After dropping hints for months, Amazon is finally releasing the Amazon Fire TV Stick in Germany, Austria, and the UK. Pre-orders are now live for all three countries, and the device will be released on April 15th. The Fire TV Stick will sell for £35 in the UK and 39 EUR in Germany and Austria. Just like the Stick’s US launch, Prime members can pre-order the device now at a discounted price. Existing Prime members in the UK will pay just £19 and German Prime members will pay just 19 EUR if they place their order in the next 2 days. What’s different from the US release is the availability of an even better price for new Prime members. If you sign up for a new Prime membership, you can pre-order the Fire TV Stick for just £7 in the UK and 7 EUR in in Germany and Austria. Amazon will be enforcing that new Prime members pay their membership fee before receiving the initial discount. New Prime members will not receive the additional discount if they cancel their membership after the free 30 day trial ends.

The Fire TV Stick was the fastest selling product ever when it was released in the US. The device was back ordered for months after it was launched. Get your orders in early, because with these great pre-order discounts it won’t be a surprise if history repeats itself for the Fire TV Stick’s international release.

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Photos and Video of Derek Fisher DUI Crash Released…He’s Lucky to Be Alive (Pics + Video)

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Judging from the newly released photos of his wrecked SUV, Derek Fisher and girlfriend Gloria Govan are lucky to be alive.

Fisher was behind the wheel of his 2015 Cadillac Escalade when he crashed into a guard rail on the 101 freeway in Los Angeles around 3 a.m. on Sunday morning. The vehicle flipped, but thankfully both he and Govan were buckled in and the airbags deployed, likely saving their lives. Both walked away without injury.

TMZ obtained photos of the SUV, which suffered major damage on both the driver and passenger sides. Take a look:

TMZ also obtained video footage of the crash site shot by someone driving by early Sunday morning:

I’d say Matt Barnes must be loving this, except he probably isn’t. More likely his anger at Fisher is at an all-time high. Now, not only did Fisher “steal” his girl, the mother of his children, he almost killed her by driving drunk.

Of course, Fisher now has much bigger problems than Matt Barnes. He’s facing a serious DUI charge that could derail whatever chance he had of getting another NBA coaching gig.

Hat Tip – [TMZ]

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Perhaps the main reason why Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary spoke to a Fine Gael “business breakfast” last week – a private fundraising event for the party – was because he wants backing for Ryanair to provide a third terminal at Dublin Airport and no involvement of the State-owned Dublin Airport Authority. But he said a lot more at that breakfast, organised by a south Dublin branch of Fine Gael in the Shelbourne Hotel.

O’Leary revelled in a coarse, hectoring and hate-filled discourse that would make Donald Trump proud, and his primary targets were public servants; those, who according to Minister for Finance Michael Noonan in December 2013 as Ireland prepared to exit the bailout, are among “the real heroes and heroines” of Ireland’s austerity programme and who endured, in his words, “serious pay cuts”.

Why do Noonan and his colleagues then provide a platform for O’Leary to eviscerate those same public servants, and not only that, but positively encourage it? Why is Fine Gael so keen to fawn over O’Leary? Noonan is reported as having introduced O’Leary as “Ireland’s leading altogether decent man”. Minister for Foreign Affairs Charles Flanagan publicly, via his Twitter account, expressed his delight at soaking up O’Leary’s rants: “great start today listening to Michael O’Leary sound off in flying form”.

Troubling

O’Leary enjoys calling himself an “obnoxious little bollocks”, but the main Government party encouraging him is a more troubling issue. Fine Gael, according to itself, is a “party of the progressive centre”. Speaking at the unveiling of the budget on Tuesday, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe solemnly announced: “Those of us in the middle ground of politics have a duty to show that co-operation and consensus can work; to show that our tone can be moderate.”

In relation to its fundraising, the party asserts: “All monies fundraised will be used for electoral purposes and referenda campaigns as no statutory funds are permitted to be used for these purposes.” So the money raised by O’Leary’s attacks on public servants and his aggressive privatisation agenda is to assist the electoral fortunes of Fine Gael. Why is Fine Gael so comfortable with this? Is it because, in reality, it sees O’Leary as an ideological soulmate; a perfect fit for a party that talks centre but thinks right?

By all accounts, the several Ministers present at the braggarts’ breakfast did not shift uncomfortably at RTÉ being described as a “rat-infested North Korean union shop” and the singling out of an individual RTÉ journalist for abuse; or with the demand that gardaí campaigning for pay restoration be sacked, or with the insistence that the health and transport services should be entirely privatised, or with the contention that Dublin city centre has been destroyed through “nonsensical pandering to bloody cyclists”.

All very juvenile and best to be shrugged off, it could be argued, as O’Leary likes being an Irish Trump and savours the attendant publicity, but why should Fine Gael go unchallenged in contributing to and endorsing a destructive pitching of public against private sector which has been a hallmark of reaction to the Irish economic crisis of recent years?

Political backing

O’Leary knows nothing about public service. Born to the silver spoon, he was a Clongowes Wood College boy and a student at Trinity College Dublin where he lived in a family-owned apartment before he began his private business enterprises. O’Leary was a poor financial adviser to Ryanair founder Tony Ryan, advising him to close the airline, or else sell it to Aer Lingus.

But where would O’Leary be without State support and public money? Ryan sought political backing to withstand Aer Lingus’s predatory pricing and Charles Haughey obliged, with Ryanair getting a free run at Stansted Airport through a demarcation of the routes between the two airlines. Ryan also secured State subsidies in return for serving provincial airports and in 1992, rent breaks for Ryanair’s headquarters at Dublin Airport.

Another part of the Ryanair history not dwelt on by its champions is how the State-owned Aer Rianta contributed to the saving of the airline in its early days by writing off more than £1 million (€0.9 milliom) in landing charges and other fees and the renegotiating of deals at Cork and Shannon. These layers to the Ryanair story are now banished in favour of the macho O’Leary soundbites, such as “there is no principle that can’t be overturned for competitive reasons”. Likewise, it appears there are no depths to which the unprincipled O’Leary will not reach to excoriate public servants.

Long ago he coined his own expletive – “bolloxology” – which, he explained, “should be liberally used in one-to-one print media interviews when referring to any procedure that other airlines claim is complex”. In juvenile, privileged and elite O’Leary-land there are no complexities; it is all a simple matter of money, market dominance and pathetic public servants that Fine Gael seems happy to laugh at too.


Qualification: There will be 4 separate BO1 Single Elimination Qualification Events:

Qualifier 1: Sunday, 26th of January 2014 - 13:00 CET (Signups close at 12:00 CET)

Qualifier 2: Sunday, 2nd of February 2014 - 13:00 CET (Signups close at 12:00 CET)

Qualifier 3: Sunday, 9th of February 2014 - 13:00 CET (Signups close at 12:00 CET)

Qualifier 4: Sunday, 16th of February 2014 - 13:00 CET (Signups close at 12:00 CET)

Points: The point distribution changes dependent on the amount of teams that have signed up for a qualification event.

33-64 Teams:

17-32 Teams:

9-16 Teams:

5-8 Teams:

: The qualifier is cancelled if 4 or less Teams sign up. Each signed up team receives 1 point.Team captains, (and nobody else) must join the ingame channel SwissLegends at 12:45 o clock on the day of the qualifier. We reserve the right to disqualify teams that are not on time.The tournament bracket will be published at 12:45 CET on the day of the qualifier.Teams in the upper position on the tournament tree have first pick.The team with first pick opens a Custom Game in tournament draft mode with a random password and invites the captain of the enemy team, who will communicate the names of the other members of his team.The pause function can be used in case of disconnects only if no fights are happening! If a pause is used this is to be communicated to the tournament administration after the match.In case of abuse to achieve an advantage the offending team willbe disqualified.The winning team has to submit a screenshot of the aftergame lobby to the ingame channel SwissLegends. (Snipping Tool and imgur.com are recommended)If a team wishes to have a break between matches, this has to be discussed with their next opponent and the tournament administration. Team captains that are absent without informing the administration risk disqualification of their team.: Each Team signing up for a qualifier will be able to specify 6 players. During the respective qualifier, the team can freely swap out between these 6 players, but not with any players not specified during signup. At every following qualifier or at the Finals, the teams will once again be able to specifiy 6 players. HOWEVER, 5 out of these 6 players must have been specified at the original signup to qualify as the same team that earned points in any previous events.All Teams need to consist of 100% players that are living in switzerland. All players in any team that break this rule knowingly will be exempt from any further events. This rule includes all 6 players.The first qualifier will be seeded randomly. Every following qualifier will be seeded according to points the teams have already scored.The 8 Teams with the highest amount of points out of all 4 Qualification events will be participating in the finals on. Should any team not be able to participate, the next team in the ranking will be qualified. In case of a tie, a Best of 1 will be played between the tied teams.The detailed schedule will be published shortly after the final qualifier.THERE ARE NO PRIZES FOR THE QUALIFIER EVENTS!All prizes refer to the finals that will be played on Sunday, the 23rd of February 2014 at 13:00 CET.1. Place - 3200 Riot Points + Ryze Skin for all 5 players of the team + 1x150 Swiss francs2. Place - 2400 Riot Points for all 5 players of the team + 1x50 Swiss francs.3. Place - 1600 Riot Points for all 5 players of the team4. Place - 800 Riot Points for all 5 players of the teamRiot points and skins will be distributed by Riot Games. The cash prize will be transferred to the team captain. Further distribution is the concern of the team captains.Should this format be a success, Qualifiers for Swiss Legends #4 will begin on March 2nd, 2014. The best 4 teams from the Finals will automatically be qualified for the next finals and do not need to participate in qualifiers.Copy and paste the form below the line and complete it with the according information about your team. Teams can only sign up for the current qualifier., even if this leaves their score below 0. Teams can withdraw from a signup until the signup closes. However, all withdrawals are final.Submit the filled out sign up sheet in this thread or mail it to us:


TULSA -- Police are investigating after two separate shootings in Tulsa Thursday evening.

