Daily Archives: May 28, 2017

Ferry Corsten deserves a Grammy for this album… | Trance Hub – Trance Hub (satire) (press release) (blog)

Posted: May 28, 2017 at 7:53 am

A lot of us trance fans believe that Ferry Corstens return to trance is the single most reason for the resurgence of this genre of music. In 2015 when he came back with Gouryella Anahera, we were all reminded of the hay days the track was outstanding, so was the reception. After many years, a trance track hit the top of Beatport Main chart. Last year when he announced a follow up and his new album Blueprint, we knew he was upto something special Blueprint from start to end is uber special. We would rate this as one of the best trance albums of recent times. Thank You Ferry Corsten, this is Grammy worthy and we hope you get it for all of us.

Download/stream: https://flashover.choons.at/blueprintalbum

Its been said that space exploration is a force unto itself, a statement that can aptly be applied to the experience of music discovery. A purveyor of a music with that timeless quality, Ferry Corsten actioned himself into taking his own artist exploration deeper with his fifth artist album. Entitled Blueprint because of his technical approach to this latest studio outing. This newest longplayer by the Rotterdam native was spawned from an idea to unite the music with a storyline that stretches beyond a nebulous lyrical theme. Combining his love for the art of screenwriting and film score Ferry has crafted Blueprint as a concept release to put a wider perspective on his musical vision.

Transcending any referential genre, Blueprints storyline centres around two protagonists in Lukas and the extra-terrestrial being Vee. From a discovery to a bond to consciousness to interdimensional travel, Blueprint embarks on a journey across the galaxy asking many questions from its listeners.

Encapsulated in the soundtrack is a musical narrative that entwines with a storyboard crafted by the minds of David H Miller (of House Of Cards and Rosewood fame) and Ferry himself. The resulting effort gives the listener a conceptual direction that is breathtakingly beautiful. Narrated by Hollywood actor Campbell Scott (known for The Amazing Spider-Man and The Exorcism of Emily Rose), whose voice unravels the mystery of Blueprints storyline.

Written into the musical code of the album we learn that from the deepest edges of space The Drum can be heard, endlessly repeating, without any understanding as to its reason or purpose. None of the greatest minds on earth nor governmental superpower can decipher its existence. Except one. As the listener journeys from the opening track to the last the album chronicles the voyage of Lukas and Vee as a new world is opened to not just the mind but the heart.

With its opening title track Blueprint the album commences in wondrous form straddling euphoria and seduction at its heart, as it shoots for the stars setting up for a cosmic ballet. The atmospherical payoff of Venera (Vees Theme) is enchantingly uplifting, as listeners have their first encounter with Vee. The vocal of Eric Lumiere adds depth to the characters arrival with Something To Believe In before Edge Of The Skye, featuring Haliene, ignites an odyssey to A World Beyond. The weaving metronomic build of Trust is industriously rich and perfectly poised for this interstellar exploration. Whilst the otherworldly tones of Lonely Inside beam us into the isolation of Space and renders all meaning beyond one emotion, desire. The sentiment on Halienes voice pierces through on the tense Piece of You before we head into the third act and encounter The Drum again on Drums A Weapon. The album majestically concludes with the beautiful combo of Haliene & Eric Lumiere on Another Sunrise and the Eternity with its Shepherd scale-esque splendour.

With the narrative that gives nods to the proses of iconic sci-fi authors such as Jules Verne, Hugo Gernsback and most distinctively HG Wells, whilst sharing familiarities with modern day shows such as The OA, Westworld and retro Sci-fi-fest Stranger Things, Blueprint is an explorative piece of work that puts Sci-fi at its interstellar core. A brave and unique studio release from one of the most iconic artists in the electronic scene but Ferrys attempts with Blueprint are simply to bring a wider perspective to the listener, as he aims the album to be inclusive of dimensions of religion, history, ideals and science fiction.

Co-Founder of Trance Hub, Curator of The Gathering events in India and ALT+TRANCE in Czech Republic. By day, a Digital Marketing Enthusiast with love for Food and Technology. By night, a dreamer who wants to grow the Trance scene in India.

