"Fez" creator Phil Fish abruptly cancelled production of a sequel and retired from the game industry this weekend after a bucolic fight on Twitter.
When it comes to the caustic and chaotic world of online forums and social media, the video game industry often stands out from other areas of tech and entertainment for just how quickly a seemingly innocuous Twitter rant or indignant message can escalate into a real-world corporate dilemma. That's what forced game developer BioWare to buckle under the pressure of legions of angry "Mass Effect" fans demanding that it change the game's ending, after all. And it's the same pressure that vindicated many opponents of digital rights management who implored both Sony and Microsoft to revise their respective policies for the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One.
Most gamers would herald all these different cases as triumphs of social media or online discourse helping individual consumers advocate on behalf of themselves and their community. This past weekend, however, a similarly minded Twitter spat resulted in a highly anticipated sequel to a beloved independent video game being cancelled by its own creator.
Phil Fish, an indie developer who in 2012 achieved a rare kind of celebrity (for game developers, that is) after appearing as one of the main characters in the documentary "Indie Game: The Movie" in January and finally releasing his game "Fez" to widespread critical acclaim later that year, abruptly announced Saturday that he was canceling production of "Fez II" ? little more than a month after the game was first announced.
Details about what, exactly, provoked Fish's decision (or even if the famously quirky developer is actually sincere in his promise to axe "Fez II") are still murky. But many gaming outlets are pinning the sudden death of the game to a heated exchange between Fish and Marcus Beer, a gaming critic who goes by the moniker "Annoyed Gamer." The argument began last week when Beer criticized Fish and fellow indie game developer Jonathan Blow for not commenting on recent stories about Microsoft's prospective independent game development policies for the Xbox One during a rant on his GameTrailers video show. It escalated to Fish telling Beer on Twitter to "compare your life to mine and then kill yourself."
Fish's Twitter account has since been made private, but "Fez" developer Polytron issued a statement shortly after the initial Twitter showdown in which Fish reiterated that he had had enough of dealing with video games and all their assorted cultural baggage.
"i am done," he wrote. "i take the money and i run. this is as much as i can stomach. ... this is isn?t the result of any one thing, but the end of a long, bloody campaign. you win."
Many gaming journalists have since weighed in to share their own experiences dealing with the reprehensible side of gamer culture on the Internet. Cliff Bleszinski, the creator of the popular third-person shooter series "Gears of War," penned a lengthy, heartfelt letter on his personal Tumblr telling Fish "the industry needs people like you."
Thing is, Fish was already on something of a recent Twitter-rage tear by the time he erupted this past weekend. Just last week, he spent the good part of a day lambasting the video game website Polygon for quoting fellow game industry figure Kevin Dent in a story about the Xbox One's new indie publishing policies ? that coming the two traded blows on Twitter earlier this year over problems with the original "Fez's" performance. Fish may have reached the amount of Internet bile he was able to "stomach," but it was also a world that he willingly, even eagerly, participated in for part of his career.
Of course, there's also the possibility that by hanging "Fez II's" fate in the balance, Fish is deliberately courting this kind of controversy in the hopes of marshaling like-minded developers and fans (like Bleszinski) or simply to help sell more copies of the game if it ever does see the light of day.
Either way, many in the gaming press are doubtful that this is truly the last we've seen of Fish or "Fez." As Patrick Klepek put it in a recent piece on Giant Bomb: "I suspect we will, at some point, see (and play) the sequel to Fez, but this weekend?s events provide an opportunity for Fish to leave the spotlight and protect his sanity from the world and, well, himself."
"Fish speaks too passionately about games to leave them behind," he added.
Yannick LeJacq is a contributing writer for NBC News who has also covered technology and games for Kill Screen, The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic. You can follow him on Twitter at @YannickLeJacq and reach him by email at: Yannick.LeJacq@nbcuni.com.
MARYVILLE, Mo. (AP) -- An 81-year-old woman who skipped her college graduation at Northwest Missouri State University will finally take part in a commencement ceremony.
Officials of the Maryville school say Kay Medsker Dolph was too eager to return to her husband and children in St. Louis to take part in 1967, when she graduated with a bachelor's degree in education.
Dolph now lives in the northwest Missouri town of Savannah. She says she got the idea of walking across the stage at her alma mater after watching her youngest grandson's commencement at the University of Missouri last year.
Now, she's hoping a few family members will be on hand when she takes part in the summer commencement at Northwest Missouri State on Thursday evening.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Medical researchers have pioneered a novel approach to treating venomous snakebites -- administering antiparalytics topically via a nasal spray. This needle-free treatment may dramatically reduce the number of global snakebite fatalities.
Source: ask.metafilter.com --- Tuesday, July 30, 2013 My Wedding is coming up this fall, My dad and I have brewed the beer to serve. Now we'd like to come up with some punny names for the beer. Please Help! What we have so far: Something Borrowed, Something Brewed (Speckled Heckle, A Spotted Cow Clone (A popular beer here in wisconsin)) The other names we have that aren't assigned to any particular beer Matrimoni-Ale White Veil Ale Hoppily Ever After Ton Ale (My name is Tony. This one is kind of gross sounding) The beers are Chocolate Oatmeal Stout, Cream Ale, Extra pale Ale, nut brown ale, and an american red. ...
Bret Taylor, a well known and highly respected engineer who helped create Google Maps and later co-founded FriendFeed before becoming the chief technology officer of Facebook, has a new company ? Quip. He co-founded the company with Kevin Gibbs, who worked on Google?s data center technology and helped develop the autocomplete search functionality for Google Search.
Bret Taylor, outgoing CTO of Facebook & ex-Googler
The San Francisco-based company is building what the two founders call a modern word processor, built for a post-social, post-mobile and touch-centric era. According to Silicon Valley sources, the company has quietly raised $15 million primarily from Benchmark Capital. In a blog post describing the new offering, Taylor and Gibbs wrote:
Despite the magnitude of this shift, the software that we use to get work done has not evolved over the past thirty years.?With the exception of some additional color and and a stack of toolbars at the top of the screen, it doesn?t look different from the software that probably came bundled with your current laptop. We still use the same metaphors and the same workflow that?we used when?shoulder pads and leg warmers?were cool.
