The guys at Almond Manufacturing got some time in on their splitboards and made their first edit for the season up in the BC Backcountry. Look closely and you'll see that those boards don't have binders. This is snow surfing in its rawest form.
Balsam Pitch from Almond Mfg on Vimeo.
This violin is said to have been played by bandmaster Wallace Hartley during the final moments before the sinking of the Titanic. It's thought he put the instrument in that leather case. Hartley's body and the case were found by a ship that responded to the disaster. Now the violin has been sold.
This violin is said to have been played by bandmaster Wallace Hartley during the final moments before the sinking of the Titanic. It's thought he put the instrument in that leather case. Hartley's body and the case were found by a ship that responded to the disaster. Now the violin has been sold.
An anonymous buyer on Saturday paid about $1.6 million for a violin believed to have been played by one of the musicians who famously stayed aboard as the Titanic sank in the icy waters of the North Atlantic in April 1912.
The Associated Press writes that "the sea-corroded instrument, now unplayable, is thought to have belonged to bandmaster Wallace Hartley, who was among the disaster's more than 1,500 victims."
It was sold at auction by the English firm Henry Aldridge & Son. According to the BBC's Duncan Kennedy, "the buyer was believed to be British." The violin sold for about three times more than the price Aldridge said it was expecting.
As Weekend Edition Sunday said back in March when the auction house announced it had authenticated the instrument:
"As the Titanic sank, the story goes that Wallace Hartley and his orchestra stayed on deck and continued playing 'Nearer My God to Thee.' The band and their instruments, according to lore, went down with the 1500 other people who died that day."
It's thought that before going into the water, Hartley placed the violin in a leather case. His body and the case were recovered by one of the ships that later arrived on the scene. The violin was given to Hartley's fiancé, Maria Robinson. It passed through some other hands before being rediscovered in 2006.
Among the clues that led to its authentication: An engraving that says, "For Wallace on the occasion of our engagement from Maria."
The Washington Post adds that this is the most ever paid for such a relic linked to the Titanic: "Previously, the priciest Titanic artifact sold, Aldridge said, was a 32-foot long schematic plan of the ship used in Britain's official inquiry into the tragedy, which he said fetched $356,000."
Note: Some other news organizations are saying the price paid for for the violin was $1.45 million. In a video of the auctioneer you can clearly hear him saying the price was 900,000 British pounds, which today converts to about $1.45 million. But NPR's Philip Reeves tells us that when the auctioneer's fee is added, the price being paid by the buyer comes in closer to $1.6 million.
Melissa Block talks with musician Robbie Robertson of The Band about his first book, Legends, Icons & Rebels, an illustrated guide to 27 musical greats aimed at kids. Robertson says all the musicians in the book, which includes the Beatles, Johnny Cash, and Joni Mitchell, were on the playlist at his house, so his kids had a strong musical foundation. He hopes this new book helps other kids as well.
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood faces a wave of trials unlike any it has seen in its history, threatening to put a large number of its senior leaders behind bars for years, even life, as military-backed authorities determined to cripple the group prepare prosecutions on charges including inciting violence and terrorism.
The prosecutions are the next phase in a wide-ranging crackdown on the Brotherhood following the military's July ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, who goes on trial next month.
Morsi's trial, the most high-profile case, is setting a pattern for the others, aiming to show that the Brotherhood leadership directed a campaign of violence. Morsi is charged with inciting murder in connection to a protest during his year in office in which his supporters attacked protesters outside his palace.
Leaders may also be charged with fomenting violence in post-coup protests by Morsi's Islamist supporters demanding his reinstatement. Security forces have cracked down heavily on the protests, claiming some participants were armed, and have killed hundreds of Morsi backers. With each new round of protests and violence, prosecutors consider new charges that include incitement and arming supporters, Brotherhood lawyers say.
So far, at least nine and possibly more than a dozen cases are being put together, according to a prosecution official and Brotherhood lawyers. Each has multiple defendants. Four cases, including Morsi's, have been referred to trial with a total of at least 34 defendants, though a few are being tried in absentia. Ahmed Seif, a human rights lawyer following the investigations, predicted around 200 Brotherhood leaders and senior officials could eventually end up in court.
