capital province, and we wanted to get back to the more classic Arena and Daggerfall feel of a fantasy world that felt more refined and welcoming, a place that you instantly understood. But in that, we sacrificed some of what made Morrowind special: the wonder of discovery.
Skyrim has a rich modding community and recently saw remasters for PS4/XB1 and even a portable version for Nintendo Switch. The legacy lives on, and will only fuel the anticipation for the next Elder Scrolls.
In this age of long hype cycles, Bethesda refreshingly dropped a bomb at E3 2015, announcing the next Fallout would release in just a few months.
Shortly after the release I went for a haircut and happened to have an EB Games bag with me. The barber asked me if it was Fallout 4 (it was actually a heavily discounted Killzone: Shadowfall). The barber wasn't even a fan of the game, he had just heard so much about it. My girlfriend's friends constantly asked me what was the new game coming out their boyfriends had warned them about. The gaming world was prepared to set aside serious questing time.
Fallout 4 made a few changes. It streamlined the dialogue system, introduced a building minigame, and placed a larger emphasis on a main quest that critics felt broke immersion. A parent chasing after their abducted child is compelling, but in a franchise known for embracing side-quests, it worked against how many players wanted to play.
On the positive side, the shooting systems felt much more solid than previous versions, and – although buggy – many gamers loved the town building mechanics.
Through its ups and downs, Fallout 4 continued the tradition of creating livable worlds.
Talking to Geoff Keighley at the Video Game Awards, Howard talked about Elder Scrolls VI.
Hearing that ambitious tech will be used is an exciting proposition for a series in need of a shakeup. Morrowind is my favorite ES because it felt unique. Another Skyrim is not what I'd like to see. I'm much more interested in Howard's depiction of a game we couldn't imagine in today's gaming climate.
Do you have a favorite memory from a Todd Howard game? What would you like to see in the next Elder Scrolls? Let us know.


text:
GSD cautions on pace of multi million pound government projects
The GSD has urged the Gibraltar Government to be "responsible" and "cautious" over the pace of multi million pound government projects as it calculated that planned developments will cost £300 million in total.
This follows the Government's announcement last week regarding the construction of three new affordable housing projects.
Based on the announced cost of Beach View Terraces and Mons Calpe Mews in 2013 for 944 units at a contracted total cost of £116 million the GSD said the new project for 1,500 units would cost in the region of £200 million given increasing costs.
"In addition to these the Government has announced eight new schools a national theatre and car parking at Grand Parade perhaps needing another £80 million not to mention a reclamation project at Coaling Island and a development at Rooke perhaps over £300 million of projects in total," it said.
The Leader of the Opposition Roy Clinton said: "When Blue Water was announced to great fanfare and artists impressions in June 2015 over 1,600 affordable homes were to be financed by the developer Camoren, now it would appear these will be built by Government and I assume the £83 million developer's premium is now lost as is the Super Yacht Luxury Marina."
"The Government needs to consider whether its announced pace of development is sustainable and economic and not disjointed."
"The Government needs to undertake proper planning not just of the urban environment, but also of the type of housing to be provided such as the current need for 1RKB rentals as Action for Housing has identified."
"Some control also needs to be exercised on resale values so as to maintain future affordability."
"In addition it is evident that Bishop Fitzgerald and Governor's Meadow need to be relocated within their catchment area and news on the Government's education plans should be released immediately."
"The Government needs to be responsible and think beyond the electoral cycle and I caution them on the pace of development which will affect our community for generations to come long after this Government has gone."


Man working in a bakery, preparing large tray with dough for rolls, oven in the background.
Woman working in a bakery, placing large trays with freshly baked rolls on a trolley.
Portrait of a smiling woman holding a tray of freshly baked Christmas cookies.
Cake tins for sale, Hanoi, Vietnam.
A woman at a kitchen table baking fairy cakes.
Two women and man working in a bakery, preparing freshly baked rolls on large trays.
Turkey and white rice casserole with parsnips, carrots, and fresh parsley on a wooden cutting board on a table top. Whole ceramic casserole dish beside a single serving meal in a bowl and a serving spoon.


