Judging from polls, Edward Snowden hasn?t enjoyed much success in rousing the American public to share his anger over Washington?s ?architecture of oppression,? as he called it. But by becoming an international fugitive, the National Security Agency leaker may well have succeeded at rallying a good part of the rest of the world around his cause.
Call his protectors the Anti-American Network. They are a kind of geopolitical underground of informally aligned nations that has been growing since the end of the Cold War, and they are united by a mistrust of America as the ?lone superpower.? Snowden is riding this network like a fugitive slave helped by the Underground Railroad of the 19th century. He has hopped from Hong Kong, where the quasi-independent government issued a blunt snub to Washington (apparently with Beijing?s say-so), to Moscow, which refuses to extradite him. And Snowden has asked for asylum in Ecuador, which is already harboring WikiLeaks fugitive Julian Assange, and where he would arrive by way of Cuba.
There are other actual and potential members of the Anti-American Network, of course: Iran, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, a number of fence-sitting Asian and European nations, and more. The network was galvanized by President Bush?s 2003 Iraq invasion, and although it appeared to fade a bit with the election of Barack Obama in 2008 (who was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, recall, mostly for not being Bush), it has gained new life with Obama?s perceived overuse of drone warfare and with revelations that the U.S. government is spying on ... apparently everybody?Americans, allies, and enemies alike.
Recently, Snowden placed his fate in the hands of the informal leader of the Anti-American Network, Russia?s Vladimir Putin. That meant the country?s president controlled the ultimate instrument of payback to Washington. As a former KGB colonel who?s no slouch at cracking down on dissent himself, Putin must be at least somewhat sympathetic to Washington?s desire to bring in America?s most prominent dissident. On Tuesday, Putin indicated that he didn?t want Snowden to remain in a transit zone at a Russian airport, arguing, ?The sooner he chooses his final destination, the better it is for him and Russia.?
But from all the evidence, Putin also loves to ?stick his thumb in [America?s] eye,? as Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told CNN, calling the Russian president an ?old KGB colonel apparatchik that dreams of the days of the Russian empire.? Whatever Putin may be saying now about ?the businesslike character of our relations with the U.S.,? it is evident that Russia?s foreign policy is largely shaped by its leader?s desire to meddle with America and its global designs. He backs President Bashar al-Assad in Syria against the U.S.-aided rebels; Moscow opposes stringent sanctions on Iran, where it is building a nuclear reactor; and Putin pressured Obama to retreat from a European missile-defense system, angering the Poles and the Czechs who would have hosted it. Above all, Putin was incensed by the Magnitsky Act, a 2012 U.S. law, named after a slain Russian lawyer, under which Washington can penalize Russian human-rights abuses.
Still, there is more to this Anti-American Network?and to Russian foreign policy?than simple resentment of Washington. ?The Russian leadership is increasingly frustrated with the United States and American foreign policy that, from their point of view, is built around interfering in the internal affairs of other countries,? says Paul Saunders of the Center for the National Interest. ?They believe it should be fundamentally up to people who live inside a particular country to decide how they are ruled.? He points out that Washington and Moscow weren?t that far apart on Syria until last year, when Obama bluntly called for Assad?s ouster. This has continued to be the sticking point.
There is an element of hypocrisy to this, of course, because Moscow cavalierly interferes in the affairs of nations it considers to be part of its ?sphere,? such as Georgia and Ukraine, just as China does with nations in East Asia. Nonetheless, there are enough nations that, like Russia and China, want to reanimate the concept of noninterference (which, after all, was a founding principle of the United Nations) against the perception of U.S. meddling that the Anti-American Network may well grow?and become a powerful countervailing force to U.S. influence.
Exhibit A: the summit in March between Putin and China?s new president, Xi Jinping. In a new article in The National Interest journal, two of America?s leading foreign policy pundits, Leslie Gelb and Dimitri Simes, noted Xi?s comment at the meeting that Beijing and Moscow should ?resolutely support each other in efforts to protect national sovereignty, security, and development interests.? Putin agreed, declaring that ?the strategic partnership between us is of great importance on both a bilateral and global scale.?
Gelb and Simes play down the idea that Russia and China might adopt a formal alliance against the United States; both countries, they write, in the long run ?need more from the United States and the European Union than from each other.? But they do suggest that Moscow and Beijing might well ?play a game of triangular diplomacy similar to the Nixon/Kissinger strategy of the 1970s. In this scenario, Moscow and Beijing could dangle the prospect of a potential alliance or ad hoc cooperative arrangement with the other to gain leverage over Washington and put the United States at a bargaining and power disadvantage.? Precisely the disadvantage that Edward Snowden has helped to place Washington in today.
For staging, some rooms and issues can present more challenges than others. An overpopulated living room, an untidy bedroom, an outdated kitchen, and a bathroom with more rings around it than Saturn can make for a staging nightmare.
Karen Eubank of Eubank Staging has seen all these issues and more. So we asked her??What are some of the biggest problem areas when staging a home for today?s market??
Here?s her thoughtful answer:
The ?problem room? varies from house to house.
The single biggest ?issues? for any room are clutter, cleanliness and light. Oh and it is absolutely inexcusable to have anything on your property that needs to be repaired. Do all of the repairs prior to listing.
People in general have a lot of items, I have a lot of items. I?d need the entire Real Estate Staging Association board to help me stage my home if I ever moved! The good news is you are moving, so go ahead and start packing and store the items your stager suggests.? You can bet that will include any sort of collection you have.
Seldom do we keep our homes ?white glove? clean. I?m notorious for simply putting 25 watt bulbs in all the light fixtures prior to a party so I don?t have to clean. Try it, it works! Instant mood lighting and no need to clean! However when it?s the big, bad, broad light of day you have to have a super clean house. It needs to not only BE clean but smell clean.
Light is a huge factor. It really helps sell a home. So open blinds, curtains, shutters and make sure the light bulbs are working in all of your fixtures. One big tip to make sure ceiling can light bulbs are the same depth within each fixture. If you have one low and one high the light distribution will be uneven.
Buyers will make a decision within 15 seconds about purchasing a home. That means your bang for the buck needs to happen in the areas you see from the front door. Walk and count. Everything you see in those first 15 seconds needs to say ?This is the house!?.
Kitchens are generally an issue if they are dated. Wallpaper, odd color cabinets, linoleum flooring and of course bad lighting need to be addressed. Buyers want a great kitchen and great bathrooms. Just look at remodeling statistics and you will see that both of those items bring more ROI than other things you can do to a home. I?m not saying remodel before you sell, just be aware of the facts. People generally spend a lot of time in their kitchens, they are the heart of the home and buyers don?t want to have to move in and do heart surgery!
