A Rohingya Muslim refugee woman holds her child as they wait to go to refugee camps near the Thankhali refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Ukhia district after fleeing Burma. (Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP/Getty Images)

The Weinstein Effect is rippling out across the globe. It’s no longer just women in the United States who are speaking up about sexual harassment — their counterparts in many other countries are, too. And we’re once again seeing confirmation of a truth that is often overlooked in discussions of sexual misconduct or assault: These stories are often more about power than they are about sex. Specifically, for men in positions of power, it’s often about demonstrating the extent of their control over the vulnerable.

The same principle applies — albeit in more extreme form — when sexual violence is used as a weapon of war. The aggressor aims to impose the most extreme humiliation on his victims, to destroy their dignity, to devastate their souls. This isn’t about pleasure. It’s about the calculated and vicious exercise of power over a helpless target. This is the absolute negation of love — the exact opposite of what sex should be about.

You will be reminded of this if you can bring yourself to delve into the latest report on Burma from Human Rights Watch. It makes for a harrowing read. One of the group’s researchers has carefully documented the use of rape as an instrument of terror during the Burmese military’s recent ethnic cleansing campaign, which since August has driven more than 600,000 members of the Muslim Rohingya minority into neighboring Bangladesh.

“In every case described to us, the perpetrators were uniformed members of the security forces, almost all military personnel,” the report carefully notes. Most of the documented attacks involved gangs of soldiers attacking individual women. Nura Begum, 35, tried to prevent her four children from seeing what was happening to her. “I kept screaming and saying not to rape me in front of the children. But they did what they wanted to my body.” Akash Abdul described how she and her younger sister tried to flee after watching security forces kill the other members of their family. “As we got to the edge of the village two soldiers grabbed me,” she said. “They threw me to the ground and then raped me.” She was 14 years old.

You might think that such crimes are outliers. You would be wrong. The use of rape as a weapon of war is widespread. Thousands of women have fallen victim to it in South Sudan’s civil war. The reign of ISIS in Syria and Iraq has resulted in the wholesale sexual abuse of young women from the ancient religious community of the Yezidis. Women were also raped during the recent ethnic unrest in Burundi.

Sri Lanka’s civil war ended in 2009, but members of its Tamil minority say that they still often face torture, including rape, when targeted by security forces. Rwanda, Bosnia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo have all experienced sexual violence in recent memory; all these countries have their communities of survivors.

Men in conflict zones also fall victim to sexual violence. According to a recent story in the Guardian, post-revolutionary Libya has seen a spate of such attacks, usually involving militias from groups persecuted by the old regime taking revenge on their enemies.

Women are never exempt, though. the Guardian story also quoted one female survivor of sexual violence in Libya: “The worst thing they did to me,” she whispered, “is to rape me in front of my eldest son. Since then, he won’t speak to me.”

In the sick logic of war, rape is a highly effective weapon. Its crippling effects can last for years. By creating shame and humiliation it destroys ties within families and communities. It silences and paralyzes.

We know it’s a crime. It’s been defined as one in international law. But it’s still happening. And it will continue to happen until we can make the perpetrators truly accountable.

The case of Burma would be a good place to start. Pramila Patten, the U.N. special envoy on sexual violence in conflict, has directly accused the Burmese military of responsibility for the campaign of rape. Last week the Burmese military issued a report denying all related allegations — in terms similar to those of a Burmese officer, Col. Phone Tint, who in early September was already dismissing reports of sexual violence: “Where is the proof?” he asked. “Look at those women who are making these claims — would anyone want to rape them?”

The international community should act while these crimes are still fresh. We must demand that the Burmese government cease its ethnic cleansing campaign. Western governments should stop supplying the Burmese military with arms and aid. We must target the responsible generals with personal sanctions and move to ensure that they face justice. (The International Criminal Court is only one option.)

But let’s not forget the other victims of similar atrocities around the world. And above all, let’s make a concerted global effort to marshal money and resources for the medical and psychological care the survivors so urgently need. We should not compound past crimes by the sin of neglect.


For other people named David McKean, see David McKean (disambiguation)

David McKean (born 29 December 1963)[1] is an English illustrator, photographer, comic book artist, graphic designer, filmmaker and musician. His work incorporates drawing, painting, photography, collage, found objects, digital art and sculpture. McKean's projects include illustrating books by amongst others Neil Gaiman, Heston Blumenthal, Ray Bradbury and Stephen King, and directing three feature films.

Career [ edit ]

Comics [ edit ]

After a trip to New York City in 1986 during which he first showed his work to editors at Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and Continuity Comics, McKean met writer Neil Gaiman, and the pair collaborated on a short graphic novel of disturbing childhood memories, Violent Cases, published in 1987.[2] This was followed in 1988 by a Black Orchid miniseries[3][4] and Hellblazer covers for DC Comics.[5][6]

In 1989, he illustrated the Batman graphic novel, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, with writer Grant Morrison.[7] Comics historian Les Daniels observed that "Arkham Asylum was an unprecedented success, selling 182,166 copies in hardcover and another 85,047 in paperback...McKean produced 120 pages of paintings for Arkham Asylum, offering powerful visual reinterpretations of the classic characters."[8] From 1989–1997 McKean produced the covers for Gaiman's celebrated series The Sandman, all its collected editions, and many of its spin-offs.[9][10] In 1998, the cover images from The Sandman were released as one compiled volume titled Dustcovers: The Collected Sandman Covers.[11] Further collaborations with Gaiman produced the graphic novels Signal to Noise in 1992 previously serialised in The Face magazine, about a dying filmmaker and his hypothetical last film; and The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch, which explored similar themes as Violent Cases through the imagery of the Punch and Judy show. In 1995 McKean wrote and illustrated a book for The Rolling Stones called Voodoo Lounge to tie-in with the release of their album of the same name.[6]

Between 1990 and 1996, McKean wrote and drew the ten issues of Cages, an ambitious graphic novel about artists and creativity, illustrated in a stripped-down pen-and-ink style influenced by Alberto Breccia, José Antonio Muñoz and Lorenzo Mattotti.[12] Cages was published as single volume by Kitchen Sink Press in 1998, and in a new edition by NBM Publishing in 2002. In 2010, Cages was released by Dark Horse Comics in paperback. An anniversary edition was released in 2016 by the same publisher, featuring a new introduction by Terry Gilliam.[6]

McKean's collections of short comics Pictures That Tick, and Pictures That Tick 2: Exhibition[13] were published by Dark Horse Comics in 2009 and 2015. Pictures That Tick won the Victoria and Albert Museum Illustrated Book of the Year award.

McKean created a wordless erotic graphic novel called Celluloid[14] for Delcourt, which was published in the United States by Fantagraphics Books.

Black Dog: The Dreams of Paul Nash, which was a commission by the 14-18 Now Foundation, The Imperial War Museum and The Lakes International Comic art Festival, was released as an artist's edition in June 2016, and was published in October 2016 by Dark Horse Comics as an oversized hardback and regular paperback. The project was also a live performance featuring cellist/singer Matthew Sharp and violinist Clare Haythornthwaite, and was performed in Amiens, Kendal, London, Rye and Ashford.

Illustration [ edit ]

McKean designed the posters for the Raindance Film Festival[15] for five consecutive years between 1996–2000. In 1997 he wrote, directed and edited a ninety-second trailer for the festival. In 2005, McKean designed the poster for the 32nd Telluride Film Festival. In 2006, he designed projections, sets and directed film clips for the Broadway musical Lestat, adapted from Anne Rice's novels, with music and lyrics by Elton John and Bernie Taupin.

McKean has created a few books documenting his travels using only illustrations. Examples include Postcards from Vienna, Postcards from Barcelona, Postcards from Paris (2008), Postcards from Brussels (2009), Postcards from Perugia (2011), Postcards from Bilbao (2012). He created another book of 200 pages called Squink (éditions BdArtist(e)) that gathered a number of drawings in 15 chapters.

C.D. and book covers [ edit ]

McKean created C.D. covers for many artists, amongst others for Alice Cooper, Altan, Tori Amos, Download, Frontline Assembly, Paradise Lost, Dream Theater, Skinny Puppy,[16] Toad the Wet Sprocket and Steve Walsh. He made book covers for Jonathan Carroll, Iain Sinclair and Alan Moore.

Books of photography [ edit ]

He has published four books of photography:

A Small Book of Black and White Lies (1995)

(1995) Option: Click (1998)

(1998) The Particle Tarot: The Major Arcana

The Particle Tarot: The Minor Arcana

Work with John Cale [ edit ]

McKean designed and illustrated John Cale's autobiography What's Welsh for Zen, a further biography called Sedition and Alchemy, a box set of C.D.s called Circus Live, and used John's Welsh-by-way-of-New York voice as the narrator for his short film N[eon].

Children's picture books [ edit ]

McKean has collaborated with Neil Gaiman on four children's picture books, The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish (1998), The Wolves in the Walls (2003), Crazy Hair (2009), and Mirrormask (2005), and illustrated Gaiman's children's novels Coraline (2002) and The Graveyard Book (2008), as well as S. F. Said's Varjak Paw (2003), Outlaw Varjak Paw (2006) and Phoenix (2013). The Wolves in the Walls: a Musical Pandemonium premiered as a play in Glasgow in 2006 with Improbable and the National Theatre of Scotland. The National Theatre of Scotland adapted The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish into a promenade performance for young people in 2013. He illustrated David Almond's The Savage published in April 2008, Slog's Dad published in September 2010, and Mouse Bird Snake Wolf (2013). In 2011, McKean collaborated with Richard Dawkins on The Magic of Reality, an introduction to critical thinking and science for children.[17] McKean also illustrated Ray Bradbury's The Homecoming (2006).

