The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to human anatomy:

Human anatomy scientific study of the morphology of the adult human. It is subdivided into gross anatomy and microscopic anatomy. Gross anatomy (also called topographical anatomy, regional anatomy, or anthropotomy) is the study of anatomical structures that can be seen by unaided vision. Microscopic anatomy is the study of minute anatomical structures assisted with microscopes, and includes histology (the study of the organization of tissues), and cytology (the study of cells).

The following list of human anatomical structures is based on the Terminologia Anatomica, the international standard for anatomical nomenclature. While the order is standardized, the hierarchical relationships in the TA are somewhat vague, and thus are open to interpretation.

Human nervous system

See the rest here:
Outline of human anatomy - Wikipedia

On Friday afternoon, in response to a PAIA application by DA Shadow Minister of Social Development, Bridget Masango, for information on any new contract between Sassa and CPS, the Department of Social Developments Deputy Information Officer, Michael Machuberg, responded, contract entered into between the department and/or Sassa with Net1/CPS for the distribution of social grants from 01 April 2017 does not exist and therefore not unavailable in our possession.

On March 6, however, Net1 CEO Serge Belamant in an interview with Radio 702 said that the previous week his company had agreed to a set of terms with Sassa on two very, very important issues, one of them were the commercial terms going forward, and the other set of terms is what we were going to do on behalf of Sassa in order for them to take in-house a number of technical processes we currently perform.

So, with only three weeks to go, the entire Sassa social grants crisis still appears to be in legal limbo.

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng last Wednesday directed Sassa to furnish, by 16:00 on Monday, full details of responsible officials, dates when these officials became aware that the time frames set out by the court could not be met, why the court had not been informed and whether Minister Dlamini had been informed, and if so, when.

Hopefully, whatever it is Sassa and the department and the minister submits to the court will unravel this very thickly woven knot of obfuscation, lies, deceit and delay tactics, and most important, why. Sassa officials and the minister, hopefully, will also answer why they secretly met with President Jacob Zumas lawyer Michael Hulley in December 2016 who then offered legal advice overruling that offered by Advocate Wim Trengove.

One of the officials who is likely to feature in the submission to the ConCourt is Zodwa Mvulane, Sassas Executive Manager, Special Projects. A batch of letters accompanying Belamants affidavit to the ConCourt on March 7 and in response to an application by the Black Sash gives some insight into the anatomy of the train smash.

Timeline and names of officials:

On May 24, 2016, Belamant wrote to Mvulane indicating that he had met with Sassa at your request a few months ago to discuss the implications for Sassa to achieve this objective [of taking the payment in-house]. We discussed both a closed loop system that could permit interoperability with the NPS [National Payments System], as well as an open loop system as is currently provided.

Belamant told Mvulane there is not enough time left between now on March 31, 2017 for the banks to assist in this massive task... As time is running out quite rapidly, it is critical for Sassa to decide on the way forward. In order to prevent disruption in the payment process and to protect beneficiaries, it may be better for Sassa to extend the current CPS contract for at least 12 months, during which Sassa could refine their strategy and implement a phase-out and phase-in plan.

On May 31 Advocate Nazeer Cassim and Mias Mostert advised Sassa that the Constitutional Court would have to be informed of the change in status pertaining to deliverables as well as the possibility of CPS tenure being extended. Meaning that by then Sassa had been aware that it was not going to meet the seven deliverables as set out by the ConCourt.

The court will be especially sensitive in our view to the continued involvement of CPS. Our concern is that the impression might be created that Sassa has all along been pulling the wool over the courts eyes. To prevent this impression from being created, our suggestion is that the change in proposed time frames relating to deliverables be coupled to new information emerging from the meeting with SARB... wrote Cassim and Mostert.

Presenting Sassas annual report to Parliaments portfolio committee on social development on October 13, 2016, where the closing balance of irregular expenditure was revealed as R1-billion and fruitless and wasteful expenditure as R10.9-million, the agency dedicated one paragraph to the institutionalisation of the payment system.

This is planned for implementation in four phases. Phase 0 was the Advisory Committee investigation that took place against the backdrop of the Cash Paymaster Services that ends in March 2017. Phase 1 will be led by Work Stream leaders appointed with the concurrence of the minister to guide the successful implementation of the recommendations of the Advisory Committee for the smooth transition of Sassa towards effectively and efficiently incorporating its payment role to the current in-house functions. Phase 2 and 3 entailing the transition and full roll-out respectively will be implemented during the period April 2017-March 2019.

It was at that presentation, made by then Acting Director-General of the DSD, Dr Wiseman Magasela, that the DAs Bridget Masango first raised the alarm saying that this was a huge project that needed to be undertaken by Sassa and which required a lot of preparation and that involved the lives of 17-million people who were dependent on social grants.

Where is the plan for this project and could the portfolio committee have access to it? Also was Sassa ready to take over the process? asked Masango.

The DAs Lindy Wilson also asked how far the agency was in terms of the seven deliverables as set out by the Constitutional Court.

According to the Parliamentary Monitoring Groups record of the presentation Magasela told the committee that Sassa was ready to give details or reach an agreement of when to come back to the committee to explain progress for the takeover and not withholding any information from the Committee.

Mr Magasela said Sassa was fully aware that the project was a huge one with responsibility in terms of making sure that social grants for 17-million south Africans were fully paid on time as had been the established practice. The Agency was working towards making sure that come March 2017 all south Africans would receive their grants. The Minister was providing political leadership on the issue. There was also a project manager managing this project.

On October 19 the portfolio committee met again to review and adopt the DSD budget and recommendations report. Once again members asked about the progress for Sassas takeover of grant payments.

On November 16 a meeting had been planned for Sassa to brief the portfolio committee but was cancelled at short notice and replaced by a presentation by the National Development Agency.

The minutes read: Members objecting pointed out that the Sassa briefing had been agreed upon as far back as 13 October and had been placed on the agenda following an agreement by the chairperson as far back as June that the plan would be presented to the committee. There was a suggestion that the chairperson had deliberately tried to prevent the presentation, but the chairperson explained that this had in fact happened firstly because the Minister, who wanted to accompany the Sassa delegation, was out of the country, and secondly because Sassa would be meeting with stakeholders prior to coming to brief the committee.

On November 30 Minister Dlamini and Sassa returned to Parliament to brief the committee with regard to Sassas readiness to take over as paymaster for the grants. Present along with Dlamini was the newly-appointed Director-General of the Department of Social Development, Zane Dangor, as well as newly appointed CEO Thokozani Magwaza. At that meeting opposition as well as ANC members complained that the department had not sent the presentation document earlier so that members could read and interrogate it.

At that meeting Magwaza told members that Sassa was ready for the takeover from April 1.

However, SASSA through the minister asked that the committee does not push it to reveal its contingency plans in public as this might jeopardise the work it has done already. What matters is that by 1 April 2017, the grant will be paid. (our italics)

Sassas Executive Manager, Raphaahle Ramokgopa, at that meeting said that Sassa had fulfilled its obligations to the Constitutional Court which had assumed a supervisory role over the agency after the 2012 contract with CPS had been declared irregular. The first report, she said had been about the fresh tender application, the second dealing with progress towards implementation of the tender, the third with the outcome of the tender process and the fourth with the implementation process within Sassa.

Ramokgopa admitted that there are areas where Sassa was not meeting deadlines and that the agency had sought a legal opinion.

With the feedback received from legal counsel and other people, Sassa will go back to explain to the court what had happened, the work in progress and the mechanism in place for implementation, said Ramokgopa.

At this presentation is appears as if Ramokgopa parrots some of the content of Belamants May 24 letter to Mvulane.

Heres Ramokgopa on November 30; There are two options. The first is an open architecture or open loop. This involves operating in the national payment system that is provided for by the Reserve Bank. The second option looks into a combination of both an open and closed loop system. Both options specify the need for Sassa account requirements which Sassa has done an expression of interest for. Sassa is also in discussion with the Reserve Bank, PASA and BASA on a specialised account which has limited facilities... The open loop is a system operating in the national payment system, the accounts are fully accessible and allow direct reconciliation. Biometrics is a key factor in both options. In the current payment, the Reserve Bank has given permission to Sassa to utilise biometrics for older people and disabled persons. Discussions are on the way as to whether this can be extended to all beneficiaries. The reason for the need for biometrics is for fraud and risk management. Option 1 requires a new Sassa card that operates in both a closed and open system. It must be an integrated system flexible enough to operate in both and allow cash disbursement for beneficiaries in remote areas. Generally, for both options Sassa needs to develop an internal ICT system, recruit relevant capacity and use a phase in and phase out approach.

Heres Belamant to Mvulane on May 24; We discussed both a closed loop system that could permit interoperability with the NPS, as well as an open loop system as is currently provided. The reason for the two approaches which are both technologically equivalent in terms of interoperability, is that a closed loop system would allow Sassa to provide a payment solution which would be under its control in totality as Sassa would operate only under the Social Assistance Act of 2004. An open system would require Sassa to obtain or make use of a banking licence, amongst others, or to outsource this function to one or more banks resulting in a solution similar to the current system. The open loop payment solution would be governed by the banking rules, the SARB. PASA Visa and MasterCard, the FSB, etc. and, as such, Sassa would not have actually taken the payment function in house in any way but simply outsourced it to a different bank or/and service provider which would probably require a fresh tender to be issued.

