Italy Serie A Top Goalscorer Betting Odds Football ...

Inquisitr—Mystery Deepens Over Why Kremlin Bank CEO’s Plane Remains In Florida, 50 Miles From Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago
(1/5/2020) “Almost 24 hours after landing at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) in Florida early on Saturday morning, as The Inquisitr reported, a private jet frequently used by the CEO of Russia’s largest state-owned-bank remained on the ground there—about 50 miles south of Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach where Donald Trump is vacationing until Sunday afternoon.
Whether Sberbank CEO German Gref† was aboard the plane when it arrived on a 12-hour, 23-minute nonstop flight from Moscow remains unconfirmed. Russian media has reported that the plane, a Gulfstream G650 operated by Jet Air Group with the tail number RA-10204, is used frequently and perhaps exclusively by Gref.
(UPDATE: According to flight records posted by the site FlightAware, the Sberbank jet departed Fort Lauderdale at 12:23 a.m. EST on Sunday morning, just 21 hours and 34 minutes after it arrived from Moscow—where it landed on the return trip at 6:17 p.m. local time, or 10:17 a.m. EST, a nine-hour, 53 minute flight.)
Flight records posted to Twitter show that the plane made the same nonstop flight from Moscow to Fort Lauderdale last year, on the same dates. On January 4, 2019, the plane landed in Fort Lauderdale at 2:49 a.m., according to the records. In 2020, the plane arrived at the same airport on the same date, landing at 2:31 a.m.
Last year, however, Trump did not spend his holiday break at his Mar-a-Lago Club, remaining in the White House during what was then an ongoing government shutdown. On January 4,Trump was indeed present at Mar-a-Lago but left the estate at 9:55 a.m.—six hours and 24 minutes after the Sberbank jet touched down—to visit Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. He remained at the golf club until 3:12 p.m., according to a public schedule posted by FactBase.
Sberbank has been under United States economic sanctions since 2014, over its involvement in Russia’s annexation of the territory of Crimea from Ukraine. In November 2013, however, Gref himself co-hosted a party honoring Trump in Moscow, during Trump’s visit there for the Miss Universe beauty pageant, according to a report by The Daily Beast. Trump was then the owner of the pageant.
Following Trump’s return to the United States following the 2013 event, he received a mysterious ‘gift’ from Russian President Vladimir Putin. The gift was reportedly ‘a black lacquered box’, but the contents of the box have never been publicly revealed.
Like the contents of the ‘gift’ from Putin to Trump, the purpose of the Sberbank private jet’s trip to Florida from Moscow is also a mystery, even as the plan sits on the tarmac at Fort Lauderdale airport as of 1:30 a.m. EST on Sunday.
According to the online flight records from 2019, the Gulfstream private jet departed from Fort Lauderdale 30 hours and 11 minutes after landing there, making another nonstop flight back to Sheremetyevo Alexander S. Pushkin International Airport (SVO) in Moscow.” http://web.archive.org/web/20200106153745/https://www.inquisitr.com/5821555/kremlin-bank-ceo-jet-florida-donald-trump
†Herman (German) Gref:
[“Sberbank, headed by Herman Gref, the other co-chair of Putin’s A.I. board, is also among the banks providing biometric services that feed into the Digital Profile System.” – Claims Journal (2019)]
•Vedomosti (Russia)—Sberbank Invested in Facial Recognition Technology (11/17/2017) “Sberbank Recognizes a Customer by Sight: The Bank intends to provide biometric access to any of its services.” http://vedomosti.ru/technology/articles/2017/11/17/742077-raspoznavaniya-lits (http://archive.is/sbLOR) [Translated]
•Bloomberg—The Day Trump Came to Moscow: Oligarchs, Miss Universe and Nobu (12/21/2016) “Meeting with top group of Russian financiers, industrialists; They discussed a possible Trump Tower and inspected sites The last time Donald Trump made an appearance in Moscow was November 2013 for the Miss Universe contest he famously owned. It was a glittering event filled with carefully choreographed photographs and parties. Then another, more private, invitation arrived: Come to Nobu to meet more than a dozen of Russia’s top businessmen, including Herman Gref, the chief executive officer of state-controlled Sberbank PJSC, Russia’s biggest bank. Gref, who was President Vladimir Putin’s economy minister from 2000 to 2007, organized the meeting together with Aras Agalarov, the founder of Crocus Group, one of the country’s largest real-estate companies, which was hosting the beauty pageant at one of its concert halls.” http://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-21/the-day-trump-came-to-moscow-oligarchs-miss-universe-and-nobu (http://archive.is/7X1bc)
•NBC News—Putin Rival Ties Kushner Meeting to Kremlin Bankers (10/17/2017) “A prominent exiled Russian oligarch said in an exclusive interview with NBC News that he is nearly certain Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to collaborate with the Trump campaign, and that he believes a top Russian banker was not ‘acting on his own behalf’ when he held a controversial meeting with Jared Kushner last December. The pointed remarks come from a longtime Putin rival, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an oil executive who was Russia's richest man before he was imprisoned and exiled by the Kremlin. ’I am almost convinced that Putin's people have tried to influence the U.S. election in some way’, Khodorkovsky told MSNBC’s Ari Melber in his first U.S. television interview since Trump took office. [...] His former head of human resources, Sergey Gorkov, now runs a Kremlin bank and met with Kushner in December last year. The U.S. has accused Gorkov's bank of providing cover for Russian spies. Khodorkovsky says Gorkov was a ‘fine employee’ who ‘carries out orders’, suggesting the banker would not have been acting alone in meeting with a senior figure of the incoming Trump administration. ‘I have no doubt that he wouldn’t do anything on his own behalf’, Khodorkovsky said. Khodorkovsky also said he believes Gorkov's orders come from either Andrey Kostin or Herman [German] Gref, who both run Kremlin-backed banks that were sanctioned by the Obama administration.” http://web.archive.org/web/20190706131958/https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/putin-rival-ties-kushner-meeting-kremlin-bankers-n811631 [“Hermann Gräf, better known as Herman Gref*, is a Russian politician and businessman. He was the Minister of Economics and Trade of Russia from May 2000 to September 2007. He is the CEO and chairman of the executive board of Sberbank, the largest Russian bank.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Gref]
•Fast Company—Russia’s Largest Bank Just Launched a State-Of-The-Art Coding School to Ease Dependence on Western Tech; Sberbank, which is currently under U.S. sanctions and whose CEO [Gref] has ties to Trump, launched School 21 in Moscow last week. (11/30/2018) “The biggest bank in Russia, which has been under U.S. sanctions since 2014, just launched a state-of-the-art coding school in Moscow that aims to train thousands of world-class software engineers in the arts of cybersecurity, gaming, and the latest AI technology for years to come. School 21, which operates under the umbrella of Ecole 42, a global pioneer in IT education backed by French billionaire Xavier Niel, is wholly owned by Sberbank. It is free, open to aspiring coders from 18 to 30 years old, and has 21 levels of proficiency. The school is highly competitive—its inaugural program has a class of 500 students out of more than 85,000 applicants, and the plan is to scale up to 2,500 a year in the long term, according to Business FM radio station. Sberbank told Fast Company that it plans to run two more application cycles next year, one in the winter and one in the spring, and that it might open a second office in St. Petersburg. The school’s launch is raising concerns about Russia training thousands of highly skilled cyber specialists at a time when the United States is expanding its sanctions against Russian entities, including Sberbank-xbacked properties, and amid heightened tensions in Europe last week over a naval skirmish between Russian and Ukraine in the Kerch Strait. It also comes against the backdrop of the Russian government’s disinformation efforts in elections around the globe, which the Kremlin has vehemently denied. In addition, Sberbank has been in the spotlight due to the history of high-level connections between the bank’s leadership, the Russian government and Donald Trump’s associates before he became U.S. president. It was bank chairman Herman Gref who set up Trump’s meeting with Russian businessmen during the Miss Universe pageant in 2013 in Moscow, an event which Sberbank co-sponsored, while Trump was exploring building a Trump Tower in Moscow. Trump’s hotel plans are making headlines again this week due to the plea deal that Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen negotiated with the Mueller probe–Cohen admitted that he lied when he previously claimed that the deal fell through in January 2016, now conceding that talks for a Trump Tower in Moscow continued up until June 2016.’ Russia’s largest bank just launched a state-of-the-art coding school to ease dependence on Western tech; Sberbank, which is currently under U.S. sanctions and whose CEO has ties to Trump, launched School 21 in Moscow last week.” http://web.archive.org/web/20181201002817/https://www.fastcompany.com/90274333/russias-largest-bank-just-launched-a-coding-school-to-ease-dependence-on-western-tech
•Claims Journal—Vladimir Putin Wants Everyone to Love the Way He Watches Them (10/22/2019) “Officials in Moscow have spent the last few years methodically assembling one of the most comprehensive video-surveillance operations in the world. The public-private network of as many as 200,000 cameras records 1.5 billion hours of footage a year that can be accessed by 16,000 government employees, intelligence officers and law-enforcement personnel. Now the entire system is about to be equipped with what City Hall is billing as some of the most advanced facial-recognition software outside of China, claiming it will be more accurate and easier to search than London’s older, bigger network. The upgrade will dramatically expand a pilot program that led to the capture of as many as 10 wanted criminals a month either at major public events or inside the city’s warren of 269 metro stations. Moscow’s embrace of the technology, which the West is increasingly curtailing in response to public pressure, is being challenged in courts on political and legal grounds by opponents of President Vladimir Putin. But the monitoring tool is just one of several Russia is deploying, including mandatory recordings of all cellular calls. Many of the initiatives are based on recent advances in artificial intelligence, a science Putin sees as the ticket to global domination for whichever nation masters it first. Putin and lieutenants led by Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin say measures such as geolocating every active in the country, creating ‘digital profiles’ of each adult and collating online complaints against authorities are all necessary to ensure public safety and improve services. They’re betting most voters will accept further privacy curbs like the facial-recognition rollout in exchange for safer streets and greater convenience in their daily lives. ‘We’re conducting experiments in schools, clinics, hospitals and in transport to introduce this technology, which, of course, will facilitate the work of a huge number of people and make these industries more efficient’, Sobyanin told Putin at a meeting on artificial intelligence earlier this year. While so-called authoritarian tech, from automatic people trackers to online censorship bots, has triggered a worldwide debate about the proper balance between governing and surveilling, Moscow has so far made a better case for Big Brother than most cities. Russia’s capital ranks No. 1 among 40 metropolises in the latest UN survey of ‘e-government effectiveness in the delivery of public services’. London, by comparison, is fourth, Shanghai 11th and New York 14th. [...] Sberbank, headed by Herman Gref, the other co-chair of Putin’s A.I. board, is also among the banks providing biometric services that feed into the Digital Profile System. The support of Gref is vital to the success of the program because Sberbank serves as a payment agent for most household bills in addition to safeguarding almost half of the country’s savings. Gref is fond of repeating the mantra ‘big data is the new oil’, but privacy experts say the concentration of so much personal information in a single database will make Russia an ideal target for identity thieves, not unlike Equifax Inc. The U.S. consumer-scorer was breached in 2017, exposing the credit histories of more than 145 million people. (Sberbank itself was the victim of a data leak affecting as many as 60 million clients, Kommersant reported this month. The bank said the incident impacted just 5,000 holders of its credit cards.) Potentially more worrisome in a country routinely accused of harassing the political opposition is that the new database could be a precursor of the kind of ‘social credit’ system China is developing. It’s a name-and-shame way to keep tabs on the behavior of the population by issuing grades, with demerits applied for things like smoking or circulating whatever’s deemed fake news. In 2016, the company launched the FindFace website and application. With the help of it, it was possible to find a person’s profile in VKontakte in a few seconds. The launch of the ‘innovation dating service’, as the company initially positioned it, provoked a series of scandals—users deanonimized not only fellow travelers in the subway, but porn actresses and rally participants, the technology was used even by the Bellingcat investigation team. And then they told about the application in the ‘Wait for me’ program on Channel One, and NtechLab, as Kabakov said, began to receive ‘five offers of cooperation per day’. Now the founders explain that FindFace was just a showcase that helped pitch technology. For example, with help from FindFace German [Herman] Gref† deanonimized his secretary within one second after being introduced to the algorithm, according to someone familiar with the head of Sberbank. But in 2018 both the site and the FindFace application were unexpectedly closed. This had to be done because of possible complaints, including from VKontakte, says one of the interlocutors of The Bell. Spending time and money on the courts did not make sense; the founders of NtechLab already understood that they would not make money on recognizing pretty girls.” http://web.archive.org/web/20191024034256/https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/international/2019/10/22/293704.htm
•The Moscow Times—Russia To Grant Police Access to Bank Customers’ Biometric Data (12/19/2017) “Russia’s police and intelligence services will gain access to bank customers’ biometric data without their consent under new legislation making its way through the State Duma. Russia’s Communications Ministry and the Central Bank are overseeing a pilot project that will use personal biometric data to remotely verify bank account applications by late 2018. The Rostelecom state telecoms provider will operate the project, despite widespread concerns over state surveillance, data storage and privacy rights. A state deputy co-authoring the bill was cited as saying that ‘law enforcement officers will not have unlimited access to the system’ and that data would only be provided after official requests, the Vedomosti business daily reported Tuesday. According to the draft bill, Rostelecom would be required to share bank customers’ biometric data without their consent with Russia’s Interior Ministry and Federal Security Service (FSB). The data collected will include facial images and voice recordings, and may be expanded to iris recognition, palm and fingerprint scanning, according to Rostelecom. ‘If a person is law abiding then they will have no reason to worry’, Elman Mekhtiev, the vice-president of the Russian Association of Banks, was cited as saying by Vedomosti.” http://web.archive.org/web/20191121205917/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2017/12/19/russia-to-grant-police-access-to-bank-customers-biometric-data-a59987
•The Moscow Times—Moscow Arrests 42 Suspects Using New Facial Recognition Technology in Metro Stations (5/24/2018) “A pilot project implementing facial recognition technology in Moscow has reportedly led to the arrests of 42 suspects in a month. Moscow has ramped up video surveillance ahead of the FIFA World Cup that kicks off in three weeks, including with facial recognition capabilities at metro stations capable of identifying 20 faces per second. Around 50,000 photographs of wanted suspects have been uploaded into the Moscow metro system, the state-owned Sberbank vice president Stanislav Kuznetsov told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency Thursday. ‘As a result, 42 repeat offenders were detained at four metro stations in a month,’ Kuznetsov was quoted as saying. He said Sberbank CEO German Gref plans to discuss expanding the facial-recognition system beyond four metro stations with Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin at the annual economic forum underway in St. Petersburg. Sberbank acquired a stake in the VisionLabs facial recognition company last fall to create a ‘unique biometric identifier’ involving face, voice and retina identification.” http://themoscowtimes.com/news/moscow-arrests-42-suspects-using-new-facial-recognition-technology-in-metro-stations-61567 (http://archive.is/qU8WU)