Police say a man has died after possibly accidentally shooting himself in north Tulsa. The shooting happened on the 1000 block of North Delaware Place.

Police say the second shooting happened on the 1600 block of East Virgin Street. According to police, a woman was shot during a possible domestic disturbance.

The woman was taken to the hospital by EMSA medics in emergent condition and is currently undergoing surgery.

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WASHINGTON -- A Tennessee state legislator has introduced a bill to make the Bible the official state book, after two other Southern states considered similar moves in recent months.

State Rep. Jerry Sexton (R) put forward his legislation Tuesday. He did not return a request for additional comment.

Last month, legislators in Mississippi introduced two bills to designate the Bible as the state book.

"The Bible provides a good role model on how to treat people," said Mississippi state Rep. Tom Miles (D), one of the cosponsors of that state's legislation. "They could read in there about love and compassion."

A similar measure in Louisiana last year sparked a significant amount of controversy, with critics arguing that it would violate the separation of church and state. Other said it would trivialize the religious text. The sponsor of that bill eventually pulled it before it could go to the full floor for a vote.

Although Tennessee doesn't have a state book, it does have a state fruit (the tomato), mineral (agate) and wild animal (raccoon).

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The Obama administration on Thursday blocked development of a copper and nickel mine near a popular wilderness area in northern Minnesota, saying the project could poison the vast web of lakes, streams and wetlands that crosshatch the region.

Acting with just five weeks left in the administration, federal agencies refused to renew leases held by a mining company just outside — and upstream from — the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, along the Canadian border. Officials also took steps that could lead to a much larger area being put off limits to mining.

The company, Twin Metals Minnesota, sued the government in federal court in September, anticipating a possible rejection and arguing that it had an absolute right to the lease renewals. Twin Metals, a subsidiary of Antofagasta of Chile, one of the world’s largest mining firms, has said it had planned to invest more than $5 billion in building the mine.

It was not clear whether the incoming Trump administration, which has vowed to eliminate regulations that hinder economic development, would try to reverse the decision.


Oh boy was this damn hard to crack.

Ok, I believe before it was established before that Aperture Science headquarters are in Cleveland, OH.

Source: HL2EP2

Though, this has been found.

Source: Portal 2

It can be assumed that the Enrichment Center is there, as there is an underground mine in the game.

Now here's the catch: Not only are there no salt mines in the Upper Peninsula, the surface as seen at the end of Portal 2 is flat with wheat growing. The UP is very mountainous, so it is impossible that it is flat for miles and miles. Also, no wheat is going to naturally grow there, it is too damn cold. Also, Michigan only has ever had one salt mine. (Source: Michigan State University, Lansing MI) We can either call paradox or assume the newspaper fudged up and meant to say Lower Michigan. Taking that into consideration, Aperture Science bought said mine from the Detroit Salt Company in January 1944. (Source: That Newspaper article from the game. The number 1944 is very hard to read.)

So, see this map from Detroit Free Press.

That is the location of the Salt Mine. Unless Valve wants to call a sensible location, I am the first person to pinpoint the exact location of where Portal takes place.

So, is the field of wheat at the end of the game possible? Yes. Although this is Downtown Detroit, enough time has taken place for all the standing buildings to be gone.

First of all, Half-Life takes place in 2003. (Proof below)

Source: Half-Life

A December like that only happened in 03 and 08. Also, in the book Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar, a note by the series's writer mentions the date March 31, 2003.

HL2 takes place 20 years later, making that 2023. Portal happens around the same time as HL2. The minimum amount of time that Chell could have been in hibernation is 2.4 years, so Portal 2 takes place during 2025 or later. (The wake up call tries to specify the amount of days in hibernation, but just repeats 9, so 900 days is reasonable. No facility will decay in 90 days) 29401 AD is also plausible. (9999999/365.25+2029) For many possibilities, it is long enough for the buildings to just plain fall apart. Even for 2025, The Combine may have turned Detroit into scrap metal.

Though, Valve really needs to do the research to make this make more sense.


A resolution introduced in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday aims to roll back privacy rules for broadband service providers that were approved by the Federal Communications Commission in October.

The rules include the requirement that internet service providers like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon should obtain “opt-in” consent from consumers to use and share sensitive personal information such as geolocation and web browsing history, and also give customers the option to opt out from the sharing of non-sensitive information such as email addresses or service tier information.

The rules have been opposed by internet service providers who argue that they are being treated differently from other Internet entities like search engines and social networking companies.

The providers secured a win last week when the now Republican-dominated FCC decided that the operation of the data security provisions would be temporarily halted in view of a stay petition by providers. The data protection rules were to come into force last Thursday.

The new resolution introduced by Senator Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, is backed by over 20 Republican co-sponsors.

It aims to provide for congressional disapproval of the FCC rule relating to ‘‘Protecting the Privacy of Customers of Broadband and Other Telecommunications Services’’ under the Congressional Review Act, a 1996 law that empowers Congress to repeal federal regulations, according to a statement issued by Flake, who is also chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law. The resolution under the CRA would also prevent the FCC from issuing “similarly harmful regulations” in the future, it added.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who on Tuesday was nominated for a second term five-year term at the agency by President Donald Trump, favors uniform rules on privacy for Internet companies, with the Federal Trade Commission rather than the FCC setting those rules. His renomination requires Senate confirmation.

“The federal government shouldn’t favor one set of companies over another—and certainly not when it comes to a marketplace as dynamic as the internet,” Pai said in a joint statement last week with FTC Acting Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen.

In an op-ed this month, Flake wrote that by reclassifying in 2015 internet service providers as common carriers, subject to Title II of the Communications Act, the FCC had stripped the FTC of its jurisdiction over the privacy practices of ISPs. The reclassification of broadband as a public regulated utility was part of a move by the previous administration of President Barack Obama to preserve net neutrality in the country.

The FTC has no real regulatory power to protect the privacy of Americans once they turn 13 and are no longer covered by a 1998 children’s privacy law, said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy in Washington, in an emailed statement.

The Flake resolution has been opposed by civil rights groups as well as Democrats in Congress. Electronic Frontier Foundation has called on people to call up their senators and their representatives to tell them to oppose the use of the CRA to roll back the FCC’s new rules about ISP privacy practices.

The use of the CRA would allow Congress to overturn the privacy rules with just a majority vote in both chambers, without the opportunity for members to filibuster, said the American Civil Liberties Union. It would also ban the FCC from issuing rules that are “substantially the same,” raising “serious questions about the FCC’s ability to protect consumer’s online privacy in the future,” wrote Nathaniel Turner, lobbyist assistant at ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office.

“The Republican leadership—working on behalf of the nation’s largest cable and phone companies—wants to strip Americans of important protections on how their most sensitive information can be used,” Chester said. He warned that the leading broadband ISPs have developed “Big Data collection practices” that gather and analyze personal information when people are on PC’s, mobile devices and increasingly even while viewing TV.


Donald Trump speaks to supporters at his primary election night event at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., on March 15. (Gerald Herbert/AP)

A group of rabbis is planning to boycott Donald Trump’s speech next week before a leading pro-Israel advocacy group, a sign of growing unease among many Jewish leaders about the populist campaign being waged by the Republican presidential front-runner.

About 40 rabbis have said that they plan to participate in the protest of Trump’s appearance Monday at the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, according to an organizer. The planned demonstration comes as members of the Republican Jewish Coalition, a group of major GOP donors, is expected to debate how to deal with Trump during its annual meeting next month in Las Vegas.

The concerns being expressed by many Jewish leaders go beyond Trump’s controversial pledge to be “neutral” during peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians — and extend to fears of Trump’s style and approach to power.

Some say they hear echoes of a painful past under fascism in Trump’s recent comments appearing to praise authoritarian figures such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and in the way that Trump stokes economic anger among his supporters. And they point to Trump’s call for a ban on Muslims entering the United States and his harsh rhetoric on illegal Mexican migrants as reminiscent of the anti-immigrant sentiment that greeted European Jews in generations past.

“These are the darkest days for Republican Jews like myself,” former George W. Bush speechwriter Noam Neusner wrote in a column this month in the Forward, a Jewish newspaper. He wrote that Trump “has built within our party the nearest thing America has ever seen to a European nativist working-class political movement. Such movements, to put it mildly, have never been good for the Jews or allies of free thought and the free market.”

Speaking at the Republican Jewish Coalition candidate forum on Dec. 3, Donald Trump drew the ire of a few audience members when he wouldn't clarify whether he recognized Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel. (Reuters)

Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in a statement that Trump “has a long history of being a strong supporter of Israel” and has “made significant contributions to a variety of Jewish related causes over the years.”

Organizers of the push to boycott Trump’s AIPAC speech said they are worried that Trump could gain legitimacy through the event and want to deny him a chance to present the invitation as a tacit sign of approval.

The organizers said they don’t know how many rabbis will ultimately participate. Those who have signed on so far primarily represent the Reform and Conservative movements of Judaism, whose followers tend to lean left politically.

Jeffrey Salkin, a Hollywood, Fla., rabbi helping to organize the boycott, said he and other rabbis were alarmed about Trump’s behavior and rhetoric on the campaign trail. “Jewish history teaches that when hatred is unleashed, it takes on a life of its own,” Salkin said.

