Freemasons. Grand Lodge of Virginia. Free Masonry and the War: Report of the Committee Under the Resolutions of 1862, Grand Lodge of Virginia in Reference to our Relations as Masonic Bodies and as Masons, in the North and South, Growing Out of the Manner in which the Present War has been Prosecuted / Adopted by the Grand Lodge of Virginia, December 12, 1864, and ordered to be published. JOHN DOVE, Grand Secretary.
Free Masonry and the War: Report of the Committee Under the Resolutions of 1862, Grand Lodge of Virginia in Reference to our Relations as Masonic Bodies and as Masons, in the North and South, Growing Out of the Manner in which the Present War has been Prosecuted / Adopted by the Grand Lodge of Virginia, December 12, 1864, and ordered to be published. JOHN DOVE, Grand Secretary.
Richmond: Chas. H. Wynne, Printer, 1865.


#FaithCon2016! Mild-mannered blogger by day. L.A.'s leading superhero by night. Faith Herbert - aka the high-flying hero called Zephyr - has come a long way since she first set foot in the City of Angels. But nothing can prepare her for the pinnacle of all her experiences to date: California's biggest comic book convention! But even amidst a sea of fellow fans, cosplayers, and collectibles, crime waits for no man! With thousands watching and even more at stake, can Faith prevent all-pandemonium - and preserve her secret identity - when the fun turns to frenzy? Find out here as breakout star Jody Houser (DC Young Animal's Mother Panic) and acclaimed artist Pere Perez (ARCHER & ARMSTRONG) and Marguerite Sauvage (DC Comics Bombshells) launch the most talked-about new series of 2016 to astonishing new heights!


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D.A.R.E. Program Has Grown Throughout The Years To Be Much More Than Just Drug Prevention
Nov 23, 2021 | Highlights, Maine, News
Officers who teach it in schools also focus on the dangers of social media, peer pressure, bullying, and stress, and how to develop healthy life skills.
Most people can remember the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program that has been taught in schools for decades. It focuses on teaching kids about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. However, the focus has shifted throughout the years to fit current trends and help students become better versions of themselves.
Late last week, three Maine police officers from Bucksport, Veazie, and Oxford got their D.A.R.E. certificates after completing a two-week intensive training.
Bucksport's recent graduate, Officer Christopher McCrillis, said D.A.R.E. isn't just about drugs and alcohol anymore. He said it's also about teaching kids to make safe and responsible life choices.
"This whole lesson plan is about empowering. Empowering the students, kids that can benefit from being empowered. And the kids that already have those skills? For them, make them better!" McCrillis told NEWS CENTER Maine.
D.A.R.E. lessons include avoiding drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, but a significant portion of the curriculum also focuses on the dangers of social media, peer pressure, bullying, stress, and developing healthy life skills. D.A.R.E.-certified officers are also trying to build trust between law enforcement and students.
McCrillis said D.A.R.E. is the most rigorous program he has been through, but he's ready to pass onto Maine students the valuable lessons he's learned. He hopes to start teaching the D.A.R.E. program to Bucksport students from kindergarten through 12th grade starting in January.
The school program is a police officer-led series of lessons that teaches students a wide variety of topics that can help them be better versions of themselves as they grow up and make important life decisions.
"To me, it's hitting those hard issues that kids are dealing with today," McCrillis said.
DARE — the program aimed at keeping kids away from drugs is covering a lot more ground than it used to. Join me this morning on the @newscentermaine Morning Report, for a closer look! pic.twitter.com/Ug41f8FZnp
— Hannah Yechivi (@hannahyechiviTV) November 23, 2021
The original D.A.R.E. program started back in 1983 to curb the use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco among teenagers. The program is now taught in many countries worldwide.
The program was mostly reading and listening to lectures back in the day, but nowadays, it's more hands-on, according to Maine D.A.R.E. Program Coordinator Scott Cyrway. Cyrway has been teaching the program to students for decades and has seen positive results.
"It's ongoing enhancements, so as far as somebody saying, 'Well D.A.R.E. doesn't work,' they certainly haven't been looking at it closely because D.A.R.E. does work. It's science-based," Cyrway said.
Many of the lectures nowadays include students practicing tough decision-making through activities with their classmates.
"We have a lot of students who sometimes struggle with different issues and, like I said, to be able to provide another means of learning about making some good life choices, said Bucksport Middle School principal Todd West.
McCrillis, Oxford Police Officer Stephen Cronce, and Veazie Police Officer Julia Richards graduated together from the intensive training course to become D.A.R.E. certified instructors.
"I am honored to be part of the D.A.R.E. instructor generation that will challenge students to think critically and independently and empower them to stand up for their personal beliefs," Richards said. "Contrary to popular belief, D.A.R.E. is not about scaring students straight. This is 2021, and I will argue with unwavering confidence that D.A.R.E. has evolved exponentially."
Richards went on to say that the heart of D.A.R.E. resides in teaching children to make their own safe and responsible decisions based on their personal values.
D.A.R.E. has been taught in Veazie schools for nearly 20 years, and now Richards will continue it.
"It was a challenge, but it meant a lot to me to see so many officers attend that are not in an SRO capacity," Cronce told NEWS CENTER Maine in an email. "They will soon begin building relationships that will last a lifetime."
"Now that I have completed this course I plan to, not only teach D.A.R.E. to my 5th grade classes this year, but also teach the D.A.R.E. middle school curriculum to my middle school students this year," he continued. "This would be a first for our community, but I feel that it is needed in today's world.
Cyrway said you don't have to be a school resource officer to be D.A.R.E. certified. He estimates that 120 Maine schools currently have the program, but he said there are just 45 Maine officers certified to teach it, and some are teaching it to multiple schools. He said first-time schools get D.A.R.E. books for free from D.A.R.E. America.
If a school resource officer is interested in the program, Cyr said they can get trained in two weeks. Those interested can contact Cyr by emailing him at [email protected]
"This program can only enhance the school resource mission, and I'm confident because I just went through this training, and I see the effect that this can have," McCrillis said.
For more information on the D.A.R.E. program, CLICK HERE.
For a list of local D.A.R.E. communities, CLICK HERE.
From NEWS CENTER Maine
Copley's Sarah Shendy Wins International Police Award
Shendy, 37, will receive the award during the IACF Conference in Dallas Monday. The award honors 40 law enforcement officials under 40 from around the world who "demonstrate leadership, exemplify commitment to their profession, and have a positive impact on their…
Calcasieu Parish Captain Receives D.A.R.E. Lifetime Achievement Award
Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) – A Calcasieu Parish deputy is being recognized in a big way after spending the last two decades mentoring young adults as part of the D.A.R.E. program. "It is unbelievable, you know, I've done this for some many years and acknowledged so many…
Gervais Police Chief Honored
Mark Chase recently was recognized as the D.A.R.E. Law Enforcement Executive of the Year. Gervais Police Chief Mark Chase was puzzled by a recent phone call he received from the regional director of the D.A.R.E. program, asking him if he had spoken with City Manager...
30 Years of Dedication and Service to the Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program of Ohio & D.A.R.E. America
On Wednesday evening, June 15, 2022, Lloyd Bratz & Rafael Morales of D.A.R.E. America were on hand for the state of Ohio's D.A.R.E. Awards Banquet which was held at the Kalahari Resort & Conference Center in Sandusky, Ohio. At the banquet Officer Donald A. Wilson of the Springboro Police Department and Officer Ralph E. Tanner Jr. of the East Lake Police Department were recognized and presented with an award for the 30 Years of Dedication and Service to the Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program of Ohio & D.A.R.E. America.
Colonie Police Need You to Run With, Not Away from Them!
This weekend, the men and women of the Colonie Police force are asking you to run with them, not away from them! I think many of you would agree that this is a reasonable request considering how well trained they are in the art of hot pursuit. On Sunday, the men and...
D.A.R.E. logo and shirt – one of the most recognized logos in the world
How well known is the D.A.R.E. logo? It is one of the most recognized non-profit logos in the United States, if not the world. Design Hill, the world's leading creative marketplace that caters to the creative needs of businesses ranked the 50 "coolest" T-Shirts of all...
Carver has Learned Many Life Lessons as D.A.R.E. Teacher
St. Francois County Sheriff's Deputy Gary Carver has been a Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) officer for 26 years. During that time, he's worked with nearly 16,000 students at four local school districts. Carver has reached the point in his career where he…
D.A.R.E. Essay Winner Board installed in Village of Palmetto Bay
A D.A.R.E. essay winner board was installed this year in the Village of Palmetto Bay. The project was the brainchild of Officer Peter Judge and was executed by Officers Judge, Kevin Collins, and Mercy Rodriguez. The three schools that participated in the installation...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The Carhartt B460 DVB Dark Vintage Blue Relaxed Fit Straight Leg Jeans are the type of jeans you'll likely add to your list of favorites. These jeans are versatile and able to be worn for a variety of functions. They are easy to dress up with a nice shirt or sweate ... (see full details) (see specifications) #CHTB460DVB.
The Carhartt B460 DVB Dark Vintage Blue Relaxed Fit Straight Leg Jeans are the type of jeans you'll likely add to your list of favorites. These jeans are versatile and able to be worn for a variety of functions. They are easy to dress up with a nice shirt or sweater, perfect for going out to a casual dinner. Or they are great work jeans, for those rugged activities or long work days. These jeans are great because they allow you to easily move around providing you with uncompromising, long-lasting comfort.
With the great design features and amazing fit of these Carhartt Jeans, they will definitely make you one happy WorkingPerson! Plus, the dark vintage blue color looks great with almost anything! So get ready to enjoy comfort and style to the fullest with these Carhartt B460 DVB Dark Vintage Blue Relaxed Fit Straight Leg Jeans. Thank you for choosing Working Person's Store for all of your work jeans!
Please note sizes 30 - 52, 54 and 32 - 52, 54 have increased prices.
I have at least 10 pair of these pants, they are super rugged and long lasting, they never let me down. I weld, grind, work in grease, dirt and oil all day long. They always come out of the wash looking great! I have worn these for years and would recommend them to all men who work in a shop environment.!!
We bought these jeans for working on an excavating crew, and so far they have not disappointed. They appear to be well-made. The fabric is heavy-duty, but not so heavy that it feels too bulky. Hopefully they will last a long time. Carhartt clothing lives up to its reputation of durability once again.
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Short for Music and Drama Learning for Sustainability this is a Comenius Bilaterial Schools partnership between Adcote School in the UK and a school in southern Austria near Graz. Pupils and teachers from both schools will visit each other and over a ten day period develop a musical drama on a sustainability theme which will then be performed in each country. The project starts in September 2011 and runs for two years – watch out for announcements and the drama's appearing on You Tube.