•The Bell (Russia)—The Russian Elite is Jostling to Solve Putin’s “2024 Problem” (7/20/2019) “This week we look at how a senior official wants President Vladimir Putin stay in power after his current term ends in 2024. We also explain why protests over the exclusion of independent candidates from local elections is a sign of a system under strain, and how Moscow is set to roll-out one of the world’s biggest face recognition systems. The Russian elite is jostling to solve Putin’s ‘2024 problem’ The speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, this week publicly offered a solution to Putin’s ‘2024 problem’—what to do about the constitutional limit on two consecutive presidential terms. Volodin, who was previously oversaw domestic politics in the Kremlin, published an article (Rus) in the State Duma’s official magazine laying out his idea for changing the constitution to give parliament more authority. [...] Why the world should care: The Russian elite is increasingly obsessed with the ‘2024 problem’, and jostling within the elite is already well underway. At present, a variation of Volodin’s plan seems the most likely outcome. [...] Protests over Moscow’s local elections highlight cracks in the system: If the Kremlin wants to keep Putin in power beyond 2024, it will have to improve the functioning of its political management machine. Anger this week over local elections in the capital revealed how the system is faltering: the authorities’ ineptitude turned the vote—in which no one was interested—into a trigger for repeated demonstrations† in downtown Moscow. [...] Why the world should care: The Kremlin’s political management machine is coping less well with each passing election, and their failure in Moscow significant—in a crisis, the country’s fate will be decided in the capital. This is a bad sign ahead of the 2021 Duma elections, and a blow to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, whose name appears in discussions of presidential candidates in 2024. Moscow is set to install a state-of-the-art face recognition system: While paranoid internet users across the world call for a boycott of FaceApp, the Russian app that generates an image of an elderly you, Moscow City Hall is building the world’s largest face recognition system. Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, will take part in development and has already collected the biometrical data of tens of millions of Russians. - Moscow City Hall announced a tender this year for 105,000 video cameras with face recognition software. As of now, only 1,500 have been installed, but the police have already used them to identify and arrest about 100 criminals. According to The Bell’s calculations, the new system will cost no less than $50 million, a price tag that the city can easily afford. - There are three main bidders: Ntechlab, which was founded by people close to the Presidential Administration and two companies in which Sberbank is a shareholder: Speech Technology Center and VisionLabs. - Market sources say that Moscow’s face recognition system, once rolled out, will only be comparable in size with systems already in place in China. - Sberbank looks well placed to provide the raw data to make the system work. Since last year, the bank has been collecting biometric data from its clients (93 million people), and in December, CEO German [Herman] Gref said they already have data from ‘millions of people’. Why the World Should Care: Concentrating resources could mean Russia becomes the world’s number two player in face recognition systems. Remember this when you visit Moscow, walk the city’s streets and see the mounted cameras on every building.” http://web.archive.org/web/20190801101206/http://thebell.io/en/the-russian-elite-is-jostling-to-solve-putin-s-2024-problem
[“A more advanced operation could use the full suite of services utilized by companies to track political attitudes on social media across all congressional districts, analyze who is most likely to vote and where, and then launch, almost instantly, a customized campaign at a highly localized level to discourage voting in the most vulnerable districts. Such a campaign, due to its highly personalized structure, would likely have significant impact on voting behavior.” – Brookings Institution (2008)]
•Brookings Institution—Weapons of the Weak: Russia and AI-driven Asymmetric Warfare (2018) “‘Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind. It comes with colossal opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to predict. Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.’ – Russian President Vladimir Putin, 2017 Speaking to Russian students on the first day of the school year in September 2017, Putin squarely positioned Russia in the technological arms race for artificial intelligence (AI). Putin’s comment signaled that, like China and the United States, Russia sees itself engaged in direct geopolitical competition with the world’s great powers, and AI is the currency that Russia is betting on. [...] Currently, Moscow is pursuing investments in at least two directions: select conventional military and defense technologies where the Kremlin believes it can still hold comparative advantage over the West and high-impact, low-cost asymmetric warfare to correct the imbalance between Russia and the West in the conventional domain. The former—Russia’s development and use of AI-driven military technologies and weapons—has received significant attention. AI has the potential to hyperpower Russia’s use of disinformation... And unlike in the conventional military space, the United States and Europe are ill-equipped to respond to AI-driven asymmetric warfare in the information space. The latter—the implications of AI for asymmetric political warfare—remains unexplored. Yet, such nonconventional tools—cyber-attacks, disinformation campaigns, political influence, and illicit finance—have become a central tenet of Russia’s strategy toward the West and one with which Russia has been able to project power and influence beyond its immediate neighborhood. In particular, AI has the potential to hyperpower Russia’s use of disinformation—the intentional spread of false and misleading information for the purpose of influencing politics and societies. And unlike in the conventional military space, the United States and Europe are ill-equipped to respond to AI-driven asymmetric warfare (ADAW) in the information space. Russian Information Warfare at Home and Abroad: Putin came to power in 2000, and since then, information control and manipulation has become a key element of the Kremlin’s domestic and foreign policy. At home, this has meant repression of independent media and civil society, state control of traditional and digital media, and deepening government surveillance. For example, Russia’s surveillance system, SORM (System of Operative-Search Measures) allows the FSB (Federal Security Service) and other government agencies to monitor and remotely access ISP servers and communications without the ISPs’ knowledge. In 2016, a new package of laws, the so-called Yarovaya amendments, required telecom providers, social media platforms, and messaging services to store user data for three years and allow the FSB access to users’ metadata and encrypted communications. While there is little known information on how Russian intelligence agencies are using these data, their very collection suggests that the Kremlin is experimenting with AI-driven analysis to identify potential political dissenters. The government is also experimenting with facial recognition technologies in conjunction with CCTV. Moscow alone has approximately 170,000 cameras, at least 5,000 of which have been outfitted with facial expression recognition technology from NTechLabs. Still, Moscow’s capacity to control and surveil the digital domain at home remains limited, as exemplified by the battle between the messaging app Telegram and the Russian government in early 2018. Telegram, one of the few homegrown Russian tech companies, refused to hand over its encryption keys to the FSB in early 2018. What followed was a haphazard government attempt to ban Telegram by blocking tens of millions of IP addresses, which led to massive disruptions in unrelated services, such as cloud providers, online games, and mobile banking apps. Unlike Beijing, which has effectively sought to censor and control the internet as new technologies have developed, Moscow has not been able to implement similar controls preemptively. The result is that even a relatively small company like Telegram is able to outmaneuver and embarrass the Russian state. Despite such setbacks, however, Moscow seems set to continue on a path toward ‘digital authoritarianism’—using its increasingly unfettered access to citizens’ personal data to build better microtargeting capabilities that enhance social control, censor behavior and speech, and curtail counter-regime activities. Under Putin, Cold War-era ‘active measures’—overt or covert influence operations aimed at influencing public opinion and politics abroad—have been revived and adapted to the digital age. Externally, Russian information warfare (informatsionaya voyna) has become part and parcel of Russian strategic thinking in foreign policy. Moscow has long seen the West as involved in an information war against it—a notion enshrined in Russia’s 2015 national security strategy, which sees the United States and its allies as seeking to contain Russia by exerting ‘informational pressure…’ in an ‘intensifying confrontation in the global information arena.’ Under Putin, Cold War-era ‘active measures’—overt or covert influence operations aimed at influencing public opinion and politics abroad—have been revived and adapted to the digital age. Information warfare (or information manipulation) has emerged as a core component of a broader influence strategy. At the same time, the line between conventional (or traditional) and nonconventional (or asymmetric) warfare has blurred in Russian military thinking. ‘The erosion of the distinction between war and peace, and the emergence of a grey zone’ has been one of the most striking developments in the Russian approach to warfare, according to Chatham House’s Keir Giles. Warfare, from this perspective, exists on a spectrum in which ‘political, economic, informational, humanitarian, and other nonmilitary measures’ are used to lay the groundwork for last resort military operations. The importance of information warfare on the spectrum of war has increased considerably in 21st century warfare, according to contemporary Russian military thought. Maskirovka, the Soviet/Russian term for the art of deception and concealment in both military and nonmilitary operations, is a key concept that figures prominently into Russian strategic thinking. The theory is broader than the narrow definition of military deception. In the conventional military domain, it includes the deployment of decoys, camouflage, and misleading information to deceive the enemy on the battlefield. The use of ‘little green men,’ or unmarked soldiers and mercenaries, in Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 is one example of maskirovka in military practice. So is the use of fake weapons and heavy machinery: one Russian company is producing an army of inflatable missiles, tanks, and jets that appear real in satellite imagery. Maskirovka, as a theory and operational practice, also applies to nonmilitary asymmetric operations. Modern Russian disinformation and cyber attacks against the West rely on obfuscation and deception in line with the guiding principles of maskirovka. During the 2016 U.S. Presidential elections, for example, Russian citizens working in a troll factory in St. Petersburg, known as the Internet Research Agency (IRA), set up fake social media accounts pretending to be real Americans. These personas then spread conspiracy theories, disinformation, and divisive content meant to amplify societal polarization by pitting opposing groups against each other. The IRA troll factory itself, while operating with the knowledge and support of the Kremlin and the Russian intelligence services, was founded and managed by proxy: a Russian oligarch known as ‘Putin’s chef,’ Yevgeny Prigozhin. Concord, a catering company controlled by Prigozhin, was the main funder and manager of the IRA, and it went to great lengths to conceal the company’s involvement, including the setting up a web of fourteen bank accounts to transfer funding to the IRA. Such obfuscation tactics were designed to conceal the true source and goals of the influence operations in the United Stated while allowing the Kremlin to retain plausible deniability if the operations were uncovered—nonconventional maskirovka in practice. On the whole, Russia’s limited financial resources, the shift in strategic thinking toward information warfare, and the continued prevalence of maskirovka as a guiding principle of engagement, strongly suggest that in the near term, Moscow will ramp up the development of AI-enabled information warfare. Russia will not be the driver or innovator of these new technologies due its financial and human capital constraints. But, as it has already done in its attacks against the West, it will continue to co-opt existing commercially available technologies to serve as weapons of asymmetric warfare. AI-driven Asymmetric Warfare: The Kremlin’s greatest innovation in its information operations against the West has not been technical. Rather, Moscow’s savviness has been to recognize that: (1) ready-made commercial tools and digital platforms can be easily weaponized; and (2) digital information warfare is cost-effective and high-impact, making it the perfect weapon of a technologically and economically weak power. AI-driven asymmetric warfare (ADAW) capabilities could provide Russia with additional comparative advantage. Digital information warfare is cost-effective and high-impact, making it the perfect weapon of a technologically and economically weak power. U.S. government and independent investigations into Russia’s influence campaign against the United States during the 2016 elections reveal the low cost of that effort. Based on publicly available information, we know that the Russian effort included: the purchase of ads on Facebook (estimated cost $100,000)27 and Google (approximate cost $4,700), set up of approximately 36,000 automated bot accounts on Twitter, operation of the IRA troll farm (estimated cost $240,000 over the course of two years), an intelligence gathering trip carried out by two Russian agents posing as tourists in 2014 (estimated cost $50,000), production of misleading or divisive content (pictures, memes, etc.), plus additional costs related to the cyber attacks on the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign. In sum, the total known cost of the most high-profile influence operation against the United States is likely around one million dollars. The relatively low level of investment produced high returns. On Facebook alone, Russian linked content from the IRA reached 125 million Americans. This is because the Russian strategy relied on ready-made tools designed for commercial online marketing and advertising: the Kremlin simply used the same online advertising tools that companies would use to sell and promote its products and adapted them to spread disinformation. Since the U.S. operation, these tools and others have evolved and present new opportunities for far more damaging but increasingly low-cost and difficult-to-attribute ADAW operations. Three threat vectors in particular require immediate attention. First, advances in deep learning are making synthetic media content quick, cheap, and easy to produce. AI-enabled audio and video manipulation, so-called ‘deep fakes,’ is already available through easy-to-use apps such as Face2Face, which allows for one person’s expressions to be mapped onto another face in a target video. Video to Video Synthesis can synthesize realistic video based a baseline of inputs. Other tools can synthesize realistic photographs of AI-rendered faces, reproduce videos and audio of any world leader, and synthesize street scenes to appear in a different season. Using these tools, China recently unveiled an AI made news anchor. As the barriers of entry for accessing such tools continue to decrease, their appeal to low-resource actors will increase. Whereas most Russian disinformation content has been static (e.g., false news stories, memes, graphically designed ads), advances in learning AI will turn disinformation dynamic (e.g. video, audio). Because audio and video can easily be shared on smart phones and do not require literacy, dynamic disinformation content will be able to reach a broader audience in more countries. For example, in India, false videos shared through Whatsapp incited riots and murders. Unlike Facebook or Twitter, Whatsapp (owned by Facebook) is an end-to-end encrypted messaging platform, which means that content shared via the platform is basically unmonitored and untraceable. The ‘democratization of disinformation’ will make it difficult for governments to counter AI-driven disinformation. Advances in machine learning are producing algorithms that ‘continuously learn how to more effectively replicate the appearance of reality,’ which means that ‘deep fakes cannot easily be detected by other algorithms.’ Russia, China, and others could harness these new publicly available technologies to undermine Western soft power or public diplomacy efforts around the world. Debunking or attributing such content will require far more resources than the cost of production, and it will be difficult if not impossible to do so in real time. Second, advances in affective computing and natural language processing will make it easier to manipulate human emotions and extract sensitive information without ever hacking an email account. In 2017, Chinese researchers created an ‘emotional chatting machine’ based on data users shared on Weibo, the Chinese social media site. As AI gains access to more personal data, it will become increasingly customized and personalized to appeal to and manipulate specific users. Coupled with advances in natural learning processing, such as voice recognition, this means that affective systems will be able to mimic, respond to, and predict human emotions expressed through text, voice, or facial expressions. Some evidence suggests that humans are quite willing to form personal relationships, share deeply personal information, and interact for long periods of time with AI designed to form relationships. These systems could be used to gather information from high value targets—such as intelligence officers or political figures—by exploiting their vices and patterns of behavior. Advances in affective computing and natural language processing will make it easier to manipulate human emotions and extract sensitive information without ever hacking an email account. Third, deep fakes and emotionally manipulative content will be able to reach the intended audience with a high degree of precision due to advances in content distribution networks. ‘Precision propaganda’ is the set of interconnected tools that comprise an ‘ecosystem of services that enable highly targeted political communications that reach millions of people with customized messages.’ The full scope of this ecosystem, which includes data collection, advertising platforms, and search engine optimization, aims to parse out audiences in granular detail and identify new receptive audiences will be ‘supercharged’ by advances in AI. The content that users see online is the end product of an underlying multi-billion dollar industry that involves thousands of companies that work together to assess individuals’ preferences, attitudes, and tastes to ensure maximum efficiency, profitability, and real-time responsiveness of content delivery. Russian operations (as far as we know), relied on the most basic of these tools. But, as Ghosh and Scott suggest, a more advanced operation could use the full suite of services utilized by companies to track political attitudes on social media across all congressional districts, analyze who is most likely to vote and where, and then launch, almost instantly, a customized campaign at a highly localized level to discourage voting in the most vulnerable districts. Such a campaign, due to its highly personalized structure, would likely have significant impact on voting behavior. Once the precision of this distribution ecosystem is paired with emotionally manipulative deep fake content delivered by online entities that appear to be human, the line between fact and fiction will cease to exist. And Hannah Arendt’s prediction of a world in which there is no truth and no trust may still come to pass.“ http://www.brookings.edu/research/weapons-of-the-weak-russia-and-ai-driven-asymmetric-warfare (http://archive.is/mMlyN)