Salkin said the effort was an attempt to head off “more radical” protest suggestions, including walkouts and jeers, and provide an outlet for those “both nauseated and terrified” by Trump.

An AIPAC spokesman declined to comment on the reaction to Trump’s appearance. Leaders of the organization have said they have a policy of inviting all active presidential candidates to speak to the group to ensure that “our community develops a constructive relationship with whomever wins their respective party nomination and thus could be elected president.”

Trump’s GOP rivals, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who has blasted Trump’s statements on Israel, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, are also scheduled to appear at the AIPAC conference. Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and Vice President Biden will speak there as well.

[Why Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz think Israel is a winning issue against Donald Trump]

Trump’s appearance presents an opportunity for the billionaire candidate as he seeks to be seen as the legitimate leader of the Republican Party.

Trump holds a wide lead in the nomination battle but faces hostility and opposition from many GOP leaders and the country’s foreign policy establishment, which has voiced concerns over Trump’s views on Israel, his support for torture, and an apparent lack of a team of knowledgeable advisers.

In addressing the annual Washington policy conference hosted by AIPAC, which has strong ties to both parties, Trump has a rare chance to show that he can deliver a substantive speech away from the raucous rallies that have become a signature of his campaign and contributed to the anxieties of his critics.

Nathan Diament, executive director of public policy for the Orthodox Union, called the AIPAC speech a “critical moment” for Trump.

“He won’t just be improvising an answer to a question on a debate stage. This is a planned speech. People are going to be looking to this as his definitive statement on his attitude toward Israel,” Diament said. “The audience in the room and the audience tuning in will be a sophisticated audience. They’re going to be looking for Trump to be specific. Trump just saying, ‘believe me,’ is not going to be sufficient.”

Trump’s rise has caused particular consternation among Republican Jewish leaders, who had hoped that lingering discomfort with President Obama’s policies on Israel and the Iran nuclear deal embraced by Clinton might lead to GOP gains in November among the traditionally pro-Democratic Jewish electorate. Even a slight shift could be pivotal in battleground states with heavy Jewish populations, such as Florida and Ohio.

Some said they have cringed as Trump has repeatedly likened the Israel-Palestinian negotiations to the real estate deals that he has brokered over his career.

In a December interview with the Associated Press, he questioned Israel’s commitment to peace and refused to back an undivided Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a red line for many GOP Israel supporters.

“I have a real question as to whether or not both sides want to make it,” Trump said. “A lot will have to do with Israel and whether or not Israel wants to make the deal — whether or not Israel’s willing to sacrifice certain things.”

Trump failed to allay concerns during an awkward December appearance before the Republican Jewish Coalition. As many in the audience sat stunned, Trump suggested that he might not win the support of many in the room because he did not want their money. He also said he was best positioned to get a Middle East peace deal because he’s a negotiator, “like you folks.”

“I’d like to go with a clean slate and just say just, let’s go, everybody’s even, we love everybody and let’s see if we can do something,” he told the crowd, adding, “Just relax, okay? You’ll like me very much, believe me.”

[Donald Trump struggles with Israel question at Republican Jewish summit]

He has reiterated his neutrality comments through speeches and debates, arguing that appearing to strongly favor one side over the other would hamper his ability to broker an agreement.

“I’m a negotiator,” he said during a debate in Miami last week. “If I go in, I’ll say I’m pro-Israel and I’ve told that to everybody and anybody that would listen. But I would like to at least have the other side think I’m somewhat neutral as to them, so that we can maybe get a deal done.”

Still, Trump has sought to assure Jews and other Israel supporters, including evangelical Christians who make up a core segment of his GOP base. He describes himself as “totally pro-Israel” and has said that he has donated large amounts of money to support the Jewish state. He has cited his role as the grand marshal of a pro-Israel parade in New York City in 2004 and his receipt of the Tree of Life award from the Jewish National Fund, which supports building infrastructure and planting trees in Israel.

A spokesman for the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, which now organizes the parade, did not respond to requests for comment. A longtime JNF official, Howard Ingram, said the group’s New York real estate committee gave Trump its Tree of Life award in the early 1980s in part to acknowledge his ability to raise money.

During the Miami debate, he mentioned his personal connections to the faith, referring to his daughter Ivanka, who converted to Judaism when she married Jared Kushner, who is a member of a prominent Orthodox family.

“I happen to have a son-in-law and a daughter that are Jewish, okay? And two grandchildren that are Jewish,” he said.

Hicks, his campaign spokeswoman, added that “many of [Trump’s] top executives and closest friends are Jewish” and “there will be no one stronger on Israeli American relations than him, and his consistent support and advocacy for Israel over many years is proof of this.”

Ari Fleischer, a former Bush administration official who also sits on the board of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said Trump’s seemingly confused messages have given “normally reliably Republican Jewish voters reasons to doubt him and question him.”

“The term ‘neutrality’ is a terrible buzzword,” Fleischer said. “It’s fraught with the language of the left, that is anti-Israel. So it’s hard to accept this proposition that he’s pro-Israel when he uses such a misguided word.”

Fleischer said Trump’s references to the New York parade and his JNF award are not sufficient to soothe concerns.

“That has a lot more to do with his wallet than his heart,” Fleischer said.

The Israel issue is a particularly important one to a group of deep-pocketed Republican donors, many of them affiliated with the Republican Jewish Coalition, who had rallied around Trump’s opponents, particularly Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. With Rubio out of the presidential race, it remains unclear whether they will acclimate themselves to Trump.

Fleischer said there is an active conversation within the RJC about the proper response to Trump, one that will likely dominate the group’s annual meeting in Las Vegas next month.

Much of the focus will be on GOP mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, the casino mogul and RJC backer who is aligned with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Adelson has not endorsed in the race, and his spokesman declined to comment. However, Adelson met with Trump in December and declared in an interview with Reuters that he found Trump to be “very charming.”

An Israeli blogger, Tal Schneider, reported this week that she had obtained video of Adelson at a fundraiser honoring former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani in Las Vegas on Feb. 27, in which Adelson said: “Trump is a businessman. I am a businessman. He employs a lot of people. I employed 50,000 people. Why not?”

An Israeli newspaper owned by Adelson also this week published an interview with Trump conducted after his Tuesday night primary victories, in which Trump declared that his success was “tremendous news for Israel.”

“Your friend is leading in the primaries,” Trump told the newspaper’s reporter, who covered his post-election celebration in Palm Beach. “I’ve always been your friend, even at the toughest moments. And that’s not going to change. I love you.”

For others, Trump’s broader ideology and leadership style could be a non-starter.

“What I hear from the Jewish community is that he’s odious and he’s a bully, and in so far as he expresses a point of view about anything, it’s usually something they disagree with,” said Neusner, the former Bush speechwriter who also served as White House liaison to the Jewish community.

Neusner called Trump’s proposed religious test for immigration “a black line” in a community only a generation or two removed from the immigrant experience.

“It strikes people as amoral,” he said. “It’s not something that matters only to Republican Jews or Democratic Jews or independent Jews. It’s deeply ingrained.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was scheduled to address AIPAC. An earlier version also incorrectly referred to Israeli blogger Tal Schneider as he instead of she.


If it can happen in show business, it's happened to Jon Cryer. Now he's opening up for the first time and sharing his behind-the-scenes stories in a warmly endearing, sharply observed, and frankly funny look at life in Hollywood.

In 1986 Jon Cryer won over America as Molly Ringwald's loyal and lovable best friend, Duckie, in the cult classic Pretty in Pink, in a role that set the tone for his three-decade-long career in Hollywood. He went on to establish himself as one of the most talented comedic actors in the business, ultimately culminating in his current turn as Alan Harper on the massively popular sitcom Two and a Half Men.

With the instincts of a natural storyteller, Cryer charts his extraordinary journey in show business, illuminating his many triumphs and some missteps along the way. Filled with exclusive behind-the-scenes anecdotes, Cryer offers his own endearing perspective on Hollywood, the business at large, and the art of acting.

Cryer has worked with some of the biggest and most provocative names in the business, and here, for the first time, he details his experiences with Charlie Sheen, John Hughes, Robert Altman, Molly Ringwald, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, and Christopher Reeve, among many others. He shares the intimate details of his friendships and relationships, pays tribute to his mentors, and explores the peculiar combination of heart, talent, and wisdom it takes to survive not just the bad times in a notoriously fickle industry but even the good times.

In this revealing, humorous, and introspective memoir, Cryer offers listeners a front-row seat as he reminisces about his life and experiences in showbiz over the past 30 years.


The mountain of broken down televisions and computer screens caught fire at around 11 o'clock in the morning, sending a thick plume of grey smoke over the tiny Utah town of Parowan. Soon, about ten fire trucks from neighboring towns Paragonah and Brian joined local firefighters on the scene, and authorities shut down an entire mile of Interstate 15.

The firefighters extinguished the blaze within a few hours, but the larger danger remains. The March 2 fire was just one symptom of enormous problem that's spreading across the country. As we move to flat screen TVs and computer displays, we're discarding our big, bulky old school televisions and CRT monitors, and they're piling up in warehouses like the one that caught fire in Parowan, with nowhere to go. These discarded screens aren't just a fire hazard. They're filled with lead and other toxic materials.