At that meeting the DAs Wilson asked whether Sassa had accomplished the ConCourts seven deliverables as well as Who is the supervisor now? Was the court informed when the deliverables were changed? Have the deliverables been extended especially once the deadline for a deliverable has passed? Was the Constitutional Court informed about it and what was the decision?

To which Dangor replied that the fact that some of the timelines have not been met means that Sassa has to go back to the Constitutional Court to discuss the options. The Constitutional Court is the supervisor.

Zodwa Mvulane replied that when Sassa began to solicit advice from other stakeholders as well as reports from the work streams it became apparent that Sassa had been overly ambitious about some of its timelines.

Hence Sassa took the advice and broke down the deliverables and start working on things that matter.

Minister Dlamini then suggested the committee invite officials from Treasury, the Reserve Bank, the Post Office and Postbank so that members could have a clear understanding of what is going on.

However, added Dlamini, there are challenges Sassa cannot talk about.

Back now to Belamant waiting in the wings.

On December 9, 2016 Belamant wrote to Dlamini expressing that he was becoming increasingly concerned with the lack of communication from Sassa and that CPS would also commence the dismantling of its payment infrastructure on January 1, 2017.

Belamant told Dlamini As you are aware, on November 30, 2016, Sassa reported to Parliament that it would be ready to perform the payment of all social grants by April 1, 2017. The Contract and Service Level Agreement (the contracts) between Sassa and Cash Paymaster Services (Pty) Ltd (CPS) were declared invalid by the Constitutional Court of South Africa. The Constitutional Court, however, suspended the declaration of invalidity until a) Sassa issued and awarded a fresh tender or b) until March 31 , 2017 which ever event occurred first.

He added that over the past six months (so at least from August) the SARB, PASA, Grindrod bank and MasterCard have engaged with us to debate the technological issues related to the longevity of the existing Sassa branded cards and if a solution could be found to prolong their lifespan beyond April 1, 2017. He added that these stakeholders were of the view that finding a solution was primordial as Sassa had not finalised or disclosed their transition plan, but that such plan would undoubtedly require the Sassa branded cards to continue to operate beyond April 1, 2017 to ensure that there would be no disruption to the payment of grants service going forward.

And then As a result, we have developed and tested a plan that will ensure continuity but such plan requires your urgent endorsement and commitment.

On December 18 the Sunday Times reported that Minister Dlamini, Dangor, Magwaza, Mvulane and Ramokgopa had met with President Zumas lawyer, Michael Hulley, at the Intercontinental Hotel at OR International Airport. Dlamini had summoned the officials and Hulley had arrived out of the blue.

Dangor and Magwaza reportedly expressed at the meeting their serious concerns with the meddling of Hulley in the matter and also quizzed his role in the matter.

On December 22 Sassas Mvulane responded to CPS saying that it was willing to engage on probabilities for assistance in the transition of Sassa operations towards a new service model, and suggested a first meeting on January 5, 2017.

On December 30 Dlamini chaired a meeting with Sassa CEO, Magwaza, Mvulane, Dlaminis special adviser, Sipho Shezi, DSD deputy director-general Brenton van Vrede, Sassas legal consultant Tim Sukazi, Ramokgopa as well as head of corporate services, Dumisani Ndlovu, at President Zumas lawyer Michael Hulleys office in Durban. There they discussed the CPS contract.

Dangor reportedly refused to attend this meeting.

On February 1 Sassa was back in Parliament for a briefing with the committee, a meeting Dlamini skipped, opting to attend a Cabinet lekgotla instead. Opposition members refused to accept her apology and also complained once again about the late circulation of material to be presented.

ANC committee member Hope Malgas rebuked opposition members saying the lekgotla was important and warranted the postponement of meetings.

There is nothing wrong in postponing. The ANC being in government has to give guidance, said Malgas.

Ramokgopa set out six options including retaining CPS (only snag being the extension of the illegal contract), procuring the services of banks [Treasurys suggestion] while this option may guarantee service delivery, there is no guarantee that beneficiaries will be paid who are at the cash pay point, procuring the services of banks and the setting up of a special account [a plan that needed six months], option four using banks for some payouts and CPS for cash pay points, using SAPO and the appointment of a service provider for cash distribution and for banked beneficiaries to use existing accounts.

Given the above circumstances, Sassa came to the conclusion that it has failed. Sassa is of the view that Option 1 carries the least risk in terms of service delivery failure and as such should pursue the option while working on Option 6. In order to pursue this option, Sassa will approach Constitutional Court as a matter of urgency, since this is likely to be virtually the only mechanism to regularise such an approach which would otherwise be irregular. Also procurement in relation to Treasury practice Note 3 of 2016/17 will need to be followed.

It was at this meeting that Magwaza let slip with regard to the fact that Sassas selection of option 1, to go with CPS, had not yet approached the Constitutional Court but that the lawyers have assured Sassa that the court will approve since it is a matter of national emergency.

Which lawyers Magwaza did not disclose.

Was this Hulleys advice?

The ConCourt will soon find out.

On February 2 the Minister of Finance wrote to Dlamini informing her that continuing a contract with CPS would expose government to legal challenges. He proposed that a tender be given to banks and the Post Office.

Sassa revealed what everyone keenly watching developments feared, and suspected: that it was nowhere near ready to assume the critical function and had, in fact, not fulfilled even a single one out of the seven deliverables set out by the Constitutional Court.

If you ask me to choose between irregular [processes] and the country going up in flames, I choose irregular, Thokozani Magwaza told the committee to some audible gasps in the room.

9 February Magwaza wrote to Belamant with regard to exploratory discussions.

16 February Belamant replied to Magwaza stating we have... not received any formal notification from Sassa or yourself regarding the dates for such exploratory discussions. I am concerned that any further delay will significantly impact on our ability to conclude an interim arrangement. It is our view that any negotiations in this respect will require adequate time and consultation to address the following aspects of a new contract. including but not limited to duration, price, phase-in or phase-out strategy, BEE.

Belamant added that it is unlikely that the current contract can be extended due to the Constitutional Court judgment as well as the legal constraints of the PFMA. An extension of the contract would, in any case, be unacceptable to the Net1 board of directors due to the ongoing controversy and reputational damage to our company. I have rescheduled my diary as well as my travel arrangements to accommodate the Sassa meetings and will be available to meet with you from 1 March 2017.

On February 22 the portfolio committee met again. This time the panic was even palpable in the minutes published later by PMG. Dlamini, with CEO Magwaza wiping his brow frequently, dominated the meeting, seldom allowing Sassa officials to speak.

It was the IPFs Liezl Van Der Merwe at the meeting who asked, Can you confirm they [CPS] are seeking an extra R1.3-billion from this department to pay out the social grants? I also want to know that you dont want to pass the buck to Treasury but there are allegations that come March 31 and there is a problem of some sorts you will pass the buck and blame Minister Pravin Gordhan which will give the minister and the president more ammunition to fire Pravin Gordhan.

Committee chair Rose Capa accused the media of terrorising the poor.

On February 28 Sassa appeared before Scopa to account for the mess. It was learned that Magwaza had been booked of ill with high blood pressure and that CEO of the National Development Agency, Thamo Mzobe, had been appointed that morning as acting CEO, and who became ill a week later. Dlamini opted to skip this Scopa meeting, which angered members. It was a shambolic presentation. Members called for Dlamini to account to Scopa.

That same day Sassa filed papers with the Constitutional Court asking it to authorise its engagement with CPS for 12 months from April 1, 2017 to March 30, 2018. Twenty-four hours later Sassa withdrew the application on orders from the minister. Mzobe, who was still on the job at that point, said that Sassa had not been consulted by Magwaza and were now merely sending a follow-up report to the court.

On the same day, the Black Sash filed with the Constitutional Court asking it to act in a supervisory role with regard to the new CPS contract. In court papers the Sash says Sassa breached its constitutional obligations of transparency and accountability to the public to Parliament and to the court.

March 2, 2017 Dlamini and Sassa filed the follow-up report with the ConCourt accepting responsibility for the fiasco.

The minister and Sassa accept responsibility for Sassas inability to deliver the system deliverables set out in the progress report, reads their submission.

Sassa also claimed it only became aware in August and October 2016 after advice from technical advisers that it would be unable to take the payment of social grants in house after March 31. Sassa added it was not ready to move forward due to budget constraints, insufficient internal capacity and a lack of skilled personnel to implement the plan in the time frame it had contemplated.

March 3, 2017 DSD DG Zane Dangor resigned citing a breakdown in the relationship with the minister.

March 5, President Zuma met with Dlamini and Gordhan and said the Sassa crisis is solvable.

March 5 Dlamini and her spokesperson Lumka Oliphant called a last-minute press conference which ended up with Dlamini refusing to answer questions from journalists. Dlamini blamed the media for creating panic with regard to the payment of grants on April 1. Dlamini confirmed, however, that no deal with CPS had been signed, contradicting an earlier statement that a deal had in fact been concluded.