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Date: 2023-04-0604/06/2023 From: Charleston Line: Carnival Price: $965 Book Now
Date: April 6, 2023 From: Charleston
Sunshine April 6th, 2023 Charleston round-trip
The Cure for Jetlag? Cruise Instead. Take the Sunshine From Charleston to Charleston This April.
Prepare yourself for four days of refreshing cruising across the sea when you embark on the Carnival Sunshine from Charleston and back again.
With this sailing you will spend time in one city, the great Nassau. This route is a standard one for the Sunshine, But April is the most popular month to sail it.
This price includes all all meals, entertainment, port charges, and taxes. No sneaky extra fees!
Based in Charleston and refurbished just two years ago in 2021, more than 3,000 passengers can be accomodated on this Destiny-Sunshine class vessel.
The Sunshine has three pools, a casino, an outdoor movie theater, a waterslide, a jacuzzi, a gym, a spa, and a minigolf course.
Since being listed thirty-one months ago, The cost of this sailing has varied between $482 and $965 for a room, inclusive of $116 in taxes and port charges. This graph displays the cost over time for all types of cabin.
This cruise includes one day in port and two days at sea. See the full itinerary below for details.
Thu, Apr 6 Charleston, SC
Fri, Apr 7 At Sea
Sat, Apr 8 Nassau, Bahamas
Mon, Apr 10 Charleston, SC
The Sunshine sails this route six times this year in addition to twenty-one times next year. This is the only ship that sails this exact route. In the accompanying graphic you can see a visualization of when this ship sails as well as the relative price.


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Q: How to pass through {{ double bracket in mustache Quick question.
I have a template that is rendered in mustache in php.
But it includes sections that are to be rendered in ICH in the client browser.
I cannot work out how to tell mustache in php not to render {{var}} that I want to pass to ICH.
IE I want to see {{variable}} in the html source so that ICH can pick it up.
How do I escape {{ to get it past the php mustache?
Sample:
<script id="user" type="text/html">
    \{\{name\}\} {{twitter}} {{{twitter}}}
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but in my html it becomes
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A: You can escape the double braces with a backslash like this
\{{ name }}

Another way is to change the delimeter temporarly like this
{{=<% %>=}}
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Sorry, I can't comment your post because of my reputation.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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The Monster Stuttering Study by Wendell Johnson
The Monster Study is an investigation that was carried out in the United States in the 1930s and aimed to find out the effects of different therapies on children with language and communication disorders.
This study has generated debates and controversies that have marked an important part of research in psychology, specifically with respect to its ethical dilemmas. Below we explain what the Monster Study is, how it was approached and what are the reasons why it is considered controversial research .
What is the Monster Studio?
The Monster Study is an investigation into language fluency disorder (stuttering) , which was conducted by the American psychologist Wendell Johnson in 1939. It was carried out under Johnson's supervision, but directly conducted by one of his graduate students, Maria Tudor.
The research was conducted at the University of Iowa and involved twenty-two orphaned children from the veterans' orphanage also in Iowa. The main goal of the study was to analyze whether stuttering could be induced and whether it could be decreased with positive reinforcement therapy.
In contrast to the brain theories that were gaining ground in his time, Wendell believed that stuttering is a learned behaviour , and that as such, it could be unlearned as well as induced.
According to the psychologist, stuttering occurs when the person listening to someone with slurred speech evaluates this as undesirable; this is perceived by the person speaking and causes him/her tension and concern.
The consequence of this tension and worry is that the speaker worsens the fluency of his speech; this generates more distress and again causes the stuttering. In other words, for Wedell stuttering is a consequence of the effort to avoid stuttering, which is caused by the pressure exerted by the listener.
The Monster Study began by selecting the 22 children who participated. Of those 22 children selected, there were 10 who had a stutter previously detected by their teachers and caregivers.
Afterwards, Tudor and his research team personally evaluated the children's speech. They generated a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 referred to the lowest fluency; and 5 referred to the highest fluency. Thus, they divided the group of children: 5 of them were assigned to an experimental group and the other 5 to a control group.
The other 12 children who participated did not have any language or communication disorder and were also randomly selected from within the orphanage . Six of these 12 children were also assigned to a control group and the other 6 to an experimental group. They were between 5 and 15 years old.
None of the children knew they were participating in research; they believed they were actually receiving therapy that would last 4 months, from January to May 1939 (the length of the study).
Maria Tudor had prepared a therapy script for each group. To half of the children she would say some sentences in positive, trying to make the children stop paying attention to the negative comments that others make about their speech; and to the other half she would say those same negative comments and emphasize every mistake in their speech .
Main results
The 22 children were divided according to whether they had a language disorder or not, into a control group and an experimental group. The children in the experimental group received speech therapy based on positive reinforcement. This included, for example, praising the fluency of their speech and words. This applied to children who had stuttering as well as to those who had little or no stuttering.
To the other half of the children, those in the control group, Tudor gave therapy based on the opposite: negative reinforcement. For example, exalted every imperfection of language, belittled speech, emphasized that they were "stuttering children" ; and if the children did not present any disorder, he told them that they were not speaking well and that they were presenting the first symptoms of stuttering.
The only conclusive result was that the participants in this last group quickly showed symptoms of anxiety, especially because of the embarrassment of speaking, which is why they began to correct each speech obsessively, and even avoid communication. Their schoolwork declined and their behavior changed towards withdrawal.
Why is it known as a "monster" study?
This study is known as a "monster" because of the ethical dilemmas it has generated . The group of children who received the therapy based on negative reinforcements, presented psychological effects that were also negative in the long term, in addition to the fact that those who already had language disorders, kept them throughout their lives.
Once the study was over, Tudor returned to the orphanage voluntarily to offer help to those who had developed anxiety and for those who had worsened their speech fluency. He even tried positive reinforcement therapy .
Likewise, Johnson apologized a year later saying that the children would surely recover in time, even though it was clear that his study had left an imprint on them.
Johnson colleagues dubbed this research the "Monster Study," calling it unacceptable that orphaned children should be used to test a hypothesis. Today, and after several similar cases, the ethical standards of research in psychology have been significantly reformulated.
After being hidden, this research came to light and caused the University of Iowa to publicly apologize in 2001 . This same university faced a demand for thousands of dollars from several of the children (now adults) who had been affected in the long term by the research.
Bibliographic references:
Goldfarb, R. (2006). Ethics. A Case Study from Fluency. Plural Publishing: USA
Polti, I. (2013). Ethics in research: analysis from a current perspective on paradigmatic cases of research in psychology. Paper presented at the V International Congress on Research and Professional Practice in Psychology. School of Psychology, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires. Online] Available at https://www.aacademica.org/000-054/51
Rodríguez, P. (2002). Stuttering from the perspective of stutterers. Central University of Venezuela. Retrieved May 12, 2018. Available at http://www.pedrorodriguez.info/documentos/Tesis_Doctoral.pdf.


