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World Cup security Putin's top priority but threats loom
By The Associated Press June 4, 2018
MOSCOW — For President Vladimir Putin, the World Cup marks a moment of pride, a long-sought opportunity to showcase Russia's achievements and bolster its international prestige. The Russian leader has made security of the tournament the top priority, ordering an array of measures to fend off any potential threats from the ground, sea or air.
"This whole event was intended to be a soft power exercise for Russia," said Mark Galeotti, a senior fellow at the Institute for International Relations who has closely followed Russian security agencies. "The Russians are going to try to ensure they can do whatever they can to make it secure."
But despite the meticulous preparations, security challenges abound in a country that has fought a separatist insurgency in the North Caucasus, faced a spate of suicide bombing and other terror attacks for years and waged a military campaign in Syria. Radical Islamists of all stripes could be eager to target the World Cup to hurt Russia and raise their profile.
Aware of the looming danger, Russian law enforcement agencies have spent the last few years methodically preparing for the event — tracking down radical groups, installing security equipment and conducting drills.
"I can assure you that all aspects have been taken into account and we have taken note of all threats," said Alexei Sorokin, head of World Cup organizing committee. "The right balance will be found between security and comfort for fans."
As part of security measures, the authorities have introduced the so-called Fan ID — a chipped ID issued to those willing to attend the World Cup matches after a sweeping background check.
At last year's Confederations Cup, Russian authorities blacklisted 191 fans with criminal records, and just hours before the tournament began, dozens more, including members of some radical groups, were refused permission to attend the tournament.
Igor Zubov, a deputy Russian interior minister, vowed recently that police wouldn't allow any brawls and would move quickly to deport any foreign fans who violate public order.
Among other security precautions, officials went as far as to close sea ports near the cities hosting the tournament to all potentially dangerous cargo for two months from May 25 to July 25. The ban that covers various chemical components has interfered with normal operations of major auto factories and other industrial plants across Russia.
The Russian authorities also have tightened air traffic rules, broadly expanding no-flight zones near the World Cup host cities and nearby sports facilities.
The Russian Defence Ministry and the Federal Security Service (FSB), the main KGB successor agency, have deployed sophisticated anti-drone equipment in all 11 cities that would host the World Cup, including some systems that were used to protect a Russian air base in Syria from drone attacks.
The military will protect World Cup sites with an array of air defence missiles and other weapons, and squadrons of fighter jets stand ready to scramble to fend off any air attack.
The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi saw a similar set of sweeping security measures, but the Word Cup security presents a much more daunting challenge with 11 host cities across the country.
"Where Sochi was a very specific location that they could and did absolutely control access to, this is an event which is going to take place over a period of a month in a whole variety of different locations and cities around the country," Galeotti said. "Realistically speaking, it has become so much harder to control."
He noted that Russia has relied on massive security operations and screening of each person, but radical Islamists still pose a threat.
"The Russians are quite good in terms of dealing with terrorist threats, but in an age of sort of lone wolves radicalized on the Internet, with the increasing risk of Jihadism spreading among Central Asian guest workers as well, it's inevitably going to be very hard to actually try and guarantee absolute security," Galeotti said.
Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre (JTIC) also pointed in a recent report that Islamist militants, including Russian jihadists returning from Syria, pose the primary threat to the World Cup. "Although attack trends in Russia have diminished, the World Cup offers a significant aspirational target for would-be attackers," its analyst Chris Hawkins said.
Putin has estimated that about 9,000 citizens of Russia and other ex-Soviet nations have joined militants in Syria, pointing at the need to contain the threat they pose as a key reason behind the Russian military campaign in the country.
The Russian leader made it clear that authorities wouldn't hesitate to use all means available to fend off a threat.
In a recent documentary, Putin recalled an episode when he was heading to the Sochi Olympics' opening ceremony when he received a report that a hijacked passenger airliner was heading toward the city. He said he instructed the military to act in accordance with standard procedure envisaging that a plane posing a threat must be shot down if it can't be diverted.
Moments later, officials determined that the alarm was false: the incident wasn't a hijacking, merely a drunken brawl, and the plane safely proceeded to its destination in Turkey.
Russia has faced a string of terror attacks in the 2000s, stemming from the separatist wars in Chechnya and the Islamist insurgency that spread across the North Caucasus region.
They included the suicide bombing in Moscow's Domodedovo airport in January 2011 that killed 37 people and injured more than 180, twin suicide bombings on the Moscow subway in March 2010 that killed 40 people and injured more than 120 and the twin suicide bombings in Volgograd that killed 34.
Volgograd is one of the Russian cities hosting the World Cup, and its mayor, Andrei Kosolapov, vows it's now fully safe.
"We have made corrections and the security services, as well as the citizens of Volgograd always pay attention to that," he said. "We've learned from the examples of previous World Cups in other cities in other countries. I'm sure it will be the best World Cup in history."
In April 2017, a suicide bombing in St. Petersburg, another World Cup host city, left 16 dead and wounded more than 50 others. Russian authorities identified the bomber in St. Petersburg as a 22-year old Russian national born in the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan and recruited by the Islamic State group.
Galeotti noted that while Russia's top domestic security agency, the FSB, has strong intelligence resources across the North Caucasus region in Russia's south, its expertise regarding Muslim groups elsewhere in Russia and other ex-Soviet nations is significantly less solid.
"They have very, very good intelligence networks in the North Caucasus," Galeotti said. "What they are not at all so effective in is having networks in Muslim communities outside that region. The FSB has pretty much no resources and relatively little analytical expertise on Jihadism among Central Asians, and so they are relying on the intelligence they are getting from their Central Asian partners, which … isn't very good."
Russian authorities have busted numerous IS-related plots in recent months.
One of them involved a group of suspects in St. Petersburg who planned to bomb the city's landmark Kazan Cathedral and other crowded sites last fall. In December, Putin telephoned U.S. President Donald Trump to thank him for what the Kremlin described as a CIA tip that prevented the bombings in St. Petersburg.
In another recent terror plot uncovered by Russia's FSB, the agency said it nabbed several suspected members of an IS sleeper cell plotting attacks in Moscow and receiving orders from the IS in Syria via a messaging app.
Russian and Western intelligence agencies had closely exchanged information to secure the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, but such security co-operation has shrunk as Russia-West ties have plunged to post-Cold War lows over the Ukrainian crisis, the war in Syria, and, more recently, the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy and his daughter in Britain.
"I think there is still a certain amount of co-operation, but … it's more grudging, more slow and therefore it's less effective," Galeotti said.
— Vladimir Isachenkov
Recordings show negotiations with shooter
Identifying the downside of biometric security
IBM begins beta testing to teach Watson more to combat cybercrime
Brinks heist getaway driver seeks parole
Toronto to replace impromptu van attack memorials with permanent display
Calian acquires Ottawa-based cybersecurity firm


RENO, Nev. (AP) — A former schoolteacher charged with murder and attempted murder in the shootings of two unarmed trespassers at a Sparks home he owned pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
Wayne Burgarello, 73, entered the pleas at an arraignment hearing Wednesday, according to KOLO-TV. He's set to appear in court again on Oct. 15 for a status check.
Burgarello was arrested in May in the killing of Cody Devine, 34, and the serious wounding of Janai Wilson, 29, who he found inside his often-burglarized, vacant Sparks duplex in February.
Prosecutors say it was an unprovoked attack; Burgarello asserts he was defending himself. The case has drawn attention to Nevada's "stand your ground" law about using deadly force against attackers.
Burgarello was released from jail in August when he posted $150,000 bail, which had been reduced from $2 million.
At an Aug. 20 hearing in Reno, defense attorney Theresa Ristenpart said Burgarello cooperated with police the night of the shooting and repeatedly told officers he was sorry about the encounter in a rundown duplex his parents bought in 1947 in a working-class neighborhood east of Reno.
Washoe County prosecutor Bruce Hahn countered that Burgarello showed little remorse at the time of the shooting.
"He still insisted he didn't do anything wrong even though he shot and killed one man and seriously wounded a woman who was lying on the floor," Hahn said.
Ristenpart said Burgarello grabbed two handguns on Feb. 13 after a neighbor telephoned him about suspicious activity at the duplex that he said had been burglarized before and sometimes inhabited by squatters using drugs.
Burgarello said he found garbage, syringes and drug paraphernalia when he entered the darkened home, and called out several times that he was the homeowner and was armed.
When Burgarello entered a back bedroom, Devine's "arm came up like a gun" and the defendant opened fire, striking Devine and Wilson, Ristenpart said in a motion seeking the bail reduction.
Detectives say Burgarello shot Devine five times, once in the head. Hahn said evidence involving the wounds will counter the self-defense claim.
More than 30 states have self-defense laws that allow deadly force against attackers who pose an imminent threat, regardless of whether the aggressor is armed. Nevada law says the shooter cannot be the original aggressor.