For instance, no one wants to see a washer and dryer in a kitchen. Remember that great Lake Highlands house Kerry Slaughter listed last year? I suggested they build doors over their washer/ dryer area. The seller did and the house flew off the market.That was before the market was hot. Kerry and I would both say that issue would have been a big barrier to selling the home.
A super quick fix in a typical ranch is to paint the cabinets (Tricorn Black by Sherwin Williams is a great choice ? yes BLACK), update? cabinet hardware and light fixtures and the entire kitchen will have a new personality! Oh and that lovely decorative edging around ranch house kitchen windows comes right off! Pick a nice wall color like Agreeable Gray or Kilim Beige and make it a kitchen every buyer will love.
A big deal killer is a home without a proper master bathroom. That will absolutely lower your price. If you have a great master buyers will be more forgiving of a second bath that is not updated. White is always right when it comes to fixtures.? Re-glazing is cost effective for tubs and sinks.? Now if you live in an? vintage home known for purple or pink toilets with multicolor wall tile? leave it alone. That is exactly what buyers in that area are looking for!
One of the biggest issues it the ?mult-task?room. So often the guest room is also the workout room and the craft room. This is disastrous when you sell. Each room has to have clearly defined purpose. If you have a three bedroom home, one bedroom can certainly be a home office but it cannot also be a gym and an art? studio.? It has to be ONE thing. Do not confuse your potential buyers. They are looking at several homes a day and if you want yours to be THE home, they need to remember it without any possibility? of confusion. If a buyer is trying to recall a home and says ?Oh yeah, the cute house with the umm office, no was it a gym or no I think it was a craft room?? That?s a house that will not be first on the list.?
Well, what do we have here? Okay, let's scrap the faux surprise. The recently confirmed Ascend P6 has landed, and Huawei hopes it will stir interest in the hearts of mobile users. Debuting across Europe, China and Australia in late June / early August with a €449 ($600) price tag, it's asking you to take it seriously, and that's what we'll do.
The mobile market is a fickle place, so it doesn't matter where you are right now; it's all about where you're going. Huawei? Well, it's definitely got its sights set on an upward trajectory. The Ascend P6 is the latest rung on the ladder, intended to elevate the company to mobile greatness. But, with competition stiffer than ever, can it really call a device with a 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 720p display and 8-megapixel camera a flagship? (For its P-series at least?) Huawei's certainly giving it a try, and it's hoping that beauty, not brawn, will win the day.
As promised by the free-to-view UK TV service, YouView's finally launched its dedicated Android app. Offering the ability to browse a full week of program listings for its collection of over 70 TV and radio channels, the app can also remotely record TV shows. With the iOS version, you can connect up to five devices, with YouView promising it'll run on "most Android 2.3 devices" with special optimization done for the Samsung Galaxy S III, Galaxy S II, LG Nexus 4, HTC One S and, er, Galaxy Ace. Visit the source to download the app to your own Android device.
When it burst onto the scene last year, the Dashlane password manager created quite a stir. Slick, full-featured, and free, it included a system of points and badges designed to encourage proper password security. Earn enough points and you could unlock premium features. Dashlane 2.0 ($19.99 per year, direct) ditches the points and badges, rearranges the balance between free and premium editions, and adds a number of impressive new features.
Previously, all Dashlane users could sync passwords between multiple PCs, but only premium users could install it on mobile devices and store secure notes. Under Dashlane 2.0, online backup and syncing between devices are only available to premium users. If you just need to run it on one device, be it a Mac, a PC, an Android device, or an iOS device, you don't need to pay.
If you're an existing Dashlane user, don't worry about losing features by upgrading to 2.0. When you launch the new version, you'll get an opportunity to unlock free secure backup and sync for life. When you do, the program suggests you might like to make a one-time donation, but it's not required.
Getting Started When you first install Dashlane, you'll be prompted to create a strong master password. Remember, anybody who breaks this one gains access to all of your passwords, so do make it strong. Note, too, that the master password isn't stored anywhere. If you forget it, Dashlane can't help. That also means they can't turn over your passwords even if ordered to do so by the court.
Like LastPass 2.0 and RoboForm Desktop 7, Dashlane can import passwords you may have already saved in Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Chrome, and then clear the passwords from the browser and turn off its password capture. Dashlane can also import passwords exported by RoboForm, LastPass, and a few others. LastPass itself will import from over two dozen other applications, while KeePass imports from nearly three dozen.
As noted, the previous edition of Dashlane used a system of points and badges to encourage proper security practices. That's gone in the current edition, but the Getting Started page walks you through a series of steps that ensure you understand how to use the program. A button on the application's title bar reflects how many steps you have left. As you complete a step, Dashlane moves it to the bottom and crosses it out. When all are complete, the button vanishes.
Google Authenticator and Security Like most password managers, Dashlane can automatically log you out after a fixed time of inactivity. By default, this feature is turned off. I'd recommend turning on, and setting the idle time to something quite a bit less than the default of 30 minutes. KeePass can be set to log out automatically on a wide variety of triggers, among them locking the computer, putting it in sleep mode, or minimizing the program's main window.
New in this edition, Dashlane offers two-factor authentication using Google Authenticator. Once you've installed Google Authenticator on your phone, logging in will require both your password and a code sent to your phone. You can choose to log in this way every time, or only on the first time you log in using a new device.
LastPass 2.0 Premium is definitely the leader when it comes to two-factor authentication. In addition to Google Authenticator, it supports the Microsoft Authenticator App for Windows phones. It can also authenticate using your fingerprint, a Yubikey token, a smartcard, a specially-prepared USB drive, or even a simple wallet-sized decoding grid.
If you have Dashlane's paid edition, you can log in to your password stash from any computer. Another form of two-factor authentication comes into play when you do this for the first time from a given device. In addition to entering your master password, you'll need to enter a code sent to your email account. You can choose whether or not to have Dashlane remember this computer for future logins.
Kaspersky Password Manager 4 also offers remote login, as does LastPass. The basic RoboForm Desktop does not, but you can get full online access by choosing RoboForm Everywhere 7 instead.
The mayor?s office on Maui is being honored for a second consecutive year as one of the healthiest employers in the state by the Pacific Business News, according to a county announcement.
The recognition is part of an award program conducted by the publication, which recognizes companies that are committed to creating a healthy workplace for employees.
Maui was recognized in the large company category which is for employers of 200 or more people, according to information released by the county.
