A Spanish aid group that rescues invaders in the Mediterranean has said that Italian authorities have released the organization’s ship after impounding it for taking 218 invaders to Italy. Proactiva Open Arms founder Oscar Camps said in a tweet Monday that the ship is free to leave the Sicilian port of Pozzallo. However, he says Italy is still investigating whether the group should face charges of criminal association and aiding illegal immigration, AP reports. The probe stems from a high-seas standoff last month between the Open Arms crew and the Libyan coastguard. The group refused to relinquish the "migrants" they had picked up in international waters and took them to Italy, where authorities are trying to stem migration.

US President Donald Trump is still willing to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters. She indicated, however, that no imminent meeting is planned so far. The US president believes that it would be better for the world if Moscow and Washington had good relations, the spokeswoman said, adding that Trump also believes the state of relations between the two countries will depend on Russia’s actions.

PlayUnknown’s Battlegrounds will run a second Codename: Savage playtest in a few hours – here’s what to expect. PlayUnknown’s Battlegrounds rolled out a beta test for the 4x4km Savage map last week, and while it was entertaining, it left something to be desired. The good news is PUBG Corp is rolling out Round 2 of testing within mere hours, complete with a set of patch notes on what’s been changed. By the way, if you’re interested in trying Codename: Savage for yourself? You’d better grab a sign-up key while you can! Codename: Savage will be appearing on PUBG’s Closed Experimental Server later today. The most important consideration is the testing window – if you get a PUBG Savage key, you’ll have a 48-hour period during which to claim and play the new map: OPENS: Mon, April 16, 6pm PDT / Tues, April 17, 3am CEST / April 17, 10am KST CLOSES: Wed, April 18, 6pm PDT / Tues, April 19, 3am CEST / April 19, 10am KST PUBG has also patched a few features of Codename: Savage itself. The redzone’s size and duration have both increased, while the bluezone will calculate and adjust its waiting time based on the number of players left alive. In terms of content, three new areas have been added to the map. Banyan Grove and the Abandonded Quarry are located in the middle of the island, while a dock can be found to the southeast. Among other fixes, dynamic weather will change in real-time across the map, while blood effects have been adjusted to not block the player’s vision. You can read the full change list here. The final version of Codename: Savage won’t be ready for another few months, so if you’re a PC players now’s the time to dive in.

The question is, will they work in existing 300-series motherboards, or require a brand new chipset? There has been more than one leak suggesting that Intel is getting ready to launch an 8-core Coffee Lake processor, though the strongest evidence to date is a series of technical document listings on the company's website. A user on Reddit discovered the listings, of which there are three that reference an unreleased "Coffee Lake S 8+2" part. Unless Intel suddenly changed its nomenclature, the 8+2 designation points to there being 8 CPU cores and integrated GT2 graphics on this particular chip. For reference, CPUs like the Core i7-8700K are listed as being Coffee Lake S 6+2 parts, indicating 6 CPU cores and GT2 graphics. Unfortunately the documents themselves sit behind a login page, presumably for registered developers, so we can't click through and view them. However, since the listings appear under Intel's "8th Generation Technical Library," the assumption is that the 8-core part(s) will be marketed and sold under that generation. We can further extrapolate that they will be compatible with existing 300-series motherboards for Coffee Lake, if that's the case. None of this is confirmed, however, and with Intel having introduced a new Z370 chipset that is required for current Coffee Lake chips, we wouldn't rule out Intel doing something similar with its upcoming 8-core parts. In fact, some of the speculation that is out there is that Intel will release a new Z390 chipset for a 9th generation Core processor lineup that includes 8-core CPUs. Intel's new H370, B360, and H310 chipsets also added a couple of new features that Z370 doesn't support, like 'modern standby' with wake on voice support, so Z390 might simply be the superset of all 300-series chipsets. In short, we have more questions than answers, though we're optimistic that Intel will make these upcoming chips compatible with existing 300-series boards. Hopefully Intel will answer our questions soon.