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Is Free Will an Illusion?
Don't trust your instincts about free will or consciousness, experimental philosophers say
By Shaun Nichols on November 1, 2011
Credit: DAVID SENIOR
IT SEEMS OBVIOUS to me that I have free will. When I have just made a decision, say, to go to a concert, I feel that I could have chosen to do something else. Yet many philosophers say this instinct is wrong. According to their view, free will is a figment of our imagination. No one has it or ever will. Rather our choices are either determined—necessary outcomes of the events that have happened in the past—or they are random.
Our intuitions about free will, however, challenge this nihilistic view. We could, of course, simply dismiss our intuitions as wrong. But psychology suggests that doing so would be premature: our hunches often track the truth pretty well [see "The Powers and Perils of Intuition," by David G. Myers; Scientific American Mind, June/July 2007]. For example, if you do not know the answer to a question on a test, your first guess is more likely to be right. In both philosophy and science, we may feel there is something fishy about an argument or an experiment before we can identify exactly what the problem is.
The debate over free will is one example in which our intuitions conflict with scientific and philosophical arguments. Something similar holds for intuitions about consciousness, morality, and a host of other existential concerns. Typically philosophers deal with these issues through careful thought and discourse with other theorists. In the past decade, however, a small group of philosophers have adopted more data-driven methods to illuminate some of these confounding questions. These so-called experimental philosophers administer surveys, measure reaction times and image brains to understand the sources of our instincts. If we can figure out why we feel we have free will, for example, or why we think that consciousness consists of something more than patterns of neural activity in our brain, we might know whether to give credence to those feelings. That is, if we can show that our intuitions about free will emerge from an untrustworthy process, we may decide not to trust those beliefs.
Unknown Influences
To discover the psychological basis for philosophical problems, experimental philosophers often survey people about their views on charged issues. For instance, scholars have argued about whether individuals actually believe that their choices are independent of the past and the laws of nature. Experimental philosophers have tried to resolve the debate by asking study participants whether they agree with descriptions such as the following:
Imagine a universe in which everything that happens is completely caused by whatever happened before it. So what happened in the beginning of the universe caused what happened next and so on, right up to the present. If John decided to have french fries at lunch one day, this decision, like all others, was caused by what happened before it.
When surveyed, Americans say they disagree with such descriptions of the universe. From inquiries in other countries, researchers have found that Chinese, Colombians and Indians share this opinion: individual choice is not determined. Why do humans hold this view? One promising explanation is that we presume that we can generally sense all the influences on our decision making—and because we cannot detect deterministic influences, we discount them.
Of course, people do not believe they have conscious access to everything in their mind. We do not presume to intuit the causes of headaches, memory formation or visual processing. But research indicates that people do think they can access the factors affecting their choices.
Yet psychologists widely agree that unconscious processes exert a powerful influence over our choices. In one study, for example, participants solved word puzzles in which the words were either associated with rudeness or politeness. Those exposed to rudeness words were much more likely to interrupt the experimenter in a subsequent part of the task. When debriefed, none of the subjects showed any awareness that the word puzzles had affected their behavior. That scenario is just one of many in which our decisions are directed by forces lurking beneath our awareness.
Thus, ironically, because our subconscious is so powerful in other ways, we cannot truly trust it when considering our notion of free will. We still do not know conclusively that our choices are determined. Our intuition, however, provides no good reason to think that they are not. If our instinct cannot support the idea of free will, then we lose our main rationale for resisting the claim that free will is an illusion.
Is Consciousness Just a Brain Process?
Though a young movement, experimental philosophy is broad in scope. Its proponents apply their methods to varied philosophical problems, including questions about the nature of the self. For example, what (if anything) makes you the same person from childhood to adulthood? They investigate issues in ethics, too: Do people think that morality is objective, as is mathematics, and if so, why? Akin to the question of free will, they are also tackling the dissonance between our intuitions and scientific theories of consciousness.
Scientists have postulated that consciousness is populations of neurons firing in certain brain areas, no more and no less. To most people, however, it seems bizarre to think that the distinctive tang of kumquats, say, is just a pattern of neural activation.
Our instincts about consciousness are triggered by specific cues, experimental philosophers explain, among them the existence of eyes and the appearance of goal-directed behavior, but not neurons. Studies indicate that people's intuitions tell them that insects—which, of course, have eyes and show goal-directed behavior—can feel happiness, pain and anger.
The problem is that insects very likely lack the neural wherewithal for these sensations and emotions. What is more, engineers have programmed robots to display simple goal-directed behaviors, and these robots can produce the uncanny impression that they have feelings, even though the machines are not remotely plausible candidates for having awareness. In short, our instincts can lead us astray on this matter, too. Maybe consciousness does not have to be something different from—or above and beyond—brain processes.
Philosophical conflicts over such concepts as free will and consciousness often have their roots in ordinary intuitions, and the historical debates often end in stalemates. Experimental philosophers maintain that we can move past some of these impasses if we understand the nature of our gut feelings. This nascent field will probably not produce a silver bullet to fully restore or discredit our beliefs in free will and other potential illusions. But by understanding why we find certain philosophical views intuitively compelling, we might find ourselves in a position to recognize that, in some cases, we have little reason to hold onto our hunches.
This article was originally published with the title "Perspectives: Is Free Will an Illusion?" in SA Mind 22, 5, 18-19 (November 2011)
doi:10.1038/scientificamericanmind1111-18
(Further Reading)
Experimental Philosophy. Edited by J. Knobe and S. Nichols. Oxford University Press, 2008.
On the Psychological Origins of Dualism. B. Fiala, A. Arico and S. Nichols in Creating Consilience: Integrating the Sciences and Humanities. Edited by E. Slingerland and M. Collard. Oxford University Press, 2011.
SHAUN NICHOLS is a philosopher and cognitive scientist at the University of Arizona, where he directs the Experimental Philosophy Laboratory.
Mapping the Mind: Online Interactive Atlas Shows Activity of 20,000 Brain-Related Genes
September 1, 2010 — Allan R. Jones and Caroline C. Overly
How a Computer Game Is Reinventing the Science of Expertise [Video]
Your Brain in Love
February 1, 2011 — Mark Fischetti
Peace of Mind: Near-Death Experiences Now Found to Have Scientific Explanations
September 12, 2011 — Charles Q. Choi
The Hidden Potential of Autistic Kids
November 30, 2011 — Rose Eveleth

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Home | News | China
Chinese Police Have Filmed Dozens of Forced Confessions, Often After Torture: Report
A montage of televised forced confessions of dissidents, foreign human rights activists and others carried by China's state TV between July 2013 and January 2020 and documented by the rights NGO Safeguard Defenders in a submission this week to the U.N. Special Rapporteur.
State media organizations and Chinese state security police have produced dozens of televised forced "confessions" in the years since ruling Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping took power, often involving severe duress and torture, according to a recent submission to the United Nations.
A total of 87 televised confessions were identified by the rights NGO Safeguard Defenders between July 2013 and January 2020 in a submission this week to the U.N.
"Many televised confessions are the result of extreme physical or emotional coercion and thus qualify as being obtained through torture," the group said, adding that it had interviewed 17 victims whose confession had been obtained through methods qualifying as torture, including severe physical torture.
It said as many as 22 had spent up to six months in solitary confinement while the authorities were "investigating" their case, which in itself is a recognized form of torture, according to the U.N. Special Rapporteur.
It said detainees are kept in conditions that create immense stress and feelings of fear, are regularly sleep deprived under lights that are kept switched on 24 hours a day.
They may also undergo hours of interrogation during which they are subjected to beatings, electric batons, restraints and denial of bathroom breaks.
It said Simon Cheng, a former employee of the British Consulate in Hong Kong, was placed under "tremendous duress" during his detention in mainland China after he was intercepted in an international railway terminus in the city.
"[Cheng] was handcuffed and interrogated within a detention center," the report said. "Secret police coerced him to open his iPhone by grabbing his hair and forcing him to do facial recognition entry."
He was locked to a "tiger chair" while in detention, and handcuffed, shackled, blindfolded and hooded to the point of having trouble breathing when taken out for interrogation.
UK political asylum
The British government lodged a formal complaint with China over Cheng's treatment, which it said amounted to torture, and later granted him political asylum.
Told that he could be jailed for decades for subversion or rioting, Cheng was forced to perform a video confession to charge of "soliciting prostitutes." He said papers relating to his detention had the date fields left blank, so he never knew if or when he would be released.
According to Safeguard Defenders, forced TV confessions are "routinely scripted and staged," citing interviews with several victims.
The "confessions" were scripted and directed by media professionals as if they were a TV drama, with the director requiring multiple takes if the detainee didn't produce the desired effect.
Detainees are typically dressed in costume, too, the report said, citing the account of Swedish rights activist Peter Dahlin who was told to shower and put on civilian clothes before the video confession was shot.
Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing-kee and rights lawyer Wang Yu were also made to change out of their "residential surveillance at a designated location" uniform of orange top and beige sweatpants and into civilian clothing for their "confessions," it said.
"Detainees are routinely told what to say during the confession. Several methods are used, including learning lines [and] reading from a script," it said.
"The recordings are directed by the security agency. Officers tell suspects how to deliver their lines and multiple retakes are made until they are satisfied," the report said, adding that victims are also ordered to weep on camera in some cases.
Uyghurs, foreign nationals
Footage is then edited to ensure that none of the crueler details are visible. Former China-based investigator Peter Humphrey was shown in his confession tape in head-and-shoulders close-up, masking the fact that he was handcuffed, locked into a chair and sitting in a cage.
Around 60 percent of forced TV confessions are forced from rights activists, dissidents, journalists and lawyers, while the remainder are accused of a wide variety of crimes, including ethnic Uyghurs accused of "terrorism," and other suspects accused of financial crimes, drug-related offenses and homicide.
Nine of the 87 were Uyghurs while 15 were nationals of countries other than China.
As well as being broadcast on state TV in China, several "confessions" were broadcast on China's overseas Communist Party TV channels, including CGTN/CCTV-9 in English and CCTV-4 in Chinese, or by the pro-Beijing Hong Kong media, Safeguard Defenders said.
British media regulator Ofcom last month upheld a complaint from Humphrey against CGTN for treating him unfairly and infringing his privacy when it filmed his "confession." The broadcaster could now face a ban, as the interview was broadcast in the UK.
"We have upheld Peter Humphrey's complaint about programmes broadcast on CCTV News, since renamed CGTN, after we found that he was unfairly treated, and his privacy was unwarrantably infringed," an Ofcom spokesperson said.
"Among other things, the licensee failed to obtain Mr Humphrey's informed consent to take part in the interviews. And the programmes left out facts that put the reliability of his alleged confession into serious doubt."
Ofcom requires channels licensed to broadcast in the UK to enforce privacy and fairness.
Yaqiu Wang, a China researcher for the New York-based group Human Rights Watch (HRW), said the ruling was a breakthrough for campaigners seeking to highlight China's use of forced TV "confessions."
"More and more foreign governments have begun to pay attention to the situation in China now," Wang told RFA.
"It is true that forced television confessions, torture, and enforced disappearance have always been carried out (in China), but Ofcom's ruling indicates that this matter has come to the attention of authorities overseas," she said.
Reported by Chen Pinjie for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
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Former UN Official Calls For Probe of Rights Body Confirming Dissident Testimonies to China
Hong Kong Cardinal Fears City's Catholics Will Soon be Under China's Control
China Detains Hundreds for 'Rumor-Mongering' Amid Mongolian Schools Protests
Rights Lawyer Sues Over Torture, Humiliation in China's Tianjin
China Targets Chinese Overseas, Including Foreign Nationals, in Pressure Campaign: FBI's Wray
Police in China's Shaanxi Place Elderly Parents of Detained Lawyer Under House Arrest
Lawyers Hired to Defend Hong Kong Speedboat Detainees to Lose Licenses