The features these products have accrued over thirty years have made it difficult for most of us to switch to new products, but they have also made it almost impossible for the products to truly change. When we decided to build Quip, it was based on the premise that the shift to tablets and phones is so fundamental and so all-encompassing that it dwarfs the sum of all of these features in importance.
Quip combines documents and messages into a single thread. It makes it relatively easy to tip via the mobile devices, yet it doesn?t forget the desktop past.
The conversation includes all the activity in the document: messages, document edits, and who?s viewed your changes ? everything that?s happened since the document was created. Staying up to date is easy: just open the thread on any device, and you can quickly see the messages and edits since you?ve last visited. Quip is available today. To create an account on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, install the app. We also have an Android app in the works. Quip is free for personal use and a subscription-based service for businesses. If you want to try Quip at your business, just install the app ? it?s free to try, and that?s the best way to decide whether the product works well for your team.
Quip lives in the cloud and given the provenance of its founders, I am quite certain that they have built a scalable service. Quip?s major and primary emphasis is on mobile, collaboration and touch-driven interactivity and yet being dead simple. The best way to describe it is Evernote plus Google Docs plus SocialCast/Yammer.
Gibbs and Taylor in a conversation outlined their firm belief that the shift to mobile is akin to the shift from mainframe to personal computing. Just as that shift created an opportunity for new companies to win over the computer users in need for productivity applications, mobile too offers a chance for upstarts like Quip to break the ?chokehold on productivity apps.
Taylor and Gibbs said that mobile is fundamentally a different platform and as a result you cannot simply port your apps. Instead you have to build a brand new experience that takes into account limitations and quirkiness of networks, the touch behaviors and even push notifications to create a collaborative experience.
The application takes a cue from collaboration technologies that first came to fore with EtherPad, a startup acquired by Google?in 2009 to power Google Wave. Quip seems to have turned the utilitarian approach of EtherPad into an Apple-like product. In fact, if Apple had to rethink Keynote for the iPad age, it should pretty much look and behave like Quip. Being a collaboration nerd, it didn?t take me long to get going. ?For others, it might take?a wee-bit of patience to get started and you might stumble your way around, but it won?t take long. From an end user standpoint, it doesn?t take much to make one realize that Quip is the Jane Bennet to Google Docs? Mary Bennet.
Cast your memory back to 2011 and you may remember a Texas judge ruling that the seizure of cellphone records without a search warrant violated the Fourth Amendment. Fast-forward to today, and the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals has just overturned that very decision, arguing that law enforcement's collection of such data does not violate the Fourth Amendment, and doesn't need to pass the probable cause test. Instead, as the info is considered a service provider's business records, authorities can get ahold of it so long as they have "reasonable grounds" and obtain a court order. The data in question can include numbers dialed, the date and time of communications and info allowing officials to suss out the phone's location at the time of a call.
Despite the gavel's recent action, the issue is far from settled. As the Associated Press notes, a New Jersey Supreme Court recently ruled search warrants must be used when officers request access to location information from phones details, while Maine and Montana passed legislation earlier this year requiring the same. To dive into the nitty gritty details of the case for yourself, give the bordering source link a click.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]A new study finds a strong link between heavy cell phone users and higher oxidative stress to all aspects of a human cell, including DNA. Uniquely based on examinations of the saliva of cell phone users, the research provides evidence of a connection between cell phone use and cancer risk.
If you are someone who is running a brick-and-mortar business, now is the perfect time to take your business online. Although it may take a lot of work and a lot of time, you can be assured that your sales and revenue will increase up to a hundredfold in no time. Your business will also take its point off and be connected to all parts of the world. No traditional methods of advertising are possible unless you have money to burn in advertisements. This is only possible through internet marketing.
Internet marketing is the process of using marketing tools to connect with your prospective buyers who are coming from all points of the globe. This process, when done correctly, can help your promote product awareness and in building stronger business relationship with your target market. For internet marketing assistance, you can reach us by seoanalyst at live.com.
Internet marketing offers other amazing benefits. Some of the followings are:
1. It is very effective. There is no other better way to reach millions of people aside from using the internet as your marketing medium. Right now, millions of people from different countries rely on internet not only for information but for their other needs as well. These people, especially those who have demanding lifestyle shop online. So, if you take your business in the World Wide Web, there is a better chance that you will be able to meet their needs while you get the kind of sales you want.
2. It is cost effective. Compare to print advertising and other traditional form of advertising, internet marketing is far way cheaper. In fact, you can promote your products and services without spending a single dime. This is possible by using free internet marketing tools just like internet marketing, forum posting, article writing, social media marketing, video marketing, etc.
3. It offers a long lasting results. Unlike when doing print advertising where you need to pay for every ad, internet marketing can offer you with such lasting results. For instance, the articles you submit on directories will still be available to your potential buyers for many years to come. These articles will be on the internet forever and there is the huge benefits of driving new sales leads.
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, left, and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai are thought to be running neck-and-neck ahead of presidential elections Wednesday. Tsvangirai has warned Mugabe not to "steal" the election.
By Cris Chinaka, Reuters
HARARE - Heavily armed riot police deployed in potential election flashpoints in Zimbabwe on Tuesday on the eve of a poll showdown between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai that remains too close to call.
State radio said thousands of officers had been sent to the central Midlands province, while trucks of police carrying automatic rifles and grenade launchers patrolled in the restive Harare townships of Highfield and Mbare.
The run-down districts of the capital are hotbeds of support for Tsvangirai and were at the center of several weeks of post-election violence in 2008, in which 200 people linked to his Movement for Democratic Change were killed.
This year's presidential and parliamentary race brings the curtain down on four years of fractious unity government. It has been marked by allegations of threats and intimidation by security forces but there have been no reports of violence.
With no reliable opinion polls, it is hard to tell whether 61-year-old Tsvangirai will succeed in his third attempt to unseat his 89-year-old rival, who has run the southern African nation since independence from Britain in 1980.
Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi / AP
A Movement For Democratic Change supporter holds up a red card to show his backing for Morgan Tsvangirai.
Both the MDC and Mugabe's ZANU-PF party predict landslide victories. However, it is possible neither leading candidate will emerge an outright winner, triggering a September 11 run-off.
Western election observers have been barred, leaving the task of independent oversight to 500 regional and 7,000 domestic monitors.
In an editorial in the domestic News Day newspaper and the Washington Post, Tsvangirai urged African monitors not to give the vote a seal of approval merely because they do not witness any bloodshed.
"Mugabe is the world's oldest leader and one of its longest-ruling dictators. He is fixing this election in a more sophisticated fashion than previous ZANU-PF campaigns of beatings, killings and intimidation," the prime minister wrote.
"Mugabe's election-stealing antics have been documented throughout Zimbabwe and beyond. Yet the international community seems apathetic; perhaps Mugabe has been stealing elections for so long the world just rolls its eyes and moves on."
Rallying supporters he calls "soldiers," Mugabe has termed the election a "do or die" contest, suggesting he recognizes that his historical legacy is at stake.
Given the irregularities and problems that have dogged the election process, including failure to publish an electronic voters' roll, the result is highly likely to be contested, raising the prospect of another long political stalemate.
"We are prepared to accept the results of a free and fair election but we are not prepared to accept fraud," MDC spokesman Douglas Mwonzora told a news conference.
In 2008, South Africa and other countries in the region brokered a unity government between Mugabe and Tsvangirai to break a deadlock caused by the MDC's withdrawal from a second-round runoff because of the violence and killings.
"A return to protracted political crisis, and possibly extensive violence, is likely," the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based political risk think-tank, said in a report issued on Monday entitled "Mugabe's Last Stand."
Around a third of 63,000 police officers and civil servants allowed to vote two weeks early were unable to cast their ballots because voting materials did not turn up on time.
The existing list of the 6.3 million registered voters has also attracted criticism from the MDC and analysts.
In a study comparing the list to a 2012 census, the Research and Advocacy Group, a non-governmental organization, said young people - the main support base for Tsvangirai - were under-represented, while old people - more likely to be ZANU-PF supporters - were curiously numerous on the roll.
In particular, it cited the presence of more than 116,000 people aged over 100 and said that in almost a third of constituencies there were more registered voters than residents.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has rejected charges the voters' register is a shambles and has accused critics of seeking to discredit the election out of political interests.
Related:
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WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama's top environmental official wasted no time Tuesday taking on opponents of the administration's plan to crack down on global warming pollution.
In her first speech as the head of EPA, Gina McCarthy told an audience gathered at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Mass., that curbing climate-altering pollution will spark business innovation, grow jobs and strengthen the economy.
The message was classic Obama, who has long said that the environment and the economy aren't in conflict and has sold ambitious plans to reduce greenhouse gases as a means to jumpstart a clean energy economy.
McCarthy signaled Tuesday that she was ready for the fight, saying that the agency would continue issuing new rules, regardless of claims by Republicans and industry groups that under Obama the EPA has been the most aggressive and overreaching since it was formed more than 40 years ago.
"Can we stop talking about environmental regulations killing jobs? Please, at least for today," said McCarthy, referring to one of the favorite talking points of Republicans and industry groups.
"Let's talk about this as an opportunity of a lifetime, because there are too many lifetimes at stake," she said of efforts to address global warming.
In Obama's first four years, the EPA has issued the first-ever limits on toxic mercury pollution from power plants, regulated greenhouse gases for the first time, and updated a host of air pollution health standards.
McCarthy acknowledged the agency had been the most productive in its history. But she said Tuesday that "we are not just about rules and regulations, we are about getting environmental improvement."
But improvement, she said, could be made "everywhere."
That optimistic vision runs counter to claims by Republican lawmakers and some industry groups that more rules will kill jobs and fossil fuel industries. The EPA under Obama has already put in place or proposed new rules to reduce carbon pollution from cars and trucks, large smokestacks, and new power plants ? regulations that McCarthy helped to draft as head of the air pollution office. Next on its agenda is the nation's existing fleet of coal-fired power plants, the largest single source of carbon dioxide left. Obama in a June speech gave the agency until June 2014 to draft those regulations.
"It is not supposed to be easy. It is supposed to be hard," McCarthy said of the road ahead. "I don't think it is my job out of the gate to know what the path forward is. It is my obligation to let those voices be heard and listen to them."
A panel in the Republican-controlled House recently signed off on a plan to cut the agency's budget by a third and attached a series of measures that McCarthy said "do everything but say the EPA can't do anything."
Yet, last week, in a victory, a federal court dismissed challenges brought by Texas and power companies to EPA's plans to regulate the largest sources of heat-trapping gases.
"Climate change will not be resolved overnight," she added. "But it will be engaged over the next three years ? that I can promise you."?
? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
29 July 2013Last updated at 19:46 ETBy Rebecca MorelleScience reporter, BBC World Service
Footage shows the macabre discovery, as the BBC's Rebecca Morelle explains
Tests on three mummies found in Argentina have shed new light on the Inca practice of child sacrifice.
Scientists have revealed that drugs and alcohol played a key part in the months and weeks leading up to the children's deaths.
Tests on one of the children, a teenage girl, suggest that she was heavily sedated just before her demise.
The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Dr Emma Brown, from the department of archaeological sciences at the University of Bradford, said: "The Spanish chroniclers suggest that children were sacrificed for all kinds of reasons: important life milestones in the lives of the Incas, in times of war or natural disasters, but there was a calendar of rituals too."
Frozen in time
The mummified remains were discovered in 1999, entombed in a shrine near the summit of the 6,739m-high Llullaillaco volcano in Argentina.
Continue reading the main story
?Start Quote
They've been called the best preserved mummies in the world?
End QuoteDr Emma Brown University of Bradford
Three children were buried there: a 13-year-old girl, and a younger boy and girl, thought to be about four or five years old.
Their remains date to about 500 years ago, during the time of the Inca empire, which dominated South America until the Europeans arrived at the end of the 15th Century.