Stream®Online Arsenal vs AC Milan live stream
Story image for Arsenal vs AC Milan Live Stream from CBSSportscom How to watch CBSSportscom17 hours ago Arsenal and AC Milan fight for a spot in the Europa League quarterfinals when they meet for their round of 16 second leg on Thursday at the Emirates Arsenal took the first leg at the San Siro 20 Here's how you can watch the match and our prediction Story image for Arsenal vs AC Milan Live Stream from Goalcom Goalcom What channel is Arsenal vs AC Milan on? Live stream details TV Mirrorcouk6 hours ago What channel is Arsenal vs AC Milan on? Live stream details TV information odds and more The Gunners Arsenal take on AC Milan at the Emirates knowing they must suffer an almighty collapse to not make the last eight of the Europa League The Gunners are perfectly positioned to go through after Arsenal vs AC Milan The gatekeeper to Alexandre Lacazette's return InternationalPain In The Arsenal1 hour ago View all Story image for Arsenal vs AC Milan Live Stream from The Sun Arsenal vs AC Milan TV channel live stream kickoff time and team The SunMar 14 2018 ARSENAL have a couple of injury concerns ahead of the Europa League clash Hector Bellerin (knee) and Nacho Monreal (back) are both slight doubts for the game Manager Arsene Wenger is also without Shkodran Mustafi (groin) Alexandre Lacazette (knee) and Santi Cazorla (plantaris injury) AC Milan Arsenal vs AC Milan TV channel live stream tickets time date MetroMar 12 2018 View all Story image for Arsenal vs AC Milan Live Stream from Sports Illustrated How to Watch AC Milan vs Arsenal Europa League Live Stream TV Sports IllustratedMar 8 2018 AC Milan hosts Arsenal at San Siro for the first leg of the Europa League round of 16 This marks the first meeting between the two teams since the round of 16 in the 2012 Champions League Arsenal is struggling at the moment having lost eight of their last 13 games The Gunners sit in sixth place in the AC Milan vs Arsenal live stream Watch Europa League online Pain In The ArsenalMar 8 2018 View all Story image for Arsenal vs AC Milan Live Stream from Goalcom AC Milan vs Arsenal TV channel live stream squad news & preview GoalcomMar 7 2018 Crisisstricken Arsenal head to Italy on Thursday to take on Serie A side AC Milan in the first leg of their Europa League last16 tie Arsene Wenger's men are on a dismal run of form and come into the game against the Rossoneri on the back of four consecutive defeats losing most recently to Brighton in the AC Milan vs Arsenal Live stream TV channel kickoff time and InternationalThe SunMar 8 2018 View all Story image for Arsenal vs AC Milan Live Stream from Pain In The Arsenal Arsenal vs Watford live stream Watch Premier League online Pain In The ArsenalMar 11 2018 Arsenal beat AC Milan on Thursday and that still matters ten times more than whatever happens at home against Watford That said there is still a game to play and for that we are here to preview the match with team news and how to watch The Gunners snapped their worst skid in 16 years when they Arsenal 30 Watford Mustafi Aubameyang and Mkhitayan all score InternationalMirrorcoukMar 11 2018 View all Story image for Arsenal vs AC Milan Live Stream from Evening Standard Arsenal vs Watford Premier League prediction and preview TV Evening StandardMar 8 2018 Arsenal vs Watford Premier League prediction and preview TV channel live streaming online start time team news lineups head to head betting tips Not since March 1995 have come away emptyhanded in four consecutive games but will be hugely buoyed by the midweek away win at AC Milan Story image for Arsenal vs AC Milan Live Stream from The Sun AC Milan vs Arsenal Prediction odds betting tips and live stream The SunMar 8 2018 Form is firmly with the Italians for this Europa League last 32 clash AC Milan are 13 games unbeaten with 10 wins while Arsenal have lost their last four in a row Patrick Cutrone one of Gattuso's favourites can't stop hitting the net with four in his last six and the 20yearold to score first in a 21 Milan win is Story image for Arsenal vs AC Milan Live Stream from Metro Arsenal must beware reborn AC Milan warns exChelsea ace MetroMar 8 2018 Former Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko has warned Arsenal that AC Milan are beginning to resemble the side he played in ahead of tonight's clash at the San Siro The Ukrainian spent seven years in Milan scoring 175 goals and becoming the club's second top scorer during a trophyladen period Story image for Arsenal vs AC Milan Live Stream from Expresscouk Arsenal v Watford LIVE STREAM How to watch Premier League ExpresscoukMar 11 2018 Arsenal are expected to recall PierreEmerick Aubameyang who was ineligible for Thursday's Europa League win Sead Kolasinac and Calum Chambers were substituted against AC Milan after suffering knocks but both may be fit Watford are assessing Jose Holebas' fitness after he picked up an ankle

MLG Pro League Matchups write up October 1 - Starting 6pm EST 11pm BST
 
Here's the link to watch it: http://tv.majorleaguegaming.com/channel/esr (as a sidenote, Puckett is off doing wedding stuff, so Rich Campbell will be pairing with Benson for shoutcaster duties)
 
(Edit - MLG just told me goal differential will be the tiebreaker. I'll put some comments about it in a reply to the main post)
So we come down to the last day of Regular Season 1 for MLG. As Carol Burnett used to say, I’m so glad we had this time together. The good news is tonight is featuring what I consider the four best teams in all of Rocket League, with a good deal of separation between them and the next tier as of this moment. The bad news is DeVoid Gaming will be facing two of them back to back, in what will be the hardest opponents they will have ever faced. If MLG could have been prescient, I bet they’d have Flipsid3 Tactics going up against Swarm Gaming, instead of both of them matching up with a common opponent in subsequent series, but everything is clearer in retrospect.
I’m going to cover the three games we have tonight - Flipsid3 Tactics v DeVoid Gaming, Swarm Gaming v DeVoid Gaming, and then I’ll cover the most obvious playoff implications. Then I’ll go over the titanic battle of the season, Cosmic Aftershock v vQ Untethered, and what that means for the playoffs. After that, I’ll have some final thoughts.
 
