Are you looking for explosive muscle gain? Do you wish to become a body builder some day? Perhaps you simply want to be stronger, gain some confidence, and look more attractive. Regardless of the reasons why, there are many things you need to know in order to build muscle effectively. In this article, you will find several valuable tips that will help you do so successfully.
Consume a small, high-protein meal before you work out. The ideal meal should be small, and contain a source of protein as well as a source of unrefined (whole grain) carbohydrates. This will give your body the fuel it needs to get the most out of your workout. One example is a small bowl of oatmeal with a scoop of protein powder added.
Although some bodybuilders disdain them, body weight resistance exercises, such as push-ups and pull-ups, can play an important role in a good weight-lifting routine. These exercises can be combined with lifting exercises that target the same muscle groups in order to build ?super? sets that really push the muscles to perform. Body weight exercises can also ?prime the pump? by loosening up muscles prior to weight lifting.
Write your progress in a journal. Keeping track of progress is vital to keeping motivation up and seeing how well your muscle building routines are working. A fitness log is a great way to monitor this progress. When you work out, write down which exercises you performed and how many reps of each you completed. Doing so allows you to see your progress, as well as stay motivated.
Make sure your deltoids are fully engaged. By having middle deltoids that are developed, your shoulders are wider and thicker. Make sure lateral raises are above the parallel point in order to get the most out of your deltoid exercises. Begin laterals several inches from the hips in order to decrease the involvement of supporting muscles, such as the supraspinatus.
You will be able to build muscle faster if you take breaks between workout, days in contrast to working out every day. The reason for this is that muscles heal and grow while you are resting, and not while you are exercising. Create a workout routine that alternates between workout and rest days. Pop to www.frogperformance.com/the_team for quality suggestions.
You should monitor your intake of carbohydrates. If your diet is too poor in carbs, your muscles will be used to fuel your body while you exercise. You should be eating between two and three grams of carbs for each pound of your weight every day. Make sure you are getting your carbs from healthy aliments.
Done properly and with diligence, a good muscle building routine will have you in great shape in no time. Before you know it you will look strong and feel fabulous! Apply the advice of this article to your fitness routine to build your muscles and build a life-long commitment to your health and well being.
Pop to my site for logical guidelines on www.maxkravmaga.com or Pure Whey Protein ? the options.
This week, greatists from around the web made some killer?choices for their fitness, health, and happiness. We went straight to the source ? Twitter and Facebook ? for some awesome #imagreatist posts!?From home-workouts to fruit-infused water, standing desks to Tough Mudders, we?re inspired by all the small choices that are making a huge difference.
What #imagreatist moment are you most proud of? Share with us in the comments below or join us on Twitter?@greatist.
Tony Moore is an American comic book artist (and cosmic cowboy), whose work consists mainly of genre pieces, most notably in horror and science fiction, with titles such as Fear Agent, The Exterminators, and The Walking Dead. Tony?s illustrations don?t just speak to comic collectors, but he is certainly an icon in that space. His work as an illustrator represents the art of great storytelling and character development. In this awesome interview we scored, Tony shares his horror movie recommendations, cool shit to put on our radar and he offers a lot of aha moments. Read on ?
?Describe your style as an artist and describe your ?job? (for dummies that don?t know, or for us who just want more detail): Hmmmm. Gruesome? Funny? I grew up reading MAD Magazine and old horror comics, so in my mind, horror and humor together are like peanut butter and jelly. I?m a reference hound and a detail obsessive, but i also think expressive cartooning in a must in visual storytelling. As for my job, I wake up every day and fill myself to the gills with caffeine and sit in my pajamas, drawing robots and monsters and the rugged men in tights who punch them. I mostly make my nut in comics, but I?ve done poster work for movie companies and album covers and stuff, too. When it comes to comics, it?s a lot of time in isolated deep concentration, trying to visualize every scene from multiple angles, and move though them and frame each scene in an engaging way that captures the mood of the thing, and then portray the events in a relatable way using body language and facial expressions. Basically, if a comic book were a movie in production, I?m everybody on the set except for the guy who wrote it. Design, lighting, cinematography, direction, acting? you name it, I have to put it on the page.
Were you the kid in school growing up that doodled in his notebook all class instead of taking notes? If so, what class actually kept your attention? What was your go-to thing to illustrate in your notebooks? I drew all the time in school, but it wasn?t that I wasn?t paying attention, it was more that i had to keep my brain occupied or it shut down. If I was just sitting there letting information wash over me, even if I was trying to take notes, if it wasn?t a creative kind of subject, then it was all just water off a duck?s back. But if I was drawing, I could usually take minimal notes and remember everything the teacher told me. I had a chemistry class first thing in the morning in high school, and my teacher noted to my mom that if i wasn?t drawing, then I clearly just wasn?t awake. The only classes I took that didn?t engage me were my math classes. I was in the Advanced Placement programs of most of the subjects I took, and got good grades in everything despite being a terrible student. I just kind of hated (and continue to kind of hate) doing math. I was a really avid role-playing game nerd, so I loved Dungeons & Dragons, Cyberpunk 2020, and all the White Wolf games like Vampire: The Masquerade. So, I loved drawing elves and orcs and vampires and monsters, and all the crap that pays my bills now, only slathered in teen angst.
At what point in your life did you become confident or receive a compliment that gave you the reassurance you were on the right path creatively? In preschool, I had a lady offer to trade me a painting i had done for a wooden toy tow-truck. I don?t even remember what the painting was of, but clearly it was awesome. A little later, I had my first solo art show, still when i was in preschool, and a guy from the local paper came out and interviewed me about it. I thought I was King Shit of Cool Town, and was sold on the artist?s life for the rest of my days.
Do you have any staple trademarks a viewer could find in all your work? Rugged men with big chins and stubble, and people who get hit in the head and their hands curl into weird spasm poses. My grandfather was a tough as nails old son of a bitch with a wry sense of humor and a chin like a goddamn cinder block. In my head, all heroes basically start with my grandfather as the basic template, and then I mix and match the details. The other thing, with the hands, I stole from Don Martin, because I always thought his work in MAD was hilarious, and you?d be surprised at how common head trauma is in comics and how often I get to apply it.