March 7 Minister Dlamini appeared before Scopa and received a grilling of note. She told committee members that Scopa had underestimated the amount of work.

March 8 The Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng directed Sassa to reply in detail questions relating to responsible officials, a time line for the fiasco as well as when it was the minister was informed.

March 14 4pm Will all be revealed? DM

Photo: Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini closes the National Youth Camp at 3 South African Infantry Battalion near Kimberley, Northern Cape, 12 December 2016. (Photo: GCIS)

The rest is here:
SASSAgate: Anatomy of the Hidden Hand will all be revealed to ConCourt? - Daily Maverick

Meredith whos baaack opens the episode talking about a father who sent both of his sons to fight on either side of the Civil War, an apt story considering almost everyone in the hospital is in a small, personal war against at least one or two of their colleagues. (Though considering the episode is titled Civil War, Im not sure what else we could expect.)

That said, here is how the battle lines were drawn:

Catherine vs. Richard

The Chief is sleeping in the hospitals on-call rooms, which prompts him to request that Bailey replace all the mattresses with something that provides lumbar support. But the bigger issue, of course, is that he feels that the longer Minnick stays, the more the other members of the hospital staff will grow to love him something Arizona tries to talk him out of.

However, Richard cant keep ignoring Catherine who suggested he can come sleep at home forever, as theyre both operating on the same patient, a man whos been in a deep fryer-related accident courtesy of his friends boyfriend. Of course part of this is Richards annoyance that Catherine would dare to watch Hamilton in Chicago without him.

Later in the night, Richard asks Arizona if he can stay with her, but she mentions her date (not telling him its actually with Minnick), so he decides to pull an all-nighter at the hospital instead. Only the patient gets into trouble and needs to be operated on, but when all the doctors get in, Ben is already operating on him. Catherine tells Richard to step in, but he says that Jacksons got it.

After the surgery, Jackson gets mad at Richard for basically using Minnicks method, but the former Chief points out that he was teaching the way hes always taught; its just that Ben is a very capable second year resident. He also doesnt want to tear mother and son apart, especially seeing the younger Avery rail against Catherine this entire episode. But Jackson just responds that his mother wont stop because she wants things her way.

Later, Richard walks in on Arizona and Minnick as theyre about to kiss, following a long night where they just slept on a hospital couch instead of going back to Arizonas place, where Minnick was going to make her pierogies. As he apologizes and leaves, Richard shoots Arizona a hurt look, and its clear that she too feels awful.

Back in an on-call room, Catherine asks Richard to come home and get a good night of sleep. He tells her he didnt want to come between her and Jackson. He then sleeps in the on-call room. She wishes him a good night and leaves.

Jackson vs. Catherine and April

Jackson blames this whole thing on his mother, and he sees April, who is frustrated by having to give Meredith her job back, as a traitor. First he goes and tells his mom that as the Avery Foundation representative on the hospitals board, hes going over her head, then hes very short with her as they attempt to work on the groups trauma patient.

It doesnt help matters that Catherine, who feels April has earned her position and is proud of her work, is planning to take the trauma surgeon to Chicago with her so the Avery Foundation hospital doctors there can learn from her. (They also plan on seeing Hamiltonand going on a boat tour, which Ben says is lovely. So, you know, theres that.)

NEXT: Jacksons anger continues, And its Alex vs. Riggs

Follow this link:
'Grey's Anatomy' recap: 'Civil War' - EW.com

The owner and designer of Pakistans first loungewear label, Blood Orange, shares her personal style

The owner and designer of Pakistans first loungewear label, Blood Orange, shares her personal style. Find out what caused her style evolution and what she considers the biggest fashion mistake!

Understanding your body is the key to looking good and a trait found amongst all impeccably dressed fashionistas. While people shy away from talking about their bodies, these brave souls explain how they work their anatomies to their advantage

How would you describe your body type?

I would say I have an hourglass figure.

Has your body type changed over the last five years?

I used to be quite lean and thin naturally, but for the last few years its become hard to maintain my weight.

How has your style changed over the years?

My style has definitely become more laidback. It has also quite literally become a reflection of my personality.

In your opinion what is your most troublesome area?

My thighs!

How do you dress your body according to your body type?

I like monochromatic colours and simple cuts as they complement my body and easily hide my problem areas.

In your opinion what is the biggest mistake a person can make while dressing here?

Here people focus more on incorporating labels in their outfits, and dont think about what looks good or fits with their personality. Style isnt original or personal anymore. Also, I dont like cluttered looks. I always notice someone whose style and ensemble is well put together.

Which silhouettes suit your body the most?

I prefer flared cuts to fitted silhouettes.

What is the one piece of clothing that you shy away from wearing and why?

I usually avoid vibrant colours and exaggerated garments. I am a minimalist!

Here is the original post:
Style anatomy: Rabbiya Abdullah - The Express Tribune

13. The off-camera action

The stage has emptied of three of its players, but that's not to say they've left our mind. Just as you start to imagine the rollicking now being dished out, a child's wail can be heard from behind the wall (O:38in the video). Those kids are suffering for the art they've given us and still Prof Kelly goes on, professional to the end, talking aboutNorth Korea and VX gas and things that surely are not at the forefront of his mind right now.

We salute you, Mr Kelly, and offer astanding ovation to your family. And we hope you understand, as laughter ricochets around the internet, that our joy is not mean-spirited. We're laughing because we can see on screen a reflection of our own families, in all their hilariouschaoticbrilliance.

Perhaps Homer Simpson put it best."It's funny," said the father-of-three, "because it's true."

Excerpt from:
Anatomy of a masterpiece: 13 reasons why the 'funniest video of the year' is pure comedy gold - Telegraph.co.uk

Put aside for a moment the geopolitical implications. How did the assassins evidently sent by North Koreas Kim Jong Un to murder his half brother get the job done?

BANGKOKOne by one, on different flights at different times, four men from North Korea flew into Malaysia over the course of a fortnight in February, coming together finally in a condo apartment on Kuchai Lama Street in a bustling middle-class suburb on the edge of the countrys sprawling capital, Kuala Lumpur. According to multiple reports, after the murder and at the height of the scandal, they huddled frequently with Ri Jong Chol, a 47-year-old North Korean who holds a science degree and who moved to Malaysia in August 2016.

Ri worked for an outfit called Tombo Enterprises. According to its web site it makes anti-cancer supplements and emphasizes wholesome treatment built around herbal medicines. But Ri may have been more useful to the new arrivals for a particular set of skills: handling and combining the binary components of the deadly nerve agent VX, the weapon of mass destruction that would be used to kill Kim Jong Nam, estranged older half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

VX, which is outlawed around the world by signatories of the Chemical Weapons Convention, is a slightly yellow liquid with no smell and no taste When its dispersed as an aerosol, victims do not know they have been affected until they begin to die, quickly and horribly, more or less like flies zapped with bug spray, choking, twisting and kicking as their nervous system shuts down. In one infamous incident at the Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah in 1968 more than 4,000 sheep were killed by accident some 30 miles from the test site.

But how do you handle such dangerous stuff, using it to kill one man instead of a whole crowd, especially if your best shot at that man is likely to be in a public place?

That would require two hands at a minimum, or better yet, two people. Then the question would be, who could approach the pudgy playboy Kim Jong Nam while raising the least suspicion?

Its not clear how the four men on Kuchai Lama street hooked up with two young women called Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong, both of whom have been arrested, both of whom have said they are innocent, and both of whom face the death penalty if convicted.

Siti, an Indonesian in her twenties, had been working as a masseuse and nightclub hostess, and reportedly was out partying with friends the night before the slaying. Doan, 28, is a Vietnamese who flew into Kuala Lumpur from Hanoi on February 4. She also had been working as a hostess. On her Facebook page she posted under the name Ruby Ruby.

But the more details are revealed about their backgrounds, the murkier those become.

Citing travel documents she was carrying when arrested, Malaysian police identified the Indonesian as Siti Aisyah, of Serang, the capital of Indonesias Banten province. But Indonesian-language web sites suggest she is from the village of Angke, near Jakarta, and that there are two listings for her there: one indeed identifies her as entrepreneur Siti Aisyah, 25; the other says she is housewife Siti Aisah and that she is 27.

Indonesians do not typically have two ID documents.

Thank You!

You are now subscribed to the Daily Digest and Cheat Sheet. We will not share your email with anyone for any reason

One site says Siti is divorced from an Indonesian man and has a 7-year-old son she rarely sees. She was married when she moved to Malaysia in 2013, one site said, but subsequently split from her husband.

She reportedly met the man, or men, who hired her for the Kim Jong Nam hit at a nightclub where she works in Kuala Lumpur. Local reports say she told police the men she met looked Korean or Japanese.

Broadcast reports say Doan Thi Huong is an aspiring singer who competed onVietnam Idol, her countrys version of the global Idol franchise. A video of the program shows a woman apparently auditioning who looks remarkably like Doan. She sings for just a few seconds before one of the three judges interrupts her and says, OK,a dismissal. She also says OK, and bows demurely. But the contestants name thats flashed on the screen is Dinh Thi Khuyen, not Doan Thi Huong.