Flipsid3 Tactics (EU #1) v DeVoid Gaming (NA #4)
 
I consider Flipsid3 the most talented trio in all of Rocket League. Pro players have started describing the two main identities of teams as rotational or positional. Rotational is a team that moves freely between all three players depending on boost and positioning, regarding who is going to stay back, and who is going to be aggressing. Flipsid3 is the poster child for this identity, and their philosophy as executed once they brought kuxir97 on board really started the trend. It’s truly remarkable how similar all three players are on their stats through 18 games. Flipsid3 has scored the most goals, with 67 to Untethered’s 66, and they have the most assists, with 54 to 48. In fact, between kuxir97/markydooda/m1k3rules, they are 1st, 2nd, and 7th in the league in assists (among 21 players with 18 games or more).
They average 10.6 shots per game, and 3.7 goals, while tying for 2nd in saves at 4pg, allowing 1.8 goals per game.
 
While the stats won’t reflect it, DeVoid Gaming relies heavily on cougycougs to be at their best. He’s not available on Sundays, so DeVoid is not able to give their best performances there, and apparently he’s under the weather for this evening, so depending on how he feels we might not see him at all, or his comms may be severely effected. While cougycougs isn’t the defender per se, as he’s constantly moving to the opponents’ goal to put up shots, he is something of a field general when they’re playing, often calling out shot selection and counters for low5ive, zOctanez, and himself. While both low5ive and zOctanez are talented players in their own right, cougycougs is a step above, and his play tends to bring out the best in both of his teammates. If he’s not available at all, or if he’s not able to participate on comms, it’s going to be a huge disadvantage for DeVoid against two opponents they absolutely HAVE to be at their best if they hope to take a game or more.
One thing I’ll say in DeVoid Gaming’s favor, is regardless of the result, they’re very good about staying positive and supportive of one another. That’s going to be critical tonight. They’re likely to face some struggles, and feel overmatched at times. It will be important not to point fingers at teammates, and focus on getting the next goal, the next game, whatever, and don’t let the previous setback end up beating them twice through negativity or finger pointing. Again, this is something they excel at, with the even keeled low5ive, and the exuberant personality of zOctanez. Don’t get too down, and don’t necessarily get TOO up, either, although it’s fine to be excited at positive momentum. Just concentrate on the objective right in front of you.
As a comparison, btw, DeVoid Gaming averages 4 shots/g, and 1 goal/g, while allowing 3.2 goals/g.
 
Swarm Gaming (EU #2) v DeVoid Gaming (NA #4)
 
Ever since Swarm Gaming traded SikiiCEM for Stocki1997, they’ve been a team cut from that same aggressive cloth as Flipsid3. At the same time, Paschy90 has dominated the team in shots taken with 4.2pg, to De_Boer_Bros 2.6 and Stocki1997’s 3.5. They also assist on 69.5% of their shots versus Flipsid3’s 80%. There are times when it seems to me Swarm Gaming approaches the game like 3 great 1v1 players, but De_Boer_Bros assures me they keep getting better and better, as they understand one another’s styles more, which boosts they go for and when, and that critical rotational aspect of getting back to defend the goal when needed. Swarm averages 9.8 shots/g, 3.3 goals/g, while allowing an average of 1.8 goals/g.
One thing I know for certain is that it won’t be any kind of respite for DeVoid gaming, as they go from the proverbial frying pan into the fire.
There are two potential playoff ramifications for these games. One is that Swarm Gaming has a 1 game lead over Flipsid3 for the coveted #1 seed, having swept Perfect Storm while Flipsid3 lost their first game, both going 5-1 v Kings of Urban, and then splitting their series with one another at 3-3.
Flipsid3 plays DeVoid Gaming first. If they win one more game over DeVoid than Swarm does, the final record would be tied. Supposedly the tiebreakers are head to head, and then goal differential although I haven’t personally seen anything authoritative on that. For all I know MLG will set up another head to head to determine tie breakers. If it is goal differential, Flipsid3 has a commanding 7 goal lead. Given that a tie would mean Swarm lost one more game, I think it would behoove Swarm to go for clinching the #1 seed based on overall record. So if Swarm matches Flipsid3’s result or betters it in their series with DeVoid, they win the #1 seed. If they lose one more game than Flipsid3, it appears Flipsid3 would have the edge, unless MLG decides on a different formula.
On the other side, DeVoid has the same number of wins overall as Perfect Storm. They own the supposed tiebreaker by virtue of their 4-2 series win over PS. So unless I’m wrong about head to head being the first tiebreaker, DeVoid Gaming has already locked up the #4 seed and the final spot for the playoffs. To ensure there aren’t any last second changes, it would be better for DeVoid to go ahead and win at least ONE of these 12 games, then there’s no confusion. That’s actually a tall task, but if they have a cougycoug playing and being able to participate on comms, it’s doable. Without it, they’re going to need to rely on either Flipsid3 or Swarm having a bit of a down game, and take advantage of that. Both F3 and Swarm have a tendency to allow empty net goals because of their aggressive style. Get a few of those and play lock down defense, pushing the ball forward when given the opportunity, DeVoid has a chance here.
Still, overall I’m picking both series to go 6-0, with Swarm slightly likelier to lose a game than Flipsid3, barring a voganlight predicted crumbling.
 
Cosmic Aftershock (NA #1) v vQ Untethered (NA #2).
 
In 218 BC Hannibal crossed the Alps into Rome in one of the greatest military achievements in history. Today Untethered embarks upon their own Punic War. The Rocket League equivalent of Rome and Carthage, these two teams have circled around one another, waiting for a clash of titans to begin.
CA is led by a person many consider the most talented player in all of Rocket League - the one and only kronovi. An industry in and of himself, his endorsement sends twitch numbers of fellow players soaring, when he’s online, Rocket League explodes in overall viewers, his montages on Reddit are top spot material. There is no name invoked more in the Rocket League community than kronovi’s. He is the face of Rocket League for all intents and purposes. Having said that, there’s a substantive reason for it. There is nothing kronovi doesn’t excel at on the pitch, whether it’s passing, scoring, aerials, ground game, defense, wall hits...what have you. There are certain players better at one aspect or another, but no one with his overall skill set. Add to that a sharp mind for the tactical details that go into each match, regardless of version, and you have a complete package. The leading scorer in all of Rocket League with 30 goals, which averages to 1.67 goals per game, he also leads his team in shots and saves, and is tied with Gibbs at 13 assists apiece (although in fairness, no one else has played more than 6 games, while both kronovi and Gibbs have played in 18 thus far).
It will be nice to see a return of sadjunior. After a massive rush to make it to the top of the 3v3 solo rankings, I just haven’t seen a lot of sadjunior lately, whether in tournaments, scrims, or streaming solo play. Not sure if we’ll see any after effects from that tonight, but it could be a factor.
Puissant paragon of defenders, Gibbs, is often the exemplar for the positional role of goalie. However, I consider Gibbs to be an underrated scorer and playmaker. Ever since the invitational against Flipsid3 at the end of August, I’ve seen Gibbs play a more aggressive role, even when there isn’t a sub that dictates it, to emulate more of the style we see from Flipsid3 and Swarm. Look for Gibbs to seek scoring opportunities, while counting on his teammates to rotate back to cover him while he does so.
For vQ Untethered, this is their highest profile opportunity to unseat CA, yet. It’s not like they haven’t had success. They bested a kronovi-less CA in the August ESL Top 8 Invitational. They won a best of 3 on their way to a championship in a Thursday night MLG tournament. But they’ve also lost the last two Sunday weekly ESL finals they’ve faced CA in as well, going down 4-3 in one of the best series I’ve ever seen the day after the August win against a full roster CA, then doing down 4-2 in the championship once again to CA almost 3 weeks ago. That was the last time these two teams played against one another.
What makes Untethered so successful is the same thing that makes CA/F3/Swarm dominant, too. They simply have more talent on their team. I’ve always thought of Lachinio as the star, but Pluto and Vafele are also dominant in all phases of the game. In fact, if I was awarding an MVP right now for the league based on stats, it would likely be Vafele, who is among the league leaders in goals, assists, and shots, while averaging a save per game.
While they won the ESL on Sunday, with both CA and Kings of Urban out of the competition, it was a relatively easy path, with the most fiercest competition provided by a Perfect Storm featuring supersub Doomsee from EU’s Team Rocket. In the process, I thought it was hard for them to take the games seriously, even going down 2-0 early on in the tournament in part by giving up 7 empty net goals.
As far as playoff implications, this is for the #1 seed. Given that I anticipate DeVoid Gaming earning the #4 seed, and Kings Of Urban with the #3 seed, the winner here will face DeVoid Gaming in the first round of the playoffs, which is a more favorable matchup, IMO. I think bigger than that is the prestige and recognition that will come from being one of two winners of the first Pro League regular season. Obviously it won’t mean nearly as much as winning the playoffs, but it will be a nice feather in the cap.
To do so, it’s simple. CA needs to at least beat Untethered 4-2, forcing a tie in the overall record and then winning the tiebreaker based on head to head. 5-1 series win and CA wins by virtue of having an overall better record. A 3-3 series split or better by Untethered will give them the best overall record in the division, and the #1 seed.
While not as numerous as the tilts between Flipsid3 and Swarm, CA and Untethered have had some titanic battles since Pluto joined Lachinio and Vafeles to form one of the most talented teams in all of Rocket League. I fully anticipate this series to equal Flipsid3/Swarm’s 3-3 split as the most hotly contested, highest skilled level of play featuring Rocket League’s version of the 2nd Punic Wars. Hopefully there won’t be any salting of the earth at the conclusion of this one.
At this point I’m picking Cosmic Aftershock to win 4-2, and barring any surprising announcement from MLG regarding a different tiebreaker formula, earning the #1 seed slot.
 
Link to google.docs sheet compiled by my MVP of Rocket League, Cloudfuel Latest EU Rankings Latest NA Rankings
 
VIDEOS OF ALL GAMES CAN BE FOUND ON MLG'S YOUTUBE SITE! THANKS RICH!!! They try to upload them by the next day at the latest, now, if you want to review them, or you didn't get a chance to watch them when first broadcast.
 
I'll have some final thoughts on the regular season in a wrapup after MLG announces the results of Season 1, particularly after we get some clarity on any necessary tiebreakers. However, let me just say here that it's been an exciting event for the Rocket League community, and a privilege to write these for you. I'm glad so many of you have enjoyed them as much as I've had fun writing them up. I'd love to see as many of you as possible watching tonight, or barring that, check out the videos after the games themselves are done.
I'm already pumped for these playoffs on October 10 (time to be determined). They're truly going to be the biggest event by far in Rocket League's short esports history!
As always, if you have any questions or comments, or want clarification on anything I've written, feel free to drop it in the comments and I'll be glad to respond to the best of my ability.

