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When someone misuses alcohol or drugs, it can affect every aspect of life: work, school, and especially home. It makes psychiatric and medical illnesses worse, impairs mental abilities, and profoundly affects entire families.
Ignoring the problem will only make it worse. Whether it's an employee, co-worker, friend, family member, or even yourself who's in this situation, it's crucial to seek help and support as soon as possible.
Since 1985, we have been committed to helping our clients and their families overcome and deal with substance abuse and dependency issues, including alcohol, drugs, prescription medications, smoking and other tobacco products.
Our state of the art, holistic approach to treatment and long-term recovery includes addressing the medical, psychological, social, family and behavioral factors that influence and perpetrate these complex and chronic health conditions.
We believe the most successful treatment strategies are based on the needs of each individual. As every story is different, so is each path to recovery and wellness. We help our clients map out their own unique strategy, and guide them along the way.
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Monday, June 20, 2011
Some general ideas on triangle pattern
Triangle pattern is the topic of the post on the blog ‘Trend’ today. This is a technical continuation or a reversal pattern that you may find in any financial market on any time frame. Let us look at the chart before we could go on to theoretical and practical aspects of trading the pattern.
4 points must be present for a triangle to be a valid pattern
As you may see from silver chart above a triangle is a chart pattern that shows that prices are in a range and moving within boundaries of the pattern. There are a lot of technical analysts that would agree that you need four points (two for support and two for resistance) in order for the structure to be valid. Coming back to silver chart we identify points number 1 and 3 as support and points number 2 and 4 as resistance.
Ways to trade a triangle
When you have those points a price movement beyond those points would mean a breakout, which is an opportunity for you to go in the direction of the move. Breakouts of the pattern very often create big and fast moves and if you want to trade it, it is better to enter the move at the very breakout point. You can place a very small stop loss order and move it as the market moves in the direction of a breakout. In case of a false break your loss would not be huge. Since there are a lot of false breaks on all technical patterns, small stop is a must.
An alternative way to play the pattern is to by at number three if you expect a bullish move and to sell at number four if you expect a bearish move. I like doing that when I see a reversal pattern at the level at the smaller time frames (mostly at 15 or 5 minute charts). I might enter with two positions. I would exit the first one close to a trendline of a triangle and leave the second one in expectation of a true breakout. If a breakout of the pattern is false I close the second position at the sign of a reversal. Generally I move my stops placing them below daily, 8 hour or 4 hour chart lows or highs (depending on which direction the market is going). So, if breakout of the pattern is false, my stop is usually in the profit zone and is closed when market reaches the level.
News is an important factor when you are trading triangle breakout
You know how much I stress importance of fundamental news. I will repeat myself by stressing that you should check whether any important news is coming when the price approaches one of the trendlines of the triangle. This is my observation and it might be kind of subjective but I noticed that most pattern have false breakouts when they happen without any news ‘back up’. And on the contrary, when news pushes price beyond the territory of a pattern the breakout is usually not false.
Hope the post explained you a little about triangle pattern trading.
Read my previous post:
You are at:
Trading financial markets carries a high level of risk, and may not be suitable for all investors. All information on the blog is of educational nature and cannot be considered as advice, recommendation or signals to trade in any financial markets.
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The Clear Skies initiative was made public on February 14th, 2002.
I am including the Clear Skies initiative here for two reasons, though it's obviously not directly related to the war in Iraq or terrorism. One reason is that it very clearly demonstrates the type of deception that the Bush administration deliberately engages in and the other reason is that it demonstrates the Bush administration's strong favoritism towards industry, specifically the energy sector, which does indirectly relate to the war in Iraq.
What is so significant about the "Clear Skies" initiative is not so much the proposed legislation itself, but the way that it is presented, as you will see.
What the "Clear Skies" initiative basically proposes is to move back the existing environmental regulation schedule. While doing this the Bush administration then claims that they are improving environmental regulations. This is a slight of hand because their proposals are only an improvement over regulations that are presently in effect, but the laws already on the books have a specific schedule for future regulations that increases cuts in emissions over time. What Bush has done is to reduce the level of those cuts, and then go back and compare their proposals to regulations that are presently in effect, not the regulations that were already on the books for the future.
To better see what I mean let's just look at an example.
Under current law mercury emission levels must be reduced to 15 tons by 2008. Under Bush's proposal mercury emission levels will be reduced to 26 tons by 2010, and 15 tons by 2018, 10 years later than is currently required, and those reductions are voluntary, not mandated.
Now let's look at exactly what Bush's proposal states on this matter:
"Cutting mercury emissions by 69 percent, - the first-ever national cap on mercury emissions. Emissions will be cut from current emissions of 48 tons to a cap of 26 tons in 2010, and 15 tons in 2018."
This is obviously a case of intentional deception because the statement is made in such a way that if the audience is not aware of the old law they would never know that this actually increases the level of pollution allowed. Once again, Bush and his administration are full of lies.
In his State of the Union Address the President stated:
"I have sent you Clear Skies legislation that mandates a 70-percent cut in air pollution from power plants over the next 15 years."
In fact this 70% number is again deceiving. Not only do many experts claim that his plan will actually increase pollution by allowing pollution trading, whereby companies can buy pollution credits from other companies that are naturally cleaner, but the cuts in pollution that are already on the books for the next 15 years offer higher cuts in pollution than Bush's plan. He's just flat out lying.
Furthermore many of the larger reductions in pollution are part of what is termed "Phase II" of the "Clear Skies" initiative, which is an optional phase that uses voluntary cooperation from companies.
Compare Bush's legislation for yourself:
Furthermore, Bush renounced the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty and led a move to oust Dr. Robert Watson (outspoken global warming authority) from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an action which followed a memo from ExxonMobil urging that the scientist be removed from the panel.
Note: Exxon, formerly Standard Oil, was one of the companies assisting the Nazi regime to power prior to WWII. Standard Oil/Exxon has a long history of unethical business practices and government manipulation and has been involved in one of the largest environmental disasters in history, the Exxon Valdese oil spill, for which it didn't take appropriate blame or execute appropriate cleanup procedure. Is Exxon who we want influencing global environmental policy?
Again, its not so much a matter of the policy itself, it is the way that it's presented. Even if it is concluded that the Bush environmental plan is actually better than existing legislation or alternate plans the fact that remains is that Bush's plan and stance on the environment has been deceptive, not forthright. There is no way to deny that fact.
For further analysis of the Clear Skies initiative see:
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FIND OUT!Then send me seeds!!!!PLEASE!
No idea... but I would love to know, too. The vivid purple is so pretty against the green.
slip over in the middle of the night and take a clipping...i will never tell...
they look like purple butterflies! :)
I believe those are Lavender - there are several varieties.Also, you don't need to covet them - you've already stolen their beauty with your photo!
Some form of Lavender crossed my mind, but I've never seen it with the tips like that. It's gorgeous whatever it is!
looks like lavender to me
No idea what they are but they look nice.
I can almost smell them over here... ;-))Beautiful capture of the Lavender!Greetings from Holland,Anna :-))
Too pretty for word. Purple and lavender are some of my favorites. Awesome capture.genie
Spanish lavender is the common name - it reblooms unlike the older lavenders that just put on their show once. I love my local nurseries, but must admit I've found reasonably priced gallon plants of that one at Lowe's. They're drought tolerant plus all the critters don't eat them - everything I need in a plant. There are different variety names depending on the propagating nursery.
I don't know what they are but I do know that they aren't lavander. Could be weeds for all I know.
Whatever they are, they're exquisite and I love the color. My first thought was lavender, too, but then I'm not that knowledgeable about flowers -- only know when I like them and I do love these!
They're beauties!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.
Looks like lavender to me. a variety I cannot grow as my climate is too cold.
What gorgeous lavender!
I think you have your answer - let us know if you plant some?
It's lavender. I see that many people have already told you that. My 4 lavender bushes are all in full bloom--I love this time of year when so many shrubs and trees are in bloom.Did you know that you can cook with lavender? It gives a nice mild flavor to meats. I've used it in slow-cooking chicken and pork loin on the BBQ. I just stick sprigs of it under the skin of the chicken and also in the cavity (along with garlic cloves and lemon juice). With a pork loin, I tie sprigs of lavender around the outside of it and also put it inside the roast. I slice the roast open, put in the herbs and then tie it closed.
I believe lavender which must smell so good and the best way to find out for sure. lolThey are very pretty.Hope you had a wonderful Mothers Day Mama Zen.
It's lavender, she said helpfully, after reading all the comments.
Yes the comments above are right. But the photo makes it look even more worth coveting.
Very, very pretty!
I know what they are...They are BEAUTIFUL!sorry...
Beautiful and such a dark vibrant color. They may be a variety of lavender. It seems there are so many different kinds. Clip and take to garden center and buy some!!!
I have no idea!! but they are WONDERFUL!
ohhh so very pretty, such vibrant colors! =)
It's Lavender and you can get it at any garden shop. If you are friends with your neighbor, pay them a compliment and ask if you could have a small cutting. This way you can grow your own. Kindness pays and saves!
Post a Comment
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||Volume 22, Number 7, May/June 2010
Acknowledging serious mental illnesses
By Susan Inman
One night last week, I received a desperate phone call from another teacher whom I’ve known for over 20 years. She was frantic. An ambulance and two police officers were on their way to her house to take her very psychotic teenage son to Vancouver General Hospital’s emergency unit. His psychiatrist, from a community mental health team, hadn’t been able to persuade him to go back on to his antipsychotic medication; he has very little insight into the serious mental illness that he’s living with and this involuntary hospitalization was the next necessary step. My friend has been learning a lot about these illnesses, but the imminent arrival of the police was understandably frightening to her and she was very worried about her son’s response. Fortunately, the likely scenario I painted for her did play itself out; the police and ambulance attendants were very sensitive and skilful, and my friend’s son is now safe in the psychiatric assessment unit and responding well to treatment.
Both of us were the kind of mothers who assumed we knew a lot about child development. We were both in the position to give our children just the kind of careful nurturing we believed would lead to fairly predictable results. Our children’s genetic codes and a complex mixture of environmental factors had a different and a more cruel fate in store for them. Even though we’ve now both educated ourselves to understand the research into environmental factors like flu during pregnancy, birth complications, age of fathers, and other newly researched issues, we knew very little when we were tossed into these chaotic circumstances.
When I was in grad school at UCLA in the 1980s and later took courses in UBCs Counselling Psychology Program, I trained in theories based on the assumption that nurture, not nature, determined a child’s destiny. It was a comforting belief system but, even when I was sitting in those courses, the bigger world of neuroscience had already begun transforming psychiatry. Rather than continuing to base interventions in dealing with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder on the unscientific, non-evidence based theories of Freud, psychiatry had begun to take its rightful place in medicine.
Families today still have to confront the legacies of parent blaming as they try to get help for their ill children. The shifting of paradigms doesn’t happen quickly. Most of us who are teachers have had very little opportunity in our training to learn about new ways of understanding serious mental illnesses. This lack of training, unfortunately, often makes it difficult for us to interpret behaviour in our own classrooms; this is a problem because one in 100 people have bipolar disorder and one in 100 have schizophrenia, and these disorders often begin to manifest themselves in adolescence. At the secondary school where I teach, the counsellors have connected to Vancouver’s Early Psychosis Intervention Program; this helps ensure that ill students can receive the timely treatment that can lead to better outcomes. This program not only offers necessary medical treatment but helps the students and their parents learn to adjust to these disorders. I have no idea what people in many other parts of the province can do.
My daughter had one of the most severe schizo-affective disorders that psychiatrists in Vancouver had seen and after a two-year psychotic episode had a grim prognosis; some psychiatrists predicted she would have to be institutionalized for life. My ability to take unpaid leaves of absences and to teach part time enabled me to assume responsibility for her recovery. Eventually, a new medication strategy freed my daughter from her hellish psychosis. I could not find the stories of other parents when I was the most overwhelmed during these ordeals and in my memoir, After Her Brain Broke, Helping My Daughter Recover Her Sanity, I share the complicated story of helping my daughter get her life back. In the introduction to the book, Senator Michael Kirby, chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, talks about “…the work we still have to do to ensure that people with mental illness and their families get the same treatment... that individuals with physical illness receive.” The work to be done is immense.
As teachers, my friend and I both know that educational institutions need to do more if we want our students to receive the kind of care that offers the best opportunities for recovery. The Counselling Psychology program, where I took classes, still doesn’t offer any course on serious mental illnesses and none of the student teachers I’ve asked have received any training at all in understanding these disorders. This training would not only assist us in spotting potential crises and later help us reintegrate students back into our classes, but would improve our understanding of our many students who grow up in households impacted by these disorders. The institutions that train us have a responsibility to help us understand these issues that they have ignored for too long.
Susan Inman teaches at Windermere Secondary School, Vancouver.
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Barry is located on the south coast of Wales some 7 miles south west of Cardiff in the Vale of Glamorgan. Barry with it's little brother on the seafront, Barry Island, is a popular seaside resort, with attractions including the famous Barry Island Pleasure Park and several beaches. Set between sea and country the town enjoys panoramic views of the Bristol Channel, and is close to the rural Vale of Glamorgan. It is close enough to Cardiff to enjoy the many attractions in the city, but without the disadvantages of having to live in the city, indeed it is a favourite place of residence for people whose work is in Cardiff.
The history of the town is a rollercoaster ride itself with Barry changing from a small village, in 1881, with barely 100 residents, to the largest coal exporting port in the world in the space of some 30 years. But the coal industry on which the port had relied collapsed as quickly as it had grown and Barry's future depended on the tourist trade.
Fortunately for Barry the railways that had been used to bring in the coal from the south Wales valleys were now bringing in the miners and their families for holidays on the beautiful Whitsand Bay beach.
In the mid 20th century the Butlins Barry Island holiday camp would attract holiday makers in droves and you would be hard pressed to find a place for your deckchair on the golden sands of Whitmore Bay. But fashions change and now it was the turn of the holiday camps to close and with their demise came a decline in the once booming tourist trade.
Today the visitor numbers may not be as great but there is more room on the golden sands, and indeed a wider variety of beach activities with surfing, and beach volley ball to name just a few.
Barry Island Pleasure Park is still attracting the crowds but Barry town also offers plenty of alternative sport and entertainment facilities, with a popular sports centre and a fine modern leisure centre. If you dont like sand between your toes, or in the sandwiches, take a walk to Friar's Point, the headland to the west of Whitmore Bay where you may sit and appreciate the view. Or visit Cold Knap Point and the pebbly Knap beach which is slightly futher to the west.
Knap beach leads to Porthkerry beach and the beautiful Porthkerry Park. The Park, in a sheltered valley, contains nature trails, picnic sites, cafe, play area, barbecue area and mini golf courses all within 220 acres of woodlands, streams and meadowland.
Barry is a great centre for a holiday in Wales with a choice of hotels and guest-house accommodation, and being close to the city of Cardiff with it's many attractions and the beautiful Vale of Glamorgan it's a perfect location for touring South Wales.....
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|The University of Queensland|
|Motto:||Scientia ac Labore|
"through knowledge and hard work"
|Chancellor:||Sir Llewellyn Edwards|
|Vice-Chancellor:||Professor Paul Greenfield|
|Faculty:||5081 (includes staff)|
|Location:||Brisbane, Queensland, Australia|
|Affiliations:||Group of Eight, Universitas 21, ASAIHL|
The University of Queensland (UQ) is one of Australia's premier learning and research institutions. A motto (from the Italian word motto, meaning witticism sentence is a phrase meant to formally describe the general motivation or intention of a social group The date of establishment or date of founding of an Institution is the date on which that institution chooses to claim as its starting point Year 1909 ( MCMIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting A public university is a University that is predominantly funded by public means through a national or subnational government as opposed to private universities. A Chancellor is the head of a University. Other titles are sometimes used such as President or Rector. Sir Llewellyn Roy Edwards, AC (born 2 August, 1935) is the twelfth and current Chancellor of the University of Queensland and a former A Vice-Chancellor (commonly called the VC) of a University in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, New Zealand, A faculty is a division within a University. The concept of a university with different faculties for different subjects dates back to Al-Azhar University, which had In some Educational systems undergraduate education is Post-secondary education up to the level of a Bachelor's degree. See also Postgraduate Training in Education Postgraduate education (synonymous in North America with graduate education, and sometimes described Brisbane ( is the state capital of Queensland. Brisbane is the third most populous city in Australia and the most populous city of Queensland Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern corner of the mainland continent For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. The Group of Eight (Go8 is a group of eight Australian tertiary institutions which are the oldest Universities in Australia. Universitas 21 is an international network of Research -intensive universities, established as an "international reference point and resource for strategic thinking The Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning ( ASAIHL) is a non-governmental organization founded in 1956 to assist higher learning institutions in strengthening A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. The University is a founding member of the national Group of Eight, an alliance of research-strong, mostly "Sandstone universities" committed to ensuring that Australia has higher education institutions which are genuinely world class. In Australia, the Sandstone Universities are an informally-defined group comprising the country's oldest tertiary education institutions It belongs also to the global Universitas 21 alliance. This group aims to enhance the quality of university outcomes through international benchmarking and a joint venture e-learning project with The Thomson Corporation.
UQ is Queensland's foremost university. In 1998-99 it was named Australia's University of the Year and it continues to enjoy the highest overall rating for Queensland universities in the annual Good Universities Guide.
UQ remains the most successful Australian university in winning and being shortlisted for Australian Awards for University Teaching since they were established in 1997. On a variety of measures it is one of the top three or four research universities in the country.
UQ's strength in research is evident in the many joint and collaborative research centres associated with the university. The Queensland Bioscience Precinct on the St Lucia campus houses scientists from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the Institute for Molecular Biosciences to form one of the largest biomedical research clusters in Australia. St Lucia is an inner suburb of Brisbane, Australia located 4km south-west of the Brisbane CBD. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation ( CSIRO) is the national government body for scientific research in Australia. In addition, UQ is involved in biomedical translational research at the Diamantina Institute of Cancer and Metabolic Medicine (DI) and the University of Queensland Centre of Clinical Research (UQCCR).
According to The Times Higher-QS World University Rankings 2007, UQ is the only Queensland university in the top 50 (ranked 33rd along with the National University of Singapore), and one of only five Australian universities in the top 200. The National University of Singapore ( Abbreviation: NUS;; Abbreviated 国大 Malay: Universiti Kebangsaan Singapura; Tamil: UQ moved from sixth-ranked Australian university in the 2006 world rankings to fourth-ranked Australian university in 2007.
The Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Academic Ranking of World Universities also placed UQ among the top five Australian universities. UQ was also listed at number 91 in a 2006 Newsweek ranking of the world's top 100 universities, placing seventh among Australian universities after the Australian National University, University of Melbourne, University of Sydney, University of New South Wales, Monash University and University of Western Australia. The Australian National University, commonly abbreviated to ANU, is a public Research university situated in Canberra, Australia. The University of Melbourne is a Public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. The University of Sydney (informally Sydney Uni or USyd) is the oldest university in Australia The University of New South Wales, also known as UNSW or colloquially as New South, is a University situated in Kensington, a suburb in Monash University is a Public university based in Melbourne, Australia. The University of Western Australia (UWA is the oldest university in the state of Western Australia. These six higher ranking institutions together with UQ and the University of Adelaide also form the Group of Eight consortium, which consists of the top eight Australian research universities. The University of Adelaide (colloquially Adelaide University or Adelaide Uni) is a Public university located in Adelaide, South Australia
The University was independently ranked as one of Australia's best universities in the 2007 edition of The Good Universities Guide; receiving a maximum five-star rating in six key performance indicators. These include student demand, positive graduate outcomes (reflecting both graduate employment and going on to further study), staff qualifications, research grants, research intensivity and toughness to get in (specifically for the St Lucia campus).
UQ was established on December 10, 1909, with Sir William MacGregor as first chancellor (with Reginald Heber Roe as vice-chancellor) and was originally situated in Brisbane's downtown area. Events 1041 - Empress Zoe of Byzantium elevates her adoptive son to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire as Michael V Year 1909 ( MCMIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Sir William MacGregor GCMG, CB, (20 October 1846 – 3 July 1919 was a Governor of Newfoundland and Governor of Queensland. Reginald Heber Roe ( 3 August 1850 – 21 September 1926) was a headmaster of Brisbane Grammar School, Queensland, In 1927, the land on which the St Lucia campus is built was resumed by the Brisbane City Council using money donated by James O'Neil Mayne and his sister Mary Emelia Mayne to replace the less spacious city campus (now home to the Gardens Point campus of the Queensland University of Technology). St Lucia is an inner suburb of Brisbane, Australia located 4km south-west of the Brisbane CBD. Brisbane City Council is the governing council for Brisbane, which is the capital of Queensland, Australia. James O'Neil Mayne ( January 21 1861 &ndash January 31 1938) was the son of Patrick Mayne, and is best remembered for his donation Mary Emelia Mayne ( 31 December 1858 – 12 August 1940) was an Australian Philanthropist. Queensland University of Technology (QUT is located in Brisbane, Queensland, and is one of Australia's largest universities.
The University has its main campus in the suburb of St Lucia, in Brisbane. St Lucia is an inner suburb of Brisbane, Australia located 4km south-west of the Brisbane CBD. Brisbane ( is the state capital of Queensland. Brisbane is the third most populous city in Australia and the most populous city of Queensland Its other campuses include Ipswich, Gatton, Herston, South Brisbane, Turbot Street and Moggill. Ipswich is a city and Local Government Area situated on the Bremer River in South East Queensland, Australia. Gatton is a town and the administrative centre of the Lockyer Valley Local Government Area situated in the Lockyer Valley of South East Herston is an inner suburb of Brisbane, Australia located 3km north of the Brisbane CBD. South Brisbane is an inner city suburb of Brisbane, Australia located on the southern bank of the Brisbane River, directly connected to the central The Brisbane Central business district (CBD or 'the City' is located on a point on the northern bank of the Brisbane River. Moggill one of Brisbane's western suburbs is about 19 kilometres from the CBD.
Situated on a peninsula of the Brisbane River, the university is reachable by road, CityCat ferry, or bus and is seven kilometres from Brisbane's city centre. The Brisbane River is situated in southeast Queensland, Australia, and flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton History The CityCat service runs along the Brisbane River between Apollo Road in the suburb of Bulimba in the east and the University of Queensland At its centre is the heritage-listed Great Court - a large open area surrounded by sandstone buildings with distinctive gargoyles. Sandstone is a Sedimentary rock composed mainly of Sand -size Mineral or rock grains. In Architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone Grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building
The large campus of 274 acres (1. 1 km²) also includes sporting fields, gardens, duckponds, and cycling tracks. The athletics centre features 21 floodlit tennis courts and Olympic-standard swimming pool, a three-level gymnasium and a multi-purpose indoor centre.
The university is served by a CityCat wharf, two bus stations and is also served by the Eleanor Schonell Bridge providing pedestrian and bus access across the river to Dutton Park. University of Queensland Ferry Wharf is a Wharf on the Brisbane River in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The University of Queensland Bus Station, at UQ's St Lucia Campus is serviced by TransLink bus routes The Eleanor Schonell Bridge, also known as the Green Bridge, is a 390 metre (1280 ft long Cable-stayed bridge which crosses the Brisbane River Dutton Park is a suburb of Brisbane, Australia located 25km south of the Brisbane CBD.
Located in Gatton, Queensland about 90km west of Brisbane on the Warrego Highway, UQ Gatton is home to the university's Faculty of Natural Resources, Agriculture and Veterinary Science (NRAVS). A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates using mainly a spherical coordinate system. Gatton is a town and the administrative centre of the Lockyer Valley Local Government Area situated in the Lockyer Valley of South East UQ Gatton, formerly the Queensland Agricultural College, was opened in 1897 as a combined agricultural college and experimental farm. The QAC amalgamated with UQ in 1990. UQ Gatton is serviced by the UQ Gatton Student Association and remains affiliated with the UQ Student Union.
UQ Gatton offers courses in agriculture, animal science, environmental management, agronomy/agribusiness, equine studies, wildlife and bushland studies and other fields relating to natural and rural environments. Its facilities include over 1000 hectares of agricultural land, extensive and intensive animal production operations, a recently redeveloped equine centre, and facilities for wildlife studies, as well as modern teaching facilities and laboratories, and a branch of the UQ Library. Some of the original QAC buildings are still standing, such as the Foundation Building.
The Ipswich campus, opened in 1999, after State and Federal government backing is the newest campus, made up of nearly 20 buildings and more than 4000 students on nearly 25ha. Courses offered include: arts, business and social sciences as well as Interaction design. Interaction Design ( IxD) is the discipline of defining the behavior of products and systems that a user can interact with
It is located near central Ipswich, Queensland, just south of the CBD. Ipswich is a city and Local Government Area situated on the Bremer River in South East Queensland, Australia. Nearby landmarks include Limestone Park, The Workshops Railway Museum and the RAAF Base Amberley. RAAF Base Amberley is a Royal Australian Air Force base located 8 km southwest of Ipswich Queensland and 50 km southwest of Brisbane Queensland. The actual site surrounds the Ipswich Showgrounds and is in turn, sided by a golf course.
The site dates back to 1878 with the opening of the Ipswich branch of the Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum. Operations continued until 1910 when it became the Ipswich Hospital for the Insane. In 1938 it was renamed the Ipswich Mental Hospital and in 1964 it was renamed again as the Ipswich Special Hospital. It was finally named the Challinor Centre in 1968 in honour of Dr. Henry Challinor, the ships surgeon on the Fortitude. From 1968 to 1997 the Challinor Centre served as an institution for people with intellectual disabilities. Mental retardation is a generalized triarchic disorder characterized by subaverage cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors with onset before the age In late 1997 the Challinor Centre began its final stage of evolution as the new UQ Ipswich campus.
This history is reflected today with 17 heritage listed buildings that have been refurbished into work spaces, computer laboratories and public spaces. Work is still underway refurbishing more buildings.
The University of Queensland takes advantage of research and education facilities not attached directly to the three campuses. These locations are primarily for research which cannot be undertaken in the campus locales but also represent buildings which established pre-eminence in education before the creation of the current campuses.
In 2004 the University of Queensland had more than 38,000 students enrolled with 6,396 of these international students. Notable alumni include Bill Hayden, Professor Peter Doherty and actors Janet Fielding and Geoffrey Rush. William George Hayden, AC (born 23 January 1933 was the 21st Governor-General of Australia. Janet Fielding (born Janet Mahoney, 1957 Brisbane, Queensland) is an Australian Actress, known for her role in the BBC Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951 is a Golden Globe - BAFTA - Emmy - AFI - and Academy Award -winning Australian actor
The University of Queensland has won more Australian Awards for University Teaching than any other university. It is also noted for developing the HyShot Ramjet Rocket and pioneering a vaccine for cervical cancer (Research led by 2006 Australian of the Year, Professor Ian Frazer). HyShot is a research project of The University of Queensland, Australia Centre for Hypersonics to demonstrate the possibility of supersonic combustion under flight Human papillomavirus (HPV vaccine is a Vaccine that targets certain strains of Human papillomavirus associated with the development of Cervical For the poker player see Ian Frazer (poker player; see also Ian Fraser Ian Hector Frazer (born January 6, 1953
The Honourable Sir Llewellyn Edwards, AC, is the Chancellor of The University of Queensland and the current Deputy Chancellor is The Hon. Sir Llewellyn Roy Edwards, AC (born 2 August, 1935) is the twelfth and current Chancellor of the University of Queensland and a former Justice Margaret White. Margaret White is a fictional character created by Stephen King. The Chancellor and Deputy Chancellor are elected by the University Senate. The Vice-Chancellor of the University (effectively the chief executive officer) is appointed by the Senate and the office is currently held by Professor Paul Greenfield. The post was formerly held by Professor John A. Hay until 31 December 2007. Professor John A Hay AC BA (Hons (Western Australia & Cambridge - Hackett Research Scholar MA (Cambridge PhD (Western Australia Hon LittD
The University's executive group comprises:
The University is the site of the following research institutes:
The University is also a partner in the following research centres:
The University also maintains school and faculty based research centres in the following areas:
The UQ Union is the incorporated representative body of the students at the University. The Distributed Systems Technology Centre (DSTC was a leading research organization in the field of Information Technology in Australia. NICTA is Australia's national information and communication technology research centre of excellence The UQ Union is the central student organisation at the University of Queensland. It provides services to students including representation to University and faculty committees, refectories and other catering services, a legal service, financial assistance, administrative counseling and campus activities.
The University is organised into Faculties, Schools and Departments/Divisions.
The University of Queensland has 11 residential colleges with 10 of these located on its St Lucia campus. The Sunshark Solar Car Team was a solar car racing team at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Only three of the colleges (Union College, International House and Women's College) have no religious affiliation. The 11 colleges are:
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You can’t buy absolution—at least, not anymore—but $1.99 will help you get there. A new app for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch has been “developed for those who frequent the sacrament and those who wish to return” in what is the first known imprimatur to be given for an iPhone or iPad app. Can we get an Amen?
Confession: A Roman Catholic App was developed by Little iApps to help walk the penitent through the sacrament of penance, a.k.a. confession. The app won’t impart absolution to you—sorry, but there’s no getting out of the actual act of confession—but it does help one organize his or her sins into a handy list and maintain proper confessional decorum.The app helps users examine their consciences by listing the 10 Commandments and asking users questions about their lives related to the fundamental rules of Christianity. Password protected profiles even allow the app to question a penitent soul about aspects of Christianity as they pertain to the person’s age, marital status, and gender, helping them to better enumerate their spiritual shortcomings and make sure nothing is forgotten when the get into the booth. Almost like a grocery list, except instead of general food items it lists all the ways you fall short of the glory of God.
It also helps users through the process of the confession itself, reminding them that when the priest says “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good,” the proper response is “For His mercy endures forever.” It even contains the traditional texts of several oft cited Catholic prayers, so when the priest prescribes you a handful of Hail Marys and a couple of Our Fathers, you won’t be at a loss for words.
The app is a direct response to Pope Benedict’s January World Communications Day address in which he gave new media and social media the Papal stamp of approval as tools for helping parishioners find “meaning, truth, and unity” in their everyday lives. That is, of course, if it is used wisely.
No word on whether the Vatican considers Angry Birds a “wise” use of technology.
Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more.
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(AP) President Vladimir Putin has promised to re-equip the Russian air force with hundreds of new aircraft as part of an ambitious military modernization program.
Speaking Saturday at an airshow marking the air force's 100th anniversary, Putin said the military will receive more than 600 new combat planes and 1,000 helicopters by 2020.
He said boosting the air force is a key priority for the government.
Russia's defense spending has fallen sharply since the 1991 Soviet collapse, leaving the air force to rely on aging Soviet-built planes, but a recent boom in oil revenues has allowed the Kremlin to launch a costly effort to upgrade military arsenals.
Air force chief Gen. Viktor Bondarev said on Ekho Moskvy radio that the military will get 180 new aircraft this year alone.
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Are humans fleishik or are they on a different level? If I were to have a cut in my mouth, would that make me fleishik?
The Rema Yoreh Deah 79:1 says it is assur min HaTorah. Since it is assur I would assume it falls into the same category as a non-kosher animal which the Shach 87:3 says there is no issur basar b'chalav because it was assur from the Torah already.Since it has an issur of non-kosher the other halachos of kosher are not applicable. This is all on assumption no full-proof rye'a.
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UK downgrade rounds off EU's Black Friday
25.02.13 @ 09:29
BRUSSELS - Rating agency Moody's stripped the UK of its coveted AAA credit rating on Friday (22 February), rounding off a day of economic gloom in the EU.
In a statement released shortly before the closure of the markets, Moody's said that the downgrade was the result of "continuing weakness in the UK's medium-term growth outlook, with a period of sluggish growth which Moody's now expects will extend into the second half of the decade".
It is the first time Moody's has downgraded the UK's creditworthiness since its ratings system was set up in 1978. Meanwhile, the two other big rating agencies - Standard & Poor's and Fitch - are yet to cast their verdict ahead of the country's next annual budget on March 20.
The downgrade leaves just six EU countries - Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden - with AAA ratings.
The UK's credit rating has been under pressure for several years as the country struggles to recover from the damage caused by the 2007-9 financial crisis.
It managed 0 percent growth in 2012 and the European Commission has forecast a 0.9 percent increase in output over the course of 2013. Among the 27 EU countries, only Spain, Ireland and Greece ran a budget deficit higher than the UK's projected 6.3 percent shortfall in 2012. Meanwhile, the UK's debt pile is expected to clear 95 percent in 2013.
The news is a big blow to the Conservative-led Coalition government and, in particular, Chancellor George Osborne. Osborne had staked his political reputation on protecting the UK's triple AAA status.
Responding to the news, Osborne said that the downgrade was a "stark reminder of the debt problems facing our country". He added that the government would continue "delivering the plan that has cut the deficit by a quarter, and given us record low interest rates and record numbers of jobs."
The downgrade came at the end of a day of dismal economic news, following the morning publication of the European Commission's Winter Forecast. The EU executive expects the eurozone to remain in recession in 2013 with economic output falling by a further 0.3 percent over the course of the year.
There was, however, a crumb of comfort as Moody's also revised the UK's economic outlook from 'negative' to 'stable', praising what it described as the country's "significant credit strengths."
Moreover, the downgrade is more likely to be a symbolic blow and is not expected to have a significant effect on UK borrowing rates.
UK spreads on ten-year government bonds, which had fallen to historic lows over the past two years as investors have searched for safe investment havens outside the eurozone, currently stand at 2 percent, around 0.5 percent higher than those of German Bunds.
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SAP HR - Check your basics-Answers-1
updated Mar 26, 2013 7:54 am | 210,803 views
It gives me immense satisfaction that i could share my SAP HR concepts which i had struggled for days to understand with so many young consultants and hope that it is helping them move a step ahead in their en devour to understand SAP HR.
SAP HR is a very vast module compared to many others and its important to note that every HR subject is a part of SAP HR so it needs lots of effort to master many of these modules.Thanks to all the readers and contributors to this wiki for making it so successful.
SAP HR now SAP HCM (Human Capital Management) has come a long way with SAP NetWeaver , the web services through the portal and mobile applications( remember i told you in this wiki long back that even HR folks should keep an eye on understanding technology e,g how to use a mobile etc).Devices like the computer and mobiles are merging and you see new devices with new applications.
Is your application visible clearly on the PC, the notebook, the tablet, the mobile, the ipad or ipod and many more devices and work on the android, windows, symbian etc ( for more information refer http://www.geekyard.com/mobile/different-types-of-operating-systems-in-mobiles/) ,
Are your applications integrating to professional & social networks like Linkedin, Facebook etc ?
Investors whether corporate or bankers look at VALUE for investment in information technology. You have installed ECC6.0 and think of ESS , MSS and LSO with BI/BO for SAP HCM and many have probably even implemented these but HR departments get stuck here with what next? That's whats drives innovation. Innovation is not only about revamping or redesigning systems but it is all about new thoughts, change management and any small idea such as a process change, prioritization, sequencing that adds value. I hope i made my point. Take care.
A sincere request to everyone deeply involved in this wiki is not to add any configuration information since :-
This wiki is not about configuring the img for sap hr but to understand the concepts of sap hr and its alignment to hr business as practically seen and encountered in the day to day hr business.
The wiki has reached a bursting capacity in size and adding configuration to it does not make sense since one who reads english can go to the sap help portal which is extremely user friendly and has a fresh neat look. Link is http://help.sap.com
SIGNIFICANCE OF DATA
Before I begin i would again like to stress the importance of data for any information system be it a file, a folder, a book, or any electronic data from any electronic device. The entire objective of building any information system and processes is to capture this data so that :-
*It has structured information *It does not have duplicate information *It has history of information which makes sense *It provides all means of simple integration for querying. *It provides users decision making capabilities *It meets its objective of user satisfaction * it is simple to port to any other system.
It is very unfortunate that most information systems are built and the data analysis and or data migration processes are given very little time, significance and importance which can turn any project Topsy turvy and never meet the project objectives and goals. The best erp systems incorporate best practices in helping you capture this data but do not blame them for your screwed up design and practices. If you are doing terrible, the best way is to align to them and keep your systems simple ( called vanilla implementations) and then build your system architecture on this base over a period of time. This is a sure way of achieving success. Business Sensible Data is the key to defining business stratergy and streamlining operations. Extremely large global organizations with multiple systems and instances have data redundancy and accuracy issues to cleanse their data. The best of these organizations have tools and dashboards to continuously monitor their data and cleanse them periodically.
I am adding some links which highlight the significance of data by some of the world's leading organizations and the effort they take to maintain it.
The link below takes you to Techtarget.com where you need to register to read the article.
I hope that many young SAP HR consultants have tried answering these questions.I would like to discuss these questions and would begin first by discussing what SAP HR is all about. SAP HR or SAP Human Capital Management (HCM) is one of the largest modules in the SAP R/3 system which consists of many submodules like
Many of these sub modules are further sub divided into many components for eg Time Management is further divided into Time Administration, Shift Planning, Incentive Wages and Time Sheet. Environment Health & Safety is further divided into Occupational Health & Industrial Hygiene & Safety.
With the advent of mySAP, SAP HR was then called mySAP HR. What got added with "mySAP" (mark this word) was the web services like ESS (Employee Self-Service) and the MSS (Manager's Self Service) which gave empowerment to the employees and managers - employees to better manage their own data and managers to better manage their own departments/divisions. This became the turning point for SAP HR to shift from being a data repository to a strategic tool where the HR departments now focused more of strategic tasks than administrative ones which were now offloaded to the employees and managers using these self services.
Looking back at the earlier days, when the HR Head required a headcount report from all his divisions, it would mean asking for each division to provide data and than receiving this data at the HR Headquarters. Compiling the same and providing it to the management could possibly take a few days to maybe weeks where the data accuracy could be questioned, data could be redundant etc. This was due to the fact that the HR data would be sitting across in different systems in different locations and the IT practices being followed differently (if not HR) at these different locations.If one could not get an accurate HR report one could wonder trying to get information of HR integrated to other functions like Logistics etc would have made life so difficult for an HR consultant.
With the advent of SAP , and the SAP HR module , all the HR information for an organization/company got collated at one place in a very structured manner.To find a specific information for an employee (one who is on the payroll of the organization) or applicant(one who intend to be on the payroll of an organization), all one needed to do is use a transaction like "PA20" which is Display HR master data( note this is so important because this is the basis of an SAP system ie it is a transactional system) and enter the 4 digit infotype number to view an infotype.
To see the address of an employee use the transaction "PA20" and go the Display HR master data screen, enter the unique 8 digit employee number (this is the primary key to all employee information ), type infotype 0006for that employee and see the current information or history (using the list view)stored there.
Insert non-formatted text here
Infotypes are also called information types and are pre-defined templates to enter sensible related information for an employee or applicant. for eg an address infotype would have fields like street & house no, city, pin code.This infotype is unique and is represented by an infotype number eg address has infotype no 0006. Some of the important infotypes are :-
The above infotypes together in the same sequence form a part of the Hiring Action.To make you understand this better just try and recollect the contents of your offer letter which your organization might have given you. It would possibly read
We are delighted to offer you the position (IT 0001) of ______. You will belong to ______ department (IT 0001). Your joining date will be ______(IT0000)and you will be paid a salary of ______ (IT 0008). You will be paid monthly allowances ______ (IT 0008 or IT 0014) and we are also offering you a joining bonus of ______ (IT 0015). You will be eligible for annual leave of ______ days (IT 2006) and sick leave of ______ (IT 2006).You will be on a probation for six months from the date of joining (probation date & confirmation date in IT0016). Your working hours will be from ____ hrs to ____ hrs beginning Monday to Friday (IT 0007) and we look forward to your presence on date ______(IT 2006).....
I hope this gives you some idea of what an infotype is.
This must have raised a question in many minds that "Hey ! I got the offer during my recruitment so how come this is being referred to after hiring?" Well
thats simple - this is because all your relevant data that was captured during recruitment was transferred to the the master (called HR master data)during the hiring process.
Well, this was captured using recruitment actions like shortlist candidate, for interview, make offer, offer accepted till you join the organization and sign the joining letter when your data actually gets transferred from the Recruitment module to the Personnel Administration module.Again this data was captured in recruitment infotypes.
If you closely observe that many of the recruitment infotypes are clones of personnel administration infotypes.I hope this gives you some idea of what an infotype is. Lets look at what we mean by subtypes. A subtype is sub-categorization of an infotype. Not all infotypes are sub-categorized and hence only some required infotypes would have subtypes.
Lets take the case of Address Infotype (IT 0006). Now we would like to use the same screen template to store different types of addresses like permanent,Temporary, Office etc.This is because we would be capturing the same type of information which would require the same fields like Street No, City, Country, Pin Code etc to capture different address types information.SAP handles this by using subtypes for the Address Infotype (IT 0006). So to store any Address Information we would need to specify both the infotype and subtype. Certain other infotypes with subtypes are Dependents (0021), ID Data (0185) etc.
DATA AND AUTHORIZATIONS
When it comes to data these are the things that we can do to it
Create data ( in sap hr we do this by creating new records )
To be able to do one or three of the above , the sap hr user needs to be authorized to do so . This is a part of data security handled by sap using what is known as authorizations. Authorizations in sap hr are handled through roles ( such as payroll administrator, training administrator , time administrator where these roles are given create/maintain/view authorizations for combination of hr objects/hr infotypes& subtypes /hr transactions/hr reports/hr clusters)called role based authorizations or a combination of role based authorizations and the hr structures (like organization structure, training calendar etc) called structural authorizations. These roles and structural authorizations are assigned to the sap hr user based on his job profile.Data security is the key andits important to know that you would see,create and maintain data based purely on the tasks you perform in your organization as a sap user.So do not get upset if your colleague can see more than you and does not divulge information as the authorizations would be based on his/her job profile and remember that company confidentiality & professional ethics are the most important qualification for any sap user.
Coming back to authorizations (this is for the configurators) , I mentioned earlier that authorizations can be purely role based or a combination of role based and structural authorizations . Lot of hr consultants state thatwe do not need structural authorizations as we can use theorganizational key ( a field used for authorizations available only in IT 0001-Organizational Assignment).However, one must clearly note that further authorizations using role based authorizations can be provided by using organizational key field and that the organization key does not replace the hr structures
ORGANIZATONAL KEY IN AUTHORIZATIONS
The organizational key is a 14 character code which is restricted to a combination of certain fields of the organizational assignment infotype -0001 like organization unit, personal area, personal sub-area, etc.
Organization unit is a part of IT0001 and it is often used as a part of the organization key. For most organizations, the organization key suffices. However, when complex authorization requirements arise than organizations with sap hr opt for structural authorizations. If you want an employee to have authorizations to certain employee data of 5 sub-ordinate organization units you would probably have to maintain all the five organizational keys in the role assigned to the employee which means more maintenance. This increases authorization role maintenance and authorization errors ( if there is data inconsistency),which is realized by organizations who are implementing or in a process of implementing structural authorizations.
If you want to restrict the sap hr user access on the basis of training calendar or other hr structures then you would need to use structural authorizations and cannot use role based authorizations unless you do some custom development( which is not recommended, when you have standard sap meeting your requirements). I would give full credit to SAP for having understood that many organizations deviate from the normal practices and have their own specific practices for which wherever appropriate,Business Add-Ins also known as BADI’s have been provided to handle such scenarios.
For more detailed information and whenever in doubt, always refer to your experienced sap hr colleagues for guidance and help. Refer to appropriate sap documentation provided by sap or its authorized education partners/vendors such as for ex. . Please note that this wiki is purely a discussion and not an education guide or a for formal sap hr training. The assumption here is that all reading this wiki are young sap hr consultants who are looking for advice or a forum to share their skills and knowledge.
TRANSITION OF DATA TO INTELLIGENT DATA
Coming back to the discussion on data ( i would be visiting this time and
again) one needs to understand the transition of data with the advent and
advancement of information technology.
For every sap hr consultant it is important to understand HR logical databases in sap hr. A layer above the physical database lies the hr logical databases called PNP, PCH and PAP. Logical databases contain data tables from sub-modules of sap hr.
Note : You should know when to choose between the PNP and the PCH logical databases when building your report or query and the key is whether you want the primary key for selection to be the personnel number or the object type.If the primary key is to be the PERNR (personnel number) then you should select the PNP logical database and if you want it to be any object type like O – org unit, S- position, C- job ,L- Business Event Group, D- Business Event Type E- Business Event….etc, then you should select the PCH logical database. And PAP when the primary key must be the applicant number
This means if you want to query by employee the business events attended, you choose PNP, and if you want to know for certain specific business events who are the attendees, you choose PCH logical database to build your query,program or reports.To conclude,we can say that to build an sap hr query ,user & standard sap programs or reports the preferred option and sap standard too, we use logical databases. I have used the word preferred and not the only option because querying also allows you to directly reference the physical tables without using logical databases but this is never recommended by sap due to problems that it creates in hr authorizations and would overlook error handling provided by sap for the infotypes. All sap hr queries, programs & reports should use the logical databases.Hence if an sap user does not have authorizations for that object or infotype which the program, query or report references, then it would throw an error for the user.Please refer to the exhaustive sap help documentation for more information on sap hr logical databases, infosets , reporting and querying.
UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS
Deviating from the question and answers, I would like to highlight a story from the Indian mythology. A teacher teaching his student archers asked them all to shoot an arrow at a clay bird perched on the top of a tree and hit the eye of the bird. All the archers shot at the bird but only one of them managed to hit the eye of the bird. When the teacher asked all the student archers what did they see when they shot the clay bird,some said they saw the bird on a tree,some said they saw the bird perched on the branch. The archer who shot the eye of the bird was quiet. When he was asked by the teacher as to what he saw , prompt came his reply “I saw the eye of the bird”.
What I am trying to highlight here is that it is very important for an SAP HR consultant to understand what the exact customer requirements are and be focused only on those requirements.
All projects are time defined based upon agreed business requirements. Delivering what has been agreed upon is what the consultants need to focus upon. Do not try to deviate from what is defined unless agreed upon by the customer and the project team. Save the frills, fancies and anything extra for the enhancements.SAP projects cost a lot of money and the estimation is based on work to be done. A project's success depends on meeting the objectives, goals and requirements for what the project endeavor was carried out within the defined time lines. If the project deviates in cost, quality and time , it indicates that what was defined as required by the customer is not being met. Deviations to projects makes the project team loose motivation and interest, disturbs human resource planning for other projects when they are to be released from the existing projects and begin work on the other projects. In short it creates a chaos besides financial losses.Many of us are in consulting and we need to understand the bottom line- time is money. If your projects make profit, your company makes profit and you too profit. This should be your motto.