County programs aimed at improving quality of life include the ?Walking on Wednesdays? initiative, health fairs, fitness classes, and other activities.
Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa said the programs were created ?to help employees improve their quality of life.? He said the achievement is one that ?we can all take pride in.?
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Tags: Alan Arakawa?maui health and wellness?maui healthiest employers?Pacific Business News?pbn healthiest employers?walk on wednesdays maui
Editor's Note:
Maui Now is an open forum and we welcome any views. However, please apply your sense of aloha when posting comments - remarks that are unnecessarily offensive will be blocked.
? By publishing a comment, you are acknowledging that you are personally responsible for its contents.
SANFORD, Fla. (AP) ? George Zimmerman was fed up with "punks" getting away with crime and shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin "because he wanted to," not because he had to, prosecutors argued Monday, while the neighborhood watch volunteer's attorney said the killing was self-defense against a young man who was slamming Zimmerman's head against the pavement.
The prosecution began opening statements in the long-awaited murder trial with shocking language, repeating obscenities Zimmerman uttered while talking to a police dispatcher moments before the deadly confrontation.
The defense opened with a knock-knock joke about the difficulty of picking a jury for a case that stirred nationwide debate over racial profiling, vigilantism and Florida's expansive laws on the use of deadly force.
"Knock. Knock," said defense attorney Don West.
"Who is there?"
"George Zimmerman."
"George Zimmerman who?"
"All right, good. You're on the jury."
Zimmerman, 29, could get life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder for gunning down Martin on Feb. 26, 2012, as the unarmed black teenager, wearing a hoodie on a dark, rainy night, walked from a convenience store through the gated townhouse community where he was staying.
The case took on racial dimensions after Martin's family claimed that Zimmerman had racially profiled Martin and that police were dragging their feet in bringing charges. Zimmerman, whose mother is Hispanic and whose father is white, has denied the confrontation had anything to do with race.
Prosecutor John Guy's first words to the jury recounted what Zimmerman told a dispatcher in a call shortly after spotting Martin: "F------ punks. These a-------. They always get away."
Zimmerman was profiling Martin as he followed him, Guy said. He said Zimmerman viewed the teen "as someone about to a commit a crime in his neighborhood."
"And he acted on it. That's why we're here," the prosecutor said.
Zimmerman didn't have to shoot Martin, Guy said. "He shot him for the worst of all reasons: because he wanted to," he said.
The prosecutor portrayed the watch captain as a vigilante, saying, "Zimmerman thought it was his right to rid his neighborhood of anyone who did not belong."
West told jurors a different story: Martin sucker-punched Zimmerman and then pounded the neighborhood watch volunteer's head against the concrete sidewalk, and that's when Zimmerman opened fire.
Showing the jury photos of a bloodied and bruised Zimmerman, the defense attorney said, "He had just taken tremendous blows to his face, tremendous blows to his head."
West said the story that Martin was unarmed is untrue: "Trayvon Martin armed himself with a concrete sidewalk and used it to smash George Zimmerman's head."
The prosecutor, however, disputed elements of Zimmerman's story, including his claim that Martin put his hands over Zimmerman's mouth and reached for the man's gun. Guy said none of Zimmerman's DNA was found on Martin's body, and none of the teenager's DNA was on the weapon or the holster.
But West said that doesn't prove anything, arguing that crime-scene technicians didn't properly protect Martin's hands from contamination.
Two police dispatch phone calls that could be important evidence for both sides were played for the jury by the defense. Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, left the courtroom before the second recording, which has the sound of the gunshot that killed Martin.
The first was a call Zimmerman made to a nonemergency police dispatcher, who told him he didn't need to be following Martin.
The second 911 call, from a witness, captures screams in the distant background from the struggle between Zimmerman and Martin. Martin's parents said the screams are from their son, while Zimmerman's father contends they are his son's.
Circuit Judge Debra Nelson ruled last weekend that audio experts for the prosecution won't be able to testify that the screams belong to Martin, saying the methods used were unreliable.
On Monday, one of the first witnesses for the prosecution was a custodian of police dispatch calls. During the witness' testimony, prosecutors started playing police calls Zimmerman had made in the months before he shot Martin. The defense objected, arguing the calls were irrelevant.
The judge said she would address the matter Tuesday and sent the jurors to the hotel where they are being sequestered for the duration of the trial, which could last several weeks
Other witnesses who testified Monday included a convenience store clerk and the 911 dispatcher who took Zimmerman's call when he was following Martin. Martin had gone to the convenience store to buy Skittles and a can of iced tea.
The 911 dispatcher, Sean Noffke, testified that he had advised Zimmerman not to follow Martin.
Randy McClean, a criminal defense attorney in Florida with no connection to the case, called the prosecution's opening statement "brilliant" in that it described Zimmerman's state of mind. But he described the knock-knock joke as less than stellar.
"If you're defending your client for second-degree murder, you probably shouldn't start your opening with a joke," McClean said.
One thing missing on Monday was visible demonstrations outside the courthouse.
Late Monday, the Seminole County NAACP held a town hall meeting at a church near a memorial site for Martin.
Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump, who as a potential witness in the case can't be present in the courtroom until he testifies, told the crowd that the outcome of the case would have far-reaching implications.
"It became a civil rights matter the night the police did not arrest the killer of an unarmed child," Crump said. "It's going to be a litmus test to show how far we have come."
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Follow Kyle Hightower on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KHightower
Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP
Sometimes parents have to explain things to their kids in more child-friendly terms. During World War II, that meant outfitting a child with a weird Mickey Mouse gas mask.
It was 1942, just about a month after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Fearing imminent chemical attack on American soil, the government issued thousands of gas mask to civilians. But the smallest citizens couldn't fit into the regulation-sized masks. They were too heavy and too big. Plus, aren't those things scary?
Well, while the Mickey Mouse mask might have soothed children, it was possibly scarier for mom and dad. Designed to fit kids 18 months to four years old, the mask was supposed to be worn as a sort of game, to take away some of the fear out of a chemical attack. Although, the masks probably weren't supposed to be so freaky. Sure, a child might be safer. But a mother might look at her toddler and think the real enemy was not the Axis powers across the ocean, but the tiny human with the head of a cartoon mouse with a perma-grin sitting in her lap.
Anyway, with Disney's approval, Sun Rubber Company produced 1,000 of these strange masks in 1942. In 1944, it actually won the Army-Navy E for Excellence for producing them. Sun was supposed to make other versions of the pint-sized mask featuring other cartoon characters later on, but for whatever reason never did.