For us non-comic illustrators, and us non-comic writers can you explain the process of how it works collaborating with a writer? How much does the illustration influence the creative story? How much freedom do you have? Basically, I get what looks like a movie script, and then I set out to make that into a series of images that tell that story. Different writers have different styles, and different projects require different relationships with the writers. I?ve been fortunate enough to largely avoid assembly line-like jobs where I?m just another cog in the machine. I mostly get to work with my friends, who welcome the creative collaboration. We tend to talk on the phone a bit and cook up some action scenes or cool visual set-pieces to pepper into the stuff they?ve got going, and every once in a while, I might have some missing piece that helps pull the events together story wise. Once the script comes, I?ve generally got whatever freedom I want, but I generally feel like that at that stage my job is to effectively tell the story at hand. If the proposed pacing or panel layout isn?t as affective as I think it could be, I?ll rejigger it a bit to make sure the events that need to happen are there and it carries the appropriate mood. That?s the job. Tell the story. Pretty pictures are nice, but if you can?t tell what?s going on, then I?ve screwed it up. And then lastly, the writers will often give it a last pass, fine-tuning the dialogue to work as well as possible with the art I?ve given back to them.
Is there a particular writer that you felt screamed your style and complimented your visions most? Rick Remender and I have been partnered up for several years now, and we get along like a house on fire. And I think when we get to spit-balling ideas and starting to cook up some stuff, we make some really fun stuff. I don?t wanna toot our collective horn, but you dragged it out of me. Magic. Okay? What we make is magic. Seriously, though, we?re on the same creative wavelength and we?ve been afforded a lot of opportunities to bring some crazy shit to the table, and I?m super proud of all of it. He?s an artist too, and we speak the same language, creatively speaking, like some kind of creepy art twin hive mind.
What comic book character that you have illustrated (or that someone else has drawn) do you feel best represents you? Heath Huston is the protagonist of Fear Agent, which I co-created with Rick Remender. I put a lot of myself into him, and i imagine him physically as a tough-guy idealized version of myself, if I wasn?t a sedentary, soft tub of guts with great hair. He really is the biological lovechild of myself and Rick. I think in some weird sad way, he?s a real portrait of the both of us, for better and worse.
What is your spirit animal? The dung beetle. Nature?s Sisyphus.
With Halloween on the mind, do you have any special plans? Traditions? Favorite horror films? We feel like it might be your favorite holiday, so do tell? I wish. I?m a dad and under deadline, so no parties for me. I used to love to go all out. Big parties, and spend a day or two building a ridiculous costume. I live out in the sticks now, so I don?t even have kids wander by for Trick Or Treat. That said, though, my kid is two and a half years old now, and she?s getting big on the idea of dressing up as stuff, as well as getting a metric ton of candy, so hopefully i can ignite something there and live vicariously through her and a mutual love of the holiday. That said, I?ll try to soak up all the greats, especially the stuff from the 70s. Last House on the Left, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Exorcist, and of course, Rosemary?s Baby. A horror movie marathon is pretty commonplace in my office, like once every couple of weeks at least. It?s one of my biggest passions, right behind comics. Halloween is my Christmas.
What is overrated culturally right now? What is underrated? Ignorance is overrated. We live in a culture where anti-intellectualism is celebrated and I think it?s really damned sad. Science is criminally underrated. I think the Curiosity Mars rover gave us a tiny little cultural taste of what it felt like when we put men on the moon. But we don?t do that anymore. And while we all can?t be astronauts, I think astronauts are like the superheroes of science, the faces that boys and girls can look up to and idolize, and get kids interested in the big ideas science has to offer. I?ve got a 2 year old daughter and all I want is for her to look at the stars and know that those are other places, not just lights in the sky, and to really try to understand the complex beauty of the universe we live in, not just be another dead-eyed Wal-Mart zombie caught up in the stupid trivialities and pointless melodrama on TV, and frankly, most of most people?s lives. I want her to think big, dream big. I?d much rather her be excited to hear Neil Tyson and Alice Roberts than to have any care for what Snooki and The Situation are about. If I can pull that off, I think I will have been a pretty good dad.
What is something or someone you recommend the people reading this interview have on their radar? Marvel?s MARVEL NOW stuff is going to be hot. They?ve got some really inspired recruiting on the books coming up in that line. My pals Rick Remender and Jason Aaron are doing some of the most exciting stuff I?ve seen in years over there. Also, Rick and I are proud to announce the first of 2 omnibus collections of our baby, Fear Agent, which comes out late this year from Dark Horse Comics. It?s a gargantuan tome of sci-fi space opera/western fantasy, and handsome as all Hell. A really beautiful presentation of some of my favorite work of my career. Beyond that, Jason Aaron and RM Guera?s SCALPED series just wrapped up, and i think it?s one of the best damn things ever printed. I can?t recommend it highly enough.
Lastly, what are you working on now? I?m really excited to talk about this one, finally. I?m working on part of that big MARVEL NOW event that I mentioned before, with Brian Posehn (Mr. Show, The Sarah Silverman Program) and Gerry Duggan (Attack of the Show, Infinite Horizon), on the relaunch of DEADPOOL, who is Marvel?s resident smart-mouthed mercenary, with probable deep mental health issues. It?s not a reboot, but just kind of a fresh reestablishing and jumping on point for folks who might have been interested in checking him out but were dissuaded by the years of backlog. This story involves a necromancer/political zealot who, in an effort to save America from itself, has resurrected all the dead Presidents of America. Of course, they come back evil and twisted, and must be stopped. Since they can?t have The Avengers seen going toe-to-toe with the country?s great icons gone corrupt, SHIELD recruits the one guy who has the skills, lack of scruples, and the plausible deniability to get the job done. It?s really funny, and absolutely brutal. I?ve drawn more viscera in the first few issues of this book than I have possibly in the entire rest of my career combined. Still, it?s considerably more lighthearted than just about everything I?ve done, so the cartooning is a bit more relaxed and a real joy to work on. We?re all having a ridiculous amount of fun on it, and I don?t think any of us thought we?d ever get away with it like we have.