Richard Harris was an actor who scored a surprising smash hit in 1968 with MacArthur Park. But his performance in the 1967 film musical Camelot is likely what convinced Harris that he could record an album. It was in the 1963 film The Sporting Life that Harris was first noticed. He was very similar to guys like Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole. So when Joshua Logan was looking to direct a film version of the Lerner and Leowe musical Camelot, he cast Harris as King Arthur and Vanessa Redgrave as Guenevere. Of course Camelot was a Broadway success in 1959 starring Richard Burton and Julie Andrews. By the time Warner Bros. turned Camelot into a film, Burton and Andrews would have been too expensive. So casting Harris in a role made famous by Burton was good for Warners and for Harris. Though Camelot was not received well by critics, Harris and Redgrave were praised for their performances and Harris won a Golden Globe. It also convinced Harris that he could record a pop album. And soon after this he met songwriter Jimmy Webb at a party and they produced the smash hit MacArthur Park. Camelot was a box office success and the soundtrack is available as a budget CD. Harris returned to play King Arthur in Camelot in a 1981 stage production on Broadway and then in London. It aired on HBO. Here's Richard Harris performing How To Handle A Woman in the 1967 film Camelot.


text:
Analysis Film
When Comic Book Movies Break Bad
July 1, 2016 September 23, 2016 Dean Ravell	0 Comments	batman, Breaking Bad, comic, comic book, Comic book movies, DC, Marvel, movies, spiderman: homecoming, Suicide Squad, The Joker, the sinister six
In recent times, the appeal of superheroes has died down and we're more inclined to see what the bad guys are up to. With Suicide Squad due to be released in August and constant talk of a The Sinister Six film being in the works, comic book movies are beginning to break bad. But why is this happening?
I don't know about you but since I've grown up I've realised that the bad guys in movies are the most exciting and relatable of characters. Sure, I love Batman but given the opportunity to play anyone in the Batman universe I'd probably choose The Joker.
Of course the good guys get the lunchboxes, action figures and the girl. But the bad guys get the cool one-liners, the freedom to do what they want and more often than not, an opportunity for a person to break bad – which seems so much fun!
The title of this article is no accident either. Anyone who has seen Breaking Bad knows that the main character – Walter White – leans more to being a bad guy than a good one. But let's call him an anti-hero to make ourselves feel better. Walter White, Tony Soprano, Deadpool, The Punisher: these are the names of some of the most famous anti-heroes and who were our smooth transition from not quite bad to not quite good. And now we're ready.
When The Dark Knight was released in 2008, nobody was speaking about the main character – Batman – but rather the antagonist and Clown Prince of Crime – The Joker. The Joker has been done before but never quite like that. If anything I wanted to see more of Heath Ledger's Joker because it seems like an incredible character to portray.
Heath Ledger passed away shortly after filming ended, with some stating the demands of the role affected his untimely death.
He put everything he had into the role and it left us with arguably the best performance from a comic book character that we've seen in years. He left a legacy behind with his portrayal of the Joker and hopefully Jared Leto can bring something different but equally great to the role when he plays the Joker in Suicide Squad.
This trend of bad guys being the protagonists in film has only just begun and I think we've going to see much more of it, especially if Suicide Squad is the hit I think we're all hoping it will be.
Marvel's answer to DC's supervillain dream team is touted as being The Sinister Six, which has been rumoured to happen for a while and the groundwork could be laid in the upcoming Spiderman: Homecoming film.
I think that with the influx of superhero films and the fatigue that has set in, Hollywood has opted to try some new things.
The "good guy vs good guy" trend was in full force this year with Civil War and Dawn of Justice. But now it's time to try something a little new.
It's time to break bad.
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Updated 1 June, 2019 - 22:51 ancient-origins
Ten Bizarre Mysteries Across Time and Space
All through history and time people have been trying to solve unexplained phenomena and bizarre mysteries. As humans, we're often fascinated and sometimes frightened by what we don't understand. But try as we might to solve the puzzles, sometimes there is no obvious answer.
Bizarre Cart Ruts in Prehistoric Stone: Who Left These Behind?
Cart Ruts at Misrah Ghar il-Kbir, Malta. (Lysy/ CC BY SA 3.0 )
The islands of Malta and Gozo in the Maltese archipelago are scarred with hundreds, if not thousands, of parallel lines seemingly cut deep into the stone. These ancient grooves have puzzled experts for centuries. Some of the strange tracks deliberately plunge off cliffs or continue off land and into the ocean. Who made these enigmatic tracks, and why?