"The preservation is phenomenal - they've been called the best preserved mummies in the world," explained Dr Brown.
"These three children look like they are asleep."
The international team of researchers used forensic tests to analyse the chemicals found in the children's hair.
They discovered that all three had consumed alcohol and coca leaves (from which cocaine is extracted) in the final months of their lives.
Historical records reveal that these substances were reserved for the elite and often used in Incan rituals.
Death from exposure
An analysis of the teenage girl's hair, which was longer than the hair of the younger victims, revealed more.
The girl, known as the "Llullaillaco maiden", was probably considered more highly valued than the younger children, because of her virginal status.
Continue reading the main story
?Start Quote
With the combination of being placed in the grave with the alcohol and the cold... she would have passed away quietly?
End QuoteDr Emma Brown University of Bradford
Tests on her long braids revealed that her coca consumption increased sharply a year before her death.
The scientists believe this corresponds to the time she was selected for sacrifice. Earlier research also reveals that her diet changed at this point too, from a potato-based peasant diet to one rich in meat and maize.
Dr Brown explained: "From what we know of the Spanish chronicles, particularly attractive or gifted women were chosen. The Incas actually had someone who went out to find these young women and they were taken from their families."
The results also revealed that the girl ingested large amounts of alcohol in the last few weeks of her life.
It suggests she was heavily sedated before she and the other children were taken to the volcano, placed in their tombs and left to die.
"In the case of the maiden, there is no sign of violence. She is incredibly well looked after: she has a good layer of fat, she has beautifully groomed hair, beautiful clothes," said Dr Brown.
"In this case we think with the combination of being placed in the grave with the alcohol and the cold - the mountain is over 6,000m above sea level - she would have passed away quietly."
The mummies are now housed in the Museum of High Altitude Archaeology in Salta, Argentina.
My colleagues are standing by me. They come up to me constantly. [...] Can they come and tell me "I know you're right, I support you"? They can do that privately.
You know, this is maybe the first thing Steve King has ever said that he won't have to convince me isn't a product of his imagination. (Load) (Load) (Load) (Load) (Load) (Load) (Load)
'What the Scouts are all about': Tobyhanna man has led troops for 49 years | PoconoRecord.com
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Raymond Gotty of Tobyhanna has been a Boy Scout troop leader for nearly 50 years. At 88, he is head of Troop 91 at Tobyhanna Army Depot.Keith R. Stevenson/Pocono Record
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In 1924, the first traffic routes between Saylorsburg and Easton were assigned, construction on Lake Wallenpaupack began and Tobyhanna resident and would-be Scoutmaster Raymond Gotty was born.
The Boy Scout troop that Gotty leads today ? Troop 91 at Tobyhanna Army Depot ? wasn't more than a twinkle in the eye of what ultimately became the largest youth organization in the country, founded a little more than a decade earlier.
"People tend to forget what the Scouts are all about," said Gotty, 88. "There was a time when the respect was such that if you graduated high school or college, and an employer saw that you were a Boy Scout, or better, an Eagle Scout, that immediately moved you at the top of the list for a job or career."
The Scouts continue to promote programs for young people to build character, train youths in the responsibilities of citizenship and develop personal fitness.
Boasting more than 2.7 million members, the recent controversy over the Scouts banning and then allowing gays in the organization has sparked a 20 percent drop in membership across the nation, according to ABC News and USA Today.
While some reports indicate that membership in Pennsylvania has declined overall, Gotty said Troop 91 has maintained its 70-plus members.
Still, the retired MetLife employee said there hasn't been an increase in quite some time.
"The controversy hasn't hurt us up here, the decisions that have been made, but it hasn't done anything to help," Gotty said.
The troop has refrained from getting involved in the controversy and has regularly declined comment, Gotty said.
He noted that, locally, Scouts have never questioned anyone's sexual orientation, nor did local officials ever discriminate.
Enrolled his son
The negative attention bothers Gotty, who became involved with the organization when he signed up his then-11-year-old son, Raymond Jr.
"Do the math. Raymond Jr. is 60 years old now, so that's how long I've been involved with the Scouts," he said.
Gotty married Regina Stark on June 26, 1948, at St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church in Belleville, N.J.
He worked 27 years for MetLife as a salesman and also worked as a real estate agent with Lawrence Realty in Stroudsburg before serving as an auxiliary police officer and Boy Scout leader in Livingston, N.J.
"I'm on the committee of Troop 91 at the Tobyhanna Army Depot now," he said.
Gotty said he has spent most of his life investing in Scouts so that they would have the character and tools to go forward and contribute to society.
A bet on success
Gotty said he often would sit with new recruits, prodding them about their goals and whether that included making the rank of Eagle.
"They would say yes. I would listen and then I'd challenge them by telling them that they didn't have what it takes," Gotty said.
After telling the Scouts that he didn't think they had what it took to make it to Eagle, each bet the Scoutmaster $1 that they would.
One young Scout, Gregg Anselmi, had heard about the bets and wanted to know why Gotty didn't engage him.
"I told him he only needed two more merit badges and he said he wanted to bet," Gotty said. "At his Eagle Scout ceremony, Anselmi spoke up in his Brooklyn accent, 'Mr. Gotty owes me a dahlah!'"
Gotty said he paid the bet in 100 pennies.
Gotty said when he retired, a Scout chairman told him that he had lost bets 23 times.
"I thought, well, yes, I did, but I won in the long run, and happily turned over two framed 50-cent pieces to each and every boy and a bag of 100 new pennies to Anselmi, who earned the right to declare that he was an Eagle Scout," Gotty said.
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In 1924, the first traffic routes between Saylorsburg and Easton were assigned, construction on Lake Wallenpaupack began and Tobyhanna resident and would-be Scoutmaster Raymond Gotty was born.
The Boy Scout troop that Gotty leads today ? Troop 91 at Tobyhanna Army Depot ? wasn't more than a twinkle in the eye of what ultimately became the largest youth organization in the country, founded a little more than a decade earlier.
"People tend to forget what the Scouts are all about," said Gotty, 88. "There was a time when the respect was such that if you graduated high school or college, and an employer saw that you were a Boy Scout, or better, an Eagle Scout, that immediately moved you at the top of the list for a job or career."