Global community, not global market: Rafael Correa and Jose Mujica discuss perils of globalization Ex-Ecuador President Rafael Correa discussed with his Uruguayan counterpart Jose Mujica how globalization may become less damaging and more benefitting to humanity in general as opposed to rich corporations. Mujica served as president of Uruguay between 2010 and 2015, winning the nickname “the world’s poorest president” over his insistence on living at his wife’s farm and driving an old Volkswagen Beetle – his only major property when taking office – to commute to work. In his youth he was a champion of the poor, a guerrilla fighter and later a prisoner under a military junta, spending 13 years in abysmal conditions. The two former Latin American heads of state got together for the latest episode of ‘Conversations with Correa’ to discuss how inevitable globalization can become a benefit to humanity rather than a threat to its existence, and how economic inequality is connected with many injustices in the world. Globalization today is driven by the interests of profit and economic efficiency, Correa said. But that is not a given, he believes. We have to assume a strategic position in the context of globalization – a globalization that would create a global community, not a global market; a globalization that would produce global citizens, not global consumers. One of the injustices of globalization today is that it advocates freedom of movement of goods or capital, but restricts freedom of movement for people, when it comes to those living in the poorest countries, he said. Europe’s reaction to the inflow of refugees from North Africa and the Middle East in 2015 is characteristic of this, Mujica agreed. “This is perhaps the worst of the things happening globally today. Discrimination by Europe, its unwillingness to receive immigrants,” he said. Uruguay during his term agreed to accept 40,000 refugees despite being a small and relatively poor country, he remarked. European nations not only suppressed Africa during their colonial past, but also use its economic strength today to undermine Africa’s ability to participate in globalization, for instance, rendering their agriculture uncompetitive, Mujica said. My hair stands on end when I hear that Germany exports 40 percent of its wheat to Africa. There is a difference, though. The German government subsidizes its farmers to produce wheat. Otherwise, they would be unable to produce wheat at a competitive cost. The German farmers get subsidies. And then they give loans to African countries so they buy their wheat. In this way, they undermine African farmers growing sorghum and other crops. Politics today is all about such contradictions. The situation in which poorer countries have less to win and more to lose from globalization is yet another example of how economic inequality causes suffering and sometimes even prevents people from admitting that a problem exists in the first place. “You know, I think, a man’s wallet is his most sensitive organ,” Mujica said, describing this phenomenon. “Fortunately, there are exceptions. But this is true with many people. And human rights go through the filter of this organ one way or another.” Such blindness when applied to the world in general is a genuine threat to the existence of humanity, he believes, because it is what makes people ignore damage caused to the environment by unrestricted capitalism. “Thirty years ago scientists in Kyoto predicted that extreme events will be happening more and more often and getting more and more intense. And they told us what needs to be done. But this religion of the market keeps us from complying with these norms. “All political decisions are powerless in the face of the almighty market. Since new measures may reduce profits, what we see now is people like the current president of the United States who does not even wish to acknowledge climate change and other threats,” he said. Watch full version in Spanish here.