So remember and drill this in your mind that requirements for an sap hr project are to meet the company’s goals and objectives in initiating the project and clearly not what the sap hr user or even for that matter the sap configurator fancies or wants.The success of the sap hr project is only when the project sponsor states that it is a success.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
I have decided to answer all the questions directly to begin with now that you have some fundamentals explained and then go ahead with more discussions
1.What are info types ?
Infotypes, known as information types are units of human resources information formed by grouping related data fields together. These are represented in the sap hr system by a unique 4 digit number eg. Personal Data (0002), Address (0006) etc. All customer infotypes fall in the number range from 9000 to 9999. The fields in the infotype would vary based on the country grouping for eg. if any employee belongs to country grouping 10 then he would have the SSN no field in the Personal Data infotype which would not be seen in same infotype for country grouping 99.
PERSONNEL ACTIONS& HIRING ACTION
2.What are personnel actions? What is the transaction for executing personnel actions?
Personnel Actions are the events of an employee's employment history within the organization beginning from hiring an employee to termination of the employee.Each of these events need specific information to be captured. This is achieved in sap hr by grouping together infotypes called as infogroup which appear one after another in sequence to capture/change information in the infotypes whenever the personnel action is executed. Personnel Actions are executed by transaction pa40.
3.What are the important info types for a hiring action?
Note ->0003- Payroll Status ( this is automatically maintained by the sap system and not required to be maintained in the info group for hiring)
IMG & PROJECT IMG
What is IMG? What is its importance? What are the functions you can execute using IMG?
IMG means the implementation guide. The configurators would customize the sap hr system as per the customer requirements in the img. In the img you can create project img’s which limit the customizing nodes to the requirement of the projects and for each project img you can create multiple views like MM,SD,HR etc to get more specific. To go to the implementation guide or img from the sap easy access menu ,you have to enter transaction spro in the command line.
ENTERPRISE & PERSONNEL STRUCTURE
5.What is an enterprise structure?
The enterprise structure is one of the HR structures. The HR enterprise structure composition depends upon the hr administrative, time and payroll
functions for that company. It comprises the client, company code, personal area, personnel subarea and the organization key. The hiring action assign an employee via infotype 0001- Organizational Assignment to the enterprise structure. The enterprise structure is the enterprise perspective of an employee.
6.What is a personnel structure?
The organizational personnel structure describes how the employee is positioned in the organization. This is an individual perspective of an employee in an organization. It comprises of the employee group, the employee sub group and the organization plan (org unit, position, job) for that employee. The hiring action assigns an employee via infotype 0001- Organizational Assignment to the personnel structure.
7.What is the highest level of the enterprise structure?
The company code is an organization unit(this is different from the hr organization unit. Different modules like SD, MM, etc have their own organization structures with their own organization units) which has its own balance sheet and profit and loss account and is defined in the FI module.
9.What are personnel areas and its functions?
Personnel (( Please note the spelling -> its Personnel (group of people)and not Personal(Individual)) Area is the sub division (understand these two words) of the company code and can represent a functional area or geographical location.These play a very important role in the time and payroll configurations. Each personnel area is unique to a company code (mark these words) and is represented by a 4 character code.
10.What are personnel sub areas and its functions?
The further divisions (understand this word) of a personnel area are defined as personnel subareas. The functions are similar to the personnel area. Each personnel subarea too is unique to a personal area (mark these words) and is represented by a 4 character code.
Hi everyone, i would be continuing with the answers to the rest of the questions as an when i get the time and try to keep this going till completion.
11.How is an employee in the HR Master data linked to a company to which he belongs?
"EMPLOYEE--->PERSONNEL AREA--->COMPANY CODE--->COUNTRY GROUPING-->CLIENT"
12.Can a personnel area be assigned to many company codes?
No. A Personnel Area can be only assigned to one company code. Many personnel areas can be assigned to the same company code but the vice versa is not true.
13.What are the indicators defined by personnel sub areas?
The indicators are all personnel sub area groupings for hr, time, payroll which are very critical to the sap hr implementation. They are also used tolimit HR authorizations.
14.How do you categorize the employee groups?
Employee groups are categorized based on employee/staff regulations of work and pay such as
15.What are employee subgroups and what are the indicators set up using employee subgroups?
Further division of the employee groups are called the employee subgroups such as under employee group 1-Active you could have employee subgroups such as AA–Hourly wage earner, AH–Salaried Employee …. And so on.The indicators are all employee sub area groupings for hr, time, payroll which are very critical to the sap hr implementation. They are also used to limit HR authorizations.
16.Employee groups are two character and employee subgroup are two character representations in the IMG. Do you support this statement?
False. Employee groups are one character and employee subgroups are two character representations.
17.In the HR Master data where are planned working times for an employee seen?
18.Do I need to give country assignment to personnel sub areas in customizing? If true support the statement and if not what’s true?
No. You do not need to give country assignment to personnel sub areas directly, however when personnel subareas are assigned to personnel areas, the contry grouping gets inherited automatically through the associated Company code. You also have an option to give country assignments to the employee subgroups on assigning to employee groups in the enterprise structure.
HR MASTER DATA & ORGANIZATION MANAGEMENT
19.What are the various objects in an organizational plan?.
How does any company use an organizational plan?
The company organization structure and reporting structure is represented through the organization plan. The active plan version is the current plan
version and the other plan versions are considered as various planning stages.Used for manpower planning. Normally plan version"01" is always made the active plan version.
12.How do you integrate OM and PA? If integration is active what happens when a position is entered in IT 0000.? What else does the system default? Can these values be changed? What is this called?
Integration of OM and PA is possible through the integration switch setting
in table T770S which is PLOGI ORGA 1. If the integration is active and the position is entered in IT0000 during a hiring action , than in IT0001 the following are automatically defaulted
13.Are cost center assignments hierarchical? Where do you assign these in OM?
Cost center assignments are hierarchical. You assign these in the account assignment for OM objects. If your org unit in the lower hierarchy does not
have a cost center assignment , than it will be assigned the cost center of the upper hierarchical org unit till one is found. For a position, if the cost center is not assigned, it will be assigned the cost center of the org unit to which the position belongs and if not found here, than it will be assigned the cost centre of the upper hierarchical org unit till one is found. These assignments can be overridden by the cost distribution (IT 0027).
14.What are attributes of objects? Is vacancy a common attribute for all objects?
Attributes of an object are the properties of the object by which it is described. The OM objects have some common attributes like Description, Relationship, Account Assignment , Work Schedule etc and some unique attributes like Vacancy assignment which is only for the OM object position.
15.What are the other additional organizational assignments?
The other additional organizational assignments are assigning the employee to administrators in org assignment infotype 0001.
16..Name the three administrators? How do you default these in IT0001?.
The three administrators are
Besides these the employee can also be assigned to
These are defaulted through the feature PINCH.
17.What is organizational key? How many characters does it constitute? How can it be defined? What is it mainly used for?
An Organization key is a 14 character code that could be formed by the combination of parts/whole of certain field values in the org assignment
infotype (0001) eg employee group, subgroup, personnel area, sub area, org unit
etc. It is used for authorizations.
18.What are employee attributes and how are they classified?
The employee attributes are all the information pertaining to that employee. They are typically classified according to the HR structures to which the employee belongs such as organization structure, pay structure, and are stored in form of well defined and related information called infotypes.
19.What are features? What is the transaction for features?
Features are objects those that default values by quering different enterprise, personnel or data structure fields. The transaction code for features are pe03.
20.What are the features to default and in which info type ?
21. Number Range Intervals NUMKR( which infotype??You try and answer this one)
22. What is ABKRS?
The two ways of maintaining features are use using the table method or the tree method.The experienced sap hr consultants prefer the table method of configuring a feature whereas those who worked on 4.6 and later prefer the tree method.
24.What is the infotype to store personal data for an employee?
Infotype 0002 – Personal Data is used to store personal information of an employee. In some countries you could use infotype 0077- Additional Personal Data.
25.Where are the default values for working hours per period taken from in IT 0008?
Taken from Infotype 0007- Planned Working Time. (Try and answer from which field???)
26.Maintaining a feature or its structure
In the Development(DEV) Client, use transaction PE03 to change a feature's decision table. You can use either a tree structure view or a table view. For a beginner the first one is easier to understand.
A feature provides a return value based on the decision tree using the values at the time of execution. It is similar to a PCR (or a payroll calc rule) or a decision table which many people would be familiar with.
A feature uses a data structure which is populated by the program before calling the feature. A feature may use all or some of the fields in its structure. You can see which fields can be used when you go to change/maintain a feature and then navigate to the structure. The feature / structure screen shows the usable fields highlighted. If you need to use a field not used currently, then highlight or select it. Then save it and regenerate. Then the feature's decision table can be changed to use the new field/s.
The same applies if you want to use a different structure. The program that uses or calls the feature will fill the new structure, provided the data is available in the program / module / function / routine.
After changing the decision table and saving it in a transport, generate the feature. Generating the feature is required when you change it manually. Then move the transport to Quality Assurance(QA) or User Acceptance(UAT), Production and other clients. Moving transports to another system/client will automatically result in generating the feature in the target client. In older SAP versions like R/3 3.0 it was required to generate after transport.
In Test or Prod system, sometimes the feature may not have been generated; this will result in incorrect processing. This can be corrected by re-generating the feature in the relevant client.
Some features use another feature. This is indicated in the function part having 'FLDID=xxxx'; here xxx would be the secondary feature being called by the primary feature. With such features, it is possible that the subfeature is copied from client 000 when the main feature is generated. If you wish to force the feature to use the one from the config client, a trick is to change the one in the config client with an insignificant change, save it and then regenerate the main feature.
Feature is a client dependent object though it generates a program and client dependent customizing transports (not workbench transports) are used. For example, if you have a Development System with separate Dev clients for different companies, then it needs to be maintained in the development client for that company.
One development system is used for Company A client 100 and Company B client 110. Then the features need to be separately maintained in the relevant system and transported to the corresponding QA & Prod clients. In many customer installations, there are multiple clients for a Development system - e.g., 010 for Dev (ABAP objects), 100 for config, 200 for Dev Test. If you have separate client for employee/org data, then in the Test client you need to copy the transport from the conifig client with SCC1 transaction, then generate the feature.
Generating a feature will result in generating a subroutine pool member. This subroutine is called by the calling program in real time. For example, LGMST feature will result in /1PAPA/FEATnnnLGMST, where nnn is the system client number.
26.Why is employee subgroup grouping for pcr significant for payroll?
The Personnel Calculation rule allows one wage type to be processed in different ways in payroll and these different ways are through the ESG for PCR and ESG for CAP. The ESG for PCR classifies which employees are to be paid on an hourly or monthly basis. The ESG for CAP further classifies these employees based on their Collective Agreement Provision as industrial workers or salaried workers (based on their worker/union agreements.)Try and understand the esg grouping for pcr and esg grouping for cap and how basic pay infotype behaves for these hourly, periodic and monthly agreements.
These are used to assign the collective agreement types and areas to an employee via infotype 0008- Basic Pay. For example, payscale type “01” -> Metal Industry and payscale area “01” -> North Region
You assign payscale types and areas to personnel subareas under the node in the IMG, Check Assignment of Pay Scale Structure to Enterprise Structure
31.What are wage types? How wage types are broadly classified?
Wage types are payroll objects used to store payroll components which include the amount, number and rate. SAP has standard model wage types for different country versions and depending upon your payroll implementation you should copy model wage types from the correct country versions only.
The wage types are broadly classified into primary/dialog and secondary/technical or slash wage types. Dialog wage types are those in which you can store values in the wage types through the permissible payroll infotypes. The technical or slash wage types are those wage types that are create during the payroll run only eg /101 – Total gross amount, /550 – Statutory Net, /559 – Bank Details.
Wage types are permitted to be stored in payroll infotypes only if these are added to the wage type groups. Eg Basic Pay IT0008 has wage type group 0008.
Please note that not always do Infotype no = wage type group.
Transaction pu95 is used to edit wage type groups. You need to assign the
wage types to the respective employee sub group groupings and personnel subarea groupings wherever configuration permits for the wage types to be associated with the enterprise and personnel structure. All wage types are not permissible for all infotypes( refer wage type groups concept).
The wage type characteristics are attributes of the wage type as to what is permissible and not permissible, what are the maximum and minimum value limits , what are the units permissible, whether they are to be valuated directly ( values entered) or indirectly ( values as a reference to other wage type values).
You valuate wage types directly or using indirect valuation. You configure these in the wage type characteristics and the corresponding indirect valuation tables where the corresponding wage types from where the indirect values are figured out(these need to exist). Module names are names given to different types of modules that valuate wage types according to certain criteria eg TARIF, PRZNT etc. Variations in the module valuation process are further provided by the specific module variants. For eg for TARIF module the variants could be A, B, C and D. TARIF provides valuation according to payscale group or/and level, SUMME & PRZNT are valuation using the basic pay(IT0008)wage types . The 'SUMME' module corresponds to the 'PRZNT' module except that the value of the wage type to be valuated indirectly is always the entire basic pay.
KEEPING FIT-MUST FOR SAP CONSULTANTS
The answer to my non sap question is ... Carnegie Mellon professor Scott E. Fahlman was the inventor of the smiley
Since its Xmas time and the New Year 2008 arriving in a few days, I am not going to post answers but share a story with you. Now this time of the year is when you gorge on food and maybe add a few kilos too. Well what the heck we are all supposed to have fun this time of the year.
Coming back to the story (I cannot confirm if this is true since it has been told to me) there is this CEO cum owner of one of the biggest private corporations in India ( I will call him CEO X) who had gone overseas for some round of negotiations to formalize a contract worth several million dollars.The CEO of the company that was tendering the contract (We shall call him CEO Y) was there too and he made CEO X walk across the plant and climb a few stairs which left the Indian CEO sweating and panting for breath. Now came the moment of signing the contract and CEO Y took CEO X aside and told him in private that he was signing the contract mainly due to the business acumen of CEO X but was really in two minds of taking that risk looking at the fitness of CEO X. CEO X immediately realized that not only was this contract at stake but even his company was at stake due to his fitness. He promised to get in shape in a few months and fulfilled his promise to become one of the fittest CEO’s of the Indian corporate world.
I was also reading the other day and I quote “Good Looking People Get More Frequent Promotions” or something similar like that. I would like to replace the Good Looking with the words “Fitter” & “Well Groomed”.
This story applies very much to sap consultants too who are under constant pressures to meet deadlines and have abnormal times of brunches, lunches and dinners coupled with odd hours of sleep. Exercising in some form or the other to keep fit is a must, whether it is laughter therapy, simple old fashioned walking or a hitting the gym for a six pack. If you are hitting the gym for the first time make sure you are exercising under the able guidance of a fitness expert.
Happy and Prosperous 2008.
PAY INCREASE IN SAP HR
43.Briefly explain the two different ways to perform pay increase? In dynamic pay increase what are variants A, G, D, E, T , C and R?
Only one variant can be defined for a wage type. You need to maintain table V_T510D in the customizing and run the program RPITRF00 to carry out the standard pay scale increase.
Make sure that you test your configuration and the execution of the report RPITRF00 only in the test system, run payroll test cases and take user acceptance before transporting these changes to the Production. It is highly recommended that you always do this in the supervision of a senior consultant with good sap payroll experience.
Hello once again.Moving to the next question on infotype attributes.
44.What are the info type attributes?
The attributes of the infotype are
These are all defined as per requirements in the standard infotypes provided by SAP but when you are defining custom infotypes in the 9000-9999 series range you need to make sure you correctly define the attributes required for the custom infotype.
Before we end for now just checking on whether have we all made our New Year Resolutions??? Any resolution for SAP????
I was watching an advertisement of a sitcom and there an very emotional and an upset mom was asking her teenage son and I quote “Do you really care for me?,do you love me son? The son replied with all innocence on his face and truth in his eyes and I quote again “ Of course mom, is that a question to ask, I do love you ,I do love your credit card” So would your SAP resolution be something like I love to work on sap and would continue doing so because ……… ( don’t expect me to fill in the rest, its your resolution folks).
Welcome back. My sap resolution is to finish answering the questions at the earliest and this is forced since the coffee bills are beating the food bills at home.Lets now understand something about the sap front end and what dynpro's is all about.
47.What is DYNPRO ?
In the SAP HR module,
.A screen program is called as a module pool program.
In case of the transaction pa30, the data entered in the fields would first be checked by system controls like data type, length, user access etc and than on save would the data be transferred from the screen to the database through the data structure connected to the screen. The technical information would read
Looking at the above we can now conclude that the sap screen, the interface programs and controls of data flow from the screen to the database through the appropriate data structure and vice versa could be called a dynpro. In case of creation of custom infotypes , you will notice that the dynpro is a component of an ABAP program that is created using the screen painter of the ABAP Workbench.
I was reading some material on design and its very interesting to note that there are recommended standards on web design. However, what my opinion is that whatever standards are applied to software, you know your design is a success in all aspects if you have many users viewing/creating maximum data in the shortest span of time.This indicates that the users like to use the system time and again because the design features are liked by them and meet there requirements,the system is easy to understand and use without complications and the output created/viewed by them (data in this case) meets there requirements.
Coming back to the answer on DYNPRO, you can now realize that the major advantage of this design is that it separates the application from the database. There are error checks built in the application level which do not permit syntactically incorrect data entries and try and keep the data in the database as clean as possible. That is why whenever we load data to the sap system through BDC programs in these BDC programs the ABAP consultant first records the screens for data capture and makes sure that the data is loaded through the screen/module pool programs and never tries and writes directly to the database. Then why do we always find sap hr data as incorrect and not meeting the requirements? In my analysis the hr data is always changing for every employee in the organization and this data has to correctly reflect in the sap hr systems which is not happening or is getting delayed. One of the primary causes is because the employee is not being given the ownership of his or her own data to maintain and the process of gathering this data from the employee has not fully evolved in many organizations. SAP realized this early and has come up with the Employee Self Service interface. But this is not enough. For strategic HR data we need to integrate the sap hr system with the other sap modules/systems and give more value to the hr data.
CHANGING HR DATA AND IMPACT
Some questions you ask yourself? How good is the HR administration in your organization? Do you consider HR as a service industry? How come it felt by many that HR folks come across as arrogant and rude? Is this due to lack of proper processes, information and systems, lack of manpower or lack of initiative?
My answer to the question is that it is a combination of all factors and companies are paying attention to all but the last factor and that is initiative.Do not companies pay the sales personnel huge bonus/incentives for achieving their targets?Are not the employees in finance paid incentives for closing the year balance sheets on time? Than why is there no bonus/incentive for the HR folks for doing a good job such as meeting recruitment targets, managing retention and an evergrowing requirements of employees doubling their count every year and much more?This needs deep thinking ? After all HR folks are human too. But than again as HR folks lets try and keep our cool and not let our stress and frustrations rub on the employees. Lets try and give our best and hope for the best.
My warning to the companies is if you do not give the HR folks what they truly deserve, you would loose students choosing the stream of HR and looking at the requirements of HR which are ever increasing with times these predict dangerous times ahead.
BACK AGAIN TO INFOTYPES
Welcome back and now we are in the fast track mode.
61.What naming conventions are the info types subject to?
Infotypes are defined by 4 digit numbers and follow the following naming convention
So whenever you are searching for a customer defined infotype make sure your search is restricted between 9000 -9999.The infotypes relevant to retroactive accounting for payroll and time infotypes are defined in the
Under this node you define for each infotype the following:-
2.Maintenance of this infotype is permissible, permissible with warning, or not permissible after the employee has left the organization (employee in inactive status).
3.Entries in payroll past are permissible, not permissible or check for entries in the payroll past are infotype specific.
4.Infotype is not relevant for retroactive accounting, change in the infotype
triggers retroactive accounting or retroactive accounting is field-dependent
according to table T588G where the fields whose change in values should trigger retroactive accounting are defined. Hence you can see the significance of field triggers in retroactive accounting where retroactive accounting for a given infotype can be restricted to changes in the past to certain fields of the infotype.
64.What do you need to do in the IMG to specify certain info types for certain countries only?
SPRO-->Personnel Administration-->Customizing Procedures--> Assign infotypes to countries
PHOTO IN HR MASTER DATA
65.Where can you store a passport photo of an employee? Where do you do the settings in the IMG?
66.What is TCLAS = A and TCLAS = B?
This transaction class has confused a lot of functional consultants and you just need to understand that whenever you write a dynamic action, if you are
writing one for Master data then use TCLAS=A and if for Recruitment use TCLAS= B before you begin writing the code for the dynamic action. Let us compare the Personnel Administration(PA) infotypes and Recruitment Infotypes.
If you can see above both the personnel administration and the recruitment modules use a lot of the similar infotypes to store data . You can verify this by going to the PA infotype through pa20 , choosing IT0001 and choosing any field and that press key <F1> to view technical details and you dothe same when you go to display applicant master data under transaction data through pb20 where you choose any applicant , select and view infotype Organizational Assignment (IT0001) and than press key<F1> to view technical details.
In both the cases you will see the same tech specs for IT0001 of Personnel Administration and IT0001 for Recruitment. So how should your dynamic action, BADI or any program know which infotype 0001 to choose , whether Personnel Administration or Recruitment. That is where TCLAS comes in use.
When you choose TCLAS= A you are referring to all infotype tables
PA0001, PA0002 ,… PA*
Now my friends I am sure you folks will never forget what TCLAS is all about. Sometimes when lost in deep thought, it helps scratching you head)might activate your grey cells)
UNDERSTAND SAP AND DONT CRAM TABLES
There is another story I would like to tell you and most of my Indian readers would be familiar with this.Whenever a mother complained about her school going child (typically boys since girls are kind of more sincere at that age) that the child is not studying and only playing. The father(who may not have done to well in his studies) will ask the childfor his exam marks and what he has got in Maths. The son replies 70 on a 100 and the dad asks his son a question on Maths tables such as “Whats 11 * 12 equal to and the son is taken aback for a while and fumbles while replying.The father concludes with a thundering voice “You are not studying at all since you do not know your Maths Tables”.
We surely have a fixation of learning things by heart and a greater fixation for tables and this carries with us for life, but trust me whats more important is understanding what you learn. This even goes for sap as I have given interviews for some big companies and more than wanting to know what I understood about the business, there was more interest in knowing how many sap tables I could rattle off. To give you an example,if I ask you about how an absence quota is configured, a typical reply would be go to spro node so and so … and there you can do absence quota configuration. What I feel is more important is what attributes I could configure like I would first define a quota type for a quota, than define its quota values … and assign it to a deduction rule which is a part of the counting rule which would be assigned to an absence and so on.
Even if you spent 15 mins in the spro under HR you would be able to locate the node under Time Management.Therefore, its not so important in making it a point to forcefully remember sap hr tables or img nodes. With projectsand experience, they would be remembered by you without any force.Whats most important is what can you deliver in sap hr and even if you do not have immediate answers you need to sit an explore like a research scientist and this never ends. Every time you look at the sap system , you may just discover or learn something new.
UGR,INFOTYPE MENUS & INFOGROUPS
Welcome back and lets continue. I think i covered question 67 before and i am
skipping to 68.
Q 68.What are infotype menus or info menus? Are they user group dependable?.
Infotype menus are menus that you see when you
Infotype menus are user group dependable and you can have different infotype menus for different user groups.To make sure that a user is able to see the appropriate infotype menu you need to make sure that in the user parameters of the sap hr user (use transaction su3), you maintain the user parameter UGR=<usergroup value>. Typically in most of the implementations you may see that the UGR = <usergroup value>=<country grouping value>, however there is no hard and fast rule for that states that this applies everywhere.
To make it more simpler, the sap user 1 may see different infotypes in display /maintain master data than sap user 2, or to simplify it further lets consider we are having a global implementation and for countries like Germany( country grouping/user group value 01) and USA (country grouping/user group value 10). We could have same/different infotype menus with ame/different infotypes required to be accessed and maintained by a sap hr user in Germany than a sap hr user from USA. In this we will assign UGR=01 to the sap hr user from Germany and UGR=10 to the sap hr user from USA.
As functional hr consultants, whenever sap hr roles and authorizations are assigned to sap hr super users, coordinate with the basis team to ensure these parameters are assigned before you ask the super users to start testing or go live in production. You could make a mention of this in the sap hr user manual and train the sap hr users on setting the user group parameters.
RETRENCHMENT OF EMPLOYEES
Hi, friends, maybe i spoke to early about some companies not retrenching but that was a scenario that existed before. Jobs with good organizations meant stability and security for the employee and his family. Life was peaceful and people were smiling more often. Business ran and no one ever got fired for any reason unless it was an ethical issue. Todays world is different. You walk in the office and you just hope you do not see a pink folder on your desk. Profits rule the world and then any individual. My advice to young sap consultants is that save for the rainy day. Take good insurance coverages to cover for your health and your families. Keep fit and learn to say "NO" when asked to work for indecent no of working hours because it is these same organizations who can throw you at the drop of a hat for being physically incapable to work. Finally keep updating your skills to meet the market requirements.
To companies and the Bosses who rule, do not forget you guys are human and dealing with humans. My personal opinion is that retrenchment is not the answer . In bigger organizations with so many locations and departments, relocation in job function, department and location is very much possible and should be given as an option to the employee before deciding to show him/her the door.
One more advice to young consultants working with companies through third party vendors on contracts is to check on the working conditions and environment at the client site before accepting projects. You will be shocked to see that you could be huddled together as mice with no privacy to even be sure that the passwords you type to log in is safe anymore, besides the stress of working within a noisy environment or probably working from a basement with rats squeaking during the evenings. I am for Agile but only restricted to a comprehensive testing environment and not to ergonomically unsuited environments at work.
Organizations are getting a bit too far with cost cutting measures.
Hi folks welcome back. I decided i would like to keep trying posting to this wiki irrespective of time constraints (the non working hours busy with the IPL cricket matches for now), however these posts would not be at regular intervals. Time Management in SAP HR/HCM is all about recording all of the employees times, working and non working relevant to the organization , specific union agreements which decide the working hours of the employees, their breaks, their off days , their holidays , their overtimes , their compensatory offs, their leave entitlements and leaves etc. In a typical factory environment which has thousands of employees, you can picture employees coming in shifts, swiping their smart cards or punching buttons into sophisticated electronic clock systems or the older clock systems with punch cards to record their every movement when they enter the plant or leave it. You got a time office which monitors these times and analyzes these times to make sure that the employees follow the time rules and regulations as per their union agreements or contracts. In many countries time records are stored as archives for a decade or more to settle labour disputes when these records need to be produced in the labour department or the law office so make sure that you have a correct archive strategy for all old time records and dont dispose them away.
Before i end for today , i would like to comment that SAP Time Management is an ocean in itself and i do not think that there could possibly exist any time management package that could deliver so much that this does with its seamless integration to almost all areas of sap. It is absolutely flexible and meets the requirements of all possible scenarios that exist with organizations which is why i am fascinated with this sub module of sap hcm/hr. When we meet the next time i will talk about what SAP Time Management contains and than go about answering the questions.
Before i get into more details of sap time management i wanted to describe the todays scenario of time management.Picture a Maintenance Engineer working in a service organization and performing maintenance tasks for different customers carrying a PDA or a mobile phone. Once he or she completes the task immediately charges the working times through these modern devices with he click of a few buttons. These times are integrated with the invoices/orders charged to the customers for payment in sap . br/>
If the work in done for another department in the same organization to which the maintenance engineer belongs, then through internal orders etc.
He/she is has a dentists appointment which they have managed to get with great difficulty for 2 hours. The leave is applied again through this device, reaches the bosses PDA or computer for approval, which once done get recorded into the sap hr system as an absence.
Yes times are changing fast, so is the technology so you better change too.
Today devices like mobiles etc with newer versions and technology are coming into the market at the speed of at least one per year per manufacturer. Like i said before and i repeat HR/HCM consultants cannot claim not to be techno savvy anymore. HR/HCM needs to be tightly integrated to other verticals. In fact they should actually push for more and more integration once the base HR/HCM systems are up, settled and running and take note that the technologies for integration are becoming more sophisticated, better and faster.
Make sure you spend time keeping abreast of which new technology is becoming a part of sap, at least what can be applicable to the HR/HCM module. You however, do not need to worry about the technical specifications of these devices unless you get into a project using these.
INFOTYPES IN TIME MANAGEMENT
Time Management in SAP HR is mainly categorized into :-
Time Management have a number of applications for recording times and the important ones are :-
2. XSS(ESS & MSS) .The Employee Self Service and Manager Self Service also have a lot of time management handling where employees can see there time accounts and manage their leaves and attendances( e.g. training/on site work) and manager's approve or reject these and subject to approval records in appropriate time infotypes are created in SAP.
3. Time Manager's Workplace : On of the very good applications provided by SAP but not effectively used is the Time Manager's Workplace. This application is ideally meant for time administrators to manage employee time accounts and error handling.
4. Shift Planning : This application is a typical of a factory environment used by the floor or factory manager /supervisor. It is used to optimize employee times on various shifts. Different input criterion like employees being on leave, substitution, etc help build a shift planner.
The main purpose of these interfaces is for capturing times for :-
Before I come back to to this discussion I would like to explain the basic info types used in Time Management which are
- Planned Employee Times
Actual Employee Times
Positive Time Infotypes
Deviations to Employee Times
Time Related Payments
Just try and read about these info types and the next time I will explain that’s so special about info type 0007 (Planned Working Time).
Hi Welcome back. I hope you folks out there are enjoying the Euro Cup and managing to stay awake at work( just kidding !).
What do we mean by planning or planned?
Sounds very simple but try deciphering it and you realize its not that simple to explain. The nearest that I felt I could get was “Building a framework (plan) of what is to be done in the future using resources over a period of measure (such as time)”.
A plan could be a sequence of instructions, a drawing, a map etc.
People, Infrastructure, Machines & Capital could broadly qualify as resources.
Planning is done by individuals, teams, departments, organizations, nations and even groups of nations.
What is done now could be an execution of a plan of the past. What is done in the past is history. What could be possibly done in the future is a forecast.
What is the manner in which the execution of the plan is heading considering, the past, present and the future is a trend and this is very significant for any organization for strategic planning whether it’s the sales, production, employee retention or costs.
To be able to define a trend its very important to have accurate data for the past and present and for this again we need good information technology systems of which HR Information systems such as SAP HR play a very important role.
PLANNED WORKING TIME(INFOTYPE 0007)
So what do we mean by planned working time? Split the words as “planned” and “working time” I am sure you will be now be able to come up with this answer.
Planned Working Times are working times which are planned for an employee in advance such as the shifts the employee is to work, the breaks the employee gets during these shifts, the off days (such as weekly off days) and the holidays applicable to the employee. These planned times are stored as work schedules which are generated through what is known as the work schedule rule which includes all the recipe or rules for generating these planned times. The work schedule rule is assigned to the employee in infotype IT0007(Planned Working Time) or defaulted using the feature SCHKZ.
The recipe includes :-
The selection rule XX helps you to build a rule such as you want all days from Monday to Friday be of day type 0 and all Saturdays and Sundays declared as of day type 1 when you are generating the work schedule for a work schedule rule that includes this selection rule XX.
Once all the above are defined and assigned to the work schedule rule( the recipe), generation of the work schedule (the final dish ) is carried out . This could be for a period of months or years . Normally work schedules are generated for a few years in advance.
To know more about shifts refer to the wikipedia which gives some good information about what shifts are, their history etc.
For more details on the configuration of work schedules refer to sap help
Before we end the discussion on planned working times and work schedules, another question to ask ourselves is
Do we generate the work schedules for individual employees?
The answer is typically No. The work schedules are generated for the employee sub group grouping and personnel sub area grouping for work schedules. These groupings and the assignment are a part of the img. However, there could be an exceptional case of only one employee belonging to one employee subgroup and one personnel sub area (naturally) which could be again grouped into only into one employee subgroup grouping and one personnel sub area grouping. <./p> Another few questions for which I will not provide the answers but for you to derive?
Hi i thought of saying something urgent since i mentioned technological advance. If you are the pilot driving your project through SOLMAN (Solution Manager) a sincere request is please do not sleep over 30,000 ft of documents in the cockpit. Do not sleep over a technological advance but whats more important for heavens sake is don"t sleep with it.
Sleeping in the cockpit became headlines and who is to blame is the question? But the answer is do we have to blame someone? There could be a lot of questions like why did the cockpit not be programmed to sound a buzzer 30 mins before destination is reached? Was this a failure of design? Did fatigue have to be carried to the cockpit? I think there are answers to it all which can ensure that these problems do not occur in future rather than playing the blame game. In the above case the object would have continued to Timbuktu till fuel ended since autopilot is a very proven technological advance.Lets be honest we are humans and we make mistakes so it time to say ok it was a mistake, lets plug it and move on.
Welcome back and coming right back to the question and answers, we saw that actual times are recorded either in infotype 2011( Time Events )or in the Attendances infotype (2002).
When do we decide which infotype should we choose to capture the actual times?
The answer is it depends upon whether you want to capture the actual clock in and clock out times for the employees and use them for processing in time or payroll ,then you can use infotype 2011.
If you are integrating your time recording terminals to the sap system, then you need to have CC1 certified time recording systems which can talk to sap .Data such as personnel time events and employee expenditures are passed from sap to these terminals and vice versa through the CC1 interface (Communication Channel One interface). CC1 interface is an sap certified interface and all vendor time recording systems claiming to integrate with the sap system need to be CC1 certified. These systems transfer data to the sap systems and vice versa through the ansynchronous ALE transfer in form of IDOC's or real-time using BAPI's.
What happens when you have time recording systems but not CC1 certified and you want to integrate to sap ?
Well provided that these are not punch card systems, and are electronic time recording systems that record the time events into a computer database/file such as access database or excel, then these can be periodically uploaded through batch jobs into the sap time events infotype 2011 using an abap conversion program to convert the data to suit the sap system.
I will stop the discussion on the communication channels here and not complicate matters. However, I felt the need to discuss this since when you visualize a solution you should be able to see end to end.
If you are not really worried about processing the clock in clock out times and are more interested in gathering the number of hours that the employee has spent at work , his overtime hours and other attendances then infotype 2002 (Attendances) is used.
So what happens in an employee is absent or on training ?
We will take this up the next time.
DEVIATIONS IN TIME MANAGEMENT
What do you mean by deviations? Where are these stored for an employee?
A deviation in simple English means “doing different from whats planned” . You promise your spouse a movie and our boss whose married for ages and probably does not watch movies and only thinks work makes you sit late. You “deviate” your plans and you change your plans to dinner in a fancy restaurant (if its not the end of the month) or maybe the roadside food stalls with a walk on the beach.
Similarly, when you are deviating from your planned working times( defined in IT0007) such as going for training or simply being absent ( you called in sick) or you got up in the morning and just did not have the energy to go to work or your in laws are to be picked up from the airport ( you took a casual leave/half-day leave and your boss is shaken but not stirred ( Bond I apologise) .You store all of these in time infotypes ( training – attendance infotype (2002) , casual and sick leave – absence infotype(2001), Substitutions-- infotype (2003))
These deviation times get superimposed on the planned times of the employee and become his/her personal work schedules. Substitutions are typically shift substitutions or position substitutions where the differential payment could be made to that employee working on that shift or position.
With this background I will talk about negative time and positive time. I am honest to admit that this is the most ridiculous words coined for time management and I prefer to avoid using this and use time evaluation or no time evaluation instead. We will talk about this the next time.
Till than, have a great weekend and don't deviate . (Bosses have a heart folks)
NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE TIME IN TIME MANAGEMENT
Hi, Welcome back.
Before I move to negative and positive time let me ask you a couple of questions?
Think hard and I will give you the answers next time.
Coming back to positive and negative time, let me ask you another question. This is for those who would be implementing time management in sap.Are you going to use time recording systems to record employee clock times and upload to sap(IT 2011 Time Events) ? I hear an equal number of ayes and nays
So what’s positive or negative about the time management ?? The ayes and nays…..
The answer that look at the time management status = 0 for negative time recording is not exactly accurate. What do we than say about time management status = 7 or 9?? where time management status TMSTA is maintained in infotype 0007 (Planned Working Time) . These employees who have time management status 7 or 9 still assume that their planned times in IT0007 are their working times (besides the deviations) and do not have their clock in clock out times recorded in IT 2011 but however, they use time evaluation to generate absence quotas or shift differential wage types, overtime wage types etc.
In other words you still have negative time recording but you use time evaluation.
That's why I prefer to stick to differentiate employees as those that have time evaluation and the others that don't to make life simple.
Coming back to those two questions the answers are
1. Overtime is a deviation since it is not a part of your regular working hours. IT 2005 is used to record approved overtimes.
2. The answer is does it really matter since both times are the same so you would compare(mark this word very carefully) these recorded times with your planned working hours for that employee on that day and say "Hey, there is no difference. Lets leave things as they are" This comparison is the principle of time evaluation.
If the times go different on comparison ( recorded times being more or less than planned times) you want to know the following
for e.g . If the Overtime hours are worked on a weekday - than pay 1.5 times the regular hourly pay rate
You build these rules in the customizing tables as well as payroll and time schema's which call functions which in turn call pcrs or personnel calculation rules. The personal calculation rules build the processing logic using operations and operators.
The schema's are called by driver programs ( payroll driver programs for payroll which are country specific and RPTIME00 for time evaluation). Time evaluation programs are run before running payroll so that the time credits and time wage types created which these get valuated in the payroll run.
When the TMSTA status = 0 in IT0007, this means no time evaluation is permitted.
When the TMSTA status = 1 in IT0007, this means time evaluation is to be carried out.
When the TMSTA status = 7 in IT0007 , than time evaluation is used just for absence quota generation. This status is similar to TMSTA = 0 , the only difference being that time evalution is permitted for absence quota generation.
The typical time evaluation schema's are
Time evaluation is a subject on its own and this forum is for beginners so we do not want to add more complications here.
This is for your information
STRUCTURED CUSTOMIZING OF THE IMG DATA
There is a structured way in which you can customise the img data and this is especially useful for beginners . I have written this as a blog in SAP SCN and the link is Structured customizing of img data
OBJECT ORIENTED PROGRAMMING CONCEPT
What is Object Oriented Programming? To truly understand what Object Oriented Programming is we first need to understand the three words "Object" , "orient" and "Programming"
What is an Object?
Looking at the meaning in various dictionaries and trying combining them, I came up with this definition of an object. An object is a material thing/thing that exists, has a physical state and can be sensed by any one or more of the sensory organs like see, smell or touch but is not a living being. Objects are typical solids. Expanding this definition further :-
"Objects exist in a particular state and they may achieve change of state (e.g. position, shape, color, motion, size) only when acted upon . This change in state is represented by the relative values of the same set of independent attributes (position does not depend upon shape or color or vice versa but the new position is measured relative to the first position) with different measurable dimensions ( not infinity , abstract or non existant )."
E.g. An object like a car can be at a state of rest ( where speed is zero) , motion (speed is 60 Km/hr) , speeding (120 km/hr) and so on. To achieve this increase is speed , you need to start the ignition, change your gears , increase the pressure on your accelarator etc. I can change its color from Yellow to Blue and then red but the shape and size of my car remains the same.
Objects can also become building blocks (subset or superset) of other objects.( a brick is a subset of a wall and also a building so a building becomes a superset of a wall which in turn becomes a superset of a brick).To build any object , we need a plan, also known as the blueprint which would give us the required type and or composition of materials with the layout or structural design and the step by step process to build.
Why did I begin this wiki by writing about an object ? Because its very important to understand objects and thier different states. In other words you have an object and you achieve different known objectives (states) for that object by varying the measurable dimensions through its attributes ( called values).
Orient simply means "to align to " or "lie"
So on combination and putting sense to these three words in combination
"Object Oriented Programming is programming using objects with code lying in these objects" .
The objects referred to here are the model representation of real objects also sometimes called as software objects. One software object can be used to define a new software object with additional attributes belonging only to the new object.
Classes The templates or the business blueprinting of these software objects are called class. So to create a software object you first write the design in a template called the class.
Functions and Methods You also write functions( also called methods) to manage the different object states through its attributes and once you have created your software object you can these use the methods in your new objects by passing values ( also known as arguments) . Your functions may perform some number crunching or string capturing from the computer screen ( called console) as a few examples and return values( called parameters) . These change the state of your object from its initial state.
Conclusion There are many object oriented programming languages and some of the most popular are java and C hash. Its important to note that with SAP Netweaver SAP Object Oriented ABAP and Eclipse the idea of an IDE ( Integrated Development Environment where any of these popular languages in combination can be used to program) , Object Oriented Programming is the next generation coding for SAP.
The most important reason i believe Enterprise Application Developers would want to move to Object Oriented Programming is not easy program writing but being able to simulate business models and scenarios with objects like employee, vendor, company , enterprise and much more.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT & ASAP METHODOLOGY
I am going to keep on writing on project and project management because had i learnt this subject earlier, I am honest to admit, that my career decisions would probably have been more mature and different. This is because this learning has enhanced my understanding and view point of what a project is and the high stakes involved for everyone involved in the project .
Before we understand whats all this hype about asap methodology , we need to understand these terms which are the customer or client, the vendor , the project sponsor the project manager, the project team and the stakeholders in relation to a project.
When we talk about a customer, those who have had a part of their career in sales would have always heard these famous words from your sales manager which is “The customer is the king”. A vendor/contractor/sub contractor is one who is providing a product (or products) or service(or services) at a price. The one who is buying this product or service by paying a price is the customer.
Whats a project?
A project is a definite endeavor which has a definite beginning and end and whose end result is a product or service of the highest quality to satisfy and meet the customers requirements and objectives for what this endeavor was taken. Every project has a logical conclusion of either a success or a failure the reasons of which are usually debatable.
A project could be the result of a commercial, social ,environmental , educational or business requirement, a new concept, idea, vision, mission or design, a new system or new technology to replace the old or even a political campaign for the presidential election candidates.
Who is a project manager?
CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS
I will come back to the previous discussion but before i do so i would like to come back to the statement i earlier made which is
"Every project has a logical conclusion of either a success or a failure, the reasons of which are usually debatable."
Is this a problem with the asap methodology or project management? NO (WITH CAPITAL LETTERS).
Then why is there a heated argument during most project closures to agree on the success or failure of a project with all concerned parties?
The reason is because on your project document somewhere you have mentioned whats called the critical success factors and nobody took this seriously but these could actually determine the success or failure of your project besides your contractual documents.
Its very important that along with the objectives , the critical success factors and their measure for a project be well defined by the customer. This should than be reviewed by the project team as well as the other stakeholders in the project ( such as functional managers who would be affected by the project since the output of the project would be a part of operations under their responsibilities) to come to a common agreement before the start of the project.
You can have situations where the project sponsor on the beginning of the project stating with "i want this project to meet these objectives" and than the sponser changed mid way during the project and the new sponser now categorically states "But thats the way things are done here". Your objectives and critical success factors duly signed and agreed by all stakeholders would come in extremely handy is such situations.
To know more about critical success factors there is some good information i found on this site
ERP CONSULTING SKILLS
There are so many articles on what differentiates a successful erp consultant from an unsuccessful one and what are the key parameters to successful erp consulting.
But my personal favorite is Selecting Software Consultants
This article was recently published in Techtarget.com written by Mr. Steve Phillips and is an excerpt from his book "Control Your ERP Destiny" ( i have not read the book and i intend to get my hands on one )
I would once again advise young consultants reading this wiki that this is not a formal education on sap hr/hcm. To obtain formal education in sap hr/hcm and recognition for the same , you could do your course and certification from SAP and their education partners who are the only authorised professional bodies to provide formal education based on your understanding of the HR business process, your budget and the market requirements (which should play a very important factor in your decisions).
Another advice for consultants is that in the sap hr business, as an sap hr consultant your consulting head or your client head of sap projects would not be knowledgeable on sap hr (perfectly understandable since most of them are from other modules) and most sap end to end projects have sap hr as an add on to logistics, so the priority for sap hr could be low so that is a very challenging environment because you have to convince them both and seek approvals at each step you take .However the sap hr business would have huge demands and that's the motivating or exciting part which could drive you to work on sap hr projects. But beware that sap hr as a career path could be limited for growth . I am yet to find an sap hr consultant who has made it as head sap business. Many consultants have moved back to core HR business but that is possible for HR Management /Management grads or for those who had moved into sap hr with HR experience. For the others , if you are young make sure that along the way you plan to add other skills for the future.
Thank you for bearing me folks. I end my contribution to this wiki and enjoyed writing it. I know i could have written a book instead , but i wanted to share my thoughts and learning in a very unconventional way, besides money was never the criterion here. It was triggered by a message sent to me asking for more clarity in the sap hcm/hr fundamentals and i remembered my early days when i struggled too.
A special thanks to ittoolbox, who have given IT consultants an opportunity to share their knowledge experiences, thoughts and views. I wrote this wiki in parts as and when thoughts emerged and i could pen them by just logging into ittoolbox and keying away. The next time i plan to write on my culnary skills( my wife has burst out laughing).
Just let me end by saying what the famous Indian cricketer Vijay Merchant said
End your contributions when the goings are good
I also distinctly remember his famous words which he spoke week after week at the end of every program called -Cricket with Vijay Merchant and i quote :-
I never say goodbye but au revoir i.e. till we meet again.
Srinivas Krishna Mandgi
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All you need to know about Zebra Danios!
Name: Zebra Danio, Zebrafish, Leopard Danio, Glofish(TM)
Scientific Name: Danio Rerio
Size: 1.5 Inches
Diet: Flake food is accepted with gusto
Origin: India and Malaysia
Minimum tank size: 10 gallons, 5 is acceptable
The ultimate starter fish! Small, doesn't make a lot of waste, active, personable and practically invincible, the Zebra Danio has made quite the impact on the pet scene. Available in many colors and types, these little danios will knock your socks off! Tolerant in most cases of ammonia past 2.5 ppm, can cycle tanks for the beginner not used to a fish-less cycle. Active shoalers, these fish should be kept in a group of at least four, at a fish-to-aquarium ratio of about 1.1 fish per gallon (round down). The only downside to this fish is likely it's incompatibility due to it's small size and active, somewhat boisterous nature.