There aren't very many surviving Mouseketeer masks?one belongs to the U.S. Army Chemical Museum at Ft. McClellan, Alabama. There's another one at the 45th Infantry Division Museum in Oklahoma City, and there's another prototype at the Disney Archives in Burbank. But otherwise, these eerie pictures are the only evidence of the odd relic of WWII. [GasMaskLexikon, AtlasObscoura]
The switch from doing jobs to starting startups: will we even notice?Written by Grzegorz Pietruczuk
Could our increasingly online lifestyles morph smoothly into self-employment if today?s culture of ?employee-based careers for all? gradually fades into oblivion?
Something important has happened without us really noticing.
Could the Lean Startup model play a role in a switch to a startup-dominated occupational culture?
The ?employee turned startup founder??will quite possibly start their venture without having any investment money to ?waste? in a non-Lean way.
However, Lean Startup?s principle of rapidly determining the size of potential markets for novel solutions can certainly these days at least be started without having to spend any money on development.
A penniless individual operating on a Lean Startup model ?is essentially someone conducting a market research exercise for products and services that don?t yet exist.
Market research exercises of this sort involve starting conversations with prospective users about requirements to solve a problem, in the context of a speculative solution to that problem that the startup founder has dreamed up.
Starting conversations that might turn into opportunities to provide new things that people want and are prepared to pay for (and learning how to do this well) may just turn out to be the activity which replaces today?s job seeking, either because mastery of it becomes culturally encouraged or because job seeking itself switches to becoming much more of a minority sport than it is today.
People of all ages and backgrounds are starting to make a point of not making much of a fuss about instantly embracing technological change, even though (and more than likely because) they are encountering fresh changes on an almost daily basis.
It is becoming increasingly tiresome to seem too awed when discovering that you are able to do yet another thing online that you previously could only do offline.
?Wow fatigue?: we very quickly stop raving about it, we just use it and pass it on
Yes, we might initially be expected to find ourselves still saying ?wow!? or ?amazing!? when someone shows us one more thing that we currently do offline that?s suddenly been made easier, usually because of a new mobile app, but that?s about it: from that point onward, we?ll be expected to do three things: use it if we need to and, at a relevant moment, ask others whether they know about it, and if they don?t, then show them how to get it and use it.
If we do make too much fuss about these kinds of things on a regular basis, it is usually a sign to others that have stopped making such a fuss (which is rapidly becoming the majority) that we are not really adjusting to the culture.
Such ?technologically maladjusted behaviour? is becoming beyond uncool, it is antisocial: you are going to be seriously annoying people by regularly obliging them to justify spontaneous and uninhibited technology adoption behaviour that seems to them to be straightforward common sense and which is also ?no big deal?.
And yet, despite all this ?labour-saving?, we still expect to need to work
However much we might still fantasize about a future where all the work is done by robots and a life where the need to have a job has been eliminated, our current experience of ?things going digital in our lives? doesn?t seem to have left most of us feeling that it?s all getting to the point where we probably won?t need to work?for a living any time soon.
Even though a lot of things are free online (usually paid for by advertising) things like food and clothing, transport and accommodation still tend to need money and to most people that means needing a job.
Something else hasn?t changed: jobs are still looking easier than starting startups?
Things going online also don?t change the fact that, in a job, as an employee, you are usually just involved in doing something which is just a relatively small part of a bigger operation, rather than being responsible for running the whole thing.
You apply for jobs (maybe online) and if things work out, you get one.
Things going online therefore don?t seem to have changed the fact that ?being an employee? still looks to most of us as if it is a much simpler thing to make happen, as well as imposing a less demanding lifestyle and offering a much less risky way of earning a living than starting a business.
But could ?employment as the default career of the masses? come to an end long?before all the work will be being done by robots?
As someone who is really interested in the future of startups, this recent change in attitudes to embracing technological change raises an important question in my mind about the future of work:
Is the re-shaping of our lives, changing from a (comparatively recent) state of affairs where there was just an ?online option? to one where for many things there is now only an ?online imperative? (where doing things offline is not just harder, but actually impossible: official ?paperwork elimination? for example) also going to result in a similar kind of change from a ?startup option? to a ?startup imperative? (jobs becoming much scarcer, even for those professionally qualified, by contrast with startups which might just be becoming much easier to start and sustain)?
What would need to change before the option of founding a startup overtook that of becoming an employee?
are the attractions of starting a startup getting stronger?
?Ok, so I get this ?switch to startups thing?, but are you saying that everyone who gets into startups instead of being an employee will be a startup founder??
If a switch from employment to startups happens, the initial economic impact might just be manifested by significant numbers of those ?outside the employment system? who may suddenly have a bit more money to spend if the startup they are working on quickly ?monetizes itself into substantial revenue?. These individuals may be startup founders, but they may also be ?early hires? of other founder?s startups.
Eventually, early startup hires may become conventional paid employees, but in such cases they would be employees working at a startup, and as such, represent a significant component of what it might be that would make the switch to a predominantly startup-centric career model look different to what we have now.?
Nonetheless, if a big switch from employees to startups manifests itself, it would be reasonable to expect that a significant proportion of early hires of startups might also be contemplating starting their own venture.
The switch from employment to startups is not likely to mean an end to employment, but more likely an end to the current predisposition toward ?just being an employee? (and not also being a startup founder).
are the risks seeming less daunting?
does the on-ramp to starting a startup ?subliminally permeate? more of our lives (perhaps because so many of the new online resources that we encounter and use every day are being provided by startups)?
will the escalating cost effectiveness of ?doing online business as a secondary, non-occupational activity? morph hitherto permanent employees into full time entrepreneurs?
At first sight, it seems like quite a stretch: although something as small-time as selling unwanted household items on eBay might in some sense be deemed to constitute ?doing business?, to imagine that anybody would treat the fact that they had ever done this as a basis for seriously committing to ditching their day job and replacing it with being a full-time online vendor, would probably be to go just a bit too far for most of us (although a significant minority have indeed made this switch).
The main problem with being too cavalier about projecting the ?job to startup switch? based upon such a simplistic model, is that it doesn?t take into account of the fact that this is one option which has already existed for quite some time and although it has indeed spawned a significant number of new businesses, it has not resulted on a decisive shift in the balance between the self-employed versus employees.
So the next logical question would seem to be:
Is anything ?waiting in the wings??
Has anything else changed since the advent of such simplicity of doing something like setting up an online shop, but which has yet to make its impact in terms of shifting that balance?