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Cyberpunk 2077 Promotional Campaign Is Already Underway, Will … – One Angry Gamer (blog)

Posted: at 7:51 am

(Last Updated On: May 27, 2017)

If you like Cyberpunk and RPG games youll know that there is a shortage of 3rd/1st-person titles set in that genre. However, CD Projekt Red seeks to change that with Cyberpunk 2077, and it seems in a recent financial report that CD Projekt REDs CEO, Marcin Kicinski, published there will be a surprise when the game receives promotional treatment.

Theres no doubt that CD Projekt Red is getting ready to pump promotional content sometime in the future, if not the far future, regarding Cyberpunk 2077, especially with the recent job listing of an Event Manager. The job listing that was under Cyberpunk 2077 and now recently changed to PR & Marketing | Warsaw sees the person of interest attending events like E3, GamesCom, GDC and Promised Land:

Were looking for an exceptional talent, who will use his/her experience, knowledge and creativity to organize the best events in the industry. International fairs, extraordinary media shows, great events for players, limited only by our imagination? E3, Gamescom, GDC, Promised Land? Its our reality and soon can be yours too.

This links into the latest information that sees CD Projekt Red now finished with its promotional campaign plans for Cyberpunk 2077. So does this mean that we will see a tiny tease maybe at Gamescom, GDC or Promised Land? Well, we dont know, but what is known is that 2017 is the year of Gwent according to the teams 2016 financial results conference.

Furthermore, the recent Q1 2017 financial results presentation brought forth news that CD Projekt Red was able to earn a net profit of 43.7 million Polish Zloty (or around $11.7) during the first quarter of 2017, which was a 35% increase from the teams performance during the first quarter of 2016. This later lead to the CEO of the studio, Marcin Kicinski, to say that

The promotional campaign (for Cyberpunk 2077) is already planned. Its main element is the surprise, so I cannot even say when it will begin. Simply because it has to come as a surprise.

So we know that the game is coming along nicely as of 2017 given that Mike Pondsmith is very impressed with CD Projekt Reds adaption of his Cyberpunk world, which comes after the upgrade of the old engine to the new REDengine 4; meaning that the transition is going rather well.

Its good to hear that CD Projekt Red is still working on the only real Cyberpunk game that is based on a brutal, unforgiving, selfish world wrapped in a dark machinists dream, because we dont get that many 3rd-person/1st-person RPG shooters like the above.

Anyway, the game is set to release when it is ready. More information pertaining to Cyberpunk 2077 can be found by hitting up cyberpunk.net.

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CD Projekt RED CEO: Cyberpunk 2077’s promo campaign is ready, reveal will come as a "surprise" – GameZone

Posted: at 7:51 am

Over four years and 10 million YouTube views later, Cyberpunk 2077's Teaser Trailer remains the only glimpse into CD Projekt RED's mysterious RPG that is said to be "really, really, really f**king badass." Given that there is three whole "really's" in that statement, it must be good, right?

As we continue to wait out the game's inevitable reveal, CD Projekt RED Joint CEOMarcin Kicinski stated during the studio's Q1 2017 financial results presentation that plans for Cyberpunk 2077's marketing campaign are complete and that its central element is "surprise."

He said:

The promotional campaign (for Cyberpunk 2077) is already planned. Its main element is the surprise, so I cannot even say when it will begin. Simply because it has to come as a surprise.

Obviously, the main question is when we can expect to see it, and while many were probably hoping for an E3 2017 presence, they may want to hold off on that excitement. CD Projekt RED has already stated that 2017 "belongs to Gwent" and given that the game has just hit Public Beta, it's more likely that we will see more of Gwent in LA this year.

Also, if "surprise" is key to the marketing element, it's not out of the question to presume that the announcement will come at a downtime when not many big AAA games are nabbing headlines. This could mean either a December/January window when the gaming calendar is wrapping up or just getting underway or perhaps during the middle of the summer, which is traditionally known as a dry season for game releases.