In California alone, more than 100 million pounds of leaded CRT monitors glass is recovered each year, according to CalRecycle, the state's recycling agency. In some states, recycling programs have provided cash incentives for companies to haul away junky old monitors and TVs, but there's almost no secondary market for the biggest parts of these monitors. So they just sit there, in massive piles. Over the past year, at least a half dozen warehouses filled with CRT debris have been abandoned in places like Baltimore, Cincinnati, Denver, and Yuma, Arizona. The stockpile in Parowan, Utah had not been abandoned, but just months earlier, state environmental officials had ordered its owner, Stone Castle Recycling, to move the waste out of the facility because of environmental code violations.

Environmentalists say there's no obvious solution to the problem, but that means it's time for the government to step in. At the very least, we need a place where this growing pile of glass and lead can be cleaned and stored until we know what to do with it. We need a Yucca Mountain for all our CRTs.

Billions of Pounds of Leaded Glass ———————————-

If you've ever hauled one of the bulky monitors that were universal before the advent of flat panel displays, you'll know that they are remarkably heavy. That's because, behind the screen, there's a big funnel of heavy leaded glass designed to be sturdy and to protect consumers from radiation leakage. The glass is recyclable, and for awhile, U.S. recyclers were able to ship it off for reuse in other countries.

But today, there are only a handful of places that will accept this leaded glass. There's a lead smelter in Mississippi, and two more in Canada. And an Indian company, Videocon, is buying it too. But the pipeline of abandoned CRTs is spewing out far more leaded glass than the market can bear. "Nowadays, everything is flat panels. There's just no use for the glass," says Earl Campbell, owner of E-Waste Harvesters in Phoenix. "What you're left with is this glass that you literally have to pay to get rid of."

>Over the past year, at least a half dozen warehouses filled with CRT debris have been abandoned in places like Baltimore, Cincinnati, Denver, and Yuma, Arizona.

Ten years ago, Videocon was paying recyclers between $100 and $200 a ton for their leaded glass, says Jeff Hunts, a manager with CalRecycle. Today, recyclers have to pay Videocon $100 to $200 per ton just to take the glass away.

California pays recycling companies about $10 per monitor to haul away these old school TVs. Typically, they're moved to processing facilities where they can bet stripped of copper, plastic, and circuit boards. The recycling companies can sell all of this waste, but that still leaves the leaded glass in the CRTs. And getting rid of that costs money. So, instead, companies simply store the old monitors or glass in warehouses – warehouses that are increasingly being abandoned.

One company – Dow Management – was paid by about ten California recycling companies to haul away about 10 million tons of old monitors and TVs over a three-year period. According to Hunts and Arizona state officials, Dow stuffed them into a warehouses Los Angeles and Arizona, and simply walked away from the toxic glass, leaving the California recyclers and local officials to clean up the mess. Dow's website is still active, but the company didn't respond to an emailed request for comment and a number listed on the website has been disconnected. Stat officials believe that its operators have fled the country.

A National Junk Monitor Graveyard? ———————————-

The recycling trade publication Resource Recycling has recorded a mini-boom in abandoned warehouses stuffed with old CRT monitors, each one a miniature ecological disaster for local officials, says Jerry Powell, executive editor with Resource Recycling. The numbers add up: 1,500 tons in Cincinnati; 8,000 tons in Denver; 10,000 tons in Halsted Pennsylvania and Vestal New York; 3,000 giant "gaylord" boxes in Baltimore Maryland. "It's a nationwide problem," says Powell.

Resource Recycling expects Videocon will stop accepting leaded glass altogether within five years, but people are still throwing out their monitors. Because many of these facilities include mountains of broken leaded glass, they're all mini environmental disasters in the making. Lead can leech into the water system and can cause organ damage when ingested by humans.

So what to do? Jim Puckett, founder of the Basel Action Network, the environmental watchdog group that has most carefully watched this situation, says we should clean the glass and then basically bank it for the future. That is to say, storing it in "carefully prepared landfill cells," where it cannot leech out and damage the local environment. To do that, though, will most likely take federal action by an agency such as the Environmental Protection Agency. An EPA spokeswoman didn't have any immediate comment for this story.

Puckett's idea is not a long-term solution, but it's better than the toxic surprises that are popping up over the country right now. "I think we need to sequester it," he says. "It is glass and it is lead and some day someone might be able to find a use for that stuff."

"Of course the ultimate solution is to design products with end-of-life in mind," he says.


The Smell Report

Emotion

The perception of smell consists not only of the sensation of the odours themselves but of the experiences and emotions associated with these sensations. Smells can evoke strong emotional reactions. In surveys on reactions to odours, responses show that many of our olfactory likes and dislikes are based purely on emotional associations.

The association of fragrance and emotion is not an invention of poets or perfume-makers. Our olfactory receptors are directly connected to the limbic system, the most ancient and primitive part of the brain, which is thought to be the seat of emotion. Smell sensations are relayed to the cortex, where ‘cognitive’ recognition occurs, only after the deepest parts of our brains have been stimulated. Thus, by the time we correctly name a particular scent as, for example, ‘vanilla’ , the scent has already activated the limbic system, triggering more deep-seated emotional responses.

Mood-effects

Although there is convincing evidence that pleasant fragrances can improve our mood and sense of well-being, some of these findings should be viewed with caution. Recent studies have shown that our expectations about an odour, rather than any direct effects of exposure to it, may sometimes be responsible for the mood and health benefits reported. In one experiment, researchers found that just telling subjects that a pleasant or unpleasant odour was being administered, which they might not be able to smell, altered their self-reports of mood and well-being. The mere mention of a positive odour reduced reports of symptoms related to poor health and increased reports of positive mood!

More reliable results have been obtained, however, from experiments using placebos (odourless sprays). These studies have demonstrated that although subjects do respond to some extent to odourless placebos which they think are fragrances, the effect of the real thing is significantly greater. The thought of pleasant fragrances may be enough to make us a bit more cheerful, but the actual smell can have dramatic effects in improving our mood and sense of well-being.

Although olfactory sensitivity generally declines with age, pleasant fragrances have been found to have positive effects on mood in all age groups.

In experiments involving stimulation of the left and right nostrils with pleasant and unpleasant fragrances, researchers have found differences in olfactory cortical neurone activity in the left and right hemispheres of the brain which correlate with the ‘pleasantness ratings’ of the odorants. These studies are claimed to indicate that positive emotions are predominantly processed by the left hemisphere of the brain, while negative emotions are more often processed by the right hemisphere. (The ‘pleasant’ odorant used in these experiments, as in many others, was vanillin.)

Perception effects

The positive emotional effects of pleasant fragrances also affect our perceptions of other people. In experiments, subjects exposed to pleasant fragrances tend to give higher ‘attractiveness ratings’ to people in photographs, although some recent studies have shown that these effects are only significant where there is some ambiguity in the pictures. If a person is clearly outstandingly beautiful, or extremely ugly, fragrance does not affect our judgement. But if the person is just ‘average’, a pleasant fragrance will tip the balance of our evaluation in his or her favour. So, the beautiful models used to advertise perfume probably have no need of it, but the rest of us ordinary mortals might well benefit from a spray or two of something pleasant. Beauty is in the nose of the beholder.

Unpleasant smells can also affect our perceptions and evaluations. In one study, the presence of an unpleasant odour led subjects not only to give lower ratings to photographed individuals, but also to judge paintings as less professional.

The mood-improving effects of pleasant smells may not always work to our advantage: by enhancing our positive perceptions and emotions, pleasant scents can cloud our judgement. In an experiment in a Las Vegas casino, the amount of money gambled in a slot machine increased by over 45% when the site was odorised with a pleasant aroma!

In another study – a consumer test of shampoos – a shampoo which participants ranked last on general performance in an initial test, was ranked first in a second test after its fragrance had been altered. In the second test, participants said that the shampoo was easier to rinse out, foamed better and left the hair more glossy. Only the fragrance had been changed.

Scent-preferences

Scent-preferences are often a highly personal matter, to do with specific memories and associations. In one survey, for example, responses to the question ‘What are your favourite smells?’ included many odours generally regarded as unpleasant (such as gasoline and body perspiration), while some scents usually perceived as pleasant (such as flowers) were violently disliked by certain respondents. These preferences were explained by good and bad experiences associated with particular scents. Despite these individual peculiarities, we can make some significant generalisations about smell-preference. For example, experiments have shown that we tend to ‘like what we know’: people give higher pleasantness ratings to smells which they are able to identify correctly. There are also some fragrances which appear to be universally perceived as ‘pleasant’ – such as vanilla, an increasingly popular ingredient in perfumes which has long been a standard ‘pleasant odour’ in psychological experiments (see Vanilla).

A note for perfume-marketers: one of the studies showing our tendency to prefer scents that we can identify correctly also showed that the use of an appropriate colour can help us to make the correct identification, thus increasing our liking for the fragrance. The scent of cherries, for example, was accurately identified more often when presented along with the colour red – and subjects’ ability to identify the scent significantly enhanced their rating of its pleasantness.


Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Scott Kingery makes a diving grab on a ground ball in the sixth inning March 3 against the Minnesota Twins during spring training at Spectrum Field. (Photo: Butch Dill-USA TODAY Sports)

CLEARWATER, Fla. – Every spring there tends to be a player who emerges in camp, delivering a performance that enthralls the team and fans.

For the Phillies this year, second baseman Scott Kingery, has been that guy. He has made stellar defensive plays, hit for power and shown speed on the bases.

Although he's yet to play above Double-A Reading, he has been treated like any other young player in the Phillies' clubhouse.

First baseman Tommy Joseph is trying to create a fun handshake for the two to use, centered on Kingery's nickname "Scotty Jetpax."

"Nothing that's camera worthy yet," Joseph joked. "Still in the trial stages."