Would the thing that would make startups start to replace jobs on a much bigger scale be:
a wider diversity of other types of business that are as easy to start as an online shop?
something which would enable a business which was ?too small to replace the need for paid employment? to grow into a business which was big enough to do just that?
something which reduced the real and perceived career risks and other inhibitions that would deter someone from starting a business?
something which reduced the up-front costs and financial commitments associated with starting certain kinds of business?
something which made it cheaper, easier and more effective to promote a business than ever before (so that smaller businesses could reach much larger markets)
something which made it quicker, more painless and practical to test out an untried new business idea than ever before
something which reduced the amount of time and effort that you needed to devote to running certain kinds of business, just so that you could get one started without having to ditch your day job, where previously that kind of business would have required full time commitment, even at the very start?
At the moment, because there is no sign of a widely recognised shift in the balance, I would say that if any of the factors above are currently increasing in prevalence or impact, they have not yet reached critical mass.
But if you coupled a steady increase in the widespread prevalence of these ?startup facilitation factors? (an increase which I do believe is actually under way) with a significant and sustained drop in the job market (resulting from a discernible long-term trend, such as the automation-driven effects discussed by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee?in their book Race against the machine) then perhaps you could expect a sudden and unprecedentedly large surge in the number of people who would be starting startups.
However, because most ?casually initiated startups? are not ?registered? in any formal sense, a sudden upsurge of such activity would probably become apparent in an indirect way.
The way that this might be expected to manifest itself ?at the macroeconomic level? would be a very significant drop in the numbers of people in paid employment (bought about by layoffs triggered by any one or combination of: market shrinkage, cuts in public services, or massive productivity improvements brought on by automation) which was not accompanied very soon after by the anticipated associated drop in consumer spending.
If there had been a preceding serious drop in employment, an uptick in startups would perhaps be expected to come from some of the laid off employees spending their redundancy/severance money on starting new businesses.
In such circumstances, the usual questions regarding ?flash in the pan?, unsustainable, hastily and poorly thought through no-hope ventures inevitably come to mind. In other words, most expectations at that point would be that any perceived switch from from employment to startups was really just the first step on an ex-employee?s journey to unemployment.
But what if something new is beginning to happen to the ?job versus startup equation?, and it turned out that the ?digital imperative lifestyle? was playing no small part in it?
Even a worst-case scenario may not stop startup takeup
What if, even with no redundancy money (either all spent or never given) and with just dole money (and being confined to living what startups call a ?ramen lifestyle?) or maybe even with ?normal working hours? having to be spent stacking shelves just in order to be able to afford ramen, the online world will start to make starting a startup as natural and culturally accepted as a sensible way of spending your time and trying to earn a living as the old ?jobs for life? ethos that society has recently replaced with a (perhaps soon to be also discarded) ?portfolio employment career??
If this happened, starting a startup would become just a little bit more like buying a lottery ticket: from a social perspective, nobody would expect you to pin all your hopes on it solving all your problems, but nobody would think that doing it was out of the ordinary, or unreasonably foolish or impractical either.
This ticket is getting cheaper, the effort to get it is getting smaller, the prize is more than just ?earning a living? and buying a ticket doesn?t really stop you doing anything else afterwards (including getting another ticket).
In such circumstances, starting a startup would be a totally normal thing for just about anyone to be contemplating, and if you weren?t?doing it, or you questioned why anyone else was doing it, you might even be expected to explain why you were even asking.
If the path to starting and succeeding in startups becomes gentle enough and the current preferred route to a earning a living begins to disappear, then one day, who knows, it is just possible that telling anyone that you?re thinking of embarking upon a non-startup career will sound just as weird and amusingly impractical as saying ?I?m seriously contemplating just doing everything offline?.
Take away:
If startup facilitation factors become much more pervasive and productive than they are today and the job market starts to shrink dramatically and systemically as some suspect it might, then the number of employable individuals starting work in startups may overtake the number of new (non-startup) job positions filled.
The next question will be: but will ?working on startups? make enough money to feed us as well as non-startup jobs used to?
This may be an academic question if the ?conventional? jobs that we?d like to be able to go back to (?as a backup option?) are simply no longer there.
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's ties with the United States are coming under strain over the flight of wanted U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden from Hong Kong, with Beijing's main state newspaper praising him on Tuesday for "tearing off Washington's sanctimonious mask".
The White House said the decision by the Chinese territory to allow Snowden to leave was "a deliberate choice by the government to release a fugitive despite a valid arrest warrant, and that decision unquestionably has a negative impact on the U.S.-China relationship.
The overseas edition of China's People's Daily, which does not spell out official policy but can reflect the government's thinking, said Beijing could not accept "this kind of dissatisfaction and opposition" from the United States.
But experts on both sides say the tirade should quickly blow over, and that neither country will be keen to let ties deteriorate permanently just weeks after a successful summit meeting between President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping.
"China does not want this to affect the overall situation, the central government has always maintained a relatively calm and restrained attitude because Sino-U.S. relations are important," said Zhao Kejing, a professor of international relations at China's elite Tsinghua University.
"The United States has no reason to exert greater pressure, otherwise it would lose moral support."
Kenneth Lieberthal, a China expert at the Brookings Institution who was an Asia adviser in Bill Clinton's White House, said sanctioning Beijing was "inconceivable" and linking Snowden to other issues would undo careful policy aimed at handling issues in separate lanes to avoid big ruptures in ties.
"Over the years, we've sought to prevent any serious disagreement in one issue area from spilling over and degrading the entire relationship," he said.
At the summit earlier this month, Obama confronted Xi over allegations of cyber-theft. Xi earlier told a news conference with Obama that China itself was a victim of cyber attacks but that the two sides should work together to develop a common approach.
Snowden's revelations of widespread snooping by the U.S. National Security Agency in China and Hong Kong have given Beijing considerable ammunition in the tit-for-tat exchange.
"In a sense, the United States has gone from a 'model of human rights' to 'an eavesdropper on personal privacy', the 'manipulator' of the centralized power over the international Internet, and the mad 'invader' of other countries' networks," the People's Daily said.
"The world will remember Edward Snowden," the newspaper said. "It was his fearlessness that tore off Washington's sanctimonious mask."
ISOLATED CASE
The Chinese government has said it was gravely concerned by Snowden's allegations that the United States had hacked into many networks in Hong and China, including Tsinghua University, which hosts one of the country's Internet hubs, and Chinese mobile network companies. It has said it had taken the issue up with Washington.
"Not only did the U.S. authorities not give us an explanation and apology, it instead expressed dissatisfaction at the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for handling things in accordance with law," wrote Wang Xinjun, a researcher at the Academy of Military Science, in the People's Daily commentary.