Follow Tony Moore on Twitter for updates on his projects and the things he has to say. Also we recommend you check out this awesome video that Threadless made on Tony Moore in Zombie Country!
ScienceDaily (Oct. 29, 2012) ? High birth weight, rapid weight gain and having an overweight mother who smokes can all increase the risk of a baby becoming obese later in childhood, research by experts at The University of Nottingham has found.
The study, published in the latest edition of the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, also discovered that children who were breastfed and were introduced to solid food later had a slightly reduced chance of becoming overweight.
The findings come following a systematic review and analysis of data from around 30 previous studies looking at the impact of factors affecting babies during the first 12 months of their lives and their potential link with childhood obesity.
The study was undertaken by PhD student Stephen Weng, supported by a team led by Dr Sarah Redsell in the University's School of Nursing, Midwifery and Physiotherapy. The team also included Professor Cris Glazebrook and Professor Min Yang of the Institute of Mental Health, and Dr Judy Swift, School of Biosciences.
The first study of its kind to review all the evidence for risk factors in infancy associated with childhood obesity, it is hoped the findings will help to bridge the gap between research and the implementation of new clinical practice.
Dr Redsell said: "The results of this study effectively identify the most significant risk factors by analysing data from a large number of other studies that have previously been conducted. This will offer a robust starting point for further research that will identify the most appropriate ways in which this information could be useful in healthcare practice."
In the UK around one-quarter of children aged four to five years old and one-third of 10 to 11-year-olds are overweight and evidence suggests that children who are overweight at the age of five are more likely to be obese in adulthood.
Up to now, support from GPs and health visitors has centred on advice on healthy eating and breastfeeding but many practitioners believe more should be done to identify infants who are at risk of becoming obese at an earlier age.
The analysis of previous studies showed that:
Children of mothers who were overweight before pregnancy were 1.37 times more likely to be overweight at the age of three; 4.25 more likely to be overweight at the age of seven; and 2.36 times more likely to be overweight between the ages of nine and 14 years.
Six out of seven studies looking at infant birth weight showed a significant association between babies who were heavy at birth and obesity in later childhood.
Six studies investigating rapid weight gain in babies in their first year of life found strong links with obesity -- one study found that those babies in the top 20 per cent of monthly weight gain were 3.9 times more likely to be overweight at the age of four and a half years old.
Children with mothers who smoked during pregnancy were 47 per cent more likely to be overweight compared to the children of non-smoking mothers.
Children who were breastfed -- however briefly -- were 15 per cent less likely to become overweight in childhood compared to those children who were never breastfed.
There is some evidence that giving solid foods early can be linked to later obesity -- one study found that formula-fed babies given solid foods before four months were 6.3 times more likely to be overweight at three years of age than those where solid food was introduced between four and five months.
No compelling evidence to show a link between childhood obesity and maternal age or education at birth, maternal depression or ethnicity and inconclusive evidence for delivery type, weight gain in the womb, maternal weight loss after birth and 'fussy' infant temperament.
The research could be used to compile a 'checklist' for GPs and health visitors to help them spot infants most at risk of becoming obese later in life. However, researchers say more work is needed to study the practical and ethical considerations of such an intervention, including whether it would be accepted by parents and could feasibly be introduced in the current health service.
Any risk factor checklist, they say, would also require testing in the field and would need to be accompanied by clear clinical guidelines for healthcare practitioners.
The study was funded by NHS Nottinghamshire County PCT.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Nottingham, via AlphaGalileo.
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Journal Reference:
Stephen Franklin Weng, Sarah A Redsell, Judy A Swift, Min Yang, Cristine P Glazebrook. Systematic review and meta-analyses of risk factors for childhood overweight identifiable during infancy. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 2012 DOI: 10.1136/archdischild-2012-302263
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2006 file photo, then-candidate for U.S. Senate Claire McCaskill, left, gives the thumbs up to supporters as she holds the hand of her mother, Betty Anne McCaskill, after her debate against incumbent Sen. Jim Talent at Clayton high school in Clayton, Mo. McCaskill's campaign said that 84-year-old Betty Anne Ward McCaskill died Monday, Oct. 29, 2012 at her home in St. Louis. The Democratic senator had said Saturday that her mother suffered from "acute cardio-renal failure" and had lost consciousness at several points in recent days. (AP Photo/Tom Gannam, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2006 file photo, then-candidate for U.S. Senate Claire McCaskill, left, gives the thumbs up to supporters as she holds the hand of her mother, Betty Anne McCaskill, after her debate against incumbent Sen. Jim Talent at Clayton high school in Clayton, Mo. McCaskill's campaign said that 84-year-old Betty Anne Ward McCaskill died Monday, Oct. 29, 2012 at her home in St. Louis. The Democratic senator had said Saturday that her mother suffered from "acute cardio-renal failure" and had lost consciousness at several points in recent days. (AP Photo/Tom Gannam, File)
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) ? Betty Anne Ward McCaskill, the mother of Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill and a political trailblazer in her own right, died Monday at her home in St. Louis after a long struggle with heart and kidney problems, the senator said.
The first-term Democratic senator, who is locked in a close re-election race with Republican Rep. Todd Akin, had canceled most of her campaign events starting last week to spend time with her 84-year-old mother. She said Saturday that her mother suffered from acute cardio-renal failure and had lost consciousness at several points in recent days.
"For some time, Mom's health has not been good, and our family takes comfort that she is now at rest," McCaskill said in a statement announcing her mother's death. "We were incredibly lucky to have a mother like her, a woman of great intellect and strength, who loved and nurtured, challenged and pushed, and was always there with wise counsel and great humor."