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The next level: Seniors on college sports recruitment
Credit: Courtesy of Nate L'Esperance
Senior Nate L'Esperance plays baseball on the boys' varsity team. Grinnell College in Iowa recruited L'Esperance to play Division III baseball next year. "There [are] a lot of influences that are [telling me] I can do this if I work hard, and that has inspired me," L'Esperance said.
Ellie Tyska and Meredith Prince
While many seniors are scrambling to fit in college tours, interviews and applications, a few have had a chance to catch their breath. Several students have been recruited to colleges to pursue sports at a higher level. Seniors Kate Maietta, Nate L'Esperance, Jake Tyska and Abby Mitty have dreamt of continuing competitive sports in college, and they are planning on carrying on what they have learned from Wayland sports programs into their next adventure.
Maietta will be rowing Division I at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
"I've been rowing since freshman year, and I sort of always knew that I wanted to keep doing it past high school," Maietta said. "My sister got recruited, and I just thought that was a really good way to keep doing it at a competitive level."
Like Maietta, many athletes desire to continue their sport in college because of the high-level competition. L'Esperance, who will be playing baseball in Division III for Grinnell College in Iowa, is excited to compete in a different region of the country.
"[I'm looking forward to] the high competition level," L'Esperance said. "In New England, there is a decent level of competition when it comes to tournament baseball and summer baseball, but I am excited to see really high-level baseball and play it as well."
The recruitment process differs between athletes; for some, it is slow and difficult, while it is quick and easy for others. Some athletes suffer injuries during the recruiting process, which can be extremely challenging to deal with. Mitty, who will be playing Division III soccer for Union College, has suffered many injuries throughout her high school career, including a torn labrum in her shoulder and a broken arm.
"These injuries just kept on coming and I wasn't sure that I could play anymore," Mitty said. "So, up until this summer before going into senior year, I thought that I probably wasn't going to play, but I wanted to go to the Union camp one more time just to show my face. I went and I played really well and that's when the coach decided to offer me [a spot on the team]. I felt like I was really lucky because I was almost about to give up playing in college."
Despite the difficulty behind the recruitment process, many athletes still go through with it. According to Tyska, who has been recruited to play Division II lacrosse at Bentley University, the Wayland sports program helps prepare athletes to be recruited in various different ways. Tyska attributes his success to a few of his high school coaches such as lacrosse coach Marcus Craigwell and soccer coach David Gavron.
"The Wayland sports program has helped me prepare for the college path very well," Tyska said, "My coaches have been amazing, they've helped me throughout all of my four years of high school physically, mentally and academically. I mean, academics come first and that's what's more important. However, they have prepared me physically by pushing me harder [so that I can] do my best."
Alongside coaches that push athletes to work their hardest, the Wayland sports program allows athletes to compete at a high level that will prepare them for the next step into college competition.
"The Wayland-Weston crew team went to nationals, [and] we rowed at a lot of national and international level competitions," Maietta said. "I feel really ready to compete at the high level that is a Division I Ivy League sport."
As these students are about to take their first steps in the college sports path, they are each looking forward to the environment of a collegiate team. Mitty is particularly excited about the new teammates she will meet.
"I think that part of the reason why I really wanted to play in college was to be a part of a sports team," Mitty said. "Being a part of a team is my favorite thing, so I'm definitely looking forward to that the most."
Ellie Tyska, Co-Editor-in-Chief
Ellie Tyska, Class of 2021, is a third year reporter and co-editor-in-chief of WSPN. She is captain of the girls varsity soccer team and is also a co-editor-in-chief...
Meredith Prince, Co-Editor-in-Chief
Meredith Prince, Class of 2021, is a third year reporter and co-editor-in-chief of WSPN. She is a captain of the varsity softball and basketball teams...
Thomas Ali: Gearing up for success
Sasha Libenzon
ICYMI: Week of January 23 - midterms, Wayland Mini Market and 10 songs for a winter playlist
Stay Informed with WSPN With Our Newsletter
News Brief: Art exhibition and orchestra concert
Pallavi Nagesha: Spreading Indian culture through Bharatanatyam
Wayland teacher rep, School Committee member offer contrasting statements
Grace Stephenson: "We want to make a good costume. We want it to be the best."
How WHS students are working over the summer
Restaurant Review: Dudley Chateau, a Wayland staple
From one season to the next: student-athletes transition to winter sports
Warrior Weekly: Who is on the market for 2020 MLB free agency?
2019-2020 Year in Review
Professional sports are inching closer to a return


For over 20 years, Greg has helped clients achieve their creative goals with his clean, simplistic approach to photography. He specializes in food and beverage photography, capturing images for restaurant menus, packaged goods, design firms and advertising agencies.
Greg earned both his bachelor's and master's degree in commercial photography from Tx A&M Commerce (formerly East Texas State). Because of his love of photography and the success he has had in the industry, he shares his knowledge and experience teaching commercial photography as part of college curriculums.
Greg's 7500 square foot studio is located in the DFW metroplex, just 15 minutes from DFW Airport. The studio is designed with an open shooting space, a fully equipped commercial style kitchen, and an extensive prop room, allowing for large productions, room sets and multi set food and beverage shoots. A separate client work area is set up with a coffee bar, Wi-Fi, and a comfy lounging area with TV. There is ample on-site parking, with a drive up ramp into the warehouse dock door (handy for unloading on rainy days or for large truck deliveries).


Jewel tones of this lone aspen leaf at the end of autumn are a colorful introduction to the changing season. The sides of this gallery-wrapped canvas are painted black. It may be hung as is or easily framed.


Like all my fellow Muni-travelers out there: I am all for SFMTA trying to bump up its revenue in any way other than hiking Muni fares any higher.
So, my reaction at hearing SFMTA is looking to pull in funds by installing more traffic cameras on their buses and hand out more citations? Hey, if it eventually leads to Muni fares being under two bucks a ride, I'll say yes to anything.
According to SFMTA spokesperson Paul Rose, the 800+ Muni bus fleet currently has just 30 cameras in place to catch cocky drivers who choose to drive or park in transit-only lanes.
You know those people: The ones that insist on driving super slow in front of your Muni bus or train when you're already late to work. Hate those crazy people!
Rose told the Ex that SFMTA wants 300 cameras by the end of the year. And that the agency expects the number of citations to rise as SFMTA moves to outfit more and eventually all Muni vehicles with cameras.
Which is impressive, when you consider that driving in a transit lane costs $60 a pop, and parking in a transit-only lane will snag about $115 from your wallet.
Adding cameras won't be the only way that SFMTA will raise the number of citations, which has already been steadily climbing over the last three years. There are also efforts to add more transit-only lanes — like along Mission Street — with hopes of raising efficiency on all of Muni's routes.
And as long as that $76 million isn't coming out of my skinny little wallet, cheers to that.


Picture a portrait and then ditch that idea entirely. This group show of artists takes the concept of self and runs with in different directions. View your reflection through a smeared mirror, forms appear out of thread and two tyres don braided hair. It's surreal, experimental and playful. Until 18 November.
Figurative painter extraordinaire Eileen Cooper displays new work inspired by a recent performance by the English National Ballet. The energy of Cooper's style fits in perfectly with the graceful movements of the dancers to create works that feel very much in line with Cooper's previous work but taking it in an exciting direction. Until 21 November.
The talented artists of the collective combine to create works around the theme of what is the point. A spider lurks in the corner, the Tate modern is on fire and a figure forms out of plastic wire hangers. It's a diverse exhibition of great works by over 40 artists. For full transparency I shall mention that I am a trustee of Artcan. Until 15 November.
A curved seemingly organic form appears to emerge from a collection of clothes pegs and a bronze head looks vulnerable as holes have been punched out of it, while a Howard Hodgkin painting hangs between them. These are just a few of the works in this intimate group show, in a small gallery in Soho. A new find for me but a great start and hopefully more impressive exhibitions to come. Until 16 November.
Step inside this Mayfair gallery to be surrounded by large potted plants and framed drawings of 'exotic' animals such as elephants and peacocks. This is a recreation of a 70s Marcel Broodthaers installation critiquing the role of museums as acting as repositories of colonial ambition. It's an immersive show that becomes a little more disturbing once we spot we're being recorded and shown on the television in the corner. Until 18 November.
Protests against police violence on black men, a rhino with its horn savagely hacked off and a refugee's dead body floating alone in a vast sea. Hard hitting photographs that capture the traumatic year we're lived through. It's not the easiest show to stomach but it's a very important one. Until 20 November.
What happens when painting collides with digital technology? What's the point of painting when it can be created online? This exhibition show us eight painters examining this crossover from the surreal landscapes of Matthew Hansel to the glowing lines by Martin Basher that look more digital than painterly. It's a fascinating concept and each artist explores it in their own distinctive way. Until 17 November.
Diversity of works is clearly a theme in this week's top picks and there's a great selection in Waterloo at the Cello Factory. Everything from sculpture to video gets an airing and there's more to come with part 2 of the exhibition. A personal favourite is Emma Witters' sculpture of flowers made from tiny bones. Until 17 November.
All image copyright artist and gallery. World Press Photo image is copyright Jonathan Bachman.
This entry was posted in Art Reviews., The Top 5 Art Exhibitions to see this week and tagged abstract, alice black, ART, artcan, camden image gallery, canada house, cello factory, Eileen Cooper, Fine Art Society, free, Hauser and Wirth, immaterial, Marcel Broodthaers, Mayfair, portraits, royal festival hall, soho, Sophia Contemporary, Southbank Centre, the london group, what is the point, world press photo. Bookmark the permalink.