Respectfully disagree with this. They are far too active to be acceptable for a 5gal or even a 10gal. Nothing short of a 20 long is really appropriate for these fish.
Originally Posted by AndorranPrince
I understand that. I was thinking maybe of upgrading it to 10 and 20, I do believe that, if adequately decorated (as most beginner tanks tend to be) a 10 will have enough space for them to move/frolic. IME, having kept both in my 55, Neons are a far more active fish. I do not "promote" the keeping of danios in 10gals in that I would not recommend them, but they are excellent for a beginner, who usually have 10 gallon tanks.
I missed the gun for editing, how do I update articles?
Last edited by AndorranPrince; 08-10-2010 at 03:27 AM.
Also, your listed size is lower than any other resource I've seen (they all say 2-2.5", you say 1.5"), and your given temperature range is higher than anything I've seen as well. What are your sources?
300 gallon mega tank
: build in progress
75 gallon community tank
: tetras, danios, corys, platies, otos, pearl gouramis, bristlenose pleco, assassin snails, red cherry shrimp, bamboo shrimp
70 gallon growout tank: clown loaches, sailfin pleco
60 gallon goldfish tank: fancy goldfish
29 gallon frog tank
: 1 bullfrog
10 gallon and 5.5 gallon betta tanks: 1 male betta each, sometimes snails
Personal experience with the fish for the 1.5", 2-2.5" is more than it seems. I've never seen a danio specimen over 2", and that includes with water magnification. Certain "jumbo" breeds may be larger. My temperature range may be off, I'm rusty with celcius measurement. 68-82 degrees farenheight is what I meant.
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The National Energy Board on Friday approved the Enbridge Pipelines Inc. application to construct and operate the Canadian portion of the Alberta Clipper Expansion Project.
The Alberta Clipper project is a new 1,607 kilometer (km) oil pipeline
from Hardisty, Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin. The Canadian portion of the
project involves the construction and operation of facilities including
approximately 1,078 km of new 914 millimeter outside diameter (36 inch) oil
pipeline between Enbridge's Hardisty Terminal and the Canada - United States
border near Gretna, Manitoba. The pipeline would have an initial capacity of
71,500 cubic meters per day (450,000 barrels per day). The estimated cost of
the project is $2 billion with construction to be completed by the end of
In making its decision, the Board was presented with evidence from
intervenors on many issues including impacts to Aboriginal peoples and the
impact of the project on domestic interests.
"The Board is satisfied from the evidence that the Alberta Clipper
facilities are, and will be, required by the present and future public
convenience and necessity and therefore find that approval of Alberta Clipper
is in the public interest," said the Board in the Reasons for Decision.
"Today's decision marks another significant step for Enbridge in providing our customers with strategic alternatives for the marketing of Canadian crude," said Patrick D. Daniel, Enbridge's President and Chief Executive Officer. "The Alberta Clipper pipeline is the largest expansion project in Enbridge's history and demonstrates our commitment to accelerating energy delivery throughout North America. Together with our Southern Access project, Alberta Clipper will ultimately deliver an incremental 1.2 million barrels-per-day from Alberta to Eastern Canadian markets and U.S. refineries throughout the Midwest, the mid-continent and the U.S. Gulf Coast."
The NEB attached a number of conditions to the approval of this
project, including one that requires Enbridge to conduct an emergency response
exercise at its South Saskatchewan River crossing. This condition is in
response to public concerns raised during the hearing process. The exercise
tests response procedures, equipment, timing, safety procedures,
communications systems, training of company personnel, and the effectiveness
of continuing education programs. This is to be completed within six months of
the start of operation and a report on the test must be filed with the NEB.
During the public hearing process, a number of organizations and groups,
who had been registered as intervenors in the hearing, reached settlement
agreements with Enbridge. The Manitoba Pipeline Landowners Association and the
Saskatchewan Association of Pipeline Landowners both reached settlement
agreements with Enbridge prior to their planned oral hearing date. Evidence
the two groups had previously filed was treated as a letter of comment. Three
Aboriginal groups (the Red Pheasant First Nation, the Keeseekoose First Nation
and the Poundmaker First Nation) also reached settlement agreements with
Enbridge prior to their oral participation in the hearing.
Public hearings into the Alberta Clipper project began in Calgary on
Nov. 5, 2007, and included an oral hearing in Regina before concluding back
in Calgary on Nov. 26.
The NEB is an independent federal agency that regulates parts of Canada's
energy industry. Its purpose is to promote safety and security, environmental
protection, and efficient energy infrastructure and markets in the Canadian
public interest, within the mandate set by Parliament in the regulation of
pipelines, energy development and trade.
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(Boston Globe, Charles Sennott, 12/5/02): These [Israeli
settlements in the West Bank] are widely viewed as illegal under
international law, which prohibits military forces from establishing
their own communities they occupy.
: Sennott has confused the facts on a couple of levels. First, he misrepresents the views of those international observers who object to settlements. Their view is that under Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 all settlements are illegal, whether they are established by military or civilian bodies.
However, Article 49 in fact states that the occupying power "shall not deport or transfer part of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." According to international legal expert Eugene Rostow, the former Deputy Secretary of State and a former Distinguished Fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace: "They [Israeli settlers] have not been 'deported' or 'transferred' by the government of Israel, and their movement involves none of the atrocious purposes or harmful effects on the existing population the Geneva Convention was designed to prevent" ("Bricks and Stones," The New Republic," April 23, 1990). Thus, according to Rostow, Article 49 does not prohibit all settlements, but just those involving forcible transfer.
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| 0.955756
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| 1.5625
| 2
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WASHINGTON (CNN) – Get ready for a deluge of new superdelegates.
All superdelegates -– elected officials and Democratic National Committee members -– are not bound by their states’ results, and can vote for the candidate they choose. Both candidates are fighting just as hard for their support as they are for the votes of the people in the upcoming primary states.
But some superdelegates are unpledged add-ons - individuals selected by each state’s Democratic Party. They are elected at state party conventions, executive committee meetings or delegate meetings, depending on the state. A wave of those events are scheduled for the next few weeks, as states finalize their delegate slates.
Unpledged add-ons can be called superdelegates because they both have the same voting rights - the only difference is that superdelegates are selected before the primaries and caucuses, while unpledged add-ons are selected after the state has voted.
Some of these add-ons pledged their support for candidates before they were elected. Of those elected so far, Obama has officially earned six unpledged add-on votes, while Clinton has earned seven.
In total, there will be 76 unpledged add-on delegates. CNN is keeping track of these delegates, but will only add them to the official delegate after they are officially elected at their states’ meetings. As of today, 13 states have chosen their unpledged add-ons, with the results of today’s Maryland selection still pending.
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| 0.975918
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The U.S. Supreme Court today overturned (.pdf) some aspects of a lower court's nationwide injunction against genetically modified (GM) alfalfa.
However, it appears that GM alfalfa planting will not restart right away. A USDA decision would be required for temporary approval. More importantly, the court left in place the lower court's ruling that a formal Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is required before the technology receives permanent approval.
I feel the result is not exactly a victory for those who oppose all GM technology, nor exactly a victory for the technology's sponsor, Monsanto. It seems to be a victory for the idea that GM technology deserves a strong federal environmental review, including careful attention to the right of conventional farmers to preserve non-GM production if they choose. Monsanto's opponents in this case were farmers who objected to having GM seeds blow into their conventional fields, limiting their ability to market a non-GM crop.
A Monsanto press release claimed the Supreme Court decision as a win. So did a press release from the anti-GM Center for Food Safety. The story was covered by Reuters and AP. On related issues, I follow Grist Magazine's food channel. Matt Jenkins at High Country News in 2007 had a nice long feature on this controversy.
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When key decisions were made in the Colorado athletic department just a decade ago, there was generally only one woman with a seat at the table and a voice in the discussion.
The gender ratios have changed dramatically in the intervening years with six women filling senior level administrative jobs under athletic director Mike Bohn. Some of the credit for that change goes to Bohn, a man raised by a strong mother who has spent her life as a steward for athletic programs for Boulder's girls and boys. Some credit belongs to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 which required schools and colleges receiving federal money to provide the same opportunities for girls as they did for boys.
And some of the credit obviously is
Three of those female leaders at CU grew up in Mid-America in a pre-Title IX world in the 1960s and early 70s and didn't reap the benefits of the law as athletes the way they have as coaches and administrators.
Ceal Barry, Julie Manning and Kris Livingston learned from pioneering female athletic administrators such as Elaine Hieber and Pam Wettig. They know from their personal and professional success that Title IX helped level the playing field for girls and women in some ways, but they are also in positions to know how it continues to fall short.
'Ceal the Tom Boy'
Barry marvels at the sheer number of role models girls and young women have to look up to today in the sports world compared to those nights laying on her bed in her childhood home in Louisville, Ky.
There were no female athletes as prominent as Serena Williams, Danica Patrick and Abby Wambach are today. Barry grew up watching the New York Yankees or Bart Starr playing quarterback for the Green Bay Packers on a black and white television. She spent dozens of winter days and nights listening to University if Louisville men's basketball games on the radio when Wes Unseld and Butch Beard led the team.
"My whole world was men's sports," Barry said.
At that time in the late 1960s, public schools in her hometown did not have sports teams for girls. If a girl wanted to compete athletically, she had to wait for summer softball or attend one of the nine all-girl Catholic schools in town that did provide athletic opportunities for girls in sports such as field hockey, basketball and track and field.
The one place where Barry could turn to find examples of other girls succeeding in sports was the pages of her older sisters' yearbooks from Assumption High School, one of those nine Catholic schools.
"My role models were anonymous girls in the yearbooks who had captions underneath the black and white photos," Barry said. "There they were playing basketball in photos in the yearbooks. ... Those were my role models. To this day, I've never met them, but they were girls playing organized sports."
Barry also had strong advocates for her athletic pursuits in her parents. In an age when girls were expected to set the table for dinner and help with cooking or play dolls, Barry's father allowed her to play basketball with her five brothers and other boys from the neighborhood.
Barry said despite the encouragement from her parents, it was still a time of conflict for her.
"It was not all positive," she said. "I was a quote, unquote Tom Boy, and that was not a positive label, Ceal the Tom Boy. That was not a positive label when you're 12."
But Ceal the Tom Boy went on to become a field hockey and basketball player at the University of Kentucky. She didn't receive any financial aid in college until her senior year when Title IX law was finally being enforced in the mid-1970s.
When her college career ended and her athletic opportunities dried up, Barry kept her competitive spirit fueled through coaching. She won 510 games coaching Division I women's teams at Cincinnati and CU and she remains the winningest coach in any sport at Colorado with 427 career victories. She retired from coaching in 2005 and a month later accepted an administrative job in the athletic
Not surprisingly, her role has expanded dramatically in seven years and she now fills the senior women's administrator post. She oversees men's and women's basketball as well as women's soccer, volleyball and golf. She also is supervisor for the sports medicine, strength and conditioning, academic support and student wellness sections of the athletic department.
Barry said that Title IX has helped girls and women make major progress in high school and college sports by requiring equal access and treatment in areas such as facilities, travel, recruiting and coaching. But she says there is plenty of room for improvement at CU and across the nation in "more ambiguous, less measurable areas" such as external operations of athletic departments like marketing, promoting, attendance, development, donors and fundraising.
Barry has made the case numerous times in lectures on campus over the past 20 years that the media plays as big a role as any other segment of society in the success or failure of women's sports. The media is not bound by Title IX, which Barry believes is a problem, even a shackle at times for women's sports.
"Look at the front page of the sports page for seven days and see how many articles are about girls or women," she said. "High schools is most equitable. College is second. Pros, whether it be LPGA or WNBA or women's soccer that just folded, you ain't going to find that. ... I think the general public responds to what the media deems newsworthy."
'You have to be at the table'
Julie Manning grew up in a forward-thinking community in Granger, Iowa, in the 1960s and 1970s.
Girls had more opportunities on the fields and courts of play than they did in many other parts of the country, but it was nothing compared to the year-round competition schedules some girls keep nowadays.
Manning is the daughter of a high school basketball, baseball and track and field coach. She spent her childhood watching her dad's practices and games and developing a keen interest in sports and a competitive fire that made her father proud.
But just like Barry, Manning had few female role models to turn to at key ages from 9-13 years old.
"I don't know that the role models were there nationally," Manning said. "My focus more on what was going on at the high school level. Those very prominent female basketball players at the high school level, there were many of them. Denise Long, Cindy Long, Sandy Vancleve, Sharon Hansen, I can almost hear the announcer still say their names probably in 1968 in the high school basketball tournament. At the time as a little girl, that was big time just to even walk in the hallway and see them."
Though Manning loved basketball, she didn't have the jump shot for it. She proved to be much better with a golf club in her hand.
She went to Iowa State in 1978 to play for the women's golf team and ended up spending 20 years there as a player and then a coach. She became a Big Eight Conference coach of the year three times and was inducted into the National Golf Coaches Hall of Fame in 2003.
Manning became an athletics administrator in 1999 while still coaching at ISU. She came to Colorado in 2005 where she has served as assistant athletic director for compliance. She also serves as the department's Title IX coordinator.
Manning said one of the thrills of her career was her recent involvement in starting a women's lacrosse program at CU, including hiring a head coach and recruiting three in-state players. Manning said the lacrosse program will eventually provide between 25 and 32 athletics opportunities to female student-athletes at CU, including both scholarship players and walk-ons. She said when those numbers are realized the athletic department will be on the positive side of the proportionality requirements of Title IX, which mandate that a school must have the same percentage of student-athletes as it does female students on campus as a whole.
"CU athletics is a shining example when the director of athletics really surrounds himself with women, many of whom are at the senior leadership level and directors," Manning said. "It's pretty amazing.
"If you look at what was here before, Karen Morrison was really the only woman at the table. That's how far it's come in seven years and it's really rather amazing who is at the table. And you have to be at the table to have any effect at all. You have to be able to see budgets. You have to be at the table and be involved in the strategic planning to really have effect on what is going on, and we are."
'We can't go back'
Kris Livingston is the director of academics for a CU athletic department that just had two of its 16 programs lauded by the NCAA for outstanding performance under the APR system that monitors student-athlete retention and eligibility.
It is the sort of high achievement Livingston was known for as a young athlete growing up in Toledo, Ohio, in the 1970s.
Livingston still remembers the day her parents had a basketball hoop erected in the driveway. She played for hours. Some of earliest childhood memories are of playing tackle football with the boys in the park across the street from her house.
She was always athletically minded, but didn't always have a place to play on organized teams against other girls. Most of that came in the summertime on softball diamonds. She had to wait until her freshman year of high school in 1975, the year Title IX was institutionalized nationally, to be able to test herself against the best girls her age in Toledo.
Livingston started as a freshmen with four seniors. She was named player of the year in her conference. Later in high school she attracted attention from colleges such as Bowling Green and Miami (Ohio). Both offered her the exact same amount of scholarship money.
She eventually chose Miami and became a standout there in the early 1980s. It's where she first crossed paths with Barry. They became friendly through competition as a player and coach and stayed in touch.
All of it seemed like a big step forward over time. She was truly in the first generation of female college athletes to benefit from the new law, but she gradually began to notice inequities.
The men on the football team all walked around campus proudly in their letter jackets. Livingston received a desktop pen set as a reward for participation in her junior year. It still sits on her desk in the Dal Ward Center along with the tin cup she received as a senior.
It wasn't until 2009 when her alma mater moved to correct the slight by inviting generations of former female student athletes back to campus to present them with the letters they earned in their sports in those early years.
"It was huge," Livingston said. "What was neat about it was we all came back together, all different generations. It was awesome to be there, to be recognized, to know that they care, that it does mean something."
But the fact that it came 30 years after her college career ended and just three years ago, is evidence to Livingston that Title IX still has work to do. It can still change minds and effect behaviors and influence decisions.
"I think it would be wrong to eliminate Title IX from the books as a federal law right now because I think if it went away, I think people would make decisions that they aren't making now because it is in the books. I don't know if there is anything necessarily more that we need to do right now. It's just that we can't go back. We can't go back."
Barry later hired Livingston to be the first director of basketball operations at CU in the late 1990s. The position had been created and approved for men's teams a year earlier. Livingston served in that role at CU until Barry retired in 2005 and she moved into administration. She has no doubt her career in athletics probably would have ended at that point without Title IX.
"I think Title IX is what gave me every opportunity that I've had. I think it absolutely gave me the opportunity to play basketball in college and earn a scholarship. It absolutely gave me the contacts that I had to be an assistant coach at Iowa State. It absolutely gave me the contacts that I had to be the director of basketball operations at CU. I met Ceal Barry in 1979. I was a player at Miami. She was a coach at Cincinnati. We had a great rivalry for all those years."
Every day young women on CU rosters walk into the offices of Barry, Manning and Livingston looking for help with academics, scheduling and many other issues. The three trailblazers do everything they can to help the generation in front of them, but they all admit wondering at times whether the female student-athletes of today appreciate the opportunities they have and understand that it didn't used to be this way.
"In a way that's good," Livingston said. "If they've grown up and they've always had the opportunity, that's what the pioneers were fighting for. That's what it was all about."
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Hayslette was born in Rupert, West Virginia, in 1930. His first one-man show took place in 1946, before he began his formal art studies at the American Academy the following year. He completed his studies at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1952, where he worked closely with Alexander Archipenko and Egon Weiner.
Hayslette is represented in over three hundred private, corporate, and public collections, among which are the Rockefeller Foundation, Union Carbide, IBM, Stanford University, B.F. Goodrich, Raytheon Corporation, Wells Fargo Bank, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Embassy in Australia, and the Ford Motor Corporation. He has exhibited widely in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states as well as in the Pacific Northwest where he now lives. After entering the field of exhibition and interior design in the mid-1950's, he won several awards for exhibition design. A stringently abridged list of his exhibitions includes the Feragil Gallery of New York City, the Findlay Gallery of Chicago, the Seattle Art Museum, the Illinois State Capital, Prints '80 Expo of New York City, Art '80 of Washington, D.C., Winn Galleries of Seattle, the Paige Gallery of Dallas, the Incurable Collector Gallery of Beverly Hills, and the Silver Cloud Gallery of Chicago.
Hayslette's love of travel is second only to his love of art, and his works have been influenced in various ways by the far corners of the world he has visited. He was so taken by the architecture he saw in China and Japan that he was moved to design a Japanese pagoda to serve as his studio. Nestled among the trees in a rural area of Puget Sound, his studio is surrounded by the things he loves most - a series of ponds with koi swimming in them, waterfalls, footbridges, and a teahouse for private meditation.
Hayslette considers himself a romantic artist, one who seeks to give his works a warm and gentle spiritual quality. For him, the essence and spirituality of his subject are more important than detail, and he finds that he can grasp this spiritual essence more completely when his subject is illumined by the dawn twilight, halfway between light and dark. Says Hayslette: Painting is a silent medium, and well suited to exploring the ethereal qualities of early morning light, before the sounds of the day invade the scene. Painting is a process which is accomplished in silence, but when everything works right, it culminates in a triumphant symphony for the soul. The viewer of Max Hayslette's work will witness a symphony of color and light, and their soul will be naturally and effortlessly won over by a quiet triumph of beauty.
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I don't like, when my private data is shared with third party companies... How about You?
In response to a survey answered by 500 privacy and 900 marketing executives in industries ranging from health care to financial services, more than a third of marketing execs said they don't place any limits on the data they share with third parties, such as e-mail marketing agencies or online advertisers. By contrast, 75% of privacy officers believe that their companies limit the sharing of customer data.
More specifically, 80% of marketers said their organizations share e-mail addresses with third parties, compared with 47% of security and privacy officers. Other examples: 65% of marketers said they would distribute a customer's cellphone number, while 47% of privacy execs believe their companies banned the practice. Forty-five percent of marketers believe their companies shared credit card data, compared with 32% of privacy officers, and 29% of marketers believe their firms distribute social security numbers, compared with 7% of privacy professionals.
That disconnect may be one source of the annoying spam that plagues inboxes. Just 44% of marketers surveyed believe their organizations were in compliance with the CAN-SPAM act, a law that requires marketers to request permission to send email messages, disclose the messages' source and offer an opt-out function. Forty percent of marketing execs who responded weren't sure whether their companies followed the law.
Paul Bates, managing director of StrongMail UK, said: "Businesses have a moral, ethical obligation to keep private, personal customer data safe and secure.
"They should not be handing it out to third parties in the hope of making a fast buck. If they choose to do this, and then lose customer data, then they should at least be obliged to admit it."
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"We are considering composting with our organic wastes. I know it has been done for some time by lots of places but we really want to try to find a way to use some of our biosolids from the wastewater treatment plant, as well. Have any ideas whether that would work or not?"
Boy, do I! The City of Davenport, IA (recently accredited as the 45th accredited agency in North America!) has an outstanding composting program which does exactly that. The "proof is in the pudding" as my Daddy used to say, and the 1,176-pound pumpkin that was the state fair champion this year is ample proof. All kidding aside, Davenport has a great program involving the biosolids along with yard waste. They bag and sell the product to landscapers and individuals. For more information contact Tom Bylund, Solid Waste Superintendent, at firstname.lastname@example.org.
"One of our employees recently attended an equipment expo and won a big screen television. Our city paid for his registration and all his expenses. Does he have to give the TV to the City or does it belong to him?"
The answer is a definite "maybe." The first place to check is your agency's code of ethics or professional conduct and/or your state's laws concerning the topic. The purpose of such a document is to make it clear to all elected officials and agency employees exactly what may or may not be accepted as gifts. If the policy isn't in place or doesn't address such a "drawing" specifically, you'd need to ask for clarification from the agency's legal counsel. Most codes will not allow employees to accept or solicit any gift that might influence them in their official capacity. Since no one asked your employee for a favor, and it was a random drawing, it might be construed to be outside the parameters of the code of ethics and he may be free to accept it for his personal use. I certainly wouldn't assume anything, though, without checking it out first.
"I've seen references made to EMAC in some of the Emergency Management infoNOW postings and am curious about what it is."
Thanks for asking. Sometimes those of us who use acronyms frequently forget that our readers or listeners may not be familiar with them. EMAC is short for Emergency Management Assistance Compact. The EMAC is an agreement among state emergency management coordinators to provide mutual aid across state lines during a disaster. Administered by the National Emergency Management Association, EMAC provides another way for states to receive interstate aid in a disaster, especially when not all disasters are eligible for federal disaster assistance. APWA is represented on the EMAC Advisory Board by Larry Zensinger. For more information and details visit www.emacweb.org.
"I think I missed the first Online Mentoring Call. Will there be another one? How can I sign up?"
If you did, you missed a good one. However, it's not too late to catch the second in the series of four calls. The next one is scheduled for Thursday, January 24, 2008, at 1:00 Central time. The topic for this session will be "Humble Beginnings-Unlimited Opportunities." For call-in information and other details, check the website at www.apwa.net.
"Same old question. How can we finance the much-needed upgrades and increased capacity for our wastewater treatment plant? Nobody wants to pay for it."
Same old answer. "Wish I knew an easy way but I don't." However, I can point you to the new Financing Alternatives Comparison Tool (FACT) recently introduced by the Environmental Protection Agency which details the Clean Water State Revolving Fund program. FACT is a financial analysis tool that helps identify the most cost-effective method to fund a wastewater or drinking water management project. It produces a comprehensive analysis that compares various financing options for these projects by incorporating financing, regulatory, and other important costs. If you're interested in checking out this new tool, visit the EPA website at http://epa.gov/owm/cwfinance/cwsrf/fact.htm.
"We have many miles of unpaved (dirt) roads in our county. We are looking for products or processes to use that help to stabilize them and are cost effective. Any suggestions?"
Mohave County, AZ, is using a polymer compound that is mixed in with their aggregate on the many, many miles of unpaved roads in the jurisdiction. The mix produces a harder surface and almost looks like the road has been sealed. For more information, contact Nick Hont at email@example.com.
"So, when's the Certified Infrastructure Inspector Professional program getting underway?"
It was announced at Congress in San Antonio. Check out the website at www.apwa.net/certification/. The first exam will be given March 29, 2008.
Questions are welcome.
Please address all inquiries to:
Director of Technical Services
APWA, 2345 Grand Blvd., Suite 500
Kansas City, MO 64108-2625
Fax questions to: (816) 472-1610
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I asked Fred Graver — who makes real TV at VH1′s Best Week Ever and Acceptable.TV — what advice he has for the candidates and their online video and got a smarter answer to that question than I’ve gotten yet. And funnier. Because Fred knows funny. Enjoy:
(Crossposted from PrezVid)
Danah Boyd, one of the great students of online interaction, is speaking at PDF and suggests that candidates leave their digital spaces and reach out to their MySpace friends (or equivalent on Facebook or YouTube or blogs) and leave a comment there: interact. But, she hears, as do I, the candidates do not have time to do this. I hear is said they don’t have time to blog, either. Or vlog. And that seems to make sense.
But as Danah points out, candidates go to events — fish fries, coffees, churches — where they shake hands with a few people people and that’s important because it’s real. Well, the equivalent now is to reach out “and it’s about literally going and digitally shaking hands.”
And there are more advantages: The handshake lives on. It’s visible and linkable.
(Crossposted from Prezvid)
Google’s head, Eric Schmidt, is talking with the New York Times’ Tom Friedman at PDF.
Schmidt says the most obvious use of the internet in politics is as a truth detector: We can look up what politicians have said and we can refute fact.
He also says that voters will become much less likely to believe the first thing that comes at them because there is so much more coming. This is the model of news going forward as it becomes more universal and instantaneous.
Friedman quotes a friend who says that a young George Bush would never get elected today — no, not for the obvious reason — because if there would have been cell phone cameras and pictures of his wild days at Yale. Friedman says that when people our age go for jobs, we present our resume: our proxy of ourselves. Now that identity is online and out of our control. Schmidt says that he thinks there should be a law allowing us all to change our names at 21: everything before is erased.
I think there is also an issue of mutual assured destruction: Let he who has nothing embarrassing searchable on Google cast the first stone.
Friedman also tells a story that in essence makes us all politicians, all public figures: He was at an airport newsstand and a woman thought he cut in front of her and she snarled, “I know who you are.” He says today he’d buy the woman’s magazine hoping she wouldn’t go blog the episode, creating a reputation for that rude guy from the New York Times.
Friedman tells the story of how in a recent Bahraini election voters used Google Earth to take pictures of what was behind the walls of the palaces and estates of the ruling family. Schmidt says the government tried to shut down Google Earth but there was a backlash and they had to turn it back on again, all of which only drew more attention to it. Online, as in the White House, the coverup is worse than the crime.
(Crossposted from PrezVid)
I am at the Personal Democracy Forum in New York, starting off with Prof. Larry Lessig, creator of Creative Commons, making a rousing case for opening up the debates. He says that giving copyright control over the debates and speech like it is insane. So we should not give the debates to proprietary, closed networks. There are so many open networks now: public broadcasting — see the post below — and now CNN, which promises no restriction on the use debate video. Three of the Democratic candidates have joined this call. And Lessig calls on Hillary Clinton to join.
With bloggers and even candidates making liberal use of debate footage on YouTube and the internet and with at least one network — Fox News — relying on fair use as a standard, I ask Lessig what the defense of these remixers is today. He says that fair use is really the right to hire a lawyer. Such cases can drag on forever and middlemen — e.g., YouTube — cannot live with uncertainty. So, of course, the cleanest thing to do is not to give our debate over to proprietary, closed networks in the first place.
(Crossposted at PrezVid)
David Cameron is turning himself into a reality show. Details at PrezVid.
A few posts of interest over at PrezVid:
* Ed Markey records a video in a hearing about internet video and then puts it up on YouTube. He also interviews Chad Hurley.
* A geeky guy puts up a video tour of his election simulation game.
* Australian fake-news show asks Americans about the war.
* Ferrets come out against Giuliani.
I’ve just invested in Black20, an energetic and creative new small-TV company that is sure to grow big. Virginia Heffernan wrote a great piece telling their story so rather than try to tell it again, I’ll just say go there. And go watch some Black20 videos. These guys are talented, funny, ambitious, smart, and tireless. I’ve just invested in the studio of the future.
Other investors and amounts aren’t being announced — sorry, Staci, Rafat, Om, and Liz.
I have been blathering a lot about exploding TV. But I am putting my money and time where my mouth is with my own small video venture — so far producing IdolCritic and PrezVid — and with my investment in Black20. The new means to produce and distribute — contrasted with the incredible cost of the old ways — opens up incredible opportunity. Keep an eye on the guys at Black20.
CNN does the right thing with the presidential debates. Details at Prezvid.
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2Q11 report is out now and like the last edition, you can have some fun with choosing particular states or countries and graphing their overall trends right on the home page linked above. Akamai carries a lot of the big-ticket Internet traffic across its network, ranging up to a third of overall global traffic.Akamai delivers a lot of content around the globe and every quarter they look at overall trends in bandwidth and connectivity. The
"During the second quarter of 2011, Akamai observed attack traffic originating from 192 unique countries/regions around the world. Taiwan was the top attack traffic source, accounting for 10% of observed attack traffic in total. Myanmar and the United States held the second and third place spots, respectively," the report starts off. You can see a distribution of the top attack ports shown in the pie chart here, with more than a third on Microsoft SMB port 445, no surprise there. The good news is that "SSL appears to be getting safer and more secure over time," from stronger encryption protocols being used and from newer and more secure browsers.
South Korea lost its top spot to Holland in terms of overall high-speed broadband adoption, as you can see from the chart below. According to Akamai, Korea actually saw a 17% dip in their average connection speeds year over year. China has seen a 27% year-to-year increase in unique IP addresses but the UK is up 35% year over year. There are a lot more statistics in the full report that looks at country usage from a variety of angles.
Some other interesting tidbits from the report:
- For the first time in recent memory, Delaware is no longer being the fastest state in the union, as strong quarterly growth in Rhode Island drove that state's average connection speed up to 8.2 Mbps, just slightly ahead of Delaware.
- Sadly, the one statistic that was somewhat depressing was that on World IPv6 Day earlier this summer, only 280,000 unique IPv6 addresses made content requests to Akamai over the course of the day. IPv6 adoption is happening slowly, but is inevitable given that there really aren't any new IPv4 addresses left.
- Of the top ten cities in terms of average connection speed, only one - San Jose, California - is from outside Japan and South Korea. And I am sure the stats are influenced by all the Silicon Valley businesses that have Internet pipes in that area, not from residential broadband. The next American city to make the list is at no. 51, Fredericksburg, Va.
- Reinforcing that Amsterdam is a hacker's haven, Netherlands had the highest level of high-speed broadband adoption, at 68% of its residents getting connectivity at greater than 5 Mbps service. Amsterdam is no. 66 on the top list of cities, by the way.
- There is continued use of mobile broadband networks as an attack source, most likely from PCs that are connected to these networks and not through smartphones themselves, given the kinds of port scans and other exploits observed. Speaking of mobile networks, providers in Greece and Poland topped the list of average connection speed in this category.
You can download the full 48-page copy of the report after registering on Akamai's site above.
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How distressed do you want it? Examples of distressing antique French furniture
Lots of people love the aged, old, battered, shabby chic look on French furniture, something that gives the piece a used feeling to it.
For those antique furniture items that do not already have this with it, either because they are too new or they are too pristine, the look can be created in lots of different ways. The term used for making something look older or more worn, is one I absolutely adore, it is called ‘distressing’. Hence, I often end up asking the intriguing question to a customer, “how distressed would you like your French armoire/buffet/bed?”.
This is not a new phenomenon, items that were old in the late 1800′s were made to look even older by bashing coal into them, smacking them with bags of stone and artistically abusing them with a range of different stains.
Rubbing painted furniture down to give nicks and wear is one of Frenchfinds specialities and something that is very popular. However, distressing antiques and vintage furniture is a really subjective activity. Having distressed many items over the last 8 years and to varying specifications we have come up with what we reckon as a standardised scale of distress!
See below for examples and photos of distressed French furniture…
Here’s the original
1) Light distress
Small nicks on corners or features of a piece only through to the undercoat
2) medium distress
More numerous nicks and wear on edges and features. A mix of some through to the undercoat and others through to the wood
3) heavy distress
Wear comprehensively across the whole piece of furniture. Features and edges definitively worn. Heavy application taking the paint off through to the wood in most instances, occasionally showing undercoat.
The item is really stripped of its coat. Usually, this works best with something that has had several to many coats of paint applied.
By building up different coloured paint layers underneath the piece of French antique furniture, you can end up with a real interesting range of colours as you deliberately ware it away again. This can be done either by sanding it down with different levels of force or by removing layers with paint strippers such as Nitromorse.
Picking a complementary colour for the undercoat to the top layer e.g. pink and grey you can subliminally reinforce colour schemes by distressing the furniture.
Make it look dirty!
By using a dark wax to finish a piece, bright colours can be dulled down and changed to give it a dirty (yet clean) finish. Quite often this can help to bring out the pattern of the wood underneath adding to the piece.
Combining a heavy distressing and a dark wax finish you can create a really nice old worn feel to an item.
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Come on in!
You have found your way to the Kienow Family Website. Within these pages, you will find various bits of history, heritage and family lore relating to the family KIENOW. The descendants of KIENOWS fall into 2 main surname spellings - KIENOW and KENOW. There have been other spellings throughout the years, among them KENO, KEANOW, KAINOW, KAÿNOW. There are several branches trying to converge their research and connect their families. Each branch has made significant progress in following their ancestors back to a place of origin in Pommern, and each continues to reach out to more cousins around the world to share our heritage. Perhaps you will find some of your family here, too.
If you're looking for names and dates, start on the Family Tree page to get linked to the various genealogies on the web. If you're looking for stories about some of the people in the family, go the Getting To Know Us page. The Favorites page lists a lot of useful links for more research and history, and the Photo Gallery lets you know what we look like. Or, if you're just trying to find some of the basic facts about our family, visit Things You Should Know. We'd love to hear from you, and we think the Refrigerator Door is a great place for messages and to leave a note of your own. But, we need some input from you to make it work. There's always something going on in the The Workshop Workshop, so stop in and pick a project to work on. And, we continue to add and update the site and the door is always open. Come back soon!
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(Article first published in Apr '10. It has been modified slightly to suit its publication on our site)
We have all been in a supermarket or shopping centre and been offered a taster of food by someone promoting a new product. The other day I received a small packet of breakfast cereal through the door! Whichever way it's delivered, this is known as a free trial and it is most commonly linked to consumer products like food, face creams, toothpastes etc. and computer software. In essence anything that needs to be experienced through touch or taste or evaluated for its appropriateness. This can mean a free hair treatment if you run a salon, a free round of golf if you run a golf club, it might be a free sample platter of food if you run a restaurant/take-away. If you clean carpets, you might do a free sample clean of the smallest room in the house. A free trial is essentially the ultimate "special offer". In other words I give you something completely for free. But do they work? Yes they do!
A recent study by a research organisation called "Marketing Experiments" showed that in a real-life test comparing two online ad pages (where one incorporated a 30-day free-trial and the other didn't), the ad with a free trial offer delivered almost double the number of orders than the ad that had no trial offer (22 orders vs. 12). However, more interestingly the number of visits increased by a much smaller percentage (972 vs. 904). This seems to indicate that including a free trial offer brings a more targeted audience to your door, who is more likely to order. But they only work really well when they are implemented properly and there are a number of factors in promoting them:
1) Don't Make It Too Hard...
You may have experienced the free-trial that looks really good, but then you are asked to fill in the 50-page survey to get it and you suddenly lose all interest. If all you want to do is have a person taste a new food product then you don't really need any information. If on the other hand you want to have them try a new service or software product, you might want to get their name and email address and if limited to this, most people will provide those details.
2) Limit The "Catches"
Running a free-trial that has nasty catches is one way to actually have people turn-off from your product/service. The free-trial of software that only works for two days and 50% of what you wanted is only available when you buy it, is going to get uninstalled pretty fast. That's like providing a box of Fruit and Nut cereal for free, but removing all the fruit and nuts! Ultimately your customer is not really experiencing the benefit of the product/service. Or where the "free-trial" is actually linked to you buying a bunch of other stuff from them will leave a bad taste in your mouth.
3) Make It Habit-Forming
Where you want repeat customers, you have to use a mechanism that will have them come back. Typically, research has showed that it takes 3 weeks for an action to become habit and this can be loosely translated to purchases too. So why not combine your free-trial with a number of special-offer vouchers?
4) Optimise Your Advertising
Make sure the free-trial detail is in your headline and there is a clear-sign-up call-to-action and explain the benefits the reader will enjoy from the free-trial. Although there are other elements these are the most important. Remember the test at the top of the page? The same organisation ran another test where two ads both had free-trial offers. The ad with the optimised free-trial page layout out-performed the non-optimised ad by 352 orders to 128!
Remember the name and email address you took in step 1? Now follow-up. If the trial has a 30-day expiry, follow-up after 25 days and remind them of it, while encouraging them to sign-up. If they received a free sample of something, ask them if they enjoyed it and include a short survey. At the very least you'll get some useful data.
The free-trial can be a very powerful sales tool, but you need to evaluate how/if you can implement it for your business and how you are going to exploit the opportunity it provides to its maximum.
Franco De Bonis has worked in the field of sales and marketing promotion since 1990 and was most recently the global marketing manager for a major international technology company before setting up The DG Group in January 2007.
The DG Group is dedicated to delivering all the marketing solutions any company may require. Whether it's a website or leaflets and brochures, or even some product packaging; The DG Group will manage the whole project and even provide guidance along the way.
The content in this section is the original creation of The DG Group and is protected by copyright. You may use this content on your site or in other materials providing you acknowledge The DG Group as the author and include a link to our site.
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Bills requiring employers to allow guns in parking lots was in play before shootings.
NASHVILLE -- Legislation that would make it easier for gun owners to carry their weapons appears to be on track in Tennessee even after last week's school massacre in Newtown, Conn.
Backers of "guns-in-trunks" bills that would require employers to allow firearms in their parking lots say they plan to move ahead with the measures, even after a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday.
The shooting could even lead to bills that would let teachers, professors and administrators carry handguns into schools and universities, they said.
Supporters of gun control have called for tighter restrictions on ownership in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, with President Obama hinting that he might back such an effort. But in Tennessee, gun rights advocates say they have no plans to change course.
"The only thing this shooting and other shootings have in common is that they all happened in gun-free zones," said state Rep. Joshua Evans, a past sponsor of so-called guns-in-trunks legislation. "I think there probably needs to be a conversation, but probably in the opposite direction of where the president is going."
Republican lawmakers have been working on a compromise on the guns-in-trunks issue, which has pitted gun rights and business groups against each other in recent years. Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey has taken a lead role, and as recently as Thursday he outlined the framework of a bill he thought could pass the Legislature.
Some members of Tennessee's congressional delegation, including Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper, expressed a willingness to consider new gun laws, while others said they would fail to get at the problem.
"I am willing to consider any proposal that will keep our children safe, regardless of politics," Cooper said in a statement. "Nothing is more important."
Cooper and other Tennessee lawmakers, asked about the prospect of new federal gun laws, were hesitant to talk specifics but said they would consider all factors that might have contributed to the Newtown shooting.
But Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander, who faces re-election in 2014, noted that Connecticut has strong gun laws.
"The problem is not with the gun but with the person pulling the trigger," he said.
Gun murders on par
Many advocates for gun rights say the shooting has shown the need for greater self-protection.
Despite having relatively lax gun laws, Tennessee's rate of firearms used in murders has been on par with other states and the national average, according to numbers compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
From 2009 to 2011, firearms were used in 62% to 65% of murders in the state. Nationwide, about 67% of murders in the same period included some type of firearms.
Gov. Bill Haslam said Monday that legislators should not alter Tennessee's gun laws after the Sandy Hook shooting. The governor said his administration would favor improving mental health services.
Former Republican state Rep. Debra Maggart said the shooting should persuade lawmakers to drop the issue. Maggart lost her seat last fall when the NRA backed her opponent in the Republican primary, punishment for her leadership role in holding up guns-in-trunks legislation in 2012.
She said the shooting in Connecticut should lead more lawmakers to take on the gun lobby.
"Here we have sweet, innocent 6-year-olds and 7-year-olds at Christmas," she said. "I never had anybody tell me they had to have that bill until the NRA spent all that money making it an issue."
But business was brisk for local gun shop owners Monday, though most attributed the activity to normal holiday shopping.
"This is the busiest time of the year anyhow, but I haven't seen any increase over what's normal," said Glen King, the owner of Guns & Ammo Depot in Nashville.
He said he didn't think the shooting would inspire change.
"It's a very sad thing, but I don't see anything happening," he said. "Columbine was a big deal, but nothing ever happened after that."
Flo Hopkins, a co-owner at Shooter's Guns & Ammo on Murfreesboro Pike in Nashville, said her business is double or triple what it was this time last week. Many of the customers, she said, fear a renewed effort to scale back gun rights.
"They want to get their guns before Obama does something," she said.
Guns in schools?
The shooting could also open up new topics for debate.
State Sen. Stacey Campfield, another sponsor of guns-in-trunks legislation, said he is working on a bill that would allow teachers to carry handguns into schools that are not already patrolled by armed police officers.
A bill that passed last week in Michigan could be a model. It lets people with handgun carry permits take their weapons into restricted zones if they receive additional training and certification.
But state Rep. Mike Turner, the House Democratic Caucus chairman, said the shooting might put the brakes on gun legislation.
"I don't agree with people that want to ban guns, but at the same time I've got a problem with wanting to arm all the teachers," he said. "Last year, cooler heads prevailed on the Republican side. There may be enough of us to stop it from happening."
Contributing: Tennessean reporters Brian Wilson and Josh Brown, and Gannett Washington Bureau reporter Paul Barton
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Floriade 2012 Runs from April 5 to October 7.
Once every 10 years, the Netherlands throws itself a garden party. And it is quite a party, as you might suppose for a country that earns about 60 billion dollars a year from its international trade in flowers.
Floriade, the World Horticultural Expo, is an extravaganza celebrating all things horticultural, and this year it takes place outside Venlo, near the Netherlands’ border with Germany. Each Floriade has an overarching theme; the horticultural event at Venlo bills itself as the Theater of Nature.
“Theatrical” might be the perfect word to describe Floriade Park. Spread over 160 acres, the park is divided into five distinct themed areas, or “worlds,” each one with some fairly spectacular features, including cutting-edge architectural design.
Dozens of countries participate, ranging from Sri Lanka to Spain, and each nation will take the stage—the World Show Stage, that is—for a day, showcasing its national traditions in dance and music. But you don’t have to go to the theater at Floriade, though many shows are staged in the amphitheater; one will come to you. A pedal-powered mobile stage could stop anywhere in the park and a group will begin performing—you might hear music from Togo or Indonesia, see troupes of actors from Romania or Turkey.
Each “world” encompasses a rather abstract concept: Relax and Heal, the Green Engine, Education & Innovation, Environment and World Show Stage. Within each “world” are multiple exhibits related to its theme. For instance, in the world of Education & Innovation you could enter a pavilion that lets you experience nature from the vantage point of a honeybee. Or you could wander through Tropical Treasures, a huge greenhouse that pulls together tropical flora from such far-flung places as Kenya, Thailand and Mexico, to discover what these plants have in common and how they differ.
National pavilions showcase native flora and garden design, so the Israel pavilion takes its cue from ancient texts that mention the seven fruits and grains of the biblical land, and makes it easy for visitors to enjoy the view by providing seats made of stone collected from six key spots in Israel, including the Dead Sea and Jerusalem. The Chinese pavilion replicates one of the classical gardens in Suzhou, complete with the traditional ornate entrance gate, lotus-filled ponds, and fountains.
Walk barefoot through the Butterfly Garden, with plantings designed to attract butterflies. See what the average business park garden could be with a stroll through the Feel Good Garden, which offers 120 different species of trees set into micro environments where harassed office workers might find a breath of fresh air. A vast rose garden perfumes the air as you head for the Floriade amphitheater for a show.
The Netherlands is a small country with a big interest in sustainability. The organizers of Floriade 2012 have focused on demonstrating how to design ecologically sensitive living and working places, inspired by the cradle-to-cradle movement. As a result, everything that goes into creating the park will be reused or recycled. Nothing will go to waste. Every structure built for the event will, a year from now, be part of the “greenest” business park in Europe.
Villa Flora, designed by Dutch architect Jon Kristinsson, is the epitome of the expo’s theme. The structure is sheathed in insulated glass to reduce energy use and uses renewable energy sources (solar, geothermal and bio-fermentation) for heating and cooling. It will house floral exhibits throughout the event and then become an office building.
After the expo concludes, every single element used in it will be repurposed. You can find more information here www.floriade.com.
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Hints and Tips
Modellers are constantly coming up with simple tricks or clever fixes for commonly occurring problems. This Hints and Tips page gives us the opportunity to share these ideas with other modellers. We are always on the lookout for more tips and would welcome any suggestions in any aspect of aeromodelling. It doesn't matter how simple or advanced the tip is - if it saves time, trouble or expense or if it makes something safer, then this is the page in which to put it. It is geared towards everyone from absolute beginners to the most experienced flyers.
New Hints and Tips may be submitted to firstname.lastname@example.org
Keep Fuel Tubing Safe
If your fuel feed tubing is touching the cylinder head it might melt. But if you slip 3 or 4 rubber O-rings over the tubing it will keep it clear of the engine.
O-Rings in a Scale Cockpit
To make an excellent aircraft instrument panel, find a photo on Google, print it onto thick glossy paper, cut it out and stick it to a balsa backing. Then stick suitable different O-rings over the instruments. Don't use cyano glue - it will mist over the photo. Use Canopy glue which sticks any plastic to anything.
Solarfilm won't come away from backing
The protective backing on Solarfilm is difficult to remove. But stick short lengths of sellotape on either side of the film, face to face, near a corner and you can pull them apart easily.
Hold U/C Wire for Soldering
How to hold the wire legs on an undercart together while soldering them. Get an old tin can or bowl. Fill it with sand and poke the wire pieces into the sand at the correct angle. That will hold them steady for soldering.
Secure your Large Model ID card
Many people now have to carry ID cards at the work and have to swipe them regularly to open doors, log on to cash registers etc. These cards are often carried in a holder and worn around one's neck or clipped to clothing.