The tracks are gouged into the rock, crisscrossing the islands, most notably at Misrah Ghar il-Kbir, a prehistoric cliff site on Malta. The so-called "cart ruts" of Malta are thought to be indications of transportation or industry— railways of the ancient world.
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These clearly man-made ruts are dual channels, parallel grooves etched into the limestone bedrock of the islands. The channels measure about eight to 15 centimeters deep, but can be as deep as 60 centimeters. Width between the tracks extends about 140 centimeters, but not in all instances. The tracks measured at the San Gwann site in Malta are said to be half a meter in depth, making them the deepest to be found – making it unlikely that a vehicle could have been dragged along them since the platform/axle would have to be a meter or two high.
Similar tracks can be found in Italy, Greece, Turkey, Spain, France, and Germany, but they're not of the same origins and were created for different and known purposes. Some of those tracks were built purposefully with masonry, and some of the patterns were caused by natural erosion on wagon tracks. These differences make the Malta tracks unique in the world.
Spontaneous Human Combustion: A Burning Mystery
"Power in the palm of my hand." ( Matthew/Flickr)
Over the past 300 years, there have been more than 200 reports of Spontaneous Human Combustion (SHC), which occurs when a person supposedly burns to death by a fire believed to have started from within the person's body. Of the hundreds of accounts on record, there seems to be a similar pattern.
A solitary victim is often consumed by flame, usually inside his or her home. However, the extremities, such as the hands, feet, or parts of the leg often remaining intact. The torso and head are charred beyond recognition and, in rare cases, the internal organs of a victim remain unscathed. The room the victim was in usually shows little to no signs of fire, aside from a greasy residue left on furniture and walls. Often there is a sweet, smoky smell in the room where the incident has occurred.
The history of SHC can be traced back to medieval literature and some even believe there are several passages in the bible referencing it. There are several theories behind why it happens including: alcoholism, flammable body fat, acetone buildup, static electricity, methane, bacteria, stress, and even divine intervention.
The theory explaining SHC which is most approved by science is called the "wick effect." It likens the body of an SHC victim to a candle. A candle is composed of a wick on the inside surrounded by a wax made of flammable fatty acids. Fire ignites the wick and the fatty wax keeps it burning. However, it doesn't explain why the victims remain motionless during the episode of combustion and burning, nor does it provide enough explanation why surrounding furniture is so often unaffected by the fire.
What Did the Ancients See? UFOs in Early History
Hand-colored woodprint by Samuel Coccius, Basle Switzerland 1566. August 7th many black globes moved before the sun at great speed and seemed to be fighting. Was this an ancient UFO sighting or celestial event? ( Public Domain )
The oldest recorded sighting of a UFO took place in 1440 BC. The incident was documented by the royal scribe of an Egyptian Pharaoh. Before the modern-era, UFOs were also recorded by ancient Greeks, Romans, Indians, Chinese, Japanese, Mexicans, and more. These sightings cannot be as readily explained.
The Romans accumulated a number of reported sightings made by such reputable historians as Pliny the Elder , Livy, and Plutarch. They are widely regarded as accurate (as far as the witnesses understood) because of the rigorous procedures Roman authorities demanded before any event could be recorded in the official annals. That being said, the incidences could be talking about meteorites or comets, which to ancient eyes would have seemed otherworldly.
It seems that throughout much of antiquity the UFO-like phenomena were merely recorded. The first known official investigation into a possible alien/time-traveler/UFO presence was carried out in Japan in 1235. Today, we only have the descriptions and analysis given by ancient historians. These are undoubtedly genuine accounts of things people witnessed but what exactly they saw may never be known.
The Man from Taured: Traveler from Parallel Universe?
The man from Taured. ( lechemindeleveil)
The story of the 'Man from Taured' begins on a hot day in July 1954 when a man arrived at Haneda Airport, aka Tokyo International Airport. This man has been described as Caucasian-looking with a beard. His primary language is said to have been French, but he apparently spoke Japanese and other languages as well.
The sequence of events then differs. In one version, this man hands over his passport to be stamped, and the Japanese immigration officer notices something strange – the passport looked authentic, but the country where it was issued, 'Taured', was recognized as non-existent, indicating that the man should be taken away for interrogation. In another version, the man mentioned that he was from Taured, and when the immigration officer did not believe him, he showed him / her his passport.