TORONTO — The Toronto Maple Leafs know they've just completed the best statistical season in franchise history.
And Frederik Andersen knows he now holds the team's all-time record for goalie wins in a season.
Andersen made 31 saves to pick up his 38th victory of the season Saturday and Toronto closed out its schedule by defeating the Montreal Canadiens 4-2.
The Leafs finished with a club-record 105 points — bettering the 103 earned in the pre-lockout 2003-04 season before the shootout was introduced to break ties — but will have to wait until the Boston Bruins play the Florida Panthers on Sunday to see where they open their next playoff chapter.
A win for the Bruins over the Panthers, who have been eliminated from postseason contention, would see Boston move into first in the Atlantic Division and set up a meeting between Tampa Bay and Toronto.
A victory in regulation for the Panthers, meanwhile, would see the Leafs and Bruins square off.
Asked if he would be watching Sunday's finale, a makeup game after Boston and Florida were snowed out in January, Andersen indicated he has other plans.
"No," he said. "I'm going to watch the Masters."
Andersen's 37 victories coming in saw him sit tied with Ed Belfour (2002-03) and Andrew Raycroft (2006-07) for the most by a Toronto goalie in a season.
"It's fun when you set goals at the beginning of the year and then you achieve some of them," Andersen said. "It goes without saying that there are bigger goals."
Leafs coach Mike Babcock was pleased to see his team come through for its goalie in a game that didn't mean anything in the standings.
"He's been a huge part of our team," Babcock said. "That record is a special, special thing."
The players observed a moment of silence before the game to honor the victims of Friday's horrific crash in Saskatchewan that saw a tractor-trailer collide with a bus carrying a junior hockey team, killing 15 people and injuring 14 others.
The Leafs and Canadiens also sported Broncos decals on their helmets.
Tied 1-1 through 40 minutes, Hyman chipped a rebound past Price just 37 seconds into the third for his 15th goal and 40th point of the season after Matthews took the initial shot.
Andersen made a good stop on Brendan Gallagher's one-timer with four minutes to go, before the Leafs went to the power play with 3:45 left when Michael McCarron hacked Matthews to the ice with the center bearing down on what could have been his 35th goal.
But Kadri wouldn't be denied with 2:50 left when he backhanded his 32nd over Price before Petry then scored his 12th with 40.2 seconds left in regulation.
Marleau put things to bed with his 27th on a Price mistake with 9.8 seconds still on the clock as the Canadiens limped to the finish line after topping the Atlantic with 103 points last season.
"We're still playing the game we love," Gallagher said. "But the games haven't been meaningful.
"Just never want to feel this (way) or go through this ever again."
Down 1-0 after Matthews extended his point streak to 10 games — he now has seven goals and seven assists over that span — late in the first, the Canadiens came close when Andersen denied Gallagher twice on a power play in the second.
"He's been unbelievable for us, probably our best player all year," Matthews said the Leafs goalie. "He's kept us in games, won us games all throughout the year and been a brick wall."
Montreal got even with 3:56 left in the second when Carr scored his sixth on a rebound.
Matthews struck on the power play with 1:55 left in the first when William Nylander wheeled down from the point, froze Price and delivered a sweet cross-ice feed for a wide-open net to get the ball rolling on a milestone night.
Now all the Leafs can do is sit and wait to find out where they'll open the playoffs next week as the Atlantic's No. 3 seed — either Boston or Tampa.
"We don't know who we're playing," Babcock said. "Both teams are very good hockey clubs.
"We're in for a great test and it should be a lot of fun."
Maple Leafs: first round of the playoffs.


Chronic stress biases behavioral strategies during decision-making: structural and physiological correlates The stress response is vital to maintain homeostasis. However, chronic stress can trigger maladaptive response and predispose to conditions ranging from neuropsychiatric disorders to everyday lapses of attention. Although previous reports have implicated chronic stress in executive function impairment, effects on decision-making processes remain to be clarified. Competing corticostriatal circuits are thought to control heterogeneous decision strategies. While the prelimbic (PL) cortex and the dorsomedial striatum (DMS, or associative striatum) have been implicated in goal-directed actions, the dorsolateral striatum (DLS, or sensorimotor striatum) has been implicated in automatic or habitual choices. We uncovered that in rats and mice chronic stress impairs the decision-making process, predisposing to habitual behavior in detriment to goal-directed strategies. We tested for action-outcome behavior in a lever pressing task and found that responses from rodents submitted to chronic stress became insensitive to both outcome devaluation and contingency degradation. Furthermore, we found that chronic stress causes opposing structural changes in associative and sensorimotor corticostriatal cricuits. Whereas chronic stress resulted in selective atrophy of pyramidal neurons in layer II/III of the PL and infralimbic (IL) sub-regions of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and in medium spiny neurons (MSNs) of the DMS, it triggered an opposite effect in MSNs of the DLS. To determine if this structural reorganization of frontostriatal circuits has functional consequences, we recorded the simultaneous activity of neuronal ensembles in mPFC, DMS and DLS of control and stressed mice during behavioral training and testing. This approach will allow us to investigate if the changes in wiring observed in the associative and sensorimotor circuits underlies changes in neural activity in these circuits that could explain the bias from goal-directed towards habitual behavior observed in stressed subjects. Dynamic reorganization of striatal circuits via region and pathway-specific plasticity during the acquisition and consolidation of a skill Learning to execute and automatize certain actions is essential for survival. The learning of novel skills by trial and error, like riding a bicycle or playing a piano, is characterized by an initial stage of rapid improvement in performance, followed by a phase of more gradual improvements as the skills are consolidated and performance asymptotes (Kargo and Nitz, 2004;Karni et al., 1998;Miyachi et al., 2002;Miyachi et al., 1997). The different phases of skill learning have distinct behavioral and physiological hallmarks (Karni et al., 1998;Kleim et al., 2004;Muellbacher et al., 2002;Shiffrin and Schneider, 1977). For example, the early fast phase is susceptible to interference, while the later, more automatic phase is more resistant to interference (Shiffrin and Schneider, 1977). After the initial acquisitin phase, the memory of how to do things is gradually consolidated and for well-learned skills it can last a lifetime. Previous studies have shown changes in neural activity in the striatum, the major input nucleus of the basal ganglia, during motor and procedural learning (Barnes et al., 2005;Brasted and Wise, 2004;Carelli et al., 1997;Doyon et al., 1996;Jenkins et al., 1994;Ungerleider et al., 2002) . Some studies also suggested that the striatal circuits and processes engaged during the early and late phases of skill learning may differ (Costa et al., 2004;Miyachi et al., 2002;Miyachi et al., 1997). For example, the DMS, which receives input primarily from association cortices such as the prefrontal cortex (McGeorge and Faull, 1989;Voorn et al., 2004), seems to be preferentially involved in the initial stages of visuomotor learning annnd during the rapid acquisition of action-outcome contingencies (Miyachi et al., 2002;Miyachi et al., 1997;Yin et al., 2005). On the other hand, the DLS, which receives inputs from sensorimotor cortex (McGeorge and Faull, 1989;Voorn et al., 2004), is critical for the more gradual acquisition of habitual and automatic behavior (Miyachi et al., 2002;Miyachi et al., 1997;Yin et al., 2004). We have recently recorded neuronal activity in the DMS and DLS regions during the different stages of skill learning in vivo, and found that the task-related activity in these striatal regions differed during the acquisition and consolidation of a novel skill, with the DMS being engaged during the early phase, and the DLS during the late phase. We confirmed the differential involvement of these striatal regions in the different stages of skill learning using selective excitotoxic lesions of the dorsal striatum. We also investigated whether the changes in striatal neural activity observed during skill learning could be mediated by synaptic plasticity or excitability changes in medium spiny projection neurons in the dorsal striatum by using an ex vivo approach, and found that learning was accompanied by long-lasting changes in glutamatergic transmission. These changes evolved dynamically during the different phases of skill learning: changes in the DMS were predominant early in training, while changes in the DLS evolved only after extensive training. In summary, our previous studies indicated that during the automatization or consolidation of a skill, there is extensive potentiation of glutamatergic transmission in MSNs from the DLS, and that this region is necessary for the performance of automatized actions and skills. Neurons from the DLS do not all project to the same downstream basal ganglia structures. Medium spiny neurons projecting preferentially to the substantia nigra (striatonigral or direct pathway), and MSNs projecting to the external globus pallidus (striatopallidal or indirect pathway) have different dopamine receptor expression, different physiological properties, and different plasticity mechanisms (Gerfen et al., 1990;Kreitzer and Malenka, 2007;Shen et al., 2008;Shen et al., 2007). Until recently, LTP induction in the striatum was thought to always depend on D1-receptor activation (Kerr and Wickens, 2001), suggesting that it occurs preferentially in D1-expressing striatonigral neurons, and less in D2-expressing striatopalidal neurons. However, recent studies have shown that LTP can occur in both MSN types via different mechanisms (Shen et al., 2008). Thus, to understand the mechanisms underlying the consolidation and automatization of skills, it is crucial to determine whether the long-lasting potentiation observed in DLS after extended training occurs in striatonigral or striatopalidal MSNs, or in both. To this end we recorded from MSNs in the DLS of D2-EGFP mice and D1-EGFP mice that are naive or extensively trained on the rotarod. These mice allow the visualization of MSNs that express D1 receptors, which are almost exclusively striatonigral, and MSNs that express D2 receptors, which are almost exclusively striatopalidal, respectively. Using the D2-EGFP mice we obtained preliminary data indicating that extensive rotarod training resulted only in a slight potentiation in the non-D2 expressing neurons (putative striatonigral MSNs, direct pathway), but in a much greater potentiation in the D2-expressing MSNs (striatopallidal, indirect pathway) in the DLS of extensively trained animals. Concomitantly, the performance of the skill became less dependent on the activation of D1 receptors. These findings demonstrate that, as a skill becomes automatized, region- and pathway-specific plasticity sculpt the circuits involved in skill performance, and could elucidate why in Parkinsons disease voluntary movements are more affected than automatized movements.