Long before her daughter entered Missouri politics, Betty Anne McCaskill had made her own mark in Democratic circles. McCaskill has recalled how her mother sent her children out on Halloween in 1960 with the door-to-door message: "Trick or treat and vote for JFK," referring to the Democratic presidential candidate, John F. Kennedy.
In 1970, she was appointed to the Missouri Commission on the Status of Women, which evaluated the opportunities for women in Missouri government, education and business. The next year, she became the first women elected to the Columbia, Mo., City Council. She also once served as president for the trustees of William Woods University in Fulton, her alma mater.
She ran unsuccessfully for the state House in 1978 against Republican Leroy Blunt, whose son Roy Blunt now serves as Missouri's other U.S. senator. She later began a career as a financial consultant for Waddell and Reed in Kansas City, after her husband, Bill, became ill.
In 2004, she helped her daughter's unsuccessful bid for governor by providing personal testimonies about the rising cost of medical care. She said at the time that her list of medicines had been steadily growing to the point that her costs far exceed her annual prescription drug coverage through private insurance.
During McCaskill's 2006 Senate campaign, her mother traveled around the state with her in an RV, appealing in particular to rural voters and seniors as she discussed the need to close coverage gaps in the Medicare prescription benefits. For this campaign, she recorded a video displayed on McCaskill's campaign website expressing her pride about the sentor's work trying to straighten out mismanagement of veterans' burial sites at Arlington National Cemetery.
The Senate race between McCaskill and Akin has been in the national spotlight since Akin remarked in mid-August that women's bodies have ways of avoiding pregnancy in "legitimate rape." Although he apoligized, McCaskill has highlighted the comment to portray Akin as an extremist and out of touch with women's issues. The Missouri Senate is one of several that could help determine party control of the U.S. Senate.
Akin expressed condolences in a written statement in which he said, "Our thoughts and prayers are with the whole McCaskill family right now."
In addition to Claire McCaskill, Betty Anne McCaskill is survived by two other daughters, Anne Moroh and Lisa Finn; one son, Will McCaskill; six grandchildren; along with step-grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
A memorial service is scheduled for Sunday at the Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis.
TFI Markets is a financial services company that provides clients with access to Forex markets through an online trading platform called TFIFX. Where is the revolution in that, you might ask?
According to Charis Charilaou, the company?s Executive Director, the development of the electronic Forex trading platform reflects the evolution of the markets. ?When I first started working in this industry, Forex trading used to be more of a bank game,? he says. ?What changed that in the last years was the introduction of retail credit platforms which gave clients access to these markets. Some companies started introducing this at the start of the century and it has picked up in the last couple of years. We are now talking about volumes of a couple of trillion a day, which is huge, so it is a very liquid product. It is also 24-hours a day compared to other investments such as equities, and the big level of margin has made the product attractive to retail investors.?
?We don?t care about becoming the largest broker? our ambition is becoming the best global Forex broker?
Charilaou claims that if you compare the Forex performance in major currencies such as the US dollar against the euro with shares, Forex does not necessarily seem like an attractive investment to retail investors. ?The USD moves on average between something like one percent a day, while shares can move 10 or 20 percent a day,? he says. ?But what has made Forex much more attractive is the use of leverage. This means you can deposit, say, 100,000 and take a position for one million. This increases the potential profit. If you leverage by 10 and the currency moves one percent then you?ll make 10 percent instead of one percent. On the other hand, if it moves against you one percent you can lose 10 percent. Leverage makes the product both attractive and risky at the same time. Forex is the most liquid market in the world in terms of volume. It operates 24-hours a day and is virtually impossible to manipulate.?
Capitalising on cash The TFIFX online platform uses the MetaTrader 4 of MetaQuotes systems. According to Charilaou over 200 companies around the world use this software. ?It is very user-friendly,? he says. ?In terms of our products, our Premium Account is our lead product. It was developed based on our experience from trading the Forex markets, and provides our clients with what we want to see when we trade.
The Premium Account has a fixed price model that is a very important characteristic of the product. It is difficult to find an offering for fixed prices above five million. In our case we have an offering for fixed prices for up to 20 million. We also provide Premium clients with services, giving them 24-hour access to our dealers who actually trade the markets. This means a client can pick up the phone and ask why the euro moved higher in the last two minutes. Our job here is to give educated answers, the reasons for any movement in the market. Premium is suitable for medium-to-large clients. It also provides everything else that we offer to our smaller clients such as 24-hour free news, emails with any market developments, and so on.?
The company?s product for smaller sized clients is the CashBack Account that Charilaou describes as revolutionary. ?I believe this is very different from anything else that the market offers,? he says. ?We offer this product to clients with an initial deposit of less than 10,000. The basic characteristic of CashBack is that every time a client trades with us on the platform electronically we pay back to him a fixed amount of our profit. So every time he trades we pay him something like a commission. So if a German importer buys goods or services from the US and needs to pay in US dollars, instead of buying dollars from a bank, he can do that from TFI and we send the dollars to his client in the US.? TFI currently operates with a proficient team of 30 people. The operation is composed of a handful of departments: - Back office is in charge of confirmation of trades and opening of accounts; - Compliance office is in control of verification of customer?s accounts and performing due diligence checks; - Sales and customer support maintain? one-on-one contact with customers; - The marketing team is responsible for brand awareness and the advertising of services; - The IT department has the complex task of keeping up with ever-changing state of the art technology; - Finally, the treasury department has full responsibility for producing reports and executing customer?s orders.
According to Charilaou, the company?s monthly volumes come close to a whopping $1bn. ?Most of our clients are from Europe with both retail and corporate accounts,? he says. ?We don?t have any US clients at present, but we do have some from Asia.?
Self-assured Charilaou summarises his company?s methodical success and outlines its ambitions: ?We don?t care about becoming the largest broker? our ambition is becoming the best global Forex broker. We strive to keep a benchmark brand name and reputation for the company.?