Brotherhood lawyer Mohammed Gharib denounced the cases as simply "a fig leaf by authorities to cover over their scandal" — to justify the coup and the crackdown, pointing out that no police have been investigated for killing protesters. "They are going after their main political opponent," he told The Associated Press last week.
On Friday, the Brotherhood legal team said Gharib left the country for security reasons and has been replaced by another lawyer. Dozens of Brotherhood lawyers have already been detained. Gharib, himself tried under previous administrations, represented the Brotherhood's jailed top leader Mohammed Badie and other senior members.
Some 2,000 high- and middle-ranking Brotherhood figures have been detained, and Gharib estimated another 6,000 rank-and-file members and supporters are also in custody, being questioned for material to use against the leadership. Among the biggest figures in custody are Morsi, Badie and his deputy Khairat el-Shater, and almost half the group's main leadership council and many of its former parliament members. Rights lawyers say they are struggling to keep track, given the high numbers jailed and prosecutors who are keeping a tight lid on information.
Even rights lawyers who see a strong basis for prosecuting Brotherhood figures over violence and abuses of power expressed concern over the scope of the projected trials. Rights advocates have called for a thorough program of transitional justice to address abuses from the time of autocrat Hosni Mubarak and through the past 2 ½ years of Egypt's turmoil since his ouster — which would also mean trying police and military officials for killing protesters and other rights violations.
Instead, they fear unfair trials with shoddy evidence will be used for the political aim of undermining the Brotherhood.
"They want revenge," Amr Imam, a rights lawyer with the Hesham Mubarak Legal Center, said of the current authorities. "The rights of not only the Brotherhood, but many other Egyptians, will be lost because of arbitrary procedures."
The Brotherhood, which despite being illegal grew in recent decades to become Egypt's best organized political group, leaped to power in elections after Mubarak's 2011 ouster. The presidency of Morsi, a Brotherhood member who became Egypt's first freely elected leader, prompted a massive backlash from many in the public who saw the group as trying to monopolize power and impose its vision on the country.
The military removed Morsi on July 3 after protests by millions against him. The group says the military has crushed the country's fledgling democracy and will bring back Mubarak-style rule.
During its 85-year history, the Muslim Brotherhood has seen frequent waves of arrests. But this time is different.
Under Mubarak, Brotherhood leaders at times were jailed under emergency laws on accusations of belonging to a banned group, but were only occasionally brought to trial. Instead, their detentions and releases were part of a political game, used by the regime to wrest concessions from the group, particularly ahead of elections.
"We used to play chess with the previous regime," said Gharib. "Now it is straight out crushing."
Gharib also noted another difference — in the past 30 years under Mubarak, there was no attempt to associate the group with violence.
The major exception was a high-profile military trial of Brotherhood figures under Mubarak, in 2008, when 25 members, including senior leaders and financiers, were sentenced to up to 10 years for money laundering and terrorism. The case was initiated after masked Brotherhood students held a militia-style demonstration in Cairo, raising an investigation into whether the Brotherhood had resurrected its military wing.
A prosecution official said nine or 10 cases are so far being prepared on incitement and other charges. Investigators are citing recordings of conversations among leaders plotting violence, testimonies by victims of violence and weapons seized at two pro-Morsi protest camps, according to the official, who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to the press.
Morsi's trial begins on Nov. 4, with 14 other Brotherhood figures as co-defendants. Their case is rooted in an attack by Brotherhood supporters on an anti-Morsi protest camp outside his palace in December, during his presidency, which sparked clashes that left 10 dead. Morsi is accused of inciting his followers to attack the protesters, a charge that could carry the death penalty.
Morsi has been held in a secret military detention with no access to his lawyers and has refused to cooperate with investigators. In leaked reports of his interrogations, Morsi insisted he is the legitimate leader of the country. His family called the trial and accusations "laughable."
The trial of Brotherhood leader Badie began in August. He, his predecessor Mahdi Akef and senior deputies are charged with incitement in connection to an incident days before Morsi's ouster, when Brotherhood members opened fire on anti-Morsi protesters outside the Brotherhood's Cairo headquarters, allegedly intent on storming it. At least eight people were killed.
In interrogation transcripts leaked to the press, the 85-year-old Akef is questioned about testimony by a journalist at the clashes who claimed to have overheard a Brotherhood member talking to Akef on the phone, asking for more weapons.