text:
Liberals Vow To Keep Debt-To-GDP Ratio In Check
Vancouver Housing Crisis: Here's What Europe Would Do To Solve It
New Infrastructure Money Coming To Municipalities: Liberals
OTTAWA — Now that the federal Liberals have shied away from their vow to keep annual deficits under $10 billion, they've latched on to another fiscal target — and this one will be much easier to meet.
The new government is suddenly talking about the debt-to-GDP ratio, promising repeatedly to keep it on a downward track every year until the next election.
The government calculates its debt-to-GDP ratio by dividing total federal debt by the overall size of the economy, as measured by nominal GDP.
It represents a government's capacity to pay back debt — and focusing on it gives politicians more spending flexibility.
By targeting debt-to-GDP, the Liberals could instead be prepared to run annual deficits of up to $25 billion in the coming years and still lower the ratio — as long as the economy grows at a decent pace, economists say.
"The government does have a fair bit of room if what they're trying to do is just see the debt-to-GDP ratio go down," said Mike Moffatt, who teaches economics at the University of Western Ontario's Ivey Business School.
"We always targeted modest deficits, we had hoped it would be around $10 billion — we will see if we will be able to hold at that level."
The adoption of the debt-to-GDP ratio as a "fiscal anchor" is not new. It was mentioned in the Liberal election platform as one of the ways to keep spending under control. The campaign rhetoric, however, largely focused on the $10-billion annual deficit.
No longer.
With uncosted election promises piling up on top of unforeseen shortfalls in the underlying fiscal plan, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has emphasized the more-reachable fiscal anchor in recent days.
"We will continue to decrease (the debt-to-GDP ratio) every single year because that's important for the fiscal health of our country," Trudeau said Wednesday, after casting further doubt on the $10-billion annual deficit target because of economic challenges.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. (Photo: CP)
Plain old math dictates the ratio can continue to fall even if the public books slide into the red — at least to a point.
That's because even if the federal debt gets fatter, the ratio will edge downwards if the economy is growing faster than the debt.
Still, in an economy battered by low commodity prices, the debt-to-GDP promise doesn't exactly look like a slam dunk, either.
Earlier this month, projections by the parliamentary budget office suggested the government could find itself running annual deficits up to $15 billion once the Liberals' costed, big-ticket election promises are factored in. On top of that, the party has also made several uncosted vows.
Then, this week, the Liberals conceded their new tax package will, in fact, drain more than $1 billion net from the treasury each year.
At the same time, economic growth is sluggish.
When considering the forecasts, Scott Clark — a former deputy minister of Finance — believes the Liberals will already be close to the threshold that would start ratcheting up the debt-to-GDP.
"Then you've got a serious problem because then no one's going to believe you," Clark said of the danger of not living up to the goal.
"Your credibility will go straight out the window because if you're going to have an anchor … you have to live up to it. As soon as you break that, the financial markets will come down on you like a ton of bricks."
The Liberal platform, which helped carry the party to victory in October, also contained a second fiscal anchor: balancing the federal books by the fourth year of its mandate.
But experts believe balancing the 2019-20 budget poses a big hurdle unless the government cuts spending or hikes taxes — or both — to overcome the weaker-than-expected economy and the pricey basket of electoral promises.
Many experts like Clark argue that lowering the debt-to-GDP ratio is a more-appropriate — and achievable — commitment for a government than a balanced-budget anchor.
The government projects the ratio will gradually fall each year from 31.1 per cent in 2015-16 to 25.2 per cent in 2020-21.
But Don Drummond, a former senior Finance Department bureaucrat, questioned the importance of striving to drop an already-low ratio that's much lower than it's been in the past.
"Who knows whether it even needs to be brought down?" said Drummond, who was assistant deputy minister of fiscal policy in the 1990s when the ratio was close to 70 per cent.
"There's nothing in the economic literature that drives you towards the notion of an optimal debt-to-GDP ratio…I think it's a second choice on their part when they can't produce the deficit target that they want. This is kind of a defensive mechanism."
Economist Moffatt, who stress-tested the fiscal numbers in the Liberals' election platform, said if nominal GDP growth returned to a more-normal level in the coming years — of about 3.5 or four per cent — then the government could probably run deficits up to $25 billion without pushing the ratio up.
For 2015, the government only expects nominal GDP to grow by 0.9 per cent largely due to the squeeze of low oil prices, according to its fall fiscal update.
That projection, an average of private-sector forecasts taken in October, also called for a turnaround of 4.1 per cent growth in 2016, 4.6 in 2017 and 4.4 in 2018.
Follow @AndyBlatchford on Twitter