The man tried to convince the immigration officers that Taured does indeed exist. According to the traveler, Taured was located between France and Spain, in the area of Andorra, and had by then been in existence for 1000 years. Eventually, the man was held by the officers, as they were suspicious that he might be some kind of criminal. They brought him to a nearby hotel for the night and continued their investigation.
Two guards were placed outside his room, but the next morning when the officers went to the man's room, they realized that he had simply vanished. There were no signs of his escape and all of his personal documents, which may serve as evidence for the story's validity, had apparently disappeared as well, making this strange story unsolvable.
The Curious Acambaro Figurines: Did Dinosaurs Live Among Us?
A famous Acámbaro figurine depicting a human apparently riding a dinosaur. ( Creative Commons)
In 1944, the German shopkeeper Valdemar Julsrud claimed to have stumbled upon mysterious figurines while on horseback near Acámbaro in Guanajuato, Mexico. He said that he found over 30,000 of them with the help of a farmer. The figurines depict dinosaurs and humans living together and strange figurines that many people say resemble flying saucers and even aliens. Their authenticity has been debated ever since.
Those who believe that the artifacts are genuine are: cryptozoologists who say that the figurines are evidence of a relict population of dinosaurs in the region who happened to come into contact with humans, those who believe that the figurines were left behind by interdimensional aliens who could travel back to the time of the dinosaurs and bring knowledge of them to Central American peoples, and young earth creationists who claim that humans and dinosaurs had to coexist to fit in with their interpretation of Genesis chapters 1-11 in the Bible.
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Thermoluminescence dating was used on some figurines between 1969 and 1972 and produced a date of about 4500 years BP (Before Present), placing the age of the artifacts around 2500 BC. However, studies in 1976 and 1978 revealed that the figurines did not meet the temperature conditions required for reliable thermoluminescence dating. The dates that could be attained revealed that the objects were from the late 1930s or early 1940s - shortly before they were "discovered".
The Tamam Shud Enigma: Dead Body in Australia found with Ancient Persian Code
Book cover and illustration from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
On December 1, 1948, authorities were called to Somerton beach in Adelaide, South Australia. They found a dead body on the sand of a middle-aged man in top physical condition, smartly dressed in a suit, tie, and polished black shoes. Despite the hot weather, he wore a knit pullover and suit-jacket.
His corpse revealed no obvious cause of death. Nobody knew who he was or where he had come from. After collecting the body, police examined his possessions and clothes for a hint of who he was, but the tags and labels had been carefully removed, leaving no trail.
Investigators were perplexed when they found what appeared to be a secret message stuffed in his trouser pocket. The words Tamam Shud were printed on a rolled-up scrap of paper. They found that the scrap was torn from the last page of a rare copy of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Eerily, Tamam Shud is a phrase meaning "the end" or "finished."
In 1949, a copy of The Rubaiyat was recovered bearing the tear-marks that matched the scrap found on the body. It had been placed in the backseat of an unlocked car which had been parked along a jetty a week or two before the body was found. The car owner turned the book in to police, but requested to remain anonymous.
Under close inspection, the book revealed letters scrawled on the back cover, grouped together in no recognizable language. Detectives determined it was a secret code, and due to the tense times of the Cold War, speculated that Somerton Man was a Soviet spy murdered by unknown enemies. No governments or intelligence agencies have ever admitted to knowing the man. The Rubaiyat code was made public and many have tried to decipher it in vain - it remains uncracked.
Skeleton Lake and the Puzzle of Ancient Remains Frozen in Time
Human Skeletons in Roopkund Lake, aka Skeleton Lake. (Schwiki/ CC BY SA 4.0 )
Covered in ice and surrounded by rocky glaciers, Roopkund Lake appears to be a typical, albeit beautiful, natural wonder in the Indian Himalayas. However, during one month of the year, when the ice melts away and the bottom of the shallow lake becomes visible, 300 human skeletons can be seen.
The first reports of the skeletal remains date to the 19th century, but the remains were re-discovered by Nanda Devi game reserve ranger H K Madhwal in 1942. No one knew who the remains belonged to, how long they had been there, or what had happened to them, but since the skeletons were rediscovered during World War II the first assumption was that they were Japanese soldiers who had died from exposure to the elements while traveling through India. Investigations quickly found that not to be true – the remains were far too old.