The Fat Duck Cookbook [ edit ]

In 2008, McKean collaborated with Heston Blumenthal on The Fat Duck Cookbook, an autobiography, compilation of key recipes and insight into Blumenthal's scientific method. The book was nominated in the James Beard Foundation Awards for Cooking from a Professional Point of View and won the Photography/Illustration award. In 2014, McKean collaborated again with Blumenthal and writer Pascal Clariss on Historical Heston, a collection of historically inspired recipes. The book won two James Beard Foundation Awards. McKean is the Director of Story at The Fat Duck, and helped to relaunch the restaurant after its refurbishment in 2015. He has created package designs, maps, menu designs and murals for The Fat Duck, as well as Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in London and Melbourne.

Stamps [ edit ]

McKean created six images for the Royal Mail's Mythical Creatures collection, which featured depictions of mythical creatures found in British folklore, including dragons, unicorns, giants, pixies, mermaids, and fairies. The collection was released in the UK on 16 June 2009. The Presentation Pack contains short descriptions of each subject by author Neil Gaiman.[18]

Films [ edit ]

MirrorMask, McKean's first feature film as director, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2005. The screenplay was written by Neil Gaiman, from a story by Gaiman and McKean. A children's fantasy which combines live action and digital animation, MirrorMask was produced by Jim Henson Studios and stars a British cast Stephanie Leonidas, Jason Barry, Rob Brydon, and Gina McKee. Before MirrorMask, McKean directed a number of television intros and music videos as well as several short films, such as The Week Before (1998) and N[eon] (2002),[19] which are included in the compilation DVD of McKean's work Keanoshow from Allen Spiegel Fine Arts. McKean has directed The Gospel of Us, a film of the National Theatre Wales's Passion play in Port Talbot which stars Michael Sheen.[20] A new feature film, Luna,[21] written and directed by McKean and starring Stephanie Leonidas, Ben Daniels, Dervla Kirwan and Michael Maloney debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2014.

McKean was a concept artist on the TV mini-series Neverwhere (1996), which was created and co-written by Neil Gaiman, and the feature films Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005).

Theatre and Live Performance [ edit ]

McKean wrote and performed a song cycle called Nine Lives[22] at the Sydney Opera House as part of the Graphic Festival. This was also performed at the British Library and at LICAF.

McKean wrote the text for Wildworks' Wolf's Child[23] site-specific theatre work as part of the Norwich Theatre Festival in 2015.

An Ape's Progress [24] was a commission by the Manchester Literature/Jazz Festivals in 2015, and was created by poet Matthew Sweeney, composer/saxophone player Iain Ballamy, cellist Matthew Sharp, singer Emilia Martensson, accordionist Stian Carstensen, and pianist Kit Downes, with McKean providing film projections and keyboards. A book of the work accompanied the show.

Black Dog: The Dreams of Paul Nash [25] is a multi-media, music, song and performance work commissioned by 14-18 Now Foundation and LICAF. McKean performs as narrator and pianist, Matthew Sharp as performer, singer and cellist, and Clare Haythornthwaite as violinist/performer. It was premiered in Amiens, and has been performed in Kendal. In 2016 it was performed in Rye, Ashford and at Tate Modern.

Jazz label [ edit ]

McKean founded the record label Feral Records[26] with saxophonist Iain Ballamy.

Awards [ edit ]

McKean has won numerous awards and accolades. Over the years, he has been nominated five times for a World Fantasy Award in the category of "Artist", and he won the award in 1991.[27] His graphic novel Cages won the Alph-Art, Pantera, and Harvey Awards for best Graphic Novel.[28] He has been nominated six times and won three Spectrum Awards in the categories of "Advertising", "Book", and "Comic".[29] His collection of short comics, Pictures That Tick won the V&A Museum Illustrated Book Awards Overall First Prize.[28] In 2004, McKean won a BSFA Award in "Short Fiction" along with Neil Gaiman for their work, The Wolves in the Walls. His film MirrorMask was nominated for the William Shatner Golden Groundhog Award for Best Underground Movie, the other nominated films were Green Street Hooligans, Nine Lives, Up for Grabs and Opie Gets Laid.[30] Luna won Best British Feature at the Raindance Festival Awards,[31] and also the Raindance Award at the Möet British Independent Film Awards.[32] In 2017 Mckean was the inaugural recipient of the "Sergio Aragones International Award for Excellence in Comic Art", given as part of The Lakes International Comic Art Festival.[33]


Scotland's leader Alex Salmond will on Saturday urge Scots to put aside party politics in the vote on independence, as he tries to win support from Labour rivals for his bid to leave the United Kingdom.

In an address to the Scottish National Party's (SNP) last conference before a September 18 referendum, Salmond will stress that a vote for independence is not a vote for him or his party but a way to put Scotland's future in its own hands.

His appeal comes after a narrowing in opinion polls that has for the first time made a vote for independence look a possibility, with both sides trying to persuade the up to 15 percent of voters who remain undecided.

Salmond will promise to set up an all-party "Team Scotland" group after any "Yes" vote, to negotiate the terms of independence by March 24, 2016.

His promise is an appeal to Scottish Labour voters, many of whom bitterly oppose the SNP, which won the first majority government of Scotland's devolved parliament in a landslide victory in 2011.

"A Yes vote in September is not a vote for me, or for an SNP government in 2016 (at the next Scottish election)," Salmond is expected to tell 1,200 party faithful gathered in Aberdeen, the oil capital of Scotland, for the two-day conference.

"It's a vote for a government in Scotland that the people of Scotland choose, pursuing policies the people of Scotland support."

Keep updated: Sign up to our newsletter Email * Please enter a valid email address Sign up Please wait… Thank you for signing up. We've got more newsletters we think you'll find interesting. Click here Oops. Something went wrong. Please try again later. Try again Thank you, The email address you have provided is already registered. Close

Rallying call against conservatives

Salmond will stress that the reason to vote for independence and end the 307-year-old tie to England is so that oil-rich Scotland can decide its own policies and not have its fate determined by politicians in London.

He will say that any government of an independent Scotland would be in control of tax, the economy, social security, employment, immigration, oil and gas revenues, European policy and a range of other areas now under Westminster's control.

"That may be the SNP. It may be Labour. It may be a coalition," he will say.

"I tell you what it won't be. It won't be a government led by a party with just a single MP in Scotland," he will add, referring to the Conservative Party which is unpopular in Scotland but the major partner of Britain's ruling coalition.

In the Scottish Parliament the SNP holds 65 seats while Labour has 38 and the Conservatives 15. The rest are held by Liberal Democrats, Greens and independents.

Salmond's appeal for cross-party support comes as opinion polls this week showed support for independence at about 40 percent, up from 30 percent a year ago, and compared to 45 percent opposition.

The pro-union Better Together campaign said the polls showed they were still ahead, citing a YouGov survey on Friday that found 57 percent of Scots supported Scotland staying in the UK but with increased powers for the Scottish Parliament.

Businesses have raised concerns about the risks of independence and the uncertainty regarding what currency would be used in an independent Scotland, financial regulations, taxation and European Union membership.

"As part of the UK we can have the best of both worlds - a strong Scottish Parliament, with the guarantee of more powers, backed up by the strength, security and stability of being part of the larger UK. Only separation would put that at risk," said the shadow Secretary of State for Scotland Margaret Curran.


When cognitive psychologists talk about testing, and when the rest of the population uses that word, they mean different things. For educators and parents, testing means standardized testing: a tool wielded by politicians and administrators to terrify children and teachers. When cognitive psychologists hear the word testing, they think immediately of “the testing effect” — one of the best learning strategies. This may seem like semantics, but it’s a problem.

The testing effect is the idea that trying to remember something leads to greater learning than just re-reading information. In one famous experiment, participants tried to learn information from a textbook either by repeatedly re-reading, or repeatedly writing out everything they could remember after reading the information only once. The strategy of writing from memory led to 60 percent correct recall of the material one week later, compared to only 40 percent in the repeated reading condition.

But despite its effectiveness as a learning strategy, the testing effect had to be rebranded to the less scary/more fun-sounding “quizzing” and we have had to come up with more and more subtle ways to produce the effect without students realizing that they are being tested — somewhat akin to hiding broccoli in brownies.

Advertisement

As champions of the testing effect, we find it awkward to hear bemoaning of standardized tests. So, let’s tackle a few of the most common critiques:

Tests cause anxiety

Get Today in Opinion in your inbox: Globe Opinion's must-reads, delivered to you every Sunday-Friday. Sign Up Thank you for signing up! Sign up for more newsletters here

There’s no doubt that challenging, high-stakes tests can provoke anxiety in some students. But, perhaps counterintuitively, the solution to this problem is not to get rid of testing; instead, it is to encourage more testing – particularly frequent, lower-stakes testing. With many tests spread out across the year, each individual test will be worth less and thus necessarily lower stakes; students will become more accustomed to testing, and thus, less afraid of it. What’s more, every time they bring information to mind during a test, students are creating new memories from the cognitive effort involved. So more testing will lead to more learning and could decrease anxiety.

Teachers and parents can also try to redirect some of that anxiety, a tactic that makes students feel more confident and actually perform better on high-stakes tests. Researchers have found one promising method in which students are told that the anxiety they feel before a test is actually helpful – not harmful – to their test performance.

Finally – and this is something that ought to be examined empirically – the negative views of testing repeated by teachers and parents may be feeding into kids’ anxiety and test-aversion. Just like public speaking, tests are an aspect of education that kids tend not to like even though it’s good for them. Our job as parents is to realize that the benefits of testing outweigh the inconvenience of dealing with kids’ complaints.

Teaching to the test

The idea that teaching to a test isn’t really teaching implies an almost astounding assumption that standardized tests are filled with meaningless, ill-thought-out questions on irrelevant or arbitrary information. This may be based on the myth that “teachers in the trenches” are being told what to teach by some “experts” who’ve probably never set foot in a “real” classroom. What these defiant teachers fail to realize – or simply choose to ignore – is that these experts are groups of carefully selected individuals that always include well-seasoned “real classroom teachers”, who guide the decision-making on what material should be assessed by the tests. For those wanting to find out more about how tests are made, here’s an informative video by the Educational Testing Service which develops, administers or scores more than 50 million tests.