Kingery picked up the nickname at the University of Arizona. He stole home in a game after which a teammate proclaimed he was so fast it appeared he was wearing jetpacks. The nickname stuck. He even uses it for his Twitter handle (@ScottyJetpax25). That's where Joseph first learned of it and he's taken to calling Kingery "Jetpax" ever since.

Kingery, 22, is exactly the kind of player any Phillies fan should want to embrace.

STORY: Budding instructor Roy Halladay returns to Phillies camp

Between the unique nickname and his style of play, it's fun to imagine how he'd fit in the Phillies' infield. The reality, though, is that even with his strong performance – 6 for 16 (.375), two home runs, three RBIs, five runs scored and a stolen base in seven games – Kingery is still likely a year away from having a real shot at making the team.

In the meantime, Kingery's performance has the potential to create unreasonable expectations, both in his readiness for Major League Baseball and how good he can be if he makes it to the big leagues. That's one of the pitfalls of exhibition games, where players aren't always going up against major-league caliber opponents.

"That's the hardest part when you have success in spring training like this, you almost start to believe that you're able to do this every day so you have to find a way to stay humble through it," Joseph said. "He's going to get sent down at some point, right? So everybody's going to wonder, 'Why isn't he going to make the team?' Come on, he's got to get more experience. But I think it can do nothing but help his confidence."

When manager Pete Mackanin has trotted out prospect-laden lineups this spring, he makes sure to sit back and enjoy watching what the young guys can do. It often presents one of Mackanin's, and fans', only opportunities to watch the prospects at this stage in their careers.

Mackanin has liked what Kingery's shown through the first 10 Grapefruit League games and believes he's capable of being a good MLB player. However, he cautioned reading too much into a player's numbers.

"The only issue I have is when a young guy starts doing extremely well in the spring then all of you media people start asking me if he's going to make the team," Mackanin said, laughing.

"The old saying is: Don't judge a guy on his spring training performance or September call-up performance. ... Everybody's looking for that future star player."

This isn't meant to diminish anyone's excitement at seeing prospects like Kingery or Nick Williams play well this spring. Embrace it. Enjoy it. Envision them being part of the Phillies' next World Series championship team.

Just don't let two weeks of good play create unrealistic expectations. Keep it in perspective.

Contact Meghan Montemurro at mmontemurro@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at @M_Montemurro.


If every Internet subscriber pays $5 monthly; then all music downloads should be free and legal. The Music Association of Canada cannot suck and blow at the same time.

David Boyle, Toronto

Already they over charge huge amount to buy their CDs, if only they could be practical in pricing their product, they would not be in this situation.

Steve Moore, Toronto

If that comes to pass, how and what would corporate and business subscribers pay ? Now I wonder if Toronto Star would also ask for a $5 fee since I came across this on the online edition ?

Mukesh Vashi, Brampton

Ridiculous. I have never downloaded music, never will, I'm lucky to have finally accomplished a level of computer savy to do basic tasks. I still have a collection of tapes for heaven's sake...I don't want to be bothered replacing them all with CD,s. So why should people like me, and there are plenty of us, pay for a service we will never use?

Jan Pinney, Elora

I object to paying for a service I would never use. If I want music I use a CD or listen to the radio. Why should I pay for some strangers' habit of pirating music from the internet

Aileen Carter, Toronto

Since we already pay a levy on blank media such as CDs and DVDs, and there is also a proposal to add a similar levy to hard drives and MP3 players, I don't see why we should have to pay yet another fee to supposedly compensate for downloaded music. Downloading music is already legal in Canada because of these levies, so why should we be slapped with another fee for doing something that is actually legal?

Iris Gray, Victoria

The idea is ridiculous. Should all mortgage payers be surcharged to help those who live beyond their means and default on their payments? Should all credit card users have to pay extra to bail out those who abuse credit? Should all car drivers have to pay an extra tax to subsidise those who evade payment? The truth of the matter is that the music business has brought its ills upon itself by its head-in-the-sand attitude.

Clive Warner, Monterrey, Mexico

What happens to this money that is collected? How can the possibly know how much a musician or song writer should receive?

Randy Drefs, Medicine Hat

Nothing wrong with paying $5 a month provided you WANT it. But I just dont get the thought process behind this ludicrous proposition of making everyone pay even if you never download music. Are we heading towards a communist/socialist internet usage, having to pay up for someone elses losses. I, for one, will not fork it.

Vikas Thusoo, Richmond Hill

$5 a month for music is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of, even if you are a music downloader. The only music I've actually ever downloaded was Radiohead's newest album, In Rainbows. Radiohead chose to release the music independently and actaully let you set your own price for the online download - a truly novel idea that the music industry should take note of. I have no doubts they've still made plenty of money.

Shawn Vickar, Calgary

How arrogant can these people be? First there was a tax on blank CDs, with the working assumption that anyone who burns a CD is ripping off an artist. How do these funds get disubursed? Why should Anne Murray get paid everytime I back up a database on a CD?

Dave Kingston, Toronto

Most people have said that this fee is unreasonable, rightly so indeed. However I see some disturbing trends in those responses - first of all it's difficult to believe that almost any broadband internet user has never downloaded any music, but even if that's true how can you justify your "throw the downloaders under the bus" attitude - this is nothing more than attack on our freedoms and right to privacy by aggressive corporate lobbies in this insane post-9/11 world. Fight for your rights or lose them forever!!

Ron Dyck, Edmonton

Considering the lousy music that record companies have been foisting on us for the past decade or two, I would suggest they work on actually cultivating talent and investing in developing artists rather than promoting interchangeable one hit wonders. People don't want to buy music that's disposable; they want something they'll still like in five years. Until there's better music available these companies don't deserve a penny from anyone.

Ilana McVeigh, Toronto

As a senior who only uses internet for e-mails and Pogo games I resent having to pay $5 for music. I have never downloaded any music nor will I ever. Should this charge appear on my bill I will cancel the internet outright.

Claude Leduc, Ottawa

Having been connected to the internet for more than 13 years and have yet to download 1 song I would be horrified to learn I would be contributing to celine dions hundreds of millions of dollar bank account. Make money the old fashion way and earn it.

Andy Vanklompenburg, Nanaimo

I do not down load or by music CD's. I should not have to subsidise the music industry. The Music industry does not subsidise my income tax.

Joe O'Byrne, Amherst, New Brunswick

Of course! Music stores are practically extinct due to WWW. When was the last time you saw line ups in the HMV store?! Downloading from the web is equivalent to buying from a regular store - thus, pay up!

Yana Doubrovine, Toronto

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Now that the core internet has become a household necessity, every Tom Dick and Musician wants a surcharge put on for their particular organization. If people are illegally downloading, then criminally charge and convict them.. Don't download the costs on to the normal user of the internet, like myself, who does not download..

Chris McRae, Ottawa

This is an absolutely moronic idea. People who have no interest in downloading music will be paying for nothing and also subsidizing the cost for those who do wish to download.

Tom Tadman, Scarborough

I am retired and on fixed income. I use the internet to keep in contact with friends but have never downloaded any music and have no intention of doing so. Fees for such would cause me to reevaluate my need for the internet at all. I simply cannot afford any more expenses eating away at my monthly pension.

Judy Court, Toronto

I stopped purchasing music long ago, not because I'm downloading it but because it is priced beyond what I perceive its value to be. I DO NOT download music, and cannot see any valid reason why I should be forced to pay a fee to do so.

Tony Heayn, Brampton

The internet can be used to pirate music, true. Cars can be used in bank robberies. Shall we apply a surcharge to car sales too? If this $5 fee comes into effect I will never pay for music again.

Scott Wiebe, Toronto

So people who don't download music will still be paying an extra $5/mo? That sounds like a terrible idea. The fees should be the responsibility of those who download the music - not a tax on everyone.

Jeni Ator, Toronto

What a great idea! Maybe we can save the auto industry with a $5 per month Internet Access Fee. And Toronto's budget problems - solved with an additional $5 fee! And climate change? Let's add another $5 on. Now isn't that easier than actually confronting the real issues at hand?

Paul Tenk, Toronto

I have always bought CDs: not once have I downloaded or shared music on the internet. If I am arbitrarily charged $5 a month on my internet, what incentive would I have to buy CD copies of music I have "already paid for"?

Gabriela Byron, Toronto

I use the internet but have never downloaded a piece of music -so why should I pay. It's appropriate for music downloaders - for them it's still a savings over purchasing CD's.

Bea Klug, Toronto

Why should my mom, who has never downloaded anything in her life except email pay $5 a month to the recording industry?

Craig Hall, Toronto

The idea is not bad but music comes from around the world. What if I only listen to music from an Australian band? Paying $5 to the Songwriters Association of CANADA won't make any sense!

Gavin Mill, Markham

Now now, everyone calm down. Im sure Rogers will collect the fees fairly and make sure everything is alright, just like it does everything else.

Dan Carter, Hamilton

I don't want to pay it either, but then, isn't this the same thing as having to pay school taxes when you don't have kids?

Robert Guimont, Toronto

Instead of imposing a new tax, stop and think about why piracy exists... These entities charge absurd prices then wonder why people don't want to pay. If they lowered their prices, people would buy legally. The same goes for software and games.

Bianca Devins, Toronto


With the release of the Defense Build Update, players have been creating labyrinths and going up against some very well designed ones. Since the release on April 29 through to the end of the day on May 2, there were 600 raids. The boss won 50.2% of the time and lost 49.8% if the time. Pretty much 50/50!

Additionally, there have been no reported crashes, and only 1 reported hang due to cards getting stuck in a state we didn't anticipate. If you have seen problems, please report them.