GAME 4
4-19
#2 St. Louis Blues at #7 San Jose Sharks
Time:
10:30 PM Eastern
9:30 PM Central
8:30 PM Mountain
7:30 PM Pacific
Location: HP Pavilion, San Jose, California
Watch:
TV: NBCSN, TSN, RDS, FS-MW (HD), CSN-CA (HD)
Streams:
Firstrow
VIPBox
Wiziwig
LiveTV.ru
Listen: RADIO: KFOX 98.5/102.1
STORYLINES
The San Jose Sharks face the #2 seed St. Louis Blues in Game 4 in the best of seven Western Conference First Round Stanley Cup Playoffs in San Jose on Thursday. This is the 28th playoff series in franchise history for the Sharks (13-14) and the 4th playoff series meeting vs. the St. Louis Blues.
Previous Playoff Series vs. the Blues (all Quarterfinals series in the Western Conference) 2003-04 – the #2 seed San Jose Sharks defeat the #7 seed St. Louis Blues 4-1 2000-01 – the #4 seed St. Louis Blues defeat the #5 seed San Jose Sharks 4-3 1999-00 – the #8 seed San Jose Sharks defeat the #1 seed St. Louis Blues 4-3
RECAP GAME 3: The St. Louis Blues took Game 3 and a 2-1 series lead with a 4-3 victory in San Jose on Monday night.
The Blues grabbed a 4-1 lead early in the third period and held the Sharks off for the win. Patrick Berglund (3rd), Andy McDonald (2nd), Jason Arnott (1st), and Alex Steen (1st) scored for the Blues while Brian Elliott made 26 saves in the win. Carlo Colaiacovo added three power plays assists for St. Louis.
Brent Burns (1st), Colin White (1st), and Logan Couture (1st) scored for the Sharks and Joe Thornton assisted on all three San Jose strikes while Antti Niemi made 23 saves in the loss.
The Sharks allowed three power play goals on four chances in the defeat.
MATCH-UPS TO WATCH
With the extra day off between Games 3 and 4 in San Jose, both teams got an extra day of rest heading into Thursday night’s game. This extra day may be of an advantage to the Sharks as they can retool their penalty kill and give a few of their veterans a breather heading into Game 4.
The Blues power play came to life in Game 3 and sunk the Sharks with a 3-for-3 effort in the first 51:00 minutes. Not a good sign for the Sharks who finished 29th in the NHL in the regular season with a 76.9% on the PK and just a 73.3% PK on home ice. The Sharks need to stay out of the Box in Game 4.
THE BIG THREE: The Sharks top line of Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau , and Joe Pavelski combined for 79 goals in the regular season, but have yet to find the back of the net for three games. Thornton did add three assists in Game 3 but he and the rest of the top line need to find the back of the net…if they are still together in Game 4 – read below.
NEW LINES?:
Coach Todd McLellan inserted NHL playoff veteran Colin White for Jason Demers in Game 3 and White scored the Sharks second goal of the game.
“We can do small things in all areas of the game to get better... We can look at new line combinations, potential lineup changes. There’s a lot of things we can do.” - Sharks Head Coach Todd McLellan
Coach McLellan gave a new look during Wednesday’s morning practice to the top 4 lines:
Couture - Thornton - Pavelski Clowe - Marleau - Havlat Winnik - Handzus - Mitchell Winchester - Desjardins - Wingels
(Dominic Moore and TJ Galiardi did skate)
Brad Winchester adds some size and some grit up front on the sharks 4th line. Winchester played in 67 regular season games for San Jose and added six goals and 88 pims. Winchester has 23 games of NHL playoff experience under his belt and I am sure that he would love to stick it to his former team in the playoffs. (Winchester had a career high 13 goals with the Blues in 2008-09).
Michal Handzus, also a former Blues forward, adds a four-time 20+ NHL goal scorer to the fold. Handzus has good size (6-foot-4, 220lbs) and began his NHL career in St. Louis in 1998-99 season and went on to play almost three full seasons there. Handzus had 24 points (7-17-24) in 67 games for the Sharks this season and may get a look in Game 4.
Will Michal Handzus and Brad Winchester make their Sharks playoff debuts on Thursday? We will have to wait and see but would not be surprised if there are one or two changes heading into Game 4.
STATUS QUO?:
Ken Hitchcock inserted Chris Stewart back in the lineup for Game 3 after he sat in Game 2. No lineup changes expected in Game 4…. But will have a better idea after morning skate on Thursday.
IN GOAL:
Brian Elliott is expected to get the start for the Blues for the second straight game after stepping in relief of an injured Jaroslav Halak in Game 2. Elliott had a 1.56 GAA and a .940 save percentage during the regular season. The Sharks need to get a lot more traffic in front of Elliott to be successful in Game 4. Elliott has a 1.82 GAA and a .935 save percentage in the playoffs this season.
“What’s stopping them, I think is our goalie...They’re (San Jose) getting their looks, but out goalie is making big saves at the right time.” - Blues Head Coach Ken Hitchcock
Antti Niemi is expected to get the start for the Sharks in Game 4. Niemi has a 2.67 GAA and a .911 save percentage through the first three games of the series.
SHARK BITES
Game 4…San Jose is 14-13 all-time in Game 4’s with a 5-6 record at home all-time. The Sharks are just 1-4-0 in their last five Game 4s.
History on their side…The Sharks have not lost a Game 3 AND a Game 4 at home since the Red Wings swept the Sharks in four games in 1995.
3 PPGA….The Sharks allowed three power play goals at home in Game 3, tied for the most in franchise history. The most recent time the Sharks allowed three power play goals against on May 22, 2011 in a 4-2 loss to the Canucks.
If he is in…Michal Handzus has played in 66 games in the Stanley Cup playoffs scoring 10 goals and adding 20 assists.
Keep Firing… Logan Couture leads all Sharks players with 11 shots on goal.
BLUES NOTES
Blazing Blues…Andy McDonald is riding a three game point streak and leads the series in scoring with six points (2-4-6). McDonald has 15 goals and 32 points in 44 career playoff games.
Tons of Ice... Alex Pietrangelo leads all players in the series averaging 27:33 of ice time through three games…not too shabby for his first three NHL playoff games.
Road Goals...The Blues had a 19-16-6 record on the road this season and gave up the fewest goals in the NHL on enemy territory (92). The road teams in the NHL playoffs have a combined 17-8 record through the first 25 games, including a 3-0 record on Tuesday night.
INJURY REPORT
No injuries for the Sharks through three games other than the broken nose to Dominic Moore in Game 2 while Blues goaltender Jaroslav Halak left Game 2 with an injury and is listed as day-to-day.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING: LOGAN COUTURE
“You’ve just got to be smart.” - Logan Couture about the Sharks penalty kill.
The Sharks will have to be smart in Game 4 if they want to tie the series. However, easier said than done. The Blues have moved the puck gracefully on the point on the power play led by Shattenkirk and Pietrangelo which has made it difficult for the Sharks penalty killers this series. The best bet for the Sharks is to stay out of the box and play 5-on-5 in Game 4.
BOTTOM LINE
With the possible lineup changes and new look line combinations, the Sharks will look for a quick start and get the frenzied HP Pavilion crowd going early and often. San Jose needs to play HARD but SMART and stay out of the box in Game 4. An early goal or a strong penalty kill would work wonders for the Sharks in Game 4. Getting the series tied at 2-2 heading into Game 5 in St. Louis is almost a must and look for the Sharks to do just that in Game 4 with a complete 60 minute complete team effort. The series may be won/lost in Game 4… if the Sharks win with a complete team effort, they would carry the momentum into Game 5 in St. Louis. If the Blues win Game 4, it will most definitely be an uphill battle for the Sharks the rest of the way.
Boxscore
FINAL SCORE 1-2 Sharks Lose