The annual gathering of media and digital industry leaders appears to have a blind spot.
Panelists at last year's Ignition conference included WeWork co-founders Adam Neumann, center, and Miguel McKelvey. None of the panelists in the eight years of the conference has been a black woman.
Since 2010, just after Thanksgiving each year, the digital publication Business Insider has convened a conference called "Ignition" in Manhattan. The event often features media luminaries discussing the future of digital businesses. Past conferences have included people like Amazon CEO and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos (who invested in Business Insider in 2013) and Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.
In the eight years that the conference has been held, it has featured 683 panelists. That group does not include a single black woman, according to a list of panelists published online by Business Insider and reviewed by HuffPost. It is not clear if some panelists were not listed on the website, and Business Insider spokesman Mario Ruiz did not respond to a HuffPost question on the matter.
Ruiz also did not reply to multiple messages asking to confirm whether there had been a single black woman on any of the Ignition panels over the years. He told HuffPost the company aims to invite women of color every year, "including this year inviting Uber chief brand officer Bozoma Saint John, who was unable to join us." Saint John did not respond to a request for comment.
SiriusXM Radio Director of Progressive Programming Zerlina Maxwell said on Twitter that she was "not surprised" by the lack of black women among panelists.
There is a diversity gap in media and digital industries. But there is no shortage of potential invitees for a conference like Ignition, including top executives at media companies like CNN and NBC, as well as prominent black women journalists and editors. While Asian women, Latinas and other women of color have had some representation over the years at the event, black women have been left out completely.
This year's conference, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, is dubbed "The Future of Media" and features 80 panelists. Like past years, its lineup does not appear to include a single black woman. Panelists this year include New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet (who is black) and Washington Post Executive Editor Martin Baron. The conference will also feature powerful women in media, such as Janice Min, the former editor-in-chief and part-owner of The Hollywood Reporter, and Jodi Kantor, the New York Times reporter who helped break the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault accusations.


Another staple of horror stories are clowns, for similar reasons as dolls: childhood attachments blended with the uncanny valley. Caroline M. Yoachim turns this trope on its head in "The Carnival Was Eaten, All Except the Clown," where the clown is the hero.
Go to our Kickstarter for more.
Caroline M. Yoachim lives in Seattle and loves cold cloudy weather. She is the author of dozens of short stories, appearing in Fantasy & Science Fiction, Clarkesworld, Asimov's, and Lightspeed, among other places. Her debut short story collection, Seven Wonders of a Once and Future World & Other Stories, came out with Fairwood Press in 2016. For more about Caroline, check out her website. "The Carnival Was Eaten, All Except the Clown" first appeared in Electric Velocipede and was republished at Drabblecast.


text:
Discover the all-new 2019 Ford GT Supercar
There are lots of cars around the world and over the years that have worn the name "GT," but it's hard to think of many that deserve the name quite as much as the latest Ford GT. The 2019 Ford GT is a genuine supercar that should probably be more correctly referred to these days as a hypercar, but whatever you want to categorize it as, this latest incarnation of the Ford Performance icon is simply awesome. Now let's take a closer look at this Supercar.
Despite what many may think, the original Ford GT was the GT 40 endurance racing car, and it was based not on an American car, but on the British Lola Mk6. The engines were American though, and they helped the GT 40 win the 24 Hours of Le Mans on four consecutive occasions between 1966 and 1969.
Fast-forward to 2004, and after a number of race cars had been gone, Ford finally had a production 2015 model year GT roll off the production line at its Wixom plant. Sales only continued until 2007, and total production numbered just 4,038 units.
It wasn't until the 2015 North American International Auto Show that Ford unveiled an all-new second-generation GT, with production planned to get underway the following year. This is the car we now have for the 2019 model year, and as ever, production numbers are very low, the price is high, and buying one is by invitation only.
The car itself
It might be hard to believe but powering this beast of a car is that of an evolved pickup truck engine. To be fair, the engine the GT's current powerplant is derived from is the one that powers the might F-150 Raptor. That means it's a 3.5-liter V-6 twin-turbo, but in the GT's case, this sensational engine develops an incredible 647 horsepower and 550 lb.-ft. of torque, which is sent to the rear wheels through a seven-speed dual clutch transmission. Yes, there are production cars out there with more power costing considerably less than the GT, but not in a lightweight package that drives and handles like this.
Despite the fact the GT has a top speed of 217 mph, can cover the quarter-mile in 10.8 seconds and get from a standing start to 60 mph in just 2.9 seconds, it's a vehicle that drives as though you could live with has as a daily driver. Well, at least as far as driving and handling are concerned. Getting in and out, parking it, and using it for shopping, are entirely different matters.
Raj Nair, Ford's executive vice president of Product Development and chief technical officer, says of the car: "When we began work on the all-new Ford GT in 2013, the team had three goals. The first was to use it as a training ground for our engineers as we develop future engine technology and stretch our understanding of aerodynamics. Then, to push the boundaries of advanced material usage, such as lightweight carbon fiber. Finally, we set out to win the Le Mans 24 Hours, referred to by many as the ultimate test of endurance and efficiency."
If you want to know how you can have a test drive and even become one of the select few owners of a Ford GT, get in touch with us today here at the area's premier Ford dealers, Southern California Ford Dealers.
https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/products/cars/ford-gt/ford-gt.html


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Dentons advises on the sale of Minit to Microsoft
{CC46EE90-CB46-4FB9-9E64-6F5B778ADDE6}
Dentons has advised Slovakia-based Minit, a leader in process mining technology, and its shareholders in connection with the sale of the group to Microsoft. Minit currently enables businesses to transform the way they analyze, monitor and optimize their processes. Its solutions have helped businesses gain deep insights into how processes run, uncover root causes of operational challenges and help mitigate undesired process outcomes.
Minit's growth is part of the wider European success story that is playing out across the process automation sector, with many of the current front-runners coming from this side of the Atlantic.
"US technology companies are increasingly focused on Europe, particularly Central Europe, as a source of startups with cutting edge software. We've been very impressed with the Minit team and are excited to see what they can further accomplish with the backing of Microsoft," said Rob Irving, Co-chair of Dentons' Global Private Equity group.
James Dening, CEO of Minit, commented, "We are looking forward to what it means to become part of an industry leader like Microsoft and what that brings us – how we can use that scale and excellence to continue to deliver great solutions to our customers."
The multi-jurisdictional transaction team was co-led by Partner Rob Irving (Budapest) and Associate Kamran Pirani (Budapest), and supported by Partners Juraj Gyárfáš, Stanislav Durica (Bratislava), Alex Thomas (London) and Christopher Colclough (Milton Keynes), Counsel Bram Bloemers (Amsterdam), Alastair MacLeod and Sonal Khimji (London), and Associates Nick de Rooij (Amsterdam), Ivan Jelocnik (London), Sebastian Ishiguro (Budapest) and Tamás Enzsöl (Budapest).
Other recent technology deals involving US buyers that Dentons has advised on include the sales of Slovakia-based Sli.do. to Cisco Systems, Poland-based RemoteMyApp to Intel Capital and Exponea to Bloomreach.
Rob Irving
Rob Irving Partner, BudapestBudapest
D +36 1 488 5200
robert.irving@dentons.com
Kamran Pirani
Kamran Pirani Senior Associate, BudapestBudapest
kamran.pirani@dentons.com
Celine Berniard Head of Business Development - Private Equity Group, Europe
celine.berniard@dentons.com
Related practices, sectors and business issues