Duelist

Development

Over the past week our team has been busy preparing what will be in the next update release. We are considering doing a small update soon to patch some card bugs. But the next major update with progression will probably be a month or so away.

Our Engineering Team worked on card logic; iOS Performance; tuned cards.

Our Design Team worked on Wind up hit animations; Pyroclasm revamp.

Our Art Team worked on Card 11 finished; Card Back 12 design.

Our Audio Team worked on UI Sound design.

Bola Shot

Labyrinth Gameplay Statistics

Since the release on April 29 through to the end of of the day on May 2, there were 600 raids. The boss won 50.2% of the time and the boss lost 49.8% if the time.


Qualcomm’s executive pay practices came under the spotlight this spring.

Financial columnists from The San Diego Union-Tribune and New York Times weighed in on Qualcomm’s equity awards to executives and employees — saying these grants block the benefit to shareholders of billions in stock buybacks.

Activist investor Jana Partners called for changes in Qualcomm’s performance targets for executives. Instead of revenue and adjusted operating income, which can create “the incentive to grow at any cost,” Jana wants shareholder-friendly metrics, such as earnings per share or return on invested capital.

These targets “provide an important check on stock-based compensation,” the activist said in a letter to Qualcomm this spring.

The wireless chip maker’s executive compensation plan is complex. It became more elaborate last year as the company took steps to keep its management team together after Microsoft reportedly tried to hire Chief Executive Steve Mollenkopf. The moves included providing millions in front-loaded restricted stock grants to Mollenkopf, Executive Chairman Paul Jacobs and other top officials.

One key issue for Qualcomm’s critics is shareholder dilution. Over the past five fiscal years, the company has spent $13.6 billion repurchasing 239 million of its own shares. These buybacks should have reduced the number of shares in the market, boosting shareholder value. But despite the buybacks, Qualcomm’s total share count at the end of fiscal 2014 was flat compared with five years before.

“The company has spent a lot of money on repurchases, yet the share count has not declined,” said Steven Re of Quality Growth Management, a Rancho Santa Fe investment firm that owns Qualcomm shares. “It’s like a cloud over the company that it has so richly rewarded a management that has done so poorly for shareholders.”

Qualcomm says its stock compensation program is designed to retain not only executives but also lower level employees. On average, Qualcomm’s top five officers received 6 percent of compensation shares awarded over the past five years. The remainder went to employees outside of the executive suite.

A glut of stock options from their heyday in the early 2000s was the main reason why buybacks failed to cut share count. Qualcomm no longer relies on options to pay executives. It has shifted to restricted stock, which is less dilutive.

This current fiscal year, the company increased buybacks. It pledged to repurchase $10 billion in shares by March 2016 — a move that is expected to shrink share count.

The bulk of Jacobs’ pay last year came from stock options. He exercised 1.8 million shares at strike prices ranging from roughly $37 to $45 per share. He immediately sold the shares for about $73 to $79 each, pocketing the difference.

About one-third of Jacobs’ options were 10 years old and set to expire. Others were granted several years ago. He last received stock options in 2009.

Last year wasn’t typical for Qualcomm. After reports that Microsoft had approached Mollenkopf, Jacobs stepped down as CEO. “A key element of retaining Mr. Mollenkopf was Dr. Jacobs agreeing to relinquish the CEO title and adopt a different role,” the company said in its proxy.


Toronto city council has overwhelmingly voted no to a massive new downtown casino, shutting the door on a year-long debate that featured a parade of ambitious plans and a citizen-led campaign against them.

In an unexpected move, council also rejected plans to expand the gambling floor at Woodbine Racetrack, a narrow result that left the site's operator concerned for its future. However, council went on to vote in favour of pursuing discussions with the provincial and federal governments to expand the amount of convention space in the city, news that will be welcomed by those who say Toronto is lagging behind other North American destinations.

Nick Eaves, chief executive of Woodbine Entertainment Group, which operates the north Etobicoke site, watched the vote along with about 200 of his workers, who bussed in to city hall.

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In addition to the support from workers, Woodbine had a petition with 10,000 signatures, he said. "For all of that to be unnoticed and to be turned down today is a real shock," he said.

Councillor Mike Layton, who led the charge to have the special meeting even after Mayor Rob Ford declared the casino plan effectively dead last week, put forward the motion to oppose the downtown site. It passed 40 to 4. Mr. Layton also asked council to oppose expansion in the area that includes Woodbine, which passed in a 24-20 vote. Earlier in the meeting Mr. Ford attempted to get support for a compromise that would see expanded gambling at Woodbine. That motion failed 13 to 31.

Mr. Eaves said the prospect of a new casino now going to neighbouring Vaughan or Markham would "severely compromise" Woodbine's ability to compete. He said he hopes to work out a deal with the province to keep Woodbine operating.

Oxford Properties Group, which in 2011 acquired the land under the Metro Toronto Convention Centre's north building, has been advocating for a casino on Front Street to help fund the convention centre's expansion.

Michael Kitt, Oxford's executive vice-president, said in an interview that the company supports the city's decision. He said Oxford was encouraged by the discussion that arose at Tuesday's meeting. Council unanimously voted in favour of pursuing discussions with Queen's Park and Ottawa to invest in additional convention space.

"We think that's an important topic to continue the momentum over the coming months," he said.

Tuesday's highly anticipated casino vote, held at a special meeting called by a majority of councillors over Mr. Ford's objections, was overshadowed by recent allegations the mayor was caught on video smoking crack cocaine.

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During the council debate, Mr. Ford – who for months was one of the casino's most vocal supporters because of the jobs and revenue he said it would bring – spoke out against a downtown casino and laid the blame at Premier Kathleen Wynne's feet.

"No deal is good enough for this Premier," Mr. Ford told a packed council chamber. "She doesn't want a casino in Toronto. No one knows which direction she's going on the gaming file."

The City of Toronto had originally counted on collecting $100-million annually for hosting a casino, but that came crashing down after The Globe and Mail reported that would mean a special deal for Toronto. Ms. Wynne told the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. to give all municipalities the same deal, and the new funding formula would see Toronto get a little more than $53-million a year for the downtown site.

Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts was among those to express interest in Toronto and, according to city lobbyist records, was the most aggressive of the potential casino operators.

Alan Feldman, MGM vice-president of public affairs, in a written statement thanked council for carefully considering the opportunity.

"As we have always said, we only want to operate in a city where we can partner with the local community," he wrote. "For this reason, we are excited to continue the process and remain committed to sharing our vision with a willing host in the greater Toronto area."

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Mr. Feldman did not respond to an e-mail asking why the casino pitch didn't work in Toronto.

Jan Jones, of Caesars Entertainment, which had also expressed interest, wrote in a statement that she was "disappointed" by the vote, but respected council's decision.

Peggy Calvert, one of the founding members of citizens' group No Casino Toronto, said she was "delighted" by the result.

"We couldn't be more ecstatic. … We could only hope way back when that this would be the outcome," she said.


Richard Stallman’s GNU (gnunet.org) and French computing institute Inria have released the initial code for an “electronic payment system,” which is “unlike BitCoin or cash.”

GNU’s ‘Not for the Black Market’ Taler

The project, dubbed The project, dubbed Taler (for Taxable Anonymous Libre Electronic Reserve), is designed “for the mainstream economy, and not the black market,” its website explains.

Taler, according to the current available literature, is aimed at providing as much a solution to mainstream organizations’ use of parallel payment systems as for customers. While sounding similar to cryptocurrency, the ethos behind the project suggests an attempt to distance itself from Bitcoin.

The website states:

Unlike BitCoin or cash payments, Taler ensures that governments can learn their citizen’s total income and thus collect sales, value-added or income taxes.”

Nonetheless, the system ensures anonymity for users, who will ultimately use coins as a stand-in for national currencies and be free from exposure to any volatility inherent in a new cryptocurrency.

“When you pay with Taler, your identity does not have to be revealed to the merchant. The bank, government and exchange will also never learn how you spent your electronic money,” it is written. “However, you can prove that you paid in court if necessary.”

As such, in terms of stability, Taler is reported to “[use] an electronic exchange holding financial reserves in existing currencies.”

Experimental

As is standard for a GNU-related project, the Taler is free and the code readily accessible. Stallman, who coined the term “free software” in the 1980s, has nonetheless been quiet on the progress or ultimate potential of Taler in the mainstream economy. As is standard for a GNU-related project, the Taler is free and the code readily accessible. Stallman, who coined the term “free software” in the 1980s, has nonetheless been quiet on the progress or ultimate potential of Taler in the mainstream economy.

Currently, the project is very much in its infancy, with disclaimers noting pitfalls, which have yet to be addressed. No “real” currencies are currently available for experimentation, with an initial release slated for some time this year.

“There is no auditor, and hence components do not properly support auditors either. As a result, a dishonest exchange could embezzle funds,” an “There is no auditor, and hence components do not properly support auditors either. As a result, a dishonest exchange could embezzle funds,” an email from systems maintainer and software architect Christian Grothoff states.

“This is a first alpha release of the four key components providing logic for running a bank, exchange, merchant and wallet.”

The development team meanwhile hails from various outlets including Inria, which is in turn placed under the supervision of French government industries of research and development.

In terms of deployment, as The Register In terms of deployment, as The Register points out , criticism of Taler may well come from Bitcoin circles, with critics in turn pointing to weaknesses in the Bitcoin ecosystem to validate the need for a Taler-like platform for the mainstream.

What do you think about the potential of the Taler project? Let us know in the comments sections below.