State news agency Xinhua was more conciliatory in its tone.
"Both Beijing and Washington fully know that an isolated case should not be allowed to hurt one of the most critical relationships in the world," Xinhua said in a commentary. "It is in the interest of both countries to keep the positive momentum in bilateral relations."
Xi's new government, which took office in March, is eager to be seen on an even footing with the United States as Beijing seeks what it calls a new "big-power" relationship with Washington that takes into account China's rise.
Still, China's academics and state media have been loud in their calls for the Obama administration to apologize to Beijing.
"Being tough is their unilateral attitude, which we can choose not to accept," said Liu Feitao, the deputy chief of U.S. studies at the China Institute of International Studies, a top think-tank affiliated with China's foreign ministry.
"The United States should not shift the real focus," Liu said. "This thing has nothing to do with China, except that America owes China an explanation on the cyber attack leaks by Snowden."
(Additional reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
NEW YORK (AP) ? The funeral for James Gandolfini will be held Thursday at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in New York City.
An HBO spokeswoman speaking on behalf of Gandolfini's family says the funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m.
The 51-year-old star of "The Sopranos" died Wednesday in Rome. Family spokesmanMichael Kobold says Gandolfini died of a heart attack.
Port Authority of New York & New Jersey spokesman Steve Coleman tells the Star-Ledger of Newark that a Signature Airlines flight carrying Gandolfini's body arrived Sunday night at Newark Liberty International Airport from Rome. The body was taken from the airport around 11:20 p.m. but Coleman did not say where it went.
The actor had been headed to Sicily to appear at the Taormina Film Festival, which paid tribute to him Saturday.
Cats have a reputation as low-maintenance pets, perfect for people who don?t have the time to care for an animal. That?s not true, of course, but it can be difficult to convince some people otherwise. "Cats take care of themselves," is something I hear a lot, and it makes me wince every time.
What?s largely happening is not that our cats are fending for themselves ? as so many people assume ? but rather that because they?re so good at hiding signs of illness, we don?t realize how sick they are until they?re very sick indeed. And sometimes when I do see cats as a practicing veterinarian, I see not only what people brought them in for ? an abscess, perhaps, or a limp or a chronic cough ? but life-threatening issues the cats' owners hadn't even noticed.
These are serious problems that seem painted in the boldest hues to my eye, yet appear to be invisible to many cat owners. And it happens all the time.
Are You Missing the Big Picture? Sometimes, even when I point out these problems, cat owners don?t think they?re as important as I do. They may accept my diagnosis, for example, but not follow up or follow through on treatment plans. It really saddens me to think of the misery these cats are in. Don't be guilty of neglecting your cat's health; check out these five feline health problems people don?t worry about as much as they should ? and talk to your veterinarian about any that sound familiar.
(Story continues below slideshow)
Feline Obesity
Many of us are living in glass houses when it comes to weight (both ours and our pets'), which may be one of the reasons your veterinarian is reluctant to bring it up. And many veterinarians are doubly sensitive when it comes to discussing an overweight pet with an overweight owner, not wanting to hurt any feelings. But you need to take a good look at your cat, and you need to know what you are allowing when you let him get and stay overweight. Let me be blunt: Fat kills. And even when it doesn?t contribute to the development of a disease or condition that leads to euthanasia, it makes your cat?s life miserable.
Hyperthyroidism
You might think it?s wonderful how much energy your senior cat has, but if hyperthyroidism is at the bottom of all this activity, it?s really not a good thing at all. And while obesity is a problem, as I?ve noted, an increase in energy ? coupled with extreme weight loss ? is often due to <a href="http://www.vetstreet.com/dr-marty-becker/my-older-cat-is-losing-weight-should-i-just-feed-her-more" target="_blank">hyperthyroidism</a>, the overproduction of thyroid hormone by the thyroid gland. Hyperthyroidism is easily treated or managed, which makes ignoring the symptoms even more tragic for your cat.
Urinary Tract Disease
Litterbox problems are one of the most common reasons why cats are given up for adoption. Many people don?t realize that these problems may stem from health issues, such as infections or stones in the urinary tract, rather than bad behavior. If you think your cat is missing the box ?for no reason? or ?out of spite? or even ?because he?s stupid,? you need to reassess ? and talk with your veterinarian. Don?t give up your cat, and don?t resolve to ?live with? the mess. Find out if an illness is causing the problem, and then take care of the problem. You and your cat will both be happier.
Dental Disease
Letting a cat live with dental disease is nothing less than a form of animal cruelty, in my opinion. That?s because of the constant pain your cat is in: Think about what you go through when you break a single tooth, then imagine having a mouthful of rotted teeth and infected gums. Imagine the pain of trying to eat! A comprehensive dental examination is an essential part of <a href="http://www.vetstreet.com/dr-marty-becker/what-is-stomatitis" target="_blank">diagnosing feline dental problems</a>, which may not be as obvious as those in dogs, in part because cats are so good at hiding signs of pain. Once you know what the problems are, work out a plan for treatment ? which may include extractions ? to end your cat's suffering.
Achy-Breaky Joints
Arthritis may be incurable, but pain from those aching joints can be treated. We understand this when it comes to our own discomfort and pain. When we hurt, we see a doctor and ask for solutions and treatments. Your cat can't tell you where it hurts or ask you to make an appointment with the vet, but I guarantee you she's suffering all the same. The aches and pains of old age can be managed, but only if you talk to your veterinarian.
"Chronic" Doesn?t Mean "Untreatable" Ongoing problems with your cat?s health sometimes start slowly and get worse over time. In other words, these issues can creep up on us, so we may not pay much attention to them, or we might overlook them entirely. That?s why I want you to step back right now and look at your cat. Be brutally honest: Are you ignoring chronic health issues that are making your cat miserable? Are you sure you aren?t?
If your cat hasn?t seen a veterinarian in a while, it?s time to schedule that comprehensive exam. And take heart: For every one of these often chronic conditions there are things that can be done to stop, treat or even reverse the damage. All you need to do is recognize the problem and work with your veterinarian for your cat?s better health.
Also on Vetstreet: 5 Health Problems Dog Owners Ignore How Old Is My Pet in People Years? Looking for a Cuddly Cat? Here Is a Breed You'll Like Why Does My Cat? Meow at Me? 5 Reasons Cats Are Given Up for Adoption ? and How to Avoid These Problems
Tiny Tiny RSS (free) is meant for the DIY crowd. It is not an RSS feed reader that you just import all your feeds from Google Reader and be up in a matter of minutes. Tiny Tiny RSS lets you build your own RSS reader and customize the platform your way. It can easily take a couple hours to get everything set up and to tweak the UI, but if you like a little control over your RSS destiny, you will be fine. For everyone else not used to looking at code, all this may sound a little intimidating, and we recommend using G2Reader?as our Editors' Choice for RSS jean- feed readers and in particular, a replacement to Google Reader. But using Tiny Tiny RSS to build your own feed reader is still possible with a little patience.