A Facebook page attributed to Doan, which includes a couple of dozen Korean-sounding names among her friends, shows several photos of a woman with dyed reddish hair dressed provocatively. In one she wears a very fitted cheongsam, the classic one-piece Chinese dress, and in another shes sporting a red one-piece swimsuit. She is also pictured wearing a white, long-sleeved t-shirt emblazoned with the letters LOL.

Malaysian authorities say that prior to the incident at the airport, Siti and Doan staged a couple of practice runs, moving in on hapless victims at shopping malls with what presumably were benign chemicals or none at all.

On the morning of February 13, police say, Siti and Doan entered Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 2, known as KLIA2. Its the home base of Air Asia, one of the worlds most successful low-cost carriers, and at any given time its likely to be full of holidaymakers and business people on a budget. It would have been teeming with backpackers, tour groups and adventure seekers, the departure area full of people waiting to board flights.

What grainy CCTV video shows from February 13 is a portly man subsequently identified as Kim Jong Nam wearing a light blue suit and carrying a medium-sized bag on one shoulder. Suddenly, a woman rushes up behind him and forcefully throws both arms around his neck as if to restrain him. Then a second woman comes up to him from the front and puts somethingperhaps a rag or tissue paperin his face. It all happens very quickly, and there appears to be little commotion around the heavy-set tourist and the women, who briskly walk away after attacking him.

One of the women, apparently the one who approached from behind, was wearing a white long-sleeved t-shirt. Another surveillance camera caught a clearer picture of her. The letters LOL were emblazoned across the front of the shirt.

The 45-year-old Kim Jong Nam has known for years that his 33-year-old half-brother, Kim Jong Un, the worlds most dangerous nuclear-armed dictator, wanted him dead. Jong Nam had questioned the right of his family to heredity rule, and there was a reported attempt on is life in 2011. But for years Jong Nam has lived in Macau under the protection of the Chinese, who may have deemed it wise to hold him in reserve as an alternative or at least an implied threat to their impetuous young client in Pyongyang.

Jong Nam has always been restless. He once famously got caught trying to visit Disneyland Japan using fake papers. In Kuala Lumpur, he was traveling on a passport under the name Kim Chol and posing as a businessman. He apparently believed that by traveling incognito on a low-cost carrier he could dispense with a phalanx of bodyguards.

Almost immediately after the LOL woman and her accomplice carried out their attack, police said, Jong Nam rushed toward employees at a nearby help desk, gesturing at his face, telling them he could not breathe well. First-aid workers soon placed him on a stretcher, police said, and as Jong Nam began to choke, the emergency crew left with the stricken victim, heading toward a nearby hospital. But he died in agony on the way, less than 20 minutes after he first ingested the poison.

At a news conference, Malaysian Health Minister Subramaniam Sathasivam said, VX only requires 10 milligrams to be absorbed into the system to be lethal, so I presume that the amount of dose that went in is more than that. If he inhaled the substance, or it went in through his tear ducts, a smaller quantity might have sufficed. But in any case, The doses were so high and it did it so fast and all over the body, said the minister. So it would have affected his heart, it would have affected his lungs, it would have affected everything.

Malaysia promptly launched an investigation, ordering an autopsy of Jong Namover the objections of North Korea, which demanded the bodys immediate release, and accused the police of desecrating the remains of a citizen of the so-called Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.

Kang Chol, the countrys ambassador to Malaysia, declared that the North had nothing to do with the death of that citizento whom he doggedly referred as Kim Chol.

South Korean Acting President Hwang Kyo-Ahn decried the killing as an intolerable crime against humanity and terrorist act. In Seoul, government elements told reporters they believed the plot was hatched and carried out by North Koreas foreign and security ministries.

Malaysia accused the plotters of endangering the lives of thousands of passengers by exposing them to a weapon of mass destruction. Luckily, a hazmat sweep found no evidence of VX contamination at the airport, which quickly went back into service.

On the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, the hit squad abandoned the safe house on February13. At least three of the men fled to neighboring Indonesia: Hong Song-Hac, Ri-Ji-Hyon and Ri Jae-Nam boarded Emirates Flight EK0359 at 10:20 p.m. local time bound for Dubai. No one knows how the fourth, O Jong-Gil, got out of Malaysia, but it appears he is gone, too. All are said to have returned to Pyongyang on February 17, presumably to the huzzahs of the increasingly paranoid, erratic, and murderous Kim Jong-Un, who recently ordered the executionby anti-aircraft gunsof five senior officials who made supposedly false reports that enraged the young tyrant.

Not all members of the black op got away in the initial police roundup. In addition to the women, police held Ri Jong-Chol, the medicine-manufacturer employee, but subsequently released him. He gave a press statement in front of the North Korean embassy in China protesting his innocence.

Malaysian authorities believe at least seven North Koreans were involved in the attack. One person they want to question is North Korean embassy Second Secretary Hyon Kwang-Song, who some believe ran the operation from his office. Because of diplomatic immunity, Hyon would have to consent to an interrogationwhich isnt going to happen.

Police also would like to interview Kim Uk-Il, an employee of the Norths flag carrier Air Koryo, who apparently was at the airport when Jong Nam was killedand also is believed to be hiding out in the embassy.

One of the women, Siti, has told authorities her recruiters told her she would be playing a practical joke on a businessman for a TV show, claiming she was paid $90 for tossing some baby oil on the mans face. But National Police Chief Khalid Abu Bakar has said the woman seen on video daubing VX on Jong Nams face clearly knew she was carrying out an attack, not some reality TV stunt. And the womens claims dont explain why they rushed to wash their hands after the incident. Nor why theyre still alive.

Siti vomited after she was nabbed by police, but both women should have been severely injuredif not killedthrough close contact with the VX. That they were not has led police to question whether their handlers gave them atropine, an antidote for the WMD.

Did the four men smuggle VX or its components into Malaysia? Did their local contact help mix it right there in Kuala Lumpur, or show the women how to combine the elements on Jong Nams face? Was it brought in through North Korean official channels, perhaps in diplomatic mail that is not subject to normal customs procedures? And was the whole affair coordinated by North Koreas shadowy spy agency the RGB (Reconnaissance General Bureau)?

It is very likely that the VX was smuggled into Malaysia either in person or as cargo, says Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore. There is also a possibility that the North Korean embassy smuggled it in by diplomatic pouch.

A few days after the murder, Pyongyang sent a high-level delegation to Malaysia for talks aimed at claiming the body of Kim Jong-Nam/Kim Chol, and springing Ri Jong-Chol. Group spokesman Ri Tong-Il told reporters the envoys also wanted to further develop friendly relations between the two governments. The two countries had enjoyed reciprocal visa-free travel, although mutual trade amounts to less than $10 million. Pyongyang had seen Malaysia mostly as an entry point into Southeast Asiaa region the North wants to be friends with as a means of countering Seoul.

But improved relations now seem unlikely, even impossible. Both countries have been lobbing angry accusations at each other, including a blast from Pyongyang that KLs investigation has been awash in weak points and contradictions. The Malaysians recalled their ambassador from Pyongyang, and are said to be even more suspicious since someone apparently tried to break into the morgue where Jong Nams body was eld.

Pyongyang was not getting any love from China either. China is unlikely to abandon its protg any time soon, but theres no question Beijings patience is wearing thin as his behavior gets weirder.

A video surfaced earlier this week in which a young man who says he is Kim Jong Nams son tells the camera he is with his mother and sister and concludes, We hope this gets better soon.

Siti and Doan will next appear on April 13, when prosecutors will ask that they be tried jointly in a higher court. At the request of defense lawyers, the judge slapped a gag order on the case, the better to protect the womens rights and their prospects for a fair trial. Expect frequent leakage.

Christopher Dickey also contributed reporting to this story.