Regardless, it would appear as though our wait continues.

Source: [CD Projekt RED via NeoGAF]

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CD Projekt RED CEO: Cyberpunk 2077's promo campaign is ready, reveal will come as a "surprise" - GameZone

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Cyberpunk 2077 Promotional Campaign is Ready, Announcement to be a Surprise – SegmentNext

Posted: at 7:51 am

CD Projekt REDs President and Joint CEO, ADAM KICISKI, has stated that Cyberpunk 2077 promotional campaign is ready and the games reveal is going to be a major surprise for the community. They are going to play with the element of surprise for this one.

This may spark speculations that CD Projekt RED may be at E3 2017 with its new game. However, that is unlikely to be the case. Recently, CD Projekt Red hosted its financial results conference for 2016 in which the developer revealed that the development progress on Cyberpunk 2077 is quite advanced and the studio needs more time before it is ready.

Furthermore, the company revealed that the studio considers 2017 as the year of GWENT: The Witcher Card Game and will not reveal anything major about Cyberpunk 2077 this year.

According to CD Projekt RED CEO, the promotional campaign is planned and they are waiting for the right moment. He made the statement during a recent conference call.

Rumor has it that the pre-production before 2016 was scrapped which slowed down the development process, however, that report has never been confirmed.

The game has been in development for a long time and will release sometime between 2017-2021. There is another AAA RPG in development alongside Cyberpunk 2077 which puts extra pressure on the development team.

Cyberpunk 2077 tidbits might be shared this year but expect nothing major from the developers any time soon.Cyberpunk is a Sci-fi action RPG in development at CD Projekt Red for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

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Stryker (SYK) Getting Positive News Coverage, Study Shows – Chaffey Breeze

Posted: at 7:50 am


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Terrorism, fascism, political correctness, and sexual violence: Four Horsemen of the Left – Canada Free Press

Posted: at 7:46 am

Fascist leftism, a death cult embedded in a Democratic Party

It has been more than a quarter century since social workers in Rotherham, England and elsewhere began reporting that young women and girls were being groomed (i.e. drugged, beaten, raped, threatened with death) and then pimped out by ethnic minority (i.e. Islamic) taxi drivers living in their community. The girls were beaten and worse if they tried to escape. Some were murdered.

Easy Meat: Inside Britains Grooming Gang Scandal, is a hard book to read, but it should be required reading. Maybe universities and colleges could make it their social-consciousness-raising community read for the beginning of next school year.

And maybe hell will also freeze over.

In Rotherham, the few social workers not already seduced into senselessness by the daddy pimp of them allSir Political Correctnesswere quickly schooled by their superiors to look the other wayaway from evidence of child rapeor lose their jobs.

The same government bureaucrats who suppressed the social workers also shut down the blogs being written by brave policemen who were trying to warn the public about the perverse takeover of policing by Sir PC and company.

With no First Amendment to protect them, and with hate speech laws spreading like a mental black plague, the police bloggers never stood a chance. See here and here for other police accounts of the effect of identity politics on police work.

Amassed against the police who wished to treat everyone, you know, equally, were globalist multiculturalists, academicians, politicians, preening media, and other gilded birds in gilded high rises successfully imposing a racial regime that would make a Victorian phrenologist blush.

Police blogging was merely the last, impotent line of defense for the wrong types of victims victimized by the wrong types of criminals.

Once the police blogs were forcibly silenced, the girls of Rotherham, and, in fact, all of Britain was on its own. The lights went out, to Winston Churchill and Mark Steyn. Always before the lights go out, speech is silenced.

As leftists in America shut down free speech on college campuses across Americaand they wont stop at college campusestake lessons from that, as you will.

Officially, the pimped-out girls of Rotherham were extra-legally deemed guilty of being raped while white. Officially, their rapists were extra-legally deemed innocent of child rape and pimping on the grounds of being rapists while minority.