As someone who likes some variety between squads, I am running 5 teams focussing on England, France, Italy, Spain and Germany. I have constantly been comparing different players from online feedback and thought I would share my teams and thoughts on the players for FUT 16 as different players started responding very differently against World Class and Legendary opposition.
England - 433(2) Lloris: Great value for this GK, who keeps Courtouis on the bench. LB: Clichy - offers a good combination of pace and defence to close down players and also provides a passing outlet when building up play with an initial speed burst to buy more time for the next pass and not lose the ball. CB: Otamendi and Koscielny - Both have served me well and recommend Koscielny as a rock at the back with great positioning on defence. RB: Clyne - Similar to Clichy, is great at helping out when attacking, good positioning for someone to pass back to and prevent losing the ball. CM: Yaya Toure - Somewhat disappointed with Yaya, the runs and positioning he makes often has him moving into contested areas and requires a quick pass to prevent the ball being lost. See a lot of turnovers, and when he is in space there is rarely an option to continue building on the pressure, usually requiring the ball to go back to defenders. Considering swapping him out for a TOTW Fabregas when I have enough coins. I found Matic's positioning dreadful for this formation, although Ramires has been the better player in general, he ventures to far forward at times. Great for overloading teams in semi-pro and pro, but when they have the wall established on World Class he leaves the midfield exposed, but is a great option for the lower-leagues and would most likely do a great job online with his pace creating the extra man. CAM: Sanchez - Has played semi-decent in CAM, mainly through the pace he adds, where he can go on a run and pass it out wide. Positioning is poor for this role in world class or legendary, but better than the alternatives (I found KDB too ineffectual, which is a shame as he is probably the best CAM in career mode). CAM: Rooney - Rooney is excellent as a CAM, great positioning and great for driving runs and also tracks back. A real terrier and the number 1 CAM in England I have found. LW: Hazard - Hazard has been a real upgrade on Depay, good positioning and a great outlet for creating an overlap on the left and cutting in. RW: Shaqiri (IF 81) - Shaqiri has added a new dimension to the RW, linking up well with the RCAM, the physical stat is a boost, however tends to go missing on World Class with the odd great game where I really need to prod down the right, although unstoppable on professional. Have not tried Willian or Mahrez IF, Walcott is a good outlet as a backup and my preference over Rare Shaqiri and Rare Willian. Was my top scorer in the lower-leagues as that pace on the overlap is deadly. He may not be physical, but with the right build up the striker or CAM could normally release him onto the throughball where he would take it from about 30 yards, driving into the box to score. I think Walcott has been a bit under rated. ST: Aguero. Aguero has been lethal when given the opportunity, especially in the lower-leagues, on World Class and legendary he has been more of a facilitator, although when the chance comes he smashes it home. Avergages a goal every 4 games on the higher settings although he is a bit restricted as the lone striker. Vardy UP is also a great option and would put him over Remy. His positioning is fantastic for a 75 card and always looks threatening.
France: 4231(2) GK IF Ruffier is a monster. The best the league has to offer although the rare Ruffier also works out fine. LB and RB: Kurzawa and Aurier respectively are similar to Glichy and Clyne how I play them. Not a lot to add. CB: Thiago and Perrin. Thiago is not the dominant boss I was expecting. There are better deals available and for a more defensive display, NKoulou is a cheaper option. Perrin has been great at staying back and breaking up play. CDM Matuidi - Absolute boss in the role. He is great for getting back and defending and a solid attacking option always finding himself in plenty of space. The heart of the team. CDM: IF Ben Arfa (83) - Not a great CDM by any stretch, but I wanted him and Ben Yedder in the squad. Positioning is good for a CDM and offers a good outlet when playing from the back and once he gets forward, the positives of a CDM in this formation is they find more opportunities to shoot from outside the box with his long shot is a good combo, but for a better all around display in the position I found Verrati to be highly effective and winning the ball back. Moutinho looks great on paper but he just never did enough in game for me. Pastore can also play this role really well with Matuidi beside him as he tend to get the ball in midfield and drive forward, with great positioning the receive the ball in space. LW: IF Boufal - Excellent LW, has been my number 1 goalscorer. Excellent positioning to create overlaps and drive into the box to beat the GK at the near post or as a relief option when playing out from the back. RW: Di Maria - An inconsistent performer, mainly as I find I really need to involve him in the game, consciously looking to play down the right, he never appears to be the obvious choice for a pass, although if you funnel attacks with him he is great for getting the ball behind the LB. I tried Lucas and did not like him, he was poor all around, with Hamouma probably being the next bet for a winger. Although he is slow, all the other attributes make him a good prospect, but he gets closed down easily. CAM: Ben Yedder IF(81). Ben Yedder is a great CAM, although arguably Fekir is possibly the better option, I am being a bit flakey and just want to play with the IF card. Good positioning when playing the ball out from the back, although this strategy tends to have him running down blind alleys, he is a good link man, just not scoring many goals with the guy. Better than Valbuena, who dominates the lower-leagues but between Fekir (the best), Valbuena or Ben Yedder (or even Ben Arfa with a different CDM) you cannot go wrong. Too many great and affordable CAMS in Ligue 1. ST: Zlatan - Zlatan is a beast of a ST. Good positioning, great strength and absolutely lethal as a finisher inside or outside the box. Cannot rely on him to latch onto a throughball he does not have the legs, but on the higher levels he is a great target man. Lacazette is a good option, but found his positioning poor on the higher levels. Although his IF would make an excellent CAM to Zlatan. Probably the best CAM and ST partnership in the game could be made with those two.
Italy (3412) The Italian league has some very dominant players and it is a lot cheaper to build a squad than the Eng, Spain and German leagues. GK: Handanovic - Great keeper, really reliable. LCB: Manolas - Fantastic in the role, great at breaking up play and playing the ball out. CB: Barzagli - Solid defender and took over from Jesus. A rock at the back. RCB: Miranda - Excellent defender, one of my favorites over the past seasons. Good pace and a beast in defence. Always reliable. LM: IF Insigne - A great option on the left, is a good outlet in buildup play and retaining the ball. Can be a bit weak and could see an argument for IF Mertens, but I have used him since the early days and has always been reliable. RM: Cuadrado - Cuadrado is excellent on the right, good pace and dribbling to beat a player or cut inside to buy yourself more time. Have found him too close to the opposition on regular occassions on world class mode, where he is contested from the pass. Candreva is someone I alternate with regularly and really like using him. I find he is better at getting into open space to accept a pass, his strength is superior so he does not get knocked off the ball, just an all around great player. Not as clinical as Cuadrado, so I use Cuadrado to create the moment of magic, but if it is consistency, Candreva is the better bet. If anyone has used Peres or IF Felipe Anderson I would love to know the feedback. CM: Pogba - Excellent player, loves to breakup play in the middle of the park and always reliable as an outlet. Awesome positioning. and overally attributes. The #1 Serie A midfielder for FUT 16. CM: IF Pjanic (87) - Excellent at creating space, he just seems to always be in the right place at the right time to take a pass and has great distribution. Excellent choice if you can add him. Special mention to Marchisio and Naingollan who are both great in CM as well, I found Marchisio a bit better as he is better at retaining the ball and dribbling under pressure to retain possesion and get a pass out, although Naingollan is better at getting it back. CAM: IF Hamsik (85). Great CAM, has excellent positioning when breaking forward, can place a great pass and very good dribbling which is critical in my game around the box when World Class park the bus. Has scored some crucial goals because of his manouverability. Special mention to Peryera and Mertens. Peryera is great to lead the line from the CAM spot, although on World Class started being found out too much and became ineffective, although a good CAM. Mertens is great at CAM and an excellent backup to Hamsik. ST: IF Higuian (89) - Very torn on this card. Lethal finisher, create room and he will score. Although I find he is difficult to create room with. Although the pace stat looks respectable I find him very sluggish to use, but credit where it is due, he does leave a mark where Morata at World Class and legendary became ineffectual. Morata destroyed the lower-leagues but was rendered useless on the higher difficulty, great all-rounder but not a master for a specific play style. I found Callejon as a CF a better option than Morata. ST: Dybala (81) - Excellent striker and although the overall is less than others, he has been the most complete striker for World Class and Legendary opposition I have used and does great work alongside Higuian. Him and Callejon or him and Mandzukic all worked well together.
Spain (451): GK Alves - For the riches of the Spanish league I found their best GK to be 83 rated Alves. He has been miles beyond the competition for me. LB: Alba - Best Rare LB I have used in the game. Excellent at tracking back and excellent and going forward providing an outlet for the midfield and an option for the LM. Great player on FUT 16. That being said I recently packed the TOTS Filipe Luis and he is other worldly. Does what Alba does but better. Always finds himself in acres of space in midfield and great at defending. Best LB in the game for me, but for what he offers, not worth the additional 90 odd thousand coins over Alba. CB: Godin and Ramos - Excellent CB pairing that boss the backline. My best CB combination, they dominate. RB: Alves - Is a solid RB and great outlet for overloading midfield when he comes forward, although gets caught out of position on a fair few occasions. CDM: Modric - Excellent in CDM for breaking up play, he is a terrier and also great at helping the CAM's. He is amazing in CDM, although Rakitic 85 is more than capable as a deputy and has been more of an attacking threat than Modric and also great at breaking up play. Cannot go wrong with either. Modric gets the nod, but if coins are a concern, Rakitic is great. CAM Iniesta: Awesome CAM for providing a good pass, great positioning and great at hassling their midfield. One of the best CAM's in the game. CAM: Rodriguez - He is inconsistent, but does help a lot in keeping possession and moving forward. More of an unnoticed contributor. I have tried Kroos and he is very much the same. Usually sub in Kroos when James or Iniesta get tired as Kroos does not do enough in defence. LM: Neymar - Ridiculously good LM. Can beat people 1 on 1, feels amazing on the ball, especially for cutting in, although his finishing leaves a lot to be desired, he is a very silky on the ball and excellent for retaining possession. If he is out of your budget I found Konoplyanka exceptional in the LM role as well. Offers a different game then Neymar but just as effective at keeping the ball although he tended to wander closer to the middle of the pitch, but very effective on the ball and great for scoring from LM. I found him better than Hazard. RM: Bale - Very inconsistent player and although great at top speed, acceleration is slow, find him difficult to use and in truth, Vela is probably the better RM player in FUT16, but when Bale has a good game and can create space he is great. I use him because he is Bale, but honestly think Vela offers more. ST: Suarez - Deadly... Great strength ridiculous positioning in the box if you cut in and play a pass (especially on professional), very complete striker who will create goals for himself and can outmuscle a defender normally once a game on world class to get a goal, or annoy the opposition into a mistake. Benzema is a great backup option if you cannot afford Suarez, normally find Benzema has better link-up play and a great finisher, just not as deadly as Suarez but a great option. I also used 84 Griezemann and although he has pace, the positioning and all other attributes were not enough, probably better suited to a CAM role, where I think he would thrive. I should actually try him there over Rodriguez.
German (3-4-2-1) My second favorite team after the French team and on paper probably my strongest or second strongest, yet this formation has been really difficult to play on World Class. I just find the LF, CF and the midfield too clogged.
GK- TOTS Karius - Great GK and has pulled off some awesome saves, although Leno is also a great option. LCB: Sokratis - A reliable defender and great for moving the ball. CB: Boateng - Rock solid CB and all around boss in the role. RCB: IF Matip (82) Consistent option (and welcome to Liverpool as a side note), has been great at breaking up attacks. CDM: Lahm - A monster in the midfield, awesome for breaking up play and great at getting into space in midfield to play the ball to. Highly recommended he is on par with Iniesta and Modric. Just bosses the game. CDM: Alaba UP - The best CDM in the game. Always in the right place at the right time, obscenely brilliant at breaking up attacks and tracking back, fantastic link up play when attacked and can go on driving runs. Can understand people using him at LB, but a beast in the middle of the park. Might be 85 rated, but he is incredible to use in midfield. Improved the entire team when I displaced Vidal with him. Must buy player. On the topic of Vidal, I found him consistent but pretty ineffectual. Was a decent sidekick to Lahm, but did just enough on defence and not a lot going forward, always out of position. CDM and this formation is probably wrong for him, but as great as the card looks, he just did not do enough, where Alaba has been an absolute revelation in that role. LM: TOTS Kostic - Somewhat unsold on this card. I unpacked it, and find he is capable of brilliance, especially driving from midfield or driving into the box, his positioning leaves a lot to be desired. Ribery on the other hand works amazing in the LM role, an absolute workhorse and great positioning, helping relieve pressure on defence and bring the ball into the oppositions half but find the final product on world class and legendary not up to scratch. Overall a better option in a lot of respects to Kostic, but Kostic can make something out of nothing when attacking. Cannot go wrong either way, but depending on how you play, Ribery may offer more of an overall game, but if you focus on attacking with Kostic, he will score more goals. It's a dilly of a pickle. RM: Robben - Have found Robben's positioning dreadful on World Class and Legendary from RM. Has a lot of abilities but really need to look for him in a game to make use of the talents. Once he has the ball at his feet he is great, but as art imitates life, find I need to make him a ball hog to notice him. LF: Reus - Excellent LF and has come into his own a lot more since Alaba joined the team. Often found him too far back, running into blind alleys, but now is coming good and has great dribbling around the box to become a real goal threat. Very solid LF. RF: IF (85) Mkhithyran - Amazing RF. Has phenomenal link up play and feels silky on the ball. Excellent positioning and a joy to use. Tried UP Costa in the role and found his positioning terrible and dribbling with him more difficult. Costa has skill moves around the box if you can master them, but for general play and overall team fit, IF Mkh has been a far superior option and well worth the additional coins. Similar to Alaba has added another dimension to the team, where Costa just seemed to congest the midfield or make runs into positions where he had no options and would lose the ball easily. ST: Lewandowski - I want to love this guy, all the right stats, but just does not do enough for me. Positioning is excellent, when breaking forward but he is too sluggish to then drive into the box and I still find him closed down easily on World Class. Great facilitator on professional, but difficult to add value on higher levels I have found. Aubameyang 84 is probably the better option and I have had more success with him on the field, but I am also trying to balance the team and play to strengths, not just pace it up as it is not as critical in 2016, as in 2015 you could make an inexpensive dutch team and destroy everyone with the pace they had. Lewandowski has a few things going for him, I am just trying to learn how to use him better, but Aubameyang is very, very good as a ST.
Anyway those are my squads and thoughts about players as I often see a lot of "who is better" questions. If anyone has any recommendations on players or queries feel free to ask.
I have found playing on World Class and Legendary to be an exercise in frustration, as it does appear stacked against you, although I have also torn apart World Class teams and it is starting to get a lot easier. What people advise is true, possession is key, and have found holding the ball for the first 7-12 mins in a game can be helpful I have found more holes start opening up after that. So the key is to use your defenders to keep possession and start again.
My most success in scoring has been with 4 at the back formations, with 1 option being the LB and RB can either run down the line and play it through the to the LM/LW or RM/RW for them to get into a 1V1 and cut inside the player and either center to striker or drive into the box, round the Cb and score.
The other option that has had most success is cutting into midfield with the RB/LB to overload midfield, pass it through to a CAM or ST with the goal of sucking the CPU's LB/RB more into midfield. When they then try to close down the CAM or the ST, your winger has an overlap with fresh air in front, and then a through ball will have them latch on and can drive into the box and smash it past the keeper near side. Don't shoot across the GK in that scenario, take the short angle. Although pace is not as important, this only works with 86 and over I have found, as slower players get caught too easily on the overlap. That is how Walcott became so effective for me, could isolate the LB and CB with my CAM and then just roll it through for him to run onto.
I also switch flanks a lot, trying to run the defence out of position.