See the article here:
Anatomy of a North Korean Assassination - Daily Beast

q&_OqUm&R%51o6kbR*vSl~;Q,m>{CFKe~mmu~LW6Ie$Dsty_j2eX,&z}e=D]FL>>XdQ|m%Hh%BbY/O?<-ed?|$}AW-~a+}2]l+_~WvRF9'ws1]eSNorL~sE?||m`],!J/.S?dw0@bz ^.K6/s"W]SCu}W2P?MR0/ KM_OJyN_L;Aw_bTKw")!y |wktr((}>hCSm-?"~b+[%-"3ot_/g#k~Vl_3FevTa:/ ?8P[^?|N~g3;/GMM."ymhzkM_K6u)er[;$&.Sgt~l#2+_6lt~e~v_"s,KO&tt^"'o|7=z:e-`%_]_o+rGu?[~oO(mQyd10_ Jwyh$ H WZ9T|?V@E5/Xb}iY~}Z._>G2 zO|GDo?}V,*E[gN~'?}} 1h&61+[~~pN2sV2|>1%o~F3QuXA4.i3rI>,L75+||| l?4(>>~Il~q7loy?mo,$o3&UM`?RKdAGFLs "}8/&/--~.&`cB~2Sl}OWq4gw)Hda9;>>8j,G8<&1-7E>'i~>}^|VVbU-E=O>#/m*2v*6e"I#Ifov'o-=_Ep1>uPb?A`b9WoMN|TUY[U>} "@ydvlD'?K)=2"CaM5QG}=q pnKlLs"g9+e]YC_oOV"?~_xBVu!i5$x"k)T)+ga]8sCccr 91=zaFR5e"Ab<"^j%MKn )S|WmVNK7!I=yxPrl4GP+`m$ g$IKjO.zo4KnWG@qxIqV(=6k7FulV=Vxi]yH9Z%-')u8@XQOY})7xnhh~:2ExzjiDJ]F{ZT[x}pPcF1svd=FRm4R4X~=]!}5PLjum+3J5'Z!$5Xm6%.JCeABzd-[c2Jz!QSTRD>s-^cuy9X'h[tSFFQSe0;'N`{-I8rLcJ{)UBpaF| f.i5Jj jjI^Sa0ixyFGKo'CC-7^K*R!hz;^-[)rmD=zG^4efvTFe;^8~o/u+.UQnyaf=6F[~bnVSjGv^et T*o)@ fE,`fw6Nh6>&ZiQg/i&9HMrsk6?NHQmqz[=SrTr 8,d|cmll``D<+[Cud*D^:~gJ pWY &!)[5Wl= 5vza48IWe,I4C:!5#D&SV&%Tg7.-pQ.H7p,D}V-G^X'ZE{3~8,,Uip)&O ,- %CS]k4Q-^V>$}DTTwIwe8`jg.6[ oq>8tVwUuI?Vzs#Z&1W)'J>n(=_:1B(CohGm59>$AsvR W4d)g6XI%y`#o^@ROwV~O:Jk(w wv>/'k[Rw!]Hf4oL{eqsQ6a0AY'{$%P{@&9' q7^ YvJU$$d?Ea_7}C9mB'b86r&!(B<,[D%)Q{ZSiXyzYO=6&8x7{Qe$Iikc31'FC*K":GNYcE }G&,Fc/kf3^ 4+,OQCXkqhfPw%^3XXeq"g}AU$iN4Ca^wg}ZpNDJ>oVt>v+R(LK#o%uk)7#,sqDy>aazy#2{Nsw]uMJ_[e} ?iVh9nQ-`{x4>666YgCUUZCSq VhJ;pVa.:'D=8|20 yg^'z hU,$snz~Ct(VBY_FhymH#w!s69mR_V>hYUF [`Q55/7W(uWe/WpcPvF0'1 4[7B,A.ql-:b]$O1lqIh|"8$/TmtW"KjTy Tp&K60}rEe".(9]rnCKa4}QxD1)I[q6!`Rawx&kMTX`'!UN+%bO~gGfw]Tr#ry2* qx"-g](LlB``k7Z2hp#+`iyN P{R]}!t3.oYCt{ 9ru;Cac"?#b,vWm"1 5c0]:QH3 MwSZ~I|rZ*R.L.S=[m*w{8|Tih?Vf"j"%- gXt|qzidrk*J6#?^>uEv~.HIc'm}>C},'6M^VN ZJ]T}W58Kvw;H7!PCzzcX{A" 8+JUq?HSre^$ M7%GS5Z^v3dy+x}[r;W~$jt+ejy$>Id% `,%/*jgC3QGk}'|$5#wq&D)C#'wW@..*M^eNC^}aR;kb q&i U>F-MaT7xIe td[g:4yh>I6}D2B]dL0f[|aP+LDw>Z-j2,_ScVoB2J}^/b>|uWAXbnJpGZHAm)6"YQD=dg7,nZ0g`OtNkX')N{0zPsq;ZK8{_nYWTa6uy}y$y,aaMVXux7pi"eeuG&Ctv rq4P.tu_dZ(>K~.&e1V DBSgChY}s8&6tn~FS%(@x"i (CU'V2Bf(YUa+bRt~Y^;tC1&i^raR;{6Y-qd=vAjVCcL{m4{>zVZ MLA[v"1$N_M>5byweKJE1jy)7}N6xJ8udq&JSs ,IBe*5;l D' m{me1kdI6Q")4avl;sZ ;T!D%qJ{I ~1M}4Jn[][XBY~ A uQj=.^Cdl9jKl3N[cLjIWihx/uqlJ<<6CbGCh%.$@nuY!( PlqO7nFtvJ,}Mv~-WqGlPreG`<-DrV:/E6o Yv<,$)eAJE]VD`Gg[J)&%$Zhro]jU&4@W5NJf1l{Z_]~!pG*ZtBHJ MksV&^m=l#?j,|/NB::ns_na!8 `{xDgXf@)w5}"0PN=F@r`Y A-M5Kr#_Tu;r%i$a37!2pb8F"p R8L9`O8$__2(:P[>>]4>eigj,uz-~%7[r=ps [(^J}2-s >b&H8Q9|js;'KYXp'(T9_EI8 x4!w7&TTAt[fmI{t[njw/aS[e2dM,vk>^uhC)oUXYq=l'_G}R6g=/8S)prFfpaAC Ta0 p6z?mp9D$@:o%/4 51K2v!)TwnHAAU#'`7)'/,"LX'n[+.-|@)6gAD,`y2ZMB~7fCm4970e5FP0e&$@c".w0X"-xOz6^/z8:Fb(bB]w~34/z;xyz:3#eg"H;jxrS;fGMfA)C-&|pm1}q8j!@SAh.!f_(f?/#cDL@$[(ws5!Mz(A!b,{YbrzDrxGLxF^@?Of`0NvolJ1nLZ>'Q! .%2: k`9-(wsjGYlnuAziR:$D( =6(Iv$$c97u[#yJjw0K]Q[:koTgOgCE< R!I5*J/gnFnw; lvM0.!k()L]$P&0jLPVpFD 80_wLX%:^$C,4%Zu1veB.,wz),`n+u[X cbY3?Ba@$}Af{`*DY2bS=Kyl[+m bxe;L|3Z:t_IkXaQde y6z7f4#:,22ug5BU/7QL[P[Niq5F]yNWp.!X8RU!z` 7C#e CQ/E.Rm*0SAR{OLH>1!N6TKmv97aq@<yr%$,K'{[vaqa~=RLpULaOAlL@+,P>}vR((D*yjt47RW/tgv|YmzFS5m>rfaT c?W 8eZoW:^wWZBX1?{<^>xq|Q~KW!?p.Yv&hT5 3F'b e46J?"RSw.-N^S$rys1N}f 8.".3T%Q)gt0="uq}vY'oGZ+]FL 7Z.v?B9#_H2-1ym, UY$W>6ChB2lQ}~:'1uPQ$a<4^'<2{>F`cK+#d~dC og -Bg R@~HZ&Rc|.Aq$mUw?p%m+nVAO}=AUK6Q#7sWD.9xQNY5|&eKg-Z?nHdgsw{ue@~ nW*zH ^t~ZN.fF:>2yFAbDg~7WS8.vSnIF/UHGyY`]D?0T3U<{a lV*N:7=<{_/A' ] '{S_xmc6I5'.Jb4 C#X0$I+0|S-]_Y>4Nd~ aMg<>VCgd;U!QAfY6%y:@FZY~L H@Ddhz8%|t~{AQjWhn0=n5VKYZl1- Q-oT oESm&l)q #FY&g~I ~_HnTuk@Z:%K65LA;QF~#@^ih30a-./Sx9X"2u%l NtZ_0Yk!vI9mg:[6yukR'U&qth1[4qZ+ C8o/CQ,tM.E,`c^ro LS}*mhn#_vcwO[*lWo#Q64]S>zYzrCKO/ W]-v[}V %i1{G#Wa:BJt Bs6j;H"cI~F^fxdAW+K4z+/Zwy2o@^c?9BQr.$+^w# ~ eG-l#w(=/c2p9i@&Yy/"!R=_J/ 0n| Pd%CPy"KzRa8YlR8c)G5T7Q1%+eT2enw{Nk$]O+K/='{z;[;Hk/~vBz{)#[O|J:3[JY"R}0]xAiL Wc8HkHR#@/'zo!2g.!dpFLS5E6[V3%bpF?%tU/h]`=4w||`K}}KHf tp>Pd"{," r%Px N5 A="Dgcb0:j(h@sl6efCQ Es rq%Tuk4 ;iR?'q9%Yz^FLnF{0vR j7F~G=~;Rw_uw,|^@BPOu6Y0!*f "C|V}>)FZEU+{6*:$ azM:^3{eoo_U V3rR-G=|Br_?1 q^%@ MrOIwvtWML Vzd/D'^nqf qOp*PVE`}g/w$w7Q`yAhiKst~B6DDGhf1(6'S<8~;B^}vtultuvN [p-Y O9=F a YRrai(Rok[u g4y%>jPrC5yIcraWaIE)YY%[E eyvr@RxKM[OoQ8 5]fZQbAl+wM 3^Wt:U3"4uTyU3SUoa2|[0KPtu3^Gt|{|7!Y_Z&eyK^r `1 x DU_faJ1v)4<.H[s;Vr.!= FF/XRpc;?svY)d,~k8h/dy| '>;,k7"/g=}Kd)_.Q=/t@(!ZLy*_hej9JNKKt;@"_p{,o*_f*<.v0oq] xh$b1=>65$LF4][O 3wS0Kc~]G& `jQ+L[vKF|$IQLV>+=N8#t-Z":oc#_Rpgk iaFJ1:} bmx0vZb6tLxf0%e)gDilhbg{%Ml<7E;A/L"0aFjY2Fg)*UvM cF@Nt~@h gA&=cN{'~Jab>2!YO{b_Mao4'+>Mhe601~{RM`*o'TqzS@h!aT5U@ZB'6S<~F9[:`~/ebC[M>u}X!sW`( 7#~RvI@+ hFMq[k#>F>7]nv %x12G )%{!Rpj?!Ea[sgB}Y)q`6ryN1-T71F8'ub[PU {cP kw/Jg9?RbYh@OQ0"r-vY.>`ka|M0Q.N&xP+ux}WWaaNhWQ'Mqv 3 D[]+3a*>QN.?F?NbR IO Fkv592DX?`9f<'QJ/'*d6KL9wXi;[|AyFwq@;|>(-&43@"s(Qiol#_ 'z2}C t3i>p4mM=p|p T-"9ijbaPQE0 }!~I]XxEr KiR(pNUE& }S}P.C`K9)*_* ~c'D$EUGpDAL&W}1N%?ZIi1][:.>,-$( M`{ c#C{iEs8#*e4,Wi`Tq8aW/'9kC RWi$R)>qw^6zVfGxEh<|YKc`}'zrzbiL9 r.|p}o&%53wY)L-g6i}`lspV__(*/,*rX9kNmy'!.&{NP ;H"h;]%fsI%3wFIhMnqJlVw>kd/1}ng%?WB@gNo1](?WeypZvQwIdXZ&6YD EXNFa}o[=wULc]Ff^w PBv 9Gq@E,_!eo{Ug1,cwGWAFw~f)!;?YF; ~x6St?.ovo|J1yZ' W(+a:T0t,D- Zv1!)$<./1;vs%w^?.~|j@vwTRF(Bk7lI! m+{_"3@^b]*$q$:mg(:SuL&zj! x y@,vg18B,-FW;U+]-`b>O&], [K.S>tes+`[3@aP9I9}x8-^IU)-}J{9 yD>4C"mgs=#E)~dvNmNt "=p72 X}| <<1<5}*rVof53R`s5Yg5gk'hL{7g:**k8n!iyC /u?M^ 5G#h,Si'TX 8|^3zFt#"Jf L9R(GWa)8_7WFT~)sZJ[co]FcVeiP02c&n@1C"}okRnAMMDoQ[-&DlA5&TQEt%L=^x sbDp}7Jo,Zn4< A4Oh(wOR>?teH?;K c$M+.'r|:CcPY0VZ} vBlN ;04? dQ{ ?Hr@fHA"T?3T'B)Is r f|wb~;"cV4g5. 2!L2|u^KJUrBfW(&7US$6B6A.VI 1qAG9-?-?],E^W_}2O % B,`(_"`PCQf4iv awS_S* 11:U5IO@RM9L};z5T%F+5o_Tm%1u0=<&%,_r}rG 53Wd`~Wt LnF/hK4-J4##)%~``B&A"j/5qd)E *OQP-~d&t| G<'J a&4&A#7{zt7#$G{PMenS|>VWW./" AH6o":$u(0<@> A{LVs9ao5cN $`Q(fjCXoL3O!] 6YeVzW*1.SDC(93m+kskKa&rtmj4d._hH'e*ll8zK^Z!4iM~qjv"dwz KUwEXuPpvO,gN@ 9xxE, Q#yvBS#L*,?h D_;$98W5sA{m8hD;!M7qm0t>M[2}qq[L/VbB'z1|U;os9L*$wDeq!@rg,) 8FaLcabr%gy3&oq 3A[1G7^"6ABRWKfJAzs8=EA+|H{ v{_%<:!x+C2 ?^)DHi;NyNA0R?PjjD;@_Jj_2yt&.)u/@t0gm"]A|EU$loud-:bx9Eh5`{;^P:G|E5(2qwoIvF1|%=;mN?>km[eji d~#)tB xk>efYRf8 vt6T }u-3Km$;KC|zH=B^xzkyN5Tz&]wV9 5c<kQAl=n[6P|`0hV(/9^A4 0n0r` l.hEg /vyZRUBw9ezxnAlvukfoGNcY7'3Em&xu-H@E>a>O/g[b(kjqWn|jY@08OG^{d3<',v;{/.WlxF@a$?QC@k31GIGL'g1 uhL0P73N%A~XS1Crd324O /sF6~ +p'f# yb 2 F=kS:^cQ5)Pk8)ABuN==];G= #]Ez:sM__=yK.TGf2tJ Cd6AO@a/6_YRr,mkDo0l# M1J>=C8'}l(j3 @>!g~tvu>? WD6+NbL4!Xdfi-tw"a^IRykAlW5&AQ=KW[p` k{gi`"3??CGT(+#%. Dn D9wmUyO6{8rhr067K.$`e K@T|SJ8 <$j! 5np7 EJ}okr-6'BO}HKo_:FJunsP {deL|(}L btKA5~WI32PD8~%uy[&"0]$IK!h'Aj"_ IYO?dMh!!b|?E4wCJ30$vW{9 s'2gP r $Sh"e*4:At0(R3N4$ |M^ 1uok)/q^7&Uk65pGqh,Ad[M1B HBr)y`px$Ufws7Y3J0%[kbh,>3Db%AmTM`5>zf(! 8 Qw|! ?Ykk lQhY(t[q?s`P `2=U!$42PI FqsrOJ| "f0o.wI%VXTc'<|%ftx>IRAL!x@m;@.^R*m ^6GfjjvIvK+ *ZZ4`6<'h7yUZIcE? {]0Fq Cf,Gu1(xjnDK("bX^`&f>CQ]2N!$P-HToT> HW$B$0=-[7 czPwGWXk>{c=`c4AA D2<0XkS;|ny]5Qcb'cj7yYEt==-7R@U;3TR-J*+ xq( r?lUnysD0(R(;l1LwOr%5=F`J:Qeg/C}`:g`@5^:mirE?VaCf;;,"T^,5; O9=`~V{@W'~@|C7M VY?}z?2J2j.bg{n ZKHd$H>vh[2Gbwo3kz{6RG&4p;0u.rY[OjhYxlQyi?ot!4'DH%X|B&Q/g~:HS- zz8e`cXT_+>mNn%H0t[2F4f3#t6dOEtO0iDweUT!&#ryo|X> dS>#-("Yo>k8dl s|eWPW=YqywkIOxY}(Pk'WK>Vr6II%M[c nV}b_ -v'u(:L7sWj^$vUzn_# )pWJijY/hmWg-.)S$z??4G/<9zt`I+%jXaguB-[=swlb.P*BGKv<_R.ZH Q5M ooU+s*P4Rl{6:Ty>xO8STc[P1q >c12=;pq&XU4,F!$3o<.Nlpp_NQ?E<2b''zvMO@!C?CKtaw :IweHkwnRgL|_DqN3x ^}Bq~7~{B2brHbhf{"Tzn2D|U< 6+>svvc8Iu?bIkc`QCGfhW[8%=wVI(D2^bm#1osA~=6En7b-!b_y H$8$vxR'3{Q!Vx:>e#.bYc]n3]?Sh|j6S,xD ]SM_&UgKRW>E|nUM;9V4dcW%$XSN]mWw5OV&B zJMz[8f}qFu&o7_0[dw](^U#e$QXb<,6A _M g=R }Su&>$r^Ncs.j}?~-V=Kr7{_O! --?-|@ piX slYOE$n50ag8%9vR-vUGNBA%A1eAFRbX|0JeIH[VWuUU-q7'(uDXlZo119Fsq`982OnX/ QdQ~]?D|gw;$/`;Hmu6m}11@g&HQgn~Dp]+97Ht{"u)KFoBC0Q3/Y:# z6|+U=odda QgBO&nY})vb8;=1,_eI^S^hz}+d2 B&8Ivfnl69^_LY9 IAQA5~!h9wAy&rIhdOK#QaarqHlc28z7WEeX zSGfT:Y^,y_}L?5a=2]$+~AD.PvvMXwy&[WxQn>>~Dq~RuQ5/#aG>?{0cxkKBFZy9v!b D%cuh 6|8j@B~J1xUOoCL};&X8~ USeTi*=u|`ryCP9aDBX"w08As('>^ztW?5{vgQ$y&%3u5 A/iKE (&W[](ai Q wn7|zM`> qHlg=~_n