Why Are My iPhone Apps Waiting Or Stuck? Here's The Real Fix!
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You're trying to update your iPhone apps, but they're stuck on waiting. Thankfully, the fix for this problem is usually very simple. In this article, I'll show you the real fixes for iPhone apps that are stuck waiting to update, both using your iPhone and using iTunes, so you can update your apps and get back to using your iPhone.
You've gone to the App Store, visited the Updates tab, and chosen Update or Update All. It's normal for apps to take a few moments to start the download process and do the update. But if it's been more than 15 minutes or so and your app icon is still grayed out with the word "waiting" underneath, it's time to do some investigating.
Your internet connection could be to blame. Your iPhone needs to be connected to the internet to download app updates, so you either need to be on a Wi-Fi network or your iPhone carrier's cellular network. The connection also has to be stable.
First, check your iPhone to make sure it isn't in Airplane Mode. To do that, go to Settings -> Airplane Mode. The box next to Airplane Mode should be white. If it's green, tap the toggle to turn it white. If your iPhone was in Airplane Mode, turning it off will automatically trigger it to reconnect to your default cellular and Wi-Fi connections.
Reconnect, give it a minute, then check on your iPhone apps. The updates should start to download, giving you a progress indicator on the app icon and in the App Store under Updates. If you don't see that and your iPhone apps are still stuck waiting, try some of our other fixes.
A lot of the time when apps are stuck waiting or not downloading on your iPhone, there's an issue with your Apple ID. Every app on your iPhone is linked to a specific Apple ID. If there's an issue with that Apple ID, apps may get stuck.
Usually, signing out and back into the App Store will fix the problem. Open Settings and scroll down to iTunes & App Store.
Then, tap on your Apple ID at the top of the screen and tap Sign Out. Finally, enter your Apple ID and password to log back in.
If you continue to have issues with that Apple ID, visit Apple's website and try logging in there. If an issue exists, something will pop-up on this webpage.
It's possible that the app had an issue trying to do the update. You can bypass this issue by uninstalling the app stuck in waiting and then reinstalling it.
There are a few different ways to delete an app. First, hold your finger over any app icon until an X appears in the upper left-hand corner of the app icons, and they start to wiggle. If the iPhone app stuck waiting has an X, tap it, and follow the prompts to uninstall the app.
If you don't see a black X, you will have to delete the app another way. If you use iTunes to buy and sync apps, you can use this program to delete an app.
To do that, open iTunes on your computer. Click the Library menu. This is located in the bar underneath File, Edit, etc. It may say Music, Movies, or another category of content.
In the dropdown Library menu, choose Apps. If Apps isn't an option, click Edit Menu and add Apps to the list.
On the apps page, you'll see a list of all the apps you've used iTunes to purchase for your device. Right click on the app and select Delete to remove it from your library and your iPhone.
Now, you can download the app again on your iPhone. The latest version of the app will include the update that the previous version tried to update to when it got stuck.
You can also delete an app in the Storage & iCloud Usage menu. To get there, go to Settings → General → iPhone Storage. If you scroll down, you'll see a list of all the apps on your iPhone. When you tap on an app, you have the option to delete or "offload" the app that's stuck waiting.
Is Your iPhone Out of Space?
Sometimes, there are iPhone apps waiting because there isn't enough room on your iPhone to download the updates. In iPhone Storage, you'll see exactly how much room is available on your iPhone and which apps are using the most memory.
Deleting apps you don't use.
Using iCloud to back up your photos and videos.
Getting rid of long text conversations.
Deleting files in apps, such as audio books, that take up a lot of space on your iPhone.
Once you make more room on your iPhone, check your iPhone apps that are waiting or try reinstalling the apps.
Software is the code that tells your iPhone what to do and when to do it. Unfortunately, software doesn't always work properly. When that's the case, it could be the reason for iPhone apps getting stuck while waiting to download updates.
A simple way to help correct a software problem on your iPhone is to restart the phone. You'd be amazed how often this simple step helps!
To restart your iPhone, hold down the power button. That's on the upper right-hand side of your iPhone. Hold it for a few seconds until the screen changes. Then, slide your finger across the part that says slide to power off. Once your iPhone is off, count to 10 and then push the power button again to restart it.
If a simple restart doesn't help, try a hard reset. To do this, hold the power button and the Home button down at the same time. When the screen changes, let go of both buttons.
Performing a hard reset on an iPhone 7 and 7 Plus is a bit different because Apple moved to a non-physical Home button. After all, the Home button on the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus doesn't work at all if it's not turned on!
To hard reset an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus, press and hold the volume down button and power button together until the Apple logo shows up on the display, and then let go of both buttons. No matter which model you have, your iPhone will restart itself once you've released both buttons!
If restarting the iPhone and a hard reset don't help, you can try resetting your iPhone's settings. This puts your software settings back to the way they were when you got your iPhone (or the latest version of your iPhone's operating system).
To do this, go to Settings → General → Reset. Choose Reset All Settings and follow the prompts on your screen.
If none of these steps help, you can back up your iPhone and then restore it. There are a few different ways to do this, but we here at Payette Forward like to suggest doing a DFU restore.
DFU stands for Default Firmware Update. If you go to a Genius Bar, this is the kind of backup and restore the Apple folks will do. But with a bit of help, you can do this yourself. Just make sure you have everything you want on your iPhone saved and backed up before you try this. Then, visit our article How To Put An iPhone In DFU Mode, The Apple Way for detailed instructions on what to do.
If your connection is solid, your settings are right, and your iPhone apps are still stuck waiting, the problem may be with the app itself or even with the App Store.
You can reach out to the app's developer with questions using the App Store. Simply go to the Updates tab and tap the name of the iPhone app that's waiting. Tap on the Reviews tab and scroll down for App Support.
Apple keeps a handy website with the status of their system. You can check this page to see if the problem is with the App Store.
iPhone Apps: No Longer Stuck!
Like many of the issues that can happen with your iPhone, when your iPhone apps are waiting to update, you have plenty of different options for fixing the problem. Tell us about your experience with getting your iPhone unstuck in the comments section below.
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Victim of fatal shooting in Fairview identified by coroner
By Rick StillionThe Daily Jeffersonian
May 9, 2018 at 2:06 PM May 9, 2018 at 2:27 PM
Authorities have identified the man shot and killed by Guernsey County sheriff's deputies Sunday afternoon in Fairview as 73-year-old Dwight Dearth, a former resident of Barnesville.
The identity released by Guernsey County Coroner Dr. Sandra Schubert.
Dearth was pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel. An autopsy was later conducted at the Licking County Coroner's Office as the request of Dr. Schubert.
The coroner cited the pending status of the investigation into the shooting for not being able to release any additional details regarding the preliminary autopsy results. The final autopsy will not be completed for approximately eight weeks.
Authorities delayed the release of the victim's name due to issues contacting his next-of-kin.
The deputies involved in the shooting when Dearth reportedly brandished a firearm, were not injured.
Guernsey County Sheriff Jeffrey Paden requested the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation conduct the investigation into the shooting.
"Our agents are trying to determine what occurred when the officers encountered the man at his home, and it will take time to complete a full investigation," said Jill Del Greco, spokesperson for the Ohio Attorney General's Office. "With a death, the investigation can take a few months. It will take several months to get a completed autopsy report, which is usually the last piece of evidence we are waiting to receive.
"Once the investigation is completed, we will hand it over to the (Guernsey County) prosecuting attorney who will look at the investigation report to determine if any criminal charges will be filed," added Del Greco.
Guernsey County sheriff's deputies were executing a doctor's order to convey Dearth to a mental health care facility when the shooting occurred at the man's Fairview home.
The actual shooting occurred approximately an hour after deputies arrived at the home, at which time the male engaged them in a stand-off that ended when deputies fatally shot him.
According to a press release from the sheriff's office, deputies were dispatched to the residence at approximately 4:45 p.m. to transport Dearth to an undisclosed hospital after a doctor at Barnesville Hospital ordered treatment for threats allegedly made by the man to harm himself.
When deputies made contact with the male, he was non-compliant and refused to exit the residence, according to reports.
Dearth initially spoke to deputies through a screened window, but deputies were eventually able to enter the home, according to the sheriff.
"As deputies attempted to de-escalate the male's behavior for nearly an hour, he ultimately brandished a firearm, pointing it at the deputies," said Paden. "Deputies responded to the threat with deadly force."
Authorities have not disclosed if one or both deputies fired shots at the residence. Nobody else was at the residence at the time of the shooting.
No additional details were available as of press time.


text:
Special Agent Larry Dale Wallace
United States Department of Justice - Drug Enforcement Administration
United States Department of Justice - Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Government
End of Watch Friday, December 19, 1975
Larry Dale Wallace
Special Agent Larry Wallace was shot and killed during an undercover drug investigation in Agana, Guam. Agent Wallace had been undercover for over three months, infiltrating a group of heroin traffickers.
Upon meeting the main target of the investigation in the parking lot of the Ada-Seiyo Market in Dededo, the suspect informed Agent Wallace that the heroin was in a home 10 minutes away. Other agents and members of the Guam Police Department moved in and arrested the suspect. The man was placed in handcuffs and into a vehicle with Agent Wallace and a second agent.
As he was being driven to the home, the man was able to produce a concealed .38 caliber handgun and opened fire, striking the other agent several times. One of the rounds passed through the agent's arm and struck Agent Wallace in the head, fatally wounding him. Despite being wounded, the other agent was able to subdue the suspect.
Special Agent Wallace had served with the Drug Enforcement Administration for five years and was assigned to the Tokyo Office.
Tour 5 years
Location Guam
Weapon Handgun; .38 caliber
narcotics, transport, undercover
{"lat":"13.5142722","lon":"144.8370745"}
Rest in peace always knowing that your service and sacrifice are always remembered by your law enforcement brethren.
Detective Cpl/3 Steven Rizzo
Delaware State Police (Retired)


Extreme Polo…..we don't think so!
We thought we would put a blog out about extreme polo today and so we started researching the subject. Our YouTube search came up with this extraordinary act which not surprisingly is called extreme polo by enriquepolo.
Ok so it may not be exactly what we had in mind to present but we thought it was so amazing that we must share it with you.
Globe of Death by Extreme Polo features five men riding their motor bikes in a minute transparent steel globe which would appear to not have enough room to swing a cat. But these five blokes – Enrique Polo, Sergio Ayres, David DaCruz, Nildo Mendes and Pedro Robatini somehow manage to achieve the impossible and drive their bikes within the globe without crashing. Impressive stuff.
So our search had to continue and eventually we found the real thing. Polo on horse back but played in the snow – in this case in Aspen, Colorado – but it doesn't look a great game, too slow with the ball being held up in the snow which inevitably gets churned up by the horses. See what you think in this video by sourtoefilms.
So our research did find some interesting and extreme forms of polo but we will save those for another day. Not wanting to leave you disappointed we thought you would appreciate watching this video by BlackWatchPoloTeam of the Black Watch Polo Team who are one of the preminent polo teams in the North American Polo League.
The team is captained by Nacho Figueras with Bautista Heguy, Matias MacDonough and Francisco de Narvaez being the other players. The Black Watch Polo Team is owned by Neil Hirsch from Florida.
The best polo players in the world come from Argentina and we were wondering why there was no polo competition at the Olmpic games until we asked an Argentinian friend who said, 'there would be no competition, despite the handicap system, for a national Argentinian team'. Bold words but he is probably right. However we note from Black Watch's website that they are entered for the 2012 summer Olympics in London…….this requires further research but polo at the Olympics would be a welcome addition….sounds rather more exciting and extreme than synchronised swimming?!!
Here is Nacho and his team mates talking about the Black Watch Polo team.