The biggest question in planning a trip is figuring out where to stay. You can go for big-name hotels near Great Barrington, MA, or you can go for smaller Berkshire inns in the mountains. Just minutes away from the slopes and other ideal activities, these hidden gems make for the best getaway you could ask for. Staying somewhere new might seem like a risky bet, but Great Barrington inns never disappoint. With affordable rates, clean facilities and friendly staff (not to mention their amenities!), you'll be sorry you ever considered staying elsewhere. Tucked away in the heart of Massachusetts, Great Barrington inns will become your first choice for any future trip.
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Farao is the nom de plume of Norway's Kari Jahnsen, creator of one of the most striking debut albums of 2015. We caught up with the singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist to hear more about her musical journey, and to dig deeper into the inspirations behind Till It's All Forgotten.
Hi Kari, where are you today?
I'm on a Norwegian tour at the moment. Right now, I am on my way to Bodø in northern Norway to play a show tonight.
You were born and raised in Norway, right?
Yes, I grew up in Ulnes in Valdres, a tiny village of 500 people, up in the mountains. I'm a mountain girl.
That's what I wanted to do with the album: erase what I don't like about my life and start over again.
Singing in the church choir when I was very young, along with my friends. I'm not religious at all, but it was the only place to express myself musically. I don't know if I would be a singer today if it wasn't for that.
Not at all. None of my family members are musicians. My mum listened to a lot of Norwegian country music when I was growing up, a very weird and horrible genre that's huge in Norway. My oldest brother would listen to Dire Straits and Pink Floyd, and though they are certainly not my favourites, it caught my attention as something of quality. It made me start to listen to punk/rock in my early teens and I fell in love with Dave Grohl, like girls nowadays fall in love with Justin Bieber. I was obsessed.
Who else has inspired you to make music?
I started listening to a lot of punk rock in my early teens, like Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Turbonegro and stuff like that. In my late teens I started obsessing with more alternative/indie music, like Radiohead, Sigur Rós, Björk, Flaming Lips and Sufjan Stevens. Now I'm listening to a lot of Nigerian Afrobeat and disco, like William Onyeabor for example, and also Broadcast, Gold Celeste, Jaakko Eino Kalevi, Kraftwerk and Can. Off the top of my head!
When did you begin making music yourself?
I didn't have anyone to play with in my home town, but started playing guitar by myself when I was around 16. The first time I was in a band was at the age of 19, when I moved away to study music. I remember feeling like I was a step behind the other students that had been in bands since they were early teenagers. They knew so many things that I didn't, and it made me feel insecure about being good enough.
You moved to London five years ago, right? Did you find a musical community here?
I find there's not really a sense of community in London, like you would find in smaller places like Oslo, or Reykjavik where I recorded my album. London is just too big. It's very difficult to survive as a musician, especially economically. You have to work so hard and pay so much rent, and there's not much time left to just hang out and let life inspire you. You have to schedule everything weeks in advance and your day is almost always pre planned.
It made me feel very stuck and uninspired, so I moved to Berlin earlier this year to get new inspiration, break the routine and have more space and time to work on my music. Berlin is amazing for that: so vibrant, full of artists and time just seem to go by slower there.
So, for the benefit of anyone yet to hear your debut, what can they expect?
It's a beautiful record. Did you have a strong artistic vision for it, when you began?
I didn't really have a set goal sonically, before I started to record the album. I feel like that's something almost impossible to plan in advance, at least for me. While recording you just have to hope that this magical combination of sounds finds you and leads you through the recording process, instead of the other way around.
And where do you look for inspiration for the lyrics?
The lyrics are mostly about me, but written as if they are about someone else. I was heavily inspired by my favourite film 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind', and the fact that Clementine erases her memory as soon as something gets difficult. That's what I wanted to do with the album: erase what I don't like about my life and start over again.
The album title references Lacuna Inc, the clinic that erases memories in 'Eternal Sunshine...'. The temporary album title was actually "Lacuna" for a while, before I decided on Till It's All Forgotten. I feel like it sums up what I wanted to do with the album both pre and post-recording.
Finally, what's the plan for the rest of 2015?
We will be touring around Europe through end of November, and after that I'll spend the rest of the year working on new material and taking a long awaited Christmas holiday. I also have a new Soviet disco project on the go!


text:
Belgrade and Pristina at turning points
Aleksandar Vucic, president of Serbia stated that his country will need to adhere to the Franco-German list of proposals and cannot stop Kosovo's European integration,
Miszlivetz Áron 2023.01.27.
The fight for minority rights in the EU continues at the Court of Justice
After the General Court of the European Union, on 9 November 2022, confirmed the Commission's decision refusing to take any action in the Minority SafePack Initiative,
Tárnok Balázs 2023.01.25.
The Visegrad Group is alive and kicking
The essence of V4: pursuing common interests
The case of Poland with the disciplinary chamber and the enabling conditions
Last week, EU Commissioner Didier Reynders received Polish Minister for EU Affairs Szymon Szynkowski at his office to discuss the independence of the judiciary in
Petri Bernadett 2022.11.14.
Ukraine's recovery: Marshall Plan 2.0?
In the past weeks, increasing voices from the EU and bigger member states have called out for the plans of Ukraine's post-war recovery. While war
The Daily European
Miszlivetz Áron
Quo vadis Western Balkans?
The past week for the European Union has been filled with diplomatic engagements, bilateral disputes and harsh political statements. When will Western Balkans enlargement grow into a real perspective?
The Western Balkans Summit held last week was not short of political gives and takes, especially with Bulgaria first vetoing accession talks for North Macedonia, after a couple of days, taking steps to uplift its politically motivated objection. North Macedonia referred to the failed summit as a blow to the EU's credibility, Albanian Prime Minister outright called Bulgaria a "disgrace". Russia's war with Ukraine has made the whole enlargement process more complicated, while providing Ukraine with a clear European perspective is extremely important, older candidate countries would see differing requirements (harder for them, easier for others) a problem of European political credibility questioning their decade-long institutional reforms.
Macron's reform plan which would create a so-called European Political Community received mixed reviews from those outside the block. Closer to the concept of a "European concert of nations", it would be a format to hold regular meetings on common issues of the European continent. This would be a possible EU+ format entailing a wider Europe, the EU's neighborhood and close strategic partners. The French President stated the club would explicitly hold members which share the EU's "democratic values", however how these values are defined is another question.
Nevertheless, reviving close cooperation is a beneficial idea, however those must be treated more seriously who have initiated name changes (Prespa Agreement), judicial and political reforms such as Albania or North Macedonia. The accession chapters should be dynamically advance forward while providing enough benefits to the countries in the waiting line. War-ravaged Ukraine is again a special case since it is currently fighting for national sovereignty. Only in a stable situation can the country focus on necessary anti-corruption and rule of law reforms, requirements it first must fulfill to become a full-fledged member of the European Union.
Former Greek head of state Tsipras said the EU would suffer serious geopolitical consequences if it cannot make a joint decision on the Western Balkans. Many EU members and MEPs call for unanimity in decision-making in foreign affairs, however, they are deaf-silent when it comes ensuring a clear path to the Western Balkans, as if it were not a priority. Naturally the new member states would create a leverage of Central and Eastern Europe vis-á-vis older member states. This should also reflect new realities in political decision-making and increase the political weight of Eastern Europe.
What happens after Bulgaria lifts its veto is still unknown, including Kosovo's visa liberalization and Albania's and North Macedonia's EU membership. However, if the EU regularly fails to provide the former with concrete integration plans, it not only risks of becoming incompetent, but irrelevant in the eyes of Russia, China and the US. Quick action would curb nationalistic tendencies, create a regional sentiment for integration which would be beneficial not only for the region, but national minorities living in those countries, that borders are no longer an issue, since solving the "border problem" of the Western Balkans through the Schengen-system would be the most significant step in creating long-lasting peace in the region. Hopefully EU leaders will learn from past mistakes and become forward-thinking in the short-term. The moment is now or never.
Image: https://static.dw.com/image/62237655_6.jpg
Témakörök: Balkan, European Union, veto