Why did they do this? Diplomats from many countries have been asking this for days about Canada's sudden move to cut off diplomatic ties with Iran. Whether it was a good move or bad, there can be no doubt that in the execution Ottawa bobbled the ball.

If Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird wanted to deliver a clear message to the world about Iran, they didn't. Instead, they confused the world.

For many countries, Ottawa's basic message, "Iran is bad" was crossed with another signal: "Canada is weird."

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The Harper government was clearly fed up with Iran on many fronts and chose to dispense with stagnant diplomatic ties that it decided were just getting in the way of tougher criticism. But it made Canadian foreign policy look erratic by muddling the message.

For most foreign governments, the message is interpreted through their diplomats, and diplomatic language. To diplomats, breaking off relations – suspending them, technically – is a serious step, a notch below declaring war. Countries maintain diplomatic ties through cold wars and even hot skirmishes. For days, foreign diplomats have been seeking explanations from fellow diplomats, Canadian officials, even journalists. To them, it's shocking.

That doesn't mean Canada should only do things that won't shock foreign diplomats. But if Ottawa wants to send a message, it has to explain, not confuse. This time, the explanation has been vague and shifting.

For starters, there was the suddenness. On Friday, Mr. Baird went before a microphone in Vladivostok to announce the closing of Canada's embassy in Iran and the expulsion of Iranian diplomats from Canada. Okay, that's because the Canadian government wanted to get all its diplomats safely out of Tehran before it said anything and then Mr. Baird, at a summit in Russia, rushed to the microphone just after 1 a.m. local time.

But the scene led to a sense of urgency. The obvious question was, why now? Mr. Baird didn't offer a convincing answer. His first explanation was a long list of complaints about Iran's behaviour on human rights, its nuclear program and support for Syria – all legitimate but none new – and also that, given Iran's poor record for protecting diplomats, "it's simply no longer safe" to have Canadian representatives in Iran.

The lack of a strong explanation fuelled speculation. Some suggested Israel had tipped Ottawa off to an imminent military strike, so Mr. Baird has since made a point of repeatedly denying that. The CBC speculated Iranian diplomats here might have been organizing sleeper cells.

The real safety reasons, it turned out, were more pedestrian but poorly explained – a sense that Canadians in Tehran were exposed. There's no U.S. embassy there and the British left last November, when their gated embassy was stormed by protesters. Ottawa worried Canadians could be next in line as the enemy foreigners. If Israel launches strikes, Canadian diplomats believed they would be taken hostage. Ottawa, after all, has become Israel's staunchest defender.

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The Harper government also had a September deadline to list Iran as a "state sponsor of terrorism" under a new law, and worried about retaliation. It will probably also soon impose sanctions on Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards. There was one other thing Ottawa didn't adequately explain: its diplomatic relations had become less than zero because Iranian officials wouldn't meet Canadians.

But that's still not the whole reason for the Harper government's actions. It didn't have to expel all Iranian diplomats to deal with safety concerns in Tehran. On Monday, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney offered a new reason: Iranian diplomats were intimidating Iranian-Canadians.

But the key reason, certainly, was that the government wanted to make it part of a statement about Iran as a rogue nation. That's why Ottawa listed Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism on the same day as it made its surprise announcement.

It's a statement that confused, because Mr. Baird didn't offer a systematic explanation that cutting off diplomatic ties was not decided suddenly. The Harper government failed to grasp that the world would expect a clearer rationale for a big step.

After all, if you're trying to send the world a strong message about Iran, it's best not to leave them puzzled about Canada.


A mother passing by her daughter's bedroom was astonished to see the bed was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then she saw an envelope propped up prominently on the center of the bed. It was addressed, "Mom." With the worst premonition, she opened the envelope and read the letter with trembling hands:

Dear Mom: It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you. I had to elope with my new boyfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Dad and you. I've been finding real passion with Ahmed and he is so nice-even with all his piercings, tattoos, beard, and his motorcycle clothes. But it's not only the passion Mom, I'm pregnant and Ahmed said that we will be very happy. He already owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. He wants to have many more children with me and that's now one of my dreams too. Ahmed taught me that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone and we'll be growing it for us and trading it with his friends for all the cocaine and ecstasy we want. In the meantime, we'll pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Ahmed can get better; he sure deserves it!! Don't worry Mom, I'm 15 years old now and I know how to take care of myself. Someday I'm sure we'll be back to visit so you can get to know your grand children.

Your daughter, Judith

PS: Mom, none of the above is true. I'm over at the neighbor's house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than my report card that's in my desk center drawer. I love you! Call when it is safe for me to come home.

- An e-mail


While writing a post yesterday I noticed there were some gaps in my vim setup for when I'm authoring a markdown file so here are a few tips for polishing up your markdown experience in vim, specifically for jekyll blogs.

Front Matter

Starting at the top, literally, with the front matter. It was looking a bit weird out of the box:

It's rather inconsequential data compared to the meat of the document, the actual content. I found a helpful blog post with some details that worked for me. The heart of which is to parse between the --- s and consider this content a comment.

au BufNewFile , BufRead , BufWrite *.md syntax match Comment /\%^---\_.\{-}---$/

After, it looks a little less odd.

Textwidth

I prefer a little more space when I'm writing so I change the width before text wraps to something slightly more than my default 80 character width - like 100 characters. In my autocommand group I place something like:

au FileType markdown setlocal textwidth = 100

Fenced-in Languages

If you have many, or maybe super-specific, languages and syntaxes you commonly use in your markdown you can specify them in your vimrc to be interpreted as such.

let g :markdown_fenced_languages = [ 'javascript' , 'ruby' , 'sh' , 'yaml' , 'javascript' , 'html' , 'vim' , 'coffee' , 'json' , 'diff' ]

Snippets

I use snipmate but I guess the same can be applied with something like UltiSnips? Probably. In any case, snippets are a lifesaver for the occasional piece of code or markup you can either never remember the exact syntax for, or are slightly awkward to type. For me it's more often the former.

~/.vim/snippets/markdown.snippets

snippet a [${1:text}](${2:http://}) snippet img ![${1:alt}](${2:http://}) snippet front --- title: ${1:Title} author: Joel layout: post permalink: `strftime("/%Y/%m/%d")`/${2:slug}.html ---

The first two are for links and image tags, respectively. I consistently confuse the two so why leave it to guessing? The front snippet is handy in that date for the permalink is automatically populated when the snippet is expanded.

Preview Your Markdown

A tweet from Ches asking about previewing documents piqued my curiosity so I decided to look into it a little further. His suggestion to try the QuickLook plugin was met with failure, as he mentioned, as there's some weirdness when you try to launch from terminal. From finder it seems to work just fine but that defeats the purpose of being vim-driven, right? The next best thing would be to leverage a native mac app to get a look at what our rendered markdown files look like. The app I prefer is called MacDown and has plenty of good features if you ever feel like dropping into a gui app instead of vim.

MacDown comes with a cli command you can use to open documents from the terminal but I've found that it doesn't retain your preferences and switches to the defaults once you use it. Using OS X's open command, however, does retain your preferences. So, about getting vim to play nice with this? Not so hard:

map < leader > pre : w < cr > : silent ! ! open - a MacDown % > /dev/ null & < cr > : redraw !< cr >

So <leader>pre will now open up MacDown with the current document so I can get a good look. Not bad!

The changes to MacDown's preferences I've found useful:

General > Put editor on the right. I don't care much about the editor, so it gets shoved right.

Rendering > Detect Jekyll front-matter. For those of us jekyll users.

Helpful Plugins


Periodic limb movements during sleep (PLMS), with or without symptoms of a restless legs syndrome (RLS), may cause sleep disturbances. The pharmacologic treatments of choice are dopaminergic drugs. Their use, however, may be limited due to tolerance development or rebound phenomena. Anecdotal observations have shown that oral magnesium therapy may ameliorate symptoms in patients with moderate RLS. We report on an open clinical and polysomnographic study in 10 patients (mean age 57 +/- 9 years; 6 men, 4 women) suffering from insomnia related to PLMS (n = 4) or mild-to-moderate RLS (n = 6). Magnesium was administered orally at a dose of 12.4 mmol in the evening over a period of 4-6 weeks. Following magnesium treatment, PLMS associated with arousals (PLMS-A) decreased significantly (17 +/- 7 vs 7 +/- 7 events per hour of total sleep time, p < 0.05). PLMS without arousal were also moderately reduced (PLMS per hour of total sleep time 33 +/- 16 vs 21 +/- 23, p = 0.07). Sleep efficiency improved from 75 +/- 12% to 85 +/- 8% (p < 0.01). In the group of patients estimating their sleep and/or symptoms of RLS as improved after therapy (n = 7), the effects of magnesium on PLMS and PLMS-A were even more pronounced. Our study indicates that magnesium treatment may be a useful alternative therapy in patients with mild or moderate RLS-or PLMS-related insomnia. Further investigations regarding the role of magnesium in the pathophysiology of RLS and placebo-controlled studies need to be performed.


PDF generation with Clojure, thanks to Dmitri Sotnikov

Jose Ayudarte Blocked Unblock Follow Following Dec 19, 2017

Unlike consumer software, Reporting is something that enterprise software always needs, so a month ago our team did a benchmark analysis to choose the best PDF generator library or third-party tool. As Clojure runs on the JVM and has smooth Java interop we considered tools like JasperReports to create reports with drag-and-drop functionality but we weren’t convinced: the design tool is user-friendly in the sense of having the option to create PDF sections visually, but then we realized that we had complex requirements, making it more difficult to achieve the results using JasperReports without losing ability to have dynamic data structures.

So we took our exploration further afield.