,*zj"i`O ;:Jh_7u2YK&73Sgdyv C=mVbQ8'.0K^{$qdx/ Qr=Jc;n193#7c*PAq0.Riy5_!8-sc4u,{L2DYKJ$v6eSh-q?FiVaH{CKql>OYxq!Asq `X$-Ey9R^^gw)A;N[1`Pb("{|{^bz-PirzP.tGCp5QI62eQ*Nx"$7FL]R2Nf VB{7Xx*7@"<2DbY:c>~/Z#,EYTo i~nQlCdv S4<2@/3 QnzHVOL]^a>2*TSjk_("y UH zA!W [H$,4c&Kv}qL$%E3 IkKwO^9g^Sz}rx}TQ'2$DO0L='Z*EaQJVGPJ~94M=>(uUg 865[YNOT0S7}wVpXi;V1kG>rL#1'_K]*KxQ=^8W/c"'/wxef@H#$U=D -5zs&5V8_0O{qT@~9%>/^lLS]U6VM Kw5p |cs#lqa,K1m_Y7*9B?RvSbKc$S|PG`:!XQ.V'E,_xwWO%Zy~g}.%QJH<]~??)?8ylU exw&+3gHh[*ooX?8`w%YQ_w: ^

Read more:
Grey's Anatomy Recap: Mommy Issues - Vulture

Breaking our hearts (again). Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) looked back on the death of Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) on the most recent episode of Greys Anatomy, and not all viewers were delighted to hear his name mentioned.