OPCW-accredited Swiss lab can ‘neither confirm nor deny’ BZ toxin was used in Skripal poisoning The Swiss state Spiez lab which has studied samples from Salisbury said it can “neither confirm nor deny” the Russian foreign minister’s statement that nerve agent BZ was used in Sergei Skripal’s poisoning. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made waves on Saturday when he said that Sergei Skripal, a former Russian double agent, and his daughter Yulia, were poisoned with an incapacitating toxin known as 3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate, or simply BZ. While the toxin was never produced in Russia, it was in service in the US, UK and other NATO states. The top Russian diplomat was citing the results of the examination conducted by the Spiez lab, designated by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The Swiss chemical laboratory worked with the samples that London handed over to the OPCW, Lavrov said. “We cannot have any statement on that,” Andreas Bucher, Spiez Laboratory’s strategy and communications head, told TASS on Monday. “We are contractually bound to the OPCW for confidentiality. So, the only institution that could confirm what Mr. Lavrov was saying is the OPCW. We cannot confirm or deny anything,” he added. The Swiss state research center is controlled by the country’s Federal Office for Civil Protection and, ultimately, by the defense minister. Asked to clarify the relationship between the OPCW and the Spiez lab, as well as between the OPCW and the UK military research facility at Porton Down, a spokesperson for the OPCW told RT in a written statement on Monday that "designated laboratories are a lynchpin of the Organization's verification regime and its capacity to investigate allegations of the use of chemical weapons. They must be able to perform off-site analysis of chemical samples collected by OPCW inspectors from chemical production facilities, storage depots and other installations, or from the site of an alleged use of chemical weapons. These laboratories offer the necessary assurance to our States Parties that chemical analyses needed to make determinations or to clarify issues occurring during OPCW deployments are carried out competently, impartially, and with unambiguous results." "OPCW does not disclose the identity of designated labs that contribute to OPCW activities. These labs are also bound by secrecy agreements. These arrangements exist to ensure the integrity of the analysis and results provided by the designated labs," the statement added. The OPCW office left unanswered other RT questions, including whether the probe carried out by the Spiez laboratory discovered any presence of the Novichok nerve agent or BZ in the sample provided to the lab by the OPCW. The Swiss lab sent the results of its examination to the OPCW. However, the chemical watchdog limited itself only to confirming the formula of the substance used to poison the Skripals in its final report, without mentioning anything about the other facts presented in the Swiss document, the Russian foreign minister said on Saturday. "In this connection, we are asking the OPCW a question: Why was the information that would reflect conclusions of the experts from the laboratory in the city of Spiez omitted in the final report?" The UK refused to answer a number of questions asked by Moscow about the Salisbury case, Lavrov noted, adding that Moscow, unlike its Western counterparts, would never keep vital information secret. "Our colleagues are telling us they have some secret data, but say they cannot share it," the minister said. "As you understand, we also have an opportunity to receive confidential information. And since this information concerns literally life-and-death issues, we will not keep this information secret," he added. Moscow has repeatedly noted that the Skripal case lacks transparency. "We get the impression that the British government is deliberately pursuing the policy of destroying all possible evidence, classifying all remaining materials and making a transparent investigation impossible," the Russian ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko, said during a press conference on Friday. One of the worst international scandals in years erupted in early March, when former double agent Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found in a critical condition in the English city of Salisbury. The UK government rushed to pin the blame on Russia.

Independent investigators were prevented by Syrian and Russian authorities Monday from reaching the scene of an alleged chemical attack near the Syrian capital, an official said, days after the U.S., France and Britain bombarded sites they said were linked to Syria’s chemical weapons program. The lack of access to the town of Douma by inspectors from the watchdog group, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, has left questions about the April 7 attack unanswered. OPCW Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu said Syrian and Russian officials cited “pending security issues” in keeping its inspectors from reaching Douma. “The team has not yet deployed to Douma,” two days after arriving in Syria, Uzumcu told an executive council of the OPCW in The Hague. Syrian authorities were offering 22 people to interview as witnesses instead, he said, adding that he hoped “all necessary arrangements will be made ... to allow the team to deploy to Douma as soon as possible.” The U.S. and France say they have evidence that poison gas was used in Douma, east of Damascus, killing dozens of people, and that President Bashar Assad’s military was behind it, but they have made none of that evidence public. Syria and its ally Russia deny any such attack took place. Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov blamed the Western airstrikes carried out early Saturday for holding up a mission by the OPCW team to Douma. He told reporters in Moscow that the inspectors could not go to the site because they need permission from the U.N. Department for Safety and Security. But a U.N. spokesman said the clearances have been given to the OPCW team. “The United Nations has provided the necessary clearances for the OPCW team to go about its work in Douma. We have not denied the team any request for it to go to Douma,” said U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric. Both Russia and the Syrian government have welcomed the OPCW visit. The team arrived in Syria shortly before the airstrikes and met with Syrian officials. Government forces and Russian troops have been deployed in Douma, which is now controlled by the Syrian government. Syrian opposition and activists have criticized the Russia deployment in the town, saying that evidence of chemical weapons’ use might no longer be found. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denied that Russia interfered with any evidence.