Standardized tests are biased

Advertisement

Standardized tests are not the great equalizer that will eliminate discrimination. But it is highly unlikely an individual teacher alone could create a more fair, unbiased test than many experts with access to a lot of resources, a huge amount of diverse data, and the ability to refine tests based on those data. As stated in the ETS video, once a new question is introduced, statisticians work to figure out whether it’s performing equally well for different groups.

Unfair, biased questions are certainly an important ongoing issue for the makers of standardized tests to address, but much work is going into the refinement and improvement of these questions, with the goal of avoiding and, hopefully, eventually eliminating such biases. All individuals have implicit biases that are almost impossible to override, so leaving assessment to individual instructors can only worsen the problem. The crux of the matter is trust – can we trust a board of experts that includes experienced teachers to act in our best interest as a nation of educators, parents, and children? And if the answer is no, then how can we trust individual teachers, and how would we hold them accountable?

Tests don’t provide prompt feedback

Here standardized tests have a lot of room for improvement. Feedback on standardized tests is tardy and often incredibly confusing, and doesn’t include information on which specific questions the student answered incorrectly. By the time it comes, the feedback is just a meaningless score. Although students can learn from tests even without feedback, it is clear that feedback increases the benefits of testing. Tests can be expected to improve on this front as they transition from paper to online, where rapid feedback is more viable on a large scale.

Standardized tests were created to track students’ progress and evaluate schools and teachers. Griping abounds about how these tests are measuring the wrong thing and in the wrong way; but what’s conspicuously absent is any suggestion for how to better measure the effect of education — i.e., learning — on a large scale. In the absence of direct measures of learning, we resort to measures of performance. And the great thing is: measuring this learning actually causes it to grow. So let’s reclaim the word testing, so that the first word that comes to mind when we see it is “effect”.

Yana Weinstein is an assistant professor in the Psychology department at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Megan Smith is an assistant professor in the Psychology department at Rhode Island College. They are the co-founders of Learning Scientists (@AceThatTest on Twitter).


It turns out that the millionaire GOP establishment donor who bankrolled the anti-Donald Trump skywriting at the Rose Bowl parade on New Year’s Day isn’t just any ordinary donor-class millionaire. He’s backing Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), the man who is emerging as the anti-conservative establishment and donor-class candidate for president in 2016.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Luther Stan Pate IV—an Alabama real estate developer worth millions—has donated thousands of dollars to Rubio’s electoral efforts.

On Jan. 29, 2015, Pate donated $5,200 to Rubio—who, at the time, hadn’t yet officially launched a presidential campaign but was acting as if he were running for president.

Just days earlier, ABC News’ Jonathan Karl reported exclusively that Rubio had hired Anna Rogers, then the finance director for Karl Rove’s American Crossroads, to lead “the effort to raise the $50 million or more he’ll need to run in the Republican primaries.”

“He has told us to proceed as if he is running for president,” a senior Rubio adviser told ABC News for the piece, which ran on Jan. 23, 2015—six days before Pate’s donation to Rubio.

A couple months later, Pate gave another $2,500 to Rubio, according to the Center for Responsible Politics. Later in the year, after Rubio launched his presidential campaign, the Rubio campaign returned $5,000 of the $7,700 total that Pate had donated to him. That is standard operating procedure because the Federal Election Commission (FEC) only allows donors to make a total of $2,700 to an individual presidential candidate.

Pate is the man who set up, on Dec. 29, a new anti-Trump Political Action Committee. FEC filings show that Pate is listed as the Treasurer and Custodian of Records for the new group entitled the “WeThePeople Foundation.”

That organization wrote messages like “America is great. Trump is disgusting” and “Anybody but Trump” and “Iowans dump Trump” in the sky at the Rose Bowl with at least five skywriting planes on Friday. Skywriting is a fairly expensive endeavor, and doing so with five planes makes it even more expensive.

The skywriting also directed viewers to the Rubio campaign-donor Pate’s new PAC website, http://anybodybuttrump.us/, a crudely designed site that viscerally attacks the 2016 GOP frontrunner.

The website allows visitors to donate to the Rubio campaign-donor Pate’s new PAC, to buy anti-Trump items from the organization’s online store, and to display various videos and anti-Trump materials.

Pate is an eccentric establishment GOP figure who’s been associated with behavior similar to this before.

Lagniappe, a weekly newspaper in Mobile, Alabama—Pate is based in Tuscaloosa—devoted an August 2007 cover story to Pate’s sharp-elbowed political tactics.

“In mid-2005, Pate sought $16 million in public funds for a real estate development, a shopping center to be named Midtown. The Tuscaloosa City Council declined [to grant] the aid with Council President Jerry Plott and Councilman Kip Tyner being the most vocal opponents,” said the article, which was also picked up by various local bloggers.

It wasn’t Pate’s first difficulty with the councilmen and he was frustrated. “He [Pate] fought us tooth-and-nail to get that money,” Plott said. “But I didn’t think public dollars should be spent on a private business. He began a public crusade to try to destroy me.” Pate apparently conceived a Web site aimed at fomenting discord against Plott. Amidst the many charges of corruption on www.theplottthickens.com, a dormant discussion board asks for feedback on the councilman and a line on the site declares, “I am Stan Pate and I approve this message,” then gives a Northport post office box address. Pate admits to having founded the site and claims good reason for such. “I filed an ethics complaint that is a matter of public record against Mr. Plott,” Pate said, “and I made it very clear in multiple ads and in the newspaper and in Tuscaloosa and on various publications that I feel like Mr. Plott’s dealings while he was on the city council were unethical and corrupt.”

At this time, Rubio’s team is not disavowing the efforts his donor Pate has taken against Trump. Alex Conant, Rubio’s communications director, has not responded to a request for comment when presented with evidence that the Rubio campaign’s donors are behind this attack on Trump.

While Trump has battled with pretty much everyone in the entire GOP field in 2016, he’s crushed a few candidates: former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) are among those still running. And outgoing Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), former New York Gov. George Pataki and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker are among those not running anymore.

But there are a few candidates that Trump is treating carefully.

Rubio is one of them. Trump has been very critical of Rubio’s pro-amnesty positions on immigration, his work on trade, and Rubio’s horrendous attendance record when it comes to votes and national security briefings in the U.S. Senate. But he hasn’t gone as aggressively after Rubio as he has gone after, say, Bush.

Rubio is the last remaining establishment-backed candidate who’s got a clear shot at the nomination.

Bush and Kasich and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie all could bounce back, but each of them is struggling and Rubio is the only non-conservative in the top-tier of polling along with Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Dr. Ben Carson.

That means Rubio presents basically the only threat to conservatives’ chances in 2016—and now that Rubio’s team is coming after Trump this aggressively, with the skywriting above the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Rubio may have just inadvertently wandered into the bear’s den.


A MELBOURNE woman has been reunited with her dog 10 years after it went missing.

Latte disappeared from Anne Quach’s Reservoir home in 2004, sparking a fruitless search.

“I bought Latte and her brother Cappuccino in 2003, and a year later Latte went missing from our yard,’’ Ms Quach said.

“We’re not sure if she was stolen or snuck out, but I was devastated and Cappuccino whined for weeks afterwards.”

At the time, Ms Quach put up posters in the hope someone would recognise the much-loved pooch, but she eventually gave up hope of being reunited.

Until now, when she turned up at the City of Whittlesea Pound in Epping where a microchip scan revealed the identity of her owner.

Latte was unkempt and slightly malnourished, but otherwise OK.

Ms Quach said Latte didn’t recognise her or respond to her name, but she was settling in well.

“Cappuccino is very happy and my son Vin, who was only a month old when she went missing, loves his new friend,’’ she said.

Whittlesea Council animal management team leader Rod Thickins said Ms Quach’s story was a timely reminder to microchip pets.

“Microchipping our cats and dogs has led to many happy reunions at the pound. Latte’s case is extraordinary — 10 years is definitely our council record,’’ he said.


With NES Classic Edition Discontinued, Hyperkin's Retron HD Could Take Its Place

With NES Classic Edition Discontinued, Hyperkin's Retron HD Could Take Its Place

Share. Doing what Nintendoesn't. Doing what Nintendoesn't.

Hyperkin wants to pick up where NES Classic Edition left off with the Retron HD, a new console that plays 8-bit classics from Nintendo's home system.

The Retron HD works with original NES cartridges — from both NTSC and PAL regions — displaying them at 720p on screen. The console comes with a controller with a 10-foot cord and HD cable, plus a micro USB charge cable.

Meet the Retron HD 6 IMAGES Fullscreen Image Artboard 3 Copy Artboard 3 ESC 01 OF 06 Hyperkin's Retron HD plays NES cartridges at 720p. 01 OF 06 Hyperkin's Retron HD plays NES cartridges at 720p. Meet the Retron HD Download Image Captions ESC

Announced earlier this month, the Retron HD looks like an attempt to build off the success of Nintendo's mini console. The Big N discontinued the NES Classic Edition in April, with a company representative at the time stating that the system "wasn’t intended to be an ongoing, long-term product."

Now this isn't the first time Hyperkin has released an HD console that plays NES cartridges. The Retron 5 actually supported 10 different systems, such as SNES, Genesis and Game Boy Advance.

The Retron HD will release May 25 for $40/£50 in gray and black.

Exit Theatre Mode

Evan Campbell is a freelance writer who scripts the Daily Fix, streams games on his Twitch channel, and chats about movies and TV series on Twitter.


NEW YORK (PAI) – With sights set on the November 2014 elections, Graphic Communications Conference and International Brotherhood of Teamsters leaders are pledging to work tirelessly for pro-labor candidates and assure there is no repeat of the disastrous midterm contests of 2010.