Fans seem to have a love-hate relationship with the show bringing up Derek. On one hand, everybody loves remembering the good ol' days of McDreamys time at Grey Sloan. However, some devotees seem to feel that whenever they are almost over the character's death, series creator Shonda Rhimes decides to make them relive the terrible moment over and over again.

Riggs Remembers

During the Thursday, February 23, episode, a schizophrenic patient who was missing from her parents for more than a decade was reunited with them at the hospital. The parents even had a funeral for their daughter after she vanished because they assumed she was gone for good. However, rather than empathizing with the parents, Nathan Riggs (Martin Henderson) thought they lost faith in finding their child.

They gave up on her, Riggs said to Maggie Pierce (Kelly McCreary). They will never forgive themselves. The ordeal apparently reminded him of fiance Megan Hunt (Bridget Regan), who went missing in a helicopter and was never found.

Meredith Talks McDreamy

Pierces conversation with Riggs was tough for her, so she decided to talk to Meredith about the experience. The women spoke about how they cant imagine what Riggs must feel every day when he thinks about Megan's possible whereabouts. Meredith said she could relate to Riggs because she felt a similar way after McDreamys death.

When Derek died, there was one day where I didnt know where he was, Meredith said. I pretended everything was going to be OK, but inside, I was going crazy. I guess its like that for Nathan every day.

Check out what fans were saying on Twitter about the brief mention of McDreamy.

Grey's Anatomy airs on ABC Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET.

Sign up now for the Us Weekly newsletter to get breaking celebrity news, hot pics and more delivered straight to your inbox!

Originally posted here:
'Grey's Anatomy' Fans Weren't Pleased With That McDreamy Scene in the Latest Episode: Here's Why - Us Weekly

Could Owen Hunt be on his way to his second divorce on Grey's Anatomy?

When season 13 began, we had such high hopes for newlyweds Owen and Amelia, but like all hope in Shondaland, it quickly dissipated to the point that they aren't even sleeping under the same roof anymore, let alone speaking. And as Kevin McKidd tells us, this very well could be the end of the road for the couple.

"It's a hard one because she's got all these demons. He does too. And now they've hit against this big issue of the baby. Owen has always imagined having a family, and now she seems to be changing her view on that. So that's going to be a big issue for them," the actor told E! News during a recent visit to the Grey's set. "I'll be interested to see what happens, but, at the moment, it's not looking good. I have to say, it's not looking good. But sometimes that's what's so interesting about the show and I think what's clever about the show is that it looks like the story's pulling you in one direction and one thing will happen and it will change everything."

ABC

But before you give up on Owen and Amelia completely, know that McKidd isn't ready to throw in the towel just yet. "I've got a feeling that Amelia's going to sort of come to Owen's rescue somehow," he admitted. "I don't know why I think that. It's just a gut feeling I have."

Whatever happens, look for some movement on that front beginning with tonight's episode, when Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) finally faces her feelings about her estranged husband.

Speaking of estrangement, when we sat down with McKidd we couldn't resist the opportunity to test him on the fan theory out there that his presumed dead sister Meganwho we met in this season's flashback-laden episode "The Room Where It Happens," where she was played by Bridget Reganisn't actually all that dead. After all, this is Grey's. You don't usually hear about a family member if they're not going to make their way to Grey Sloan Memorial in some way,shape or form.

So, could McKidd shed any light on the theory? After a long pause wherein he seemed to be very carefully crafting his response, he said,"I can't. Listen, on any ABC Shondaland show, there's always a maybe to everything. Anything can happen. I've got to say, the actress who played her in the flashback episode is brilliant and we had great chemistry and we got along really well. So, if that happened, I'd be very delighted about it."

For more from McKidd, including why he's hoping for a visit from former co-star Sandra Oh, be sure to check out the video above.

Are you still holding out hope for Owen and Amelia? And do you buy into the theory that Megan just might be alive? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

E! Online - Your source for entertainment news, celebrities, celeb news, and celebrity gossip. Check out the hottest fashion, photos, movies and TV shows!

Visit link:
Grey's Anatomy's Kevin McKidd Has a Grim Warning About Owen ... - E! Online

Key Takeaways

Featuring a diversity of programming languages, backend technology offers the right tool for any kind of job. At the frontend, however, it's one size fits all: JavaScript. Someone with only a hammer will have to treat anything like a nail. One attempt to break open this restricted world is represented by the growing set of source to source compilers that target JavaScript. Such compilers are available for languages as diverse as Scala, C++, Ruby, and Python. The Transcrypt Python to JavaScript compiler is a relatively new open source project, aiming at executing Python 3.6 at JavaScript speed, with comparable file sizes.

For a tool like this to offer an attractive alternative to everyday web development in JavaScript, at least the following three demands have to be met:

To be successful, all aspects of these three requirements have to be met. Different compilers strike a different balance between them, but no viable compiler for every day production use can neglect any of them. For Transcrypt, each of the above three points has led to certain design decisions.

Demand 1:

Look and feel of web sites and web applications are directly connected to the underlying JavaScript libraries used, so to have exactly the same look and feel, a site or application should use exactly the same libraries.

Although fast connections may hide the differences, achieving the same page load time, even on mobile devices running on public networks, mandates having roughly the same code size. This rules out downloading a compiler, virtual machine or large runtime at each new page load.

Achieving the same startup time as pages utilizing native JavaScript is only possible if the code is statically precompiled to JavaScript on the server. The larger the amount of code needed for a certain page, the more obvious the difference becomes.

To have the same sustained speed, the generated JavaScript must be efficient. Since JavaScript virtual machines are highly optimized for common coding patterns, the generated JavaScript should be similar to handwritten JavaScript, rather than emulating a stack machine or any other low level abstraction.

Demand 2:

To allow seamless access to any JavaScript library, Python and JavaScript have to use unified data formats, a unified calling model, and a unified object model. The latter requires the JavaScript prototype based single inheritance mechanism to somehow gel with Pythons class based multiple inheritance. Note that the recent addition of the keyword 'class' to JavaScript has no impact on the need to bridge this fundamental difference.

To enable efficient debugging, things like setting breakpoints and single stepping through code have to be done on the source level. In other words: source maps are necessary. Whenever a problem is encountered it must be possible to inspect and comprehend the generated JavaScript to pinpoint exactly what's going on. To this end, the generated JavaScript should be isomorphic to the Python source code.

The ability to capitalize on existing skills means that the source code has to be pure Python, not some syntactic variation. A robust way to achieve this is to use Python's native parser. The same holds for semantics, a requirement that poses practical problems and requires introduction of compiler directives to maintain runtime efficiency.

Demand 3:

Continuity is needed to protect investments in client side Python code, requiring continued availability of client side Python compilers with both good conformance and good performance. Striking the right balance between these two is the most critical part of designing a compiler.

Continued availability of trained Python developers is sufficiently warranted by the fact that Python has been the number 1 language taught in introductory computer science courses for three consecutive years now. On the backend it is used for every conceivable branch of computing. All these developers, used to designing large, long lived systems rather than insulated, short lived pieces of frontend script code, become available to browser programming if it is done in Python.

With regard to productivity, many developers that have made the switch from a different programming language to Python agree that it has significantly increased their output while retaining runtime performance. The latter is due to the fact that libraries used by Python applications for time critical operations like numerical processing and 3D graphics usually compile to native machine code.

The last point openness to changed needs means that modularity and flexibility have to be supported at every level. The presence, right from the start, of class-based OO with multiple inheritance and a sophisticated module and package mechanism has contributed to this. In addition, the possibility to use named and default parameters allows developers to change call signatures in a late stage without breaking existing code.

Conformance versus performance: language convergence to the rescue

Many Python constructs closely match JavaScript constructs, especially when translating to newer versions of JavaScript. There's a clear convergence between both languages. Specifically, more and more elements of Python make their way into JavaScript: for ... of ..., classes (in a limited form), modules, destructuring assignment and argument spreading. Since constructs like for ... of ... are highly optimized on modern JavaScript virtual machines, it's advantageous to translate such Python constructs to closely matching JavaScript constructs. Such isomorphic translation will result in code that can benefit from optimizations in the target language. It will also result in JavaScript code that is easy to read and debug.

Although with Transcrypt, through the presence of source maps, most debugging will take place stepping through Python rather than JavaScript code, a tool should not conceal but rather reveal the underlying technology, granting developer full access to 'what's actually going on'. This is even more desirable since native JavaScript code can be inserted at any point in the Python source, using a compiler directive.