text:
New co-ops could help diversity grain economy
By Candace Krebs
Interest in specialty and heritage grains is on the upswing, and health concerns are driving much of it.
That was the case with Sarah Owens, who was working as a ceramic artist for the Brooklyn Botanical Garden when she developed health problems that eventually led her to seek out pro-biotic, fermented, digestion-enhancing foods.
In her case, however, the healing properties of baking sourdough bread turned out to be mental as well as physical.
"Cooking is the gateway to a meditative activity. I just got hooked on the process," she said at a book signing earlier this fall in Tulsa. "It was very creative to me. So I set out trying to find ways to bankroll my passion."
She won a James Beard award for "Sourdough", her first book on bread, and followed it up with a couple more. She also began working with artisan millers on recipe development and taught bread-making workshops around the world.
Her latest book, "Heirloom: Time Honored Techniques, Nourishing Traditions and Modern Recipes", includes recipes that are somehow both timely and timeless, such as baked root chips and liver pate, as well as throw-back foods that honor her native Tennessee, such as sumac-roasted chicken.
Owens is moving from New York City to Northern California, where she plans to develop an educational program in conjunction with a specialty flour mill there.
"I've become more interested in involving myself in the agricultural aspects, the health of the soil and the need to pass that wisdom on to the next generation," she said.
Owens, like many others, believes cooperatives will be integral to creating a more diverse grain economy with more locally adapted options.
That view is shared also by Nanna Meyer, director of the sports nutrition graduate program at University of Colorado-Colorado Springs and founder of UCCS Grain School.
Meyer plans to highlight the importance of the cooperative model at this year's Grain School, which runs January 17-19.
"Every year we have a theme, and this year's theme is create, cooperate and sustain," she said. "The most successful examples of specialty mills around the globe are all cooperative or farmer-owned."
To discuss how co-ops can help scale up production of specialty grains, she is bringing in representatives from Western Kansas' Heartland Mills as well as Denver-based Ardent Mills and co-op specialists from Rocky Mountain Farmers Union.
Collaboration is already starting to put momentum behind the fledgling effort to re-localize and diversify grain production in Colorado. A new nonprofit organization called the Colorado Grain Chain has been formed to support the heritage grain movement and raise awareness and demand for more specialty products.
Efforts are also underway to develop new processing and marketing infrastructure that could provide farmers with more direct access to the marketplace.
"The food hub in Avondale has a commercial kitchen, and it has the capacity to develop into a grain hub," Meyer noted of the repurposed Excelsior School building along U.S. Highway 50. "There's interest in using it to develop the seed cleaning aspect for farmers in the Arkansas Valley watershed who want to switch from feed corn to food corn or culinary barley or other alternative grains."
While the interest in heritage grains is a national movement, it makes sense to grow it slowly from the ground up at the local level, she said.
"I think it has to remain regional. It's just too complicated to shuffle around tons of grain," she said. "And the infrastructure to do this is something that needs to be shared."


We live in a strange world where everyone around wants to live the life they want to live but they don't in fear of the rejection they might face in the community. Scared of rejection from the world stops you from doing anything that you want to be, wear anything that you want to wear, style your life the way you want and be more real to yourself than being trapped in the world of lies. But look now we will live in the 21st century and yet some hesitate to bring their true beauty that lies inside them and they cover it up so the world will accept them. Why? Why satisfy them when you can be your own satisfaction.
We all know that being a women can be crazy but amazing. And you get to do a lot of crazy things in life, no restrictions because you're women. Be free and style your life in the way that suits you. In this huge black and white world someone needs to bring some color blast. And thanks to those ladies who try them out and set a trend as well making it more comfortable to be accepted in the world. You want to try some of the manic panic in Australia products to bring the inner diva inside you? Then go ahead and try their wide range of products. From hair styling to cosmetic you can. If you need a change in your style then confidently wear it and walk the roads with pride.
Buckle up and wear what suits your personality don't think twice about what the world is going to think, just think what you want to think about yourself. So shake it off and get into your character and rock the world with your style. Your attitude and character will be displayed through the clothes you wear. If you wear a comfy sweater when you have a badass jazz then your still hiding yourself from you and keeping yourself hidden to the world, Why not try some punk women's tank. Looks like a great idea doesn't it? Tanks and ripped jeans or shorts with your cool collection of unique jewelry and that sounds exactly like you.
For all the women who wishes to bring their unique beauty out there are many companies upbringing the value of showing your true self and provide you with the right product that you are looking for you just have to look close and get some amazing stuff to yourself and walk in confidence.
Why Are Hobbies Important To Us?


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Home > Sports > Steelers
NFL Notebook: '02 painful memory for Jets' Martin
There he stood in the backfield, same as always. Third game of the season, at Miami, ready to run.
Jets running back Curtis Martin runs for 8 yards last season against Denver. (Bill Kostroun, Associated Press)
Run? Curtis Martin could barely walk without pain shooting through his left ankle. But he simply had to play.
So he ignored his ankle, wiped away the tears that welled from the pain and kept playing. He started every game, rushing for more than 1,000 yards in the most valiant effort of his career.
"Last year was the most pain, the most hurt that I've probably had in my entire career," Martin said yesterday as Jets' training camp opened. "There's no way I feel that bad going into this season."
Martin, 30, is finally healthy after an off-season of rest. Entering his ninth season, he is confident he can keep up his blistering pace and run for 1,000 yards again. He and Barry Sanders are the only players to do it in their first eight seasons.
Martin, an Allderdice graduate, has done it with a lot less notice than Sanders, despite playing in the nation's media capital. But he ranks 15th all time in rushing with 10,361 yards. Emmitt Smith, Jerome Bettis and Marshall Faulk are the only active players with more.
But because he did not run for as many yards as he usually does, many consider last season a disappointment. Martin considers it a success because he played through the injuries.
His ankle was sprained in the first half of the season opener at Buffalo and wound up with 6 yards. He had 5 yards the next week against New England.
Then came the Miami game.
The pain was so intense, Martin said it felt like shards of glass were in his ankle.
"I was in so much pain, I laughed," Martin said. "I thought, 'I can't believe this is actually happening.' It was one of those mental pictures you never forget."
Through four games, Martin had 98 yards. His other ankle was injured in Week 7 against Cleveland. Doctors told him he should have missed 8 to 10 weeks. Yet he played every game, going through extensive treatment daily before and after practices and games.
He finished with a career-low 1,094 yards but still got into four digits.
"A lot of days I didn't feel like I could be out there," Martin said. "In that sense, it was an accomplishment."
Offensive coordinator Paul Hackett is expecting another superb season from Martin. "We're talking about one of the most extraordinary people I've been around. What you see is the determination to bounce back from what was a mediocre year for him."
Martin is not worried about age and said it is realistic to expect him to continue rushing for more than 1,000 yards.
"I always set pretty high goals," Martin said. "I have high standards."
Nose tackle to report to camp
Nose tackle Ellis Johnson has told the Atlanta Falcons that he will report to training camp Friday after abruptly leaving a mandatory minicamp 12 days ago to return to his family.
Training camp begins Friday in Greenville, S.C., and players have until midnight Thursday to check in. Ray Anderson, the Falcons' chief administrator, said, "I have spoken with his agent, and it appears Ellis has reconsidered."
Johnson, whose contract runs through 2005, returned to his farm outside Indianapolis before workouts began at team headquarters July 10. Neither he nor his agent, David Levine, has returned phone calls to The Associated Press.
"It's been an organizational effort to assure him that we would like him to be a Falcon and that he would be welcome back on Thursday," Anderson said. "I'm optimistic that he will do as he has said and report to camp ready to go and get after it."
Johnson, 29, was a first-round draft pick of the Colts in 1995 but was released at his own request Aug. 28 after his style appeared ill-suited to the defenses of Coach Tony Dungy. Atlanta signed him to a three-year, $4.3 million deal three days later.
Defensive tackle Ty Warren, New England's first draft pick, signed with the Patriots. The signing assures that Warren, who played at Texas A&M, will be in training camp when it begins Wednesday. He was the 13th overall pick in the draft. ... The Tennessee Titans signed second-round draft pick Tyrone Calico of Middle Tennessee State and third-round selection Chris Brown of Colorado to multiyear deals.
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The Collateral Damage of the War on Reality
July 5, 2017 /0 Comments/in Gender Identity/Human Development/Miscellaneous/Sexuality /by FPIW Admin
As two more recent stories indicate, the war on gender has nothing to do with bathrooms.
In the first story, a Canadian parent wants their child's birth certificate to be the first to identify a baby as neither male or female. The parent, who identifies as neither male or female, had this to say about the baby.
"I'm recognizing them as a baby and trying to give them all the love and support to be the most whole person that they can be outside of the restrictions that come with the boy box and the girl box."
While all of this started as a call for compassion for the tiny percentage of the population who feel like they are the "other" gender, it has quickly led to rejecting the idea that there is anything that can be known from one's anatomy.
But asking children to reach conclusions about things they know nothing about is self-evidently silly.
When a child asks "What am I?", it doesn't help if all the adults look back at them and ask, "I don't know, what are you?"
The adults are supposed to know things the kids don't.
Still, it could be worse.
While some parents are choosing not to impose a gender, other parents don't have the same patience.
In this story, three, queer parents of a three-year-old that they dubbed "queerspawn" have determined that their child is transgender. The author of this story describes himself as transgender and asexual. He says this about the child.
He was assigned female at birth, but his non-conforming behavior was clear and consistent from day one. It started with his hair. He hated wearing it long, and he hated it when we did anything with it. No ponytails, no braids — nothing. He also refused to wear dresses and skirts.
The child probably can't be trusted to sleep through the night without wetting the bed, but we're supposed to believe she has a grasp on gender norms as expressed through hair length and clothing and the awareness to understand both their significance, how to reject them, and the consequences of doing so.
While sure their child is transgender, they now wonder whether she will be queer as well.
I don't wish him any more marginalization and oppression than he'll already face as a trans person. But I can't help but think that if he's queer, there'll be yet another community he can join, another supportive place for him to vent about that oppression. There are other queer people who will listen and sympathize with him beyond his family. He will need those people when he gets older and flies away from us.
Some parents hope their kids have an adventure, a healthy family, a place that makes them happy, and life-long love.
Other parents label their three-year-old transgender, hope she is attracted to men, which they say would make her gay because they think she's a boy, and then hope she finds a community to vent about oppression.
Sadly, in 2017, this qualifies as parenting.
I have no doubt these parents want the best for their child.
But it's hard to know what is good for your child when your view of the world has replaced the concepts of "good" and "bad" with "preferred" or "not preferred."
We can all understand the appeal of a world is which nothing is inherently wrong, and the only possible consequences of our behavior were environmental which would allow us to manage the fallout by simply fixing the environment.
If, however, that world doesn't actually exist, if our pursuit of our preferences continues to collide with the natural laws of the universe, the only actual outcome of our pursuits will be pain.
As is usually the case when adults make mistakes, kids will end up as collateral damage in our war on reality.
https://www.fpiw.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Kory-Doty.jpg 882 924 FPIW Admin https://www.fpiw.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/lighthouse_web-180x180.png FPIW Admin2017-07-05 12:41:262017-07-05 12:41:26The Collateral Damage of the War on Reality
Is abortion constitutional? Let's ask the founders Spokane Public Schools Consider Using Planned Parenthood Sex-Ed Curriculum