What they aim for is to prevent a repeat of the mid-term results four years ago. That’s when, analysts say, a Tea Party-fueled backlash against Democratic President Barack Obama and his signature Affordable Healthcare law ousted 63 Democrats from the U.S. House and six from the Senate.

The GOP momentum spread to states like Wisconsin, where right winger Scott Walker was elected governor and, with Republican state legislative colleagues, quickly enacted legislation that stripped basic bargaining rights from public employees.

GCC/IBT leaders vow not to be caught flatfooted this time around.

“We let down our guard in 2010,” said union President George Tedeschi. “It won’t happen again.” Other union leaders voiced similar sentiments.

“I would tell people that labor should reward its friends and punish its enemies,” said Frank Golden, business representative and organizer for District Council 4 in the Chicago area, quoting American Federation of Labor founder Samuel Gompers. “I use that as a stepping stone and tell these people, because we got a little time to go, and just throw that straight at them as a reminder.”

It’s a general rule of politics that midterm election results are largely determined by a president’s job approval rating. If the chief executive is well-regarded, voters are apt to favor his party. A president with low public opinion scores can be a detriment.

“Using the president’s approval rating, even in a midterm election, is useful because, for better or worse, a president is the face of his party,” wrote Charlie Cook, editor of The Cook Political Report and one of the nation’s leading political analysts. “Although voters rarely reward a party for having a popular president, they are quick to register their displeasure with a chief executive by voting against the candidates of that party in a midterm election.” That’s especially true in a president’s second mid-term.

In 2006, GOP President George W. Bush was struggling and Republicans lost 30 House seats, six Senate seats and majorities in both houses of Congress. Polls show history may repeat itself.

That’s because Obama also has lost ground recently. By mid-June, an average of 49 percent of those surveyed, in dozens of polls compiled by Real Clear Politics, said they disapproved of the president’s performance.

Obama’s slide was tied to several embarrassing episodes — Internal Revenue Service agents allegedly hounding tea party-affiliated groups, secret collection of data from Associated Press reporters, and the National Security Agency’s surveillance of phone calls and overseas Internet use.

Next year, all 435 seats in the GOP-dominated U.S. House are up for election in the president’s second mid-term. And 33 Senate seats, a majority of them Democratic-held, will be contested.

Overall, Democrats hold 52 Senate seats, Republicans hold 45, and independents, two. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., who died in June, held the other. GOP Gov. Chris Christie appointed a Republican to replace Lautenberg until a special October election, upping the GOP’s Senate total, temporarily, to 46.

There will be 36 statehouse battles in November 2014, with most in GOP hands. Among the most closely watched will be the gubernatorial race in Wisconsin, where Walker is running for re-election. The GOP governor beat back a recall election in 2012 despite efforts by organized labor to oust him after Walker pushed legislation virtually killing collective bargaining for most of the Badger State’s 200,000 public workers.

Similar pieces of legislation also were proposed in Ohio and Michigan, now a right-to-work state.

Golden said that Democrats must be held accountable, too. “There’s a lot of Democrats out there who made a lot of promises that they haven’t really been stepping up on either,” he said.

The fights over worker rights, in both the states and over the NLRB, show the stakes are high in 2014 even though midterm elections lack the fanfare – and turnout – of presidential contests.

“We need to find and support the candidates that serve our members interests,” said Ronnie Pineda, president of GCC Local 140-N in Los Angeles. “In the last 10 years we’ve gotten people elected and they’ve betrayed us. I for one am a big believer in education. We need to educate ourselves completely with every one of the candidates and any other new laws that may be on the ballot.”

Jack Noone, president of Local 241-M in Scranton, Pa., said union leaders must help members – and their families – stay focused.

“Right off the bat we have to try to educate people so they understand what the really important issues are, and not be distracted by these scandals,” he said, adding some of Obama’s performance must be attributed to the Republicans’ willful obstruction of his efforts.

“We have to try and get them involved and help them understand the issues,” Noone said. “We have to get people on board.”

Zachary Dowdy writes for the Graphics Communicator.

Photo: Unions found it necessary to occupy the Capitol in Madison Wisconsin after Scott Walker, who was swept into office in the last mid-term tea party wave, attacked the collective bargaining rights of workers. Blake Deppe/PW


Duke University's decision to scrap plans to allow the Muslim call to prayer to emanate from its chapel bell tower raises controversy on campus. (Reuters)

Duke University canceled plans Thursday to begin a weekly Muslim call to prayer from the campus chapel this week, an initiative that had set off debate on social media. A school spokesman and a Duke Muslim leader said that a serious and credible security threat played a role in the decision.

The university had announced that Muslim students would chant the ‘adhan,’ the call to a weekly prayer service, from the Duke University Chapel bell tower each Friday. The sound of the call to prayer in Muslim communities is a standard part of ritual life on Muslims’ main prayer day. Theologically, it reminds Muslims “to worship God and serves as a reminder to serve our brothers and sisters in humanity,” Imam Adeel Zeb, Muslim chaplain at Duke, said in a news release.

But reaction to the story off campus was swift. Some celebrated the decision.

I support the #DukeCalltoPrayer. Because religious inclusivity is more important than xenophobia. — Erin Howett (@EHowett) January 15, 2015

But many strongly opposed it.

Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, called on donors and alumni to withhold support from Duke until the policy was reversed. The hashtag #boycottduke spread quickly, and many of the reactions on Twitter referred to recent terrorist attacks, and interpreted it as an anti-Christian move.

Graham posted strong words about it on his Facebook page: “As Christianity is being excluded from the public square and followers of Islam are raping, butchering, and beheading Christians, Jews, and anyone who doesn’t submit to their Sharia Islamic law, Duke is promoting this in the name of religious pluralism. I call on the donors and alumni to withhold their support from Duke until this policy is reversed.”

Immediate growing backlash momentum – people to #BoycottDuke – attend #AmericanFlashmob on Duke Campus starting 12:30 on Fri with #airhorns — Rolliby (@rolliby) January 15, 2015

Muslim call to prayer to begin at Duke University. But Jesus isnt welcome @DukeU #boycottDuke — Shannon Catoe (@shannoncatoe) January 14, 2015

Franklin later praised the reversal.

I am glad to hear that @DukeU reversed its decision to allow Muslim call to prayer from its chapel bell tower. They made the right decision! — Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) January 15, 2015

In discussing the change Thursday, Duke officials said the response to the decision was not what the university had expected.

“Duke remains committed to fostering an inclusive, tolerant and welcoming campus for all of its students,” said Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations, in a news release. “However, it was clear that what was conceived as an effort to unify was not having the intended effect.”

Schoenfeld said Thursday night that a “serious and credible” security threat was one of the reasons for the decision. University officials declined to elaborate.

Omid Safi, director of Duke’s Islamic Studies Center, said Thursday evening that the call to prayer was scaled back because of “a number of credible threats against Muslim students, faculty and staff.” The school, he said “is treating this as a criminal matter” and that the threats are “external.”

Muslim students, Safi said, have been advised not to speak and be identified, “and are scared and disappointed.” Asked if he personally had been threatened, he said he had been advised by officials to say “a number of credible threats have been made.”

On Friday, he said, there would still be a new addition to the weekly service: A call to prayer, but it would be from the steps of the chapel instead of amplified from the tower. The initial decision to have a call, he said, came last semester upon the urging of the Office of Religious Life – the overall chaplains’ office with clergy from various faiths – and Muslim students, together. He said Duke is considered a leader in Islamic studies and hospitable for Muslims. More than 100 people show up each Friday for prayer, he said.

“We had hoped for a symbolic action that would shine a light on how a leading international university in the American South can be a place where the symbol of the Christian heritage of the university is demonstrating hospitality to its Muslim community members. And instead we’re having to talk about crazy people,” Safi said.

When the idea of holding the call from the tower was pitched, he said, no one thought it would be a problem. He blamed “geography” and Duke’s proximity to influential evangelical leader Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham.

“Duke has been committed to Islamic studies for decades,” he said.

The university has held the weekly jummah prayers in the basement of Duke Chapel for many years, starting with the traditional chanted call to prayer. More than 700 of the 15,000 students at Duke identify as Muslim, according to school officials.

Duke today is non-sectarian but has historic and symbolic ties with The United Methodist Church. Its bylaws were recast last year to say its purposes are grounded in the Christian tradition of intellectual inquiry and service to the world. Sapp described the chapel as “a church.”

On Wednesday, a Duke dean of religious life published an essay in the News & Observer touting the decision to hold the call, a common sound in Muslim communities around the world.

“This opportunity represents a larger commitment to religious pluralism that is at the heart of Duke’s mission and connects the university to national trends in religious accommodation,” wrote Christy Lohr Sapp, associate dean for religious life at Duke University.

In her essay, Sapp noted that “there is much negative press” today touching Muslims, “from ISIS to Boko Haram to al-Qaida.” The call, she wrote, would be the antithesis, and “might help students feel more at home in a world marred by weekly acts of violence and daily discriminations. Perhaps, too, this small token of welcome will provide a platform for a truer voice to resonate: a voice that challenges media stereotypes of Muslims, a voice of wisdom, a voice prayer and a voice of peace.”

Now Muslim students and others on campus wishing to take part in the prayer will meet on the quadrangle outside the Chapel before gathering in the Chapel for prayers.

“Our Muslim community enriches the university in countless ways,” Schoenfeld said. “We welcome the active expression of their faith tradition, and all others, in ways that are meaningful and visible.”

President Obama said Friday that United States' "one big advantage" against terrorism was the feeling of belonging that American Muslims have to the country. He said some Muslims in European countries did not have these same national ties. (AP)

This story has been updated.


“Hi, it’s me.” For Australians living in isolation and doing it tough this Christmas, making that phone call may be the first step they take to reconnect with friends and loved ones.

But in a world of smart phones and the nbn™, being connected is something a lot of us take for granted. It’s easy to forget that there are many Australians who don’t have the technology or financial means to access a phone line, or a way to connect with their loved ones at Christmas.