The plastic slider into which the ID card goes makes an ideal holder for the large model card. It is very thin and lightweight. Just remove any strap, clip etc and glue it in the model. Then slide the card in when you receive it and change when it is renewed or if you buy or sell a model.
Building Board Ruler
Take the plunge, surprise the wife/partner and offer to go to IKEA with her. Pretend you are interested in everything that is presented to you. As you go through the store, IKEA have lots of tear off strips of a 1 metre very strong paper tape to facilitate customers measuring things. Tear of a couple of them and roll them up carefully and then head home. Take one of the tapes and varnish it down on the smooth edge of your building board with a couple of coats of strong varnish. You will end up with a pretty durable 1 metre rule imbedded on the edge of your building board in a very convenient position similar to the old brass yardstick on the counter of drapery shops long ago..!! Whaddya mean what is a drapery shop ?
Internal Cable Tidy
I recently completed a YT International Formula 3D which, I might add, is an excellent kit and flyer. Because of the limited depth to the space between the bottom of the cockpit area floor and the top of the wing, I had to pack the receiver up with the tank, ahead of the wing. I was using separate elevator servos and this combined with the aerial left a number of unsightly wires located in the wing opening.
I found the following is a very neat way of tidying up these wires. Simply go to your office stationary cupboard or your local stationary shop and get one of the plastic spiral binding thingies (the ones that bind a small report together).
Just epoxy this along the length of the fuselage opening down in the corner and by pulling back all the plastic spirals, the collection of servo wires can be trapped inside them, thereby producing a nice narrow cable tray/tidy running from behind the wing to the tank area and no trailing wires loose anywhere!
Long ago in the days of No 11 Blades and balsa bashing, we used to solder piano wire of varying gauges having first of all cleaned the wire, tinned it and then wrapped the two pieces to be soldered with fuse wire. What is fuse wire?? It was a wire sold on a card and came in 3 different Amp ratings, namely 5, 15 & 30 Amp. It was used to temporarily 'mend' a blown fuse. However, we used it to bind two pieces of piano wire to hold them in place for soldering. Because of the spread of trip switch boxes now instead of fuse boxes, the need for fuse wire has diminished as I was told when I recently went to my local hardware shop to look for fuse wire. I was laughed at. "Sure nobody uses that stuff anymore" was the reply. "Haven't they all gotten rid of the fuse boards and replaced it with trip switches!" But then, flicking through the pages of the Maplin catalogue, there it was 'FUSE WIRE' - sold on a card with three different gauges for the three different ratings. I walked out with five cards @ around €2.69 a card!
Accurate Cowl Fitting
I am sure you have had many variations on this topic. However, I have used a method for the past 10 years which has never let me down. The following steps are a summary of what is involved:
- Fly new model with no cowl but with nose weight to compensate for lack of cowl and make all side, up and down thrust modifications.
- Cut 6 - 8 (as many as max no of cowl fixing screws) lengths of 1/16" plywood each around 8" long and 1/2" wide.
- Tape each of the ply strips horizontally along front of fuselage extending to and matching exactly the extremity of the cowl fixing blocks or points, i.e. ends of ply strips extend as far as and to cover the cowl fixing blocks. Use low tack masking tape so as not to damage nose covering when removed.
- Remove prop and slide cowl over shaft and over cowl fixing blocks with the ply strips on the outside, ie trap the cowl under the ply strips.
- Fit spinner backplate, prop and prop nut and tighten up.
- Jiggle cowl so that front of cowl or spinner ring on cowl is exactly matching the back of the spinner backplate and an even 1/16" gap all around.
- Drill holes in the ply strips approx 1/4" back from tip of ply strips which should also continue the hole thru the cowl and into the cowl blocks.
- This will leave a hole for each of the cowl retaining screws in the correct position in the cowl and centrally in the cowl retaining blocks.
- Remove ply strips, fit front of spinner and go fly with a very neat cowl/spinner alignment.
The ply strips can be used again and again.
And now for the more advance scale builder...Cockpit Frame Simulation
To easily represent metalised cockpit framing with rivets for sport or scale models the following is a cheap and cheerful method which has stood the test of time. Find a typewriter somewhere (might be the hardest part in this day and age!!). With a page of ordinary white A4 paper installed, type 1000's of full stops... lines and lines of full stops. You can double space each line for convenience later. When the page is full, remove and lay upside down on a cutting mat. With a steel rule and brand new No 11 blade, slice the A4 sheet from side to side above and below each row of full stops. The gap between each slice will be the width of the cockpit frame. You should now have a large number of such strips with bumps along the length, i.e. the back of the page where the full stop created a depression on the other side of the paper. Simply glue the strips around the perimeter of the cockpit glazing, you can even do both sides and when dry paint the relevant colour, silver for sport aeroplanes and the relevant camouflage colour for warbirds. Seal with either gloss or matt fuel proofer.
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What a joy it is this morning to turn to the Word of God and allow the Spirit of God to speak to us. This morning we return again to 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and we're examining verses 3 through 11, a section we've entitled "Comfort in Trouble."
One of the constant preoccupations of our culture is to ask the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" If you are at all a reader or if you browse at all in bookstores or if you read newspapers and magazines you know that this question is seemingly addressed in every month and every week as we march our way through these current years. Somebody is writing a new article or a new book, having a new discussion on this matter.
It has to do with the fact that people aren't willing to recognize, first of all, that they're sinful and secondly, that they live in a sin-cursed, sin-stained fallen world. They have such an elevated opinion of themselves, such a lofty view of who they really are that it's somehow inconceivable to them that something bad might happen. After all, they would imagine themselves to be the good people.
Even among Christians there are new books coming out almost monthly, a very popular new book recently having been written on this subject, addressing the same issue, why is it that bad things happen to good people. Or where is God in the midst of my trouble. Or how am I supposed to figure out God when everything I would assume to be characteristic of his treatment of His people is not happening.
You would think...you would think that the answer to the question was obscure. You would think that trying to solve the problem was very difficult when in fact it isn't. In fact, it would seem that you wouldn't even need a whole book to answer the question, it could be answered rather summarily and rather briefly. Bad things happen to good people because of sin. We live in a sinful world and we ourselves are sinful people. And while that is an answer, it is not a satisfactory one because it doesn't give us enough information to sort out some other things that certainly come into play in comprehending this issue. So let me see if I can't help you with that.
Bad things do happen to good people. Let's put it another way, bad things do happen to God's people. Let's even go further. God allows bad things to happen to His people. And the question is...why? I don't think any of us is questioning that this indeed is true, all of us have experienced to one degree or another difficulties and trials and troubles. We know they happen. The question is, why? Why does God allow bad things, devastating things to happen to His people?
Let me see if I can't give you a list of answers to that question that will sum it up. Number one, God allows bad things to happen to His people to test the validity of their faith...to test the validity of their faith. That is to say, to determine if their faith is a lasting faith. To put it another way, to determine if it is a destructible faith. Because if it is a destructible faith, it is not a saving faith. Because saving faith is indestructible, saving faith endures to the end. Saving faith perseveres.
Hezekiah was being tested in 2 Chronicles 32:31 and it says, "God left him to test him that he might know all that was in his heart." In other words, God abandoned Hezekiah so that Hezekiah could see what he was really like when left to himself. It wasn't that God needed to know what he was like, God knows that. A true saving faith will pass that test.
Job was tested beyond imagination, all of his children were killed. Everything he owned, and he was an extremely wealthy man, was lost. He became smitten with a serious and perhaps fatal disease. His whole world caved in. It was a test. In the middle of it all while his wife was saying, "Curse God and die," indicating she had flunked the test, Job said, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him," indicating that he had passed the test. You see, for Job it was only a manifestation that his faith was real. And Job's response was, "I heard about God and I knew Him to some degree, but through this I have seen Him clearly."
Habakkuk had a dilemma that was beyond him. Terrible things were happening to the people of God, Israel. Indescribable things were happening. And the prophet Habakkuk was crying and crying to God and saying, "Stop this, turn it around, redeem Your people, show Your power, make them a righteous people. How long will I cry? How long will I cry?" And God gave him an answer that was just the opposite. God not only said I'm not going to bring a revival, I'm going to bring the Chaldeans who are worse than the Israelites and they're going to act as the executioners of the Jews. And now his problem was infinitely more complex, problem number one...why doesn't God revive His people? Problem number two, if God's not going to revive His people, how in the world can He use a worse people to be their judge?
And when it was all in the midst of his mind and the chaos was overpowering him, he was reminded of a simple principle, "The just shall live by faith." Trust Me. And at the end of that little prophecy of Habakkuk he says, "If everything in the world goes in reverse direction, if everything goes according to what everyone understands and comprehends as reasonable and normal," he says, "yet will I trust in the Lord." He passed the test. His faith endured.
And one of the things that God is doing in bringing these trials into life is testing faith. You say, "Why does He want to do that?" Not for His sake, I say it again for your sake, don't you want to know whether your faith is saving faith? Don't you want to know whether your faith is enduring faith? God is giving you the gift of security. He's giving you the gift of confidence. He's solidifying your hope by testing your faith. And when you pass the test, you have an objective affirmation that you are truly saved. It becomes for you assurance because true faith cannot die, no matter how severe the trial may be. So if your faith endures, you have a saving faith. What a gift from God it is to know you have a saving faith.
Secondly, God allows bad things to happen to His people to wean them from the world...to wean them from the world. To help us break our attachments to the world because we tend, you see, to trust in all of the worldly things, all of the worldly resources, human reason and money and power and prestige and influence and friendships and whatever else. And the Lord brings us to trials in order that we might be weaned away from confidence in worldly things.
In John chapter 6, for illustration, there was a multitude gathering around the disciples. And Philip was very concerned because they were going to be hungry and how were they going to be fed? And Jesus put Philip through a little test. In verse 6 of John 6...well verse 5, actually, Jesus said, "Philip, where are we going to buy bread to feed these people?" Now immediately Philip did a worldly inventory. "Well, we have 200 denarii, that's not going to cut it. That's not going to buy enough food for this crowd." In other words, Philip was given the opportunity to say to Jesus, "O Lord, You are the God of creation, what's the problem? You want to feed them, feed them." He had a perfect opportunity to demonstrate that he had been weaned from worldly confidences. But he hadn't been. He says it can't be done. And verse 6 says, "Jesus asked him the question to test him," to see if he was still trusting in what he could see and feel. And the Lord brings us to extreme situations where we don't have any capability in ourselves, where there aren't any human resources, where there's no where to turn but to Him...and to wean us away from confidence in worldly things...to pull us off of that trust in things that pass away.
Moses exercised that. In Hebrews chapter 11, Moses you remember by faith refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He was willing to say no to being in the elite culture at the highest level of Egyptian society and take up the cause of slave Jews. You remember he went out there and actually fought for the Jews and took the life of an Egyptian. And, of course, spent the next 40 years running. He said no to everything to say yes to the reproach of Christ, it says in Hebrews 11. Because, it says he looked to an eternal reward, Hebrews 11:26. He saw beyond the world, beyond the mundane. Trials will do that for you. They will wean you away from worldly things.
People kept telling Paul in Acts 20 that he was going to be imprisoned when he got to Jerusalem, that he was going to be put in chains...perhaps even lose his life. And Paul's response was, "None of these things move me," Acts 20:24, "what do I care? I only want to finish the work that Christ gave me to do." He had a completely other worldly perspective. Trials wean us from worldly attachments and perspectives.
Thirdly, the Lord allows bad things to happen to His people to call them to heavenly hope...to call them to heavenly hope, to fill our hearts with anticipation for the glories to come so that we will live in hope. Romans 5:3 says, "Tribulation brings perseverance, perseverance brings proven character, proven character brings hope and hope never disappoints." You want to never be disappointed in life? I mean, absolutely never disappointed in life? Then live in the hope of heaven. And no matter how bad it gets here won't matter. You couldn't be disappointed because you're not putting any stock here anyway. The way to never be disappointed in this life is to make sure that your preoccupation is in the life to come and trials do that. Trials produce patience or endurance. Endurance accumulates until you have proven character. Proven character then lives in hope. And then you can say with the Apostle Paul, the sufferings of this world, they're not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be ours in heaven. You can say with Paul over in the fourth chapter of 2 Corinthians, "We do not lose heart, even though our outer man is decaying, our inner man is being renewed day by day, for momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison."
In other words, suffer...fine. Suffer in this world...fine. I'll take all the suffering that they want to give me for Christ's sake because I maybe being beaten down in this life but I am accumulating an eternal reward in the life to come. Every blow, every stripe on his body, every scar left by a stone or a whip or a stick or a stock or whatever, was gaining for him an eternal weight of glory. And he says it's very simple, verse 16...verse 18 rather, verse 18, "We look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen, the things which are seen are temporal, the things which are not seen are eternal." I live in the light of heaven. That's why he could say, "For me to live is Christ, to die is gain. Far better to depart and be with Christ." You see, trials tend to call us to heavenly hope. First they test our faith, then they wean us from worldly things, and they attach us to heaven. Heaven becomes all the more sweeter the longer you live and bear the burden of trials in this life.
Fourthly, the Lord allows bad things to happen to good people to show us what we really love...to show us what we really love. It's all part of our sanctification. You see, trials will reveal what is most precious to you. If proven character is most precious, if enjoying the sufferings of Christ for the sake of being a fellow sufferer with Him is most precious, then you'll endure anything. If bearing the cross and the reproach of Christ is most precious, then you'll suffer the loss of anything for that.
But if your bank account is most precious, when stock market goes down or when the savings and loan where you had your money folds or when a depression hits, you're going to be in big-time despair. You're not going to be able to back up and say...Well the Lord I love supremely must have in mind to do some wonderful work of molding and shaping my character after the image of Jesus Christ, so I praise Him for this.
It all depends on what you love most. If you love your possessions most, when you lose your job and can't make your mortgage payment, then you're going to be in despair and you might even shake your fist at God and you might even begin to question God's integrity and God's love. You see, it's kind of like Abraham and Isaac. Abraham loved Isaac, probably loved Isaac certainly to the level that any father would love his son and maybe beyond. After all, he was an old man when this child was born and he must have waited for all of those years with a heart loaded with anticipation for the great moment when he would have a son. And here the son came, a legitimate son, Isaac, the only legitimate son. I wasn't enough that just that he was a son, on top of that he was the son of the covenant. God had promised that out of Abraham's loins and through his son would come a whole generation of people as could be numbered like the sands of the sea and the stars of the heaven.
Now all of God's promise and all of Abraham's hope was bound up in this child. So it wasn't just the love of a father for the son but the love of the father for all that the son meant. And yet, when God said to put him on an altar on Mount Moriah, take a knife and plunge it into his heart, Abraham took him, put him on the altar, lifted up the knife and was about to stick him in the heart with it and take away the life of the son he loved. Why? Because he loved God more than he loved his son. That was the test and he passed. God spared the son, you remember, and provided another sacrifice.
Trials, extremities, difficulties in life will always reveal what you love most. If it's your physical health and wholeness, if you're into that kind of thing and that's what's most important to you, disease will crush you. If you love God's purposes of sanctifying and molding you to the image of Christ most of all, you may accept what God brings into your life by way of physical malady and illness as something that He has in His own purpose for the glory of Christ and your own sanctification. But you will find through the trials of life the revelation of what is most precious to you.
Fifthly, trials also allow God to teach us obedience. Trials also allow God to teach us obedience. The point is, folks, while it is right to say that God allows trouble to test the strength of our faith, to wean us from worldly things, to call us to a heavenly hope, to help us to see what we really love, most all of those trials could come to us as chastening because we're sinful, right? And through those trials we learn that sin has painful consequences. Trials are God's chastenings. Hebrews chapter 12 has such a magnificent lesson to teach us about that. "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord nor faint when you are reproved by Him, for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines and He scourges every son whom He receives."
Why does He do that? He does it, verse 10, that we may share His holiness. He does it, verse 11, that we might produce the peaceful fruit of righteousness. He's trying to discipline the sin out of us. He's trying to teach us that sin has consequence. He's trying to show us the value of obedience. It's a great lesson. We bring on ourselves many of our trials by our iniquities. We have to see them as God's chastening. And every son that He loves He chastens in order that He might bring that son to holiness and righteousness.
Number six, God allows bad things to happen to His people in order that He might reveal His compassion in our misery. God is ever and always concerned to manifest Himself. It is God's desire that we understand who He is, we know His nature and that we see His nature displayed to us. And if God is a God of compassion and if He's a God of mercy, if He's a God of grace, if He's a God of pity, if He is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, as verse 3 in our chapter says, then He needs an opportunity to demonstrate that. No calamity, no comfort. No loss, no need for loving kindness. No pain, no need for pity.
The psalmist says, "Because Thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise Thee." He says better than anything in life is Your loving kindness. What does that mean? Tender mercy. What does that mean? Compassion on people who suffer, who are in pain, who are in trouble. The psalmist says, "Better than anything else I have ever experienced in all of life is to experience Your loving kindness, which means I have to go through pain or I'll not know that."
This is exactly what Job said when he said, "I heard of You with the hearing of mine ear, now my eye sees You." God is never more intimately known to us than when He comes to us in the midst of our pain, is He? Never. I know in my own life those most extreme circumstances of my life, the greatest amount of earthly trouble have always been the times of purest intimacy with God in which I have seen Him manifest His compassion, His mercy, His pity, and His loving kindness. And I can say with the psalmist, His loving kindness is better than anything else in life and to know that you have to know the trouble to which His loving kindness responds.
Number seven, God does allow bad things to happen to His people to develop their spiritual strength for greater usefulness...to develop their spiritual strength for greater usefulness. You have to have a tested person in the really difficult ministries. The more you are tested and refined by trials and trouble, the more useful you become.
James says that, chapter 1 verse 2, "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials." Why joy? "Because the testing of your faith produces endurance and let endurance have its perfect result...what is it?...that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." Wow.
The Lord is going to use trials to make you perfect, mature, complete, lacking nothing, to make you the strongest, most formidable Christian. Greater usefulness comes through the path of suffering.
Number eight, the Lord allows bad things to happen to good people to enable them to help others in their trials...to enable them to help others in their trials. One of the reasons that I have difficulty is so God can come to me in my difficulty and strengthen me and then I can come to you with the strength He's given to me. Isn't that what Paul said back in verse 4? Didn't we go through that in verses 4, 5 and 6? Where he says, "Who comforts us in all our afflictions so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."
What the Lord is doing is allowing trials in our life, pouring comfort in on top of those trials to strengthen us to do the very same for others. As He said to Peter in Luke 22:31, "After you have turned around from this trial, strengthen the brethren."
Now with all of that there is yet one further purpose for pain, one further reason for trouble. And it is the reason which is the focal point of our text for this morning. It is this, God allows His people to experience trouble and trials in order to display His astounding power...in order to display His astounding power.
Let's look at our text, verse 8. "For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia that we were burdened excessively beyond our strengths so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves in order that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a peril of death and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope, and He will yet deliver us. You also joining and helping us through your prayers that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed upon us through the prayers of many."
These verses wrap up the opening paragraph of this letter which we've been studying now for the last few weeks. Now remember, in this letter Paul is defending the integrity of his character and ministry against the attacks of false teachers in Corinth. They've assaulted him every way conceivable in order to destroy his credibility so they can undermine his doctrine and teach error.
Apparently one of the assaults on his virtue was to say that he was suffering all the time because of sin. And he was getting put in prison and being beaten and whatever else was happening to him and having endless difficulty in his life because God was punishing him, God was chastening him.
Paul answers that accusation here in verses 3 through 11. He says, "God is coming to him but not to chasten, but to comfort." And that's why he begins in verse 3 by saying, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort." Even though this letter is written with a lot of heartache and a lot of pathos because he knows what's going on in the Corinthian church to undermine his work, at the same time there is joy in his heart because God is coming to him. Not chastening him for sin but comforting him because he is suffering for righteousness sake.
So he opens defending his sufferings by thanking God for comfort which God has faithfully been giving to him in all his pain. And as he thanks God for his comfort in this section, he gives us a marvelous look at the reality of spiritual comfort. First of all, we saw the promise of comfort in verse 4, how that the God of all comforts us in all our affliction. And then we saw the purpose of comfort also in verse 4, in order that we might be able to comfort others. And then we saw the parameters of comfort in verse 5. The comfort of God extends as far as we are suffering for Christ's sake. That's the boundary. Then we saw the partnership of comfort in verses 6 and 7, how that there is mutual comfort going back and forth between Paul and other believers in Corinth, a wonderful sharing as he uses the word several times in verse 7.
So the promise, the purpose, the parameters and the partnership of comfort have already been discussed and now in coming to verse 8 we come to the power of comfort...the power of it. To show how powerful God's comforting work can be, Paul speaks very personally of a situation in his life that was the worst life-threatening experience he ever had. Verse 8, he says, "We do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia."
Now, beloved, we don't know what this was. The Corinthians must have known because he doesn't give them any details. And surely whatever was going on in his life by way of persecution was passed along the grace-vine to these people. The Corinthians were not ignorant of the nature of this affliction. They were ignorant of the extremity of it. They were ignorant of how severe it was...the intensity of it. And they were ignorant of what was...of what God was doing in it. But they must have known about what it was, maybe it was stoning, maybe it was a combination of being whipped and maybe it was a combination of being beaten with rods and put in stocks and deprived of food and water, imprisoned, wild beasts, who knows...who knows what was threatening his life.
It happened after the writing of 1 Corinthians or he would have told them, so it's rather recent. It occurs, he says in verse 8, in Asia Minor, prior to his coming to Philippi in Macedonia to meet Titus. So it was in and around the area of Asia Minor where the primary city was Ephesus. In chapter 16 of 1 Corinthians, back one chapter and verse 9, he makes the statement that there is a wide door for effective service in Ephesus where he is and he's going to stay there, but also there are many adversaries. It is conceivable that one of these adversaries or one or more of these adversaries has come near to taking his life. In Romans chapter 16 verse 3 it says, "Greet Prisca, or Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus...verse 4...who for my life risked their own necks." This would have been written soon after 2 Corinthians. Maybe he is there referring to some involvement that those two people had in this life-threatening event, we just don't know what it was.
He doesn't tell them the details of it. They were not ignorant that it was happening, they were ignorant of its severity. So that's what he tells them. Verse 8, "We don't want you to be unaware, brethren, of the affliction which came to us in Asia, not what it was but that we were burdened excessively beyond our strength so that we despaired even of life." We want you to know the severity of it. Paul uses that phrase, "We do not want you to be ignorant," six times. He used it when something concerned him greatly and he did not want people to have inadequate information.
They must have known about the affliction which came to him in Asia, but they didn't know how absolutely severe it was. So deadly, so overpowering, a form of persecution that had no escape. He says, "We were burdened excessively," that's what it says here in the NAS. It actually means we were unbearably crushed to the point of depression. He adds, "Beyond our strength," in verse 8. In other words, it was so terrible there was no possibility of human survival. Whatever kind of physical capability Paul had, this was beyond it. A man can endure a lot and certainly a man as formidable as the Apostle Paul could endure a lot. He must have been a strong physical man to some extent, given the rigors of life which he endured in just a normal day's living and moving and walking. Whatever his body could sustain, whatever his body could survive, this was too much.
Not only that, he had an indefatigable spirit. He had an unconquerable soul. And you would imagine that when his body gave out, his mind would pick up his limp body and carry it beyond what could even be imagined. But that's gone too. And at the end of verse 8 he says, "We despaired, even of life." We lost the battle, the will to live was gone. The word "despaired," a very interesting Greek word, a rather long word, I won't pronounce it for you, but in the middle of it which is the substantial component of the word is the word porosfrom which we get the word "passage...passage." And this word basically says "no passage," or to put it another way, "no exit." We despaired.
What does that mean? We found no way out. Literally the total absence of an exit. There was no escape hatch. There was no way out of this thing, it was over, mentally we were done in, physically we were overwhelmed. No hope for life at all. That was it.
He experienced some very dire circumstances that express a similar attitude. Second Timothy 4:6, "I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come," but that time it led to his death. But here he is and he's at the end. Verse 9 he adds this, this is amazing, "Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves." In other words, what he is saying is in our own minds...and there's a plural pronoun here which means somebody else was in this with him, perhaps. He could be using the plural in just a humble and meek way. But perhaps there was someone else in this. But in his own mind he says he passed the death sentence on himself. He was to be killed for the gospel's sake. This was it. It was done. It was over.
And that was frightening to him at the time. And it was despairing at the time whereas in 2 Timothy it wasn't. The reason is because here the work was not done and he knew it. He knew it. In 2 Timothy when he reached the point where he was being poured out like a drink offering and the time of his departure was at hand and he knew he was facing the axe that would chop his head off, there was no sense of despair because he said, "I have finished the course." Remember that? I'm done. But here he knew he wasn't finished.
By the way, "we had the sentence of death in ourselves," is a fascinating Greek word, apokrima, it's used only here. It means, basically it's a technical word for passing an official resolution. And he uses a legal term for passing the official death sentence. He says, "I pass the official death sentence on myself." Confident, absolutely assured that it was over. He got to that point.
Then it says, verse 10, "In order that we should not trust in ourselves." That was the purpose of God in it. Why did God take him to that kind of horrible extremity? Why did God put him through who knows what kind of physical flagellation and agony and pain? Well we couldn't even imagine what kind of torture was being exacted on his body. What kind of mental and emotional chaos and despair in this very situation facing death and knowing the Corinthian church was a mess and so much else was not yet done? In the middle of all of this agonizing pain, physically and emotionally and mentally, why was God putting him through this, "In order that we should not trust in ourselves." God was taking us to the place where we had no escape. We had no human resource intellectually, physically, emotionally. We couldn't call on anything...nothing. That's just exactly where God wanted them...just in the perfect place because, as Paul will tell us later in 2 Corinthians 12, in his weakness God's power is perfected, right? God had this as the very purpose.
And I'm telling you, folks, that's one of His great purposes in our trials is to take us to the limit and beyond the limit where we have no power to fix it. We can't do anything. All we can do, and I love this, is trust not in ourselves, verse 9, but in God who...what?...raises the dead. I mean, it was to that degree. The only way out was going to be in the hands of God because He's the only one who could raise the dead. It was that far gone.
By the way, that is a title for God, "God who raises the dead" is used in the eighteen synagogue benedictions that we commented on in our study back in verse 3. "God who raises the dead" was a Jewish term, descriptive term for God.
They say if you're ever called upon to rescue someone who is drowning, some of you may have had this experience, that if you're really thoughtful about it, you won't try to rescue them until they go down for the last time because if you try to intervene at any point prior to that when they still have the strength to kick and fight, they're liable to drown you. But when they come to the very end of their strength and there's no confidence left in their own deliverance, and they are weakened and still, it is then that they can picked up and brought to safety. And that's exactly where the Lord wants to take us, to the place where we've given it our last shot and we're sinking for the last time and there's nothing in us that can save us and there's no human resource. And that's exactly where God's power intervenes.
Physical illness, whatever it is, emotional distress, financial disaster, death, being forsaken and left alone, whatever shatters your confidence in your own abilities, your own strength becomes your extremity and that is God's opportunity. A progressive weakening of your instinctive self-confidence that leads you all the way to self-despair is exactly where God wants you because at that point the only thing that's going to hold you together is a radical confidence in God. And that's where Paul was.
And then in verse 10 he says it, "God came riding to the rescue, who delivered us from so great a peril of death." Are you like me? Don't you wish you knew what this was? Don't you wish you knew all the details of this? That's kind of our morbid curiosity, all we need to know is that he was at the end. And, boy, he had endured a lot. But God came and rescued him. The Lord proved powerful. And in the midst of that power put Himself on display. There is no extremity beyond the power of God's strength and comfort.
A workman was employed on a building project. One of those high-rise deals. It was necessary because of some deadlines and bad weather for them to work at night. While busy on the edge of the wall, he slipped, lost his balance, fell over the edge, grabbed the edge of the wall with both hands and hung on desperately. He began to scream and cry and call for someone to rescue him. It was pitch black, riveting machines were going, metal hammers were beating and pounding, mechanical motors were running and nobody could hear a word. Gradually his arms grew numb as he hung suspended over the street below and his fingers began to slip and against every effort of his own will to hold on, at last he lost his hold and he fell...about three inches to a scaffold that had been there all the time. The darkness prevented him from seeing it. And all through his anxiety he was completely safe.
We are so often terrified by our predicaments while all the time there's the scaffold of God's care beneath us. Our ignorance doesn't change the certainty but it does destroy the peace, doesn't it? We need to remember that underneath are the everlasting arms and you don't know that until your fingers slip and you drop.
The promise, the purpose, the parameters, the partnership, and the power of comfort. Let's look briefly at the perpetuity of comfort in verse 10. Perpetuity means continuity, continuance and he simply says this, "God delivered us from so great a peril of death and will deliver us." The first one is past, this is present. And the end of the verse, "And He will yet deliver us," that's future. He says God's going to do this right on out to the end because it is He on whom we have set our hope.
Well, God delivered you in the past, Paul, but what about the present? He'll deliver me in the present. What about the future? He'll deliver me in the future. God will always be so faithful...always. Again 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 16 he says, "At my first defense no one supported me," but verse 17, "But the Lord stood with me." And verse 18, "The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed and bring me safely to His heavenly Kingdom. To Him be the glory, forever and ever. Amen." God will bring me through every situation until it's time to take me to the Kingdom.
Peter knew the same thing in 2 Peter 2:9, "The Lord knows how to rescue the godly. He on whom we have set our hope." That's another descriptive term of God. "He on whom we have set our hope...the one in whom we hope." God our Savior, Christ Jesus. Paul said to Timothy, "Who is our hope." The psalmist over and over again said, "My hope is in the Lord," and we still sing songs to that effect.
The perpetuity of comfort is, God says I'll be there, I'll be there to comfort you, to strengthen you as the God of all comfort and the Father of mercies right on out to the end until I take you into My Kingdom at the appointed moment.
Paul's enemies were certainly relentless. One deliverance wasn't going to be enough. There were going to need to be more and more and more and more. And God would always be faithful.
Then the last element of comfort that Paul discusses is what we'll call the participation of comfort...the participation of comfort. Look at verse 11, this is such a magnificent statement, he knows that among the Corinthians there have been many faithful ones, in spite of the unfaithful who joined the mutiny against him. There have been many faithful ones. And many of them knew about his extremity, many knew of them knew about his situation, though they didn't know the details. And they upheld him in prayer and so he says, "The Lord delivered me, He will deliver me in the future, you also joining in helping is through your prayers that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed upon us through the prayers of many."
He just says God's going to do what He's going to do but He's going to do it in concert with your prayers. He doesn't want them for a moment to think that he doesn't need them. He wants them to know that he does need them. That as James 5 says and verse 16, "The effective righteous...the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man is powerful." God moves through the prayers of His people.
He wanted to ensure them in his future ministry, he wanted to make sure that down the path they were there with him interceding and praying. In Ephesians 6:18 you remember he asked the Ephesians and all those in the area of Asia Minor who had received that letter to pray for him that the Word which he preached would be given free course and go forth with power. He continually pleaded with people to pray on his behalf. Intercessory prayer is critical to the expression of God's great power and God's sovereign purpose.
In prayer, human impotence casts itself at the feet of divine omnipotence, thus the duty of prayer is not to modify God's power but to glorify it. We're not trying to change God's plan, we're just trying to get in line with it. Why? So that we can give thanks, that's what he says. You join in helping us through your prayers so that thanks can be given by many people, that is all those who have prayed. And that redounds to the glory of God. When everyone is united in intercessory prayer on behalf of God's servant, then when God delivers him everybody is going to be united in thanksgiving. And that is going to be to the praise of God.
Many prayers bring many thanks. And God works through those prayers. Paul always has this marvelous balance. He never questions the sovereign purpose of God and he never questions the participation of believers in that sovereign work. And so the partnership or the participation is a participation of prayer as we pray for one another in all our trials. That's what Paul meant when he talked about bearing one another's burdens and so fulfilling the law of Christ. We pray for each other faithfully.
Well, tremendous comfort is given to us in this text. Can anything be more wonderful than to realize that God is a God of tender mercy and a God of all comfort who comforts us in all our afflictions? Who comforts us so that we can comfort others? God who will comfort us to the extremity, whatever it might be, of our sufferings on behalf of Christ? God who will bring alongside us mutual sufferers who can share the same comfort and the same strength no matter how severe the trial might be, even if we despair of life the God who raises the dead can step in and He will until the day He takes us to glory. And then that last great truth, He does it through the prayers of His people. And when you pray you get involved in the thanks.
Sometimes you go to a Bible study and somebody says, "Well, my friend So-and-so was saved." Ten people sit there indifferent and three people say, "Praise the Lord, isn't that wonderful," and you know who was praying, right? You're not trying to change the mind of God, you're just trying to put yourself in a position to express gratitude. That's what prayer does. And all of this comfort coming from God becomes something that we can use to strengthen others that the body might be built up.
This must have been in the heart of Paul when he said to the Thessalonian Christians in this magnificent benediction, "Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word."
Do you remember these words from the great hymn, "Be still my soul, the Lord is on thy side. Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain, leave to thy God to order and provide, in every change He faithful will remain. Be still my soul, thy best thy heavenly friend through thorny ways leads to a joyful end. Be still my soul, thy God doth undertake to guide the future as He has the past, thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake. All now mysterious shall be bright at last, be still my soul, the waves and winds still know His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below. Be still my soul, the hour is hastening on when we shall be forever with the Lord, when disappointment, grief, and fear are gone, sorrows forgot. Love's purest joy is restored. Be still my soul, when change and tears are past, all safe and blessed we shall meet at last."
Father, again we thank You for the great treasure of Your Word. We thank You for how it speaks to life in every dimension. We thank You that You are the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort that we can trust that in all the trials of life. We thank You that You have such abundant purpose in our trials, to give us assurance, to wean us from the world, to call us to heavenly hope, to show us what we love, to teach us obedience, to demonstrate Your mercy and compassion, to make us more useful to You and to others and to display Your great power. So we, like Paul, rejoice in our trouble for in our weakness Your strength is perfected. And like our Savior who found the path of glory was through suffering, may we follow in His footsteps. We ask these things in His dear name. Amen.
You may reproduce this Grace to You content for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Grace to You's Copyright Policy (http://www.gty.org/connect/copyright).
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Are you a tech-smart CEO?
By Yasmin Taj, TNN
A large number of CXOs in India Inc admits that they are 'tech-addicts' and that they can't imagine what life would have been if technology hadn't come around in its various forms.
Be it smartphones, tablets, laptops, video-conferencing, to the latest being cloud computing - the life of a leader is surrounded by technology.
Akhil Bansal, COO, KPMG in India shares, "In any business, communication is the key. Technology provides you ample sources of communication to enhance the business. Also, it is important to keep pace with the ever-evolving changes around us and use it for the benefit of the business. In this context, technology serves as a boon to enhance end-user application, which could engulf the masses with the click of a button. As much as we have driven the search for technology, today it drives us to cross frontiers that were once thought impossible and even improbable."
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|Rushden Echo, 28th April 1911, transcribed by Kay Collins
Rushden Education Committee More Scholarships Wanted
A meeting of this committee was held at the Board Room on Tuesday night, when there were present Messrs J T Colson (chairman), J Claridge, F Ballard, W M Hensman, G Miller, W Chettle, E Freeman, and W B Sanders.
Mr Freeman moved that the County Education Authority be asked to consider the question of increasing the number of free scholarships and of increasing the grant towards maintenance during the period covered by the scholarship, the amount to be determined by the circumstances of the parents. He said he wished to remove some of the obstacles to some of the brightest boys and girls continuing their education at secondary schools. There were only eight scholarships for Kettering, Wellingborough and Rushdenan altogether inadequate number.
Mr Miller seconded on the ground that Rushden, Kettering and Wellingborough did not get their fair share, but from a financial standpoint he did not push the matter.
Mr Claridge did not think they were in a position at present to find all the money necessary.
Mr Hensman thought it was more important to provide an extended practical education for the masses than to highly educate a few.
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I highly doubt any of the 99 players of the Florida Atlantic Owls were consulted about playing in The GEO Group Stadium next year, named after the world’s largest prison-owning corporation. I also doubt I need to illustrate the percentage of the Owls roster who are Black, or the percentage of The GEO Group’s “roster” are Black.
For those who truly believe in the concept of the student-athlete, we are asking these Owls to become refined leaders in the community, and football talents just happen to be a way to get there for free. College sports have produced a plethora of Black leaders in America, including Jim Brown, Kareem Abdul Jabar, John Thompson. None of whom I could imagine being affiliated with a corporation that profits off the destruction of Communities of Color. It may as well be called “Prison Stadium.”
The Geo Group’s CEO, George Zoley, is an alum of FAU, and former Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and become a mega-millionaire behind the increased incarceration through the War on Drugs and what’s known as “the Immigrant Goldmine.” This is well documented, including GEO’s flagship role, in a report called “Gaming the System.” One can imagine the effectiveness, considering this bold move, in lobbying policymakers across the country to keep on locking people up. Private prisons make money off the excess, so they need state and federal capacities to burst. Furthermore, they do not make money when a person is released on bail awaiting their immigration proceedings. GEO makes money when a person is detained, as long as possible, before deportation. These shareholder goals have drive policy across the nation.
Of course, the students are free to do as they wish. Some will take the scholarship, play, and keep their mouths shut. Facing a devil’s bargain is never fair, and people should not expect these kids to shoulder the entire burden. History tells us this is not always the case. Now FAU expects to host Middle Tennessee, Marshall, Tulane, New Mexico State, and FIU during the 2013 season. There is an opportunity to carry a message with each one of those visits, or not. It would be interesting if officials from Conference USA or the NCAA themselves stepped in.
The reek of slavery, and exploitation of young Black men, should force this $6 million deal off the table. The insults to players has already begun, and I would not want to be the coach trying to recruit for this school.
Imagine a women’s professional basketball team playing in Larry Flynt Stadium. Or better yet, Stanley Kowalski Stadium.
Wednesday, 20 February 2013
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The 75-year-old judge, whose birthday was Thursday, said in a previous interview that there is a “mandatory retirement” at that age.
Her retirement is effective Dec. 31.
During the ceremony, which was held in the Superior Courthouse, Cobb Board of Commission Chair Tim Lee, State Rep. Ed Setzler (R-Acworth) and Georgia Supreme Court Judge Harris Hines each read aloud a proclamation honoring Robinson’s service.
Lee cited Robinson as being a “pioneer throughout her career” and referred to her as a trailblazer for being not only the first female appointed to serve as a judge of a court of record but the first woman to be elected as a Superior Court Judge in the Cobb Judicial Circuit.
“Thank you for your honorable and faithful service to our community and state,” he said. “We wish you your best in your future endeavors.”
Setzler, the Cobb Delegation chair, thanked her for her “time, talent and energy for the betterment of the community.”
“The members of this body commend Judge Dorothy A. Robinson for her efficient, effective, unselfish and dedicated public service to the State of Georgia,” he read. “We extend to her the most sincere wishes from the State of Georgia.”
Hines began working with Robinson in 1974 when he joined the State Court of Cobb County.
He said the group of judges was referred to as the “Family Court of Cobb County,” with Robinson being the mother and he being the “child.”
“Mom, you’ve done us proud,” he said to Robinson, getting a few laughs from the audience.
Marietta attorney Dennis O’Brien told the crowd that whether an attorney won or lost a case in Robinson’s courtroom, they always walked away from a trial feeling that she was fair in her judgment.
“I always admired her achievements, her wit and her wisdom,” he said. “Because of her courage and pioneer spirit, I’ve always believed Judge Robinson to be an excellent role model for the young people, especially the young women.”
At the close of the ceremony, Robinson thanked everyone for attending and said that while she had a prepared a long speech to read, she decided against it.
“It’s been an interesting 40 years,” she said, getting a round of applause from the audience.
She thanked former Georgia governor and U.S. President Jimmy Carter for appointing her to the State Court of Cobb County in 1972.
“It’s a bittersweet day I suppose because I am happy about retiring, but it’s also going to be something that I’ll miss. I’ll miss working with all of the staff that I had,” she said.
The portrait was painted by Marietta artist Robert Meredith, who painted three other portraits before Robinson’s, and was paid for by more than 80 contributors, the largest contribution being $1,000 from a former law clerk, said Steve Woodman, who raised the funds.
“She was an inspiration to all of the lawyers, men and women, of course especially women coming out of law school … with the example she set on the bench,” said Woodman, who served as Robinson’s first staff attorney from 1979 to 1982.
Robinson’s career in law began in December 1967, when she was practicing law in Marietta.
She was appointed to the State Court of Cobb County in 1972 and later elected as a Superior Court Judge in the Cobb County Judicial Circuit in 1980.
In 1985, she was the first woman in the 140-year history of the Supreme Court of Georgia to be invited to sit as a Justice Pro Hac Vice in that court.
In her 40 years as a judge, she never had a ruling reversed.
Additional accolades include serving as the Chief Judge of Cobb Circuit from 1995 to 1997, serving two years as a 7th District Administrative Judge, and being president of the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers, the YWCA Cobb County Woman of Achievement in 1985 and the longest serving elected official in Cobb County.
Cobb Juvenile Court Judge Greg Poole will succeed her in January.
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FAHC/UVM Medical Education Center
Schedule: Completed spring 2005
Project Manager: Brian Haas
Project Architect: Tsoi-Kobus Architects
The Medical Education Center was built as a portion of the Renaissance Project. Fletcher Allen Health Care, in alliance with the University of Vermont, undertook this five-year construction project, which was completed in 2005. The Education Center has two distinct yet integrated functions: medical library and classrooms. The Dana Medical Library is located on the lowest level adjacent to the corridor that connects Fletcher Allen Health Care with the UVM College of Medicine. The two upper levels of the Education Center contain a variety of small, medium and large classrooms equipped with state-of-the-art audio-visual teaching equipment. These new spaces form an important addition to both institutions and confirm and facilitate the cooperative link between Fletcher Allen Health Care and the University of Vermont.
Last modified February 08 2011 02:15 PM
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Kimber had a question about the date on a quilt she owns, a green and pink quilt with just two pieces of fabric, not too much help. The pink is a double pink, shades of pink figures on a white background, the classic pink print we see throughout the 19th century and into the twentieth. Because October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and there is a plethora of pink around I thought I'd blog about her question.
Here's double pinks in a similar quilt. (It can tend towards orange or purple.) The pink is hard to date---1830-1930?
I have a rule of observation, the more pink in the quilt the closer to 1900, but that's a pretty iffy clue.
We often see pink right next to green with no neutrals (or is pink the neutral?)
This color relationship was popular in Pennsylvania after 1880 or so.
But the solid green in Kimber's quilt was so much like the cloudy gray green, Nile green, that we see after 1925 or so. Could her quilt be that late? Would somebody use a double pink print with a Nile green after 1920?
I looked through my picture file of date-inscribed quilts and found lots of pinks.
But the pinks were mostly solids rather than double pinks.
Once quilters could get a solid pink that didn't fade they loved it.
Here's a Drunkard's Path variation dated 1923 that uses a double pink print.
And a pinwheel dated 1931 with a
double pink print and a plain pink border.
This friendship quilt is dated 1929. The pink is hard to see in the photo but probably a solid---very much like Kimber's two-color quilt in the use of Nile green, plus pink and no neutral.
I think we can say that quilters in the 1920s or 1930s might have combined a double pink print with a Nile green.
So now that I am thinking pink I am considering my virtual booth for Quilt Market which starts on Friday October 26. Even though I don't do an actual booth I always like to do a virtual booth.
Is pink the theme?
We could wear pink outfits.
Serve pink snacks.
How about pink quilts and pink balloons----
Good Heavens that doesn't work!
I WON'T be having a booth but if you are at Quilt Market come to my Schoolhouse Presentations. I am doing three to show shop owners how to market my two 2012 books and BlockBase.
Here's my schedule for Friday October 26th:
10:20 - 10:35: Room 362D. The Garden Quilt: Interpeting a Masterpiece for Star Books.
1:55 – 2:10: Room 362B 10 Ways to Help You Sell BlockBase for Electric Quilt.
3:10--3:40: Room 371E Civil War Sampler for C&T Books.
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[Avatar-X] snagged a drink vending machine online a few years back, and has been selling drinks to his neighbors ever since. People are always asking him for change, and just the other day he was thirsty and out of change himself. He considered adding an override key so that he could snag free drinks whenever he pleased, but decided to go all out and built a cash card system instead.
He didn’t know how to interface with the machine’s logic board, so after poring over the service manual he consulted with a support rep from the company that manufactured it. Luckily, he was able to get enough information from them to start making some headway. With his friend’s assistance, he was able to figure out which pins on the Bill Validator Interface needed to be shorted in order to simulate the addition of funds.
Using an Arduino with an Ethernet shield, LCD display, and an RFID reader, he had his PopCARD system up and running in no time. Now all his neighbors have to do when they want a drink is swipe their card in front of the machine and hit a button to add funds from their account.
As you can see in the video below it works great, and we’re sure his neighbors are pleased with the improvements he has made.
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So it’s clear social networks are a hit. People like them — they really really like them. One billion people are on Facebook. Millions use Pinstagram and Twitter. In three short years Instagram went from Instawhatagain — to millions of users.
We like connecting online and on our smart phones. We like sharing thoughts and songs, photos and pictures of grumpy cats. We like connecting, supporting, laughing, kvetching, and, of course, bragging.
What we don’t like is our data being mined. What we don’t is like our information sold to the highest bidder and then not being compensated. What we don’t like is sketchy and ever changing settings that are deliberately confusing. What we don’t like is posts that are advertisements that don’t show that they’re advertisements.
And this week many people downright quit Instagram after the company (now owned by Facebook) mentioned it might use your photo in an ad without you knowing or being paid. Instagram theoretically paid for your image but you wouldn’t. After a public outcry, Instagram retracted that idea and told everyone to chill out. Just kidding.
Since these social networks are free, many of us don’t demand much from them. We accept conditions that we don’t like. It’s free and we enjoy it. So what if some of it makes us a little nervous? Probably nothing will happen. Probably.
What I think we need is a social media user Bill of Rights. We the tweeter, if you will. We the Facebooker. We the Instagramma.
We have a right to own and control our pictures, status updates and videos.
We should have the right to block who sees what we do, where we live and with whom we share.
We have a right to access to the terms of service in plain language that don’t change every few months.