"JCT will not be a Gazelle clone - We have (and still are) creating something entirely unique, which includes the back-end as well as the UI for the front-end. We are not using Gazelle at all, to be more precise. (There was an internal project already in progress before TC went dark, and we are now working hard to finish that up. We recently added some new members to the team to help out. I think we've already posted enough about our technical architecture, so Im not going to add to that.)"

"Equally as important is further refining what makes us Notwhat and working to really distinguish ourselves. By doing so, we aim to attract more music lovers to our tracker and encourage more activity. The Gold standard for CD rips has been a good start on the road to discovering our true niche and we'd like both reward the efforts of our Gold uploaders as well as allow the community the opportunity to freely discover new music while also helping to secure a substantial seeding base for each and every Gold FLAC. From the time of this announcement, all existing Gold FLACs are freeleech and future Golds will be made freeleech at the time of staff approval. This FL status will be permanent. We hope this prompts even more of our community to rip and upload their CD collections and also goes some way to making our community more appealing to potential new members - both uploaders and downloaders."

thanks

Let me be the first to welcome you to intotheinter.net. As most of you know, we hit a bit of a snag a few days back, but the quick reflexes and a little elbow grease from Joint, Ultamate Warrior, HMD, Visionary and yours truly means we're still alive. A couple of important things about that past few days and then we'll talk about where we go from here. We want to thank Calitri. This could've ended very differently if it wasn't for him. He didn't have to hand over everything, but he did. The links are safe. Everything is backed up, even if the server explodes, we're good. Invites are closed for the time being, at least until the new staff get used to everything and our roles all settle. With the past done, onto the future. Here's whats planned for the short term (sorry no firm dates yet): - Move the forums to the front page - users will be able to enable/disable this in their settings page - Improve user feedback and involvement in site improvements and changes - improved forums will help with this Mid term stuff: - Improve the token system (we'll get the user feedback stuff in place before this) - Improve the requests system (some minor things like date stamping bounty claims and bigger things too, more on this at a later date.) Long term stuff: 1. Revamp the site 5 years is a long time in the land of teh interwebs. And this old girl could use a new coat of paint, an engine service, and some shiny new rims. We've got a pretty good idea of what we want to do here but again, community feedback is key and will be the main driver this. So lot's to look forward to. We'll also send an email out in the next couple of days letting non-LL users know where to find us. Welcome home, The ITI Team.

The first company with a fingerprint scanner under the display was vivo with the X20 Plus UD, swiftly followed by the Huawei Mate RS Porsche Design. Oppo is expected to be the next Chinese manufacturer to jump on the bandwagon after receiving a patent for the technology from the State Intellectual Property Office of China (SIPO). The documents were coupled with plenty of images that reveal the scanner might be used not only for unlocking the device but also for authorizing payments. The patent images show the sequence of entering your fingerprint and what parts of the actual finger will be recognized. It is also seen used while the screen is on, meaning this technology is different to what Synaptics developed - a sensor emitting light underneath an OLED panel and then reading the fingerprint crests. Oppo was rumored to launch the Find 9 with an under-screen scanner technology, but the device was scrapped. Given the company already launched its flagship for the first half of 2018, the Oppo R15, we will probably see the tech implemented in the Oppo R15s that should arrive around October.