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a large candy cane, a big red apple, and an amazingly large orange, which always found its way to the toe of my stocking. What a guy!
Why couldn't Santa do this same thing for my kids? So I made a call to the North Pole and told Santa that from then on he should just stick to stocking-filling at our house; I would handle the rest. King was a little surprised that I actually had Santa's phone number and that I could boss around the big guy like that, but he accepted it without much argument.
"Yes, Ma'am. Whatever you say."
So for the past ten years or so, that's the way its been. On Christmas Eve, we open all the wonderful wrapped gifts from the family and on Christmas morning the boys' stockings are filled with random little gifts from Santa.
"Does Santa fill my stocking or do you guys do it?"
"What do you mean? Why do you ask?"
"Well, last year Santa gave me a Thor action figure. I mean, how did he know that I needed a Thor?* I wrote him a letter, but then later, after Christmas, I saw the letter in Nana's purse."
"Hmmm... Interesting.... What do you think? Do you think he's real?"
"I think you guys fill my stocking. Just like you are the Tooth Fairy."
We were kind of surprised that Santa's house of cards didn't fall when the Tooth Fairy got called out a few years back. But now, the jig was definitely up. It was time to come clean.
"Yes. We are Santa Claus. Well... Dad is Santa Claus because Mom goes to bed too early."
Later when King came home, Michael asked if he could "tell him". Curtis said, "Sure".
"Santa isn't real. Mom and Dad fill our stockings."
"No they don't. He's real."
"No, really, dude. It's them. They told me."
"Oh, yeah. I knew that. I just didn't want to ruin it for you."
I am thankful there didn't seem to be any great trauma or sense of betrayal over this revelation. However, we will continue on as usual: Santa will fill stockings on Christmas morning, because, in truth, he's still as real as he ever was.
*Jethro seems to have a taste for hammer-wielding Norse gods, as he has eaten about three of them so far.


A brilliant and unique episode which largely turns the spotlight away from the Simpson family, giving us the chance to spend a day in the life of Springfield's other residents. We see Apu leaving his post at the Kwik-E-Mart behind for five minutes of partying and merriment, Principal Skinner hosting an embarrassing dinner for Superintendent Chalmers, Cletus finding a free pair of boots for Brandine, and the Very Tall Man makes his first appearance, giving Nelson Muntz a taste of his own medicine. Best of all, though, are the hilarious segments which pastiche Pulp Fiction - Chief Wiggum, Lou and Eddie discussing the respective merits of Krustyburger and McDonalds being a particularly funny scene. All of that, and there's even time for a bit of tomfoolery with Professor Frink. This was the show at the peak of its powers, demonstrating how a living, breathing city had developed as a backdrop for its central characters.
"Chairman of Medical Board: Dr. Nick, this malpractice committee has received a few complaints against you. Of the 160 gravest charges, the most troubling are performing major operations with a knife and fork from a seafood restaurant.
Dr Nick Riviera: But I cleaned them with my napkin."
" Wiggum: Do they have Krusty partially gelatinated non-dairy gum-based beverages?
Eddie: Huh, shakes. You don't know what you're gettin'."
Getting to close to the business end, now, with this fantastic summer camp episode. Bart and Lisa have spent all year looking forward to the only camp which meets the high personal standards of Krusty the Clown. When they get there, however, they're greeted with the worst camp in the world, run by the despicable Mr Black - the nature hikes have become grim death marches, and the arts and crafts centre is, in actuality, a Dickensian workhouse. It's only when Mr Black attempts to pass off an inebriated Barney Gumble as Krusty that Bart can stand no more, and leads a revolt against the revolting camp counsellors. It's just an outstanding episode from start (Bart's vivid dream of destroying the school) to finish (a montage of Krusty leading the kids to the happiest place on Earth - Tijuana).
"Homer: Now Bart, we made this deal because I thought it would help you get good grades. And you didn't. But why should you pay for my mistake?
Bart: You mean I can go?
Homer: Yeah. I didn't want you hangin' around all summer anyway."
"Kent Brockman: Ladies and Gentleman, I've been to Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq; and I can say without hyperbole that this is a million times worse than all of them put together."
In which one of Bart's trade mark pranks backfires, and he finds himself trapped down a well. After various attempts to rescue the boy fail, the whole town (and Sting) takes part in a good old fashioned hole digging in a bid to get him out... This is the first of two episodes from the wonderful Season Three - probably my favourite season of the show. I've been rewatching that season recently, and almost every episode is fantastic, but this episode is particularly dear to my heart. It was my favourite when I was growing up, and I've seen it so many times I can practically recite every line. In fact, the jingle from the Wall-E-Weasel animatronic robots is playing in my head right now. Ready, Signor Beaverotti?
"Fisherman: With this hook, and this hunk of chocolate, I'll land your boy - and I'll clean him for free!"
"Kent Brockman: This is Kent Brockman with a special bulletin. The Lincoln Squirrel has been assassinated. We'll stay with this story all night if we have to."
Another episode from Season Three, and it's another absolute peach. When Bart and Lisa take a career aptitude test, Bart discovers that his future could lie in the world of law enforcement. Meanwhile, Lisa is devastated to learn that she has inherited a genetic condition known as 'stubbiness' from her father, dashing her dreams of becoming a famous saxophonist. This state of affairs leads to a brief role reversal, with Bart Simpson on the side of law and order as a hall monitor, and Lisa experiencing the giddy thrill of futile rebellion. This episode provides that perfect combination of sweetness and cynicism that the Simpsons, at its best, could always be relied upon to provide. It's also a brilliant demonstration of the relationship between Bart and Lisa - though they may have their differences, deep down, they know they can count on one another. Bart sums it up best in the final lines of the episode: "You got the brains and the talent to go as far as you want. And when you do, I'll be right there to borrow money."
Chief Wiggum: Looks like you just bought yourself a lottery ticket. To jail!
Wiggum: Ah, they can still hear things."
"Principal Skinner: I saw some awful things in 'Nam, but you really have to wonder at the mentality that would desecrate a helpless puma!"
"Dean Peterson: Hi there! Hello, I'm Dean Peterson, but you can call me Bobby. I just want you to know if you ever feel stressed out from studying or whatever, I'm always up for some hackey sack. Or, hey! If you just want to come by and jam, I used to be the bass player for the Pretenders.
Homer: Boy, I can't wait to take some of the starch out of that stuffed shirt."
"Dean Peterson: Hello... that sounds like a pig fainting!"
Good List, whoever you are..


People march towards Trump Tower during a protest organized by the New York Immigration Coalition.
Remittances, or cash that gets wired, is a big deal for a lot of countries around the world — including Mexico. Just in November alone, nearly $2.4 billion in cash was sent there, mostly by Mexicans and Mexican Americans working in the US. That's the most money Mexicans have sent back in a single month in the last 10 years. And it's more income than Mexico makes off oil.
I headed over to Jackson Heights, in Queens, New York, to find out why there's been this spike in remittances. This is one of the most diverse immigrant neighborhoods in the US. One block is Ecuadorean, another Mexican, the next Colombian. Today, it's raining. And underneath this train bridge, at a day laborer center, about a dozen immigrants gather, hoping for work — painting, cleaning, doing repairs. Anything. The mood is grim.
Inside the center, I find an organizer named Maritza Ortiz. "People are afraid, especially Mexicans," she says. "They fear that with the new Donald Trump administration, it'll soon [be] more expensive to send money home."
A wall dividing Mexico and the US. And Trump has said Mexico will pay for it. Mexico, of course, says it's not picking up that bill. So, Trump has suggested taxing the money immigrants send back to Mexico. That's not likely to happen, either. Imagine this scenario: Someone would have to single out the nationality of everyone wiring money back home. (Are they Mexican? Colombian? Guatemalan?) It would be a logistical nightmare, a civil rights scandal, and it would probably face resistance from Congress.
What's more likely to happen is that Trump will try to convince Congress to fund the wall. He's already hinted at that.
But here in Jackson Heights, people are not taking their chances.
At the center, a man named Arturo Gordillo walks in, soaked by the rain. He says he is sending more money back to Mexico now. He hopes he can get some work before noon, but he's happy to talk to me for a while. Gordillo says it's not just Trump's threats prompting him to send back more cash. It's Mexico's struggling economy. "Gasoline prices have skyrocketed," Gordillo says.
"Everything's getting pricier — transportation, food. In a way, that's good for us, because a weaker Mexican peso means the US dollar is worth more." So Gordillo is wiring 200 bucks home a week — up from his usual $150. "We're still uneasy, though," he says. "We want to know what's next — and we need to be prepared."
Gordillo is referring to what's also looming over many immigrants like him — the threat of deportation. Another major promise Trump has made. Manuel Castro, who runs the day laborer center, says it makes sense: "If they can secure enough money to buy a house, or maybe start a business, or a savings account in their home country, having to return will be less difficult than showing up in their home country without any money."
Basically, people are trying to get the money out while they are still here. Castro says this might backfire for the Trump administration. If no money is trickling down from the US to Latin America, more people might decide to migrate to the US.
Gordillo has not thought that far ahead. And he's got to get going — work awaits. At least for today.