For some of these community members, not being able to come together with family, friends and loved ones at Christmas time only heightens feelings of loneliness, personal hardship and isolation.

To help those separated by distance or circumstance to get in touch with one another this festive season, we are again opening up our national payphone network and providing free local, national and standard mobile calls from Telstra payphones around Australia from December 24-26. We will also be offering free Telstra Air® Wi-Fi access from selected public hotspots.

We’re really pleased to be working alongside our long term partner, The Salvation Army, to help spread the word about our offer. Their mission is to bring hope to those facing personal hardships, such as homelessness, all year, every year, and especially at Christmas.

“With many vulnerable people suffering from feelings of social isolation, a free phone call removes financial barriers and gives everyone – regardless of their personal circumstance – the chance to make a positive emotional connection,” said Major Brendan Nottle, The Salvation Army.

As a company with connection at its heart, we want to play a genuine role in connecting people at Christmas and all year round through the technology and experiences we provide. Our ability to open up our network gives all Australians the opportunity to pick up the phone and call their friends, families and loved ones at a time of year when social connection is really important.

Last year, 170,000 calls were made from our payphone network across the same period, with our data revealing NSW residents and visitors to be the biggest payphone users overall.

Over the three days, nearly 31,000 unique connections were made via our free Telstra Air Wi-Fi access, at sites across the country. Swanston Street and Bourke Street sites in Melbourne’s CBD received the greatest number of users. Collective data usage across all Telstra Air Wi-Fi hotspots also reached 5.6 TB over the course of the campaign, with sites in Southport, Currumbin and Surfers Paradise in Queensland the top locations.

Nothing beats the sound of hearing a loved one’s voice, especially at a time like Christmas when a focus on families coming together is really heightened. It’s an important opportunity for those in the community who might be feeling isolated at this time, and we hope that even more Australians take up the opportunity to connect with their loved ones this year.

Australians will be able to call anyone in Australia across Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day free of charge from any of the 16,000 Telstra branded payphones around the country.

Things you need to know:

Free calls around Australia to local, national and standard mobiles from Telstra payphones from 24-26 December 2018. Free calls exclude international calls and premium services (19x), Mobile Satellite, and 1234, 12456 directory services. Excludes Telstra rented payphones. Free Wi-Fi data at select Telstra Air payphones and Telstra Stores, in Australia only. Telstra Air available for Wi-Fi enabled devices only.


2013 05 20 Joint Letter to Sec Hagel (PII Redacted) (PDF)
 2013 05 20 Joint Letter to Sec Hagel (PII Redacted) (Text)

Military attorneys representing former CIA captives detained in a top secret camp at Guantanamo have called on Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel to examine whether the head of the prison’s guard force is fit for command.

Col. John Bogdan, the commander of Guantanamo’s Joint Detention Group, has been singled out by the defense lawyers for revamping dormant policies, such as inspections of Qurans and genital patdowns, that gave rise to a hunger strike, now entering its fourth month.

“Although we represent so-called ‘high value detainees, many of our concerns relate to the treatment of all prisoners, to include men whose internment appears to be indefinite” states a 13-page letter and signed by nineteen attorneys, including several who represent self-professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, the alleged architect behind the USS Cole bombing, sent to Hagel on Monday. “There has been a serious degradation in the quality of life for detainees in Guantanamo Bay over the past year. This change appears to have coincided with the arrival of the new Joint Detention Group Commander, Col. John V. Bogdan.”

Army Captain Jason Wright, who is defending Mohammed before a military tribunal and also represents an Afghan prisoner named Obaidullah, one of the hunger strikers, told Al Jazeera the letter was prompted by “years of inaction by the US government.”

“Sadly, no none has been watching Guantanamo, much less responding to repeated concerns of uniformed service members about what is really happening down there,” Wright says. “It is important to highlight that this is a peaceful, political protest by the majority of the men in Camps five and six who have been cleared for release and who are otherwise innocent until proven guilty by a competent court of law. It is shameful that [Joint Task Force-Guantanamo, which operates the prison] has responded to the hunger strike, not only by forcibly feeding [prisoners] in violation of international law, but by punishing them and placing them in conditions tantamount to solitary confinement. America is better than this.”

Inspecting Qurans

The letter was sent to Hagel three days before President Obama is due to give a major speech about his counterterrorism policies, which will include a discussion about Guantanamo.

Bogdan became the warden of the prison last June. Three months after he settled in, a Yemeni prisoner named Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif was found unconscious in his cell and was pronounced dead at the detention hospital. An autopsy report concluded that Latif committed suicide by ingesting mass quantities of anti-psychotic medication. However, his death is still under investigation.

Following Latif’s death, according to the accounts several prisoners’ communicated to their attorneys, Bogdan ordered a shakedown of their cells and guards confiscated personal items, which included pictures, legal papers, eyeglasses and isomats.

In January, an Afghan Taliban prisoner was shot in the throat in the recreation yard with a non-lethal round for allegedly trying to climb a fence. In early February, the prisoners’ Qurans were inspected for contraband. The handling of the holy books immediately led to the hunger strike.

Prisoners have told their attorneys since they launched their protest they have been physically abused by guards, subjected to sleep deprivation and forced cell extractions, denied potable water and have had the temperature in their prison cells turned down to freezing cold temperatures.

In mid-April, on Bogdan’s orders, guards staged a pre-dawn raid at the communal camp and isolated all of the prisoners into single cells in what was seen by attorneys and human rights groups as an attempt to break the hunger strike. If that was the hope it had the opposite effect as the number of prisoners who joined the protest doubled.

"Death...is imminent"

The military has vehemently denied the allegations. But the attorneys said in their letter if steps are not immediately taken to improve the quality of life for the prisoners, “Death - whether by suicide, starvation, organ failure, or associated complications - is imminent.”

Along with their letter, the attorneys also sent Hagel an August 2011 report prepared for the United Nations General Assembly by the UN’s special rapporteur for torture, which said solitary confinement rose to the level of inhumane and degrading treatment.

US Military attorneys say detainees are not being treated humanely [Jason Leopold/Al Jazeera]

Reached for comment late Monday, Army Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale, a Pentagon spokesman, told Al Jazeera, "The Department does not discuss correspondence addressed to the Secretary, in the press.”

The attorneys’ letter said in addition to the inhumane living conditions hunger-striking prisoners residing in the two main prison camps - 5 and 6 - have been living under, 14 high-value detainees residing in Camp seven, a classified facility, are also not being treated humanely, an issue the attorneys raised with the Pentagon in a dozen previous letters that have gone unanswered. They have called for Hagel to immediately authorize an independent monitoring committee to investigate conditions of confinement at Guantanamo.

“You could change the course and the consequences of the hunger strike right now Secretary Hagel by taking ownership of these issued during the political stalemate” between President Obama and Congress over how to shutter the prison, the letter says. “At stake, as you know, is not just the inalienable right to human dignity - to be treated like a human being - but America’s standing in the world.”

Separately, the attorneys, citing a law school investigation, said Bogdan may have perjured himself when he testified before the military commissions earlier this year in Mohammed’s case about secret listening devices designed to look like smoke detectors that were placed in the rooms where attorneys meet with prisoners, but were never turned on. The investigation by Seton Hall University’s Center for Policy and Research concluded that Bogdan’s testimony was inconsistent about what he knew and when he knew it. The Seton Hall report was co-written by former Guantanamo guard Joseph Hickman.

“While Seton Hall’s finding are sufficient grounds to examine COL Bogdan’s fitness to command the Joint Detention Group, his leadership should warrant further scrutiny based on the rapidly deteriorating conditions under his command and his heavy-handed response to the current hunger strike,” the attorneys wrote.

Follow Jason Leopold on Twitter: @JasonLeopold


It’s not hard to see how, in a Japanese-dominated society, pop art might have extended its global popularity with no Campbell’s Soup cans in sight. Illustration: Chloe Cushman

Pop art without Andy Warhol? Iconic cartoon mice repping the underground comic scene? These are the possibilities in a world where Japan defeated the United States in 1945.

Here’s an alternate look at art history, reimagining movements, tropes and trends that could have evolved much differently had the Allies lost the second world war.

J-pop … art?

One of the most influential postwar creative movements, pop art elevated advertising and mechanical reproduction to the level of fine art. Combining splashy, intense colors with recognizable, everyday subjects, the style forced viewers to reconsider the sophisticated techniques underlying seemingly mundane comic books, magazine advertisements and other objects.

Given Japan’s rich ad and comic culture, it’s not surprising the country developed a pop art style of its own. Before 1945, the popularity of propaganda kimonos hinted at the movement. Since the end of the war, the style has flourished as artists like Yayoi Kusama, who inspired Andy Warhol, used advertising’s bright colors, while others like Lady Aiko and Mr have adopted comic imagery. It’s not hard to see how, in a Japanese-dominated society, pop art might have extended its global popularity with no Campbell’s Soup cans in sight.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest In a Japan-dominated postwar world, American cartoonists probably would have been repressed and manga characters reaching US shores likely would have looked more realistically Japanese. Illustration: Chloe Cushman

Manga: underground no more

Contemporary manga is a hybrid of Japanese and American comic art, says Stephen Salel, the Honolulu Museum of Art’s Robert F Lange Foundation curator of Japanese art. Many manga elements, like characters’ large eyes and exaggerated expressions, owe their origin to US cartoon pioneers like Walt Disney.

In a Japan-dominated postwar world, American cartoonists probably would have been repressed, particularly those who contributed to wartime propaganda. Manga reaching US shores likely would have looked more realistically Japanese. And, Salel points out, as the preferred style of the victors, manga probably wouldn’t have conveyed the underground chic that’s made it so popular among US comic aficionados today. Imagine outlaw teens and proud geeks in a different world: would they have clustered around smuggled copies of Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse?