We should have a right to delete things without having them live forever on a server.
We should have a right to opt out of being tracked for marketing purposes.
We understand that social networks have a business to run. Maybe the way to ensure some of our rights is to pay.
I, for one, would flock to a social network that asked for a low monthly subscription fee in return for security. Honestly, if there were a social network that would guarantee me these rights, I’d even pay 99 cents for the mobile app. Maybe subscription levels? You’re providing me a service I enjoy. If I want it free, I let you track me. If I want to opt out, I pay you. Seems fair.
Because really, it all seems free, but our privacy is priceless and we’re all giving it away for a song.
Rebecca Regnier is an award-winning television journalist and writes the humor blog doesthisblogmakeusfat.com.
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Biography of Olivia Newton-john
Olivia Newton-John skillfully made the transition from popular country-pop singer to popular mainstream soft rock singer, becoming one of the most successful vocalists of the '70s in the process. The transition itself wasn't much of a stretch -- her early-'70s hits "I Honestly Love You" and "Have You Never Been Mellow" were country only in the loosest sense -- yet the extent of her success in both fields was remarkable. As a country singer, her first five charting singles all went Top Ten in the U.S.; as a pop singer, she had no less than 15 Top Ten hits, including five number one singles, highlighted by "Physical," which spent ten weeks at number one in 1981-1982. Newton-John's sweet voice suited both country-pop and soft rock perfectly, which is what kept her at the top of the charts until the mid-'80s. After 1984, she was no longer able to reach the Top 40, partially because of shifting musical tastes and partially because she was unable to successfully record sexy dance-pop, no matter how hard she tried. Nevertheless, her '70s and '80s hits remained soft rock and adult contemporary staples into the '90s, when she was no longer recording frequently
Although she was born in Cambridge, England, Newton-John was raised in Melbourne, Australia, where her father was the headmaster of Ormond College (her grandfather Max Born won the Nobel Prize for physics). She tentatively entered show business at the age of 12, when she won a local Haley Mills-lookalike contest. A few years later, she formed an all-female vocal group called the Sol Four with three school friends. Once the Sol Four disbanded, Newton-John entered a television talent contest, winning the grand prize of a trip to London, England. Once in London, she formed a duo with Pat Carroll, another Australian-based vocalist, and tried to work her way into the music industry. Though her partnership with Carrol was short-lived -- Pat was sent back to Australia once her visa expired -- Olivia was making inroads in the business. Following Carrol's departure, Newton-John recorded and released her first single, a version of Jackie DeShannon's "Till You Say You'll Be Mine." Shortly afterward, she became a member of Toomorrow, a bubblegum group assembled by Don Kirshner in hopes of creating a British version of the Monkees.
Toomorrow appeared in a science fiction movie of the same name and had one minor British hit single, "I Could Never Live Without Your Love," in early 1970 before the group quietly disbanded. Following the failure of Toomorrow, Newton-John became part of Cliff Richard's touring show, appearing both as an opening act at his concerts and on his British television series, It's Cliff!. The exposure as a singer and comedienne on the show helped Olivia's career immeasurably, and her first single for Uni Records, a version of Bob Dylan's "If Not for You," became a Top Ten hit in the U.K. in the spring of 1971; in America, it was surprisingly successful, spending three weeks at the top of the adult contemporary charts and peaking at number 25 on the pop charts. For the next two years, Newton-John's success was primarily contained in Britain, where she had a string of lesser hits with covers of George Harrison's "What Is Life" and John Denver's "Take Me Home Country Roads." In America, her career was stalled -- her follow-up single, "Banks of the Ohio," barely scraped the lower reaches of the Top 100. On the other hand, she didn't release a full-length album in the U.S. until 1973, when Let Me Be There appeared. The title track from the record became a huge hit, going gold in early 1974 and peaking in the Top Ten country and pop charts. "Let Me Be There" was so successful it won the Grammy award for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female, much to the consternation of many members of Nashville's music industry.
"Let Me Be There" was followed by four other Top Ten hits -- "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)" (number two country, number five pop, 1974), "I Honestly Love You" (number six country, number one pop, 1974), "Have You Never Been Mellow" (number three country, number one pop, 1975), and "Please Mr. Please" (number five country, number three pop, 1975). Newton-John moved to Los Angeles late in 1974, and early the following year, she won the Female Vocalist of the Year award from the Country Music Association. As a protest, several members of the CMA quit the organization. Ironically, Newton-John was already planning to move away from country. During 1976 and 1977, she had a number of minor hits with soft rock songs. Though none of these were big pop successes, they began to establish her as a pop singer, not a country-pop singer.
Newton-John's transformation into a mildly sexy pop singer was complete in 1978, when she starred in the movie version of the popular Broadway musical Grease. Also starring John Travolta, Grease was an international hit and spawned three huge hit singles -- "Hopelessly Devoted to You," "Summer Nights," and "You're the One That I Want"; the latter two were duets between Newton-John and Travolta. "You're The One That I Want," in particular, was a massive success, reaching number one in both America and Britain; in the U.K., it spent a staggering nine weeks at number one. During 1979, Newton-John released the Totally Hot album, which boasted a mixture of soft rock and light disco. The record was another hit, with the first single, "A Little More Love," peaking at number three on the U.S. pop charts and going gold. Early in 1980, Newton-John starred in the roller-disco fantasy film Xanadu. While the movie was an unqualified bomb, the soundtrack was a huge hit. "Magic" spent four weeks at the top of the U.S. pop charts, while the ELO duet "Xanadu" reached number eight and her duet with Cliff Richard, "Suddenly," peaked at number 20.
With her next album, Physical, Newton-John continued to rework her image, re-inventing herself as a sexy aerobics fanatic. The first single from the record, the suggestive "Physical," was a huge hit, spending ten weeks at number one during the fall and winter of 1981-1982. Physical spawned another Top Ten hit -- "Make a Move on Me" -- and became her most successful record. Following the album's success, she was awarded with an Order of the British Empire. In 1983, Newton-John again starred with Travolta, this time in the comedy Two of a Kind. The movie was a bomb, but a song she recorded for the soundtrack, "Twist of Fate," became a Top Ten hit in early 1984.
By the end of 1984, Newton-John had married actor Matt Lattanzi. The following year, she released the Physical clone Soul Kiss, which produced only one minor hit with its title track. In 1986, she had a daughter named Chloe and opened a clothing store chain called Koala Blue. Newton-John attempted to launch a comeback in 1988 with The Rumour, but the album was ignored. She signed with Geffen the following year, releasing the children's album Warm and Tender. During the late '80s and '90s, she devoted herself to her family and business as well as several environmental activist organizations. In 1992, Koala Blue folded and Newton-John was diagnosed with breast cancer. Over the next year, she successfully underwent treatment for the disease. In 1994, she returned to recording with the independently released and self-produced album Gaia. Back With a Heart, a return to Nashville, followed in 1998. One Woman's Live Journey was issued two years later.
Read songs on / about:
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Among the many shortcomings of the Budget Control Act and its spawn, the “Super Committee,” is that the threat of a sequestration “nuclear option”—in which some $600 billion would be cut automatically from national security accounts if congressmen do not find savings elsewhere—diverts attention from the damage the law has done already to America’s military.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey have been quick off the mark in pointing out that sequestration would be “unacceptable” and “very high risk.” Various military service leaders have said that, if sequestration does come to pass, the country would have to “rethink” its entire military strategy. But the corollary to such criticism has been that the cuts already in law, though painful, can be “managed.” The Air Force’s second-ranking general told the House Armed Services Committee that “we will not go hollow” despite the $400 billion cut provided in the Budget Control Act.
But there’s good reason to wonder whether this is right. To begin with, the size of the current cut has grown. Last week Reuters reported that the level of defense reductions has increased to $489 billion, after the Obama administration decided to exempt veterans’ benefits from any cuts whatsoever. The White House is making a rather predictable political judgment that cutting Veterans budgets would cause them more pain than gutting defense budgets.
A better understanding of how the military is already being weakened can be found in a memo prepared for House Armed Services Committee chairman Buck McKeon. Although most news reports about the memo focused on the deep, indeed shocking, cuts in force structure that may result from sequestration, no less important was the memo’s accounting of the long-term effect on the military of current funding under the Budget Control Act.
Consider the personnel strength of the Army and Marine Corps. Even with 771,400 soldiers and Marines on active duty, both services remain stretched well beyond their limits. Based on current funding, the committee estimates that end-strength will fall to 654,000—smaller than pre-9/11 levels. Similarly, the Navy could slip to something on the order of 260 vessels—more than 50 ships below what the Navy consistently has argued it needs to carry out the country’s national security strategy. As for the Air Force, in 2000, it was flying more than 3,600 fighters; with cuts mandated by the Budget Control Act, that number may drop to less than 1,740.
The McKeon memo does not specify with equal precision the budget’s effects on future weapons programs, but there’s no reason to think such effects won’t be commensurate to the service cuts. The committee is correct to point out that every modernization program is “at risk”; the only real question is the level of risk. We are told that sequestration will create “unacceptable” risk, but because the Pentagon has yet to fully reckon the consequences of the current cuts, or even to reckon their overall size, there’s no way of knowing how much damage has already been done. So the service chiefs’ assurances that all is well should be treated with a heavy dose of skepticism.
The real problem is not the mechanism of sequestration, brutal though it may be. The fact is that the United States has been in an extended “defense drawdown” since the end of the Cold War, reaping substantial “peace dividends” throughout the Clinton years, during the Obama years, and now under the Budget Control Act. Indeed, more than $800 billion has been cut from planned spending in just the past three years. It’s time to say “enough” and to refuse not only sequestration but also a deal that avoids automatic reductions by substituting “just” a couple of hundred billion more in defense cuts. These are “savings” the nation cannot afford.
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Close to 50 people braved the freezing cold today for a “silent” march on the Pearl Street Mall to honor the elk shot by a police officer in the Mapleton Hill neighborhood on New Year's Day.
The participants didn't talk, but several played a squeaky recording of elk bugling from their cell phones. They also handed out fliers to the small number of people on the mall.
“It's just been such a tragedy,” said Boulder's Betty Woon. “We want to make sure it doesn't get forgotten.”
After the march, people vowed to keep the pressure on as police investigate the incident.
“I'm mad just like everyone else,” said Boulder's Elliott Key. “I want justice. Having grown up in Boulder, it's more than heartbreaking. It's a slap in the face.”
Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett said a decision on charges against the two Boulder police officers involved in the shooting — Sam Carter and Brent Curnow — likely will be made by the middle of this week.
According to police, an on-duty Boulder police officer spotted an injured elk near Ninth Street and Mapleton Avenue late on Jan. 1 and determined it needed to be euthanized. The officer killed the elk with a shotgun, then called an off-duty police officer to come and pick up the carcass.
The officer did not report the incident to dispatchers or supervisors.
Both Carter and Curnow have been placed on paid leave while a criminal investigation is completed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Boulder police also are conducting an internal personnel investigation.
Boulder County sheriff's Deputy Jeff George also is the subject of an internal investigation by his department for his role in the incident. Sheriff's officials say he helped load the elk into a truck that night.
Several at today's march said they're upset that the police officers involved are on paid leave, saying they should have been arrested.
“This is an issue of preferential treatment,” said Boulder's Nathan Garcia. “It's not right for them to get a paid vacation.”
Ann Perez, also of Boulder, said the incident highlights a bigger issue — police officers who don't follow the rules.
“If they sweep this under the rug, the precedent they would set is terrible,” she said.
Today's march was the second public event in honor of the elk.
Last Sunday, a couple hundred people turned out tonight to light candles, sing and tell stories at a vigil for the Mapleton neighborhood.
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Cyber Monday: Look for smaller brands to shine
Nov 25, 2012 (Daily Press (Newport News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Cyber Monday: Look for smaller brands to shine
Cyber Monday perhaps receives less buzz in its seventh year than earlier in the decade when finding deals online was a novel idea.
The term was coined in 2005 by shop.org -- a division of the National Retail Federation -- after the group noted that people were flocking to the Internet to shop, often at work.
Now, nearly 60 percent of adults with Internet access will shop on Cyber Monday, according to the retail federation. Most of those shoppers will make holiday purchases online on other days, including "Free Shipping Day" -- the last day to receive free shipping in time for Christmas -- on Dec. 17.
Each year, shop.org's sister website cybermonday.com hosts a "Deal of the Hour" promotion. Individual retailers also will run specials on their own websites. Most often, retailers communicate their sales promotions through social media tools and email newsletters.
"Cyber Monday is not some mythical unicorn of a shopping event," write the editors of dealnews.com. "It's a very real day for above-average bargains. However, Cyber Monday is not quite as strong as Black Friday either, and, ultimately, Thanksgiving reigns supreme with nearly 50 percent of all deals we researched being worthy of the Editors' Choice label."
According to Shop.org's eHoliday Survey, half of online retailers will offer promotions on Thanksgiving Day and 78 percent will have special promotions on Cyber Monday. More than 90 percent of online merchants will offer special promotions at some point during the Thanksgiving weekend.
"As a direct result of increased demand, online retailers will offer hard-to-pass-up deals to shoppers all season long -- before, on and after Cyber Monday," says Vicki Cantrell, shop.org's executive director. "In addition to many free shipping promotions, there will be plenty of extra ways to save on Cyber Monday, including percentages off entire sites and online-only sales."
Cyber Monday tends to be a time when mid-sized or smaller businesses can shine, as most of the attention on Black Friday goes to giants like Walmart and Target.
La Tienda, a Toano-based Spanish food company traditionally sees double the traffic on its website on Cyber Monday, for example. In past years, the retailer has offered free shipping.
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's retail website, williamsburgmarketplace.com, has offered its best deals of the year on Cyber Monday, as well.
Nudo Italia, a website that allows you to "adopt" an Italian olive tree and receive olive oil from your tree, will discount prices by 40 percent Monday.
The website MarthaStewartCrafts.com is offering 25 percent off your entire purchase.
Staples, which will begin its "Cyber Monday" promotions on Sunday, will discount the Canon PowersShot digital camera by 44 percent on its website, dropping the price to $99.99.
Aluminyze, a photo website that prints digital images on aluminum, will offer 35 percent off any photo and free shipping on Cyber Monday.
In addition, dealnews.com editors say shoppers should look for the best deals in the apparel and accessories and home and garden categories.
Shoppers can sweeten offers by looking for coupon codes on sites such as retailmenot.com, or shopping through a rebate portal, such as ebates.com, to earn cash back on purchases.
Other sites to check if you're hoping to score a deal: Amazon.com's Gold Box section, Newegg.com and Walmart.com's daily deals section. Websites like dealnews.com, crazytowndeals.com, techbargains.com and fatwallet.com sift through sales around the Internet to post the best deals.
This year, keep an eye on daily deal websites like Groupon and LivingSocial, which have extended their offerings to include goods and not just services.
The best way to determine whether a sale is really a bargain is to use a price comparison engine. There are several including Pricegrabber.com and Google's product search tool. The Google listing includes retailers that are not legitimate, but it is the most complete listing available. There are no engines, however, that include flash sales or special daily deals.
Paitsel can be reached at 757-247-4737 or email@example.com.
Shop Cyber Monday with us
Get an hourly update on the best deals on Cyber Monday at SavvyShopperToday.com. Connect at Facebook.com/SavvyShopper. Sign up for mobile alerts at dailypress.com/textalerts. Choose "free stuff."
___ (c)2012 the Daily Press (Newport News, Va.) Visit the Daily Press (Newport
News, Va.) at www.dailypress.com Distributed by MCT Information Services
[ Back To Cisco News 's Homepage ]
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MANAMA, Bahrain (NNS) -- The Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) have been working together with more than two dozen international navies to help deter, disrupt and thwart piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia.
CMF, EU and NATO forces integrate their operations ashore as well as at sea in order to deconflict international efforts between Combined Task Force (CTF) 151 warships and other navies who have deployed forces to the region.
On any given day in the region, more than a dozen warships conduct counterpiracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and off the Eastern coast of Somalia.
"A major contributor to our success against piracy is our ability to coordinate our actions and operations with other professional navies," said Turkish Navy Rear Adm. Caner Bener, commander, CTF 151. "With more than one million square miles to patrol, synchronizing our collective efforts is essential to ensure we're protecting sea lines of communication as effectively and efficiently as possible."
The last successful pirate attack occurred May 7, when pirates seized the Netherlands Antilles-flagged MV Marathon. Since the attack, open dialogue among warships from Australia, Canada, Italy, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States has played a significant role in thwarting seven subsequent attacks.
CMF is working with international navies ashore by hosting collaborative meetings on piracy, such as Shared Awareness and Deconfliction, which provides a working-level opportunity for navies to come together to share information and deconflict counterpiracy efforts off the coast of Somalia.
Representatives from Australia, Bahrain, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Jordan, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Russia, Seychelles, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and Yemen, as well as from the European Naval Force and NATO took part in the meeting.
"We've seen naval forces working together whether they're independent deployers, NATO or the EU," said Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, commander, CMF. "And they're working together closely for a common cause. It's occurring at the planning level, and it's occurring at the tactical level at the point of effort. This level of cooperation – it's very powerful stuff."
The following are statistics detailing the international response to piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia and piracy statistics from 2008 and 2009.
International Response: August 26, 2008 to May 28, 2009:
• 443 pirates encountered
• 212 released; 184 turned over for prosecution; 8 killed; 39 pending
• 26 pirate vessels destroyed; 12 pirate vessels confiscated
• 189 small arms, 39 RPGs, 80 RPG projectiles confiscated
2009 Piracy Statistics, as of May 28:
• 115 piracy events: 27 successful attacks, 85 unsuccessful attacks
• 14 ships and more than 200 merchant mariners currently held hostage by pirates
2008 Piracy Statistics:
• 122 piracy events: 0.37 percent of overall traffic
• 42 successful attacks, 80 unsuccessful attacks
Originally commanded and staffed by the U.S. Navy, CTF 151 is now commanded by the Turkish Navy. The command staff is comprised of personnel from Turkey, the United States, the United Kingdom, Pakistan and Greece. The command staff manages daily operations from afloat.
CTF 151 is a multinational task force established to conduct counterpiracy operations under a mission-based mandate throughout the CMF Area of Responsibility to actively deter, disrupt and suppress piracy in order to protect global maritime security and secure freedom of navigation for the benefit of all nations.
For more news from Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Commander, U.S. 5th Fleet, visit www.navy.mil/local/cusnc/.
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BP regroups as well begins seeping oil
Assistance vessels hover over an oil sheen near the source of the BP oil spill.
TEXT OF INTERVIEW
Bill Radke: Reports this morning seem to confirm that the capped BP well is seeping oil. The company and the U.S. government are at odds about exactly what to do next. Joining us is Marketplace's John Dimsdale, from our Washington bureau. Good morning, John.
John Dimsdale: Good morning, Bill.
Radke: How serious a setback is this in the fight to stop this spill?
Dimsdale: Well if it means that the cap isn't secure, than engineers have a very tough decision to make -- whether to try to ease some of the pressure on the cap by opening the well up again and let the oil flow through pipes to the surface or leave the cap alone and wait for the relief wells that are getting close to more permanently sealing this rupture.
Radke: We know the cost, John, is huge to people in the Gulf coast. How much is this costing BP so far?
Dimsdale: The company says $4 billion and counting. And it's trying to sell some of its assets to pay for that. Another reason BP stock is lowered today is that the talks on the sale of BP's Alaskan oil have broken down. But Chris Skrebowski with Peak Oil Consulting in England says BP has some other options, including attracting investments from oil-rich Middle Eastern countries. Skrebowski says that investment income would be better for BP shareholders.
Chris Skrebowski When you've had such a severe threat to the value of your holding, and there's a realistic option that would bring that back up in terms value, you're likely to be rather more sympathetic.
Now just one more bit of news on the spill's costs. The federal administrator of the spill compensation fund, Ken Feinberg, says the wages earned by people working on BP's cleanup will be deducted from their claims against the company. And that means that some of the money BP is spending now will reduce its future liabilities.
Radke: Marketplace's John Dimsdale in Washington. Thanks, John.
Dimsdale: Thanks, Bill.
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John Reed was as American as apple pie and store cheese. Yet he was one of the founders of the Communist International, and his ashes lie under the Kremlin wall. From a mansion on Cedar Hill in Portland, Oregon, through respectable Harvard College, to the Kremlin wall in the heart of Moscow—such is the trajectory of his life. Except that his further evolution was cut short by untimely death, it was the trajectory, too, of the pre-igi^ Greenwich Village radicalism of which he was an integral part.
Read more »
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Shows & Panels
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Double-digit increase in reported sexual assaults at military academies
Wednesday - 12/26/2012, 12:28pm EST
The report to Congress lists 80 sexual assaults reported at the service academies in the 2011-2012 school year, compared with 65 the year before. Fifteen of the victims were at the Army's West Point, 13 at the U.S. Naval Academy and 52 at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Thirteen of them happened before the victim entered military service.
Maj. Gen. Gary Patton, the director of DoD's sexual assault prevention and response office, said each of those reports reflects the fact that someone was the victim of a heinous crime. But DoD sees the trend lines as positive in one respect.
"Because sexual assault is a grossly unreported crime, not only in the military but in society, we view an increase in reports as a positive trend that's indicative of an increase in victim confidence," he said. "We view any report being positive, because it means they're receiving some sort of care."
DoD believes the increased reports are not a reflection of increased sexual assaults. It bases that conclusion on a second part of its submission to Congress, which reflects the results of an anonymous survey of cadets and midshipmen: although the survey estimates 12.4 percent of women and 2 percent of men enrolled at the academies were the victims of some sort of unwanted sexual contact, those figures are statistically unchanged from the previous year.
Still, the figures are far too high, according to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who in a memo to the military academies last week, ordered a "strong and immediate response" to what he described as a "persistent problem." All three academies will develop a comprehensive plan to change the climate at their schools by integrating prevention strategies into everything they do. Panetta ordered them to report back on their intentions by next March.
Patton said DoD already knows that a command climate makes a huge difference when it comes to both responding to and preventing sexual assault.
"The way the commander deals with the crime and addresses the victim at the point of the crime is really key to the climate of trust," he said. "In that climate, the victim is taken care of immediately, is linked up with a sexual assault response coordinator, is provided immediate medical care and counseling, and the report is taken seriously by the command. We also know those steps have an effect on future offenders. A command where the victims will be taken care of and the report will be taken seriously is what we call a non-permissive climate. Offenders in that climate know things are going to be difficult. They're going to be held accountable and punished."
But with certain categories of reports, the offender actually can't be held accountable.
In order to encourage more reporting of sexual assault, the military created two reporting categories. Restricted reports allow victims to report confidentially: they're then given access to medical and psychological care, but the incident is kept secret from the victim's chain of command and virtually everyone else. Unrestricted reports provide the details of the alleged crime to the victim's commanding officer, who can then refer them to law enforcement. Because of that, DoD encourages unrestricted reports.
In the military at large, victims choose the unrestricted reporting mechanism by a ratio of about three-to-one. But in the service academies, it's closer to 50-50. The reason for that discrepancy isn't entirely clear, Patton said.
"One factor could be the living environment," he said. "I was a cadet at West Point. You're living with your brothers and sisters on the same floor in every aspect of life. Maybe that proximity is something that causes people to want to have that information more restricted. I think it needs further assessment, but it's my best answer so far."
A group that advocates for survivors of military sexual assault offered an alternative explanation.
"The high prevalence of sexual violence at the service academies correlates to the limited avenues for redress available to cadets and midshipmen who are victims of sexual harassment or assault," said Anu Bhagwati, Executive Director of the Service Women's Action Network and a former Marine Corps captain. "In a civilian college setting, victims of sexual violence are protected from discrimination by Title Nine. If civilian colleges fail to respond appropriately to student complaints, students can hold their universities liable. Not so for [military] students. There is no true deterrent to sexual violence at the academies."
Patton acknowledged it's clear that only a fraction of sexual assault victims currently make a report of any kind, and while the department doesn't know why they choose restricted or unrestricted channels, it does have data on why a victim would choose not to make a report at all.
"This is a terrible crime, and fear, stigma and shame are really the best way to characterize why victims don't report," he said. "It's something we have to constantly remain persistent on, because every victim that doesn't make a report is a victim that isn't afforded medical care or other support. This is really at the heart of the issue. The victim's confidence is what will lead to greater care and lead to more accountability."
While DoD maintains statistics on sexual assault cases reported at military academies each year, it's more difficult to correlate those to courts martial and other accountability measures, since investigations and prosecutions tend to drag on beyond an academic year.
However, the Pentagon said the military services had both enough information and the jurisdiction to pursue investigations against 27 alleged perpetrators of assaults on cadets and midshipmen over the past year. Of those, commanders decided there was sufficient evidence to proceed against 14 of them. Eight were sent court martial, one received punishment directly from his command, and one was administratively discharged. Three more were punished for impeding the investigations into their alleged crimes.
Of the 13 cases that were reported but never prosecuted, four were because the victim declined to assist prosecutors, six were the result of insufficient evidence, and in three cases, the victim's commander found the allegations to be unfounded, the Pentagon said.
Military sexual assault survivors storm Capitol Hill
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US ban on internet access tax gets seven year extension
But the option's still open
A ban on taxing internet access and email will almost certainly become law in the US. Both houses of Congress have approved an extension to the existing law, and President George Bush is expected to sign the bill within days.
A ban on taxing internet and email provision was first passed in the US in 1998 and has been extended twice for three year periods. The Senate had debated the creation of a permanent ban and the dismissing of the law altogether.
Those who backed the tax moratorium said internet access was a social and economic force for good and should escape state taxes.
"Broadband access is now a crucial driver of America's economy, and this moratorium extension will ensure continued investment and growth in the broadband marketplace," said Peter Davidson, a Verizon senior vice president, according to news agency Reuters.
States have argued that the option to tax access should be left open for the future, when broadband access is ubiquitous and when taxes could be a vital source of state income.
The Senate chose a compromise extension of seven years, the longest extension yet, but short of a permanent ban. The House of Representatives this week passed the senate’s text without amendments and unanimously.
The US President is expected to sign the bill into law. The previous extension expires on 1 November.
Copyright © 2007, OUT-LAW.com
OUT-LAW.COM is part of international law firm Pinsent Masons.
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In May, PC Mag dispatched testers to 30 different U.S. cities to test wireless network speeds. This has become an annual ritual for the publication, which has surveyed the cellular data landscape for three years in a row.
The magazine looked at both 3G and 4G networks, though clearly the latter was the focus, as it’s where the market is headed. Writer Sascha Segan says there’s no clarity this year on what constitutes “real” 4G:
We found the situation is even muddier than it was last year, as all the carriers seems to be calling nearly everything 4G. We’d love to say that LTE is the gold standard, but that isn’t always the case, as the slower results from MetroPCS’s LTE network and the speedy downloads on T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 42 network show. (For more about 4G classification and speeds, see How Fast Is 4G?)
Rather, you need to have a solid LTE network with lots of spectrum to win, and it helps if not a lot of people are using it yet. Across our 30 cities, Verizon’s 4G LTE network dueled with AT&T’s new 4G LTE network for supremacy; Verizon won 19 cities while AT&T won 10, and the two carriers tied in one. T-Mobile came surprisingly close for a non-LTE carrier. And the slower results in cities where AT&T and T-Mobile have less spectrum show that the spectrum crunch is real. (For more, see Why Spectrum Matters.)
Houston was not included in the 2011 survey, but it was this year. The results mirror what I’ve seen in my own tests: That AT&T’s shiny new LTE network generally outruns Verizon’s more established one, and delivers jaw-dropping peak download speeds. At the Pinemont Shopping Center at Ella and Pinemont on the northwest side, PC Mag’s tester registered a zippy 52.75 Mbps down on AT&T’s LTE network, and average downloads of 17.57 Mbps. That was one of the fastest results PC Mag found nationwide.
In contrast, Verizon’s LTE downloads averaged 11.95 Mbps and peaked at 25.21 Mbps.
However, Verizon outdoes AT&T in Houston in LTE upload speed. Verizon had average uploads of 8.45 Mbps to AT&T’s 3.68, and a peak of 15.03 to AT&T’s 4.46.
AT&T also beat Verizon on 3G download speeds, but the two were closely matched on 3G uploads.
Be sure and check the PC Mag Houston page, where you can see a map of the locations where the networks were tested, as well as a Storify collection of tweeted photos from those spots. The tester even happened upon a Houston art car!
Although it wasn’t in Houston, PC Mag also got a chance to try out Sprint’s as-yet-unlaunched LTE network in Atlanta. While it’s basically an unused network at the moment, PC Mag found speeds comparable to the competition, though they varied based on the test software being used:
Using the Sensorly software at four of our locations, we got average download speeds between 9 and 13Mbps, which is similar to the speeds in AT&T’s two faster 5MHz channel cities but slower than you see in its 10MHz channel cities. Sprint’s peak download speeds hit 26.5Mbps down, which is as much bandwidth as anyone really needs. That’s also similar to AT&T’s peak speed in a solid 5Mhz city like Raleigh, where we got a 27.8Mbps peak on AT&T.
Sprint’s download speeds were comparable to speeds on Verizon, which uses 10MHz channels, but Verizon also has many more people using its LTE network.
Uploads were on the slow side, but here’s where the test method really becomes an issue. Using our Sensorly test we saw upload speeds averaging 2.19Mbps, once again comparable to AT&T’s 5MHz cities and faster than T-Mobile’s HSPA+ or Sprint’s old WiMAX 4G, but slower than Verizon. The network hit 2.97Mbps for peak uploads.
But I’m pretty sure both Sprint and AT&T are tuning their networks to respond better to multiple simultaneous upload streams, because when Ookla tested four streams at once, we saw 7.4Mbps up on Sprint. AT&T has shown a similar difference in upload speeds when tested with the Ookla software in the past.
Sprint is expected to launch its LTE network any day now, and Houston will be one of the first cities to get it.
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Primacea's founders describe the problems and pathways for physicians to manage their industry relationships under the bright lights of the Sunshine Act in a March 2013 Endovascular Today cover story.
"From inventing a new device to providing expertise on how it might be improved or best used, physicians interact with industry in a variety of ways, often receiving paid compensation for their time and work or being provided with meals or travel expenses. While ordinarily understood to be of value by many within the field, public and political scrutiny has increased in recent years, and legislation now dictates that all financial ties be disclosed publicly, online."
The interview describes the background of the Sunshine Act, how it grew to 76,000 words of regulations, and the reporting responsibilities around financial exchanges between industry and physicians.
It emphasizes the need for physicians to take responsibility for their own compliance. Every payment that physicians receive, directly or indirectly, will be reported on a publicly searchable website. Unless a physician has the tools to accurately record and track these relationships, he or she could find that they are ill-prepared in the event that questions arise about the work they do. Industry and hospitals will spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually to comply with the Act. Unfortunately, none of these expenditures will necessarily protect a physician.
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The prospect of divorce cases being settled by Sharia and religious courts has been opened up by a landmark legal decision.
A Jewish couple have had their divorce settlement under Beth Din, rabbinical law, approved by the High Court. The decision is thought to be the first in British legal history where an English family judge agreed to refer a divorce dispute to a religious court.
Lawyers said that the judgment could have far-reaching consequences and clear the way for other couples to seek a divorce in a religious court.
The decision was welcomed by the Muslim Council of Britai
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Okay, my family doesn’t have an attic. And the word crazy gets tossed around much too easily.
Still, family has its challenges, and certainly every family member might should be locked in an attic for a while from time to time. Metaphorically speaking, of course.
Sometimes I suspect I’m the one who should be in the attic…it’s probably quiet up there.
So, a particular someone in my family has a debilitating disease. This person doesn’t know I have a blog–and probably doesn’t even know what a blog is–but in the off chance I’m wrong about that, this story will be as convoluted as possible.
I’m not supposed to know this person is sick. Every time I talk to this person, I must act as if everything is fine. I know about the illness because someone else felt that I had a right to know, but that someone made me promise not to reveal that I know the truth.
In some ways, this makes life easy. I don’t have to figure out what to say or wonder what I should do to help. But then that someone tells me this person has stopped taking their medication. Just stopped. But I don’t know that, of course, so I can’t say, “Take your medicine!”
I ask, “How are you doing?”
This person says, “I’m fine. I had a cold.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I went to the doctor. Everything’s good!”
Do you ever have fake conversations with your family?
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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SEAL BEACH - As work continues on the San Diego (405) Freeway widening project, Caltrans is wrapping up a study on potential traffic impacts with two additional toll lanes now on the drawing board.
The toll lane portion of the project has involved two skirmishes: six West Orange County cities along the route of the widening of the San Diego (405) Freeway are worried about traffic and use of the lanes, and a family near the site has complained of noise during construction.
In the first dispute, Seal Beach officials worry about aggravated gridlock on the freeway, predicting drivers will not use the toll lanes.
Also, the toll lanes will not continue into the Long Beach/Los Angeles County area, creating a bottleneck, and it will require pushing back a soundwall in Seal Beach's College Park East neighborhood, causing a negative impact on home values, according to former Councilwoman Patty Campbell.
"There's going to be a horrendous mess there," she added Friday.
Officials throughout those areas are keeping a close tab on the project, and awaiting the study's release in late May or June.
There will be a 45-day comment period following the study's release, then the Caltrans officials will decide whether to move ahead with plans for two toll lanes, according to Caltrans spokeswoman Cindy Azima.
Last year, on May 18, the Orange County Transportation Authority released an environmental impact report to widen the 405 with four alternatives - one suggesting the
Six cities - Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, Westminster, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach - joined into the Corridor Cities Coalition to fight the toll lanes plan and helped convince the OCTA directors to reject the plan.
Seal Beach's share in the advocacy effort - and coalition membership fee - cost $60,000. It will receive consultant services, including technical written comments, to respond to Caltrans' re-released environmental study, according to a staff report by Assistant City Manager Sean Crumby.
Meanwhile, one Seal Beach household is complaining that noise from the project is disrupting their peace
"We just want the noise to stop so we can sleep," said Danielle DeVries, adding that noise and vibrations penetrate the home on College Park Drive.
The DeVries - Danielle and her husband, Dave - also complained that the project is violating the city's noise ordinance.
However, Caltrans is not bound by that local ordinance, according to Azima.
Caltrans, she explained, is working on state right-of-way property within contract provisions for nighttime work.
Caltrans construction has gone beyond contract provisions by taking measures to reduce the noise during construction, including upgrading back-up alarms on trucks so sound is lowered more quickly; placing sleeves on mufflers; padding trash bins with dirt to reduce impact of large objects dumped into the bins; modifying work schedules and activities as feasible; directing workers that there should be no loud or inappropriate language at night; and running equipment as far away from residents as possible, according to Azima.
Caltrans is also working with the DeVries to address their concerns and offering hotel accommodations to the affected residents.
Only the DeVries household has complained of the noise, Azima said, adding that restricting work only to daytime hours would create project delays and increase costs, compromise safety of motorists and crews, and impact response times for emergency responders
email@example.com, 562-714-2167, twitter.com/JoeSeguraPT
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How do I know they are bad players?
Incorrect Purposes of Play!
They spend their time in the game arguing instead of playing. In modern systems, it's about the rules. In older systems, it's about "what would really would happen here".
What do I mean by arguing?
This game continuously is put to the task of being a broad representation of fictional events. At the table I've represented everything from a massive attack action against a troglodyte village, to a literal witch hunt, to a heated battle in a beholder space craft both going to and escaping from the hive.
It is very flexible. In this situation, when do arguments occur?
It does NOT happens when a thing is described and somebody disagrees about the thing being described. There are reasons why people disagree; it may conflict with their real world experience; the thing described is not meeting their current needs; or when they have confusion over the situation. What happens in those cases is communication.*
Arguments occur when cognitive dissonance is created because of conflicting "Purposes of Play". Arguments are defined as disruptive communication that derails the engagement in play. Cognitive dissonance is defined as the feeling in your brain that drives these arguments. Purposes of Play are defined as 'What sitting in this room playing this game is about'.
Why is this happening?
When I say 'what playing this game is about' I'm not talking about playing styles, like combat as war versus combat as sport. I'm not talking about narrative games versus board games. I'm not talking about cooperative games versus competitive games. All these are stylistic differences. All of these are activities anyone can enjoy.
What I am talking about is the Purpose of Play.**
Purpose of play is the reason you choose to engage in the role playing game. Not the experience you hope to achieve in play, but the reason you choose to stand up, get in your car, and drive to go play D&D.
Unlike Creative Agenda, Unlike Playing Styles, this is NOT a situation where "I say to-may-to, you say to-mat-o". This is a situation where you can have a fucked reason for bothering. I will stand in judgment of the purpose of your play, like the Norse judged the ice giants unfit for life. Getting hit by a hammer for unacceptable Purposes of Play is an option on the table where the fornication of mothers occurs.
Here are some acceptable Purposes of Play
- You want the game to be about having some fun with your friends
- You want the game to be about spending some time laughing
- You want the game to be about escaping to a fantasy realm for a bit, from children, work, or other stressors
- You want the game to be about catharsis for you at the expense of other players
- You decide in the middle of scene to have your character urinate on another PC
- In a cooperative fantasy RPG, you have your character destroy the magic item of another character
- You have the expectation the game (any game) to be absent consequence and rejection.
- You behave inappropriately (threaten, intimidate, use inappropriate language for your peer group) when negative events happen to your character.
- You act in those inappropriate ways and others (manipulation, bribery) to intimidate people from having negative things happen to you
- You want the game to be about engaging people (not characters) in power struggles so that you can 'win'.
- You take the game pieces from the other players and refuse to give them back
- You sit in the chair of the DM and refuse to give it up when he returns
- You want the game to be about you and demand constant gratification, being disruptive when activities take place that you don't enjoy or that don't focus on you.
- You want the game to be about winning to the point that you cheat.
- You want the game to be about an opportunity to exert non-consensual masochistic tendencies. You wish to minimize, exploit, diminish, debase or degrade the players.
- Verbally abusing, sexually harassing, or having inappropriate boundaries with other players.
Most damming, I'm not talking about joking around or the occasional odd event - this is about players who engage the game with the examples above as the reason they left their house to play.
So, why did I write this post? Because the problem with 'old school, skill light' play, the problem with 'tactic heavy character build play' isn't the rules and it isn't the game.
As my experience of having actual discussions with people about disagreements regarding gaming, I've realized that the disagreements aren't in the text - they're in the baggage the person brings with them.
It's games people have played in where these things have occurred where they are attributed to the game instead of the person.
I'm going to be writing a series of articles about my style of play, attempting to address some of the constant misunderstandings that occur on this blog.
Every post will be written under the assumption that you are playing with people who have an acceptable Purpose of Play and not a negative one. If you are playing in a game with a negative Purpose of Play, leave, or eject the player that is the problem.
*It can of course devolve in an argument if there is a poor communicator involved, or if someone is not paying attention to signals being given out, or if there is personal friction there to begin with. But in those cases, they aren't arguing in the sense we're concerned with. They are either communicating or communicating poorly. There isn't an argument, there is a misunderstanding.
**This is different then Creative Agenda. I have run a table with tons of people who had different creative agendas. I've had some players sit though games where their creative agenda is not being met where it was fine and they were well behaved. It's a super-complicated way of saying 'what am I interested in doing in this game' and hell, we all bend over backwards for each other to make that happen. Eventually the game spins back around to what you like to be doing and you get your turn.
*** By the definition above, I am a terrible player. I am guilty, not of the cause but the effect of each thing listed above. I declare unintentionally! . . . It's a good thing I'm such a good DM.
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I am a total newbie for electronics and hardware programming, but I would really like to start practicing it. As a first achievement, I would like to find a simple step motor and drive it through a simple USB connection. The easiest (less HW/less SW) is the way to achieve this, the better.
What kind of hardware and software do I need ? How can I achieve this first step? Please consider as you are explaining it to a child. I really know nothing about this activity.
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http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/4652/driving-a-stepper-motor-via-usb-and-osx
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| ACCA The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants | Division of Student Admission | CIMA (The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) | Department of Polyteclinic and Community College Education | Edexcel International | Education System in Malaysia | NCC Education | Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) | Polyteclinic and Community College Education | Higher Education | Malaysian Qualifications Agency |
| Private Higher Education | Public Higher Education |
ACCA (The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants)
A career in Finance and Accounting
ACCA professional qualification
More people are choosing a career in finance than ever before. The global demand for qualified finance professionals has never been higher, and their work more varied.
A job in accountancy con help you gain a high salary and a provide fast track to the top in your chosen field.
Every company needs someone to steer the finances. Make the right choice and you could work for the type of organization that suits you. Any industry any sector, anywhere. A career in finance will not put you in a box or limit your options. And with the right qualification, you could work in any country.
Make a difference
As a qualified accountant the work you do will be intellectually demanding and interesting. It will put you right at the centre, making a difference to the organization, industry and economy in which you work.
If you are serious about a career as a finance professional, you need to think seriously about a professional qualification. There are a lot of options to choose from. They usually combine exams with proven experience in the workplace. But the choice you make now will affect your career options in the future.
ACCA - the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants - is the largest and fastest- growing global professional accountancy body with 296,000 students and 115,000 members in 170 countries. More people around the world qualify in the country with ACCA than any other international body. But we are far more than just big numbers. Employers, governments and the profession itself respect both ACCA reputation and influence worldwide.
The ACCA Qualification will help your career progress in any organization. It's an established route to professional status and you get to use the 'ACCA' letters after your name upon successful completion. Globally, employers will understand and respect your qualification. You will be in demand for your finance and accounting knowledge and skills worldwide, regardless of employment sector.
ACCA has been around for over 100 years, which means ACCA growth is backed by a solid history ACCA reputation for excellence in qualifications and training is acknowledged around the world, which will have a positive impact on your reputation in the profession. And with students and members in over 1 70 countries, you can register with ACCA no matter where you live or work.
International Accounting Standards
ACCA qualification is based on international accounting standards and global best- practice performance management systems. For instance, in some markets we offer adapted papers in financial accounting and auditing, and variant papers that test local law and tax. So going global doesn't mean that one size has to fit all. Pick and choose from optional, variant and adapted papers safe in the knowledge that the end qualification will be of one globally accepted standard.
3 years' practical experience
Passing the exams is a huge achievement. But it's only half the story. You will also need to gain three years' practical experience before, during or after your studies to achieve membership. The ACCA Qualification links practical experience to the syllabus, reinforcing that any capabilities - developed through the exams process - have a clear application in whichever accounting work environment you choose.
Professional Ethics module
Accountancy is in the news. The decisions made by finance professionals have a profound effect on the organizations they work for. Your ethical fitness will be at the heart of your learning experience with ACCA. Through the exams, practical experience and a dedicated Professional Ethics module, we'll teach you what it means to be a professional accountant.
Becoming a qualified accountant
ACCA will also provide you with additional opportunities on the way to becoming a qualified accountant. Having regrets not completing an accounting degree? No problem. Through ACCA unique partnership with Oxford Brookes University, you can gain a BSc Honours degree in Applied Accounting either while you complete your ACCA studies or after gaining your ACCA Qualification.
English language skills
Do you need to further enhance your financial English skills? English language skills are rapidly becoming essential in a globalising business environment. ACCA is working in partnership with Cambridge ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) - part of the University of Cambridge - and together have developed an International Certificate in Financial English (Cambridge ICFE). Achieving this qualification will help you to demonstrate your proficiency in the international language of finance.
The ACCA Qualification is designed to provide the accounting knowledge, skills and professional values, which will deliver finance professionals who are capable of building successful careers across all sectors,
In order to qualify as an ACCA member any individual registering on the ACCA Qualification after 1 January 2007 will be required to complete:
14 exams (nine of which are eligible for exemption)
relevant practical experience, with a minimum of three years
an online Professional Ethics module.
> Minimum entry requirements Two A Levels and three GCSEs or equivalent in five separate subjects, including English and Mathematics.
Normally aged 18 years and above
> Graduate-entry route
Relevant degree holders from ACCA- accredited institutions may be exempted from all nine exams within the Fundamentals level and register directly at the Professional level. Degrees with some relevance may also qualify for exemptions.
> Mature Student Entry Route (MSER)
No academic qualifications required
Must pass Papers F2, Management Accounting and F3, Financial Accounting within two years before further progression to the ACCA exams is permitted.
Normally over age 21
> Access to ACCA via CAT qualification
No academic qualifications required
Complete Certified Accounting Technician (CAT) qualification first and then transfer to
the Skills module of the ACCA Qualification by claiming exemption from the first three papers in the Knowledge module.
> Other exempting qualifications
Certain higher education and professional qualifications will be assessed for exemptions.
|Exemptions from ACCA exams
The number of exemptions you can claim will depend on how closely your previous qualifications match the content of the ACCA syllabus. For example, if you have completed a relevant degree from an ACCA- accredited university, you may be eligible to claim exemption from up to all nine exams within the Fundamentals level. No exemptions are available from the Professional level. Visit www.accaglobal.com to check what exemptions you may be eligible for.
|How long will it take to
It depends. The ACCA Qualification is designed to be flexible. Although we would always recommend you to complete the practical experience along with passing the exams, it's up to you to decide how you study, how often you sit for exams and where and how you gain your relevant practical experience. You can take a maximum of four exams every six months and combining this with working full-time would also mean you are simultaneously gaining the practical experience required for membership.
On an average, an individual registering with the minimum entry requirements, working full-time and studying on a part-time basis would take approximately three to four years to gain their ACCA Qualification. However, depending on your previous qualifications and relevant practical experience, you can complete the qualification much more quickly. A graduate with a relevant degree and a couple of years of relevant experience could complete the qualification in as little as one or two years.
ACCA offers lifelong learning opportunities aimed at enhancing the skills of financial managers and accountants. These include:
career development through the guidance and recruitment tools provided for members
access to lifelong learning through ACCA portfolio of further qualifications and courses for personal and professional development, including a specialist
networking opportunities with likeminded professionals through members' networks, seminars and conferences
a monthly members' magazine - accounting & business - and free copies of advisory booklet and technical updates
access to services relevant to your business and leisure activities.
INDEX : University Education in Malaysia 23-9-2009 February 26, 2011 11:19:32 PM
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Strawberry Plant project appealed
June 5, 2009 · 8:36 AM
A citizens group appealing the city’s proposed shoreline project at Strawberry Plant Park will have its case heard before the city hearing examiner June 12.