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text:
Why does Oscar's iPhone even matter?
OpinionThink
Last week it was reported that investigators in the Oscar Pistorius murder case have yet to analyse the data on his iPhone, citing delays at the American law enforcement agency, the FBI.
On Friday, ENCA journalist Karyn Maughan tweeted details from Pistorius' defence lawyers, who say that they have supplied the investigators with his iCloud login details. Then, this past Sunday, yet another media outlet reported that the details police were given for Pistorius' iCloud account were incorrect.
Naturally, all three stories were repeated, ad infinitum. Most of all on the echo chamber that is the internet, where experts on Twitter and online forums shared their views. Yet, none of this really even matters. Here's why.
Firstly, one of the same media outlets that's making the cell phone its case, also reports that the state is confident of a conviction . Well, if that's true, then why the hell are they wasting time with a phone, allegedly booking tickets to the USA, and asking the FBI for special cooperation?
Secondly – and bear with me here – this is a complete media shitstorm, where facts are being confused and technical jargon is completely confounding those who are reporting on the case.
Pistorius' phone was taken into evidence from his home after he shot and killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in February last year. Presumably, investigators hope it has evidence, like photos and instant messages. Other data, such as text messages and call records could simply have been retrieved from cellular networks, so that's likely not why the phone is still being investigated.
Unfortunately for the investigators, Pistorius, like most smart iPhone users, had the phone secured with a passcode. It's unclear whether it was a simple four-digit code, which is the default on an iPhone, or a more complex passphrase that can be optionally enabled. The only reason this could possibly matter is because it calls into question Pistorius' short term memory – unlocking phones with a short passcode is muscle memory for most people.
Regardless of the finer details, there are a number of incorrect facts floating around in all these reports. These details aren't just for readers and those following the case, but to help highlight the misreporting of seemingly minor tech facts. It's doubtful whether it'll affect the outcome of the case, but when was less confusion ever a bad thing? And, sadly, it's too late to stop the media frenzy surrounding these things.
The first problem is that these new reports say Pistorius forgot his Apple ID. And this is not what was reported last year, when headlines exclaimed Pistorius had merely forgotten his phone's password. These might seem like two interchangeable terms, but they are far from the same thing. A phone passcode locks the device and encrypts its contents. An Apple ID is an account that users can create to use certain Apple services, including email, online backups, and messaging (through Apple's iMessage service). The last one is important, and I'll get to it later.
Simply having access to an Apple ID won't magically unlock Pistorius' phone. The facts here are that the state prosecutor's investigators have his phone, and that it is locked. Last year we independently verified that the phone was indeed in South Africa, and that local forensics experts were having a go at gaining access to the phone's data. It was also revealed, after Apple released its transparency report in November, that there had been no request for data from any South African government agency in the last year.
More importantly, Apple's report details the terms of the company's cooperation with governments and law enforcement agencies. From Apple's statement:
Like many companies, Apple receives requests from law enforcement agencies to provide customer information. As we have explained, any government agency demanding customer content from Apple must get a court order. When we receive such a demand, our legal team carefully reviews the order. If there is any question about the legitimacy or scope of the court order, we challenge it.
It's as simple as that. Apple has a division that receives requests from agencies and governments. Which means that the local investigators in the Pistorius case could have gone straight to Apple – as it was reported they had. It should not have been difficult, at all, for the investigators to also get a court order to back up their request. And, with a case as high-profile as this, there's very, very little reason for Apple to oppose any request for data.
There is no need to blame the FBI or recruit the expertise of those at Interpol. As far as we know, Apple doesn't require the SAPS to go through a third-party – which would not have any say in the case – to submit a request for which a process that already exists. What we do know is that there were reports last year that Apple had not even been contacted by anybody involved in the case.
Besides all of this, the resources for this very kind of scenario exist right here in South Africa. There are digital forensics experts that have the equipment and know-how to delve deep into your encrypted secrets, and they already work closely with local law enforcement agencies. Unlike most people tend to believe, the local police and experts aren't completely hapless.
Getting into a locked phone, though, has to be done in a clean way. For the average consumers there are ways of defeating the lock code, but those will alter the existing data on the device and make it unusable in a court. However, there are special forensics software suites that take care of this. And it's a simple matter of a local company using this to gain access to the device.
And even if this were a case of him forgetting his Apple ID, and not his phone's passcode, there's still no need to call in the big guns. An Apple ID is just an email address used to log into iCloud, and those (email addresses) are hardly a challenge to get a hold of. If not from some of Pistorius' many friends, then his business associates, or social media profiles. Most people use the same email address and passwords to set up services, so it'll probably have been the first stop for those in charge of getting access to Pistorius' digital records. Again, I'm illustrating the ease with which this can be done, to point out how ridiculous it is that the police allegedly resorted to recruiting help from abroad.
The question is what content is associated with that Apple ID. Assuming the phone was set up to back up over iCloud, there's an entire backup of the phone's contents there, including messages sent through iMessage, as well as backup data for messaging apps like WhatsApp. This could have all the information the investigators want – and they could restore it all to a separate iPhone, to read the contents – and that's all moot, since he's already supplied the details. They'd also not need those, if the phone was ever synced with one of Pistorius' laptops. In that case, it's as simple as using iTunes to restore a backup to a new phone, et voila.
One thing's for sure, though: investigators will be only too happy with the new iPhones and their fingerprint sensors. And in the three weeks before the trial starts, some more confusing stories are bound to bubble to the surface.
Tags: AppleApple IDCrimeEWNFBIFeaturedGovernmentiCloudiMessageInterpoliPhoneMurderOscar PistoriuspasscodePistoriusReeva SteenkampSAPSWhatsApp


How do you press through?
Does this sound familiar? Life can be so difficult. There is no easy road or detour through some of the challenges we must face. We often wonder what we did to deserve the things happening to us. Are we being punished for past mistakes? How did things get to this point? What did I do wrong? These are common questions that run through our head. However, these questions…these doubts…are the enemy's way of altering our thinking. The enemy does everything he can, to keep us from seeking and trusting God. There is nothing we can ever do, that will alter the amount of unconditional love God has for us. God never leaves us. God does not punish us. God does not cause things to happen to us on purpose. Rather, things happen to us in the freedom that comes with the gift of life.
The questions of life have been around forever. We cannot give a clear answer to the 'why', but we can give a clear answer to 'how'. How do you press through the difficulties? How do you persevere…even when you don't see the end of the road? How do you find the strength to keep pressing on? JESUS. God became flesh on this earth, for this very reason. God gave us the most precious gift of His Son so that we could have the opportunity at eternal life, forgiveness, and hope. Jesus carried our sin…the world's sin…to the cross. He died for us, and was resurrected…so that we could have the hope we have today. Jesus is that link between us in this world…and our Creator, our Heavenly Father. Anything that happens to us is never the last word. God is the deepest and last word. That word is love and eternal life with God. God loves us and is grieving with us in our pain. God is seeking us out, waiting for us to call on Him. Whisper in prayer to your Father, and ask Him to take over and help you. Reach for the hand of Jesus. Allow Jesus to walk you through the fires of life. You can face anything in this life when you allow God to be your source of hope.
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There are some ways to support a patient that are better done by friends and colleagues. This allows the family to focus on helping the patient in ways no one else can.
Offer transportation to the patient if they are being treated as an out-patient, as treatments can be tiring and patients often can't drive themselves. Sometimes family members can't take much time off work without losing salary to take a patient for treatments.
Find out what kinds of gifts the hospital will allow the patient to receive and organize friends and co-workers to send small, appropriate gifts at intervals of time.
Make a video with friends or co-workers, in which everyone records a special message for the patient; deliver it to the family or directly to the patient, if allowed.
Offer to set up a - "patient up-date" - web site or through social media (Facebook/Twitter) phone tree so the family has to contact only one person, rather than several, to keep everyone informed of the patient's progress.
If the patient is a child, speak with the family about how you can help garner support from the child's school, especially in keeping the patient connected with friends. Talk with the teachers about classmates writing cards, notes, or creating a classroom video to send to the patient while s/he is missing school.