"These are lies," Akef replied, saying the investigators should be tried for putting together "baseless" accusations, according to the Al-Fagr newspaper.
Badie is also being investigated in a separate case. A few days after Morsi's ouster, his supporters rallied outside a Republican Guard facility where they believed he was detained. Authorities say they tried to break in after Badie and a prominent pro-Brotherhood preacher Safwat Hegazy urged protesters in public speeches to free the ousted president. In the ensuing violence, security forces killed 51 protesters, and a military officer and two policemen were allegedly killed by armed protesters. Hegazy is also jailed now under investigation in the case — and on trial in a separate one.
Gharib said that top Brotherhood figures were told by prosecutors during questioning that they were accused of trying to topple the regime, which he found ironic because the group considers Morsi to be the legitimate president.
Another Brotherhood lawyer, Osamal el-Helw, said with each new instance of violence around ongoing protests, Brotherhood leaders are added to new investigations, presumably on incitement charges. He said Badie, who has been interrogated in over a dozen cases, will likely face more trials.
The question of how intensely authorities will carry out prosecution and trials is tied up in political considerations, rights lawyers say.
Seif, who represented Brotherhood members in past cases, said he believes the aim is to win criminal sentences that would prevent Brotherhood figures from running in any parliament or presidential elections next year.
Imam believes the flurry of investigations is a pressure tactic to force the Brotherhood to rein in more extremist allies, who have carried out attacks on churches, state facilities and troops in Sinai.
"It is not the Brotherhood that are carrying the weapons," he said. "They are part of an alliance of radical groups who are, and the Brotherhood speaks for them now."
CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — Apple is holding an event in San Francisco next week to announce new products — likely updated iPads.
The company announced its most recent iPads around this time last year. The announcement included a smaller version, called the Mini, for the first time.
New iPads would get Apple's latest operating system for mobile devices, iOS 7. The invitation sent Tuesday includes a graphic that mimics the color scheme in iOS 7.
Next Tuesday's event will take place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco, a venue Apple has often used in the past.
It follows last month's release of new iPhones with iOS 7 — the 5S model with a fingerprint sensor and a cheaper, 5C model with a variety of color options.
Shares of Google (GOOG) are soaring over 10% after the company reported stronger than expected third-quarter earnings results yesterday after the market close. The company logged a 23% gain in net revenues from advertising, with a healthy portion the growth coming from mobile platforms. Google cheif executive Larry Page said the quarter seemed to mark a long-awaited tipping point in the shift from desktop revenues to a business dominated by mobile devices.
"It's arrived," Page said of the shift, "but on a scale few expected."
For the quarter, Google reported earnings of $10.74 per share, well ahead of consensus estimates of $10.34. As Matt Nesto notes in the attached video, analysts across Wall Street are frantically raising their expectations and price targets for Google's stock. Nesto points out that more than 2/3 of analysts had positive ratings on Google ahead of their earnings report. You can bet that number isn't going to come down now.
But the truth is stock prices are a combination of company fundamentals and Wall Street emotion. Last quarter Google missed estimates and the stock got squashed. Here's our coverage from last quarter: Google Earnings: Buy or Bail?. Google's stock was trading at $880 at the time.
Which leads to the question: Is Google now worth buying at $1,000 a share?
Google is higher today because it reported strong numbers, but it's not a 10% better company today than it was 24 hours ago. Wall Street is in a manic phase at the moment. For all the terrific things about Google's third-quarter, the best thing about the report was that it came on a day when institutional investors are feeling like they have far too little exposure to stocks. The average hedge fund was up less than 10% through September and there weren't many people expecting this race to new highs on the S&P500 (^GSPC) on the heels of debt ceiling debacle.
Google shares are being chased because it's now "safe" in terms of fundamentals. Chasing the stock higher here isn't about your long-term view of mobile advertising platforms. It's about playing greater fool chicken with your trading account.
You can try anything you want provided you have an exit plan. I'm on record saying Google is one of the best company's in the world and I certainly haven't changed that opinion today. But if you're tempted to buy the stock know this: The voice in your head isn't analytical reason. It's greed. Do yourself a favor and do a Google search on "Greed Investing" before hitting the "Buy" button.
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