Verified? (This bot cannot verify AMAs just yet)
Date: 2013-05-28
Link to submission (Has self-text)
Link to my post

Questions	Answers
What was the other self-publisher AMA guy not mentioning/over-exaggerating?	A lot. It's why I started this ama.
	Most of her advice is really wrong.
	Example: it costs a few pennies to self publish properly (not just sticking it up in Create Space). I have spent $500 on editing $1000 on cover art(for three books which is a steal, really) not to mention other fees for layout printing, ISBN and just time in general.
	Yes you can go on create space and publish a book on 30 seconds. But think of it like this. Just because you can drive a car doesn't mean you should take your little Toyota and race against indy cars and actually expect to win.
Here is a great article I recently found about the real costs of self-publishing: Link to www.pbs.org.	Yes! Exactly!stealing this article!
Close your parentheses and it's without, not with-out. Your $500 editor must really be earning her money.	She is... I am horrible at spelling and grammar. She edits everything I do. It's. $500 for just one project she makes a lot more than that trust me.
Actually, $500 seems pretty cheap for editing for a full length novel. What company/who did you use for your editing?	She is a one man show. Gilly's red pen. Charges $1.50/page to new clients.
Does she generally edit eroticas or other genres as well? I think I have a writer friend who might be interested in her services.	She edits anything. I'll link you to get Facebook page when I get off my phone. :-D
Step 0: Drink heavily.	Ha! I'm a member of the local Hemingway club. We go out and get drunk and write. It's for sure step 0 on those nights :)!
I'd like to start by saying something that I think Angela forgot to mention. Just because something works for one writeperson, doesn't mean it's going to work for another writeperson. I say this because I disagree with this ten-step program, while other writers might love it, and others might disagree with it even more than I do. More than anything: when it comes to writing advice that is given with the intent to blanket over all other advice is dangerous. Look for guidelines and suggestions; there are very few strict rules. If you are a diligent planner, however, then it's okay to edit fewer times. If you are writing commercially, with the intent to make money and tell a good story but not interested in the more artistic side of writing, then it's okay to edit fewer times. If you write your first draft slowly, and constantly read back every few thousand words before you begin writing again, then it's okay to edit fewer times. I also feel that the ten-steps does not put enough emphasis on someone else reading your work. This is vital. This might be one of the strict rules of writing. When you read back your own work, even after letting it sit in a drawer for a month, you'll still remember a lot of it and intuitively know what you were trying to say in each scene. You might not notice what's difficult to understand, or what's confusing, or where you had too many words in a sentence. You know what you were trying to say already, so you will likely see that. Someone else will see through all of that. Now, contacting an agent and writing a query letter is its own beast completely separate from writing your novel. This part sucks. There's no way around it. It really, really, REALLY sucks. This, in my humble opinion, is the most soul-draining, life-crushing, shitty part of being a writer. It doesn't suck because of all of the rejections--they help though, more on that below--but because of the sheer amount of work that has to go into this. Agents have their contact details listed on websites such as those I linked above. Those contact details have their own websites listed, so that you can verify the information. Now, seeing as agents are really busy people and get sent thousands of queries a year, they don't always keep this information updated. So be prepared to find conflicting information between AgentQuery and the agency's website. Do they accept fantasy? Only urban fantasy? While AgentQuery says they accept all genre fiction, but the agency's website says they don't take any. There's also a different email address listed on both. Which one do I send it to? This person has spelled their last name differently in two different places! 1) You should also take the time to find some way to personalize the email to show the agent you at least visited their website. You also need to spend a while on said website making sure they represent your genre and that they didn't recently publish a book that's exactly like yours. 2) You need to edit your query letter just as much as your novel, because the SLIGHTEST mistake will cause most agents to discard your email. It will show you can't even proofread a few hundred words in an email, so how is your novel going to be any better? Again, you should read this out loud.	I should clarify (I will add an edit on the comment) that this is a basic guide. I work with a lot of newbie writers and a common mistake (Heck even I did it) is to write "the end" and then hit send to agents/publishers/or to even self publish. Editing is important, changing is important. Some people can do it in 3 edits and a re-write. Others need 6 edits, a re-write and a crit group to get it done. The only message that I want to project is that you have to "kill the baby" because your manuscript is not perfect, it's far from it.
Do i need to copy-write or protect a book before sending to publishers?	No, but it depends on the laws of your country. (Books only, screenplays are their own can of worms)
	The USA recommends only copyrighting your works before publication if you're afraid someone is going to steal your idea.
	Check out Link to www.copyright.gov for more info.
	If you copyright before publication, you will have to do an update afterwards since I guarantee your book will change and it will change a lot.
	Also a cheap and dirty way of assuring your copyright is to put it in an envelope seal it and send it back to yourself via registered mail.
	EDIT: May not work in all countries see my comments below. I live in Canada it's legal way of establishing precedence here.
Mailing yourself the work has been debunked.	Depends on where you live. It's valid for the Canada and Britain, not for the US. See my other comment.
For screenplays, one way to protect yourself is by registering your screenplay with the WGA. They have a screenplay registration service, where you can register your work for a fee. You do not have to be a member of the Writers' Guild to use the service.	Screenplays are a whole other ball game. Thanks for the advice!
"Copy-write"? "With-out"? Are you seriously a published author?	I'm typing on my phone words get rearranged on me.
I don't know why people keep mentioning your grammaspelling. She has an editor people, by the time the book gets published someone has gone through and corrected all that crap.	Pretty! This. Reddit likes to be complain about everything, I have tough skin. I will answer more questions /better answers once in off my phone and at my computer.
Is it difficult for a minor (under 18) to publish a book?	Yes and no. If you want to publish erotica. Then no one will touch you with a 10 foot pole. If you want to publish stuff aimed towards young adults then you have a decent chance. Just keep writing :)!
What are the best tips you can give me regarding self-publishing? Any specific dos/donts?	How to Self publish a novel:
	Step 1: Write your novel/Short Story.
	Step 2: Edit.
	Step 3: Put it away for 2 weeks.
	Step 4: Edit.
	Step 5: Edit again.
	Step 6: Put it away again (for longer this time)
	Step 7: Edit.
	Step 8: Give it to someone else to Edit.
	Step 9: Edit again.
	Step 10: Repeat steps 2 through 9.
	Once you've polished, primed and changed everything about your story you're ready to hire an editor. Some people get away with using crit groups for editing. Most do not. If you have bad editing (I was the victim of bad editing for my first traditionally published novel) then people will NOT but your book after reading the first chapter "preview" on amazon.
	Find a cover artist.
	Choose where you want to self publish, look at printing options offered by Amazon and smashwords (most serious self-publishing authors use smashwords). Follow their processes as best you can.
	Typeset and make sure that everything is perfect before you hit "Send"
	Expect to make mistakes your first time out.
If I have an awesome idea for a book/screenplay, but not the discipline to write it. Are there authors willing to take it on?	The answer is No. Most authors (any authors) have a million and one ideas for books/screenplays/short stories.
	Unless you're ghost writing a memoir or something of the like NO ONE writes anyone else's ideas!
	Go ahead and write it on your own :)!
How does one actually go about getting a manuscript into the hands of publishers? It appears to me that most publishers don't accept manuscripts; they require an agent to submit it through the 'usual channels'. How does one normally get in touch with an agent?	So this was actually answered really well by another author (I haven't done the agent route yet. I'm assuming I will get there eventually but not ready yet) here: Link to www.reddit.com .
	Basically if you want to go big 6, you need an agent. Small press accept direct from the author, and are great when you are just trying to learn the biz.
	Also on a rare occasion the big-name pubs open up to general submissions. It's VERY rare but does happen and I know 3 or 4 authors who have gone big 6 this way.
After being published the traditional route, what made you decide to self-publish? What are the pros and cons in your experience?	The very short answer is I screwed up.
	I wrote the first book of this series directly after finishing my First book "Sometimes It's Fate" so way back in 2009. I immediately subbed it off and got rejected. From everyone. Literally every publisher that does F/M/M kicked it out the door. Not because it's not a good novel, but because I had a controversial topic (that I have since edited out) and it needed a metric-shit-ton of editing.
	Once something is rejected you can't go back and say "Hey! I changed it, look at me, look at me! Read it again" So after a lot of thought I decided to do a rapid publish of all three books the series at once. Which means self-publishing.
	Pros for traditional: You get to learn the game and get help doing so. Cons: It's not on your schedule.
	Pros for self-pub: You can publish what you want. When you want, no matter what you want. Cons: Huge stigma (that is changing!) against self published works.
What was your first book about?	I will only do one self-promo thread and I guess this one is it :)!
	I have two full length novels published at the moment. They are part of an on-going series arc that will be 5 books (I think?).
	Sometimes It's Fate (Canada's Finest Series. Book 1.) Link to www.amazon.com
	Sometimes It's Fate Is about finding meaning in insurmountable loss. (M/M romance FYI). I wrote it after the boys in red accident Link to en.wikipedia.org
	I lost someone I considered family that day and Sometimes It's Fate is how I dealt with the loss.
	It's my first book, I made A lot of mistakes. It's not perfect but it's mine and I love Jason and David.
	Boots on the Ground (Canada's Fines Series, Book 2) Link to www.amazon.com
	(M/M romance, with a hint of M/F)Jason goes to Afghanistan. It's about military families surviving the loss of a love one, about holding on when all hope is lost, and realizing that we are all human. I break Jason in this novel. One terrible sentence at a time. I kinda hate myself for it. I promise he will get put back together, eventually.
	This is my BEST novel to date. I recommend reading this one above all of the others.
	Positive Attraction (Canada's Finest series, Book 2.5) Releasing this fall from Phaze Books
	Craig's story. About finding someone who loves you, even for your flaws and your terrible mistakes.
	Special Investigations(Canada's Finest Series, Book 3) Releasing from Phaze books in the fall of 2013 Jason has to come to terms with that happened to him in Afghanistan and go on with life, or choose to end it.
	From my "Hat Trick series" (Short stories about Hockey)
	Goalie Interference (Hat Trick series book 1) Link to www.amazon.com
	(M/F sexy times)
	Hockey goalie Tarah 'TJ' Elliot is too busy stopping pucks to go looking for love. When her friend Natalie sets her up through Madame Eve's 1 Night Stand service, she grudgingly agrees to go. Her ultimate fantasy comes true when Scott Alarid, one of the top scorers in the league, shows up at her hotel room. Hockey player TJ can't possibly spend a night with him, but Tarah certainly can.
	Scott's tired of dealing with women who only like him for his all-star status. After his teammates arrange a date for him using the 1NS website, he's delighted to find a woman who doesn't know a thing about the sport. But, will the truth force them to put their relationship on ice?
	Power Play written by Emily Cale (Hat Trick Series book 2) Link to www.amazon.com (M/F/M Sexy times!)
	Natalie Fritz didn't need a night of sexual adventure as payment for setting her friend up, but she wouldn't turn it down either. Determined to make sure she gets exactly what she wants, she contacts Madame Eve and requests not one, but two dates for the evening. What she doesn't expect is for those men to be players on her friend's hockey team.
	Ian and Todd find that sharing women provides all parties with more pleasure. Finding someone who buys into their theory is a little harder. So they turn to Madame Eve's 1 Night Stand service to locate a partner. When they meet Natalie, they discover a gorgeous woman who turns them on physically and intellectually.
	Most relationships are meant to be between two people, but what happens when it takes three to make the night worthwhile? Can they take a leap of faith or will their time be limited to one night?
	Unsportsmanlike Conduct (Hat trick Series, Book 3) Releasing from Decadent Publishing in summer 2013
	M/M Closeted hockey player meets cop. Sexy times ensure :)!
	I have multiple other novels that are in the works. An author's work is never done.
So after Copyrighting my short story/novel, is there something else I need to do before submitting it to Amazon to be kindle-published?	Hire and editor and EDIT it. Then edit it again and again. Hire a cover artist (or do it yourself?). Make sure you get type-set for printing. Looking into your printing options (if you want to go that route). If you do not live in the USA make sure you get an ITIN #.
If I were to write down an idea, or a script, or a novel, and mail it to myself, does that count as a copyright?	Please see this comment thread: Link to www.reddit.com