Frigid temperatures and dry, cold air allowed bits of flesh, nails, and hair to be preserved as well. In addition, pieces such as wooden artifacts, iron spearheads, leather slippers, and jewelry were discovered. Radiocarbon dating shows that the remains are from 850 AD.
Without any evidence of a nearby settlement, it is believed that the individuals were traveling when they died. In 2013, researchers concluded that it likely that the individuals had been killed in a hailstorm. The injuries on the remains indicate that each person was killed by one or more blows to the head, neck, and shoulders. But it is still a mystery who they were and how their remains came to be at the bottom of the lake.
Abominable Creature: The Weird Fiji Mermaid
[Top] Fiji Mermaid, in the Folklore section at the Haus der Natur (House of Nature), a natural history collection in Salzburg, Austria. ( CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 ) [Bottom] P.T. Barnums Feejee mermaid ( Public Domain )
The story of the Fiji mermaid in the United States begins with the arrival, in the middle of July 1842, of an Englishman by the name of 'Dr. J. Griffin' (who was actually Levi Lyman, an associate of P.T. Barnum's), a supposed member of the 'British Lyceum of Natural History', in New York. Griffin, it seems, brought with him a mermaid, which was claimed to have been caught near the Fiji Islands in the South Pacific.
News of Griffin's arrival, along with his strange specimen was known by the press, and reporters went to Griffin's hotel, demanding to see the mermaid. When he had given them a glimpse of what he had brought with him, they were convinced that it was real.
The Fiji Mermaid was displayed in 1842 by P.T. Barnum in Barnum's American Museum, New York and attracted many curious visitors. It would later be revealed that the Fiji mermaid was actually the top half of a juvenile monkey sown onto the bottom half of a fish.
This creature is thought to have been made in Japan around 1810, where this was allegedly a traditional art form amongst fishermen. Barnum's mermaid is said to have been destroyed in a fire, however some people claim the mermaid was rescued from (either one of) the fires, and is still being displayed today.
The Curious Disappearance of the Eilean Mor Lighthouse Keepers
The Eilean Mor lighthouse, Scotland. ( CC BY SA 2.0 )
In 1900, shortly after the one-year anniversary of the Eilean Mor lighthouse's completion, something changed on the quiet little island. A captain who was passing by the area on route to Leith, Scotland, on December 15, noticed that the lighthouse's lamp was not shining. He sent a wireless to the Cosmopolitan Line Steamers (CLS) headquarters to report the outage but, CLS failed to notify the Northern Lighthouse Board because other more pressing matters caused it to escape from memory.
Bad weather delayed the arrival of the fourth attendant who was going to replace one of the three men attending the lighthouse on December 20; he could not make the sea journey until things cleared up on December 26. That day the relief attendant was sent ashore to investigate why things seemed strange at the lighthouse.
He found it unlocked, and no fire was lit to ward off the damp coldness, the beds were unused, and the clocks had stopped. The man became worried about his fellow keepers and, returning with help, he searched the lighthouse from top to bottom. He also discovered that the light was in working order.
Three volunteers offered to stay with the fourth attendant and conduct an even more thorough search of the small island the next morning. The captain headed to the nearest telegraph station, on the Isle of Lewis, and sent a message to his employer: "A dreadful accident has happened [...]" Even now, the mystery of the lighthouse keepers disappearance remains just that, a mystery.
The Mystery of the Mary Celeste: Crew Vanishes from Seaworthy Ship
A painting of the Mary Celeste as Amazon in 1861. ( Public Domain )
The Mary Celeste was a merchant brigantine captained by Benjamin Briggs, a man said to be a staunch abstainer from alcohol, a brave man, and a devout Christian. The first mate, Albert Richardson, was also considered fit to command, and was hand-picked by Captain Briggs. Additionally, Captain Brigg's wife, his infant daughter, and six other crew members were on board the ship when the loading of the ship's cargo – 1701 barrels of poisonous denatured alcohol took place in the end of October 1872.