Samsung is among the few makers yet to release notched displays, but the maker might be about to succumb to the peer pressure. A new set of listings revealed that the South Korean company has patented a design featuring a screen with a prominent cutout. It will house a proximity sensor, earpiece, and a selfie camera, while the screen stretches to all four sides, leaving minimal bezels. The back, though, is pictured with various camera setups, one of them suspiciously close to the one on the iPhone X. Looking at the images, it seems Samsung has patented all the designs just in case. The dual setup can be seen placed horizontally in the upper left corner with and without antenna bands coming through it. There is also a vertical setup that reminisces of the Apple flagship and of course a variant with the usual camera placement for Samsung - in the center. The second document, found at SIPO, reveals that Samsung has a 100% screen-to-body phone on the drawing board. It has no bezels whatsoever, leaving us scratching our heads what will happen with the earpiece and the selfie camera. The patent might also be for a new type of screen protection, probably some sort of in-house scratch-resistant glass. That way Samsung will stop buying Gorilla Glass components from Corning, but at this point, we are just speculating.

Like a younger sibling, the Galaxy A series has been getting hand-me-downs from the S series, things like the Infinity Display. Now the junior J series is getting some too – the FCC published its report on the Samsung Galaxy J6, including a few screenshots. These screenshots clearly show an 18.5:9 screen, the mark of an Infinity Display. Naturally, on-screen controls have taken over from the retired hardware keys. This probably means a fingerprint reader on the back as well. Unfortunately, the FCC wasn’t kind enough to publish schematics. It did publish the dimensions – the phone itself measures 146.3 x 67.0 mm and the screen has a diagonal of 5.6”. This is a dual-SIM phone (as evident from the screenshots). Img Digging a little deeper, the list of supplied accessories reveals a standard 1 amp charger, a microUSB cable (boo) and a regular 3.5mm headset (yay). From Geekbench, we know the J6 will use an Exynos 7870 chipset with 2 GB of RAM and will run Android 8.0 Oreo. At any rate, it’s worth pointing out that there hasn’t been a Galaxy J6 yet – J5 and J7 sure, but no J6. The model number SM-J600F strongly hints at the Galaxy J6 name, though doesn’t guarantee it. The Galaxy A8 (2018) is the A530 while the Plus model is A730.

The Oppo F7 Diamond Black Edition has just gone on pre-order in India and will start shipping on April 21. The special edition is the maxed-out model with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage and will cost INR 26,990 (€330). The regular edition Oppo F7 was announced on March 26 and went on sale earlier this month for INR 21,990 (€273) for the starting 4GB+64GB variant. The Diamond Black Edition Oppo F7 has a special diamond-pattern triangle-cut finish. Underneath the uneven surface is a multi-layered glass panel that reflects light differently under angle. Looks and memory aside the Oppo F7 Diamond Black Edition is the same Oppo F7 with a 25MP f/2.0 HDR-capable selfie camera, a 6.23-inch 2280x1080px 19:9 screen with a notch and a MediaTek Helio P60 chipset. You can go ahead and pre-order the Oppo F7 Diamond Black Edition at Flipkart or wait for it to become available through brick and mortar stores across India.

Huawei expects to sell over 20 million Huawei P20 units in 2018. The Chinese company has already revealed its hopes to overtake Apple within the next year or two, and it appears the company’s latest flagship device will be central to this strategy. In an interview with Huawei’s CEO, Richard Yu, the executive admitted the company is aiming to surpass 20 million shipments when it comes to the P20 lineup, which includes the regular Huawei P20 alongside both the budget P20 Lite and the premium P20 Pro. These figures are certainly not out of reach when the company’s recent growth rate is considered, but they represent a big increase of last year’s goal. After all, shortly after the launch of last year’s P10 and P10 Plus, the company announced a goal of shipping 10 million units, half that of this year’s goal, although it’s worth noting that this figure did not include sales of the cheaper P10 Lite. In any case, the company’s CEO also revealed a huge focus on R&D, stating that Huawei invests over 10 times more than any of its local competitors, something that should allow the company to innovate faster and therefore stay on par or even ahead of the competition which, in turn, should attract a number of new customers. Also, Richard Yu appeared to be pretty keen in regards to maintaining the company’s current user base. After all, he mentioned that Huawei is committed to optimizing older devices, with various updates to previous generation smartphones expected to roll out in the future in order to speed them up. For now, however, Huawei’s main focus is shipping as many units of the notch-bearing trio as possible, with big marketing campaigns in both Europe and China currently backing the devices. Also, with Apple’s sales currently on the decline and the fact that the Silicon Valley-based company’s next flagship iPhone could be even more expensive, Huawei is on track to overtake the company sooner rather than later.