Funny this AMA popped up, I'm doing a fun little experiment where I'm writing a book by publishing a chapter every week and putting it up online for free. I thought it would be a good way to keep me motivated, and hey there's a small chance someone important might see it, right?	I think it's a great way to gain interest from people out there! Waiting for the next week. Just remember since it's available for free expecting to charge for publications later is a bit of a no-no in the publishing world.
How much do you make on average, yearly/monthly from this profession? Do you need to supplement your income with other jobs, at least when you were first starting out? How hard was it to achieve the success you have now?	So writing is a subjective business.
	I'm pulling in a rent payment every few months, so I work as an RN to supplement my income. I have a few friends that are making 30-45k a year at it (they are often writing full time), I have a select few that make 60k a year.
	Right now working as an RN makes me 65+k a year. With writing only make a fraction of that. I don't have as much time to write so I don't make as much. It's a bit of a circle. One day I would like to quit and just write, but I have the problem of really loving my nursing job, as much as I love writing. So I don't want to quit!
Who do you hire to design your book covers? You should stop hiring them.	Publisher choice, I like the cover for goalie and boots. Sometimes is bad.
Yet you'll fork over $1000 for three of them because, according to you, the use of photoshop and basic art skills is far too hard of a skill for someone to have. Please, just admit you're full of shit. We'd have more respect for you.	I can't draw worth shit. Most writer's can't. I hire a cover artist to do it for me.
	Here is one website's breakdown the costs of a cover Link to www.romancenovelcovers.com $300 for the image $150 for the cover artist.
	Here is another example Link to thekilliongroupinc.com of how much cover art costs.
	My current books were designed by in-house cover artists. I paid nothing for them. Sometimes It's Fate cover needs a re-do(as does the whole novel. Once my 5 year contract is up, I plan on re-doing the entire book and then republishing it as a self-published novel). The other two are perfectly fine, I quiet like Goalie Interference. Since it'a series we are keeping the same feel for all three covers.
People people, why are we taking advice from a woman who can barely write?	I have two full length novels, a short story (and 3 more contracted), plus multiple others on the go. Two completed series, and two more 80% done. How many novels have you written again?
You say that you don't think that people should self publish without proper direction. Can you elaborate?	So anyone can log onto create space or smash words, and upload a novel and boom, they're a published author. However, a good self-published author has a few things others don't.
	1-A good editor 2-A copy editor 3-A cover artist (or the ability to draw a cover themselves) 4-A decent typesetter.
	Then you need a market plan, money for the marketing plan, and a million and one other costs. There are entire books written about this subject. (Link to www.pbs.org great link) If you want to be taken seriously then do your research!
Hi Angela! Thanks for doing this AMA. How would I go about finding a publishing company to help my grandfather write a book? He is one of the foremost experts in pecan grafting (basically genetics) in the country and he has some amazing stories. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!	So he would be writing a more technical book? If that's the case I have limited knowledge, typically he would need an agent. He needs to write the book/text book then find an agent to help him sell it. It's very different from my field of knowledge sorry! Start with a good Google search!
Dyshraphia Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. Please search for Dyshraphia in Wikipedia to check for alternative titles or spellings. You mean dysgraphia OP. Was that a joke? Somehow I don't think so unfortunately.	Phone auto corrected the link. Fixed it.
That's an interesting phone you have there. I think you're really testing the old adage: there's no such thing as bad publicity. Good luck with your career.	It's a google nexus. I just got it last week and I still have no idea how to use it. I gave up my blackberry with a physical keyboard so i', having major issues switching.
	And thank you! Right now it's more of a hobby since I need pay the bills by being a nurse. One day I would love to be a big name author :)!
So you're not even making money off of this, and you want us to listen to you. Seems legit.	I never said that. Read my other comments.
	I said "I make a rent payment or so every 3 months" since you're paid quarterly. My profits have been increase every quarter since my first book came out. Most authors work other jobs to support their writing habit. One day I will be solely a writer, but I'm not there yet.
Hi Angela and all you other writers out there :).	There are tons of spaces out there. Twitter is amazing to meet other authors or people who love the type of books you love. Facebook is great as well.
I LOVE writing. There's nothing that piques my curiosity and gets my blood flowing more than a dynamic conversation about books and films.	Also Goodreads is amazing for connecting with others.
Congrats on your success!	Check out those that do blog hops, and tours. Get his name out there on the internet. Make everything available in ebook that will help.
I am currently working with an author and we have just recently published 40 books in 40 days and have churned out a few others since. we've spent a few thousand on illustrators but have done all the rest ourselves. link if you're curious Amazon Link.	Contact larger papers for reviews.
Promotion is where we're hitting walls - the author is getting known in the city but it's slow going. he's been approaching news sites, submitting all over the place for interviews and such - what else in your opinion would go a long way to get more noticed? thanks!	Make contacts with other authors who can promote you :)!
Ever written science fiction?	I have! I'm working with an author right now to develop scifi/romance crossover.
KNow any way into that section of the market?	The best way into the market is short stories that are featured in magazines or ezines etc.
DO you think paper-books will die one day?	I think paper books will be around for the foreseeable future. I think we might end up with a star trek society one day :)!
DO you find there is more prestige in having published a paper copy?	I think people take you a bit more seriously when you hand them a paper copy vs, a digital copy.
What is a good way, besides an expensive conference, to network with agents -How helpfull have you found social media (mostly blogs/twitter) in finding/connecting with your audience? -Would you reccomend hiring an editobook doctor? Though after 4 drafts I think if I don't nut up and start submitting I never will. -How often do agents read through an entire submission package? -What are the best ways to target/approach a promising agent?	So following agents on twitter is a great way to get to know them, and what they like (and dislike!). Don't try and pitch to them there. Just follow them. Agents are very vocal about what they like and don't like! So if you're not confidant in your novel being edited to perfection, then yes. Hire someone who can do editing, 4 rounds of edits is a lot at first, but if you want extra confidence, finding a good editor will help. Agents will often reject based on the opening email. If you do not follow their instructions to the letter. See-ya. If it's good, if it's really good, they will read the whole thing and ask for more.
What advice would you give to a college student attempting to write a novel?	Write. Write. And write.
	Edit: I wrote my first novel "Sometimes It's Fate" while finishing my nursing degree. I just sat down and started writing. I wrote as a release from studying. Your best bet is to just write and see what happens.
Is creating your own cover art a good idea or a bad idea? I really want to self publish my series this summer and I'm a talented artist, but I don't know if having my own cover would help or hurt my chances I becoming successful.	It depends. If you're a good artist then go for it. If you can get the right picture for your concert then that's what matters. I can't draw or design worth a hill of beans. If you can all the power to you!
Do you think there is room in the world for a change to self-publishing? Meaning, finding different ways of self-publishing, perhaps more unique ways of doing it? Or, do you believe that people are too centered around a book and that changing that concept would not work?	I think self publishing is changing every day. I'm working on my self-publishing project with someone who used to be a publisher. For her the idea 15 years ago of selling only digital books that people read on a device they have to buy is insane.
Edit Forgive my being somewhat vague. I have a self-publishing project planned that is...quite different from the standard book format, but do not want to go into it, not for fear of someone else using it, but rather not to sound like I am using this question to advertise.	If you've got something that might work, go for it. It might flop, or it might be the next big thing.
The project I am doing is purely...non-commercial. I am not trying to make money on it, in fact it's costing me money (Artists, editors, voice talent etc etc). However, this idea (And the storyline and all that) have been kicking around my head for about...10 years now so I figure I have to do it.	Might as well. Get those damn plot bunnies out so that new ones can take their place :)!
This is hardly a plot, more like a whole crap ton of plots based around a world. There are a ton of plot bunnies going on, frigging breeding.	That's exactly how I feel :)!
Turns out the editing for only my first book would be $2300 through them, and I know I need one. Not free at all... While his was simple and only had a few words, mine was 110k words. I need a developmental editor! But for a question... would you say it's easier to be taken seriously if you have a small story first and then get into the biggelonger (aka more words) stories? I was going research a bit ago and people said you generally want to have a smaller book (10k-50k words) before people would help you tackle/bring about a larger book (greater than 100k). Have you ran into any of this?	Find a different editor. They are probably charging 2cents/word (standard rate) but to lower it your best bet is to join crit groups, get you book edited for free(and do some editing of others), then move on and go back to a for-hire editor and you might be able to find one for a lot less. As for size, it depends. For a romance novel 110k is a lot(5070k is normal), for science fiction 110k is long, but not impossible. Expect with proper editing to cut 1015k. Especially if this is your first book. So my answer is know your genre. Work the book, work the edits and the re-writes until you have something that you can show to others. Don't just rely on create space editors.
Okay, so what do you think of this?	I think the Amazon "Worlds" thing is going to cause a lot of problems. It's a horrible idea.
	(Disclaimer I started off writing fan fiction at 13).
	1-Amazon/Alloy will own the copyright to ALL of the works posted in the "Amazon Worlds" section. This is going to cause issues down the line. What happens if an author who wrote fan fiction 5 years ago takes that story and turns it into an original fiction (see twilight and 50 shades). Will they then SUE the original author?
	2-Since they own the rights Amazon/Alloy can literally steal anything they way. IF they love a story arc or a character, boom it's their's and they won't have to pay the author a penny for it.
	3-How will getting paid change the fan fiction community? So many fan fiction writers, write it because they love the series, they love writing. Is it going to expand? Is it going to keep growing? What happens when people start writing controversial topics like (using harry potter examples) Harry raping Ron or Snape falling in love with Hermonie and them running off in the sunset. What happens to the 99/100 shit stories that are written by a 13year old that should never see the light of day (yes I am talking about my writing here people).
	4-What about cross overs or sex (no sex allowed apparently, dammit that what I read FF for!?!). Or a million other things that Amazon is going to deem inappropriate?
	It just seems like it's not going to be a good thing. Not at all. O.o.
Question: How did you become a writer when you're clearly terrible at spelling and grammar? Based on your responses in this thread, you clearly care very little about the quality of your prose. I will not be a customer.	I have a severe learning disability. I hire an editor for a reason.
That being said, part of my SLD is that I don't see the mistakes. Just gonna tell you right now, blaming your simple mistakes on a "severe learning disability" and on your phone are not going to curry you any favor at all.	Well what do you want me to say. I admit I'm a horrible speller and horrific at grammar. Do you want me to just magically get better? Or hire an editor to fix all of my ama answers? My phone wasn't helping matters, and if you don't like the truth then it's not my problem.
What do you think about the information in this graphic? Link to docs.google.com.	I think it's pretty accurate. I really hate things like Authorhouse they're really a vanity publisher. Other than that I think it's pretty decent.
A friend and former coworker is a 5x published author and he stated that essentially, it's a networking game like all the rest of the world. Unknowns need a phat pedigree from a fancy school to even get an agent to crack open the draft. Random success stories are the exception rather than the rule.	He's totally right it's all about who you know!
Yes, this is just an AMA on reddit, but you should really take your writing -even on the internet- more seriously. Also, I realize your goal in this was not advertisement but it was a perfect opportunity even if it wasn't your focus.
What is the best way to get a book noticed/published; Showing it to a publisher when it's halfway, after it's done, or when it is almost finished but just needs some polishing? I'm asking this because I'm currently writing a fantasy novel, inspired by A Song of Ice and Fire. Thanks in advance!	So the general rule of thumb is that you ONLY submit when book is polished, primped and ready to go.
	If you submit a query and then it gets accepted then you need to have your manuscript ready to send ASAP. Agents or publishers won't wait 6 weeks, 6 months, 6 years for a book you're "going" to finish. They will move onto the next person with-out blinking an eye.
Thanks, I had a friend getting paid to write on his book but every time he got a bit far into the story, he stopped and started a new one... scratched my head at that. Thanks for this!	That sounds like an odd way to write. Then again us writers are odd ducks :)!

Last updated: 2013-06-01 18:06 UTC
This post was generated by a robot! Send all complaints to epsy.