Tiny Tiny RSS is a Web application, so you need a Web server that supports PHP and either a MySQL or PostgreSQL database. Your desktop won't do. If you happen to have a Linux server lying around, you are set. Or you can use a Web host which supports PHP and lets you install a database, such as Dreamhost or even Amazon Web Services. You will also need a domain name so that you can type www.thisismysite.com?in your Web browser to load your very own Tiny Tiny RSS. If you already have a domain name, create a subdomain, such as myrss.thisismysite.com, and you are good to go.
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Before you can get started, you need to have PHP installed on your Web server and create the database. If you need help, you need to ask your Web host or Google because Tiny Tiny RSS assumes you know how to set up and manage a server. Once you are ready, you can grab the install archive (tarball, a .tar.gz file) from the Tiny Tiny RSS Wiki, which contains all the files you need to set up the application and the database schema. The wiki actually has a decent set of instructions for an open-source project, so you should be able to get up and running although some Googling may be required.
If you've set everything up correctly, at this point, you can point your browser to your domain and log in to your very own Tiny RSS instance. Adding new feeds is easy. Just click the Actions menu at the top right corner of the screen and select Subscribe to Feed. To remove a feed, select it on the sidebar and click on Unsubscribe in the Actions menu.
You need to go into Preferences from the Actions menu to?import the list of RSS links from Google Reader. Under the "Feed" tab on the Preferences page, there is a section marked "OPML." This is where you list the subscriptions.xml file that you exported using Google Takeout. Click on "Import my OPML," and don't worry about the fact that your file has a .xml file extension and not .opml. It will work fine.?
If you have a lot of subscriptions, though, this is gonna take a while. I had only 81 and I got bored waiting.
Slow is a recurrent theme in Tiny Tiny RSS. It took about 20 to 30 seconds to move between the main page and Preferences, and about 10 to 15 seconds whenever I clicked on something on the page, such as a tab or moving to a new folder. Part of it is because, by default, Tiny Tiny RSS updates and grabs new items when you actually click on the feed instead of doing it beforehand. But the application itself has some performance issues.
While I don't have hardware or networking equipment on par with Amazon's or Google's, mine probably? makes for a better setup than what most home users have (let's just say: a virtual machine with four CPUs at 1 GHz each and 4 GB of memory, running on a host with 32 virtual cores on a business-grade network) and it's quite capable of handling multiple Web applications. Tiny Tiny RSS is the first application to ever give me performance issues.
Even if the import returns errors, the odds are everything completed successfully. You should see all the subscriptions in the left sidebar, organized in the same way as Google Reader, folders and all. You can select the feed and click the Actions menu to see what you can do, such as edit, rename, color-code, or re-categorize. However, Tiny Tiny RSS won't automatically update the feeds. You can turn on Simple Update Mode in the configuration file to update the feeds while you are logged in, or set up an update process on the server to run the updates even when you are not on the site.?
There are some nice features, though, such as getting a daily digest of your subscriptions and all your unread stories emailed to you, scoring each feed so that "interesting" articles always float to the top of the list, or adding a note associated with the item. Since you control the code, you can use CSS to tweak the site layout and design and create users to let other people use the platform for their own RSS needs. Once installed, you can use any computer with a Web browser to access Tiny Tiny RSS. There is an Android app, but not one for iOS yet.
The current Editors' Choice G2Reader remains the only RSS feeder we've seen that can correctly import Google Alerts. If you miss the social sharing capabilities that were in the original Google Reader, you should check out The Old Reader
If you use RSS to just catch up on articles and webcomics in the morning, or spaced out during the day, the speed issues and the lack of automatic updates may not be an issue for you. But if you are using it to stay on top of news as they develop, Tiny Tiny RSS may not be the best choice. If the DIY aspects don't scare you off and you really want to replace Google Reader with a platform you control (and goes away only if you want it to), then you may want to consider looking at Commafeed, another open source platform with better performance.
Taryn Kiekow is a senior policy analyst for NRDC's marine mammal protection project;she contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
Bristol Bay is located in the remote wildlands of southwest Alaska and supports the largest runs of wild salmon on the planet ? over half of the world's supply of sockeye.
Every year, some 40 million salmon return to spawnin the pristine rivers and streams of the Bristol Bay watershed. But right now, the future of this little-known natural jewel is caught up in a frenzied political fight, part of what the Washington Post calls President Barack Obama's biggest environmental decision that "you've never heard of."
That decision is whether to protect Bristol Bay from a proposed mega-mine called Pebble Mine ? a colossal, open-pit copper and gold mine that would be up to 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) long and 1,700 feet (518 meters) deep ? a huge worry for the residents of Bristol Bay who overwhelmingly oppose the project.
Although the mining industry is lobbying hard to build it, West Coast senators, House members and local businesses have lined up in opposition. And it's also something the Obama administration could easily stop.
Salmon are the lifeblood of the region. Alaska Natives have lived off salmonfor thousands of years, and their welfare, health and cultural stability are intricately tied to these fish. Salmon also support an abundance of wildlife ? from brown bears and eagles to whales and seals. [Fast-Evolving Fish Struggle to Spawn in Wild]
But the benefits of salmon to the region extend beyond sustenance: Salmon also form the economic backbone of the area.
An economic report released in April by researchers at the University of Alaska Institute of Social and Economic Research found that the Bristol Bay commercial salmon fishery is worth $1.5 billiona year, making it the most valuable wild-salmon fishery in the world. Not only do salmon sustain a prized commercial fishery, but they also sustain 14,000 jobs (according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s draft watershed assessment on Bristol Bay), world-class sports fishing and an economy for Alaska Natives.
Pebble Mine could put all of this at risk. If built as planned at the headwaters of Bristol Bay, Pebble Mine would be the largest mine in North America, producing some 10 billion tons (9 billion metric tons) of toxic mining waste that would be stored in the rivers, streams and wildlands of Bristol Bay's high-quality salmon habitat. Even under the best conditions, it would be virtually impossible to keep the hazardous waste from leaking, putting salmon ? which are highly sensitive to even the slightest increases in copper ? in great jeopardy. And Bristol Bay provides challenging conditions: The extremely porous tundra sits in a seismically active area, and the ore, once exposed to air, will produce acid drainage.