The Scouts continue to promote programs for young people to build character, train youths in the responsibilities of citizenship and develop personal fitness.
Boasting more than 2.7 million members, the recent controversy over the Scouts banning and then allowing gays in the organization has sparked a 20 percent drop in membership across the nation, according to ABC News and USA Today.
While some reports indicate that membership in Pennsylvania has declined overall, Gotty said Troop 91 has maintained its 70-plus members.
Still, the retired MetLife employee said there hasn't been an increase in quite some time.
"The controversy hasn't hurt us up here, the decisions that have been made, but it hasn't done anything to help," Gotty said.
The troop has refrained from getting involved in the controversy and has regularly declined comment, Gotty said.
He noted that, locally, Scouts have never questioned anyone's sexual orientation, nor did local officials ever discriminate.
Enrolled his son
The negative attention bothers Gotty, who became involved with the organization when he signed up his then-11-year-old son, Raymond Jr.
"Do the math. Raymond Jr. is 60 years old now, so that's how long I've been involved with the Scouts," he said.
Gotty married Regina Stark on June 26, 1948, at St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church in Belleville, N.J.
He worked 27 years for MetLife as a salesman and also worked as a real estate agent with Lawrence Realty in Stroudsburg before serving as an auxiliary police officer and Boy Scout leader in Livingston, N.J.
"I'm on the committee of Troop 91 at the Tobyhanna Army Depot now," he said.
Gotty said he has spent most of his life investing in Scouts so that they would have the character and tools to go forward and contribute to society.
A bet on success
Gotty said he often would sit with new recruits, prodding them about their goals and whether that included making the rank of Eagle.
"They would say yes. I would listen and then I'd challenge them by telling them that they didn't have what it takes," Gotty said.
After telling the Scouts that he didn't think they had what it took to make it to Eagle, each bet the Scoutmaster $1 that they would.
One young Scout, Gregg Anselmi, had heard about the bets and wanted to know why Gotty didn't engage him.
"I told him he only needed two more merit badges and he said he wanted to bet," Gotty said. "At his Eagle Scout ceremony, Anselmi spoke up in his Brooklyn accent, 'Mr. Gotty owes me a dahlah!'"
Gotty said he paid the bet in 100 pennies.
Gotty said when he retired, a Scout chairman told him that he had lost bets 23 times.
"I thought, well, yes, I did, but I won in the long run, and happily turned over two framed 50-cent pieces to each and every boy and a bag of 100 new pennies to Anselmi, who earned the right to declare that he was an Eagle Scout," Gotty said.
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LONDON (Reuters) - A clutch of European banks are primed to lift dividends to put them back on the radar of yield-hungry investors after years spent using cash to repair balance sheets.
HSBC, UBS, BNP Paribas, Standard Chartered, Swedbank and other banks in Switzerland, France and Sweden could lead the way back to bigger payouts.
But obscuring the route for banks with excess cash is a stubborn regulatory fog, meaning investors in Europe may have to wait until 2014 or later for more juicy rewards, later than an expected pick-up in the United States.
"The problem ... is that they are waiting for the regulator to say the final level of capital they need before they can be confident enough to distribute," said Andrea Williams, European equities manager at Royal London Asset Management.
Bank dividends have been a casualty of the financial crisis, since when regulators have proposed a wide array of capital ratio plans to protect taxpayers from future bank bailouts.
Payouts from 28 of Europe's top lenders peaked at 46.5 billion euros (40.14 billion pounds) in 2007, six times their level a decade earlier, but they slumped to 15 billion euros in 2008 before recovering to 21 billion last year, Barclays analysts estimated.
The surge early in the century was driven by banks making record profits and being allowed to run with thin capital cushions; the drop after 2007 was inevitable as profits were wiped out or were retained to build capital.
Barclays analysts forecast payouts will rise to more than 32 billion euros next year, up 50 percent from last year's level and only behind the boom years of 2006 and 2007.
Many banks are well placed to ramp up payouts because they are generating cash, keeping loan growth limited given muted economic growth and are in no mood for acquisitions, according to analysts, investors and the banks themselves.
Royal London's Williams said Nordic banks like Handelsbanken and Swedbank should be able to bump up dividends when clarity emerges, although banks elsewhere may face restrictions until recovery picks up and regulators may limit payouts until banks commit more to lending to small and medium sized businesses, for example.
SPANISH BANKS STILL PAYING
HSBC's annual dividend is forecast to rise to 55 cents per share for 2014 and BNP Paribas' will increase to 1.99 euro, both up about a third from last year, and UBS's should quadruple to 0.66 Swiss francs, according to Thomson Reuters data.
In a world of low interest rates, the sector could return to favour with investors on the hunt for good, sustainable yields.
Income investors relied on financial firms for 18-26 percent of all dividends in the dozen years up to 2008, but that sagged to near 15 percent in recent years, according to Citi research.
Yields would rise to over 6 percent at Swedbank, to about 5 percent at HSBC and Standard Chartered and to near 4 percent at BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, UBS, Handelsbanken and Nordea, based on expected 2014 dividends.
But not all banks will be able to join the party.
Spain's Santander, which ranks behind only HSBC in how much is dished out by Europe's banks each year, is expected to have to cut its payout, after barely trimming its dividend during the crisis and recession, while most of its rivals took a sharp knife to what they paid.
Its shares currently yield 11 percent but the dividend futures market is pricing in a 60 percent cut to its 2014 award and also a 25 percent cut at BBVA, said Jad Comair, founder of Melanion Capital, a Paris-based investment manager focusing on dividend futures.
Santander has paid out 16 billion euros over the past three years, although more than 80 percent of its recent dividends have been in shares, which means the bank does not use up cash, but does dilute earnings per share.
Other Spanish lenders are also expected to slash what they distribute after the Bank of Spain last month fired a warning shot and told banks to limit cash dividends to a quarter of profits and make scrip dividends at sustainable levels.
Banks are being cautious about the timing of any increases in case the regulatory landscape shifts, but several have made the roadmap clear.