Advantages to Forex - High geographical dispersion; - Plethora of factors affecting exchange rates; - The largest asset class in the world leading to high liquidity; - Low margins of relative profit compared with other markets of fixed income; - The use of leverage to enhance profit and loss margins (with respect to account size); - Continuous operation: 24-hours a day except weekends, i.e. trading from 20:15 GMT on Sunday until 22:00 GMT Friday.
Because of all these parameters and despite intervention by central banks, the forex market has been referred to as the market closest to perfect competition. According to the Bank for International Settlements, the average daily turnover in global Forex markets in 2010 was estimated at $3.98trn, a growth of approximately 20 percent over the $3.21trn daily volume in 2007.
For more information: www.tfifx.com; coming soon www.tfimarkets.com
The internet is becoming ever more accessible in Russia, offering unlimited possibilities for the distribution of every kind of content. Cyberspace is also censored very minimally. This gives everyone an opportunity to speak their minds and cyber-antagonism is widespread in the Russian internet community.
However, the number of savvy internet users among law enforcement officials has increased as well; since 2006 their control over the Russian segment of the internet (RuNet) has become much more noticeable, and the Russian judiciary has now accumulated substantial experience in the ?war on internet extremism.? Its campaign has, however, been waged not only against truly dangerous criminals, such as those inciting racial hatred, but also against many people whose so-called criminal activity is questionable, ?or even non-existent.
Criminal convictions: Articles 280 and 282
Before 2008, the number of convictions for specifically internet propaganda was in single digits:
- in 2007 we knew of only 3 cases (out of a total of 28) of online public provocation to extremist activity and/or incitement to racial or other hatred;
- in 2008 the number of internet-related convictions had already increased to 14 (out of 45);
- in 2009 it grew to 17 (out of 56);
- in 2010 there were 26 (out of 72);
- in 2011 convictions had doubled: there were at least 52 (out of 78 in total). In other words, the majority of ?extremist propaganda? cases resulted from online activity;
- this trend continues in 2012: in the first half of the year there were at least 18 convictions (out of 32).
The graph below shows the dynamics of this process (the data for 2012 are a projection, assuming that the second half will be the same as the first one):
These figures give the lie to the assertion that Russia lacks the legal framework for prosecuting ?cyber-hatred,? and confirm that existing articles of the Criminal Code are being successfully applied in cases of illegal online propaganda.
The key ?anti-propaganda? article of the Criminal Code in the public mind (and probably in the minds of law enforcement agencies too) is Article 282 (?incitement of national, racial, or religious enmity). Article 280 (?Public incitement to extremist activity?) is used far less often.
The first known criminal conviction, under Article 280, for propaganda via the internet was in March 2005. Another conviction took place at almost the same time in Syktyvkar [capital of the Komi Republic, Russian Federation], this time under Article 282, for publishing xenophobic materials on the internet.
'The first known criminal conviction, under Article 280, for propaganda via the internet was in March 2005.'
A matter of crucial significance in any propaganda crime is the degree of publicity - fairly obvious in cases of traditional media, but much less so for online publications. The wording of Articles 280 and 282 refers to public statements delivered by any means, including the internet, but not all online material can be considered public. It can, for example, be password-protected and accessible only to a small group. This factor has, however, so far not been taken into account. For example, in 2011, a court in Chuvashia [Central Russia] handed down a conviction for sending files by e-mail, which hardly qualifies as a public statement
Sites and targets
In 2007?2011 material resulting in convictions for internet propaganda came from a variety of sources: social network sites, blogs, forums, local networks and emails. By 2011 law enforcement agencies had focused their monitoring on social networks, primarily on ?Vkontakte,? the Russian counterpart to Facebook - ?perhaps because since 2007 this platform has been rapidly gaining popularity among many groups, including young right-wing radicals.
Analysis of any case of ?extremist content? requires knowledge of the target group. Who is the potential victim for right-wing radicals and similar groups? Unfortunately, our classification is incomplete. The convoluted, standard legal phrasing of ?extremist posting on the internet? and ?statements intended to stir up hatred and hostility and humiliation of groups of individuals? is extremely difficult to understand. Where possible, we have identified the following groups as objects of animosity:?
?
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Immigrants from the Caucasus region
1
7
7
9
20
Jews
1
4
4
5
5
Komi
0
0
0
0
1
Bashkirs
0
0
0
0
1
Tatars
0
0
0
0
1
Yazidi (Kurdish groups)
1
0
0
0
0
Dark-skinned
0
0
2
0
2
Government officials (incl. police officers)
0
3
2
2
2
Non-Slavs
0
0
3
2
3
Russians
0
0
0
3
1
Christians
0
0
2
2
4
?Infidels? (calls for armed jihad)
0
0
0
0
4
Unknown
0
3
4
5
13
In other words, the most frequently prosecuted online rhetoric is directed against people from the Caucasus region, which is indeed quite widespread, though figures for hate propaganda aimed at migrants from Central Asia were in many cases actually higher. Anti-Semitic content is a less active area of cyber-antagonism, but is still very much present. Notably, the number of convictions for anti-Semitic propaganda has remained virtually unchanged from year to year. Cases of prosecution for xenophobic propaganda against other ethnic groups are quite rare.
??the most frequently prosecuted online rhetoric is directed against people from the Caucasus region, which is indeed quite widespread, though figures for hate propaganda aimed at migrants from Central Asia were in many cases actually higher.?
Printed material, multimedia and individual comments
Before 2009 sentences were given predominantly for printed materials, but most of the relevant texts are no longer available, so we are unable to assess the degree of danger they represented for the public.
In 2010-2011 the number of convictions for multimedia content had reached almost the same level as for print materials previously. This is not surprising: a movie or video recording has much greater visual impact than any text, linking to them has become easier, and the sheer number of online videos has increased as well.