The EPA re-released its draft Bristol Bay watershed assessment report in April, revealing the potential impacts of large-scale mining like the Pebble Mine on the watershed. The report's findings are shocking. Even in a best-case scenario ? operating at the highest industry standards and experiencing no leaks or failures ? Pebble Mine would destroy up to 90 miles (145 km) of stream, eliminate up to 4,800 acres (1,943 hectares) of wetlands, and dewater an additional 34 miles (55 km) of stream.
Even under routine operations, the construction and support of the mine would require a huge amount of infrastructure across land currently untouched by humans: from culverts and pipelines to power plants and tailings dams. Worse, a tailings dam failure could be "catastrophically damaging."
The EPA also found that large-scale mining could pose serious threats to wildlife and Alaska Native cultures.
It's no wonder that 85 percent of commercial fishermen in Bristol Bay, 81 percent of the Bristol Bay Native Corp.'s native shareholders and 80 percent of Bristol Bay residents oppose the Pebble Mine.
Right now, the people and wildlife of Bristol Bay are preparing for the annual return of the salmon. Commercial fishermen are readying boats and equipment. Alaska Natives are mending nets and smokehouses. Lodge owners and sportsmen are anticipating another lucrative tourist season. And hungry bears have awakened from hibernation.
The EPA is also preparing. The agency is accepting public comment on its draft watershed assessment. That draft has already undergone extensive public comment, including hearings in Alaska and peer review from a panel of 12 independent experts. Last year alone, the EPA received more than 233,000 public comments, over 90 percent of which urged the agency to protect Bristol Bay.
The EPA recently extended the current public comment period until June 30, in order to allow the public more time to weigh in. So far, the real winners of the extended comment period are pro-mining groups, who have recently generated a flurry of comments. According to a June 17, 2013 article in the Washington Post, the Competitive Enterprise Institute's (CEI) Resourceful Earth website has single-handedly flooded the docket with 99.25 percent of all anti-EPA comments. A conservative think tank, CEI is generally opposed to environmental regulations and has received millions of dollars over the years from the mining, oil and gas, and coal industries ? as well as from groups associated with the Koch brothers, the article adds.
Bristol Bay is too important to let the Koch brothers and mining interests win this fight. The EPA can stop the mine under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act ? something our government does sparingly and judiciously. If ever there were a case for using this power, Bristol Bay is the place. This is why NRDC asks everyone to join us and urge the Obama administration to protect the people, salmon, wildlife and businesses of Bristol Bay from the poisonous threats of the Pebble Mine. The future of one of the world's greatest natural treasures is at stake.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. This article was originally published on LiveScience.com.
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama is holding his first meeting with a privacy and civil liberties board Friday as he seeks to make good on his pledge to have a public discussion about secretive government surveillance programs.
Obama has said the little-known Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board will play a key role in that effort. The federal oversight board reviews terrorism programs enacted by the executive branch to ensure that privacy concerns are taken into account.
The president is also tasking the director of national intelligence, James Clapper, to consider declassifying more details about the government's collection of U.S. phone and Internet records. Obama is specifically asking Clapper to review possible declassification of opinions from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which approves the data-mining efforts.
The government has already lifted some of the secrecy surrounding the programs following disclosures earlier this month about their existence by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. But the legal opinions from the highly secretive court remain private.
The privacy board was created in 2004 but has operated fitfully ever since, given congressional infighting and at times, censorship by government lawyers. The board was dormant during Obama's first term and only became fully functional in May, before the NSA programs became public.
The board's chairman, David Medine, said the five-member group has a "broad range of questions" to ask about the NSA's widespread collection programs. The board was given a classified briefing on the programs last week and plans to release a report eventually with recommendations for the government.
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Follow Julie Pace at on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC
Spike TV will debut its Bellator reality show on Wednesday night, after the fight card headlined by "King Mo" Lawal's bout with Seth Petruzelli. In "Fight Master," fighters are competing for $100,000 and a spot in Bellator's next tourney. If you think that sounds like "The Ultimate Fighter," the UFC's reality show that launched on Spike before heading to FX, the similarities end there.
This show has a feel to it more like NBC's hit singing show, "The Voice." Bellator champ Joe Warren, UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture, UFC pioneer Frank Shamrock and trainer extraordinaire Greg Jackson will all serve as coaches. After fighting in preliminary fights, the fighters and coaches go through a process that reminds me of sorority rush. Fighters and coaches pick each other, and the camp process starts after the camps are picked.
Police and firefighters survey the scene of a two-vehicle crash that killed one person Tuesday on South Salem Church Road in West Manchester Township. (Bill Kalina photo / bkalina@yorkdispatch.com)
A West Manchester Township man was killed in a two-vehicle crash Tuesday after the car he was driving crossed into the path of an oncoming truck on South Salem Church Road.
Shane Dorsey, 23, of Summer House Lane, was pronounced dead at the scene, said York County Deputy Coroner Steve Cosey.
His cause of death is multiple blunt force trauma. There will not be an autopsy.
The 38-year-old Maryland driver of the flatbed commercial truck involved in the crash, whose name was not released, was not injured, according to West Manchester Township Police.
However, he was shaken up by the crash, said Roy Gentzler, assistant fire chief.
The crash: Police said Dorsey was driving a gray Ford Focus south on South Salem Church Road when, just before 1 p.m., the car crossed the double yellow lines and into the path of the northbound truck.
The truck struck the car and part of the car was wedged under the truck, Gentzler said.
Brandon Rock said he was in his house just yards from the crash when he heard what he thought was thunder.
He went outside to have a look when he saw the crashed truck and attempted to stop oncoming traffic. Only seeing the truck at first, Rock said he didn't realize a second vehicle was involved.
A passer-by also stopped and was checking to see if anyone was injured when Rock said he looked back and saw part of the car.
"That's when I realized there's a car underneath the truck," he said.
Rock said Dorsey was beyond help.
Rare occurrence: The crash happened about an hour after a storm dumped rain on the area.
Rainwater is known to collect on portions of South Salem Church Road, including in the area where the crash occurred, Rock said.
Motorists are also known to travel above the speed limit on the road that features a number of curves, he added.
The posted speed limited in the area where the crash happened is 35 mph.
Rock said crashes don't happen on that stretch of road often, and when there is one, it usually isn't serious.
"This is first one (that's been) this big," he said.
Anyone who witnessed the crash is asked to call Officer Joshua Sefchick at (717) 792-9514.