HSBC Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver said in May he is targeting a payout ratio of 40-60 percent, making clear he has broken from the past when his bank typically spent excess cash on acquisitions.
"This is an important marker to put down. We're quite clearly signalling that the mix of the appropriate balance we're nudging towards (is) dividend growth," Gulliver said.
UBS has said it is aiming for a payout ratio of 50 percent once it hits its capital targets.
Swedbank said it wants to pay out 75 percent of its annual profits once it has satisfied the capital demands of regulators.
Lloyds Banking Group has not paid a dividend since being bailed out in 2008, but is expected to next week set out a path to restart payments next year.
For a bank that was long one of Britain's best dividend payers it would be a symbolic step in its revival and help the government's plan to sell its 20 billion pound stake.
It should be able to pay a 4 pence dividend by 2015, analysts estimate, offering a 6 percent yield.
Payout ratios - or how much a company pays in dividend as a share of profits - could rise significantly across the industry once the regulatory landscape becomes more settled.
Mike Harrison, analyst at Barclays, estimated banks' payout ratios have averaged about 40 percent over the last 15-20 years, but that could increase to near 60 percent over the medium term, similar to that offered by utilities.
"If opportunities to grow aren't there, it's realistic to think the payout ratios for banks go up. But it's contingent on regulations, and banks being happy with the rules of the road," he said.
(Additional reporting by Sarah White and Toni Vorobyova; Editing by David Cowell)
BEIJING: Gas has started flowing to energy-hungry China through a pipeline from Myanmar, Beijing's official media reported, in a major project that highlights their economic links even as political ties weaken.
The 793-kilometre (492-mile) pipeline runs from Kyaukpyu on Myanmar's west coast, close to the offshore Shwe gasfields, and across the country.
It enters southwest China at Ruili, near areas where heavy clashes between the rebel Kachin Independence Army and the Myanmar military were reported earlier this year.
As well as diversifying China's sources of fuel, by supplying energy to the vast and economically less developed west it could help Beijing's attempts to promote growth there.
The pipeline has been years in construction and went into operation on Sunday at a ceremony in Mandalay, the official Xinhua news agency reported. "When torches flamed in the sky.... a storm of applause and cheers broke out," it said.
In an editorial on Monday the Global Times newspaper, affiliated with the ruling Communist Party, said: "This is another breakthrough in China's strategy of energy diversification and has obvious significance in reducing China's dependence on the Strait of Malacca for the import of oil and natural gas."
A parallel oil pipeline is also part of the project, with the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPN) the major partner in both assets.
According to Xinhua, the gas pipeline will be able to carry 12 billion cubic metres annually, while the crude oil pipeline has a capacity of 22 million tonnes per year.
The start of the project comes as resource-rich Myanmar shakes off decades of rule by generals who kept the country largely isolated from the rest of the world.
They did, however, maintain close economic links with China, which for years was the major foreign influence in a country that was under heavy international sanctions.
Now, with Myanmar opening up politically and economically, more countries are setting up operations and seeking deals which sanctions had prevented.
"Myanmar used to be sanctioned by the West and China was its only friend," the Global Times editorial acknowledged. "Nowadays, it has opened more to the West. This will reduce its passion in cooperating with China, but does not mean it will set itself against China."
But in a warning that Beijing expects its economic interests to be protected, the newspaper cautioned Myanmar that it must ensure agreements regarding the project are fulfilled, no matter who eventually leads the country.
"China should be determined to supervise Myanmar in doing so," the paper said. "Myanmar should hold a serious attitude toward China, and Chinese will take (the Myanmar) people's attitude toward the pipeline as a test of their stance on China."
NOXEN, Pa. (AP) ? Severe thunderstorms and heavy fog were reported around the time a helicopter crashed in northeastern Pennsylvania on Saturday, killing all five people on board, including a child, officials said Monday.
Search and rescue crews scouring the rugged, wooded area where the helicopter crashed on Saturday night encountered heavy fog, National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Peter Knudson said.
Early indications are that the helicopter was caught in a thunderstorm, said Loretta Conley, a spokeswoman for the company that owns the craft. A county coroner investigating crash also said strong storms had passed through the region around the time the helicopter went down.
The pilot contacted air traffic controllers around 10:30 p.m. Saturday to report he was losing altitude and would try to return to a nearby airfield, Wyoming County coroner Thomas Kukuchka said Sunday.
"That's when he went off radar," Kukuchka said.
The coroner's office on Monday identified the victims as 58-year-old Bernard Michael Kelly, of Ellicott City, Md.; his 27-year-old daughter, Leanna Mee Kelly, of Savage, Md.; 29-year-old Carl Robert Woodland, of Lovettsville, Va.; his 3-year-old son, Noah Robert McKain Woodland, of Leesburg, Va.; and 30-year-old David Ernest Jenny Jr., of Towson, Md. It didn't say who was piloting the helicopter.
All five died of multiple traumatic injuries when the helicopter crashed near Noxen, a picturesque town of about 1,000 residents.
Knudson said he did not know the reason for the flight.
The wreckage was heavily fragmented but there was no fire after the crash, Knudson said. The aircraft was equipped with a device that records engine parameters for maintenance purposes, and that will be examined in Washington for clues as to the cause of the crash.
No witnesses to the crash had been found, but authorities are still searching for anyone who might have seen it, Knudson said.
The flight originated at Tri Cities Airport in Endicott, N.Y. Records show the helicopter, an R66 Rotorcraft, refueled at Tri Cities at 4:10 p.m. Saturday, airport manager Gerard Corprew said.
Corprew said the helicopter must have gone back to the airport at least once more, however, because a father and young son later killed in the crash were still waiting to be picked up when he left at 7 p.m.
The type of helicopter that crashed is sometimes used for tours, Corprew said, and can seat four plus a pilot. It also can be used for training new pilots.
A tail number Corprew provided showed the aircraft is owned by Robinson Helicopter Co., of Torrance, Calif., according to an FAA records check. Conley said the company "is saddened by the loss of lives." She said the helicopter had been sold to a Robinson Helicopter dealer in Hampton Roads, Va.