The Razer phone, upon release, had all the bells and whistles of a modern-day flagship. Branded as the world’s first ‘gaming phone’ the device cut no corners when it came to hardware. Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC, 8GB of RAM, an Adreno 540 GPU, Dolby Atmos certified speakers and the world’s first ever panel with a 120Hz refresh rate; the device had all it took to make short work of even the most demanding games. However, the grouse many people had with it was the fact that it shipped with Android Nougat out of the box, despite Oreo being out for a while. A few weeks ago, Razer announced that the Razer phone would make the leap from Nougat to Oreo 8.1, bypassing 8.0 entirely, citing compatibility issues. Along with the announcement, the company released a developer preview of the update which users could sideload. Today, the update is being rolled out officially and can be downloaded OTA. The update comes with all the usual Android Oreo goodies: notification channels, picture-in-picture mode, notification snoozing, background app optimizations, and more. However, there are some devices specific features included too. For starters, you can double-tap the lock screen to sleep. It isn’t anything ground-breaking, but nice to have. It also brings new display colour modes in the settings. The newest option is titled “Vivid mode” which forces the panel to operate at the DCI-P3 RGB colour space. The Dolby Atmos app gets a makeover, allowing users to fine-tune the audio even more. The app allows you to adjust the sound for music, movies, games, and more. According to the official press release: "The latest update has a cleaner visual design, under-the-hood improvements for a better overall experience, Dolby Atmos app improvements and support for the Netflix widget. The update is rounded off by major security patches and bug fixes. This update brings the latest and greatest Android experience to the Razer Phone. The Razer Phone’s existing features are better than ever, taking Netflix original HDR content, Dolby Atmos sound, and 120hz gaming to the highest level of entertainment." The release states that it will begin rolling out in the next few weeks. Keep an eye out for it and let us know in the comments if you’ve received it.