“Friends of Cannery Cove Park,” led by islanders Gerald Elfendahl and Doug Hatfield, filed an appeal of the city’s determination of nonsignificance for the Strawberry Plant project last month, calling for stronger consideration to be given to the history of the site. The appeal was signed by 18 Bainbridge residents.
The proposed project would dramatically alter the shape of the shoreline along the 4.7-acre Eagle Harbor parcel.
Concrete bulkheads and the shoreline would be cut back, with the intent of creating new marshland and nearshore habitat. The proposal includes provisions for an over-water viewing structure, a bridge over the creek and small-boat launch.
The appeal details the history of the property, and contends that the city’s description of the project “completely misstates the true history of the site, its natural features, the fact that what is proposed is to ‘restore’ marshlands that were never there and ignores significant archaeology on the site.”
Peter Namtvedt Best, the lead planner for the city project, declined to comment.
“We’ll just have to see what comes out of the hearing,” Namtvedt Best said.
Strawberry Plant was once home to a cannery, which served the island’s booming berry industry. It was later the site of a concrete plant and a commercial center, which burned in 1997.
Last week the city approved the site plan for the Strawberry Plant project. The decision is open for appeal until June 10. Any appeals of the site plan decision would be reviewed along with the DNS appeal at the June 12 hearing.
Strawberry Plant Park is being jointly developed by the city and the Bainbridge Island Metropolitan Park and Recreation District. The city’s work is focused on shoreline. The park district will be developing the uplands.
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|« Back to Article|
Surprise fills the skies near South Texas oil well sites
There have been reports of possible UFOs
By Roy Bragg | January 23, 2013 | Updated: January 23, 2013 11:08pm
SAN ANTONIO - For decades, politicians and law enforcement officials have expressed that South Texas is under constant attack.
None of them, however, suspected the invaders would be spaceships.
Two weeks after a series of UFO sightings over the Eagle Ford Shale, more weird stuff is going on in the skies between San Antonio and the Rio Grande.
Three digital images taken by an unattended wildlife camera on a deer lease near Nixon on Dec. 29 appear to show a series of anomalies in the sky and near the ground, says Fletcher Gray, deputy investigator with the Strike Team Area Research unit of the Mutual UFO Network.
The privately run group released the photos this week.
Game cameras sit dormant and are only activated by a motion sensor, which means that some form of wildlife - typically a deer - is in the camera's vicinity.
The first photo, time stamped 6:31 a.m., shows no deer in sight, but a triangle of lights can be seen in the night sky beyond the trees. There's also a suspicious mist trail at ground level in the foreground of the photo.
In the second photo, taken at 6:47 a.m., a deer haunch appears in the lower left of the photo. The sky is black, but the mist trail is still there.
The last photo shows a deer in the center of the photo. The mist trail remains, and a bright orb appears in the sky near the location of the light triangle of the first photo.
In each image, Gray says, the mist trail appears to begin or end with a clump of the mist - which he describes as "a plasma ball" - in front of the camera.
"What makes this case so interesting," he says, "is the vapor trails in the photos. At this time we have no idea what that ball of light may be. We do know that the photos have not been tampered with. MUFON has been receiving a lot of plasma-type UFOs over the past year. This is one of few that has been caught on camera here in Texas."
The person reporting the incident - whose name is kept private per network rules - says the camera didn't shut off for 38 minutes. Shutting off would be a sign of inactivity. That time span also rules out aircraft, the camera's owner told the network, which would have come in and out of frame much quicker.
The network hasn't come to any conclusions.
"We're not saying it's a UFO," Gray said, "but we're definitely interested in it."
This comes on the heels of three reports out of La Salle County.
Roughnecks near Artesia Wells saw orange lights dancing and streaking across the night sky last fall and posted a jittery video of it to YouTube. A rancher in the vicinity reported seeing the same lights in the same part of the sky. Those reports aren't on the networks' investigative radar.
Another report out of LaSalle County, however, has been debunked by continuing network analysis. The group's conclusion is that lights seen near an oil well were probably from a lowboy trailer, which is a semi-trailer used to haul vehicles or large containers.
No big deal in Cotulla
In that case, the July 5 black-and-white photo appeared to show a disc with an array of lights hovering above the ground and about 70 feet from the camera. The well's owners, Gray said, had installed security cameras because of previous oil thefts.
That photo taken at the well site hadn't been altered either, Gray said, but a third analysis showed telltale white lines stretching from light to light. In the opinion of network experts, that indicated a trailer was moving quickly across the camera's field of vision.
While the debunked photo went viral, it wasn't that big of deal in Cotulla, which, despite its booming energy economy, is still a small town at heart.
"None of our customers have mentioned it," said Brenda House, whose sons own LaSalle County Steakhouse. "Someone mentioned it to me the other night. It was salesman from New Braunfels."
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I was chatting to my friend yesterday who runs the blog Legendary People, and I muttered something along the lines of "I wonder where Hello Kitty actually came from...."
I already know about the character Hello Kitty. Her height, where she lives, her birthday, etc. (I will have to create a post of Hello Kitty fun facts at some point, if I remember....) But I don't really know where she came from as a concept.
Then today, as I was visiting my friend's blog, I saw he did a post earlier titled 'Where Does Hello Kitty Come From?' XD
He has quite a few interesting posts on famous/legendary people actually. Interesting facts and stuff that I would never have known otherwise <3
If you want more information,
you can read this little bit off of Wikipedia:
In 1962, Shintaro Tsuji, founder of Sanrio, began selling rubber sandals with flowers painted on them. Tsuji noted the profits gained by adding a cute design to the sandals and hired cartoonists to design cute characters for his merchandise. The company produced a line of character merchandise around gift-giving occasions. Hello Kitty was designed by Yuko Shimizu and was added to the lineup of early Sanrio characters in 1974. The character's first appearance on an item was a vinyl coin purse in Japan. She first appeared in the United States in 1976.
A spokesperson for Sanrio says that Hello Kitty is not normally given a mouth because "without the mouth, it is easier for the person looking at Hello Kitty to project their feelings onto the character" and that "the person can be happy or sad together with Hello Kitty." There has been some suggestion that Hello Kitty has its origins in Maneki Neko, and that the name Hello Kitty itself is a back-translation of Maneki Neko, which means beckoning cat in English.
- Hello Kitty article on Wikipedia
I love that last little bit at the end about why she doesn't have a mouth. I think that's amazingly adorable <333
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A leaked internal document from the Communist Party of Viet Nam, which was obtained, verified and translated by Human Rights Watch, shows that the government is pursuing a policy of suppressing political opposition, the group’s Asia advocacy director told a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee Wednesday.
According to HRW’s Sophie Richardson, the confidential document, detailing the conclusions of a Politburo meeting of August 6, 2007, states that recent political trials have “achieved some degree of success.” Their purpose is “making an example or teaching a lesson, to effectively prevent the contrarian political activities of the enemy forces while they are still in the embryonic stages.”
It claims that those carrying out “reactionary anti-state activities” will “utilize international forums on democracy and human rights, religions and races to strengthen their reputation, slander and make false accusation against the state.”
Political trials are needed, the document says, but “political, rhetorical, argumentative and professional” techniques should also be used to “limit the spread of false ideas in the population about democracy, human rights, religious freedom, which impacts negatively on the Party and the State foreign policy.”
It uses this as a reason to “fortify the security measures to ensure our political stability, peaceful order in society and…to ensure the perpetuation and stability of socialism.”
For the full text of Richardson’s testimony, and to read extracts from the document, click here.
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Yes, it's true -- gas prices in Gwinnett are going up. In just the past 26 days, the cost at the pumps has steadily increased.
And in the past two weeks, the cost of a gallon of gas has jumped 25 cents. The average price of a gallon of gas is now $3.59 nationally.
In Peachtree Corners the price is averaging around $3.45, according to GasBuddy.com and $3.55.6 in metro Atlanta.
In Suwanee, the lowest price Wednesday (February 20) was $3.67, according to Georgiagasprices.com. In Snellville, it was $3.64
What's driving the prices up? The increased cost of crude oil, oil refinery shutdowns and speculation say the experts. The cost is not expected to drop until spring.
“This is a very early rise,” says Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service. “January has tended to be a quiet month through the years, but the rally really began in earnest around Jan. 15," according to a report in the Christian Science Monitor.
Gas prices typically rise in February as refineries shut down for maintenance to prepare for the busy summer driving season. Speculation that the global economy is improving is part of the earlier-than-usual price increase.
Prices are expected to inch up until April but are not expected to reach the 2011 high of $3.94 according to Michael Green a spokesman for AAA.
Do you think as consumers we've finally reached our limit on the high price of gas? Or will we just get used to paying the higher prices and continue buying and driving less-than fuel efficient automobiles?
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Eaton Centre shooting: Violence recalls Jane Creba’s death on Boxing Day 2005
Explore This Story
It was a horrific crime that left the city reeling, one of the most notorious murders in Toronto’s history: an innocent 15-year-old girl caught in a spray of bullets and left dead in a pool of blood on a downtown Toronto sidewalk.
Jane Creba’s tragic death outside the Eaton Centre on Boxing Day 2005 marked a turning point in Toronto’s crime history, a shocking display of indiscriminate violence in broad daylight.
On Saturday night, more than six years later, memories of the young girl’s murder returned when a gunman opened fire on a crowd inside the shopping mall’s food court, killing a 25-year-old man and leaving several others injured.
“Today harkens back to that horrible moment,” Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair said Saturday.
Sidewalks outside the Eaton Centre were teeming with bargain hunters that day back in 2005, when a squabble between two Regent Park rival gangs inside the mall spilled out onto the street and quickly escalated to a gunfight.
Creba, a Grade 10 student at Riverdale Collegiate Institute who was out shopping with her family at the time, was shot dead in front of the Foot Locker store on Yonge St. Six others were injured in the shootout.
It was a murder that left a city shocked and in mourning — that a young high school student could be walking down the street with her mother and sister on Toronto’s busiest street in broad daylight and be caught in the crossfire.
A jury found Jorell Simpson-Rowe guilty of second-degree murder in 2008, and he was sentenced to life in prison with no parole for seven years. In 2009, drug dealer Jeremiah Valentine, who opened fire with a .357 Magnum, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, admitting in court that his gun probably fired the shots that killed Creba.
Louis Raphael Woodcock and Tyshaun Barnett were charged with second-degree murder. Both were found guilty of manslaughter and aggravated assault.
Six others were charged with manslaughter following the Boxing Day shootout. Five were acquitted, and one young offender was discharged at his preliminary hearing.
- Mayor Rob Ford breaks his silence, says he does not use crack cocaine
- Canadian trucker hit Washington bridge that collapsed
- Hazel's last stand: Mississauga mayor's legacy hangs in the balance
- Updated Blue Jays' call-up Nolin knocked around by Orioles in big-league debut
- Canada ranked third-worst among affluent nations for paid vacation
- ‘America’s toughest sheriff’ still believes in pink underwear and harsh justice
- Beer price hike at Rogers Centre a tipping point for concession workers
- Brampton suffers identity crisis as newcomers swell city’s population
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New Resources: Including and Expanding Early Head Start in State Early Childhood Systems
In April 2011, the ZERO TO THREE Policy Center hosted a second meeting with state teams to discuss ways that Early Head Start could be included and expanded in state early childhood systems. This year's meeting included teams from Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Mississippi and Hawaii.
The goals for both meetings were to:
Highlight innovative state models and strategies for including and expanding EHS in state early childhood systems.
Assist participating states in moving forward to integrate EHS and their developing early childhood systems so that more infants and toddlers receive high quality services.
Develop state action plans for next steps and preliminary ideas for using an on-site technical assistance visit to deal with a specific challenge around inclusion or expansion of EHS in the state’s early childhood system.
Promote relationships and continued collaborative work among participants.
Click here for information about the two meetings, with notes from each session and links to presentations and other resources shared with participants.
Download August's Advocacy Developmental Milestone Calendar
It's summer, which means time for lazy days in the sun, and what better time to catch up on your infant-toddler reading list! Your advocacy challenge this month is to pick three resources to read, and share that reading list with friends and colleagues. Download August's Advocacy Developmental Milestone Calendar Now!
Federal Policy Update
Over the weekend, the President and bipartisan congressional leaders reached an agreement to raise the federal debt limit and reduce deficits over the next ten years. The House is expected to vote on the bipartisan deal later this evening, and, assuming that the measure passes the House, a Senate vote will be held tomorrow. Although the passage of this deal would prevent the U.S. from defaulting on its debt, the deficit reduction measures contained in the plan threaten funding for vital programs and services that protect and support young children's healthy development.
The deficit reduction component of the deal will come from drastic cuts to federal spending. While revenue increases will be considered in the future, they are not included in the current deal. In total, the deal would raise the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion, allowing the U.S. to continue to pay its bills into 2013, and reduce the deficit by at least $2.1 trillion over the course of a decade. The plan would be implemented in two parts, each with its own set of implications for infants, toddlers, and families. While we do not yet know to what extent these cuts will impact individual programs that support low-income infants, toddlers, and their families, it is clear that achieving at least $2.1 trillion in deficit reduction over ten years would require deep cuts to programs across the board. Although the agreement provides potential short-term relief from an already dire budget atmosphere, the needs of our nation's youngest and most vulnerable children must not be ignored.
For a detailed description of the deal, as well as its potential impact on infants, toddlers, and their families, please read our Federal Policy Baby Blog.
State Policy Update
North Carolina Judge Rules that Early Education is Vital to a Child's Right to Basic Education
On July 18, North Carolina Superior Court Judge Howard Manning Jr. issued the first court ruling that acknowledges the pivotal role early education plays in allowing at-risk children to avail themselves of their right to a sound basic education. Judge Manning called specific attention to the benefits of at-risk children participating in Smart Start, the state's early childhood system, and the North Carolina Pre-Kindergarten (NCPK) program, formerly known as More at Four. The ruling is part of the long-running Leandro school quality lawsuit and addressed legal challenges to the 2011 budget bill, which among other things established a 20% cap on the number of at-risk children that could be served by NCPK. Judge Manning's order prohibits the state from implementing this cap or any other barrier that would deny eligible at-risk four-year-olds admission to NCPK. The implications of the ruling are still unclear, but it has been received as a major victory for at-risk young children in the state.
Read the full state policy update now!
Publications & Resources
Launch of National Movement for America’s Children
A group of child advocacy organizations, spearheaded by Prevent Child Abuse America, have launched a nationwide pledge, listening tour, and crowd-sourcing tool designed to develop a national strategy for the healthy growth and development of every child. The National Movement for America’s Children (The Movement) is founded on the basic principle that all of our children deserve nurturing environments that support healthy brain development so they are prepared to learn in school, grow into productive, contributing adults, and help their community, and our country, be prosperous and competitive in the global economy.
ZERO TO THREE is a founding partner in The Movement and hopes it will energize grassroots support for policies and actions that give every baby a good start in life. Read more about The Movement on our Federal Policy Baby Blog.
New Reports on Federal Investment in Children
Two new reports analyze federal spending on children. First Focus released Children's Budget 2011, the latest edition of the First Focus Children's Budget series, which provides an analysis of the over 180 federally funded programs aimed at enhancing the well-being of children, and how their appropriations levels have changed over the past five years. Kids' Share 2011: Report on Federal Expenditures on Children through 2010 from The Urban Institute looks comprehensively at trends over the past 50 years in federal spending and tax expenditures on children. Key findings suggest that the size and composition of expenditures on children have changed considerably, but children have not been a budget priority.
Information on Linking Home-based Care and State-funded Preschool
Linking Home-Based Child Care And State-Funded Preschool: The Community Connections Preschool Program (Illinois Action for Children) presents findings from the implementation study conducted by Child Trends and National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) of the Illinois Action for Children's Community Connections Preschool Program in Cook County, Illinois, which connects children in licensed and license-exempt home-based child care to public preschool classrooms.
Report on How QRIS Support Early Childhood Workforce Quality
The Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California at Berkeley published, Staff Preparation, Reward, and Support: Are Quality Rating and Improvement Systems Addressing All of the Key Ingredients Necessary for Change?, a research brief that looks at the extent to which QRIS include key elements that support or improve early childhood workforce quality, especially in the areas of staff qualifications, professional development, compensation and benefits, and workplace environment.
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Helping Your Partner Cope With Work
Knowing how to help your partner cope with work-related stress is a valuable skill that can be learned, but only if couples are willing to work at it.
"There's no doubt that working people face enormous stress in the workplace today," says Rosalind C. Barnett, Ph.D., a senior scientist in women's studies at Brandeis University.
Dr. Barnett has found that the willingness of partners to help each other overcome job stress is the single most important factor in helping them deal with the fallout from work.
Here are some steps you can take to help your partner, your family and yourself:
Partners should schedule time each week, as little as 30 minutes, for face-to-face, uninterrupted dialogue.
Partners should talk in advance about how they're going to relieve each other when things get tough on the job.
Partners should schedule breathers during the work week. On Monday, for example, Bob watches the kids and makes dinner while Susan plays tennis; on Friday, they trade places.
Partners should work to create a relationship that will allow them to admit when they're feeling hurt by a bad day at work.
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Sunday, April 13, 2008
under counter cd storage
carlos syas, "we live in a 1-bedroom apartment where the living room and kitchen share one large space together.
we rearranged the living room but had no room for our robin cd/dvd shelves. our kitchen island has a small overhang that protrudes into the living room and we thought 'why not flip them (the shelves) on their side?'
the width of the two stacked units was exactly the height of the space under the overhang. we cut off the legs from each units and used some of the shelves to create cubbyholes on the now horizontal shelves which also created enough room to stand our dvds on each shelf instead of laying them flat. in the end we didn't have to cut anything! my girlfriend was a little sad she didn't get to use our new cordless circular saw but the cordless drill has paid for itself with this hack."
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Updated 8 months ago
The income of the typical Florida family dropped 2.9 percent last year, one of the sharpest reminders that the deflated state economy remains marked by high unemployment, lower-wage jobs and financially challenged to spend its way out of its problems. Florida is one of 18 states to see its median household income -- the amount at which half the state households make more and half make less -- decline in 2011 from the previous year. Read more from the Tampa Bay Times and the Wall Street Journal.
» Median household income drops even more in South Florida
» Great Recession's plunge in incomes persists in Central Florida
» Incomes dropped 4 percent in Collier in past year, at 5-year low
» Chart: Median income in the U.S. and Florida
U.S. commercial fishermen landed record amounts of fish last year, including in the Gulf of Mexico, where fisheries appear to have partially rebounded from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, according to a government assessment issued this week. The annual report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that U.S. seafood landings in 2011 were at a 17-year high, with a value of $5.3 billion. [Source: McClatchy]
Florida’s fascination with craft-brewed beer, ale, porter, weissbier and more has grown so much that the state now boasts more than 70 breweries from the Panhandle to the Keys, with the biggest clusters around Jacksonville and Tampa.
Intuition Ale Works in Jacksonville specializes in small-batch handcrafted ales.
That’s perhaps 30 more than last year, making Florida more beer-savvy than most states and starting to catch us up with the Rockies and the West Coast. Full story...
Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who has made job creation his top priority, said Wednesday layoffs of airline and wind-turbine workers in Florida this week are disappointing. Scott said he has asked state and local economic-development and employment agencies to help the workers find new jobs. [Source: AP]
It might sound like an initiative straight from the Department of Government Redundancy: a constitutional change that Florida lawmakers labored for two years to place on this fall's statewide ballot even though it will have little real-world impact. Full story from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and see our analysis of Amendment 1 and a complete roundup of this year's Amendments.
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Rubio wants to reveal college-grad earnings [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
Students, parents and states should have a better handle on what a college degree brings in terms of earnings after graduation. So says Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who has teamed up with Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon to promote a bill designed to provide more information on what college students can expect after graduation.
› UF partners with Coursera to offer free online classes [Gainesville Sun]
The University of Florida has joined a growing group of universities offering free online courses to the masses.
› USF wins grant to support high-tech companies [Tampa Bay Times]
The University of South Florida's research funding has topped the $400 million mark, with the latest million-dollar innovation grant arriving Wednesday.
› Miami creating urban film institute [Miami Today]
Hoping to capitalize on Miami's burgeoning film industry and bring new jobs to the area, Miami's Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency plans to create a film institute.
Go to page 2 for more stories ...
› More than two-thirds in U.S. live paycheck to paycheck [Orlando Sentinel]
More than two-thirds of Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck, according to a survey released on Wednesday by the American Payroll Association.
› Miami-Dade asks employee unions to approve redesigned health-insurance plan [Miami Herald]
For county employees, the good news is that a healthcare concession imposed this year will likely go away. The bad news is that health-insurance costs are rising, which will mean higher co-pays or higher dependent premiums.
› Orlando International Airport likes free train, but asks for more info [Orlando Sentinel]
The board of Orlando International Airport declined Wednesday to vote even informally in favor of a privately financed high-tech train that could be worth $315 million. Instead, the board asked Tony Morris, the owner of American Maglev, first to provide it with an in-depth ridership study and how the proposed train could affect the sales of rental-car companies that pay millions for space at the airport.
› USF Health announces new alliance with Lakeland Regional [Tampa Bay Times]
The University of South Florida is creating a new health system with Lakeland Regional Medical Center as its first hospital member, university President Judy Genshaft announced Wednesday.
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Conditions of Use
About two weeks ago we dissected a chicken wing. It was torture for me! I have nothing against dissecting it but I was incredibly grossed out!!! If I wasn’t a vegetarian maybe I wouldn’t have been so grossed out, but I was. Anyway, I think we did this dissection to show how complicated the human body is and how compacted so many little things get in a small space. I do NOT think it was worth while but I guess in many ways it could be. In my opinion I thought it was pointless! Not to be negative or anything and don’t get me wrong I love science (some reasons more than others. For example I love taking notes and we seem to do that a lot in science) but I don’t like this unit I never did ever since second grade I ALWAYS found it pointless, boring, and gross! Anyway, I didn’t really learn anything new, just things I’ve learned in previous years. With me being this grossed out with just the wing or “leg” (as it would be on a frog) I don’t think I will survive the frog=http://
Article posted April 2, 2012 at 07:31 PM •
comment (1) • Reads 697
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Add a Comment
I'm sorry it was not good for you. For the frog, if you want we can do some computer simulations and some other activities. Please remind me that you want to do something different. I want it to be a good experience for you.
Comment Posted on April 12, 2012 at 04:27 PM by
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|LIFE << PHILOSOPHY << XU ZHIMO|
Xu Zhimo is a man with passions not only for literature, but for life as well. He never stopped seeking truth, freedom, love and beauty. For him, life was like art, something that deserved cherishing.
Freedom was something Xu Zhimo could not give up in his life. Ever since he was born, he had been unwearily seeking freedom. He dreamed of becoming a bird to enjoy the freedom and pleasure of flying in the high sky. He wrote I the <<The wish to fly>> that everyone wish to fly, to fly out of this is circle of land. However, he was trapped by the rules of the old society that he could not get all the freedom that he wanted. He fought indomitably with the old society. In <<Thought in Feilengcui village>>, he wrote, I have never succumbed to the world. I have never been fettered by it.
He liked nature very much. He once said, nature is a perfect book. There are limitless meanings in every page. If only we have studied this book, we will be able to know some of its beauty. Our spirit will become richer and we may be able to achieve our ideal character.[<<Language>>];. In nature, Zhimo learnt what was meant by life. It was the nature that guided him to discover his potential and lead him to great success.
was something that Xu Zhimo cherished the most in his life. He
never gave up of chasing love that he even sacrificed himself for
love. His stories with Zhang Youyi, Lin Huiyin and Lu Xiaoman are
so famous that almost everyone knows them. Many people criticized
him of not being constant in love. Actually, these people did not
understand him. His love for Huiyin and Xiaoman were real and
sincere, otherwise he wouldn't have written so many touching poems.
If you wish to know more about his outlook on love, click here.
Copyright @ 2001 Thinkquest 2001 Team C0111522.
All rights reserved.
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A Florida man deserved to be arrested inside the Supreme Court building last year for wearing a jacket painted with “Occupy Everything,” and is lucky he was only apprehended on unlawful entry charges, the Department of Justice says.
The President Barack Obama administration made that assertion in a legal filing in response to a lawsuit brought by Fitzgerald Scott, who is seeking $1 million in damages for his January 2012 arrest inside the Supreme Court building. He also wants his arrest record expunged.
What’s more, the authorities said the former Marine’s claim that he was protected by the First Amendment bolsters the government’s position (.pdf) because the Supreme Court building’s public interior is a First Amendment-free zone.
Fitzgerald was not disturbing anybody, but was repeatedly told by court staff to leave the building or remove the coat. Outside the building, about a dozen “Occupy” protesters were arrested.
Inside, Fitzgerald was handcuffed and arrested for unlawful entry as he was viewing an exhibit on slavery.
Here is the District of Columbia’s ‘unlawful entry’ statute:
Any person who, without lawful authority, shall enter, or attempt to enter, any public building, or other property, or part of such building, or other property, against the will of the lawful occupant or of the person lawfully in charge thereof or his or her agent, or being therein or thereon, without lawful authority to remain therein or thereon shall refuse to quit the same on the demand of the lawful occupant, or of the person lawfully in charge thereof or his or her agent, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000, imprisonment for not more than 6 months, or both.
Prosecutors eventually dismissed the charges, and he sued. (.pdf)
To be sure, the courts have upheld convictions of those wearing inappropriate clothing inside the high court’s building — once in 2011 for individuals wearing orange shirts that said “Shut Down Guantanamo” and in 2007 for protesters wearing orange jump suits and black hoods — all in violation of the so-called “Display Clause.”
The Obama administration said Wednesday that Scott could also have been arrested and charged with violating the Display Clause, which makes it “unlawful to parade, stand, or move in processions or assemblages in the Supreme Court Building or grounds, or to display in the Building and grounds a flag, banner, or device designed or adapted to bring into public notice a party, organization, or movement.”
“It also bears noting that, while plaintiff was initially charged with violating the unlawful entry statute, his conduct also violated the Display Clause of section 6135, and he could just as easily have been charged with an independent violation of that statute as well,” the Obama administration said.
Hat Tip: Mike Scarcella
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Black voices for marriage equality in Maryland
The effort to approve marriage equality got a big boost last week when the Baltimore Sun poll showed 49 percent of Marylanders supported making same-sex marriage legal. But the even bigger news was in the level of African American support for Question 6.
According to the Sun, “there's been a dramatic shift in the attitudes of black voters.” The paper found that “more than half of likely black voters favor legalizing same-sex marriage, compared with a quarter who are opposed.” This is huge in a state where black voters are thought to be a quarter of all Maryland voters.
No doubt President Obama’s evolution on the issue of marriage equality helped move hearts and minds in the state where he enjoys a 57 percent approval rating, according to that Sun poll. But there are other African Americans voicing their support for the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act.
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Section 4: Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement in the Digital Environment This section of the agreement is intended to address some of the special challenges that new technologies pose for enforcement of intellectual property rights, such as the possible role and responsibilities of internet service providers in deterring copyright and related rights piracy over the Internet. No draft proposal has been tabled yet, as discussions are still focused on gathering information on the different national legal regimes to develop a common understandingACTA fact-sheet PDF -- US Trade Rep
Update: Michael Geist sez, "I blogged this (partially) in response to your recent ACTA posting, which I think has an inaccurate headline and gives too much credit to Obama: 'There are many reports about the release this week of an ACTA summary document that was first made available on the USTR website. These articles suggest that this reflects new support for transparency from the Obama administration. While it may be true that the administration supports greater transparency, making that connection in this case is misleading. The document is a negotiated text between all the ACTA countries (this was made clear in the DFAIT consultation). Some countries (Canada among them) are supportive of greater transparency, others are not. It is not entirely clear where the U.S. stands. Moreover, it is not just the U.S. that made the document available - all ACTA partners are entitled to do so (the Canadian version is here). Finally, while it is not a bad document, there is still far more information available online from non-governmental sources. A commitment to transparency would mean making available actual documents including draft text and "non-papers" used as the basis for discussion.'"
I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.
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Jamie Mitchell•Times Record
Sue Orr reads an entry from a 1908 diary she purchased in Minnesota written by a West Virginia farm wife of her daily life.
As mothers are celebrated today, it’s a time to reflect on all the hard work they do behind the scenes — those things they do around the home the rest of the family often takes for granted.
One Fort Smith mother recently delved into the life of a West Virginia farmer’s wife as she read through pages of a 1908 diary written by the pioneer mother of two.
Little did Sue Orr of Fort Smith know when she purchased the small, red hardback book at a Rochester, Minn., antique store in 2004 the incredible journey it would take her on — a road to recovery that has led her full circle to the hills and valleys of West Virginia where the diary was written 104 years ago.
“I was looking at old cookbooks and for some reason, that stood out,” Orr, 65, said during a recent interview at the southside home she shares with her husband of 49 years, Stan Orr. “I picked it up and looked at it and told him ‘I’m going to buy this.’
“It’s the best $10 I’ve ever spent in my life,” she added, noting that when she returned home, she put the book on a shelf and didn’t look at it for another six years. When she finally picked it up during a period of recovery from some health issues, she started thumbing through the pages of the diary, handwritten in pencil and noting daily chores of darning, planting crops, washing clothes, shearing sheep, cleaning, scrubbing floors, killing chickens and baking pies.
“I was fascinated by it,” said Orr, who was born and raised in California. “When I read it, I was just transported back to a different time.”
Reading through the diary does enthrall the reader as they are drawn in to the hard times of pioneer life, she added. Through the pages, Orr was able to determine that the writer’s husband was Jared, a veterinarian, and her children were Myrtle and Roy. The wife and mother wrote about going “down home” or staying “up home” on various days; Orr concluded that the wife’s ma and pa lived “down home,” or in the valley, and Jared and the family lived “up home,” or on the mountain.
“Her mother died; she tells about that,” Orr said, browsing through the book at her dining room table surrounded by all her research notes.
Orr also concluded that the family lived near Brandywine, West Va., but traveled frequently to Franklin and Ruddle, two nearby communities near what is now a national forest.
Through her online research, she was able to track down a family member through the Pendleton County Historical Society. From Richard Ruddle, she finally had a name for the ghost writer — Texie Dickenson, who was 35 years old when she wrote the diary in 1908.
At the time she started writing the diary, Texie had two children and had lost two children as infants.
The very first entry, written in a 1906 Physician’s Memorandum book, was: “Monday, April 6, 1908; Mama and I washed and in the afternoon we put out … onions and sowed some lettuce, Papa went over about Brandywine this morning - Roy was down at Grandpa’s.”
“After her mother died, she took care of her home and her pa’s home,” Orr explained. “She’d plant a garden at his farm and plant a garden at her house. The amount of food she put up and canned was incredible — one day it was 30 gallons of jam.”
Orr was struck by how hard Texie worked, but almost always ended most entries with “nice day.”
“It almost seems unreal to me that she did that much work,” Orr said. “She most generally ended the pages with ‘a nice day’; she didn’t complain much, but had to be very tired. I don’t think she ever sat down and relaxed much.”
The Thursday, April 26, 1908, entry: “Down home all day — boiled five kettles of soap — had fine luck — helped trim bushes in the yard — rained, hailed a little.”
Texie writes of churning butter, making lye soap, washing, ironing, planting, cutting rags and braiding rugs, making clothes, baking bread and pies, shearing sheep, coloring coats, killing bedbugs and greasing chickens. They attended almost every funeral when a neighbor or family member died, and they went to church regularly.
A typical July day: “Thursday, July 26, 1908: filled two cans of dewberries, put away some pickles, planted 17 hills of cucumbers, made me two shirts & cut & sewed a ball of carpet rags. Jared complaining. rained.”
Orr concluded that Texie must have been a wonderful mother.
“She talked about her children all the time,” said Orr, the mother of two, grandmother of four and great-grandmother of two. “She was all the time making them clothes, talking about making Myrtle a ‘waist,’ which was a dress. A ‘wrapper’ was a gown; she talked about making a wrapper for her mom before she died.”
The entries about the time her mother died started including the phrase “Ma no better.”
“Thursday, April 5, 1908: Still down home. staid all night — Drs. Moomaw & Dyer there — Ma getting very weak & stupid — sat up all night …”
“Friday, April 6, 1908: Still down home. Ma died at 1:30 a.m. — very sad - Mrs. Bolton, Aunt Phebe Ann, Lottie and Mary S. washed and dressed her. had plenty of company & help. She was aged 65 years 4 mos.”
Last November, Orr started posting diary entries on her Facebook wall, which quickly gained the interest of some friends and family.
After talking with Ruddle, she learned that Texie’s husband, Jared, has also written a diary in 1907 and it was in possession of the historical society and Dickenson descendants.
Orr decided that Texie’s diary should be with Jared’s; so she and Stan took a vacation last week to West Virginia to return the diary to the family.
The Orrs met with Ruddle and Dewayne Borror, Texie’s great-grandson, and Orr — with mixed emotions — handed over the book that has been good medicine and therapeutic for her over the past few months.
“I felt it was the right thing to do,” Orr said, noting that Borror had many family heirlooms and possessions, including Roy’s military uniform, Texie’s coat and his grandfather’s Civil War rifle. “It needs to go back to family. This book is just to be cherished.
“It just kind of came to life for me. I feel like they’re family,” she added. “I was kind of on a down time myself, and it just lifted me up. It’s been a blessing.”
Stan Orr said he thought the book and the journey his wife has been on through its pages were interesting.
“I’ve enjoyed it as much as she has,” he said.
Borror told Orr that the diary left West Virginia in 2004, as it was in a box of books that were sold as part of the estate. It’s been to Minnesota, to Arkansas and now back to West Virginia. The diary has come full circle.
As she was drawn in to the family through the pages of Texie’s diary, she had pictures in her mind of what the homeplace and the family members looked like. This past week, she was able to see an old photograph of the Dickensons, saw Jared and Texie’s gravesite and walked some of the same paths that Texie walked 104 years ago. She passed along the diary to Borror in front of the “down home” house of Texie’s parents, where Texie was born and died.
“It’s back home now,” Orr said. “I’ve been teary-eyed over a few things, but I know it’s in the right place.”
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1). Sheila Bair rings Jamie Dimon and suggests to him that she might confiscate the assets of Washington Mutual. She says that Jamie should prepare a bid.
2). One week later the Office of Thrift Supervision signs a memorandum of understanding with WaMu saying that WaMu does not need to raise capital or increase liquidity.
3). Sheila Bair forces WaMu to get investment bankers in who will do due diligence.
4). The investment bankers talk down WaMu for weeks in press and cause a minor run.
5). The OTS seizes WaMu without any real indication to the management that this was going to happen and sells it to her hand-picked banker (Jamie Dimon). The deal is irrevocable. In the process she puts the fear-of-government in all the intermediate holders of US Bank finance. This exacerbates the crisis.
6). The WaMu deal causes a panic at Wachovia. There was no panic at Wachovia prior to this – though Wachovia stock is justifiably weak.
7). On Sheila’s timetable a deal has to be done for Wachovia in three days.
8). Sheila decides that no deal can be done without government support and she offers that support. Wells Fargo has simply told her they need more time. Having done due diligence on a small bank I can assure you three days is not enough for a large bank unless the Government is going to give you large warranties. Sheila created a timetable that forced the government into a deal that was potentially bad for taxpayers.
9). A few more days and the deal turns up that doesn’t cost taxpayers anything. Sheila however has staked her reputation on the prior deal and defends her prior behaviour.
I have argued that Sheila should be sacked. I think that is pretty obvious now.
But someone on Wall Street has a better idea. It is in this photo:
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Shippers on Thursday got their shot to tell the Surface Transportation Board that it’s unfair for them to pay higher rates to BNSF Railway because of the $8.1 billion premium Berkshire Hathaway paid to acquire the railroad in 2010.
The premium, part of the Warren Buffett-led company’s $43 billion purchase of BNSF, is used to determine the railroad’s cost base for captive shippers, or customers transporting bulk commodities who only have access to one rail service.
The Western Coal Traffic League’s petition to the STB is one of the most concerted shipper-driven efforts in years and signals their increased frustration with the railroad’s strong pricing power.
“I’d hate for this case to be seen as if we go BNSF’s way, they make more money (and) if we go (for the) shippers, BNSF makes less money. BNSF makes more money either way,” said John Cutler, an attorney with the Alliance for Rail Competition.
The premium will increase a captive grain shippers’ cost by 40 cents per ton for a 1,200-mile haul, and a coal shipper’s cost will rise 50 cents a ton for a 1,000-mile move, said Thomas Crowley, president of L.E. Peabody & Associates, which provides economic consulting to the WCTL. The group, which represents the Western Fuels Association and the Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, estimates the premium will result in 2 to 3 percent higher rates for captive shippers.
Thomas Hund, BNSF’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, rejected shippers’ criticism that the premium would translate into higher rates. “BNSF’s policy and practice is to set rates on market conditions and market demands for services, not cost,” he said. “A significant portion of BNSF’s rates are not regulated by the board. BNSF competes vigorously for this business, and as a result, these rates are based on market forces.”
Hund said BNSF uses the same practices when determining rates the STB oversees. Of the 9 million annual moves the railroad makes, less than 2 percent would be affected by the premium and the impact would be negligible, he said.
BNSF has cut rates for coal shippers, including those that don’t have access to a competing line, as demand has slowed.
Rob Jenkins, an attorney assisting BNSF, said shippers haven’t provided a reason why STB should do away with the generally accepted accounting principles that have been used for the last 25 years. Rebutting shippers’ claims that such premiums were burgeoning, he said the percentage of premiums in relation to total asset costs have been shrinking in recent years.
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Harrow International School encourages its students to treat community service as a fundamental part of their education. Students consider their place in the world, the privileges which are theirs and their ability to improve the lives of others. Contributions to community service are required as part of the annual House Award alongside academic success and co-curricular participation
17th – 21st December 2012
(Volunteering at Wat Prachanat, Nakhon Chaisi)
Lukso N12, Hanako K12,Lily B12, Suheli C12, Amy K12, Rachel S12, Emily So12, Aveeka N12, Boom.W N12, Oppy N12, Pie B12, Autek So12, Tyler So12, Fumi B12, Harry S12, Hagai So12, Dee S12, Polo N12, Cartoon C12, Nean B12, Malissa N12, Ice N12
This trip was organized by Lukso (N12) and Hanako (K12).
The purpose of this trip was to help teach the disadvantaged children English, Maths, Music, Science and Sport in Wat Prachanat Thai School. Part of the reason for doing this is because of the ACE agreement which means that foreign workers can easily find work in Thailand and we believe that children having knowledge of the English language, math and science is beneficial.
On the first day, we were introduced to the school by the headmaster and were all asked to split ourselves into small groups in order to teach classes ranging from Kindergarten to year 7. Then we were further introduced to the students in the class assigned for us. We were certainly surprised that the children did not act scared at all and tried to interact with us as much as possible – apart from a few shy kids who became more confident as the week progressed.
Coming in at 7.50 am and leaving at 3:30pm for five days was indeed tiring, however we enjoyed every moment we had with the children. It was a great experience for us, as we got to place ourselves in our teacher’s shoes, which made us realise how hard it is to be a teacher. Even though it was challenging for most of us, we managed to earn the trust and love of the students in the school. We had to think on our feet a lot as to how to keep the children busy. As there were up to 10 students with learning difficulties, we had to plan out lessons for each group of children – this proved to be extremely confusing as the children had very mixed abilities. We had to keep them entertained as well.
Despite all the fun we had with the children, we felt like we were really treated as teachers there. We got the opportunity to actually teach independently without the teacher being there to look over the children for us. We managed to grab attention from the children through telling them stories such as the outbreak of cholera in 1854 or the famine in USSR, and to the younger children, Jack and the beanstalk and Thumbelina. We honestly cannot imagine a better opportunity for such a wonderful experience.
In our opinion, the most significant thing that happened during this trip was the emotional bond that we shared with the children.
“Getting up in the morning to meet the children has almost become a habit for me. Even after we got back, I still imagine what we would be doing when we were there at this time.”
We realized that the five days were very short-lived as we neared the end of the week, however, it was action-packed. Most of the children (and even some of us!) became very emotional near the end as all the students were hugging and clinging to us. We hope to continue this programme and visit the school in the future, to teach them and share our knowledge and understanding with the children. This is undoubtedly an experience we shall never forget.
The Lionheart Society
The Lionheart Society is a group of students from Harrow International School Bangkok. With the intentions to help those who are less fortunate, to be of service to others who are in need and to be ambassadors of social awareness on environmental safety, collaboration among friends came about from October 2010.
We have established five major projects and a number of other special projects that are specifically aimed at providing support and assistance to those who may be in need of help during unexpected circumstances.
To know more about us, please visit our website or facebook fanpage below:
Lower school – Helping Big Boss
The story of Big Boss is a tragic one: left by his parents to the care of his ailing grandmother, his future was uncertain until he was brought to the attention of Mrs Shaw, who sprang into action immediately. Big Boss has complications resulting from his cleft palate – he has what is known as a ‘Pierre Robin Sequence’ which, fortunately, is not a common ailment. Compounding all of this, his small lower jaws mean that he has significant difficulties in breathing and he has to be fed through a tube to ensure that no food enters the airway. He also has complications with breathing and hearing – all related to the above ailments. Normally, an operation would be the solution, but Big Boss needs to wait until his lower jaw to be fully grown - if he has the operation to close the cleft before the jaw grows, his tongue could obstruct the airway.
Over the past year Harrow pupils and staff have raised funds to help Big Boss – as well as organising for him to be seen by specialist doctors in hospitals. We have also been in contact with the wonderful doctors of Operation Smile who have given us advice and suggestions. The upshot of all this – we need to wait until Big Boss puts on weight and his lower jaw grows.
Community service in the Mae Sot area
NEXT visit – March 14-16 2013
Every year, Harrow's examination officer, David Eastgate, flies up to Mae Sot to conduct English Second Language examinations (KET/PET) for teachers at the local schools and from the Mae La refugee camp. We work closely in conjunction with the Burma Education Partnership (www.burmaeducationpartnership.org) who, as their website tells us, are “a professional teacher training and educational organisation offering specialist support to communities affected by war and poverty”. This organisation, winner of the TEFL.com charity of the year award (2011), is making tremendous progress with teaching and learning in the migrant communities and Harrow is proud to be offered the opportunity to work with them. Over the past year, we have sent not only cash to help pay for boarder’s needs in the PTMJC (Pu Taw Junior Memorial College) refugee school, but have also supplied pens, paper and other items requested by the teachers of Irawaddy school, Sky Blue school, Husa Ka Han Sar school and Pyi Chit school. We provided 9000bt to clear the arrears for Phi Chit school to enable them to get support from a local governing body, and recently funded the BEP by purchasing them a motorcycle in order that they can move freely between the schools, rather than waiting to hitch a ride because there is no public transport. Often, the main form of transport for the helpers is bicycles which is time consuming and exhausting – there are many hills in the area..
DONATIONS to the Mae Sot Community
Recent donations to the Mae Sot community included some money to pay for a Christmas party for a group of children, and money to purchase a printer for a local community school.
We continue to assist those in need and look forward to our visit on the 15-17 March
RICE CROPPING – The Challenge
In Thailand, over half the arable land and half the country’s labour force works in the rice industry – making Thailand the world’s largest exporter of Rice. The Rice Cropping challenge will take place over three consecutive weekends at the end of March and is limited to 15 pupils per weekend. The challenge is quite simple. CAN YOU EARN THE MINIMUM WAGE for two days? Participants will be expected to work in rice paddies like traditional workers, and will be paid the wage a normal worker earns – but be warned... the wage is calculated according to the weight of the cropped rice. Participants will spend the night at the site, and food will be supplied (at a cost). Mr van den Berg, Miss Dava, Mr Mead, Mr Mc Donald and Mr Machin will participate as well to see what it takes to earn 185bt per day.
All participants need to be in Year Nine and above and have no other commitments for their respective weekend. This is an opportunity to see what over 1 million people in Thailand do for a living and also allows pupils to challenge themselves.
Do you have what it takes?
Kon-Tiki was the raft used by Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdal in his 1947 expedition across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands. It was named after the Inca sun god, Viracocha, for whom "Kon-Tiki" was said to be an old name. A few year 10 pupils will replicate the spirit of this adventure by building their own raft (under careful supervision – sea-worthiness will be certified!) and then spend 24 hours on the Harrow Lake doing several challenges: cooking, sewing, kayaking and fishing, to name a few. If this is successful, a bigger kontiki challenge will take place next year with a larger group of pupils taking part.
LIFE SAVING COURSE
The American Red Cross Life Saving certification will take place over the weekends of 16/17 March and 23/24 March. Participants need to be a minimum of 15 years of age must be able to do the following before the course starts:
1. swim 300 metres continuously
This internationally recognised certificate will teach pupils the skills needed to rescue people from water, as well as prepare them with the necessary skills to provide first aid. The course is 28 hours long and has both a written and practical component. Training will take place at Harrow and be taught by Mr Machin and Mr van den Berg. So far over 20 Harrow pupils have passed the course – for more information please contact the Leadership in Action Team.
Klong Toei visit Harrow
As part of Harrow’s outreach programme, Children from the Klong Toei slum visited Harrow on Saturday 6th October for a swim, indoor and outdoor football, and lunch cooked by Harrow staff, pupils and parents. Screams announced the arrival of the 50 children as they raced down the walkway, desperate to dive into the pool. Trying to get them to shower was the most difficult task of the morning, but once this was accomplished there was laughter and shouting for the next two hours. These children only ever swim in the black water klongs around Klong Toei, so diving into crystal clear water is a great experience for them. Few sounds can better that of a group of children having fun and it was a privilege and a pleasure to have these children under our care for the morning. 7 pupil and staff lifeguards monitored the pool continuously whilst a few pupils played badminton and basketball in the Sports Hall with a few of our guests.
Whilst this was happening, a military style operation was underway to cook chicken and hamburgers – all donated by pupils and parents. The cooking took almost 2 ½ hours but the smells certainly suggested that something was going well. Lunch ready, every child was provided with hot food, plus drinks, crisps and biscuits. All extra food was loaded onto the buses and sent back home with the children.
Harrow Adventure Race
Every year the event has two categories, allowing pupils as young as 8 years old to participate, while seasoned athletes can rush off into the distance. Under the careful watch of Harrow teachers and our friends from Bike Zone and AMA Thailand, everyone is encouraged to complete the course: all participants are expected to help and encourage one another and the motto “No one left behind” is our maxim.