This is precisely the deadly calculus of identity politics as it has played out in law enforcement for 50 years now, for half a century, for the entire time Bill Cosby, for example, has been drugging and molesting starlets and student coaches and supermodels.

Bill Cosby may sneer that it is racism that motivated the belated charges of sexual assault against him, but he is only half right. It is indeed racismracism against his victims and on his behalfthat enabled him to get away with sexually abusing woman after woman for decades with no consequences. What woman, black or white (and Cosbys victims span the color spectrum) would be stupid enough to come forward and report being raped by Americas black dad?

Whether you are a poor white child in foster care in a slum in England being passed around by a gang of Pakistani thugs or a high-class, black supermodel being drugged and molested by Americas funniest black man, political correctness dictates that you will be held responsible for the rape visited upon your body because black males cant possibly be held responsible for the rapes they commit because they are black males.

Meet the new lynch mob. Its no different from the old lynch mob, except its not called a lynch mob anymore: its called justice.

And so when an ethnic minority man detonates a bomb at a teenyboppers concert, why do politicians even bother to denounce the violence? They, after all, are the ones responsible for the body count. They are the ones who tied the hands of the real police and turned policing itself into thought policing of non-terrorists. They are the ones who shut down public discourse about immigration and terrorism. They are the ones who purged from decent society anyone who dared to voice what everyone is thinking, all the time now: what if we could go back to the time when women could walk the streets unmolested and little girls could grow into women without being turned out by throngs of hate-filled Islamists treating them like discarded bags of meat, to quote one prominent imam?

What if England could go back to being England, where Winnie the Pooh was the concern of 10-year-old girls, not how many sex acts they would need to perform in order to avoid being beaten by their pimps as the pimps showered them with anti-Christian, anti-female, anti-England hate speech, which is the only flavor of hate speech allowed these days. Heck, such speech is practically a sacrament in some circles, including official ones.

What if England could go back to the days of the Beatles, when the only danger one faced at a concert was the danger of going a bit deaf from the hysterical screams of teenyboppers screaming, not in horror at watching their chums limbs being torn from their bodies, but screaming with joy at the harmless pleasure of being a teenage girl with a crush on a boy band?

Not only dont these things exist anymore in England: the right to talk about them doesnt exist anymore either.

And it can happen here. The leftist mobs attacking conservative speakers on college campuses; the unpunished hate crime hoaxes; the medias dishonest trumpeting of this or that imaginary rising tide of white supremacist hate; their dishonest participation in burying the real hate hoaxes; their decades-long cover-up of violent crime committed by minoritiesall this isnt mere proto-fascism: it is full-blown fascism.

Terrorism, fascism, and political correctness are frequent fellow travelers with sexual violence. How better to suppress and render docile half the population than by threatening them sexually? And how much easier is this when the predators have the ace in their pockets of special exemption from culpability for their crimes because of their ethnicity or race?

New York Citys Puerto Rican Day parade used to be notorious for acts of wilding and whirlpooling, in other words, gang sexual attacks committed against women unlucky enough to happen upon the throngs of males who felt entitled to grab and molest any woman in their path.

Just like the police in Rotherham, the police monitoring the Puerto Rican Day Parade were told to shut up and stand down in the face of those sexual assaults because the offenders were ethnic minority men, and you cant blame ethnic minority men for committing sexual violence.

This year, in addition to the usual unmentionable sexual threats, the Puerto Rican Day parade is honoring a leftist terrorist just released from prison by Barack Obama. So first, Obama spat in the face of the police and civilians murdered by Oscar Lopez Rivera by springing Rivera from prison, and next, Mayor Bill de Blasio is excitedly marching with Rivera in a parade with a reputation for gross sexual abuse of women.

Maybe Hillary Clinton isnt the Democratic Partys biggest optics problem after all.

Bill Ayers, Obamas unrepentant terrorist mentor, also has a history of sexual perversion and sexual violence that doesnt seem to bother the types of people who honor him, such as the universities granting him tenure and speaking honoraria and the dumb bunny grade school teachers who elected him to run curricular studies for the largest K-12 teachers professional organization in the United States, the American Educational Research Association. If merely trying to blow up cops and soldiers and civilians were not enough for the collective idiots who teach your children, one would hope that Ayerss sexual history might give them pause, but apparently it never did.