The big final round of Euterpe FLAC Contest picks g********'s Euterpe Pick (Freeleech) Bush - Razorblade Suitcase[1996] Grunge | Alternative-Rock Discogs g******** wrote: The biggest reason for this pick to me is one word: Nostalgia. I remember this being one of my first few albums I ever purchased as a CD when I was young and barely could save up my allowance from my parents to buy anything, yet alone expensive CD's. To me 90's music has always had its place to remember everything about. To me this was one of those albums you wanted to try and remember all the songs, since quite a few of them were hits on the radio at the time. My all time fave being 'Swallowed'. At the time, the lyrics didn't mean much to me, it was more of his voice and how it carried throughout the song. Then you have 'Greedy Fly' which takes his soothing voice and gives it a better sound. I know its not the best album of all time, nor the best of the 90's. Yet because of the memories from this album has to be a FreeLeech pick. Hopefully some of you have heard the songs and hopefully will bring back memories too S***'s Euterpe Pick (Freeleech) Sick of It All - Built to Last [1997] New York Hardcore Punk Discogs S*** wrote: Just really good fast-paced hardcore punk, probably a definitive for 90s NY scene. From the battlecry in the beginning of "Good Lookin' Out" it holds you breath all the way until the end. I remember it stuck out immediately after first listen, and it never plays out. Probably some people think about raw unpolished fury of "It's Clobbering Time", or even what could be used as hardcore scene anthem - "Step Down" as the band's finest efforts. Still I think that their impact will be felt with this one. T***********'s Euterpe Pick (Neutral Leech) Pappo - Pappo & amigos [2000] Hard Rock | Blues Discogs T*********** wrote: Pappo was an Argentinean guitarist/singer that rose to prominence in the 70's, mainly through his ever-changing blues rock band, Pappo's Blues. He'd go on to achieve legendary status, being regarded as Argentina's greatest guitarist of all time and performing together with international artists such as B.B. King. This double album consists of new versions of plenty of songs from his back catalogue (including songs from Pappo's Blues, solo work, and one-off band Aeroblus), aided by several stellar guests from Argentina's rock scene, who either had worked together with him in the past or were largely influenced by his music. The result are some intense two-and-a-half hours of pure rock, showcasing Pappo's legacy with a fresh new take, yet without losing its essence. I wanted to pick something to highlight some of the best that Argentina has to offer, and what better way than this album! Hope you enjoy it, and also check out not only the rest of Pappo and his bands' work, but some of the guests as well! J*********'s Euterpe Pick (Neutral Leech) Leftfield - Leftism [1995] Downtempo | Leftfield Discogs J********* wrote: My favourite downtempo/Trip Hip album of all time, this album means so much to me for many reasons, I absolutely love this album! Nuff said..Enjoy people! t****'s Euterpe Pick (Neutral Leech) Ludwig van Beethoven performed by Wiener Philharmoniker under Leonard Bernstein - The 9 Symphonies [1980] Classical s******'s Euterpe Pick (Neutral Leech) Sparks - No. 1 in Heaven [1979] Disco | Art Rock Discogs s****** wrote: Sparks have recorded a ton of brilliant albums (two dozens, actually), but Number One in Heaven is more than a fine album - it is a collection of sounds that spawn pure magic. It may be due to Giorgio Moroder's production techniques combined with Ron Mael's unique songwriting, maybe it's just a perfect blend of electronica and live drums, but it may also be that this record was actually recorded in Heaven. If you ask me, it surely was. It is the highlight of my life's soundtrack and I would like to share it with you. z*****'s Euterpe Pick (Neutral Leech) The Modern Jazz Quartet - The Last Concert [1975] Disco | Art Rock

Ok my friend

Simultaneous

Can money buy happiness? Well, that depends on how much money you have, and the type of happiness you're after, new research suggests. "If you should ask me the amount/In my bank account/I'd have to confess that I'm slippin'" sang Louis Armstrong in 1945. However, having little money in his account didn't prevent Satchmo from being happy. In actual fact, the song "I'm just a lucky so-and-so" is about the feeling of happiness that one gets from being close to loved ones and being able to admire the beauty of the world. Is there any truth to the idea that we don't need money to be happy? Or is this just a myth that was invented by the wealthy to keep the poor content? Between these extremes, there may be some middle ground, according to a new study published in the journal Emotion. Paul K. Piff, Ph.D., and Jake P. Moskowitz, both from the University of California, Irvine, examined a range of positive emotions associated with different incomes and found that money buys different types of happiness for different people. Low-income versus high-income happiness "Higher income has many benefits," says Piff, "including improved health and life satisfaction, but is it associated with greater happiness?" This question prompted the researchers to survey 1,519 Americans. This nationally representative sample of participants was asked to answer questions about seven positive emotions considered central to happiness. The emotions were amusement, awe, compassion, contentment, enthusiasm, love, and pride. The subjects answered questions that were designed to measure the degree to which they tended to experience these emotions. For instance, participants were asked to rate how much they either agreed or disagreed with the statement, "Nurturing others gives me a warm feeling inside" in order to measure compassion. Some other statements included, "Many things are funny to me," designed to measure amusement, "I develop strong emotions toward people I can rely on," meant to measure love, and, "It feels good to know that people look up to me," as a measurement of pride. The researchers also asked the participants questions about their household income. It was found that those who had a higher income were more likely to experience emotions that focused on themselves, such as pride, contentment, and amusement. By contrast, those with a lower income had a stronger tendency to experience emotions centered on others, such as compassion and love. Those with a lower income were also likelier to feel awe and an overwhelming sense of beauty in the world. Money buys an 'individual' kind of happiness "These findings indicate that wealth is not unequivocally associated with happiness," explains Piff. "What seems to be the case," he continues, "is that your wealth predisposes you to different kinds of happiness. While wealthier individuals may find greater positivity in their accomplishments, status, and individual achievements, less wealthy individuals seem to find more positivity and happiness in their relationships, their ability to care for and connect with others." Having money, therefore, appears to make it easier to achieve only a certain kind of happiness. "Wealth doesn't guarantee you happiness," notes Piff, "but it may predispose you to experiencing different forms of it — for example, whether you delight in yourself versus in your friends and relationships." "These findings suggest that lower-income individuals have devised ways to cope, to find meaning, joy, and happiness in their lives despite their relatively less favorable circumstances." Paul K. Piff, Ph.D. So, when Louis Armstrong sang, "And when the day is through/Each night I hurry to/A home where love waits, I know/I guess I'm just a lucky so-and-so," perhaps he was merely devising a "happiness strategy," or a way to cope with what was surely, at the time, a difficult society to live in.