And so to the 2012 edition – at the signing in point, every competitor was given a Bamboo pole “friend” who needed to be taken along for the event. Other obstacles - a swim in the lake, but no cycling…. Grass skiing and a three legged start. A few trips to the bottom of the pool, a visit inside school… Into some classrooms - Sudoku and a maths challenge awaited. Some bean bag drops and basketball shots… up stairs and out of doors, past the lion as it roars…
Over 140 pupils, staff and parents took part in this highly successful and fun event. A big thank you must go to all the staff and parents who helped to marshal at the event. See you next year – where even more obstacles have been conjured up….
Pakkred Christmas Appeal
For two weeks before and after school, fundraising was held at the Clock Tower. Every person who donated 100bt was allowed a sticker with his/her name which would be stuck on the present. Whilst this was taking place, enthusiastic parents made several trips to China Town to procure all the items, depositing them in the Leadership office, which soon resembled a toy store! And then, suddenly, we had reached our financial target – but now, 500 presents needed to be packed.
Solution – get pupils to help. And so, on Friday 7th December, all the items were strategically laid out on tables down the walkway. As pupils, parents and staff departed, each person was given a bag and asked to fill it with an item from each table – then to tie a bow, and stick on a named sticker. Hey Presto – like magic, 500 presents were ready to go!
At the same time, parents contributed to specific items required for Noh Bo academy in Mae Sot. Noh Bo is a Karen boarding school catering for many displaced Burmese Karen young people as well as local Thai Karen. Thanks to generous donations, we were able to send over 500 flip flops, 200 toothbrushes and toothpaste, shirts, jackets and toys to the children in this economically poor region of Thailand. A mention must go to Harrow’s examinations officer, Mr David Eastgate, for his tremendous efforts with the Mae Sot schools and Refugee camps.
On Tuesday 11th December, around 20 Harrow pupils from all sections of the school went to Rainbow House to be a part of the party. Here, they interacted with the orphans from the YWCA, Rajavadee Girls’ home, Rajavadee Boys’ home; Kret-trakarn Girls’ home, Poomiavate Boys’ home, CCD, Wat Koo school, Mitrapab school and Salak Nua school. Harrow parents also generously donated over 35 000bt to purchase food and drinks for the party itself.
It is always better to give, than to receive. We would like to thank all the parents who gave their time, effort and money to bring 500 smiles to the Bangkok orphans. Without you, this would not be possible. A special thank you must also go to Mr Tim McDonald (Head of Churchill House) who liaised with the YWCA and Rainbow House to distribute the presents, and to Miss Suzanne Hunt who made so much of this possible. To the Christmas Committee parents – you were fantastic. Thank you.
Chaiyapruk “Teddy Bear” Ride
The 30km cycle starts on the edge of the Lum Luk Ka golf course and meanders its way through beautiful countryside, avoiding main roads for almost the entirety of the journey. Stops are mandatory every 10km where enthusiastic parents hand out ice cold water and pass on words of encouragement. Crossing different klongs four times, bisecting rice paddies, steering past Mosques, this cycle is the ideal course for the novice cyclist who wants to test his/her newly acquired skills – all under the watchful eye of several Harrow teachers. It is also very beautiful with the abundant bird life looking on disparagingly as we disturb their morning wading…
Ride For Rainbow
This year’s event took place on December 9th, having been postponed from September due to Tropical Storm Gaemi. At 5:45am with the sun struggling to raise its sleepy head, Harrow and St Andrews pupils streamed into their respective schools to board buses to Ayutthaya and the start of the 4th Ride For Rainbow. Tension and excitement was in the air as nervous chatter permeated the cool morning. Ahead lay a 70km scenic cycle through the rice paddies of Ayutthaya, a river crossing of the Chao Phraya, and finally, arrival at Rainbow House Orphanage (CCD). All 150 participants arrived at Wat Chai Wattanaram in Ayutthaya with a sense of nervous anticipation, before separating into two groups and heading off under the careful watch of the local police escort. The cloudy skies were welcome as we meandered around the rich green rice paddies, admiring the wildlife around us. Keeping to a steady pace, the groups ambled along to the water points, before a welcome lunch at a rural restaurant after 40km provided an opportunity for sore bums to get a well-deserved respite from the saddle. Lunch completed, energy levels restored, a slightly brisker pace was set to the Chao Phraya river where a ferry awaited to deliver us to the other side and the final 4km cycle to Rainbow House. Here, a welcoming committee cheered the cyclists, before a magic show enchanted the tired cyclists.
We would like to thank our sponsors: Bike Zone, Spice Roads, AMA Thailand and RSM Thailand, without whom this event would not be possible. Likewise, a special thanks must go to Harrow parents who manage the water points and provide other logistic support.
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Africa Day 2012 – Celebrating the Diversity and Potential of the African Continent
A weekend of celebrations to mark Africa Day got underway in cities around the country today, with free festivals, film screenings, concerts and children’s events designed to celebrate the diversity and potential of the African continent.
In Dublin, Africa Day will be marked by a free family festival at George’s Dock which will run throughout the weekend. At 5.30pm today, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, Minister for Trade and Development Joe Costello and Lord Mayor of Dublin, Andrew Montague will launch the festival, along with Kenyan Ambassador to Ireland, Ms. Catherine Muigai Mwangi
Speaking ahead of the launch today, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said:
“Today is Africa Day and I am delighted to launch a weekend of events around the country to celebrate African identities and cultures and the richness of the relationships between Ireland and that great continent.
“I strongly believe that African countries, individually and working together in the African Union, can create a great future. Africa is a changing continent, with high economic growth rates and rapid development in terms of education and industry. Real challenges exist, but the African story right now is one of great energy and dynamism.
“African governments and communities are determined to overcome the challenges of poverty and hunger and move towards a new era of inclusive economic growth. My Department’s Africa Strategy is designed to support this momentum, promoting a mature relationship between Ireland and Africa which encompasses strengthened political and economic links that build upon our historical missionary and development ties.”
Minister for Trade and Development, Joe Costello TD, said:
“Africa Day showcases the range of relationships that exist between Ireland and Africa and the importance of our strong and effective partnerships. I’m particularly delighted that so many of our African diaspora groups have become involved. Your participation sends out a strong message about how much you contribute to the fabric of Irish society
“Africa is a changing and complex continent. Some countries are experiencing high rates of economic growth, while others continue to face humanitarian emergencies and long-term poverty. Ireland is committed to working with you to realise the unrivalled opportunities for trade and inclusive growth which now present themselves, while continuing to support you in the fight against poverty and hunger.
“There is a strong dynamic and warmth to the Irish-African relationship that will only be enriched by the growing cultural, business, developmental and people-to- people links. Africa Day is an excellent example of this.”
Lord Mayor of Dublin, Andrew Montague said;
“Few events celebrate multicultural Ireland better than Africa Day. As the Lord Mayor, I am honoured to be involved, and I am looking forward to experiencing the wonderful sights and sounds of Africa at events over the coming days.
“I’m a regular visitor to Africa and have volunteered with the Irish charity CAMARA in Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia. I’ve seen that life in Africa is changing for the better for many people and we have a lot to celebrate in this year’s Africa Day.
“It is important not to forget the people who came here looking for a home when times were good, and have stuck around even when many have been hit hard by the national financial crisis. Their contribution to Irish culture and society, as well as their impact on the changing face of 21st Century Ireland, cannot be underestimated.”
In George’s Dock, Dublin this weekend, stalls from over 20 different African countries will provide food samples and showcase traditional costumes, arts and crafts. A range of workshops on travel and the contribution of the African Diaspora will be on offer, while children of all ages will be entertained at the kids’ corner. Representatives from Irish Aid, the Government’s programme for overseas development, and NGOs will also host a range of fun, interactive activities designed to inform families about their work in Africa.
Cork city will mark Africa Day with an eclectic line-up of music, dance and arts from 1.30pm at Bishop Lucey Park tomorrow. A host of African cultures will be highlighted throughout the day, with ethnic food, entertainment and workshops on offer.
Galway city will tonight celebrate all things African with an intercultural evening of music, songs and cultural performances at the Commercial Boat Club in Woodquay. The Galway African Film Festival begins at Nuns Island Arts Centre today and runs through to Sunday.
Limerick’s weekend of African-themed festivities also begins today with activities including drumming sessions, children’s storytelling, a ‘Charity Voices of Africa’ concert. Other events over the weekend include Limerick Sportsfest, ‘May Music in the Park’ and a Family Fun Day in the Daghda Space on Sunday.
All events are being supported by Irish Aid, in partnership with City Councils and others in each of the locations.
Full details of all Africa Day events, including timetables for the flagship family festival events in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick, are available at www.africaday.ie.
25 May 2012
Contact: Catherine Heaney / Michael McHale, DHR Communications, Tel: 01-4200580 / 087-2309835 / 087-4135641 or Fionnuala Quinlan, Irish Aid, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on 087-9099975.
Note for Editors:
· Africa Day, which falls on 25 May annually, is the official day of the African Union and marks African unity.
· In Ireland, events to mark Africa Day celebrate African diversity and the cultural and economic potential of the continent, in addition to raising awareness of the development challenges which remain and the progress which is being achieved.
· For further information on Africa Day, visit: www.africaday.ie.
· Irish Aid is the Government’s programme for overseas development. It is managed by the Development Cooperation Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.Top
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Mexico Institute in the News: The North American Market: A Competitive Edge That Shouldn’t Be Squandered
Council on Foreign Relations, 6/8/12
Two documents released this week drive that home. The first is a paper by Erik Lee of the North American Center for Transborder Studies and Christopher E. Wilson of the Woodrow Wilson Institute called “The State of Trade, Competitiveness and Economic Well-being in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region.” It lays out succinctly the benefits of what is essentially a joint production system between the two countries in sectors like automobiles, aerospace, and medical devices, with a supply chain that straddles the border. Cross-border production has allowed for more efficient location of business activities in ways that enhance productivity, lower costs, and help North American-based companies to compete more effectively with Asia and Europe.
Over the past decade, however, that deep integration has become considerably shallower. From 1993 to 2000 bilateral trade grew at 17 percent annually; from 2000-2008 it grew at just 4.5 percent. Some of this was the impact of China, which became increasingly attractive as a platform for exports to the United States. But a big factor was the hardening of the border that occurred after 9/11. Northbound car traffic has fallen by one-third since 2000, and truck traffic has barely grown. And even as the Border Patrol doubled in size to discourage illegal immigration, few inspectors were added at the ports of entry to help commerce and lawful travel. While estimates vary, increased border restrictions and the resulting congestion has cost the U.S. economy tens of billions of dollars annually, and almost certainly pushed some production out of North America.
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May 7, 2009–A new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists documents the Obama administration's declarations that it intends to be more open. But the same report also documents the many actions not taken at the agency level.
April 8, 2009–A year-old National Institutes of Health policy requiring results of taxpayer-funded research articles to be posted online could be reversed by a bill introduced by Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
March 25, 2009–Carrying out a January 21 order by President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder has reversed the so-called "Ashcroft Memo," which had encouraged agencies during the George Bush presidency to err on the side of secrecy.
March 25, 2009–EPA's public release of the latest Toxics Release Inventory data -- and rollback of Bush-era cutbacks on the amount of information chemical companies must report -- may have marked the beginning of a new era for the embattled program.
March 18, 2009–After years of effort, and despite a last-minute gambit by the outgoing President Bush, US policy for offshore energy development is going back to the drawing board. DOI is extending by six months the public comment period on the country's 5-year plan.
March 11, 2009–The Association of Health Care Journalists wrote the Obama administration asking it to end the practice of making reporters go through public affairs offices to arrange interviews with federal experts and, in some cases, having public affairs people monitor those interviews.
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Recently I wrote an article on a high yield electric utility company from Brazil - Companhia Energetica Minas Gerais, or Cemig (CIG). In the comments a question was asked concerning the choice between Cemig and its major competitor, CPFL Energia S.A. (CPL). Both companies trade in the U.S. as American Depository Receipts - ADRs.
The two companies are similar in size with a $14.9 billion market cap for Cemig and CPFL Energia is currently valued at $11.8 billion. CPFL Energia generates 62% of EBITDA from distribution while Cemig earns 40% from distribution and the balance from generation and transmission of electrical power. Each company provides about 12% to 13% of the total electrical power sold in Brazil.
CPFL Energia provide electrical power primarily to two regions. One area is the region around Sao Paulo and the second is in the far south of the country along the Atlantic coast. Both are among the fastest growing areas of Brazil. For new power generation capacity, the company is strictly focused on renewable energy including hydro, biomass fired power plants and wind turbines. CPFL Energia became a publicly traded company in 2004 and since that time, revenues have steadily increased with an average annual growth rate of about 6%. Since the IPO, the split-adjusted share price has increased from around R$8.50 to currently trading in the R$24 range.
In July 2011, CPFL Energia declared a reverse stock split/forward stock split resulting in an effective two-for-one stock split. At the same time the ADR ratio was change to two Brazilian shares for each U.S. traded ADR shares. Now that the Real has devalued to around two to the dollar - R$2.04 today, June 8 - the BOVESPA share price and the ADR price are similar, R$24.57 and $24.23 on June 6 respectively.
CPFL Energia pays dividends twice a year - with record dates in April and August and payment dates in May and October. Since going public, the company has paid out 95% of net income as dividends. The dividends paid have grown steadily, keeping the yield in range of 6% to 9% as the share price fluctuates. There have been periods of time when the dividend did decline as net income dropped off from previous years before resuming a growth pattern. The dividend payments are not as consistent as practiced by many U.S. companies, but over a multi-year period, CPL ADR investors should see a very nice dividend return on their investment.
Values on the Brazilian stock market tend to take much larger swings to both the upside and downside when compared to the U.S. market. Investors may want to attempt to time purchases or leg into a position. When CPFL Energia is compared to Cemig, the latter has been more generous with both cash and stock distributions while CPFL has been the better share price performer over most time frames. Some ADR shares of both may the answer for an income investors portfolio.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.
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Trained property managers are in demand. They are responsible for maintaining property and fix the amount of rent. They also take charge of the negotiating and impose leases. Maintaining the premises is also the job of property managers.
Qualification is essential. However, to succeed in this job it is important to possess some qualities. You need to remember that the task of property management can be stressful and in those days of gloom, these qualities will be useful survival tools.
Communication skill – The property managers are required to interact with different type people, including landlords, tenants and the maintenance staffs. The clients are not always easy to deal with. They may behave irrationally or show their anger. In such situations it is essential that the property managers stay composed and act in professional way. Without such approach it may be difficult to succeed in this profession.
Honesty – Honesty is an important quality that will lead you to success in this profession. You will have to deal with money all the time. Every month you need to collect the rents. When a tenant moves into an apartment, you will have to collect the security deposit. Instilling trust is essential to handle all these. Make sure to put your clients’ need before anything else.
Follow-up skill – The property managers are required to have the ability to follow-up a matter. If you promise to contact the maintenance staff in a day, you should do that within a day. Commitment to the clients is the primary quality of a good property manager.
Knowledge – It is important that you know the market. In-depth knowledge in the property is essential. You need to know about different localities and the current rental rate of the houses.
Listening skills – Communication is not all about talking effectively. It is about listening to others also. You need to have the desire to listen to the clients and understand their problems. The successful property managers listen to their clients more than they express themselves.
Problem solving – You need to have the ability to solve problems. It is important that you identify the problems before they arise and find proper solutions.
Flexibility – Although this job offers normal timing, you may have to work extra hours based on the clients’ need. Therefore, flexibility is important to succeed in this job.
Finding the job
If you think you have what it takes to become a successful property manager, you can explore the websites containing information about property management jobs. You will find out about the current job market situation and required eligibility for the jobs advertised in the portals.
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Coalition to cut public bond issues
Andrew Robb. Photo: Domino Postiglione
THE Coalition will ask investors to prepare for a world with far fewer government bonds in an address in Melbourne on Wednesday, saying as it acts on its promise to cut net government debt to zero there will be a ''commensurate reduction in the issuance of government bonds''.
In their place it will commit itself to develop a retail market in corporate bonds to rival the sharemarket, saying it makes ''no sense'' for investors to have easy access to equity yet almost none to lower-risk corporate bonds.
''In March 2009 Tabcorp issued a five-year retail senior bond, the first vanilla retail bond since Telecom Bonds in the 1980s and 1990s,'' finance spokesman Andrew Robb will tell the Melbourne University economics faculty.
''Since then there have been less than five large, quality issues.
''The Coalition understands that until there is a comparable market, government has not fulfilled its role. And, once there is, government should allow the market to function,'' Mr Robb will say.
''In dollar terms, Commonwealth government securities were our second biggest export in 2011-12, at $58 billion,'' Mr Robb will say.
''Our determination to start paying off Commonwealth net debt will see a commensurate reduction in the issuance of government bonds.''
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Al Hakim wrote:Gus,
in fact the term "keltoi" was a superordinate concept of the ancient Greeks and later the Romans to classify every foreigner living in the North of their empires while the Southern tribes were all "barbarian". The celtic tribes haver never called themselves "kelts", as far as I know, but by their tribal names "Treveri", "Lingones" on the continent. Our modern classification still stems from the old Roman authors who did not care who the other people were but just wanted to show their inferiority compared with the Roman culture and from a specific grave culture.
Al Hakim wrote:Because of the lack of written lore we just assume a straight line of tradition from the time of the ancient "celts" to the early middles-ages.
The big world religions developed several deviant paths throughout their history. Therefore, it is probable that a unique celtic philosophy - if such existed at all - had split up into different directions, too.
Al Hakim wrote: But most of the branches have disappeared without leaving any traces. So, the present Irish/Welsh (Celtic) lore will be a minimum cultural remain of what the ancient tribes really thought and taught.
DJ Droood wrote:Imagine someone trying to reconstruct "Christianity" in the "English World" in 2000 years when all the hard drives have rusted out and cheap paper has disintigrated, and the nasty athiests have destroyed everything....Catholic and Protestant, all the small snake handling sects and denominations and apostacies...related cults like Mormonism and Johos....all of which trace back to a shadowy cult figure 2000 years earlier still....I can just imagine all the hippies dressed in Pope's hats dancing around Easter eggs....and we are so much more careful with record keeping than the Iron Age Brits and Gauls.
Gus wrote:And although most people of an academic background might be uncomfortable with this - who knows - maybe some of those gods and spirits and otherworlds are real - no reason someone today cant rediscover them without discourse to ancient practises.
DJ Droood wrote:And although we may be veering off-course from the ops post, I don't see why "druidry" can't be used to describe this process of rediscovering, with the caveat that we don't make false claims about following ancient practices. If the original spirit of the druids was to discover the truth in the world around them, does that spirit not still exist today? And if we are heirs to their world, can't we lay claim to that word?
Al Hakim wrote:An excellent point. I think it is impossible to untangle the mysteries of history and - as Gus pointed out - discover the true roots of the celtic philosophy. So it is useless to even waste time on it !? But to strive for the truth is an everlasting topic. It only needs the single assumption that the old druids wanted to find the truth, too.
Al Hakim wrote:It only needs the single assumption that the old druids wanted to find the truth, too.
As a fairly solid rule, yes. Language is the vehicle for culture. Language (or culture!) and genetics, however, have absolutely nothing to do with each other.
As soon as he moves away from genetics, Oppenheimer's theories are, frankly, bollocks. The evidence suggests that the genetic makeup of the British Isles has not changed significantly since the Neolithic, which is all fine and dandy. However, genetic continuity does not indicate cultural and linguistic continuity: in fact, all the evidence points in the opposite direction.
Oppenheimer seems to be under the impression that populations do not change their languages, rather language replacement only stems from population replacement. Evidence for language shift without wholesale population replacement is abundant throughout the world, an particularly in the British Isles: the Cornish, for example, did not stop speaking Cornish and start speaking English because they were slaughtered or driven off by Anglophone immigrants.
He also seems to be under the impression that a lack of Celtic place-names in eastern England is an indication that there have been no Celtic speakers there. While few modern placenames in eastern England derive from Celtic, we have plenty of evidence for pre-Saxon Celtic placenames in the area: Camulodunum, Dubris, Noviomagus, Verulamium etc are all Celtic names, not Germanic. If during the Roman occupation of Britain this area was speaking some early form of English, why don't we have records of Germanic place names here?
Overall, he doesn't seem to have the first clue about historical linguistics. Which is fair enough, he's a geneticist. I know sod all about genetics. On the other hand, I don't concoct wild theories about genetics and foist them on the unsuspecting public in paperback form. Were I to come up with such a theory, I'd make damn sure I read the relevant literature on the subject before publishing: something Oppenheimer clearly hasn't done. For example, claiming that speakers of a Celtic language arrived in the British Isles around 9000 BC is ludicrous, and indicates that he hasn't bothered to read the literature. Proto-Celtic's own parent language, Proto-Indo-European, probably wasn't even spoken at that time.
(Furthermore, if I may comment on the quote from the article on romanarmy.net: "Dr. Oppenheimer agrees with Dr. Forster's argument, based on a statistical analysis of vocabulary". There's nice, two geneticists agree on something they know nothing about. Glottochronology dates from the 50s, and was abandoned by linguists only shortly afterwards. Because it does not work. It's not a matter of being "too cautious", it's abandoning a tool that doesn't work. Would you try to fix a computer with the remote from your telly? No, because it wouldn't work, no matter how much two carpenters tell you that you're being "too cautious".)
In summary: it's bollocks.
Oppenheimer seems to be under the impression that populations do not change their languages, rather language replacement only stems from population replacement.
claiming that speakers of a Celtic language arrived in the British Isles around 9000 BC is ludicrous,
On the other hand, I don't concoct wild theories about genetics and foist them on the unsuspecting public in paperback form.
If during the Roman occupation of Britain this area was speaking some early form of English, why don't we have records of Germanic place names here (Ed DaRC - those In eastern England)?
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Demanding Real Debates
(5.) All members of the studio audience must be certified as "soft" supporters of Bush and Kerry, under selection procedures they approve.
"It's not enough to rig the debate -- they have to rig the audience, too? The contract reads: 'The debate will take place before a live audience of between 100 and 150 persons who... describe themselves as likely voters who are soft Bush supporters or soft Kerry supporters.' We should crash this charade and jump up in the middle to declare ourselves hard opponents of this Kabuki dance."
And my personal favorite:
(2.) Important issues are locked out by the CPD debate rules and party control.
"Really important but sticky or tough issues get axed, because the parties control the questions and topics," Rice says. "For example, in 2000, Gore and Bush mentioned the following issues zero times: Child poverty, the drug war, homelessness, working-class families, NAFTA, prisons, corporate crime and corporate welfare."
So, in the presidential debates, there can be no tough questions like:
The drug war costs billions and billions and billions of dollars. Many innocent, peaceable citizens have been needlessly killed by a police force that has been essentially militarized and happens to no-knock on the wrong door. People are not secure in their homes because of no knock warrants and search warrants issued based on the frequently false testimony of criminals. Property is taken and lives are destroyed over a few minuscule amounts of drugs. Is it worth that price to confiscate an infinitesimally small fraction of a percent of the drug supply in this country?
What are the rules for the debates for our Senatorial candidates? Will these be real debates or merely opportunities to spew your generic, party-line, pre-written talking points?
Enquiring minds want to know.
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Northern Ireland clean power plant moves from developer to producer
Kedco plc has announced its biomass power plant in Newry, Northern Ireland is supplying power to the grid. The event marks the company’s transition from a development company to an operator of renewable energy assets. The electricity generated by the Newry Biomass Plant is being sold to Bord Gais Eireann under a power purchase agreement.
The facility will eventually feature 4 MW of capacity, 2 MW of which are already online. Kedco is completing development of the second phase of the project, which is expected to come online during the fourth quarter of 2013. The civil and on-site work for the additional 2 MW of capacity has already been completed, and a deposit has been paid to secure the expansion of the grid infrastructure for the project. Once fully operational, the plant will generate electricity to power more than 7,000 homes. Kedco also has a 12 MW biomass power plant under development in Enfield, London.
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Next Big Thing – Sound Perfume glasses
I remember smell-o-vision from Comic Relief.
It's not the scratch and sniff style smell-o-vision – but you're not far wrong. Sound Perfume is a pair of glasses, developed in Japan, that stores eight solid-state perfumes which can be emitted when you meet someone. This helps you remember the encounter more clearly, by associating a particular smell with that person.
I already have that built-in, but it's not as pleasant smelling.
Lovely, thanks for sharing that. Unlike your own scent emitters, Sound Perfume uses a heated coil that brings the solid-state perfumes up to 46 degrees Celsius – where they oxidise into scent. The glasses even let you sync a photo from your phone with all the scent data of the person you've just met.
All fascinating. But why?
Recent research. Isn't it always? In this case, researchers at the Spanish Museum of Natural Sciences have found our olafactory sense to be one of the strongest for memory. They also believe the sense of smell is key in social interactions. So a team from Keio University in Tokyo and the National University of Singapore created Sound Perfume glasses in order to intensify that scent encounter and let us get it all into the virtual world using our synched phones.
There are even plans to use the Sound Perfume technology to enhance haptic, thermal and olafactory sense feedback for gaming. Here's a (school-like) video explaining it more.
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Narrative and Ontology is also discussing worldview. I thought I would repost this old post in case its any use to anyone doing work on worldview.
I started a paper a few months back which sought to offer a worldview reading of Galatians. Here is the first part of if. I have added the rest of it as a PDF file. See the link at the bottom of the page.
It still needs a conclusion….
It essentially takes N.T. Wright’s worldview model and seeks to read Galatians in a way so that the Pauline worlview can be sketched out.
Galatians and the Pauline Worldview
Historiography, Hermeneutics and Worldview
Interpreting Galatians, like any other ancient text, is far from simple for the chasm which stands between the interpreter and the original author is immense—this immensity being created by the differences to be found in historical location, culture, language and rhetorical conventions between the Pauline interpreter and Paul himself.
This hermeneutical challenge, which exists in all forms of communication, is in one sense minimised or bypassed by the ‘naïve’/modernist reader who think that simply by a close reading of the text the intended meaning of the author simply appears when the tools of realism, objectivity and empiricism are vigorously and methodologically applied.1
On the other hand the post-modern Pauline adventurer may simply see the chasm as being insurmountable as the historical tools of modernism are viewed as the worthless and arrogant product of an enlightenment epistemology. A post-modern adventure for Pauline studies may be described as a move from asking‘What did Paul mean?’ to ‘What does the text do and mean for my community?’, thus resulting in a shift away from ‘objectivity’ to the ‘subjective’ approach of multiple possible meanings.2
In contrast to both a modern and post-modern historiography I intend to sketch out and use a ‘Worldview Hermeneutic’ as a methodology to interpret Galatians and begin to construct ‘a’ Pauline theology. This worldview hermeneutic, as discussed in a previous essay3, relies heavily on the methodology of N.T Wright but seeks to apply this to one book within the Pauline Corpus. Before setting out on a worldview approach to Galatians it is necessary to sketch out, in broad strokes, the basic structure of a worldview.
In recent decades there has been a steady rise in the use of worldview (Weltanschauung) which is seen not only across the academic community at large but also within the church, at both a popular and academic level, in its development of evangelism, mission, bible translation, ethical theory. The use of worldviews is so pervasive owing to the fact that it seeks not to offer a theoretical construct aimed at one area of life, instead it provides a interpretative framework which can be applied to all fields and spheres of human interpretation and existence.
A worldview (or vision of life) is a framework or set of fundamental beliefs through which we view the world and our calling and future in it. This vision need not be fully articulated….this vision is a channel for the ultimate beliefs which give direction and meaning to life. It is the integrative and interpretative framework by which order and disorder are judged; it is the standard by which reality is managed and pursued; it is the set of hinges on which all our everyday thinking and doing turns.4
Any worldview, whether ancient or modern , according to N.T. Wright, contains four basic interrelated components5;
1) Stories: Worldviews ‘provide the stories [grand narratives] through which human beings view reality’.
2) Questions: These grand narratives provide answers to the basic worldview questions. Who are we? Where are we? What is wrong? What is the solution?6
3) Symbols: Stories express themselves in cultural symbols, whether that be the symbol of the ‘credit card’ expressing the consumerist meta-narrative, or the ‘eagle’ expressing the grand narrative of Roman imperialism.
4) Praxis: Stories, Symbols and the answers to basic worldview questions provide a ‘way-of-being-in-the-world’, the stories which people indwell and the symbols which they cherish provide a call to action, whether that be the praxis of a terrorist ideology or the outworking of a nihilist mindset.
I intend in this essay to explore, within Galatians the role of story, symbol and praxis within the Pauline worldview.
Worldview Shift and the Damascus Road
“And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles,…” Galatians 1:14-16
The events on the Damascus road undoubtedly had a major significance for the Apostle Paul. Once he was ‘advancing in ιουδαισμω Judaism ’ (1:14) but now he sees himself, in some sense, as separate from Judaism (1:13)7. The events of Damascus road have been variously described as conversion—from one religion to another—or by others as calling or commissioning8 which reflect his call to preach the gospel to the gentiles.
I propose that the Damascus event is best seen as a ‘Worldview Shift’. By using the word ‘worldview’ I intend to highlight that this is not simply a ‘religious event’ as the word ‘conversion’ in popular usage suggests, nor does the notion of ‘commissioning’ do full justice to the change in the entire outlook of Paul, a change that, as we shall see, provides an alternative to the story, symbol and praxis of Saul the Pharisee. I use the word ‘shift’ as opposed to ‘change’ to highlight, an obvious although important point, that Paul’s post Damascus worldview is still essentially Judaic through and through, but a modified form.9 By using the word ‘shift’ I mean that Paul’s worldview after Damascus has not changed completely but has shifted from what it once was, the worldview, in my opinion, has been modified.
1 For further discussion see Wright, The New Testament and the People of God Chapter 2-3
2 The phrase ‘Postmodern adventure’ I have taken from the influential essay by Clines A Postmodern Adventure in Biblical Studies: The Pyramid and the Net:
4 As cited in Naugle Worldview 349, likewise N.T. Wright “Worldviews are thus the basic stuff of human existence, the lens through which the world is seen, the blueprint of how one should live in it, and above all the sense of identity and place which enables human beings to be what they are. To ignore worldviews, either our own or those of the culture we are studying, would result in extraordinary shallowness.” New Testament and the People of God 124
5 For a full discussion see Wright New Testament and the People of God esp pp 122-126
7 Ἰουδαΐσμός is used within Maccabees to differentiate between the way of life of Seleucid Hellenism and the Jewish religion (2 Macc 2:21, 8:1, 14:38, 4 Macc 4:26) becoming a term of honour amongst the Jews. See Longenecker Galatians
8 As with Stendahl “There is not—as we usually think—first a conversion, and then a call to apostleship; there is only the call to the work among the Gentiles” Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West
9 N.T Wright helpfully shows the similarities and differences between the Judaic and Pauline worldview in his frequent refrain of triad of covenant, monotheism and election. See Fresh Perspectives Wright
The full draft text is available by usign the following link.
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Not all cooperation and unity deals went so bad. Reuters signed an agreement in September 2003 that would allow ICQ, MSN, and AOL messengers to talk with Reuters messengers. Of course, other agreements soon followed like: Google Talk users would be able to talk to AIM users provided that they had an identity at AOL. So maybe cooperation and instant messaging is not just a dream. Maybe somewhere down the road, all instant messengers will be able to talk to each other. As much as I would love to see that happen, it more than likely never will and here is why. All companies are always looking for a way to better their selves from an agreement. If you could just sign up with one company and are able to talk with all other instant messengers, why would you ever sign up with the other companies? You would not, because there would be no need. These companies need you to sign up under them, This is how they make money in adversing. Everyone is out to make money and better their selves, this is the sad truth of the real world. Most companies would not be able to better their selves from cooperation and allowing all other people to access their network.
So, is this just a dream or could it happen? I hope that someday it could work, that it really is possible. Cooperation and friendliness between instant messaging providers would help us. Of course, if this does happen it will be a long time coming. It will take years for a company to come along and think they can make this happen. Then it will be years before they work out all the details with the other companies. Maybe on day we will see this happen, but not now. Until that day, you will have to download each instant messenger to be able to talk to everyone.
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Sent to us by Michael Walker, this is the analysis written in the aftermath by the Communist Party's Mike Power, chair of ALCARAF, the local group which organised the peaceful protest, published in the Communist Morning Star. This downbeat account contrasts sharply with the triumphalist accounts from the Socialist Worker and with the celebrations of the violent or militant anti-fascist activity of many of the personal recollections we have published. (Note, here is Mike Power pleading for peace just before the march.)
What Follows the Street Fighting ?
Mike Power Chairperson of the ALCARAF Rally in Lewisham last month, looks at the long term effects of violent clashes on the Borough’s race relations
Morning Star 2 September 1977
THE EVENTS of Saturday, August 13, in Lewisham have had a profound effect throughout Great Britain. The impact of those events are likely, however, to be felt for much longer within this inner London borough. Tension underlies an apparent calm.
It will cost London’s ratepayers something over £150,000 to finance the police operation which defended the National Front marchers. Lewisham council itself spent £4,000 on clearing up and evacuating the elderly from the trouble-spots on the previous day.
Local shopkeepers are reporting losses in trading ‘of up to three-quarters and many face huge repair bills for their shop fronts.
The council has called for a public inquiry, a plea which has been strengthened by a local MP leading a weighty deputation to Merlyn Rees.
The Socialist Workers’ Party has been banned from the use of council premises along with the National Front for fear of further eruptions of violence and damage.
The anti-racist and anti-fascist organisations are now beginning to discuss what sort of campaign is needed as a follow-up.
In the month prior to the National Front demonstration there were extensive contacts and discussions between the local people and their organisations about how to counter the march. This was greatly assisted sellers and a crude use of threats and force during the GLC election campaign.
In all these cases the only long-term effective rebuff is to attempt to bring the police andthe courts into .play against the National Front, and so isolating the active racists and identifying them as fascists in their true violent nature. It is then possible to deny the racists their political links with the people and so help to undermine the hold that their ideas may have.
Socialists and Communists see the need to tackle the wider social, economic and political causes that allow fascists to exploit racist sentiments. But we see a clear need to act concurrently on the specific question of racism and build the broad movement which will work to detach people from racist ideas.
These are the forces that at present constitute the All Lewisham Campaign Against Racism and Facism.
It is against this background that the tactics for Saturday, August 13, were considered. But, did the events of that afternoon achieve the aim of isolating the National Front as a lawless element? And, were more people won to be sympathetic to the anti-racist, anti-fascist cause?
The answer is no; ‘because the press and media were able to place blame on some anti-
fascists for violence, despite the provocation of the NF marching into an area where many black people live.
A concrete and realistic analysis of the situation in Deptford showed that the call: “They shall not pass” would receive scant support. Indeed, the Telegraph Hill neighbourhood council a key multi-racial organization with much weight and influence in the community, decided against supporting any such action.
The black population are, generally speaking, frightened and to some extent intimidated, though this is less true of the younger people.
At the same time there exists an underlying racial hostility among wide sections of the white population. This accounted for some 3,000 racist votes in Deptford last May. In fact, the number of actual local people involved in the afternoon events was quite small.
People were intimidated by the police and the media and kept well away. It was. therefore, crass adventurism on the part of the SWP to issue a call for when it was not possible to mobilize people in sufficient numbers to ensure success. The NF did "pass” and marched to Lewisham. It stopped short of Catford, since the council had banned it from using the town hall for a meeting.
The artificial and mechanical transference of experience from Germany in the 1930s or from Cable Street in 1936 has become the divisive stock-in-trade of the SWP.
There were clear indications that the noble anti-fascist feelings of many people would in reality be channelled into a fight with the police. The left versus police confrontation was then staged and has enabled the press to identify the left with the fascists in the minds of people who oppose racism, leading to the view that both deserve to be banned as instigators of trouble and violence.
The right wing has also exploited the clash hoping to create an atmosphere in which reactionaries are calling for further limitations on civil rights and more power and sympathy for the police.
That sympathy will be largely misplaced when the history of the relations between the police and black people is considered.
There has been a long history of antagonism which culminated last May 30 with dawn raids on 21 young blacks’ homes. This was preceded by the use of surveillance by remote control video ‘by the police and was followed by charges of conspiracy and sus.
“Sus” ‘(suspicion) is a pretext which has been used by police to pick up any young black person seen in certain streets after 11 p.m. Even youngsters waiting for buses have been picked up in this way.
Such relations do not, however, follow a straight line and there has been tremendous efforts and years of hard, thank-less and patient work which has resulted in some improvement. In the past two months the police-black antagonism has ‘been intensified in Lewisham by the widespread and crude raids which led to the case of the Lewisham 21.
The SWP raised the slogan “The police are the real muggers” and organised a defence committee. Such blanket sloganising helped to ensure that in some cases it was the police who were as much the target on Saturday, August 13, as the NF.
This outcome was predictable long before the event; therefore the All Lewisham’ Campaign Against Racism and Fascism had called for a ban on the National Front provocation, a call which was widely taken up.
At the same time it was agreed to organise a counter-demonstration. The aim of the counter-demonstration was to present a positive alternative to Lewisham’s people (6,000 of whom voted NF in May) of a peaceful, democratic, multiracial society and for employment, homes and an improved environment.
This was to contrast the hatred and violence which the NF has perpetrated in the borough.
The Lewisham police commander agreed a route with ALCARAF which Commissioner McNee rejected and replaced with a non-negotiable alternative using as cover for his action against ALCARAF the call for a violent confrontation already issued by the SWP.
However, McNee stands condemned for causing the dispersal of 5,000 people in Lewisham when the demonstration was only half completed, thus creating a vacuum which he was warned could easily be filled by a violent reaction.
All anti-fascists need to soberly take stock of the present situation and consider the future.
A serious weakness in the anti-racist struggle at the moment is the relative immobility at all levels of the labour movement. Real pressure from the unions would have greatly helped to win a ban on the Front demonstration.
Not wishing to under-estimate the importance, of the actions of some Labour-controlled councils, or those of many individuals, but whatever happened to Labour’s campaign against racial-ism of last year? The Labour right-wing leaders remain unwilling to fight.
No transformation will take place without a genuine commitment being won at grass roots level. The focus of attention is now on Hyde in Manchester. A powerful call for a ban on the NF has been coupled with the North-West Region TUC call for at least 20,000 to stop it if the ban fails.
Those on the spot are best able to judge if those numbers are likely to turn out. Even then the level of local mobilisation is crucial; a sullen local population playing host to a demonstration of mainly outsiders is a dear weakness. The aim of the anti-fascists must also be to avoid the alienation of any positive section in the community.
We still have far to go in winning the necessary masses of people to active anti-racist thought and action. It is essential therefore to operate at two levels: First through the institutions via such organisations as the Community Relations Councils in order to undermine institutional racism. Secondly, through the broad-based campaigning bodies such as ALCARAF which take to the streets. A racially or politically violent atmosphere does not create the circumstances in which democratic political activity can take place. It is on this basis that diverse forces can be united to oppose the Front, not by initiating violence.
Remembering and reflecting on the 'Battle of Lewisham' in August 1977, when a mobilisation by the far-right National Front in South East London was met by mass opposition. A series of events to mark the 30th anniversary. Contact email@example.com
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In the strait-laced Eisenhower 1950s, Dave Brubeck seemed, on one hand, deeply conventional. He didn't drink, smoke or take drugs. He favored expressions like "baloney!" and "you bet" over ruder alternatives. He had a prodigious work ethic that had been ground into him by his cowboy father on the family's California cattle ranch.
But rebellion was in Brubeck's soul. Schooled in piano by his musically gifted mother, he became a jazz man — outwardly square but quintessentially cool — whose genius at marrying spontaneity and unorthodox rhythms with classical forms became an enduring legacy.
Brubeck, the pianist and composer who pushed the boundaries of jazz for six decades and became one of the genre's most popular artists, died Wednesday, a day before his 92nd birthday.
FOR THE RECORD:
Dave Brubeck: In the Dec. 6 Section A, the obituary of jazz artist Dave Brubeck quoted a 1961 New Yorker profile that described an example of the musical interplay between Brubeck and Paul Desmond during a performance of "Blue Rondo a la Turk" in which Desmond inserted a quote from "Try a Little Tenderness." It was Brubeck, not Desmond, who responded with a loud burst from "You're Driving Me Crazy! - What Did I Do?" Also, the obituary said the album "Time Out" had reached No. 2 on the pop music album charts by the end of the 1950s. The album reached No. 2 in 1961.
The jazz maestro, who had a history of heart trouble, became unresponsive on his way to a medical appointment, said his longtime manager and producer Russell Gloyd. Brubeck's son, who was in the car with him, rushed him to a hospital in Norwalk, Conn., where he was pronounced dead.
Jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell called Brubeck "a true musical giant. He helped to keep jazz at a truly high level and he was very consistent in both his performance and composition."
He was best known for his work with his classic Dave Brubeck Quartet, which included longtime musical partner Paul Desmond on alto saxophone, Eugene Wright on bass and Joe Morello on drums. Brubeck's innovative ideas generated an enthusiastic response from a new audience of young listeners — as well as the players most directly connected with his music.
"When Dave is playing his best, it's a profoundly moving thing to experience, emotionally and intellectually," Desmond said in 1952 in the jazz publication Down Beat. "It's completely free, live improvisation ... the vigor and force of simple jazz, the harmonic complexities of Bartok and Milhaud, the form [and much of the dignity] of Bach and, at times, the lyrical romanticism of Rachmaninoff."
In the late 1950s, the group began exploring unusual rhythmic meters. By the end of the decade, the album "Time Out" had reached No. 2 on the pop music album charts, and a single off the album — with "Take Five" on one side and "Blue Rondo a la Turk" on the other — became the first jazz recording to sell more than a million copies.
Written by Desmond, "Take Five" became a universally recognized jazz classic despite the offbeat 5/4 meter.
The group's popularity began to climb in the mid-1950s when a series of live college recordings — "Jazz Goes to College," "Jazz Goes to Junior College" and "Jazz Goes to Oberlin" — was released. Brubeck appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1954, only the second such honor for a jazz artist. (Louis Armstrong was first.)
The New Yorker described the quartet as "the world's best-paid, most widely traveled, most highly publicized, and most popular small group now playing improvised syncopated music."
But Brubeck's fascination with groundbreaking elements not generally included in the jazz styles of the '50s also made his music a target of widespread disparagement from jazz critics, who often referred to a "heavy-handed, bombastic approach" to piano improvising. The words directly contradicted another critical view, which identified the music of Brubeck and Desmond as another example of the "effete, laid-back, West Coast cool jazz" style."
Most of the criticism failed to recognize the complex range of elements — from stride piano to a Bach canon — that could course through a single piece. Brubeck often cited the positive response his music received from legendary jazz figures including Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and Charles Mingus, among others.
David Warren Brubeck was born Dec. 6, 1920, in Concord, northeast of Oakland. His father, Howard "Pete" Brubeck, was a cattle rancher, his mother, Elizabeth Ivey Brubeck, a pianist and music teacher. When he was 11, the family moved to a 45,000-acre ranch near Ione, in the Sierra foothills.
His older brothers Howard and Henry became classical musicians, but Dave preferred ranching and improvising pop songs on the piano. As a teenager, he played at dances on weekends.
Brubeck started out studying veterinary medicine at what is now the University of the Pacific in Stockton but switched to music at the suggestion of his science advisor. He managed to earn a bachelor's degree without learning to properly read music.
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Iran says it has decoded and released footage from a U.S. drone that it downed more than a year ago.
The black and white aerial footage, Iran claims was from a RQ-170 spy plane, was aired by Iranian news agencies and placed on YouTube.
A man, identified in Iranian media as Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, narrates parts of the footage.
"This aircraft has carried out many operations in the countries around Iran," the narrator says. "In the operations taken place in Pakistan, this aircraft guided many of the clashes ..."
The narrator also says that some of the footage shows the drone near Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan.
CNN can not independently verify the authenticity of the video. Also CNN could not immediately reach Pentagon officials for comment.
Iran had said it downed the drone on December 4, 2011 near Kashmar in the country's northeast, some 225 kilometers (140 miles) from the border with Afghanistan.
At the time, U.S. officials acknowledged that the drone was missing and President Barack Obama asked Iran to return it.
"We've asked for it back. We'll see how the Iranians respond," Obama said later that month.
At the time Iranian military officials vowed not to return the plane.
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Shame, shame, shame on me. One of the most important dates in recent history and I missed it.
I’m going to stop short of taking full blame here. There were no reminders. No hints. No nothing.
I didn't even see a single Tweet about it.
Eight years ago last Friday, October 23, the iPod was introduced.
I was in my Apple store last week. I’ve gotten to know most of the people there.
You’d think someone would’ve invited me to stop by and have cake and ice cream last Friday.
But no. Not a word.
Do you remember the first iPod?
Radio ignored it.
And only geeks and Goths and art students owned Macs.
It was weird looking and clunky; the size of a deck of cards. It didn’t look or operate like a radio or a Walkman.
Just a year earlier Diamond REO released its second and third MP3 players with 32 MB and 64 MB of internal memory respectably which were compatible with PCs.
They weighed roughly 2.5 ounces and ranged in price from $200 to $250.
The downside was their fragility. They were prone to cracks and breakage.
The iPod, by comparison, weighed 6.5 ounces and had a whopping maximum 5 GB of storage.
Initially, the only way you could add music to it was by ripping songs from CDs.
And it was pricey. $400.
2001 - the year that Apple introduced the iPod, it made $5.4 billion - nearly all of it from sales of Macs to geeks, Goths, and art students. It posted a loss of $25 million.
Let’s fast forward to last year’s figures. Apple made $36.5 billion - good for $6 billion in profits - from the sale of iPods, iPhones, Macs, and digital content.
220 million iPods users can’t be wrong.
While I’m thinking of it. We missed another important date earlier this year.
The eighth anniversary of the sale of the first HD Radio.
That’s when Cedar Rapids, Iowa resident Nathan Franzen bought a Kenwood KTC-HR 100 HD Radio tuner to install in his 2001 Pontiac Gran Prix.
The less said about HD Radio the better.
220 HD Radio users can’t be right.
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Baseball In Buffalo Enjoys Moment In Spotlight
12Is it time for a renaissance in Buffalo?