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Rōnin did find fertile ground in postwar American western films, but in an alternate timeline we might have seen an Old West rōnin carrying a sword alongside his six-shooter, fighting a cattle-rustling gang headed by the yakuza. Illustration: Chloe Cushman

Rōnin characters roam the big screen

The rōnin, or “wave man”, the masterless samurai forever cut off from mainstream society, is a powerful Japanese icon. Freed of traditional hierarchies, he wanders from place to place, using his skills to survive – and, in some tales, to protect the innocent and punish the wicked. Sound familiar? Rōnin did find fertile ground in postwar American culture, particularly in westerns, with characters ranging from the squeaky-clean Lone Ranger to Clint Eastwood’s grim “man with no name”.

Sometimes the rōnin-gunslinger relationship is explicit: The Magnificent Seven was a western remake of Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai, and the 1971 movie Red Sun united veterans of both movies in a unique “samurai western”. If Japanese aesthetics had dominated postwar Hollywood, we might have seen an Old West rōnin carrying a sword alongside his six-shooter, fighting a cattle-rustling gang headed by the yakuza.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Can you imagine a postwar Ivy League alum cooling down after a tennis match wearing a yukata? Illustration: Chloe Cushman

East meets East Coast: the new preppy

In the late 1800s, Japan began adopting Western clothing; by the 1940s, it was the standard wardrobe for daily life. But if Japan had won the war, it seems likely that many of its traditional textiles and designs would have filtered into Americans’ style. Can you see a postwar Ivy League alum cooling down after a tennis match wearing a Japanese robe called a yukata? Or a CEO’s suit lined with flashy, kimono-inspired fabric?

It’s not that hard to imagine, since similar looks have made it into American stores in the real world. Japanese retailer Uniqlo, renowned for its preppy clothes, also carries yukatas and Japanese-patterned shorts in its lineup. And Harajuku style, which merges American design and theatrical Japanese aesthetic, shows how the east Asian nation’s culture has impacted western clothing today.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest California wines might have had fanciful names written in the most elegant kanji, hiragana and katakana. Translations: Mako Ishikawa. Illustration: Chloe Cushman

Typography takes a turn

In the 1900s, increased industrialization and the rising cult of efficiency in the west signaled the end of flowery, Spencer-style penmanship. The efficient Palmer method streamlined handwriting, while the widespread adoption of the typewriter in the late 1800s and early 1900s accelerating the process. In Japan, on the other hand, pictographic kanji and the syllabic writing systems of hiragana and katakana had thousands of characters, which slowed the progress of one writing machine: the first Japanese typewriter had 2,400 keys.

Emojis before the smiling poop: New York museum acquires world's first set Read more

While it’s hard to picture a postwar Japanese occupation forcing Americans to adopt Japanese “alphabets”, it’s probable that signs and other public messages would have been printed in Japanese in certain regions, especially California. And this would likely have bled out into mainstream American writing, with Asian-inspired fonts and advertisements gaining popularity. “Brush-written calligraphy on elongated formats such as poetry cards [tanzaku] and hanging scrolls might have regained far more popularity than it currently enjoys,” Salel says.

As for pictographic writing, it’s not hard to see how it could have slowly worked its way into common usage – not unlike the emoji, which originated on Japanese cellphones in the 1990s and has since traversed the world.

This content is paid for by Amazon Prime Video


previously on MeFi: 1 - 2 - 3

also previously: Brené Brown on shame & vulnerability (one, two)

One: No good role modelsTwo: Can you be ‘bad’ and yet still – overall – good?Three: It will hurt you too much to hear thisFour: No one can understand me Effectively communicating your feelings : "I know that it can be hard to talk about your feelings. We’re not taught to do it, and we’re certainly not taught that it’s an important thing to learn. But it’s definitely a skill worth practicing. Because you’re worth being heard. I promise." Effective Communication - Improving your Social Skills "People aren’t born with good communication skills; like any other skill, they are learned through trial and error and repeated practice."BakadesuyoSucceed Socially Some Common Conversation Mistakes and Core Listening Skills How Self-Awareness Leads to Effective Communication : "Our previous experiences, believes, values, assumptions, judgments and bias influence the quality of our listening. Whenever we listen to something, we evaluate what we are hearing and this in turn triggers our emotional reactions and our judgment. If we hear something that contradicts our values or our interests, we tend to react, by becoming defensive; our ability to be effective listeners is hostage of our own filters." Are You a Poor Communicator? How to Improve : "...communicating with others can be a difficult and frustrating experience. There are times when we mean well, but because of the way we say what we say, our message is misunderstood, with unintended and undesirable consequences."Raptitude


An LGBT pride march in Scotland has banned “cis” drag queens from marching out of the fear that it could offend transgender people.

Free Pride Glasgow is scheduled to take place in August, and bills itself as an alternative to the city’s main Pride event, which has allegedly become too commercialized.

“It was felt by the group within the Trans/Non Binary Caucus that some drag performance, particularly cis drag, hinges on the social view of gender and making it into a joke, however transgender individuals do not feel as though their gender identity is a joke,” organizers said in a statement.

According to the statement announcing the policy, some transsexuals found drag performances offensive because it “hinges on the social view of gender and making it into a joke.”

Initially, the policy was also going to ban transsexual drag queens, on the grounds that it would be inappropriate to ask individual queens whether they identified as transgender or not. But then that policy offended the transgender drag queens, who complained, leading to a new policy where trans drag queens are welcome but wicked cis queens are banned (“Cisgender” means a person who identifies with their actual, physical sex).

Free Pride Glasgow justified its decision in a Monday Facebook post, saying they were deliberately choosing to desires of transgender women more than others.

“Our event aims to represent those underrepresented in our community, including but not limited to trans and non-binary people, women, People of colour, intersex people, asexual people and people with disabilities,” the post said. “As such we have decided to prioritise the needs of trans women to feel safe and included in our event.”

The decision earned a rebuke from the main Glasgow Pride event.

“Pride Glasgow believes that any community group should be given their place to flourish but that success should not be built on the negativity and ignorance towards other events, groups and like minded people and we are saddened to see that this is the direction that Free Pride has chosen to take.”

Opposition to drag queens is surprisingly common, at least on the British left. Earlier this year, the National Union of Students officially condemned drag and cross-dressing as forms of “fancy dress.”

“Transphobic fancy dress should be met with the same disdain with which we meet other prejudiced or appropriative costumes,” the group said at the time.

Follow Blake on Twitter

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@ dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.


Labor is a hot topic in Paris. (Loic Venance/AFP via Getty Images)

The French government recently faced huge protests against unpopular changes to the country's labor law.

Most of its critics would argue that French workers increasingly face burnout and exhaustion. But one employee has had far different problems: He sued his former company because his job was allegedly extremely boring.

The plaintiff, 44-year-old Parisian Frédéric Desnard, is demanding more than $400,000 from his former employer, a perfume enterprise, as compensation for the boredom it allegedly caused. According to the Frenchman, the company should be held responsible for mental and other health damages as well as the financial consequences of him missing out on a promotion.

Desnard claims that he was removed from his previous high-profile position in the company, which included managing certain contracts and travel expenses. For the next four years, he was asked to carry out much duller tasks.

Speaking to French newspaper Le Monde, Desnard said his company wanted to bore him "to death" in order to convince him to quit voluntarily and therefore limit severance payments. But amid a sluggish French economy, Desnard simply decided to stay and do nothing. In the following four years, he reportedly earned more than $90,000 per year -- but the money did not fulfill him, he said.

"I was ashamed to be paid to do nothing," Desnard was quoted as saying by AFP. In an interview, he described the time as "hell" and "a nightmare," which caused multiple health issues, including "epilepsy, ulcers, sleep problems and serious depression."

The Frenchman was fired two years ago after a car crash forced him to go on sick leave for more than half a year. After having paid him a salary of about $360,000 over four years, his employer stated that his prolonged absence was interrupting work processes and ended their relationship.

A verdict is expected July 27.

Read more:

French shop run by Muslim convert refused to sell merchandise to women on weekdays

These students wore hijabs for a day to promote tolerance. It didn’t go well.


In 2010, Rachel Bradshaw-Bean — 17 at the time — was raped in the band room of her Texas high school, Henderson High. When she reported the assault to the assistant band director, he told her to "work it out with the boy." Two days later, she and a friend tried to report the assault to the assistant vice principal. She then received medical exam that showed lacerations to the hymen and bleeding "consistent with information given per the victim." A day later, she was told by the police that no criminal charges would be filed. The school did not launch its own investigation — although it was legally obligated to do so under Title IX — and instead sentenced her and her rapist to 45 days in a special disciplinary school. Their charge: "public lewdness."

Two years after her rape, Bradshaw-Bean has decided to speak out to NBC because she doesn't want anyone else "to have to go through what I did," she told reporter Abigail Pesta. She feels that her case was egregiously mishandled. Firstly, she believes that the fact that she didn't cry in her forensic interview caused the police to take her accusation less seriously. "I'm sorry, am I supposed to cry? Am I supposed to feel the emotions you tell me to?... Am I supposed to feel these emotions right now and not go into shock and not [not] know what's happening?" she asked in a taped segment with the channel. According to her account, the police were eager to push her case under the rug; she was told by the police that the sex was consensual and that there was no evidence to prove otherwise. The District Attorney of her county told NBC that she had used language that "implied consensual sex instead of forcible rape" when the police interviewed her, but he doesn't have any record of the context in which she made that statement in his notes. "I was reporting a rape," Bradshaw-Bean insisted in response. "It sounds like my words are getting twisted. If you have to twist someone's words to make your case, then something's not right."