Back in the Weathermen days, Ayers was known for arranging inter-racial re-education sex sessions to punish white females for being white females. Such stories were hardly uncommon throughout the civil rights era. When I was researching the feminist movement of the 1960s and early 1970s in university archives, I found scores of similar stories by female civil rights workers who were forced to degrade themselves sexuallyoften in publicto make up for societal prejudice against black men. And female civil rights workers of all races were also pressured to keep quiet when they were raped by black men, a not uncommon occurrence.

There is a direct line from Rotherham to raped-and-silenced civil rights workers to Bill Cosby grousing that hes the real victim of his sexual exploits that literally dozens of women have called rape. Theres a direct line between Al Sharpton literally trying to lynch a white gang rape victim by inciting a crowd to attack the police van transporting her to the courthouse and Al Sharpton being invited to the White House and being honored at Democratic Party conventions and being given a show on MSNBC. There is a direct line between police being silenced in Britain if they tell the truth about sexual abuse of girls by minority men and police being told to stand down as women get gang-raped in broad daylight at the Puerto Rican Day parade, a parade that is now honoring a terrorist on sidewalks dusted not so long ago with the pulverized bones of other American victims of terrorism.

The direct line between all these things is fascist leftism, a death cult embedded in a Democratic Party so cynical about its own acceptance of some sexual violence and some terrorism that no person who identifies as a Democrat can possibly look in the mirror and honestly confront themselves about such things.

And when you cant acknowledge your own culpability in the death cult within your own political party, theres only one thing left to do: outlaw any speech that tells the truth about it.

Bombthrowers is a blog about politics and the war for the hearts and minds of Americans from a conservative viewpoint.

In line with our name, we do not hold back. We have a take-no-prisoners attitude when it comes to fighting for conservative principles. The Left doesnt play nice, and thats why theyve been winning. Its time for conservatives to rise up and turn the tide.

Were not afraid to take on anyone, especially the Washington EstablishmentRepublican or Democrat.

Bombthrowers is a project supported by the Capital Research Center. Its editor-in-chief is Matthew Vadum.

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How Trump Affected Political Correctness – The American Interest

Posted: at 7:46 am

A major themethe major theme?of Donald Trumps 2016 campaign for the presidency was his relentless assault on socially-enforced standards of speech and opinionthat those on the Right tend to refer to aspolitical correctness and those on the Left tend to refer to as politeness or propriety.And a new paper from the National Bureau of Economics Researchsuggests that thisassault was at least partlysuccessful: By updating peoples preferences about the popularity of anti-immigration views, Trumps unexpected victory made people more willing to express anti-immigration views publicly than they were before Election Day.

The authors (Leonardo Bursztyn of the University of Chicago, Georgy Egorov of Northwestern, and Stefano Fiorin of UCLA) summarize their methodology like this: In the run-up to the2016 election, they offered subjects a dollarif they authorized the researchers to make a donation to a strongly anti-immigration organization on their behalf. Some of the participants were told that their donation would be anonymous. Others were told that they researchers mightask them about their decision later. Those who thought their donation would be anonymous were significantly more likely to authorize it than those who thought they might need to discuss it in the future, suggest(ing) the presence of social stigma associated with the action.After the election, however, this social stigma disappeared; people were just as likely to authorize a donation to an anti-immigrant group even if they were not assured that the donation would be anonymous.

Its not that Trumps election increased anti-immigration sentiment, the authors sayit just made peoplealready inclined toward restrictionism feel less of a need to conceal their preferences.

Regardless of whether Trump actuallybuilds a wall or successfully gets his travelban through the court system, it seems that hisrhetoric has created a fundamental shift in the way Americans talk (or dont talk) about immigration policyand probably other sensitive issues, as well. That the president survived the Access Hollywood tape, the Megyn Kelly feud, and his remarks about the Khans (to give a few examples)might have also had anemperor has no clothes effect oncertain social taboos.