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Discussion in 'Rifles, Bullets, Barrels & Ballistics' started by Jaeger476, Sep 18, 2004.
I recently discovered that my Remington Sendero 300 win mag (which was shooting about 1/3 MOA with handloads) had suffered damage to the rifling at the crown. Needless to say the accuracy went in the dumps. I sent the barreled action away to PGW Defence Technologies in Winnipeg, Manitoba to have it cut and crowned. When I received the rifle back they had cut approximately 3/4" off the end and cut a recessed muzzle crown with no bevel and lapped the bore. I set it back into the stock and tried it out. I wasn't expecting the handloads to group the same as they did but I didn't think that they would be shooting about 1 MOA . I tried a couple different loads a half grain up and down of the old load the only one that showed promise was the half grain up load. Should I keep trying to tweek the loads or should I try something else, I'm worried that if I keep going up in powder charge I'm going to get overpressure. I guaged the wear on the barrel to be about .003". The load I was using was 68.0 gr IMR 4350, 200 gr sierra BTSP seated .02" off the lands, winchester cases, 215M primers. Hunting season is here and I don't have a load that I can confidently shoot into the vitals of an animal over 400 yards.
When you have your barrel shortened, it vibrates differently and usually requires you to re-tune your loads. I think that you're headed in the right direction with the IMR-4350 but you will approach the high pressure level before you get it tuned.
Personally, I would switch to either IMR-4831 and work up to 70.6 grains per the Sierra manual or try Re-22 and work your way up to the top load listed in the link below.
This is a tough one, When I do all of my recrowning, I generally take off about 0.050" off the muzzle or enough to clean up any old crown contour there is.
I much prefer an 11 degree crown which a add a couple things of my own.
Did PGW give any explanation for the excessive barrel amputation?
I have had to do this on factory barrels that were belled out but with your rifle shooting in the 1/3 moa range this was certainly not the case. Sounds like someone made a mistake and had to cut off more barre to fix it. Pretty hard to screw up a recrowning job though.
If you came to my shop with this problem I would tell you to develope the load until you get the velocity to where it was before the problem, save 15-20 fps for the shorter barrel.
THis will give you nearly the same pressure as before which your rifle obviously liked.
Then I would start with your bullets seated where they are now and then test the load seated 0.005" less, then 0.005" less and 0.005" shorter still.
BAsically, you want to keep the same pressure and velocity but you may have to find a new sweet spot for your load length as shortening your barrel by 3/4" seems to have effected the harmonics of your barrel.
It may suprise you hwo your rifle will shoot with shorter lengths.
If this does not work, I would be a little concerned about them lapping the bore. If done correctly, this really does not take any real amount of metal off the bore, just polishes what is there.
IF done incorrectly, you can get buldges in your bore or actually over sized bores which will destroy your accuracy, especially if your bore is tighter at the throat then the muzzle end.
This can be a real pain to figure out unless you make a muzzle case and measure your muzzle diameter.
You can also take a lead bullet, pure lead is best that is close to .308 and drive it down your barrel from the chamber end.
You will actually be able to feel any variations in bore diameter as you push the bullet down the length of the barrel. In the loose spots it will be much easier to move the slug.
This is really to bad. A recrowning job should be one of the easiest accuracy enhancing proceedures to do. I only charge $15 to do it in my shop even with using live piloted bushings to match the crown to 0.0002" or less of the axis of the bore.
There is just no reason to screw it up like this.
This is a place to start, after that, may need a rebarrel job if the lapping washed your bore out to much.
Not good news but its better to know then wonder!!
Your rifle will shoot just fine. As I stated above, you just need to re-tune the load because the harmonics have changed. Nothing done to your rifle can be construed in any way as damage. Ross and Stephen know what to do to fix a rifle, there's no doubt about that at all. If you need more information about what was done and for what reasons, please call Ross and get the best information straight from the gunsmith that did the work.
Work on the new loads and if you need assistance, give a holler.
I want to get this over with now rather than wait for this to bother me more.
Ross and Stephen of PGWDTI are friends of mine, personally and professionally. More than that, they are recognized for the quality of their work around the world. The language that you use to disparage their name and condemn their work is unacceptable. You know nothing about the rifle that got sent to them and you know nothing about the conversation that they had with their customer and you assume nothing but the absolute worst about their work.
Other gunsmiths that post on public forums have the good sense, good manners and common courtesy not to condemn a fellow gunsmith out of respect and professionalism. You, on the other hand, go out of your way to make the above statements with no validation whatsoever, but work off of assumptions, when the answer can be as simple and probable as re-tuning the load. Adjusting a load for a change in a barrel has been done hundreds of thousands of times in the past and will need to happen in the future. It's not unusual at all.
There is no reason to build a case against the gunsmith such as you have done except for unadulterated self-aggrandizement. You have taken advantage of this forum to use thinly veiled "answers" as a massive self-promotion campaign for your business. Len doesn't seem to be bothered by it but I am. You need to get a new theme that isn't so intensely self-centered. The rest of us have plenty of work simply because we strive to deliver the highest quality projects that we are capable of, consistently, one job at a time. We certainly don't spend endless hours blowing our own horns trying to drag work in. All I can say is that I hope you outgrow this.
I know, Len, you don't have to tell me. But it was making me nuts. If you have to pull this, so be it. Regards to you and I hope that your toast turns out O.K.!
Crispin, I apologize if I came across the wrong way. I am in no way dis-satisfied with the work they did. In fact I am truly impressed with the amount of time it took them to finish the work. They had the work complete including the lapping of the bore which they did not charge me for within one day and believe me the job was truly professional. I assure you I will not be using any other gunsmiths in the future and would recommend them to anybody looking to have quality work done. I was merely looking for advice on the development of my load.
If anybody might know how much wear is allowable on a barrel before it is time to replace it. And as the bore opens up slightly won't the pressure drop and more powder be required to maintain that "sweet spot"?
The removal of 3/4" of barrel was required because there was ptting and damage inside the bore for almost a half inch at the muzzle. This I could see with a weak magnifying glass. As for changing powders I am going to see if I can add another half grain of powder and mess with the seating depth a little. I have had really good results with the 4350 in the past amd am reluctant to change until I've exhausted all my options first. Thanks for the input thus far guys I appreciate it.
There is absolutely no reason to apologize to me. I read your post and followed it O.K. and I'm glad that you're satisfied with th work.
I'm on the fly right now but I'll be back after while and look at your load information if you'd like.
I am sorry if I offended you with my post, I reread it and find nothing offensive at all from what I stated.
I answered the question with all the possible problems that I could think of from the information give at the time.
If the rifle was shooting 1/3 moa why would there be 3/4" taken off the barrel when obviously taking off just a few thousandths to clean up the crown would have done the job.
Because the end of the muzzle was pitted which was posted after my original response was it not.
It is also very easy to over lap a bore to make it loose in spots. I have no experience with PGW and was not stating that they ruined this barrel, only that this could be another explination for why the consistancy of this barrel went south.
The comment about "there is no reason to screw it up like this" was directed toward the unlikelyhood that recrowning would destroy the barrels accuracy potential if done with the right tools, not that PGW is not capable of performing this job as I know they are.
Now that you have hammered me and questioned my intentions and motivations on this board please allow me to respond.
I do not solicit on this board in any way unless asked for information directly by a poster or asked what a proceedure costs to do.
I am a gunsmith and I respond on this board as such. Not selling my goods but offering my experience to those that ask a question that I feel I can be of some help with.
The problem with the web is you can read into my posts whatever meaning you want to depending on your state of mind.
I assure you that I was not directing flames toward PGWs and would not do that toward any other poster on this board unless defending my postion. Even then I will give my opinion and give one that is based on factual experience just as you would do.
"Basically, you want to keep the same pressure and velocity but you may have to find a new sweet spot for your load length by shortening your barrel by 3/4" seems to have effected the harmonics of your barrel.
IT MAY SUPRISE YOU HOW YOUR RIFLE WILL SHOOT WITH SHORTER LENGTHS."
There is more before the quote in my original post which you obviously missed, I said the same ---- thing as you.
"If this does not work I would be a little concerned about the lapping of the bore."
A problem was presented and with the information offered in the original post, I give my primary opinion of what would solve the problem, tayloring the load to the new barrel length, same as your suggestion.
If that did not work then there would have obviously been more wrong with the rifle.
Your right, I did not know alot of the information about the problem before I responded but I answered honestly about what could be causing the problem from a mechanical stand point and I stand by those comments, they all could cause a rifle to perform this way.
I never did attack PGW, I never was building myself up at all, just answering the question as to what may be the problem, pure and simple.
Appearantly we both look at our work in the same manor, let the rifle and handguns do the talking. I am just answering questions which I though was the point to this board.
If I am new to the board and you feel I am stepping on your toes, I apologize but I enjoy talking with everyone on here and will continue.
From the thanks I get from many of the posters i respond to I see no reason to stop helping answer questions that are answered.
If I was blowing my own horn, would i not be starting the posts to draw attention to me? I only respond to asked questions as a whole.
Your interpritaion of my posts is your problem, not mine.
Again, you know as little about me as I do you, but you make just as many assumptions as you claim I do. If you truely knew me you would truely feel foolish for your comments toward me and toward my responses to all the posts on this board.
You may know Len very well, I do not know him at all, but I have been around long enough to know that if I was offending the owner of LRH, I would have heard about it by now and asked to stop what I was doing.
I am not looking for work, do you know what kind of head ache it would be to do work for a Canadian being a US gunsmith. I hve no reason to do this, I have no reason to drum up business this way.
I enjoy taking guns, I enjoy long range shooting and I am more then willing to share any experience I have with anyone who asks, FREE OF CHARGE!! As will you I believe.
If I offended you for some reason I am also sorry because I have never intended to do that.
I would like you to point out my history of flaming other smiths please. Show me the posts and I will admit that I did it because I do not do this.
Again, I was given certain information and asked a question on what could possibly be causing this. I gave a solid response which you refer to as, what was that, oh yes, "thinly veiled answers".
I hope someday you can get used to someone else answering questions along with you, the more the marrier in my book, to bad you feel I am stepping on your toes and offending every other smith on the planet at the same time.
You have to write to the question. The question was not specific as to the damage or the reason for the damage. Three quarters of an inch is a lot of material to remove in a recrown job, and it allows a lot of room for conjecture. I see "harmonics" as a very dubious reason for the degrade in accuracy. That much difference, unless the problem is made by hanging a straight cylinder three feet long, seems to this observer to be excessive. I'd still want to know the reason for the mysterious damage to the front end, and why the bore was lapped, given the fact that this was a proven shooter, in the first place?
I don't think fifty is shilling for business. I think the board is fortunate that professional technical people are willing to comment, give opinion (free advice) and thereby stick their neck out. Everything I have read, in my short time on this forum, by this gentleman, has been positive and helpful.
In other words, given what he had to work with, he listed several possibilities and called a spade a spade. I think that the shop that did the work should take another look at it, before the owner wears it out looking for a sweet spot.
While I'm at it I might as well ask this as well. I'm sure it's been asked before but here goes. Based on the load data above, approximately how many shots will a case last before I should toss it. I'm finding that when I'm loading shells for their fourth go around the primers are starting to slide in easier than before is this a sign that they should be replaced?
two things, Amigo. How did you damage the muzzle; and why did the shop lap the bore? Is this a factory barrel?
In my opinion, your brass life is unacceptable and it should be replaced and your load, in your gun, is probably too hot. Considering all the case prep work, I'd like to get at least six and more likely eight firings per case. Do you have associated signs, flattened or cratered primers?
There is such a thing as barrel harmonics, though, and experimenting with the powder; all things being equal, will show varying degrees of accuracy. The conventional wisdom is that Magnum chamberings shoot better with a max load. My particular 300 Win opens up the group with max charges of IMR4350, but not H4831. As you know, each gun is different.
BTW, your shop will survive any small criticism it receives here, in spite of concerns to the contrary.
Your load seems a little hot to me. This is a result of using a bit to fast a burning powder for this round bullet combo.
You can certainly use 4350 with such a load but there is much more likelyhood that you will get into pressure problems then with powders such as IMR-4831, H-4831 or Rl-22. Of the three I would choose H-4831 as it is better suited for wide temp changes without large velocity variations.
If your primers are feeling a bit loose after four firings, I feel you are puching this load about 100 fps to fast with the 4350 powder.
More then likely you could reach the same velocities you are getting now with a slightly heavier charge of the slower burning powders and do so with less pressure and usually better velocity spreads.
I look to get at least 6 firings per case with a belted magnum. If accuracy is great I will live with 5 firings but geneally I like at least 6.
One thing to remember using a VLD style bullet, velocity does not mean squat in teh whole skeem of things.
At extreme range the difference of 100 fps at the muzzle is basically meaningless out past 300 yards and generally it will add roughly three firings per case to your brass life.
My recommendation, try a bit slower powder and see what happpens with your case life.
As far as accuracy goes, if you can not find a load the rifle likes quickly, I agree with LB in that I would not burn the barrel out trying to find that magic load. It should not be that hard to find a good load quickly the way your rifle shot before the work.
If you can not find the accuracy you want get ahold of PGW and I am sure they will figure the problem out for you just as any quality shop would.
I'm not seeing any flattened primers or craters, the bolt is not much stickier after firing than before. I am also not seeing any leakage around the primers. I think I will probably try the H4831 unfortunately it is a four hour drive to get any from where I live. As for how the damage to the bore occured I have no idea I've racked my brain trying to figure it out but I couldn't come up with anything. The only thing I can say is that the particular section of the barrel that suffered damage always had a few tiny pits (like pin pricks) inside the bore (it came this way from the factory). When I contacted the Remington service department they told me if it was still shooting great I shouldn't worry about it. Not wanting to mess with the accuracy I was getting out of it I left it (would you want to mess with 1/3 MOA accuracy out of a stock factory rifle?). When I contacted the factory after I discovered the damage they told me it was possible that it was a flaw in the steel but they would have to check it at the factory or an authorized Remington repair shop (minimum two months in any of these situations) so I found a reputable gunsmith and sent it to them instead.
What is the correct sequence and wieght for torquing action screws? I have always been taught that the screws were to be tightened to 65 inch pounds in that particular type of stock (kevlar reinforced fiberglass with aluminum bedding block).