She adds that she felt "like a prisoner" — at the disciplinary school she'd been exiled to, she saw her rapist in the hallways, when she was arriving in the morning and going to the bathroom. She tried to transfer to a different high school and was denied because the "public lewdness" charge was a stain on her record. Other students taunted her, threatening her and insinuating that she had "asked for it." After graduation, she says, "My personality changed. I didn't want to do anything. I blamed myself for the longest time." In June 2012, though, things started to look up. Bradshaw-Bean's mother, Colleen Chevallier, had filed a Title IX complaint against the school with the ACLU. And in June, a little over a year and a half after her rape, Bradshaw-Bean finally got word that the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights had ruled that Henderson High School was in violation of Title IX for failing to independently investigate the case and for its inability to provide "a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason" behind their decision to send Bradshaw-Bean to the disciplinary school.

The ED outlined and instituted a 13-point plan to bring Henderson High in line with its Title IX obligations. As part of that, the faculty was made to undergo extensive training — which was very necessary because, as Pesta points out, most high schools' Title IX coordinators don't have a real, firm grasp of what the law entails. The disciplinary actions taken against Bradshaw-Bean were also scrubbed from her record, and the school had to pay for her to undergo counseling.

"The counselor really helped," said Bradshaw-Bean. "Finally, I thought, there are some smart people in the world—rational people with levelheaded thoughts. It restored my faith in humanity." As of December 4, 2013, the school is in compliance with all 13 requirements mandated by the ED, and ED officials are still monitoring the school at the present moment. As for Bradshaw-Bean, she plans to go on to study criminal justice and criminal psychology. "I can help others facing injustice of their own," she said.

Advertisement


WASHINGTON — One by one, President Barack Obama ticked through the names on the Spurs’ roster during Monday’s ceremony in the East Room of the White House.

He mentioned Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, of course. Kawhi Leonard, Boris Diaw and Tiago Splitter. He named Patty Mills and Marco Belinelli, lamenting that the latter no longer played for the president’s beloved Chicago Bulls.

Obama even brought up Matt Bonner, calling him “a sandwich blogger named 'Red Mamba.’”

Cory Joseph’s name never came up, and for good reason. In his first three mostly forgettable seasons with the Spurs, the backup point guard has been easy to miss.

“I felt coming into this year I had something to prove,” he said. “I still have something to prove.”

Thirty-six games into a make-or-break season for him, Joseph has shown he can be a solid NBA point guard.

Whether the free-agent-to-be still will be doing it in San Antonio at this time next season remains to be seen.

“I’m always going to feel like I deserve a job in the NBA,” said Joseph, averaging career highs in points (10.3) and assists (3.1) heading into Tuesday’s game at Washington. “I put in the work. I’m always going to compete to the best of my abilities. Whatever happens on that end, I leave to my agent.”

When the Spurs declined to extend Joseph’s rookie-scale contract in October, opening the door for him to become a restricted free agent this summer, it appeared he would not be back because the team had no need for him.

Now it looks like he might not be back because the team won’t be able to afford him.

With Parker and Mills missing chunks of the season with injuries, Joseph has been something of a savior for the Spurs’ backcourt.

The last time the Spurs played Washington, on Jan. 3, Joseph held his own against All-Star John Wall, going for 17 of his 19 points in the first half of a 101-92 win.

Another moment: With the Spurs teetering late in a comeback win over Phoenix on Friday, Joseph put his head down and bulldozed for six consecutive points.

“He always impressed me with the way he plays,” coach Gregg Popovich said. “He is not blessed with the most talent in the world, but I don’t think there is anybody on the planet who gets more out of what he’s got.”

Still, until this season Joseph was a fringe NBA player. One reason Obama didn’t mention him Monday: Joseph totaled only eight minutes against Miami in last season’s Finals.

So when the Spurs declined to extend him in the fall, Joseph was hardly surprised.

“I knew I didn’t play much in my first few seasons,” said Joseph, a 23-year-old Texas-ex. “I didn’t even ask my agent about it (an extension). I just assumed they wouldn’t.”

Instead, Joseph put on his hard hat and went to work, determined to grow himself into an NBA player.

It was the approach Joseph took from the beginning, when the Spurs selected him 29th in the 2011 draft, 14 spots behind the more heralded Kawhi Leonard.

Devoid of playing time his first few seasons, Joseph occasionally requested to be demoted to the Spurs’ Development League club in Austin to get minutes.

For Joseph, much of the work involved in becoming an established NBA player was accomplished in solitude.

“There were times when I was in Austin, in the gym by myself, maybe with nobody to rebound for me,” Joseph said. “I would go to to the gym a lot — a lot — and just work out.”

The work seems poised to pay off for Joseph in a literal sense. He just might have to leave San Antonio to get paid.

The Spurs have $44.4 million committed to Parker after this season and another $7.1 million to Mills.

Joseph is probably due a raise from the $2.02 million he is earning this season, but it is hard to envision the Spurs paying a third point guard much beyond that.

For now, the Spurs will take whatever they can get from Joseph. With Parker and Mills easing back into the rotation, look for Popovich to seek creative ways to keep all three point guards in the mix.

The president might have forgotten Joseph, but the Spurs have not.

“He’s stepped up and really taken the opportunity and run with it,” Duncan said. “I’m really proud of him. He’s showed he can play in the league and really play well.”

jmcdonald

@express-news.net

Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN


A woman who slashed another woman’s face in a “moment of madness or jealousy”, leaving her permanently disfigured, has been given a six year sentence.

Kinsi Abdullah Dirir (33) was convicted of assault causing serious harm to mother-of-five Habiba Songolo (40) at a house on Foxborough Rise, Lucan, Co Dublin on May 17th, 2008.

Dirir had denied the charge at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, however she admitted causing criminal damage to a car outside the house on the same day.

Dirir, who was born in Somalia and came to Ireland aged six, has no previous convictions. A probation report put her at high risk of re-offending.

The court heard the attack happened after Dirir discovered that her former husband was in a relationship with the victim.

Dirir, a mother-of-three of Hollybrook Park, Clontarf, was acquitted by a jury of carrying a razor blade on the same occasion.

Judge Desmond Hogan said the victim had suffered very serious injuries and continued to suffer traumatic effects, bordering on depression.

He suspended the final 18 months of the sentence for four years, after hearing Dirir’s family had offered the sum of €2,000 as compensation to the victim.

Judge Hogan took into account Dirir’s long history of mental illness and ordered that she receive appropriate medication in custody.


window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-3', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails 3', target_type: 'mix' });

Photo: Getty Images Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Image 2 of 4 Chris Dominguez of the San Francisco Giants is congratulated after hitting a two-run home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park September, 21, 2014 in San Diego. less Chris Dominguez of the San Francisco Giants is congratulated after hitting a two-run home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park September, 21, 2014 in San ... more Photo: Getty Images Image 3 of 4 Chris Dominguezof the San Francisco Giants sits in the dugout after an 8-2 loss to the San Diego Padres at Petco Park September, 21, 2014 in San Diego. Chris Dominguezof the San Francisco Giants sits in the dugout after an 8-2 loss to the San Diego Padres at Petco Park September, 21, 2014 in San Diego. Photo: Getty Images Image 4 of 4 SF Giants rookie hits first home run, gets cute messages on ball 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

Chris Dominguez was beaming despite Sunday’s 8-2 loss, and nobody could blame him. Making his first major-league start, the 27-year-old rookie homered against Ian Kennedy for his first big-league hit.

The ball went over the fence down the left-field line, hit off the Western Metal Supply Co. building and wound up in the hands of a little girl named Estella who was celebrating her birthday.

The Padres dispatched an employee to retrieve the ball, but before a swap could be completed, the little girl’s sister got ahold of the ball and wrote on it, “Happy birthday, love M.”

The girl agreed to give the ball to Dominguez, but not before she added her own missive. She wrote, “Congratulations, (heart) Estella.”

“That is awesome,” Dominguez said when he saw the inscriptions. “I think it’s great for the memories.”


Israeli Occupation Forces Kill Two Palestinians, Kidnap 370 In May

In its monthly report on Israeli violations, the Ahrar Center for Detainees’ Studies and Human Rights has reported that Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinians in May, and kidnapped 370.

The Center said that the army shot and killed Nadim Nuwwara, 17, and Mohammad Abu Thaher, 20, near the Ofer Israeli military roadblock, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah. The two were killed on May 15, during Nakba Day protests.

Israeli army sharpshooters killed the two following clashes with the army as the Palestinians marked the Nakba Day. Video footage showed the two walking away, with their backs to the army location, when they were killed.

As for arrests carried out by the Israeli occupation army, the Center said that 370 Palestinians were kidnapped in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

In Jerusalem, soldiers kidnapped 118 Palestinians, the highest number of arrests in May, while 86 Palestinians were kidnapped in the Hebron district, 40 in Nablus, 30 in Bethlehem, 27 in Ramallah, 27 in Jenin, 16 in Qalqilia, 8 in Salfit, 4 in Tulkarem, and two in Tubas.

In addition, 12 Palestinians were kidnapped in the besieged Gaza Strip; three of them were kidnapped near the border fence, and nine were Palestinian fishers were kidnapped by the Israeli Navy in Palestinian territorial waters.

Also in May, the army kidnapped five Palestinian women in different parts of occupied Palestine, and released three of them, while two remained under interrogation.

Head of the Ahrar Center, Fuad al-Khoffash, stated that Israel is escalating the arrests, especially amongst young Palestinians, and that Israeli interrogators continue to use cruel interrogation methods, and extreme torture, in direct violation of International Law and all related human rights treaties.

He added that the arrests are happening while Administrative Detainees, held by Israel under arbitrary orders without charges or trial, are ongoing with their hunger strike despite the fact that many detainees are facing life-threatening conditions, and serious complications.


The following table contains the main stats for all ADVENT units present in version 1.4 of Long War 2, including the units introduced by Shen's Last Gift and Alien Hunters DLCs.

The stat values can be influenced by the difficulty level (Rookie/Veteran/Commander/Legendary) and those are also displayed accordingly.