In some ways, the Trump effect on P.C. has probably been positive. To the extent that critiquesof the elite consensus on immigration and globalization and social liberalism had becomeoff-limits, creating a stifling and anti-democratic environment where people were afraid to even express their concernslest they be ostracized and condemned by their social betters, it is healthy that Trumps election loosened limitations on acceptable discourse.

At the same time, civilization rests on a certain set of social norms, which are far more powerful than laws in shaping behavior. If everyone made all of their private opinions publicif dinner guests always told the host how they really feltabout the food, if drivers always shared withpolice their opinions on being pulled over,if Supreme Court justices announced that their opinions were based as much on guesswork and intuition as the text of the Constitutionmany of our institutions would work less well. Moreover, when informal norms erode, blunter tools like laws and bureaucratic codes have a tendency of taking their place.

So even as Trump has made some debates more openby taking a wrecking ball to political correctness, there is also a legitimate concern thathis freewheeling rhetorical style hasunearthed some demons, as the Republican Rep. Mark Sanford put itto theWashington Post.Ive talked to a number of people about it back home. They say, Well, look, if the president can say whatever, why cant I say whatever? Hes given them license.That is not cause for celebration.The Presidents election was a sign that prevailing social stigmas and taboos were unsustainable. The solution isnt to tear them down altogether, but to build new ones that are more broadly supported and in line with the interests of an open society.

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Investigators say debit card-cloning ring was operating on South … – Enterprise News

Posted: at 7:46 am

Neal Simpson The Patriot Ledger @nsimpson_ledger

BOSTON - Federal investigators say a major debit card-cloning ring operating in eight U.S. states and three countries was able to steal thousands of dollars from people using ATMs on the South Shore before it was shut down earlier this year.

In a federal indictment unsealed last week, investigators said a group dubbed the Hornea Crew had used skimming devices installed at ATMs in Quincy, Braintree and Weymouth to get access to peoples accounts and fraudulently withdraw their money. Fourteen people linked to the operation have been indicted on charges including identity theft, money laundering and racketeering, and investigators say more people were involved, including minors.

In an affidavit filed with the indictment, investigators said the operation was run by two brothers, Constantin Denis Hornea and Ludemis Hornea, and included members of several other families, some of them linked by marriage. Investigators said the network had been active in states up and down the East Coast as well as in China and Romania.

Constantin Hornea and a woman believed to be his wife, Maria Lazar, were arrested in March after investigators said they used cloned debit cards to fraudulently withdraw money from several Bank of America ATMs, including at bank branches and vestibules in Hanover, Braintree and Weymouth. Investigators said the couple withdrew between $100 and $500 at a time.

At the time, investigators said they did not yet know who installed the devices that were used to produce the cloned cards, according to a complaint unsealed after the couples arrest. Investigators said the cards were produced with the use of two devices: A skimmer stalled in an ATM slot that reads the account numbers of cards inserted into it; and a camera that records ATM users entering their PIN numbers on the machines keypad. Investigators said one batch of cloned debit cards was made using skimmers installed at a Bank of America ATM at 1 Scammell St. in Quincy.

Hornea's alleged associates, including some charged with installing the skimmers and cameras, were indicted Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Boston. The indictment was unsealed Thursday after his brother, Ludemis Hornea, was arrested.

In the indictment unsealed Thursday, investigators said the banks targeted by the group include Bank of America, Citizens Bank, First Citizens Bank, SunTrust Bank and Wells Fargo. Investigators said fraudulent cards were used to withdraw money at ATMs across Massachusetts, including in Brockton, Hanover, Quincy, Rockland and Weymouth.

Constantin Hornea and Maria Lazar are due to be arraigned Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Boston. They have been in the custody of the U.S. Marshals since their arrest this spring.