Extended runtime lighting with charging on-the-go capability! Perfect for dynamo setups, touring, or adventure rides. The Rando 500 features all of the safety innovations of the Urban lineup with the added benefit of trickle-charge capability while being used. Never be left in the dark again!


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The High Court decision in Canute was the first case to cast significant doubt on whether the 'whole person' approach taken by the Guide was supported by the wording in the SRCA. The judgment made in this case decided that under subsection 24(5) of the SRCA, there should be a separate assessment of the degree of PI for each separate injury suffered by an employee that results in a permanent impairment. This includes sequela injuries (injuries which arise from, occur subsequent to, or are caused by the initial injury or associated treatment) that satisfy the definition of injury in section 5A of the SRCA. See Chapter 5 for information regarding calculation of WPI amounts.
The High Court decision in Fellowes reinforced the judgment in Canute, and added that where two injuries result in separate impairments to separate body parts, they must be assessed separately, even if they are assessable under the same Table in the Guide. In determining whether distinct impairments to separate body parts have been suffered by the employee, the delegate must be satisfied that all conditions meet the SRCA definitions of injury, permanent and impairment and that the effects of the conditions can be isolated from one another i.e. the person is not being compensated twice for the effects of one condition.
The Full Federal Court decision in Robson reinforced that the SRCA requires an injury-based approach, and that separate injuries and their associated impairments must be assessed separately and in isolation, even if they relate to the same body part, system or function, or there is a causal relationship between the two injuries.
References are still to WPI in this manual. As the Federal Court judgment in Broadhurst v Comcare (2010) FCA 1034 states:
The High Court did not say in either Canute or Fellowes that it was not permissible to ultimately assess a measure of compensation for each impairment by reference to an assessment of the degree of whole person impairment represented by an individual impairment.
...It is now clear that what must be assessed is an individual impairment but there seems no reason why that assessment may not be expressed in terms of whole person impairment. Secondly, such an approach is the only way to avoid anomalous results...
I am satisfied, therefore, that neither Canute nor Fellowes requires a conclusion that the notion of whole person impairment may not be used to express a degree of individual impairment of an employee provided each impairment is, as required by Canute and Fellowes, assessed individually and without reduction.
Overall, careful consideration would need to be given on the basis of the medical evidence, as to whether each condition is a distinct and separate injury/disease (as defined in the SRCA). The impairment arising from each injury must individually meet the appropriate permanent impairment threshold in the SRCA for PI compensation to be payable for that injury.
URL: http://clik.dva.gov.au/military-compensation-srca-manuals-and-resources-library/permanent-impairment-handbook/ch-3-concepts/34-whole-person-impairment/342-effect-canute-fellowes-robson


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World Weather Information Service website is revamped
Information, Weather
Publish Date: 24 August 2017
A new, improved version of the World Meteorological Organization World Weather Information Service (WWIS) website has been launched. It is enhanced with more content, including current weather, times of sunrise and sunset for world cities, as well as global satellite imagery. It also features a new user interface and more responsive web design that provides a better search and browsing experience.
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Hurricane Harvey causes catastrophic floods in USA
Unprecedented rainfall totals from tropical cyclone Harvey caused catastrophic flooding in southeastern Texas and southeastern Louisiana, leaving dozens of casualties, displacing thousands and causing huge economic disruption. Warnings and advisories from the US National Hurricane Center and US National Weather Service were pivotal in the disaster mobilization effort. Large parts of southeast Texas saw more than 30-35 inches (762-889 mm) with isolated amounts up to 42 inches (1067 mm) of rain since 24 August. Cedar Bayou in Texas received 51.88 inches of rain (1.3 meters), according to the U....