Other Stats

In addition to the stats listed above there are others that have very limited use. Here's a list of those stats and the specific situations where they are used

Flank Aim - only used by the Sidewinders with a value of 5, 0 for all other units

Flank Crit - default of 33/33/40/40 for each difficulty level, Elite Sidewinders have the values at 40/40/50/50

Strength - propose/use unknown, has a default value of 50, and higher values for units like Mutons and Stun Lancers

Items - default value of 1 of nearly all units, with the exception of the ADVENT Engineer/Grenadiers, which is set for 9

Sources


You may recall that of all of the games I saw at E3, Eador: Masters of the Broken World was the one that caught my eye despite the lack of a huge booth and go-go dancers. Of course I have no idea how the game will come together in the end but if Snowbird Games hits its target — this is going to be something special.

When you are developing a game and tossing about words such as Master of Magic, Civilization and Heroes of Might and Magic you immediately draw the usual cries of, “Oh great another attempt at a MoM sequel” but Eador has the foundation in place and looks like it just might pull it off.

I had a chat with Vladimir Tortsov of Snowbird to talk about the game, its design, and a host of other goodies.

This one is long. Bring a snack.

First off, can you clear something up for us? I read an article recently which describes Eador as a “real- time strategy game” and yet the demo I saw at E3 looked clearly like a turn-based game. Is Eador real-time or turn-based?

You saw it correctly, of course it’s turn-based. It was some kind of misinterpretation in that other article.

OK, now that we have that out of the way, can you tell us what Eador is all about? What exactly will you be doing in the game – how do you “win”?

From the very beginning of the game Eador poses a challenge: try to unify the shattered pieces of a planet under your rule, or lose. By invading the other shards (that’s how we call these pieces of firmament floating in the astral void) and conquering them, your alter-ego, the Master, becomes more powerful and better able to shape the world as he wants.

Thus, Eador. Masters of the Broken World is all about achieving ultimate power and using it to do good or evil, depending on the player’s choice. In this sense, it’s pretty similar to the idea behind Sid Meier’s Civilization, except that in our game there are concepts of evil and good and you have to make a choice all the time.

Technically speaking, the gameplay consists of three connected levels: astral, strategic and tactical. Having invaded a shard (the astral level), the players land on its surface (strategic level) and, after a series of battles (tactical level), they conquer the shard and literally attach it to their homeland. Add in diplomacy, army and hero management, internal affairs and moral dilemmas to the mix, and you get the game.

I came away from the E3 demo excited to see more because it looks like Eador is borrowing from so many turn-based strategy staples, but this is such a large game – how challenging is it to combine so many different gameplay elements into one package? It looks like there are so many moving parts with the design.

Yeah, it’s a clockwork with a huge number of details. I have to give the full credit for this amazing work to our lead game designer Alexey Bokulev, who is an extremely creative person and a huge fan of old-school strategy games.

In fact, Eador was born from Alexey’s wish to play a perfect strategy game combining all the best features from his favorite games such as Master of Magic, Heroes of Might and Magic, and Civilization. Designing that dream game was a very complicated task indeed, but he succeeded. You can check some screenshots from the 2D version of Eador (released in 2010 in CIS countries only) here: http://www.eador.com/eador1/gallery.html. With this 3D remake we’re working on, we’re trying to introduce this extraordinary strategy game to the worldwide audience.

The combat model based off the E3 demo reminded me a lot of Heroes of Might and Magic and King’s Bounty. What makes Eador’s combat mechanic special? When readers see the screenshots they think, “Oh a HoMM clone.” Can you explain some of the differences between the two?

Yeah, it’s true – the tactical screen is the most ‘classic’ of them all. Well, the difference lies in the details. Our battleground isn’t just a field with a grid – it represents the real location with different types of terrain and obstacles. It matters a lot, because terrain affects the performance of your troops providing various bonuses and penalties. Unlike HoMM, our units don’t stack, so you couldn’t “cheat” by amassing a huge army of dragons on a single hex and eradicating all resistance. Finally, each unit has dynamically changing attributes like morale and stamina, which makes this combat system closer to the tabletop games with miniatures than to HoMM or King’s Bounty.

Can you talk a little about the various hero types that lead your armies? How do they differ fro one another and can you guide them down various paths by spending experience points?

There are four basic types of heroes in the game. They serve as generals for your armies and participate in battles alongside other units.

A Warrior is a strong melee fighter, relying on his physical strength and equipment. He is a ‘one man army’, requiring only limited support from other units.

A Scout is a skilled archer, also possessing a broad variety of non-combat utility skills such as a possibility to sabotage enemy army before the battle.

A Commander is weak in melee, but he can lead a larger army than any other hero of comparable level, granting an assortment of bonuses to his troops as he leads them into battle.

A Mage is, naturally, a very skilled spellcaster who can easily turn the tide of battle with a couple of powerful magic tricks.

Every unit in the game (including heroes, of course) gains experience points and progresses in levels. When a hero reaches level 10, he ascends to new class, either an advanced version of his initial specialization or a combination with any of the three remaining base classes. For example, our Warrior could keep his initial focus on melee and become a Berserker possessing some exciting new perks, or he can turn into a Dark Knight, able to cast deadly necromantic spells.

When you attack a shard, what sort of things will you have to manage? This “overland” portion of the game looked meaty at E3 but I was hoping to get some more information about some of the tasks and gameplay mechanics that are involved with it. What do you have to do to run your economy, for example? Do you obtain gold, wood, etc?

The strategic level is the most complex one in the game, as there is lot of stuff to take care about – economics, politics, warfare, etc. First of all, the players should expand their capital, which is their main base of operations on the shard. By choosing which buildings he needs most and constructing them, the player shapes up his strategy. Military buildings allow him to hire stronger troops; financial buildings help to increase his income, while entertainment buildings assist him in keeping the population happy.

Concerning resources, there are two basic ones: gold and magic gems. The gems are required for all our magical needs, while gold is needed for pretty much everything else. There are also nine rare resources in the game such as mithril or redwood lumber. Each rare resource has its specific purpose: for instance, mithril is used to create the most powerful artifacts with magical effects and lumber is required for the construction of some advanced buildings in the city.

What are some of the role-playing mechanics at work in Eador? I seem to recall something about hero quests during the E3 demo? Can you give me some examples of how that works?

Yeah, as I’ve said before – not just your heroes, but all units in the game level-up and get some new perks and abilities. For instance, your knights can acquire the passive ability to deal more damage to evil units starting from level 8, while your ogres may learn how to stun the enemy troops on level 3.

Speaking of quests, each hero can be assigned with an exploration task instead of a military one. It means our hero could spend his time in an allied province, wandering around and looking for places of interest. Each province has a number of dungeons, crypts, caves, magic shops etc., and our hero could visit all these beautiful places in order to gain some experience fighting the guardians and to plunder their treasures. Even if our hero was unable to find anything unusual during his search, exploration is a great way to increase tax income of that province (we can imagine that our hero is actually looking for more taxpayers to rip off, rather than for the monsters to slay?)

You mentioned unit stamina and morale? How do those affect gameplay?

Stamina represents the unit’s ability to carry out our orders – i.e. move or attack. Each action costs a specific amount of stamina points, and when the unit is attacked by the enemy, his stamina suffers as well. The unit with zero stamina is considered utterly exhausted and becomes completely useless. Therefore, the player should review the state of his troops and give his tired units a break to catch their breath.

Morale works a little bit different, but the effect is quite similar. The unit’s morale depends on many factors, including the general’s stats, magical effects, army composition and current battlefield situation. A demoralized unit cannot fight and will most probably try to flee the battle.

How does diplomacy work? What can be accomplished by talking to your opponents and not just stabbing them?

The diplomacy system is working on two levels – astral and strategic.

On the astral level, we can learn more about our competitors – the other Masters – by speaking to them. There is a strong chance that we’d want to ally ourselves with a fellow Master who shares our views and beliefs. These ‘astral’ alliances lead to different story paths, eventually providing us with different endings.

There is also a strategic level diplomacy, which takes place during the war over some particular shard. It is possible that some other Masters also chose this shard as their target during their turn, and in this case, diplomacy becomes a powerful tool of survival. Instead of fighting the war on two or more fronts, we can negotiate with some of our adversaries and convince them to leave this shard for good. We can also sign a trade agreement with other Masters and sell or buy resources.

What sort of creatures are you able to recruit in the game? Do you play a specific race such as the “Undead” or can you mix and match your unit types within an army or on various shards?

In Eador, you play as yourself – meaning that you don’t represent elves, orcs or humans when you’re hiring them. You’re the Master, a demigod, and these puny mortals are nothing but pawns in your great game. Thus, you can mix & match units from different races as you want, but you have to pay attention to the chemistry. Goblins and elves don’t really get along together, so you can expect a penalty to the troops’ morale on a battlefield.

The player may ally with any of the races populating a particular shard, thus gaining access to its warriors (but you have to construct a specific building in your capital before that). Alternately, some particular units may join your ranks as a result of a completed quest.

The game looked enormous at the show – how “big” of a game is Eador? Can you customize the options for a shorter game or is that set in stone?

If we’re talking about hours of gameplay, I’d say the first playthrough of Eador could take you about 60 hours to beat the game. Once you’ve learned the tricks and understood the basics, you can finish the game in half that time. Thus, the duration of the story-driven campaign is more or less set in stone, but in the ‘skirmish’ mode (strategic + tactical levels) you can adjust all the settings as you wish.

Let’s talk a little about the random events that pop up from time to time. How involved are these events and are there enough in the game that you won’t see the same ones too often?

According to our latest inspection, there are 1,264 different ‘event dialogues’, so there shouldn’t be a problem with their variety. Some of them are simple and last only for one round, while some others are more complex and may lead to unexpected outcomes a few turns later. Some of them are connected to your heroes, while others could happen anytime and anywhere.

Lastly, are you still on track for a 2012 release?

So far – yes, we’re still aiming for this year. Wish us luck with that!

I’d like to thank Vladimir for talking with us and you can hopefully grab Eador sometime in 2012 on a PC near you.