On November 7, the ship left New York Harbor and sailed into the Atlantic. On December 4, the British brigantine Dei Gratia discovered the Mary Celeste sailing aimlessly between the Azores and Portugal. Upon closer inspection, the Dei Gratia crew discovered that there was no one on board the Mary Celeste and the last entry in the ship's daily log was written on November 24 . In spite of this, the ship was still in seaworthy condition, her cargo still largely intact, and her food and water supply sufficient for six months.
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It seems the crew left the ship in a panic. The ship's only lifeboat, as well as its chronometer and sextant, were missing. Oddly, the main halyard, a sturdy rope about 8cm in circumference, was found to be broken and hanging over the side of the ship.
Nevertheless, there has not been any real consensus as to the cause of Captain Brigg's panic, and numerous theories have been put forward why the ship was abandoned– ranging from fire to a giant squid , to the lucky discovery of a derelict ship containing treasure that led to the desertion of the Mary Celeste , and a happy ending in Spain for all who were on it.
Top image: Ancient mysteries (Fyle / Adobe Stock)
spontaneous human combustion
Taured
cart ruts
Ancient-Origins
This is the Ancient Origins team, and here is our mission: "To inspire open-minded learning about our past for the betterment of our future through the sharing of research, education, and knowledge".
At Ancient Origins we believe that one of... Read More
George Metaxas wrote on 2 June, 2019 - 20:02
Gary, it is about the first mystery in this article.
Gary Moran wrote on 2 June, 2019 - 19:05
Curious, George put comment on wrong article? or something at AO send it to wrong one? Anyhow, the article was interesting, many more mysteries out there.
As about the Cart Ruts, curiously 140 cm is the standard railway gauge! And if the source of this gauge was the width of two horses side by side pulling a cart a little wider than the horses for practical reasons (as the myth goes), then one may imagine a similar use (initially) for the Cart Ruts. As about the depth, the ruts could be deepened later when their use was changed. The often meaningless tracking may be the result of later geological agitation.
A mysterious carved handprint has been discovered in Jerusalem. But, was it created by a defending Muslim, a terrified Jew, an attacking European knight, or is it just a long-forgotten local prank?...
Read more about Mystery Ancient Handprint Discovered in Jerusalem, the City of God
25 January, 2023 - 13:55 Michael Le Flem
Jutting from the deep briny mists of the mid-Atlantic, some 800 miles (1287 km) due west of Portugal, the Azores strike one as bejeweled, fern and flower-encrusted baubles in a vast expanse of blue...
Read more about Are the Misty Peaks of the Azores Remnants of the Legendary Atlantis?
12 January, 2023 - 17:57 Robbie Mitchell
8 Lost Shipwrecks That Still Hold Promise of Treasure and Fame
We all love a good mystery, and what's better than a treasure hunt? This has led many historians to an obsession with finding lost shipwrecks. Some of them do it in the hope of finding lost Spanish...
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9 January, 2023 - 13:54 Lex Leigh
There are many strange mysteries that reside in history, but one of the most unsettling is that of the Octavius ghost ship . Discovered along the coast of Greenland in 1775, the Octavius had no...
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19 November, 2022 - 00:58 dhwty
The Man from Taured, sometimes referred to as the Taured Mystery or the Man without a Country, is an urban legend about a man who arrives at a Japanese airport from an unheard of country called...
Read more about The Mysterious Man from Taured – Evidence for a Parallel Universe?
3 October, 2022 - 14:59 Robin Maxwell
Three Scientific Mysteries of Plato's Atlantis
In the early years of researching my 5-volume Gods of Atlantos Saga , I read and re-read Plato's accounts of Atlantis – his dialogues Timaeus and Critias – and was brought up short by three of his...
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On today's radio broadcast, Glenn Beck went full David Barton, claiming that one-third of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence came straight out of the Bible; more specifically, right out of the Book of Deuteronomy.
Continuing his argument from last night that the Bible is the "cookbook" of America's system of government, Beck echoed David Barton's claim that the Founding Fathers were so well-versed in the Bible that they quoted it continually in their correspondence.
Not surprisingly, this claim is also pure Barton bunk, as Chris Rodda explained back when Barton made this claim on Beck's program in 2010.
But even worse, Beck somehow managed to utterly misrepresent things even further by claiming not that one-third of the quotes from the Founders came from the Bible, which is what Barton misrepresents the original study to claim, but that one-third of our Constitution and Declaration of Independence came straight out of Deuteronomy.