Remarkably, in most cases the video in question is not produced or uploaded to the internet by the offender; he or she simply publishes a link to a video posted elsewhere (for example, on YouTube). Of course, it is possible that the person posting a link to a video on a social network is the one who put it there originally. However, in most cases, we believe that these are different people. We also believe that it would make more sense to identify the person who originally posted the video and, most importantly, the one who created it (especially since videos often depict an actual violent crime), instead of prosecuting those who share the links. This holds true even if we assume that in all cases they had shared proven inflammatory intent.
By 2011 the number of sentences for individual comments on social networks, blogs and forums had increased. It is highly likely that these people were selected at random, were not excessively popular among the far right, and did not have a significant audience.
? By 2010-2011, criminal prosecution for xenophobia was deliberately directed at authors of re-posts, links and online comments, as well as isolated statements on social networks, even when the real audience for those texts was obviously very small.?
In other words, the prosecutors increasingly went after the people whose statements, while clearly racist and unacceptable from an ethical point of view, did not represent any significant danger to society.
Soft targets
In the early stages of fighting online ?extremism?, law enforcement agencies focused on the level of ?significance? of the internet propagandists and the extent to which their acts could be considered dangerous. In 2007, a court in the Kaluga region convicted a Nazi skinhead group for online distribution of a video showing their members beating up people of ?non-Slavic appearance.? In 2008, the creator of a neo-Nazi website that hosted bomb recipes and called for violence was convicted in Lipetsk. In Vladivostok, the leader of a local neo-Nazi group, Soiuz Slavyan (Union of Slavs), was convicted in 2009.
Despite these cases, convictions of leaders and right-wing ideologues were rare: those prosecuted were essentially the rank-and-file content distributors. By 2010-2011, criminal prosecution for xenophobia was deliberately directed at authors of re-posts, links and online comments, as well as isolated statements on social networks, even when the real audience for those texts was obviously very small.
Given a climate which puts few obstacles in the way of ultra-right social network groups, allowing them to coordinate violent actions and publish ?hit lists? with personal data and photos of ?enemies,? this policy looks like a mere simulated fight against cyber-hate, serving only one purpose ? the statistics look good on the report.
The number of convictions is inflated by prosecutions for statements which are either not inherently dangerous or not widely enough available to warrant prosecution (unfortunately, the prosecution of hate propaganda outside the internet follows the same pattern).
'The number of convictions is inflated by prosecutions for statements which are either not inherently dangerous or not widely enough available to warrant prosecution (unfortunately, the prosecution of hate propaganda outside the internet follows the same pattern).'
In November 2011, for example, the Syktyvkar City Court (Komi Republic) delivered a one-year suspended sentence to 33-year local resident, Georgii Borman, who between May to July 2010 had published several xenophobic comments to articles on the Republic of Komi Business News website under different aliases. The comments remained visible to the public for only a few hours, before they were removed by moderators.
Sentencing
Some internet-related convictions are simply inappropriate. The most resonant is the sentence handed down to blogger Savva Terentyev on 7th July 2008 by the Syktyvkar City Court. Terentyev was found guilty of inciting social hatred against police officers (Article 282) and sentenced to one year of imprisonment with a probation period of one year for an anti-police comment in an online diary. The blog containing the offending comment was accorded the same status as a mainstream newspaper article; the police officers were recognized as a social group in need of the protection offered by the anti-extremist legislation. Most importantly, the basic principle of criminal law was violated: the act in question must not just fit the wording of the Criminal Code, but must constitute social danger. The case was absurd and completely discredited all who took part in it.
In 2009, the journalist Irek Murtazin and the chairman of the Tatar Public Center Rafis Kashapov were convicted in Kazan for inciting hatred of a social group. Murtazin got nearly two years in a penal colony and Kashapov went to prison for 15 years for an article in his blog.
In 2010 IslamlyIlham Sarjuddin-ogly from Azerbaijan received an 8-month suspended sentence in the Nizhny-Novgorod court for online distribution of works by the Turkish theologian Said Nursi.
Dmitry Lebedev, from Gatchina, Leningrad region, was a member of a group called ?Kill the Patriarch.? However, Lebedev never actually called for illegal actions against the Orthodox community ? the Patriarch was supposed to be killed by a mystical force. His 1-year suspended sentence was therefore inappropriate.
However, the penalties for online distribution are not usually so severe. Court decisions on these defendants reflect the use of suspended sentences and fines, as well as restrictions on personal freedom, imprisonment and mandatory treatment.
The share of offenders who receive suspended sentences without any additional penalties is on the rise. This, in fact, constitutes a non-punishment, and its effectiveness against ideologically motivated offenders is in serious doubt. We consider other types of non-custodial penalties, such as community service or fines, to be much more appropriate. Unfortunately, the number of these penalties has been dropping in comparison to suspended sentences.
Prosecutions: quantity and quality
Criminal prosecution for online hate propaganda covers at least 50 regions of Russia. Figures for the Moscow and St. Petersburg regions, or Nizhny Novgorod, reveal very low levels of activity in this area, though according to our data these regions are responsible for the largest number of hate-motivated violent crimes. We can only assume that local law enforcement agencies have more pressing things to do than going after online chatters.
Overall, the practices of Russian law enforcers in combating cyber-hate can best be described as less than successful. Quantitative indicators of anti-extremist measures undertaken by police officers are growing, but the quality of law enforcement is deteriorating.
Criminal prosecution for online hate propaganda covers at least 50 regions of Russia. Figures for the Moscow and St. Petersburg regions, or Nizhny Novgorod, reveal very low levels of activity in this area, though according to our data these regions are responsible for the largest number of hate-motivated violent crimes.
Material that directly incites violence or is related to the actual use of violence, such as ?hit lists?, or ?street terror manuals?, which provide instructions on dispatching an enemy, are still openly posted but remain virtually unnoticed by Russian law enforcement agencies. The recorded number of prosecutions for these genuinely dangerous incitements is exceedingly small.
Law enforcement officers go for the most part after random, individual people for isolated statements. The number of such statements on the internet is huge, so dealing with them piecemeal is simply not rational. We are also seeing an ever greater number of inappropriate and unjustified court decisions.