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Chill Cat Chill
Mar 16, 2020 | 0
My cat Sinny has always been a real chill kinda guy. Even as a kitten I could take him outside in my arms and he wouldn't even flinch if a dog bounced up at him. He would just give them a "You are a weirdo look" and then wait for them to go away. Funny… that's the same look he often gives me. Fair enough. I walked around the campground with him in my arms yesterday, and he seemed to be enjoying himself quite a bit. It's hard for him to get around, so being able to get in a few new sights and smells was appreciated. I still haven't decided if I am having fun or not camping. It doesn't quite feel like the typical camping trip. It's very quiet here, but time with the family is quite lovely.
A Coin for Charon (A Marlowe Gentry Thriller Book 1)
by Dallas Mullican
Genre: Suspense | Crime Fiction
The media has dubbed him the Seraphim Killer, but Gabriel isn't murdering anyone?he's saving them.
Gabriel believes the gods have called him to release The Chosen – those for whom life has become an unbearable torment. He feels their suffering: his hands burn, his skull thunders, his stomach clenches. Once they are free, he places gold coins over their eyes to pay Charon for passage into Paradise.
Detective Marlowe Gentry has spent the past two years on the edge. The last serial killer he hunted murdered his wife before his eyes and left his young daughter a mute shell. Whenever she looks at him now, her dead eyes push him farther into a downward spiral of pain and regret. The Seraphim Killer is a surrogate for his revenge, a chance to forgive himself – or die trying.
Two men obsessed. One desperate to please his gods, one searching for redemption, both destined for a collision with fate.
Marked by Sin: an Urban Fantasy Novel (The Gatekeeper Chronicles Book 1)
by Debbie Cassidy, Jasmine Walt
Genre: Mythology & Folk Tales | Literature & Fiction | Action & Adventure
In an alternate London, where ancient Hindu gods rule, one woman holds humanity's fate in her blood-stained hands…
Adopted by Brahma Corp's Assassin Guild and raised as one of their own, Malina Hayes is about to make her fiftieth kill. After bringing down forty-nine of London's worst criminals, this latest job shouldn't be a big deal. But if Malina is successful, she'll receive her first milestone mark. Ascension in the ranks, better pay, and a swanky flat in Soho all sound like very good reasons to make this kill count.
But fate and destiny have different plans for Malina. Seconds away from receiving the coveted milestone mark, Malina is torn away from the world she knows and thrust onto a new path — one where the purity of her soul will determine the very fate of mankind. Trouble is, Malina's kill orders were a lie. The targets she assassinated were innocents, and each one has left a terrible stain on her soul.
Stains she must now remove, at any cost.
Atoning for the blood of fifty victims is no mean feat, especially for someone who has spent their entire life killing. But if Malina fails, the lock on the gates of the underworld will crumble to dust. And we all know what happens when a legion of demons is unleashed upon the world…
Especially when they have their sights set on you.
Scroll up and grab your copy today!
by Sydney Logan
Genre: Literature & Fiction | Family Life | Romance
Callie Franklin doesn't do one night stands.
She's far too responsible and focused on her career to ever let herself give in to temptation. But, on the eve of her best friend's wedding, she meets that temptation…
And his name is Devin McAllister.
Devin, on the other hand, has no problem with meaningless hookups. The very last thing he needs — or wants — is a relationship.
Relationships come with strings.
Relationships come with heartbreak.
A late-night encounter in the hotel's piano bar finds the two unable to resist each other. With her angelic voice and bright blue eyes, Devin's sure he's never met anyone as beautiful as his Songbird.
Six weeks later, when two pink lines confirm Callie's worst fears, she and Devin have to face the consequences of their wild weekend.
And they have to deal with each other — whether they like it or not.
With a love story that's far from traditional, Callie and Devin begin to wonder if their one-night stand could turn into something neither of them anticipated.
A happily ever after.
The Army Of Light: A Beta Sector Novel (Kestrel Saga Book 1)
by Stephen A Fender, Lynda Dietz
Genre: Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Action & Adventure
It started with an attack on a research station near the frontier region, the furthest portion of the Outer Sphere of Unified space. Then, one by one, subsequent border systems began to fall victim to the unknown attackers. Months went by before anyone in the Unified Collaboration of Systems realized what was happening. By then, it was too late.
The Kafaran had arrived.
The fighting between the two factions raged on for nearly five years. Hundreds of thousands perished, and millions of innocent beings lost their homes.
Then, nearly as quickly as the war had started, the Kafaran's inexplicably retreated to an unexplored region of space. Even with their once expansive foothold in the Milky Way now lying in ruins, it seemed to the once peaceful UCS that victory was finally theirs. Now, it was time to rebuild.
With the Galactic War now five years in the past, former fighter pilot Shawn Kestrel wasn't nearly as content in his peacetime life as he could have been. Not only was his fledgling cargo business steadily losing customers, his lone interstellar transport was fatally incapacitated, the victim of a now all too common pirate attack.
Without warning, the prudish daughter of his former commanding officer appears, informing Shawn that William has mysteriously disappeared — apparently the victim of foul play. And, as if things weren't difficult enough, a Unified Sector Command carrier quickly arrives to assert the Unified government's own self-guided interests into the disappearance.
As Shawn endeavors to put all of the pieces together, one thing becomes terrifyingly clear: the Kafaran's are no longer idle.
With the government suspiciously pressing down on him from one side, and the beautiful and enigmatic daughter driving him on from the other, Shawn Kestrel must search deep within himself to decide where his past and present loyalties lie before the universe once again erupts into all-out war.
Murder in Disguise (A Preston Barclay Mystery Book 3)
by Donn Taylor
Genre: Mystery | Literature & Fiction
Official verdict: Suicide. But why would that vigorous department chairman kill himself? To avoid disgrace? Those rumored ventures on the dark side? Some other secret life? Visiting professor Preston Barclay wonders. But his questions bring no answers, only anonymous threats. He has enough problems already, proving himself on a strange campus while radical faculty do all they can to undermine him. Worse yet, that sexy siren assigned as his assistant complicates his courtship of the beautiful Mara Thorn.
While Press keeps asking questions, Mara's research reveals a cancer of criminal activity that permeates the community and even the campus itself. The more Press questions, the more dangerous the threats against him become, and the more determined he grows to clear his friend's name.
But can Press and Mara's stumbling efforts prevail against the entrenched forces of the police, the campus radicals, and an unseen but powerful criminal organization that increasingly puts their lives in danger… ?
PreviousTriple: A Novel by Ken Follett
NextDay Two: Person


Embarking on a building project in your church can be a daunting propsect, not least with regards to navigating through the Faculty process. Join Will Jones (DAC Secretary) Revd Canon Richard Williams (DAC Chairman) and Claire Strachan (Church Buildings Development Officer) this morning for an introduction to the Faculty process, Lists A and B, and a demonstration of the Online Faculty System - the online system used to apply for permission for your church projects. The session will cover topics such as what permissions are required for particular types of projects, what to include in your application, and how the online system works.
The session is FREE and refreshments will be provided.
There is wifi at the venue so please feel free to bring a laptop or tablet if you would like to look at the Online Faculty System as we discuss it.


It is with much pleasure we report that John Dowell, President of Unifor Local 4001, was finally released from hospital on January 8, 2016, where he has been since being admitted on October 3, 2015. He is finally at home resting comfortably.
Unifor Council 4000 President Barry Kennedy went to visit Brother Dowell on December 23rd, just before Christmas. "It was a nice visit. John was crossing all his fingers hoping that he would be released in the New Year," said Kennedy. "He was allowed to return home a couple of times for a few hours only. He looked good, but was still sounding weak in his voice and he obviously lost a lot of weight. But the main thing is that he is on the road to recovery. We all thought we were going to lose him. He was really sick," explained Kennedy.
John's family extend thanks and warm wishes to the staff of the Grey Nuns Hospital in Edmonton for the incredible care they gave John during the three months he was hospitalized. John and his family want to thank everyone for their concerns and well wishes during this stressful time for their family.
Herc Kallergis, Acting President of Local 4001 extends his warm wishes to John. "I wish him a speedy recovery to good health and say, on behalf of the Local 4001 Executive and our membership, we are thankful that he is now at home", said Kallergis. Brother Kallergis will continue handling the duties of Local 4001 President until further advised.
Brother Dowell is weighing his options on his future plans for the coming months, but his first priority is his health.
All five Regional Local Unions will be holding elections this spring for various Local Executive positions, including Local Presidents and Secretary Treasurers.