The company sent investigators to assist the federal probe, which is being led by the National Transportation Safety Board. An NTSB official in charge of the scene did not immediately return a call for comment Monday.
The coroner and police said rough weather contributed to the difficulty of the search. The wreckage was located shortly before 2 p.m. Sunday.
Some seven million Malians are expected to vote on Sunday, as polls open for the country?s first presidential elections since last year's March coup sparked a takeover of large parts of the north of the country by Tuareg separatists and Islamic extremists.
While some have praised the country?s efforts in organising an election so soon after the conflict, others have questioned Mali?s readiness amid reports of thousands of citizens still without voter ID cards and thus unable to take part in the election. There are also concerns over security after Islamic militants threatened to attack polling stations.
17.00 - So far things seem to be running relatively smoothly in Mali as the country?s citizens continue to vote, with signs of a decent turnout in key cities such as Gao and Bamako and no reports of violence or security problems.
However, RFI reports that a number of voters in Bamako and the northern town of Timbuktu have been unable to find the polling stations ? similar to the problems reported by FRANCE 24?s correspondent Donaig Le Du in the separatist stronghold of Kidal earlier in the day.
Meanwhile, polls across Mali are due to close at 18.00 this evening, after which counting will begin. If none of the candidates wins a majority, a second round run-off between the two leading candidates will be held on August 11.
14.00 - Mali?s interim President Dioncounda Traor? has cast his vote in the capital Bamako, reports Melissa Bell.
Speaking to FRANCE 24 as he left the polling station, Traor? struck an upbeat note, saying he believes so far things are going ?extremely smoothly? and that today?s election has been one of the most successful Mali has ever held.
Participation is likely to be key to judging the success of the election as well as the legitimacy of the eventual winner and, in Bamako at least, turnout seems to be high, with queues forming outside polling stations.
?Historically the turnout in Malian elections has not been extraordinarily high, but authorities here are very keen it should reach at least close to the 35 percent that was recorded at the time of the last presidential election,? Bell says.
But whatever the outcome, the results are likely to be scrutinised and possibly challenged by some of the losing candidates, she explains. ?You can almost bet your money there will be some kind of contesting of the results at some point by someone, this election having been from the outset described as one that is far less than perfect.?
12.00 - One of the concerns leading up to these elections was that thousands of Malian expatriates around the world would be unable to take part because of delays in sending them their voter ID cards.
One of Mali?s largest expat communities is in the Paris suburb of Montreuil, home to an estimated 7,000 Malians. Reporting from the suburb, FRANCE 24?s Rosalie e?Silva says that so far few people have turned out to cast their vote.
?Voting has been open officially for four hours now and I?ve yet to see one vote cast,? she said.
One polling station in the suburb refused to open because it said too few people had received their ID cards. At another voting centre, people were being turned away because the officials set to oversee the voting procedure had yet to arrive.
?There?s an overwhelming sense of frustration and anger that people are there to vote but are being turned away,? e?Silva added.
11.00 - The election?s organisational difficulties seem to be causing some problems in the northern town of Kidal, where voters are struggling to find the right polling stations, reports FRANCE 24?s Donaig Le Du.
One of the reasons for this, she says, is that many of the lists of registered voters, which had been posted on the walls of public buildings, were blown away by high winds last night, Le Du explained.
Many in the town, however, simply do not want to take part in the vote ?because they are opposed to being part of Mali?, she says.
Kidal is a Tuareg separatist stronghold where an uneasy truce has been in place since a peace agreement was signed last month. Just last week, a group of election workers were kidnapped while on their way to distribute voter ID cards in the town.
Altogether, turnout in the town has been fairly low so far, says Le Du.
10.00 - In Gao, Eve Irvine reports that people have been queuing since 6 a.m. outside polling stations to cast their votes.
The city in central Mali was among those captured by Tuareg separatists in March 2012 before falling into the hands of Islamist militants and eventually being recaptured by the French military in January.
The atmosphere in the city as polling stations opened this morning was ?joyous?, Irvine reported.
?People were saying they were really very proud and
SECURITY TIGHT AS POLLS OPEN IN GAO
very happy to cast their votes today. Since we arrived in Gao they?ve told us that electing the next president for them is the final sign that they are fully free from the months of occupation,? she said.
However, with Gao the site of multiple suicide bombings in recent months and with Islamists threatening to target the city on election day, security levels are high, with local army and police backed up by UN and French forces.
09.00 - Reporting from the capital Bamako, FRANCE 24?s Melissa Bell says that there are two big questions as the vote gets underway: ?Will it happen without incident and will the participation level be sufficiently strong that Malians will not question the results??
After the polls, the 28 candidates will be holed up in their campaign headquarters awaiting the results, she says. Some of the leading candidates, among them four former prime ministers, will have a good sense of the results by this evening.
?The big difficulty then for the authorities will be to get the official results out before the candidates can begin claiming success,? says Bell.
Former Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry said Anthony Weiner is a ?good Democrat? who should be talking more about his accomplishments in Congress.
In an interview Saturday night on Geraldo Rivera?s show on Fox News, Barry said, ?One bit of advice to the congressman: I?d stop talking so much about now and start talking about what you did for seven terms while he was in the Congress. He?s a good Democrat.?
A couple weeks ago, Barry said he can ?identify? with what Weiner is going through.
Earlier in the interview, Barry and Rivera clashed about the ex-mayor?s past brushes with the law.
Barry, who is now a D.C. Council member, balked at Rivera?s characterization of his past drug scandals.
Barry accused the federal government of attempting to set him up, and twice used an expletive on the air. Rivera asked him to apologize, and Barry later did, saying he was ?sorry he got upset.?
Photo illustration by Jim Festante/Slate. Photo by iStockphoto.
Reminder:Matt Yglesias and Farhad Manjoo are wargaming a fanciful, definitely-not-actually-true version of what might happen if Google and Apple went to war. You can see how the battle began here.
As of Oct. 25, 2013 Apple has: Cash on hand: $140 billion Personnel: 100,000 Territory controlled: Offices, retail stores, factories, and the political allegiances of China, Europe, the Middle East, and a growing number of Americans.