Such law enforcement is not merely selective, but simply chaotic. As a result there is no consensus between the public, the law enforcement officers and the various radical groups themselves as to what, in fact, should be prohibited.
But the Russian security services do provide instances of excellent work. The November 2009 apprehension by law enforcement officials of Nikita Tikhonov and Yevgenia Khasis, later convicted for the murder of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova, is an example of the proper use of the internet. Specialists from the Department of Technical Activities of the Moscow police identified Tikhonov and Khasis by monitoring right-wing websites and following the chain of IP-addresses. The well-known ultra-right activist, Valentin Mumzhiev, a member of the right-wing St. Petersburg group NS/WP, was located in a similar fashion.
Unfortunately, though, there are very few examples of this kind. Those who are working to combat extremism on the internet should focus their efforts on disarming dangerous groups and individuals who practise or directly incite violence. Dealing with comments on social networks or the distribution of stand-alone materials is best left to community organizations and activists, who can not only engage in ongoing debate, but may also be able to persuade hosting providers or the owners of social networking sites to remove socially dangerous content.
At least 215 patients had to be evacuated from NYU Medical Center when the backup generator failed. NBC's Rehema Ellis reports.
By JoNel Aleccia, NBC News
As superstorm Sandy made landfall Monday, hospitals across the Eastern seaboard kicked disaster plans into place, told emergency room crews to bring enough clothes and personal supplies to last a few days and made room for evacuated patients from low-lying areas -- and from other medical centers.?
Doctors from New Jersey and New York to Connecticut planned to bunk at work for as long as required to ensure ample staffing for storm injuries and illnesses.
?In the emergency department, this is what people live for,? said Dr. Christopher Raio, associate chairman of the department of emergency medicine at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y.
Cots were being set up and sleeping areas cordoned off as St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx prepared for a possible influx of patients as the storm, which has been downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, took full effect Monday evening.
??We?ve all brought sleeping bags and stuff,? said Dr. Ernest Patti, senior attending physician of emergency medicine for St. Barnabas. ?We?re braced and we?re ready and we?re fully staffed.?
The storm took its toll on the hospitals themselves, knocking out generators and flooding vital areas.?
At NYU Langone Medical Center, hospital officials said about 215 patients were evacuated late Monday to nearby facilities, including the Mount Sinai Hospital, ?because of the severity of the storm and "the higher than expected storm surge," according to a statement.
Patients included those in adult and pediatric critical care, neonatal intensive care and obstetrics.?
Some hospitals began grappling with sporadic power outages and flooding early Monday evening even as they treated patients for storm-related injuries including falls and cuts. At Staten Island University Hospital, flooding forced evacuation of the data center, which effectively shut down the hospitals computers and access to patient data.?
"However, SIUH staff was able to preserve patient safety by relying on paper records," noted Terry Lynam, spokesman for the North-Shore LIJ Health System. ?
All elective surgeries and procedures were canceled through at least Tuesday at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and elsewhere as staffers prepared for the storm.
Hospitals in low-lying areas were ordered evacuated, including the Manhattan Veterans Affairs Hospital and New York Downtown Hospital, which got the word Monday morning.?
Five sets of parents and their newborn?babies were evacuated from New York Downtown Hospital to Montefiore Medical Center, said spokeswoman Anne McDarby. One mother and baby went home Monday; the others were expected to be discharged Tuesday or Wednesday.
Dozens of critically ill patients from Staten Island University Hospital and Southside Hospital in Bay Shore, N.Y., were evacuated to other locations within the North-Shore LIJ Health System, said spokesman Terry Lynam.
About 30 psychiatric patients housed at South Beach Psychiatric Center on Staten Island were also temporarily relocated to South Oaks Hospital in Amityville.
Any patients who could be discharged were sent home over the weekend as hospitals recently tested by Hurricane Irene put disaster plans into place.
In Stafford Springs, Conn., Dr. David John, an emergency doctor at Johnson Memorial Medical Center, spent two busy 12-hour shifts over the weekend tending patients who rushed to the emergency department seeking treatment for heart conditions and infections before the weather got bad.
?It was crazy busy,? said John, who is also a spokesman for the American College of Emergency Physicians. ?Word of mouth got out and people were saying ?I wanted to get this done before the storm hit.'?
Hospitals throughout the region were reporting no serious storm-related injuries or illnesses as of early afternoon Monday, but John said that could change quickly.
A veteran of 20 years of disaster staffing, John said he was concerned about patients who required oxygen or nebulizers and other life-sustaining equipment, who were likely to show up in emergency departments first.
They?d likely be followed by patients who need 24-hour care whose caregivers couldn?t get to them, and then by the frail elderly.
The most serious storm-related dangers occur when people go out in wild weather and are involved in car crashes or struck by falling trees or power lines, he said.
Improperly used generators and charcoal grills used indoors for heating or cooking also cause serious injuries or deaths during most powerful storms, he warned.
As storm injuries began to fill emergency rooms, staffers said they were grateful for common sense on the part of the public. Most New York residents have heeded warnings to seek higher ground and stay off the streets, which will go a long way toward curbing harm, said Dr. Andrew Sama, chairman of the emergency department at North Shore University Hospital.
?So far, so good,? Sama said.
Related stories:?
In an NBC News special report, President Obama stresses the importance of abiding by evacuation orders from local officials, warning that Sandy is a "serious storm" that could have "fatal consequences" if people don't act accordingly.
Making Your Own Trendy Retro Skirt Without Breaking Your Budget
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Loves a good petting session, even leans in to get closer
Great at making new friends of every variety
Learning to love laps
Playful with other cats
When Rosie's person passed away, she lost her home, her human companion and her other best friend, a nice, big dog! But since arriving at Best Friends, Rosie has already overcome her initial shyness and has shown that she's ready to make new friends. She'll come right up to meet you and lean into your hand for petting!