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Iran’s Islamic Evolution – Bloomberg

Posted: at 7:46 am

Supporters of Iranian presidential candidate Ebrahim Raisi at a campaign rally in Tehran on May 16.

Maryam was 22 days old when Iranians dethroned their king in 1979. The Islamic regime that followedwith its black and brown robes, covered heads, and dour religiositywas just a fact of life, she says. We never thought about anything different, because we hadnt seen anything else. Thirty-eight years later, that acceptance is wearing thin.

The May 19 presidential voteand the jubilant street celebrations that followed the reelection of President Hassan Rouhani, the nearest thing to a liberal allowed onto the ballotshowed an Iranian society much changed since the days of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeinis Islamic revolution and unwilling to turn back. One of my teachers used to tell us that if any strand of your hair showed, you would be hung up by it, says Maryam, who like others interviewed for this article declined to give her last name for fear of retribution. Now you can drive around in a car with your boyfriend, and no one says anything.

Khomeinis successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the coterie of clerics and unelected officials who hold most power in Iran see elections as a means to preserve and legitimize the Islamic revolution; many voters view them as a means to force the liberalization of the regime. Although those propositions are at odds, the shared belief that the ballot box is an important instrument has been a source of stability in a region where several recent experiments in democracy have flamed out.

Nobody interviewed on May 20 at the Tehran street parties celebrating Rouhanis victory said they had the stomach for another revolution. Memories of the brutal crackdown that followed the birth of the Green Movement in 2009in which Iranians challenged Mahmoud Ahmadinejads victory in an election many believe was riggedand of the Middle East bursting into flames in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings have damped Iranians appetite for revolt.

While Irans presidential elections offer a very limited form of democracy, the quadrennial ritual has been instrumental in moving the country in a more liberal direction. In every election aspirations and demands are expressed, and that gives them legitimacy. And what is ceded cant be taken back, says Saeed Laylaz, an Iranian economist who advised former President Mohammad Khatami.

Since a divide emerged between the regimes conservatives and reformists in the 1990s, a conservative candidate has claimed the presidency only twice: in 2005, when Ahmadinejad won amid record-low turnout, and in 2009, when he was returned to power in a poll marred by allegations of massive fraud.

Rouhanis 19-point victory margin, despite rising unemployment and stagnant living standards, underscores the widespread support that opening up the economy and expanding personal freedoms enjoy across generations of voters. Turnout reached 73 percent not because the incumbent is hugely popular, but because reform-minded Iranians worried that high levels of absenteeism would hand victory to a hard-liner, turning the clock back toward 1979. The conservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi, who was widely perceived to have Khameneis backing, drew just 38 percent of the vote.

Among those 16 million Raisi voters are many who support a more Islamicized country; many Rouhani voters also back the system. Mahdi, 28, voted for Raisi, and Iman, 25, for Rouhani, yet both regard the revolution as sacred. The young men, who are members of the Basij, a volunteer paramilitary group, view the Islamic Republic as having a unique form of religion-infused governance in which elections play a supporting role. There may be two candidates, but they are part of the system, Mahdi says. Neither is operating outside this framework.

If most Iranian youth are conservative by Western standards, their outlooks and lifestyles are also becoming more diverse. Hanging out at a Tehran skateboarding park in a baseball cap and T-shirt, Arshia, 19, says he listens to rap and trap, a subgenre of American hip-hop. At home, he watches The Walking Dead on satellite TV. We get our ideas from Instagram and social media, he says. If it wasnt for them, Id probably be like my grandfather and pray.

Arshia is unimpressed with Irans politicianstheyre all clericsbut he voted for Rouhani because he says life has improved under him. Skateboarding was frowned upon just a few years ago, when a policeman once stopped him riding home from school to ask if he thought he was living in America. Says Arshia: For me the revolution represents mass stupidity. Only people who are brainwashed talk about it.