Eventually, we decided on clj-pdf, a library created by Dmitri Sotnikov, which shares similarities with Hiccup library at the time of generating elements. Now that we have developed and released our PDF report tool to production I will try to summarize the benefits and share some tips on how to use clj-pdf:

I think it’s important to highlight that the most useful document element for structuring advance content is the pdf-table. It’s the only way to properly customize space and alignment between elements. Table could be also used but it has bugs and the display is broken on some advanced use-cases.

As for creating a header for the PDF, you might want to add a logo and some title aligned horizontally. In our case, as you can see in the code, we have created a pdf-table element that is 100% width and it’s right-aligned, with no borders. We have also positioned the header statically within “x” and “y” axes in the page. Then we have used a watermark element to set and scale the logo just in the right place. This method has the caveat of having to customize header position for each different case. So if you have several documents with different text-lengths in the header, you have to adjust the position by hand for each of one.

So a better method to create a header it might be not setting its “x” and “y” axes at all, but just creating a 2-column pdf-table with pdf-cell inside that has paragraphs aligned to the desired place (right or left). Thus you could use any length for the header text but with the limitations that you should use some negative paddings for pdf-cells (needed to align the items horizontally) as well as getting more vertical top-margin in the page.

Another interesting thing is to create simple tables with few lines of data:

For instance, we have used a pdf-table element with a chunk element inside, separating data lines with “

” end of line character, creating a background for the whole table.

Also, as a way to control jump or vertical gaps between elements, spacer element is good combined with size property that gives us more fined control, as the size specifies the font-size of the space inserted.

Finally, another interesting trick is the use of negative padding values to have a better control over vertical gaps. As pointed before, left, right, top and bottom padding properties are available to use within pdf-tables’s pdf-cell elements. By way of illustration, to move a pdf-cell’s content up you would set a property padding-top to -3 value or something like that. Numbers are pixel units but it’s better just to give it a go and experiment a bit.

Important issues:

We have had huge gaps with very long pdf-table columns. So we have created faux rows to split the content to avoid that. That shouldn’t be a problem and we have to report an issue in the author’s repository. In fact there is a property to control behavior of pdf-table’s content across different pages.

Pdf-table column number is strict and immutable. We have to use colspan attribute to merge columns for a given row but we cannot pass less or more columns than expected to the pdf-table’s body and that includes Clojure’s nil values as well (they are counted as a column even if there is no content inside). We remove nil values or we skip structure creation completely in case we find the risk of breaking that rule. Also we create rows with nil columns if required when there is no content.

As my colleague Asier mentioned in an earlier post, our goal is to contribute more to Open Source projects and this awesome library can be a good candidate to start doing so.


The Hofstra University student killed during a home-invasion robbery was the victim of friendly fire from a veteran cop, Nassau County police revealed last night.

The officer unleashed a barrage of bullets when intruder Dalton Smith pointed a gun at him while using Andrea Rebello as a human shield, police said.

“He kept saying, ‘I’m going to kill her,’ then pointed the gun at the police officer,” Det. Lt. John Azzata said.

The cop fired eight times, with one bullet accidentally hitting Rebello, 21, in the head, he said.

The other seven rounds struck and killed Smith, a career criminal, ex-con and parole absconder, Azzata said.

Smith — clad in dark clothes and a ski mask — was wielding a 9mm pistol with one bullet in the chamber and another in the magazine, Azzata said. But he never got off a shot during the deadly encounter early Friday inside the off-campus house in Uniondale where Rebello lived with her twin sister, Jessica, Azzata said.

The cop who fired the shots was described only as a 12-plus-year veteran of the Nassau County Police Department who earlier served more than seven years with the NYPD.

A source told The Post his decorations include the medal of honor.

He was treated for trauma after the incident, said James Carver, head of the Nassau County Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association.

Nassau County Police Commissioner Thomas Dale said the cop was “OK,” adding: “I believe he’s out sick.”

“We’re going to make sure he receives counseling and appropriate medical attention if he needs it,” Dale said.

Dale also said his department would conduct a “complete investigation.”


February 28, 2015, at UFC 184. That was the last time Cat Zingano competed in the UFC.

While she pleaded to get right back in there after her 14-second armbar loss to Ronda Rousey, the former title contender instead sat in the sidelines for a year and a half. During that time off, Zingano's weight ballooned up to 175 lbs, and she has slowly dropped the weight in preparation for her return at UFC 200.

Zingano took to Instagram to post a series of photos showing a timeline from January up to the present.

Her post came with the following caption: "Fighters be like.... I was 175 in January & 145 today. Reality vs expectation. There is a much bigger fight than what you see go on in that cage. And If I can do it, anyone of y'all can. #teamalphacat #ufc200 #bulkingJ/K #strongAF #regretnothing #alphacatzingano #sorrynotsorry #notashamed #thatbasstho #cake"

Zingano, 33, will face Julianna Pena as part of the UFC 200 preliminary card. She has a 2013 TKO victory over the current UFC champion, Miesha Tate.


Best Operas Ever is a new podcast from Saturday Afternoon at the Opera on CBC Radio 2. In each instalment, host Ben Heppner talks to one of the major opera figures of our time about a particular opera recording that they especially love. You'll find each episode here on cbcmusic.ca, and you can tune in to CBC Radio 2 at 1 p.m. any Saturday from now until the end of November to hear these classic recordings in their entirety — along with extended conversations with our esteemed guests.

Best Operas Ever No. 5 - Barbara Hannigan Ben Heppner talks to the contemporary music maverick about a 20th-century opera she adores. Audio

Contemporary music has an estimable champion in Barbara Hannigan. There aren't a lot of musicians in the world who have cemented international singing careers, defined themselves with new repertoire, and still felt like that wasn't quite enough. And yet, Hannigan has taken to the conductor's podium with as much relish as the operatic stage. And the opera recording she chose as her favourite ever is as ambitious, smart and iconoclastic as Hannigan herself.

Olivier Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise is nearly five hours long in its entirety, requires as many as 300 musicians, and has virtually no story. It's a work of intense religious devotion, expressed through bursts of musical colour and texture, with nary a Verdian melody in sight. But for Hannigan, seeing it performed at the Salzburg Festival as a young singer was a life-altering experience. The singers in that production wore modern dress, as per the wishes of director Peter Sellars. Baritone José van Dam sang the title role, and soprano Dawn Upshaw was the angel who appears to him periodically. Kent Nagano conducted the vast ensemble.

"Peter Sellars opened up the rehearsals in Salzburg to anyone who wanted to come, as long as we were quiet and didn't disrupt," Hannigan told Ben Heppner. "In a way, it was kind of like going to church, because the rehearsal space that Sellars created with Nagano was.... it was sacred." Hannigan was singing in another production at the festival, but she spent nearly every spare minute at Sellars' rehearsals for Saint François — hours on end, watching the immense production come together.

The recording that Hannigan has chosen to feature on Best Operas Ever is from that very production at the Salzburg Festival, with those same singers. Hit the play button above to hear Heppner talk to Hannigan about why that Salzburg Saint François was so formative to her. You can tune in to Saturday Afternoon at the Opera on Oct. 8 to hear more from this conversation, plus Kent Nagano's recording of Saint François d'Assise in its (near) entirety.

Subscribe to Best Operas Ever on iTunes!

Explore more:

Best opera ever? Jonathan Darlington chooses Weber's Der Freischütz

Best opera ever? Sondra Radvanovsky chooses Puccini's Tosca


EXCLUSIVE: In what may be the first group of features to be financed by cryptocurrency and distributed via the blockchain, a consortium of companies plans to release New Frontiers, a sci-fi anthology of five segments that will combine into one feature.

Ground Control Entertainment, XYZ Films, and producer Kyle Franke are partnering with SingularDTV co-founder and president of entertainment Kim Jackson on the project, which will consist of a five-part anthology of films created and directed by Ruairi Robinson (The Last Days on Mars), Stephan Zlotescu (True Skin), Zac&Mac (Law Zero), and Tyson Johnston (Lunar).

Producer Scott Glassgold, Ruairi Robinson and Ground Control Entertainment developed the universe for New Frontiers with screenwriter Philip Gelatt. Production will start in the first quarter of 2018. Futurism Studios will serve as an executive producer on the project.

No details on the anthology plots have been released. The combined films sport a budget of $5 million, or approximately 9000 in ether, the digital currency derived from the ethereum blockchain and one of the largest cryptocurrencies in the world.

The deal was negotiated by SingularDTV’s Jackson, with Chris Spicer and Nick Scott from Akin Gump for XYZ and Allison Binder for Ground Control. Jackson’s credits include Tub (Sundance 2010), Children of God (Newfest, Outfest 2010, HBO), Gun Hill Road (Sundance 2011 competition, 2011 theatrical release), and Blue Caprice (Sundance 2013, MoMA New Films/New Directors, IFC/Sundance Selects). It was nominated for a Spirit Award.

“I’m very proud that SingularDTV is creating a new frontier of its own, with a peer-to-peer funding and distribution platform, connecting fans with the films and filmmakers that they love,” said Jackson. “Our platform allows for audiences and creators to mutually benefit from the success of any project. As long as they keep supporting projects, there is no end to the possibility of sequels or TV series continuing to reach eager audiences. With SingularDTV there are no disappointing cancellations of beloved pilots or series. It’s a self-sustaining franchise.”

SingularDTV’s Ethervision distribution platform streaming channel plans to offer films, music and other content later in 2018. The company has been ramping up its activities and just announced the appointments of executives Shreesh Tiwari (chief strategic officer), Archna Desai (chief operating officer), and Oliver Mahrdt (SVP of marketing).