Born in 2004, Rosie tests positive for FIV. Many people don't realize that FIV positive cats can live long, healthy lives and it's very hard for other cats to catch. Rosie misses having a home and family of her own. She's the kind of kitty who really needs somebody to love and would welcome feline or canine friends, too. Could you be the one to give this sweetheart a second chance?
Atmosphere
Breed: Labrador retriever/hound mix
Gender: Male
Young and happy
Loves to go on walks, good on-leash
Great with other dogs
Atmosphere is such a happy, easygoing boy that he's a favorite "play date" for other dogs at Best Friends! This handsome young dog also loves people, toys and life. He's delighted to show off his skill at sitting on command, and eager to learn new things.
Born in 2010, he was found as a stray and came to the Sanctuary from an Arizona shelter. In good health, he's a wonderful dog -- though he is learning not to jump up on people to show his affection.
If you adopt Atmosphere, he promises to fill your home with joy and love for years to come
Best Friends adopts to all of the United States and Canada. Please contact Best Friends Animal Society right?here.??See all the animals that need homes... at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.
New champions were built on perhaps the most-fundamental principle in the game
OPINION
By Tony DeMarco
NBCSports.com contributor
updated 2:52 a.m. ET Oct. 29, 2012
Tony DeMarco
DETROIT - There are things about the San Francisco Giants that other organizations just aren't going to try.
Over the years, the Giants have attempted to curb Pablo Sandoval's appetite and change his work habits, but in the end, they let Panda be Panda, and mature on his own.
Because when he gets hot, he can carry a team through a postseason by hitting .364 with 11 extra-base hits and 13 RBI in 16 games, and win a World Series MVP award with a three-homer game, .500 batting average and four RBI.
After nine teams passed on a skinny little right-hander in the 2006 amateur draft, the Giants weren't afraid to pull the trigger on Tim Lincecum.
Two Cy Young Awards later, he unselfishly turns in a string of dominant postseason relief appearances, the last two of which were key wins in a World Series sweep of the Detroit Tigers.
And there is no looser, more tolerant atmosphere around any organization. It's one that fosters a colorful cast of mostly bearded characters who aren't necessarily fit, say, for the uptight professionalism around Yankee Stadium.
But another by-product is an always-have-fun-mentality that can shake off pressure and help in winning six postseason elimination games.
So maybe the Giants, who put away the Tigers with a 4-3 victory in 10 innings on Sunday night, aren't going to be the MLB model organization everybody tries to emulate. But two World Series titles in three years say they know what works for them, and they're doing it right.
"Two out of the three years; it's amazing,'' manager Bruce Bochy said. "Believe me, I know how difficult it is to get here. It's pretty remarkable what these guys have done.''
But the closer you look, the more you realize that for all their eccentricities, the Giants are built on perhaps the most-fundamental principle in the game ? pitching and defense wins.
It was around the time back in October of 2006 when senior vice president/general manager Brian Sabean swiftly scooped up Bruce Bochy to replace retiring manager Felipe Alou that the Giants committed to a makeover.
Partially by choice, and partially dictated by their unforgiving AT&T Park ? the toughest place in which to hit a home run this season ? the Giants knew they had to transform from more of a slugging, station-to-station team to a more athletic one that was led by its pitching staff.
And then they went out and executed the plan. Do pitching and defense ever go out of style, Mr. Sabean?
"No, because we're proving they haven't ? at the right time, and in the biggest games,'' he said. "In our park, in our division, you're crazy not to build (around) a pitching staff. If you pick up the ball, you're in most games. We play a lot of close games in our division.''
And in the postseason, too. A postseason that ended with the Giants on a seven-game winning streak that began in Game 5 of the NLCS; a streak during which they allowed 0, 1, 0, 3, 0, 0 and 3 runs.
"When pitching is your strength, you want a good defense,'' Bochy said. "As long as you can stay in games, the better chance you have of winning them. That's how we play.''
I think our defense saved us in every game. The double plays, the plays (Gregor) Blanco made, the plays (Brandon) Crawford made, really everybody.''
And when you look at the Giants' Game 4 lineup, you see exactly how Sabean's plan has come together.
Ace Matt Cain, the longest-tenured Giant on the roster as the club's No. 1 pick in the June 2002 draft. He was the first of the rotation's first-round picks, followed by Lincecum in 2006 and Madison Bumgarner in 2007.
When you add likely NL MVP Buster Posey (first round, 2008) into the equation, as well as Crawford (fourth round, 2008) and Brandon Belt (fifth round, nine), that's enviable draft-and-development success.
Crawford went to spring training without a roster spot guaranteed, and knowing he would struggle offensively at times, the Giants kept him around anyway. The reason ? all you had to do was watch him play shortstop in this series. It won't be a surprise if he's a Gold Glove Award winner in the near future.
Gregor Blanco was signed as a free agent last winter, and was nothing more than a fourth outfielder until the July 31 Melky Cabrera suspension. That emphasis on defense kept the Giants from dealing for a pricier, more-offense-oriented replacement for Cabrera.
Instead, they traded for Marco Scutaro, who never stopped delivering in key situations and playing excellent defense after he came over from the Colorado Rockies. Scutaro, 36, long has been a solid, fundamentally sound player, but he quickly earned the nickname 'Blockbuster' (as in the Giants' big blockbuster acquisition).
So who else but Scutaro ? the NLCS MVP ? who delivered the game-winning hit Sunday, a single in front of Tigers center fielder Austin Jackson that scored Ryan Theriot.
"You get worried when a guy like that comes up; you think maybe he's used them all up,'' Cain said. "But he had one more left, and it was the biggest one we needed.''
Added Bochy: "I knew he was a good player. But I didn't realize how good he was until I saw him on a daily basis. He's a guy you want up there in that situation.''
? 2012 NBC Sports.com? Reprints
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Giants sweep Tigers to take World Series crown
Marco Scutaro singled home the tiebreaking run in the 10th inning, and the San Francisco beat Detroit 4-3 on Sunday night to complete a four-game sweep and win their second World Series title in three years.