There?s a grim mood in the hastily assembled Cupertino, Calif., bunker where Apple?s executives have hunkered down. But the phone is ringing off the hook. Google?s tactics, though devastatingly effective, are also terrifying to many citizens. While click-dependent digital media may buckle under to Google?s demands, television remains Americans? main source of news and the offline coverage of Google?s offensive is devastating. The New York Times is able to get by on traffic from iOS devices (mobile is the future, after all), and a solid minority of American digital media sticks with Apple, hoping for a larger share of a smaller pie. Meanwhile, a European Union already worried about Google?s monopoly power and concerned about surveillance moves decisively into backlash mode, barring the company from doing business in Europe and seizing its fixed assets there. And while it?s true that Google has many offerings Apple can?t beat, it?s also true that Germany entered World War I with the strongest overall military.
War is a game of coalitions. Not only are there whole countries where Google barely exists (think China), but there?s a whole world of online services companies out there who?ve been chomping at the bit for a big Google scandal to get them into the game. Bing search, Outlook webmail, Yahoo Calendar, and Dropbox for storage. Google?s one-stop shopping is a convenience, but people in Google-hostile territory can use the Web without it and the company?s behavior is frightening people. Apple?s hearty band of loyalists can shop at the Apple Store and punch apple.com into the browser just fine?and while they?re there, many of them are adding their contact information to a new page which urges Apple fans to join the ?Apple Army.? The photo accompanying sign-up shows a cheerful, attractive, multicultural group massed in front of Apple headquarters, everyone wearing T-shirts of bright, primary colors. In the first week, 20,000 Apple partisans sign up. ?
And Google has forgotten the fundamental reality that the Internet is a physical entity. Customers are a little surprised to find every Apple Store in the Portland area closed at lunchtime, but it?s just a quick 90-minute jaunt down I-84 to Google?s data center at The Dalles, Ore., one of six within the United States. Tim Cook never really thought it would come to this, but as Apple?s longtime logistics guy he?s always made sure the company can get its hands on demolition and construction materials at a moment?s notice. And what can be used to renovate a store can be used to wreck a data center just about as easily. No government officials or law enforcement personnel will explicitly take Google on, of course, but everyone knows that if the data centers are destroyed so is the possibility for blackmail so it?s strictly hands-off. Meanwhile, other wrecking crews are already in motion heading out of Greensboro, Omaha, Atlanta, Charlotte, and Tulsa to attack the other data centers.
PHOENIX (AP) ? The Indiana Pacers have bolstered their front-line depth with the acquisition of Luis Scola from the Phoenix Suns.
The Pacers sent forward Gerald Green, center Miles Plumlee and a lottery-protected first-round draft pick to the rebuilding Suns.
Scola, a 6-foot-9 forward from Argentina, played his first five NBA seasons with the Houston Rockets before coming to Phoenix a year ago when the Suns submitted the winning bid under the league's amnesty rule. He appeared in all 82 games for the Suns, averaging 12.8 points and 6.6 rebounds. It was the fifth time in his career that he's played in all games.
Scola, who has averaged 14.2 points and 7.5 rebounds in his career, joins a team that figures to contend in the Eastern Conference after he toiled for a season with a Suns squad that compiled the worst record in the Western Conference and second-worst in the franchise's history.
The 6-foot-8 Green has played for six teams since coming to the NBA in 2005. Signed as a free agent by Indiana in 2012, he appeared in 60 games, averaging seven points per contest. The 6-11 Plumlee was selected in the first round by the Pacers out of Duke last year, the 26th selection overall, but appeared in only 14 games for the deep, talented Indiana squad.
Not surprisingly, Scola said he was "very, very excited to play for the Pacers."
"They are one of the top three teams in the NBA with a good shot to win a championship," Scola said in a Pacers news release announcing the Saturday trade. "I think it's a great team and this is a great opportunity. I can't wait."
Hall of Famer Larry Bird, the Pacers' president of basketball operations, said Scola adds veteran experience to the Indiana bench.
"He has NBA experience, international experience and is the type of player that will fit nicely on our roster," Bird said.
Since returning to the Pacers in late June after taking a leave of absence for health reasons, Bird has re-signed power forward David West, then spent most of his time strengthening the Pacers bench.
When free agency opened, he convinced point guard C.J. Watson to sign. He also has signed backup swingman Chris Copeland and point guard Donald Sloan, and now he's added a solid scorer to back up West. Bird also selected Arizona forward Solomon Hill in the draft.
He's been able to make the moves without going over the NBA's luxury tax threshold ? something Bird has said he will not do.
The price for Scola wasn't particularly high, from Indiana's perspective.
Pacers fans have grumbled constantly about the lack of productivity from Green, who still has two years and $7 million left on the free agent deal he signed last season, and Plumlee spent much of his rookie playing time with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA D-League.
Bird believes that a better bench will help the Pacers continue to make deep runs in the playoffs, and possibly even get past two-time NBA champion Miami in the Eastern Conference. The Heat beat Indiana 4-2 in the second round of the 2012 playoffs and needed to win Game 7 to finally fend off Indiana in the Eastern Conference finals this year.
New Suns general manager Ryan McDonough called Plumlee "one of the best players" in this year's Summer League, where the big center averaged 10 points, 9.5 rebounds and three blocked shots. McDonough also said that Green will add athleticism and scoring ability to what is designed to be an up-tempo style under new Phoenix coach Jeff Hornacek.
Phoenix is undergoing a roster overhaul in what could be a lengthy rebuilding process.
"The trade is consistent with our stated plan to continue to acquire young assets," said Lon Babby, the Suns' president of basketball operations. "With this trade, we now have the potential of three first-round picks in the 2014 draft and five first-round picks in the next two drafts."
Plumlee gives the team a second young center. Phoenix used the fifth overall pick in this year's draft to select Maryland's Alex Len, a 7-foot Ukrainian who is recovering from right ankle surgery.
___
AP Sports Writer Michael Marot in Indianapolis contributed to this report.
The Apple Army goes to work