The isomorphism between Python and the JavaScript code generated by Transcrypt is illustrated by the following fragment using multiple inheritance.

translates to:

Striving for isomorphic translation has limitations, rooted in subtle, but sometimes hard to overcome differences between the two languages. Whereas Python allows lists to be concatenated with the + operator, isomorphic use of this operator in JavaScript result in both lists being converted to strings and then glued together. Of course a + b could be translated to __add__ (a, b), but since the type of a and b is determined at runtime, this would result in a function call and dynamic type inspection code being generated for something as simple as 1 + 1, resulting in bad performance for computations in inner loops. Another example is Python's interpretation of 'truthyness'. The boolean value of an empty list is True (or rather: true) in JavaScript and False in Python. Dealing with this globally in an application would require every if-statement to feature a conversion, since in the Python construct if a: it cannot be predicted whether a holds a boolean or somthing else like a list So if a: would have to be translated to if( __istrue__ (a)), again resulting in slow performance if used in inner loops.

In Transcrypt, compiler directives embedded in the code (pragmas) are used control compilation of such constructs locally. This enables writing matrix computations using standard mathematics notation like M4 = (M1 + M2) * M3, at the same time not generating any overhead for something like perimeter = 2 * pi * radius. Syntactically, pragma's are just calls to the __pragma__ function, executed compile time rather than run time. Importing a stub module containing def __pragma__ (directive, parameters): pass allows this code to run on CPython as well, without modification. Alternatively, pragmas can be placed in comments.

Unifying the type system while avoiding name clashes

Another fundamental design choice for Transcrypt was to unify the Python and the JavaScript type system, rather than have them live next to each other, converting between them on the fly. Data conversion costs time and increases target code size as well as memory use. It burdens the garbage collector and makes interaction between Python code and JavaScript libraries cumbersome.

So the decision was made to embrace the JavaScript world, rather than to create a parallel universe. A simple example of this is the following code using the Plotly.js library:

Apart from the pragma allowing to leave out the quotes from dictionary keys, which is optional and only used for convenience, the code looks a lot like comparable JavaScript code. Note the (optional) use of list comprehensions, a facility JavaScript still lacks. The fact that Python dictionary literals are mapped to JavaScript object literals is of no concern to the developer; they can use the Plotly JavaScript documentation while writing Python code. No conversion is done behind the scenes. A Transcrypt dict IS a JavaScript object, in all cases.

In unifying the type systems, name clashes occur. Python and JavaScript strings both have a split (), but their semantics have important differences. There are many cases of such clashes and, since both Python and JavaScript are evolving, future clashes are to be expected.

To deal with these, Transcrypt supports the notion of aliases. Whenever in Python .split is used, this is translated to .py_split, a JavaScript function having Python split semantics. In native JavaScript code split will refer to the native JavaScript split function as it should. However, the JavaScript native split method can also be called from Python, where it is called js_split. While methods like these predefined aliases are available in Transcrypt, the developer can define new aliases and undefine existing ones. In this way any name clashes resulting from the unified type system can be resolved without run time penalty, since aliases do their work compile time.

Aliases also allow generation of any JavaScript identifier from a Python identifier. An example is the $ character, that is allowed as part of a name in JavaScript but forbidden in Python. Transcrypt strictly conforms Python syntax and is parsed by the native CPython parser, making its syntax identical. A piece of code using JQuery may look as follows:

Since Transcrypt uses compilation rather than interpretation, imports have to be decided upon compile time, to allow joined minification and shipment of all modules involved. To this end C-style conditional compilation is supported, as can be seen in the following code fragment:

The same mechanism is used in the Transcrypt runtime to switch between JavaScript 5 and JavaScript 6 code:

In this way optimizations in newer JavaScript versions are taken into account, retaining backward compatibility. In some cases, the possibility for optimization is preferred over isomorphism:

Some optimizations are optional, such as the possibility to activate call caching, resulting in repeated calls to inherited methods being done directly, rather than through the prototype chain.

Static versus dynamic typing: Scripting languages growing mature

There has been a resurgence in appreciation of the benefits of static typing, with TypeScript being the best known example. In Python, as opposed to JavaScript, static typing syntax is an integral part of the language and supported by the native parser. Type checking itself, however, is left to third party tools, most notably mypy, a project from Jukka Lehtosalo with regular contributions of Python initiator Guido van Rossum. To enable efficient use of mypy in Transcrypt, the Transcrypt team contributed a lightweight API to the project, that makes it possible to activate mypy from another Python application without going through the operating system. Although mypy is still under development, it already catches an impressive amount of typing errors at compile time. Static type checking is optional and can be activated locally by inserting standard type annotations. A trivial example of the use of such annotations is the mypy in-process API itself:

As illustrated by the example, static typing can be applied where appropriate, in this case in the signature of the run function, since that is the part of the API module that can be seen from the outside by other developers. If anyone misinterprets the parameter types or the return type of the API, mypy will generate a clear error message, referring to the file and line number where the mismatch occurs.

The concept of dynamic typing remains central to languages like Python and JavaScript, because it allows for flexible data structures and helps to reduce the amount of source code needed to perform a certain task. Source code size is important, because to understand and maintain source code, the first thing that has to happen is to read through it. In that sense, 100 kB of Python source code offers a direct advantage over 300 kB of C++ source that has the same functionality, but without the hard to read type definitions using templates, explicit type inspection and conversion code, overloaded constructors and other overloaded methods, abstract base classes to deal with polymorphic data structures and type dependent branching.

For small scripts well below 100kB source code and written by one person, dynamic typing seems to only have advantages. Very little planning and design are needed; everything just falls into place while programming. But when applications grow larger and are no longer built by individuals but by teams, the balance changes. For such applications, featuring more than roughly 200kB source code, the lack of compile time type checking has the following consequences:

An interface featuring even one parameter that may refer to a complex, dynamically typed object structure, cannot be considered sufficiently stable to warrant separation of concerns. While this type of 'who did what, why and when' programming accounts for tremendous flexibility, it also accounts for design decisions being postponed to the very last, impacting large amounts of already written code, requiring extensive modifications.

The 'coupling and cohesion' paradigm applies. It's OK for modules to have strong coupling of design decisions on the inside. But between modules there should preferably be loose coupling, a design decision to change the inner workings of one module should not influence the others. In general, this leads to the following rules of the thumb for the choice between dynamic and static typing.

So while the current surge in static typing may seem like a regression, it isn't. Dynamic typing has earned its place and it won't go away. The opposite is also true: even a traditionally statically typed language like C# has absorbed dynamic typing concepts. But with the complexity of applications written in languages like JavaScript and Python growing, effective modularization, cooperation and unit validation strategies gain importance. Scripting languages are coming of age.

Why choose Python over JavaScript on the client?

Due to the immense popularity of programming for the web, JavaScript has drawn lots of attention and investment. There are clear advantages in having the same language on the client and on the server. An important advantage is that it becomes possible to move code from server to client in a late stage, when an application is upscaled.

Another advantage is unity of concept, allowing developers to work both on the front end and the back and without constantly switching between technologies. The desirability of decreasing the conceptual distance between the client and server part of an application has resulted in the popularity of a platform like Node.js. But at the same time, it carries the risk of expanding the 'one size fits all' reality of current web client programming to the server. JavaScript is considered a good enough language by many. Recent versions finally start to support features like class based OO (be it in the form of a thin varnish over its prototyping guts), modules and namespaces. With the advent of TypeScript, the use of strict typing is possible, though incorporating it in the language standard is probably some years away.

But even with these features, JavaScript isn't going to be the one language to end all languages. A camel may resemble a horse designed by a committee, but it never becomes one. What the browser language market needs, in fact what any free market needs, is diversity. It means that the right tool can be picked for the job at hand. Hammers for nails, and screwdrivers for screws. Python was designed with clean, concise readability in mind right from the start. The value of that shouldn't be underestimated.

JavaScript will probably be the choice of the masses in programming the client for a long time to come. But for those who consider the alternative, what matters to continuity is the momentum behind a language, as opposed to an implementation of that language. So the most important choice is not which implementation to use, but which language to choose. In that light Python is an effective and safe choice. Python has a huge mindshare and there's a growing number of browser implementations for it, approaching the golden standard of CPython closer and closer while retaining performance.

While new implementations may supersede existing ones, this process is guided by a centrally guarded consensus over what the Python language should entail. Switching to another implementation will always be easier than switching to the next JavaScript library hype or preprocessor with proprietary syntax to deal with its shortcomings. Looking at the situation in the well-established server world, it is to be expected that multiple client side Python implementations will continue to exist side by side in healthy competition. The winner here is the language itself: Python in the browser is there to stay.

Jacques de Hooge MSc is a C++/Python developer living in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. After graduating from the Delft University of Technology, department of Information Theory, he started his own company, GEATEC engineering, specializing in Realtime Controls, Scientific Computation, Oil and Gas Prospecting and Medical Imaging.He is a part-time teacher at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, where he teaches C++, Python, Image Processing, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Realtime Embedded Systems and Linear Algebra. Currently he's developing cardiological research software for the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. Also he is the initiator and the lead designer of the Transcrypt open source project.

Visit link:
Transcrypt: Anatomy of a Python to JavaScript Compiler - InfoQ.com