Iman, a 33-year-old born at the height of the 1980s baby boom, which has contributed to a youth-unemployment rate that averaged 26 percent last year, voted for the first time on May 19. The owner of a music store in central Tehran that sells tars, setars, and other traditional Persian instruments says he feared that a Raisi win would bring back the bans on broadcasts of Western music and limits on live concerts that Ahmadinejad instituted during his eight-year rule. Conservatives hate music, Iman says, because if music becomes more popular, no one will listen to the imams.

Rouhanis strongest support came from the over-60s, according to a pre-election poll by the Washington-based Ippo Group. Already adults at the time of the revolution, they remember how things were before 1979, when they lived in an autocracy but had fewer religious and social restrictions. Farah, 55, who joined the post-election celebrations on Valiasr Street, the 12-mile artery that cuts through Tehran, along with her sisters, age 50 and 60, says she has no connection to the Islamic ideals of the regime.

All three took part in the demonstrations that set the stage for the Shahs overthrow, but they supported the secular government that initially took power. Khomeinis Islamists, who wrested control, cheated us, Farah says. We were looking for more political freedom, but instead we lost all our freedoms.

Maryam says her mother and five aunts were ardent, educated, young revolutionaries. I learned a lot from them, but I missed out on other things, she says. Like, I didnt know how to dance. I still dont. Nightclubs, like alcohol, are banned in Iran, yet private dance parties are now ubiquitous.

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The revolution was quickly followed by an eight-year war with Iraq, in which at least half a million Iranians died. It was a time of sacrifice and privation, Maryam recalls, in which the only clothes available for women were dark, full-length robes. Dissent was put on hold until the conflict ended, in 1988. We had to fight for everything, even things that todays children take for granted, like wearing colored clothes, she says. The 1997 election of Khatami, a reformist, ushered in what Maryam says was a golden age for personal freedoms. I saw the change in my aunts, she says. They used to be very strict, but they came to see it was a mistake.

Her own crisis of faith was triggered by the brutal crackdown on the Green Movement protests. An observant though not devout Muslim, Maryam says she gave up religion when security forces killed protesters in the streets on Ashura, the holiest day in the Shiite calendar.

Despite this history of repression, Maryam appreciates Khameneiwhos led Iran as president and then supreme leader for 36 yearsfor his ability to keep the country safe from the surrounding turmoil. It is not easy, she says, to run such a country, in such a region, with such a people.

The bottom line: Despite a paucity of reform-minded candidates, many Iranians are committed to voting: They see it as the best way to force change.

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Iran's Islamic Evolution - Bloomberg

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Don’t blame Darwin, says anti-drowning project leader – Bloomington Pantagraph

Posted: at 7:45 am

BLOOMINGTON A director of a group working to prevent drowning in the Great Lakes area says stigmatizing drowning hampers such efforts.

People blame the victim, blame the parent or caretaker or blame Darwinism, said Dave Benjamin, executive director of public relations and project management for the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project.

But doing that gives people a false sense of security that it wouldn't happen to them or their loved ones, said Benjamin.

In fact, it can happen to anyone and it can happen quickly.

Part of the problem, according to Benjamin, is that people don't know what they don't know.

Few people know that swimming ability alone might not be enough in a water emergency, he said.

Sixty-six percent of all drowning victims were good swimmers, he said.

But factors such as cold water, waves, underwater hazards, dangerous currents and disorientation following unexpected immersion can limit swimming effectiveness and affect how quickly fatigue can set in.

About half of drowning victims never intended to be in the water, he said. They may have fallen off a boat or pier or were washed off by waves.

A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said males are three times more likely to die from drowning than females.

Males tend to be greater risk takers, more susceptible to peer pressure and more likely to overestimate their swimming ability, said Benjamin.

Do not dare your friends to jump off the pier. Do not dare your friends to swim to the buoy, he said.

Rather than saying, You can't fix stupid, Benjamin advocates fixing misconceptions through education.

Schools have fire drills, tornado drills, active shooter drills and earthquake drills, yet students are more likely to die of drowning than those causes combined, he said.

Follow Lenore Sobota on Twitter: @pg_sobota

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Don't blame Darwin, says anti-drowning project leader - Bloomington Pantagraph

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