Apparently, the site's admins forgot to renew the domain. A whois search shows it expires today. Let's wait and see.

The last 30 minutes has seen Bitcoin explode higher by over 15% (the biggest move since 2017), breaking above $8,000 on extremely heavy volume as the cryptocurrency tests above its 200-day moving-average. Speculative chatter on the driver behind the move is Russian oligarchs buying (though we note that Bitcoin actually fell on the announcement of the sanctions last week). This is obviously unconfirmed... "Have Russian billionaire oligarchs started converting their net worth into crypto" Additionally, and perhaps more likely, this is a reflexive easing from the tax-related selling pressure that many have discussed as a big driver of cryptos downside ahead of next week's tax deadline. Extremely heavy volume on this upswing... The move peaked at around 16%, before fading back to a more stable 11% gain. Unsurprisingly, as BI reports, the team of analysts led by Joseph Abate say there's a striking similarity between bitcoin's rise in popularity and the spread of viruses like influenza. "Applying this model to speculative behaviour in crypto currencies, it suggests that once a large enough share of the population susceptible to speculation becomes aware of and holders of crypto currencies, upward pressure on prices stalls," they write. "To the extent that holders’ attraction to Bitcoin was speculative – as our empirical analysis of historical prices suggests – those holders then become sellers, initiating an accelerating downward spiral."

While preparing for his new role, Secretary of State-designate Mike Pompeo reached out to every living former secretary of state, including Hillary Clinton, sources told CNN. During a call, Clinton pressed Pompeo on retaining career diplomats, a source familiar with the conversation said. Politico was first to report that Pompeo has reached out to the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee. Last month, President Donald Trump nominated Pompeo, then his CIA director, to replace Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Pompeo will face a confirmation hearing later this week. Clinton said during a speech this month that she saw "one small glimmer of hope" in his nomination to her former role. "When he went into the CIA, he only brought two people with him and he really relied on the career intelligence people," she remarked, according to the Washington Examiner. Clinton and Pompeo have their own shared history in Washington. While in Congress, Pompeo questioned Clinton regarding her private email server and the Benghazi attacks. Though the House Select Committee on Benghazi found no new evidence of wrongdoing, Pompeo and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, filed their own addendum asserting that the incident showed that the State Department was "seemingly more concerned with politics and Secretary Clinton's legacy than with protecting its people in Benghazi." And Pompeo, now a fervent opponent of WikiLeaks in his role in the Trump administration, repeatedly cited the group to attack Clinton during the campaign, a CNN KFile review of his tweets and media appearances shows.