Not sure how much buzz the guy walking on a tightrope over Niagara Falls generated for the city—I personally felt ripped off when the television higher-ups made him wear a tether—but hosting the Triple-A all-star game did allow the baseball world to turn its attention to upstate New York for a night.
The Triple-A all-star game is the only sporting event with any national import on the Wednesday after the major league All-Star Game. (While some people might quibble over just how nationally important it is, we know that as Baseball America readers you have no problem with that assertion.)
And as written about in the previous issue of Baseball America, the Buffalo Bisons (International) wanted to serve as host to the game this year because not only are they celebrating the 25th anniversary of their ballpark, currently known as Coca-Cola Field, but also the 25th anniversary of the Triple-A all-star game itself.
Back in 1988 when both debuted, there were three Triple-A leagues, and the Bisons were members of the now-dissolved American Association. Local boosters also had major league dreams, envisioning the new park as the first step in attracting a big league team. Fans responded, with attendance going past one million in each of the park's first six seasons, and Buffalo still holds the single-season minor league attendance record with 1,240,951 fans in 1991.
The major league dream never came true, as Buffalo did not have the population or growth curve to develop momentum for major league baseball. The city remains home to an NFL and NHL franchise, but its population has been in decline since the 1950 census, when it peaked at 580,132 and ranked as the 15th-largest city in the United States. Buffalo remains the second-most populous city in New York, but in the 2010 census its population was 261,310, a 10.7 percent decline from just 10 years earlier, and roughly equivalent to what the city's population was in 1890.
The news is mitigated somewhat by the fact that some of the city's population decline has been from people moving to the suburbs, but even looking at overall county trends, the population is in decline.
In that context, it's amazing how well the Bisons have maintained their attendance numbers. By 2000, overall attendance declined to 667,540, which was still an average of more than 10,000 fans a game. Last season, the Bisons drew 575,296, or 8,219 a game. Given that the population of the area had declined and the ballpark was 10 years older, that's actually a solid result.
The numbers are down further this season, though it's dangerous to analyze attendance figures until the season is complete. But it's reasonable to think about ways the Bisons might be able to rekindle fan interest going forward, and one of those ways might be with a new affiliation.
The Bisons have been affiliated with the Mets since 2009, after being with the Indians from 1995-2009. Before that they were a longtime Pirates affiliate. While a New York team would seem to make sense, Buffalo is actually much closer to Cleveland and Pittsburgh than it is to New York, and probably much closer in spirit to those cities as well.
The Mets affiliation certainly has not done anything to reverse the attendance decline in Buffalo, so it might make sense for the closest major league team of all to step in.
That would be Toronto, which is just on the other side of Lake Ontario from Buffalo, less than two hours away. Buffalo fans have worried, in fact, that Toronto might eventually take their NFL franchise away. In this case, however, the Blue Jays could provide a boost to Buffalo.
The change would help the Jays as well, who currently have their Triple-A affiliation in Las Vegas (Pacific Coast) and would love to get back to the East. No one can talk about it until the affiliation shuffle begins after the season, but that's one move that would make a lot of sense.
Meanwhile, In Ottawa
Toronto's Canadian neighbor, Ottawa, also had its sights set on a Blue Jays affiliation for the team it hoped to get in the Eastern League. Those plans never came together for 2013, and the Blue Jays renewed their player-development contract with New Hampshire through the 2014 season, but Ottawa has not given up its pursuit of a new franchise. The city had a team in the IL until it moved to Lehigh Valley for the 2008 season, and it has ramped up efforts to bring a franchise back over the last year.
According to the Ottawa Citizen, city officials are optimistic they can get a team for the 2014 season, and they're working toward a fall deadline as they continue to talk to Massachusetts-based Beacon Sports Capital Partners, which is said to represent a team from the Eastern League.
I've never seen anything more than speculation about which EL franchise that might be, so Ottawa now goes into the "I'll believe it when I see it" file. If it does happen, though, it's hard not to think the Jays wouldn't be interested in having their top two affiliates within driving distance.
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AP reports that Rep. William Jefferson (D) has been defeated in his bid for a 10th term by Republican attorney Anh “Joseph” Cao, who will become the first Vietnamese-American in Congress. Jefferson has “pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery, laundering money and misusing his congressional office.”
Energy Secretary Contender Dr. Steven Chu: Transform The Energy Landscape To Save ‘A Beautiful Planet’
The Washington Post’s Al Kamen reports that there’s “buzz” that the Obama transition is “looking hard at some scientific types” to lead the Energy Department. Dr. Steven Chu, the Nobel laureate director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, is reportedly a dark horse candidate.
In a presentation at this summer’s National Clean Energy Summit convened by the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), and the Center for American Progress Action Fund, Dr. Chu described why he has moved from his background in experimental quantum physics to tackling global warming:
Consider this. There’s about a 50 percent chance, the climate experts tell us, that in this century we will go up in temperature by three degrees Centigrade. Now, three degrees Centigrade doesn’t seem a lot to you, that’s 11° F. Chicago changes by 30° F in half a day. But 5° C means that … it’s the difference between where we are today and where we were in the last ice age. What did that mean? Canada, the United States down to Ohio and Pennsylvania, was covered in ice year round.
Five degrees Centigrade.
So think about what 5° C will mean going the other way. A very different world. So if you’d want that for your kids and grandkids, we can continue what we’re doing. Climate change of that scale will cause enormous resource wars, over water, arable land, and massive population displacements. We’re not talking about ten thousand people. We’re not talking about ten million people, we’re talking about hundreds of millions to billions of people being flooded out, permanently.
As Dr. Chu explains in the above video, the optimal way to reduce greenhouse emissions is to waste less energy, by investing in energy efficiency. He demolished the myth that we can’t reduce our use of energy without reducing our wealth by offering numerous counterexamples, or, in his scientist’s jargon, “existence proofs.” Applause broke out when he described how companies, after claiming efficiency gains and lowered costs were impossible, “miraculously” achieved them once they “had to assign the jobs from the lobbyists to the engineers.”
Chu continued by discussing what he has done to develop “new technologies to transform the landscape.” He discussed the Helios Project, the research initiative Berkeley Lab launched for breakthrough renewable energy and efficiency technology. In addition to research into energy conservation, Berkeley Lab researchers are pursuing nanotech photovoltaics, microbial and cellulosic biofuels, and chemical photosynthesis.
Dr. Chu concluded his address with a reminder why this challenge is so important:
I will leave you with this final image. This is — I was an undergraduate when this picture was taken by Apollo 8 — and it shows the moon and the Earth’s rise. A beautiful planet, a desolate moon. And focus on the fact that there’s nowhere else to go.
In his effort to expand the powers of vice presidency to dangerous levels, Dick Cheney has met regularly with congressional Republicans. The Las Vegas Sun is reporting that the new Congress “will reassert its constitutional independence from the White House by barring the vice president from joining in internal Senate deliberations.” Mike Allen reports that Vice President-elect Biden has readily agreed to limit his intervention in Congress:
The paper says that when [Senate Majority Leader] Reid was asked whether Biden will be allowed to attend Senate Democratic caucus meetings, Reid said: “Absolutely not.”
Elizabeth Alexander, spokesperson for the Vice President-elect, e-mailed in response: “Vice President-elect Biden had no intention of continuing the practice started by Vice President Cheneyof regularly attending internal legislative branch meetings — he firmly believes in restoring the Office of the Vice President to its historical role. He and Senator Reid see eye to eye on this.”
At the October vice presidential debate in St. Louis, Biden said, “Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history.”
My friend Brian Beutler and Ta-Nehisi Coates have recorded a brilliant BHTV episode shaped largely around Brian’s experience as a gunshot victim in DC early this past summer. In this segment they talk about race, fear of crime, and city living:
The whole episode is worth watching, though, as this subject winds up being more conducive to the dialogue format than a conventional political debate is.
Things are getting worse and worse in Somalia:
The pirates off Somalia’s coast are getting bolder, wilier and somehow richer, despite an armada of Western naval ships hot on their trail. Shipments of emergency food aid are barely keeping much of Somalia’s population of nine million from starving. The most fanatical wing of Somalia’s Islamist insurgency is gobbling up territory and imposing its own harsh brand of Islamic law, like whipping dancers and stoning a 13-year-old girl to death.
And now, with the government on the brink and the Islamists about to seize control for the second time, the operative question inside and outside Somalia seems to be: Now what?
“It will be bloody,” predicted Rashid Abdi, a Somalia analyst at the International Crisis Group, a research institute that tracks conflicts worldwide. “The Ethiopians have decided to let the transitional government sink. The chaos will spread from the south to the north. Warlordism will be back.”
US press coverage of this situation keeps ignoring the US role, but had American policymakers tried to dissuade Ethiopia from invading two years ago rather than encouraging the invasion, we could have saved thousands of lives, avoiding this piracy problem, and had a more manageable Islamist situation. But at the time, most conservatives applauded the US-sponsored Ethiopian invasion to be a smashing success and thought maybe we could learn a thing or two about the utility of harsh measures in sticking it to the wogs.
Maybe George W. Bush has been trying to implement my flat-output, declining employment hypothetical scenario.
Yesterday the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the nation’s economy lost 533,000 jobs last month, one of the worst jobs reports ever. With that, the unemployment rate rose to 6.7 percent. But the actual percentage of Americans who have lost hours and are out of work is much higher:
More significantly, the unemployment rate does not include those too discouraged to look for work any longer or those working fewer hours than they would like. Add those people to the roster of the unemployed, and the rate hit a record 12.5 percent in November, up 1.5 percentage points since September.
As Ezra Klein was pointing out yesterday the idea that Americans receive the best health care in the world is hard to support with evidence. Here’s a chart:
It also bears mentioning that it’s far from obvious that maximizing quality is the right policy objective. If the wacky statists in France were to implement a “minimum price” of 2,000 euros for a high-definition television you’d rapidly see France become the country with the “best” HDTVs in the world. Everything would have full 1080p resolution or be really big or what have you. Because when you can’t compete on price, you try to compete on quality. But in the real world, when you’re thinking about what’s a “better” or “worse” television situation, the price is relevant not just the quality.
Back to the health care case, it’s far from clear that the British system’s focus on cost containment is the wrong idea. There are certainly countries with better health care than the UK, but the practical impact of the international variation seems pretty small. Meanwhile, the much lower price the UK is paying has real benefits in terms of economic growth and the ability to make public investments elsewhere. Even if all you care about is health outcomes it probably makes more sense to focus on equity, cost containment, and the basics while focusing public expenditures on ways to make healthy lifestyle choices broadly available.
Today, President Bush presided over the unveiling of his presidential portrait, at the Union League. “Welcome to my hanging,” Bush joked to the crowd. The portrait “shows Bush staring straight ahead, looking comfortable but not quite smiling, against the backdrop of the White House’s Treaty Room.” Bush said the painter, Mark Carder, “did a really fine job with a challenging subject.”
George Bush’s deep unpopularity, lack of a positive agenda or accomplishments, and his waning days in office have sapped most of his presidential powers save one: the ability to say “no.” His intransigent opposition to long term bridge loans to save General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford has forced Congressional leaders to scramble to provide assistance to prevent bankruptcy, which would devastate the already ailing economy. It appears that there is a tentative deal that will keep GM and Chrysler on life support until the new president and Congress can provide long-term assistance to nurse them back to health.
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For American businesses in general, and the health care industry in particular, the Supreme Court decision to uphold President Obama's overhaul law removes a great deal of uncertainty.
After months of legal challenges, the ruling gives hospitals, insurance companies, biotech firms and drug makers a clearer picture of what will happen when the major provisions of the law are expected to go into effect in 2014.
The legislation is a boon for much of the health care industry by making coverage affordable for tens of millions of uninsured Americans. But not every company will benefit. Medical equipment makers, for example, will be hit with a new tax on their sales.
There will be new fees as well as cuts in some forms of government reimbursement to health providers.
Beyond the health care industry, how will the Supreme Court ruling affect small- and medium-sized businesses?
"I would say there is actually a positive impact in that people know what to expect," said Brian Hamilton, CEO of the financial information firm Sageworks. "It's very important to remember the psychology of people who run privately held companies. If they have time to plan, the legislation is less important than the time horizon."
Hamilton said if the Supreme Court decision had led to confusion over the future of health care reform that would have been much more damaging to many firms than the cost of paying for a change that's been in the works for years.
"For the companies that have more than 50 employees who do not currently have coverage there will be an additional charge. It will be expensive, but they've been anticipating it."
On the markets today, stocks of major insurance companies dropped as analysts sorted through the ruling. UnitedHealth Group declined 3 percent, while WellPoint lost almost 6 percent. Overall, stocks were down today with the Dow Jones industrial average falling 127 points.
"Managed care companies probably did not have too many positives with or without the law," Alex Morozov, Morningstar's director of health care research, said.
Morozov said he believes the managed care sector is undervalued in terms of their share prices. "We think the investor community is still unclear about what the law means to firms in the space," he said.
Hospital chains rose. Hospital Corp. of America was up 7 percent. Quest Diagnostics, which runs laboratories, was up 2.5 percent.
"We think hospitals can breathe a sigh of relief," Morozov said. "Without the mandate the environment would have been rather dire for providers."
The health care law will bring an influx of new patients, which will mitigate other negative trends for the hospital industry, such as a shift to quality of care measures, regulatory scrutiny over premium increases and government incentives to curb overall health care spending growth.
From a consumer standpoint, Thursday's decision is the biggest change in healthcare coverage of our lifetime, said Michael Thompson, principal in PwC's Human Resource Services Group.
The biggest benefits of the health care reform will go to lower-income families who do not have employer-sponsored health plans.
"People generally not covered by employers will be in a position of better access to coverage going forward," Thompson said.
Thompson said there will be a "tremendous" increase in the number of people covered and subsidized by the federal government.
The law establishes health insurance exchanges at the state level, but one of their roles is to administer subsidies offered by the federal government to households whose income is up to 400 percent of the poverty level, essentially the middle class.
Thompson said health care costs in many states will increase with the new rule requiring managed care providers to insure people with pre-existing conditions.
But people eligible for subsidies will see costs decrease as premiums will be based on a percentage of their income, Thompson said.
Morozov said it will be "tough to speculate" how health care costs will change for consumers.
"States are going to exercise significant pressure on managed care companies regarding premium increases," he said.
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The Comparative Candidate Survey (CCS) is a response to the growing number of candidate surveys in the Anglo-saxon world and beyond. More or less regular candidate surveys are conducted in Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The rational of the CCS is to harmonise these dispersed efforts and give them a cross-nationally comparable core. The CCS is an internationally coordinated effort. It combines an internationally agreed and locally adapted core questionnaire with questions that try to capture national and election specifics. The core candidate questionnaire specifically focuses at the issue of individualization of electoral campaigns, i.e. the empirical question to which extent the candidates run their own campaigns distinct from those of their parties.
The core CCS candidate questionnaire, which can be downloaded from the left of this page, focuses on the relationships between the candidate, the party and the voters. Campaigning is a major topic in this core questionnaire, but other domains like recruitment and carrier patterns, issues and ideology, and democracy and representation are also developed.
Data Distribution Policy
The Comparative Candidate Survey is a collaborative enterprise, based on the idea that participants are rewarded for their data collection efforts by enjoying a period of privileged access to all collected data. Everyone who adds a valid dataset gets all datasets that have been deposited so far, and all that will be deposited later. After the end of data collection for the project, which is expected to be in 2015, all data (properly documented and made anonymous to protect respondent confidentiality) will be transferred to the public domain by depositing them in one of the major social science data archives (for instance, the Zentralarchiv in Cologne or the ICPSR in Ann Arbor).
Joining the Project
Colleagues who are interested in conducting a survey in their country among the candidates standing for office in an upcoming first-order legislative election are warmly welcomed to apply to join the CCS. It is easy to become a member. Just be in contact with project coordinator Hermann Schmitt, using the email address found at the top of this page. However, please note that our data sharing agreement requires that you deliver a valid dataset before you will be able to access the datasets provided by others.
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Thursday, 19 February 1931
Dáil Éireann Debate
Mr. Fahy: Perhaps at the outset the Minister would explain exactly what is meant by Section 45 of the Bill. “It shall not be lawful for any person to practise or represent or hold himself out, whether directly or by implication, as practising or being prepared to practise veterinary surgery or veterinary medicine unless he is for the time being a registered veterinary surgeon.” The Minister is possibly aware that many operations of a veterinary nature are performed by cow-doctors, handymen, farmers, and so on. Are they precluded from continuing to practise such veterinary operations by that section, or does it mean for reward?
Mr. McGilligan: One would have to get a more precise definition of the operation to which the Deputy refers. If it is anything which can be included in the terms “veterinary surgery” or “veterinary medicine” then certainly, as the clause stands, such would be prohibited unless by a registered practitioner.
Mr. McGilligan: Exactly the same point was raised on the Dentists Bill about minor dental operations being performed by a doctor. As the Bill was first introduced such things were absolutely prohibited, even to doctors, but it was subsequently amended. The same thing can happen here.
Mr. McGilligan: The Deputy has not listened to what I said: an operation ordinarily carried out by a doctor, although of a dental type, was prohibited by the Dentists Bill originally, except carried out by a dentist. It is an analogy.
Mr. Fahy: With all respect to the Minister, I should like to have the opinion of the Minister for Agriculture on that, because he is closely associated with these matters. Of course, I know this Bill is introduced by the Minister for External Affairs because it is to implement an agreement come to with Mr. J.H. Thomas, but this is a very serious matter for all Deputies interested in farming, and I am quite certain that Deputies on the Minister's own benches would like to hear an answer to the question.
Mr. Brennan: I should like to support Deputy Fahy. However, I think this is a matter which really should be dealt with in Committee. I do not think the Minister would have a leg to stand upon in connection with a clause like that.
Mr. Fahy: Then we shall leave it for Committee and get on to matters connected with the principle of the Bill. The purpose of the Bill was referred to by the Minister on a previous occasion, and we had some further light thrown on it by the Minister for Agriculture yesterday, when he said it was partly to put veterinary surgeons on a proper footing through the country, in the Department and elsewhere. A further purpose, of course, would be to secure that a veterinary surgeon trained in the Irish Free State could practise in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. They can do so at present. I do not know that there is any great advantage to be gained from this Bill, except that it will set up a Register. Moreover, when the Albert College was taken over and dairy science was brought under the University, I think it would have been well to complete the job and establish a veterinary faculty in connection with the University. Perhaps we shall be told why that was not done. It would be really completing the job.
Then I think that many degrading clauses were allowed into this agreement and that this agreement would put the Free State in a position of subordination. It might be better even to leave things as they are than to proceed with the Bill. We also think it would be more advisable for the Government to devote its attention to developing industries, so that the professional young men of the country could secure employment here, rather than professional careers abroad. If the Minister got into consultation with the Minister for Education, perhaps they could come to some agreement as to the establishment of a veterinary faculty in connection with the university. The Veterinary College at Ballsbridge is, I understand, really a branch of the Veterinary College in London. They might establish a faculty here.
There are many objectionable features in the Bill, so objectionable that we think the Bill should not be proceeded with. A few years ago, I understand, and my information is reliable, that the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, London, asked the veterinary surgeons here for an annual subscription of one guinea. It was only a request and there were many veterinary surgeons here who did not subscribe. Under this Bill, every veterinary surgeon in the Irish Free State will have to pay an annual subscription of two guineas to the Council here, and the Council will have to pay one guinea of that for every man who registers on the General Register in Great Britain, so that the Royal College in London has gained its point in the agreement made by the Minister.
Another point: there is outside interference in educational matters. At examinations held in the Free State, in future, the British Council, according to this Bill, would have a right to nominate members (page 24, Section 9) to see that the examinations were maintained on a proper standard. The Irish Council is not given reciprocal right with regard to examinations in colleges in Great Britain.
In the case of professional misconduct, if the offence is committed in the Free State the offender will be tried by representatives of both British and Irish Councils. If outside the Free State our Council will have no right to interfere, even though the offender may be on the Register of the Irish Free State. I think these are degrading terms. In the agreement between the British and the Irish Governments, Section 3 of the Medical Register and Dental Register, there is no mention of treason. It is mentioned in this agreement. That is a rather strange clause to include. Either Mr. Thomas, on behalf of the British Government, insisted on it being introduced in order to ensure that veterinary surgeons would be very loyal British subjects, or else it was introduced by the Minister responsible for this Bill to show what a good boy he is. Two other agreements of a similar nature were brought into this House and there was no reference made to treason.
Mr. Fahy: I shall keep to the Bill if I get an explanation from the Minister as to why it was introduced. I think the introduction of it will lead only to further trouble in this country, and that that might be the Minister's purpose in it. Another point the Minister for Agriculture is allowed under this Bill (Section 4 (1)) to nominate a limited number of members to the Free State Council—that is, the members who represent those who register in the Free State only. The nominated members hold office for various periods, the longest being three years. On the other hand, those who represent the veterinary surgeons in the Free State are also on the general British register and nominated by the Minister, but only until the first election, when his nominees all retire, so that apparently the Free State Minister could not be trusted to select those who are to sit occasionally in London on the General Council.
Section 19 (2) says: “The Free State may pay the expenses of the Irish members attending the General Council in London.” That is perhaps a minor matter. Section 23 (2) says: “The Minister for Agriculture may suspend the Free State Council and take over its functions.” It is strange there is no appeal to the courts against such action, and we think there should be such an appeal. Section 34 (1) says: “For treason it will be sufficient to have a bare majority of a quorum of five of the Council to find a member guilty.” On the other hand, for professional misconduct Section 36 (3) provides that there must be at least five members of the Council in favour of the verdict before the accused can be pronounced guilty. Again, against the verdict of professional misconduct there is an appeal to the court. There is no appeal on the treason charge. The Irish Council, of course, may try a member for treason. As the Minister admits, that was introduced by him, but for professional misconduct we must have members of the British Council present. Now, we think these are degrading clauses. We think that there is not much achieved by this Bill that could not otherwise be achieved, and we propose voting against its Second Reading.
Dr. Hennessy: With the general principle of this Bill I must say I am in full agreement. It is evidently framed on the basis of the Medical Practitioners Act, and it has many valuable provisions, especially as the majority of veterinary surgeons qualified in Ireland must seek a living outside the Free State. I see running through the whole Bill provision made for the right to practise in other countries—Great Britain and the Colonies. That is a very important thing for veterinary surgeons. The great thing in the Medical Practitioners Act was that it provided for similar advantages. There is one thing, however, that I think is rather unfair to the veterinary surgeons. The State is evidently anxious to rid itself of the responsibility of paying for the cost of the Veterinary Council, and it is provided here that an annual fee of two guineas is to be paid by veterinary surgeons. I think that will be extremely unpopular, and will be resented by the average veterinary surgeon who at the moment is paying nothing. The State makes a grant for initial expenses of £150, and I believe the Veterinary Council is entirely doing the work of the State, and as such its expenses should be borne out of the central funds, and it is very unfair to ask veterinary surgeons, who up to this had to pay nothing, now to pay this annual fee. Of course it may be said that solicitors have to pay £1 per annum to the Incorporated Law Society, but the advantage which that society can confer upon the members of the solicitors' profession are far and away in excess of anything the Veterinary Council can do. I hope the Minister will give this matter his careful consideration.
The Bill provides for an Irish Veterinary Council, and that Council has some connection, of course, with the British Council, but the fact that it confers rights of reciprocity of practice in the different countries is a very great advantage. I believe I am in a position to speak for the veterinary profession when I say that they consider it of very great importance that they should have the right to practise in Great Britain and the Colonies. Unfortunately at the moment, owing to our parsimonious way of dealing with the professions, Great Britain is proving a great counter-attraction to veterinary surgeons. Some of our best men are going there simply because they are getting better remuneration.
I hope that the Opposition will join with the rest of us in trying to get better terms for the Irish veterinary surgeons. The training to-day of Irish veterinary surgeons is very different from what it used to be. The veterinary surgeon in this country is now well abreast with all scientific knowledge. He has to undergo a very extensive training. I think the State sets a very bad example when for their own inspectors they commence with an initial salary of £200 per annum.
I think that such a salary does not, in the first place, attract the best men and even if it does attract them their services will be of a very temporary character. As is happening now, they will go where their services will be more appreciated. They will go to Northern Ireland, as some of them have done, and to Britain. I ask the Minister to keep an open mind on this Bill and be prepared to receive amendments that will remedy some of the defects I have mentioned, particularly the annual fee.
Mr. de Valera: I want to emphasise what Deputy Fahy has just mentioned, namely, that we on these benches do not see at the present moment the necessity for this Bill. The Minister has not indicated any reason why this agreement was made or why it is necessary at present to bring in a Bill like this to implement that agreement. We all understood very clearly why an agreement for medical practitioners was made, and we understood why the Dentists Act was passed here, but we find it very difficult to understand why this agreement was made or why this Bill was introduced. It is not for the purpose that Deputy Hennessy has in dicated — to give greater facilities, even if that were our main purpose here, to provide education to enable our citizens to earn a livelihood abroad. Apart from that attitude, this Bill does not give any further facility to veterinary surgeons who are going abroad. Everything they can get after this Bill is passed they can get at the present time.
Mr. de Valera: But are not diplomas given by the training college in Ballsbridge recognised? Are not these diplomas recognised at present in London, and are they not used as the basis for registration in London?
Mr. de Valera: I was listening, but I do not think I was here for all the Minister's speech. As a matter of fact, I read the speech afterwards and I came to the conclusion that the Minister was going to continue. But the Minister is not aware of the difficulties he is going to face when he tries to interpret Section 45. If he were to bring the Minister for Agriculture into consultation with him he would begin to realise what difficulties he is up against the moment he tries to give a monopoly to the veterinary protession in this country.
Mr. de Valera: Section 45, the section the Minister was asked to interpret. The establishment of a register, I take it, is intended to give a monopoly to the veterinary profession and to impose penalties on those who perform operations or who practise veterinary science without having these legal diplomas. We have no objection whatever to give those who have diplomas all the special privileges they are entitled to, and to give them the standing that their special knowledge will give them, but everybody who knows the conditions of the country at the present time and understands agriculture as it is practised —anybody who goes to any part of the country, whether dairying or cattle raising — knows perfectly well that you cannot deal with this veterinary question as with the medical or the dental question. The moment that the Minister tries to put that section in a form to make it effective he will find that he will not get the members of his own Party to support him. The Party bonds in cases of that kind will not be strong enough to get him support, because the arguments put up on the other side will be so compelling that the Minister's own colleagues in the Cumann na nGaedheal Party will not be able to oppose them. We are going to vote against this and one reason is that when the Albert College was transferred and when there was a question of the establishment of faculties of general agriculture and of dairy science in the University this matter of veterinary science should have been considered. If a Bill is to be brought in at the present time it should be a Bill that would supplement that transfer and not such a Bill as is being brought in now. There is no provision at present for veterinary education except under a foreign authority, and it is time that should stop. We are going to vote against this Bill because we think it is impracticable at the present time to establish a monopoly for the veterinary profession. Understanding the country as we do, we will have to vote against the Bill.
Mr. Corry: This Bill shows that the Minister knows absolutely nothing about this special branch that he is supposed to look after. The Minister's reply to Deputy Fahy made that perfectly clear. It shows what is behind practically three-fourths of the Bills brought in here by Ministers who know nothing whatever about agricultural matters. We heard Deputy Brennan's statement here a while ago, a practical Deputy who understands agriculture in the country, and there was opposition to this Bill from other Deputies also who understand farming.
The Minister states that under this Bill he will not allow a man to drench a cow unless that man is a vet. Fancy an unfortunate farmer living five or six miles away from a railway station who has his mare laid up with a gripe and he wants to come in for a vet. He gets that vet. and brings him back and probably by the time he gets home he finds the mare is dead. I suppose in such a case the farmer would be compensated by the Minister.
It is only another attempt by the Minister to find employment for all the young quacks so that they can be dumped down upon the unfortunate farmers. We had an appeal from Deputy Hennessy to increase the salaries of the veterinary surgeons serving under the Department. Apparently £4 a week is not enough for a start. In spite of all the extra veterinary surgeons who, according to Deputy Hennessy, have to leave the country to seek employment, when the Department want a vet., first preference is given to a Scotchman. When we want a vet. to look after Irish horses and cattle we must get a Scotchman; Ireland is not able to turn out vets. with sufficient knowledge to look after the Department's livestock. It is absolute foolishness on the part of the Minister to try to force a Bill like this through the House, the majority of the Deputies in which represent agricultural communities. It really shows how very little the Minister knows about his business here. I would advise him to keep to foreign affairs. It is ridiculous to think of a Minister going over to England and laying down an agreement with Britain under which every vet. registered must pay £1 or £1 1s. for the pleasure of being registered in England so as to carry out work in this country. The whole thing is too ridiculous. We will soon be making an agreement by which for every birth in this country we will have to pay 10/- to Britain. That is the sort of agreement we will have after one of these famous lunches or dinners in Buckingham Palace. I do not know where we are going to stop. I think this is the most ridiculous Bill the Minister has brought in since we came here, and he has been guilty of introducing his share of ridiculous Bills. Even the Portuguese Treaty is not a patch on this measure. Under this Bill, if it is passed, a veterinary surgeon will have to go to England and pay a guinea in order to be allowed to practise here.
Mr. Corry: I bet you it is there. Apparently the Minister has not even read the Bill. He tried to brazen it out on one point with Deputy Fahy when it was mentioned that under the terms of this Bill a man would not be allowed to administer even a drench to a cow, or to knock the horns off his calves with caustic, and that to do such things he must, under the terms of this Bill, have a veterinary surgeon. He tried to meet Deputy Fahy on that point, but when he found that he was going to get opposition from Deputy Brennan and others of his own Party, he climbed down and declared that this matter could be amended in Committee. We did not hear much about amendments in Committee when the 1929 Land Bill was introduced. The principle of that measure was all right but it was quashed until the lawyers and the Ministerial Party got to work on a similar measure. Nothing more ridiculous than this particular Bill has been brought in by a Minister supposed to have at least some brains left. The next Bill he will introduce will possibly be one to have midwives registering in London.
Mr. T.J. O'Connell: There are undoubtedly some flaws in this measure that will have to be radically altered or deleted altogether. I feel that the Minister must not be serious in regard to his interpretation of Section 45. That is a section that can be dealt with when we come to examine the Bill in detail. There are many other sections that require examination. They will have to be amended or possibly deleted. The Bill, apparently, intends to set up a register of veterinary surgeons and to regulate who are the people who should be permitted to practise veterinary surgery. As I see the Bill, its object is to protect the public and the farming community, and to prevent people who are unqualified calling themselves veterinary surgeons, and charging fees to the farming community for work done. In so far as it does that I think in the interests of the public and the farming community it ought to be supported.
Mr. O'Connell: That is quite a different matter, and I would be prepared to support Deputy de Valera in that respect; but that is not the question that is involved in this measure, to my way of thinking. We have had quite recently cases appearing in the papers of people who set themselves up to be professional persons and they charged fees, and it was found after some time that they were impostors. By that time, however, they had got away with a good deal of money in fees from farmers. The principle of this Bill is one that we ought to support, not for the benefit of the veterinary surgeons, but for the benefit of the public and the farming community. I am prepared to support the Second Reading.
Mr. Smith: Deputy O'Connell has referred to Section 45, which is the most important section in the Bill as far as those of us who represent agricultural constituencies are concerned. The Deputy said that that section will have to be drastically altered. The Deputy refers to the setting up of a register which will debar certain people from letting the public know that they practise veterinary work. Everyone of us is aware that in the country there are what are called quack doctors in so far as animals are concerned. Anybody who understands the conditions in the country would not attempt to suggest the insertion in a Bill of this kind of Section 45, unless it is the intention of the Minister to make some sort of a law that is sure to be disobeyed. I have not examined the other sections of the Bill because this is the only section that is of interest to me. If the Bill contained nothing else but Section 45 that would be sufficient reason for prompting me to vote against it, and I am sure the same would apply to any other member in this House, whether of the Government Party or not.
Mr. Smith: We should recognise that when we are passing legislation of this kind. As one representing an agricultural community, and as one who understands the difficulties under which farming is carried on, I certainly object to a section of this kind in the Bill, and I would oppose any Bill that embraces such a section.
Mr. J. Wolfe: I am very much in sympathy with the observations of the Deputy who has just spoken. Like him, I represent a rural constituency, and the farming class in many parts of that constituency will be very seriously affected by the passage of Section 45. As the Bill stands it will interfere with two classes of people, so drastically has the section been drafted. There are remote parts of the country which could not possibly support a properly qualified veterinary surgeon. Qualified veterinary surgeons are not to be found there, but there are people there who have been practising veterinary science for a considerable period, who are well versed in it, and who, of necessity, have received fees offered in cash or in kind, voluntarily or involuntarily. By this Bill you propose to get rid of men of that kind, who to all intents and purposes practise as veterinary surgeons a science in which they have acquired a considerable knowledge, sometimes in college and sometimes outside. Yet that type of man is to be sent definitely to the workhouse. That is the first effect. In many remote parts of the country where there are no veterinary surgeons you find farmers or labourers who are able to attend to a sick cow or a horse, but if they do so under this Bill they will be deemed to be practising veterinary science and will be liable to prosecution. I think it is a very serious thing to tell a farmer who lives twenty or twenty-five miles from a veterinary surgeon, and who has a sick cow valued at £5, that he must either let the cow die or call in a veterinary surgeon at a cost of £5.
I think that that is a very serious position to adopt, and in my view Section 45 means cruelty to the farmers and to the men who, though not qualified, have been practising veterinary science in a legitimate way. It also means cruelty to animals, because it will mean that in outlying districts either the animals must be allowed to die or the law must be broken. In these circumstances I think that Section 45 should not be passed, and, in my view, should be deleted. There is one thing further which I would like to say, namely, that I am glad to notice, though it has not been definitely announced by the Minister, that the Government have abandoned the regulation that Irish be made compulsory for those entering the profession. Such a decision will be received with pleasure throughout the Saorstát; but it is difficult to understand why they have selected the veterinary profession to commence that policy, because, after all, that profession is the one profession, if any, that requires a knowledge of Irish. Every donkey in the Gaeltacht knows Irish, and some of them can speak it. Baalam's ass would probably not be in it. If you say to donkey in the Gaeltacht, “Stad! stad!” he will inevitably stop, never to go again. If, on the other hand, you say “Whoa! whoa!” to the same donkey, the effect is just the same as if you put an ounce of red pepper under his tail. I congratulate the Government for having once and for all said good-bye to an idea that should never have been adopted in reference to our professions. I will be pleased to hear a definite announcement that the stock of jack-boots kept by the Minister for Finance has now been cleared out never to be renewed.
Mr. J. Crowley: I trust that the Dáil will not reject Section 45. At present a lot of serious operations are performed by quacks, and I do not agree with the suggestion that the Minister should recognise these persons. Why should quacks be allowed to perform such serious operations as castrations, inoculation, and so forth? They have no right to perform them, as they know nothing about the business. Deputy Wolfe says that there will be a good deal of cruelty if the section is allowed to pass, but I would point out that cruelty will result only if quacks are allowed to perform serious operations. Personally, I am of opinion that the section should stand.
Mr. M. O'Reilly: It rather surprised me to find that the Minister allowed this Clause 45 to appear at all in the Bill. I wonder if he acquainted the Minister for Agriculture of it. If this clause were allowed to go through and become law, Deputies have pointed out already what would occur. Livestock throughout this country are subject to certain diseases which are easily cured provided the remedy is given immediately. Take, for instance, the case of what is known as “red water.” It is generally found in all parts of the Free State. If that disease is discovered in time it can be cured, but if a farmer is compelled to await the arrival of a veterinary surgeon very often at least twelve hours will have elapsed, and it will probably be too late then to treat the animal, as a prescription would have to be got from the nearest chemist, and that would probably take another couple of hours. Every farmer has to give the prescribed remedy.
Mr. O'Reilly: There are several remedies. In regard to this particular form of disease the farmers, in order to get a remedy, have a set remedy of their own and chemists generally have it made up. Such remedies are generally applied by labourers or farmers, and very good results have been brought about when they are applied in time. Fatal results are, in fact, the exception. I have known cases where veterinary surgeons have been sent for but did not arrive in time to save the animals. As I have said, the farmers have a set service of their own and cannot afford, under present conditions, to pay for the attendance of vets. Some farmers who are well-off no doubt employ vets. of their own, but the ordinary small farmer still adheres to the old practice and is well versed in the science. I believe that if this section were passed the Bill would be most unpopular and would inflict severe hardship on farmers.
Mr. Hassett: As a practical farmer, and as a Deputy representing a large agricultural district, I may say that I look upon this section as very dangerous. I would appeal to the Minister, if this section cannot be interpreted in the sense in which he says it ought to be, to withdraw it altogether. Otherwise I am afraid that some of us will be bound to vote against it. The Department of Agriculture some years ago went to great expense in bringing over a famous French professor in order to deal with “white scour.” It was a terrible disease in Limerick and parts of my county. It swept away something like 50 per cent. of the young cattle in the course of a few days after birth. Professor Nocard was sent over by the French Government for two seasons to help us to eradicate that disease. The remedy for the disease is that immediately after the calf is born the navel string is tied up with a disinfected cord. We have carried out that remedy with such great success that we have practically eradicated that scourge altogether. Is it to be suggested that I, in dealing with my twenty cows, or any other practical farmer dealing with his cattle, must have the services of a veterinary surgeon to do that? If I only tie up the navel string I am guilty of an offence under this section. This section appears to be dangerous and ridiculous, and, in my opinion, will prove impracticable if put into operation. For instance, many of us have been attending lectures given by the different veterinary surgeons sent out by the Department of Agriculture. They have taught us to diagnose different diseases from time to time. We know how to deal with a cow which is suffering from milk fever. It is one of the most dangerous diseases, but it can be quite simply cured if you treat it promptly, whereas if you wait to send for a veterinary surgeon your cow may be dead before he arrives. It is much the same way with regard to murrain. As regards fluke in sheep, in my interpretation of this section we are not allowed to give the plain remedies recommended by the Department's leaflets to cure our sheep. Why, we would want a thousand veterinary surgeons for the one we have now in order to save our live stock if that section is put into operation. If the Minister will consult some of the veterinary inspectors in the Department, or some of the officials in that Department who know something about diseases of animals, they will be the very first to suggest to him to withdraw that particular section.
I can easily understand a man like Deputy Crowley supporting a measure like this. He does that on the grounds that it will bring more grist to his mill and to the mill of the members of the profession which he represents. I can diagnose a disease in live stock just as well as Deputy Crowley, but according to that Section 45 I am liable to a fine of £100 if I attempt to treat that disease. I can assure the House that whatever fine be imposed, we will not be running to the vets. for the cure of this, that and the other thing while we have the remedy in our own hands.
Mr. Allen: Like other Deputies who have spoken in opposition to this section, I rise to voice my protest against it. I think it is the most foolish measure ever introduced by any Minister. I am surprised that the Minister for Agriculture is not here to listen to the opposition put up to this section. It is only nonsense and a waste of time to be talking to the Minister for Industry and Commerce in regard to this measure. He looks upon this Bill in his capacity as Minister for Foreign Affairs. We cannot see how the matter of foreign affairs can come into the question of the treatment of cattle or why any practical farmer cannot be allowed to treat his own cattle. Every farmer is his own vet. or cow doctor. The average farmer has to give some treatment every day in the year to his live stock, and he would be prevented from doing that if this Bill were passed. Why he cannot be allowed to give that treatment certainly passes my understanding. I would like to know if the Bill hinges on this particular section. I believe that, having regard to the opposition from all parts of the House, the Minister would be well advised to withdraw the Bill.
Mr. Corry: When I was speaking tonight the Minister challenged the statement I made that every veterinary surgeon registered in this country would have to pay £1 to Britain. I have here the Schedule which the Minister states this Bill was brought in to implement. The Schedule is entitled: “Agreement between his Majesty's Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and his Majesty's Government in the Irish Free State as to the registration and control of veterinary surgeous.” If he will turn to page 22 of the Bill he will find the following in Section 6:—
The Irish Free State Veterinary Council shall in every year pay to the Council of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons the sum of one guinea in respect of every person (subject to the exception hereinafter made) who during that year or any part thereof is registered in the Irish Free State Veterinary Register and is also registered in the General Veterinary Register and pays to the Irish Free State Veterinary Council in respect of his registration in the Irish Free State Veterinary Register the annual fee payable for such registration.
Mr. Moore: I think the Minister ought to explain whether this Bill has anything to do with the new position to which he was appointed recently— that is, Reporter of Rural Hygiene to the League of Nations. I understand that honour has been conferred on him. If this is one of the results, well, the country cannot take much pride in it. I think he will have a good deal to report in the way of rural hygiene if he allows that clause to go through and if he passes the Bill without amendment. Rural hygiene would become a very serious matter in the country then. Does the Minister realise that what he is proposing means that the great bulk of the beasts of the country which become ill will be allowed to die without any treatment?
Mr. Moore: The Minister knows perfectly well that as farmers stand at present the great bulk of them cannot afford to get a doctor for their children. They cannot afford to get anything more than their daily bread for their own children. He is going to compel them to pay veterinary surgeons' fees which are not fixed by any statute but which the veterinary surgeons themselves have power to fix.
Mr. Moore: Further, he is compelling the farmer to incur perhaps an expense of £3 for a motor-car to fetch a veterinary surgeon. Where has the Minister been living? It looks as if he has spent too much of his time in Geneva, and must have forgotten the circumstances of Ireland altogether. There are many parts of the country where a veterinary surgeon is not to be had at a less distance than 30 miles. The Minister is going to insist in this Bill no matter what the conditions are with regard to a beast, how valuable it may be, that a farmer must not attempt to treat it in any way; he must not take a neighbour's advice even though that neighbour, on previous occasions, has treated cattle in a skilful and successful way. All that is to be wiped out as past history under this Bill. We are now opening a new chapter. The Minister says to the farmer: your duty now is to get on horseback; if you have not a horse hire a motor car, and if you cannot do that get a train, no matter what the distance may be, even though you may waste 24 hours on the journey, and get a vet. It may happen that in such a case the man would not be able to get a vet. after all that travelling. We are taking such an interest now in rural hygiene, and in other things, that we are to reorganise this nation on a footing different to that which prevailed in the past. The thing is so fantastic that I am very much surprised that farmer Deputies in the Cumann na nGaedheal Party allow such a Bill as this to be introduced. In my opinion it should be laughed out of the Dáil and not be seriously treated.
Mr. McGilligan: Deputy Moore's winter sleep has been longer than usual. It has kept him from reading the Bill. Deputy Corry suffers from the old, hard, unyielding difficulty that we always find with him. He finds it impossible to understand printed words.
Mr. McGilligan: Deputies seem to have softened since they went away, and have not been doing any work. They have not bothered to read the Bill before them. There has hardly been a statement of fact made with regard to this Bill by anyone who spoke in opposition to it. Any statements approaching within reasonable distance of accuracy are founded on a misconception of the course of the law. With regard to the establishment of an educational institution in this country giving power to grant degrees entitling to do certain things, Deputy de Valera did not know what was the position with regard to a veterinary practitioner in this country, although he knows apparently that the only veterinary degree, called the M.R.C.V.S., which is given here, is an outside degree. The Deputy considers that is being given legally in this country as if nothing had ever happened—as if the old situation simply went on. When I spoke on this Bill previously I referred to the analogy between it and the Dentists and the Medical Bill. They are all founded on exactly the same thing, that the existing situation was broken in upon by the Treaty and that there had to be an amendment of the situation as we found it. In the other two cases, as in this, degrees or diplomas were being illegally given, and only continued to be given because it was known that we were negotiating to get the matter settled. If this Bill is not passed there will be no power to give any degree in this country entitling a man to practise, so that the stock of veterinary surgeons will be a decaying one. We want to re-establish and validate the Royal College of Veterinary Science. We also want to do one other thing: we want to establish in this country a council which will have control of the register, which register in the end controls veterinary education in the country. We have another control of that. We have to exercise, in a formal way, by establishing either by an Act or by some addition obtained through additions to the Charter, one extra faculty and add it to a university institution in this country. That is proposed as part of the whole scheme. I do not know how anyone could have read Section 31 of the Bill without seeing that was there.
Mr. McGilligan: Because it is not appropriate to do the other thing first. The College is there and is running. What at the moment it is doing illegally it will hereafter be doing legally—that is, what it did prior to 1921 in the matter of granting certain degrees. This is a matter of extreme difficulty owing to the operation of Article XI of the Constitution and certain other matters, and the transfer of certain property to a certain university college here to see that it gets an addition to its faculties in order to enable it to give certain diplomas. Section 31 says that after the establishment of the register the following shall be entitled to be registered:
(b) every person who at the time of such application is possessed of a diploma in veterinary science, veterinary surgery, or veterinary medicine granted by a university or college in Saorstát Eireann and for the time being recognised by law as a diploma conferring on the possessor thereof the right to be registered in the register.
It is clear that it is intended to establish some institution in this country to grant degrees in addition to allowing people to continue to sit for the old degree entitling them to the diploma of M.R.C.V.S.
Mr. de Valera: The Minister knows full well that the university and university colleges can establish faculties for veterinary science if they like to do so at the expense of other faculties out of their existing resources. What is indicated in this Bill and the only thing indicated in it so far is that if the university colleges were thus to establish these faculties their degrees would be recognised as entitling to registration. That is the interpretation that any one not knowing the Minister's mind would put on the clause to which the Minister referred.
Mr. McGilligan: Even if that were the interpretation it should have prevented the Deputy being so foolish as he was in his speech, confining himself to the College of Veterinary Science. Had he that in his mind?
Mr. McGilligan: The Deputy did not reveal himself as having that in his mind. The Deputy made a speech which was founded on a particular agreement made for the purpose of carrying on one college, and only one, in the country, and yet this is staring him in the face.
Mr. McGilligan: I do not know whether the definition of Irishman would rule the Deputy out, but I did not consult him. We had it enunciated to-night for the first time that, on a Second Reading, which deals with the principle of a Bill, if Deputies object to a particular clause in a Bill, then the Bill is to be voted against.
Mr. McGilligan: I discussed amendments to the clause with so many people that I could not make up my mind where to stop short. One was going to allow the handling and treatment of certain operations to people who are not veterinary surgeons as defined here.
Mr. McGilligan: The Deputy has not had much practice in dealing with minds. One could go to such extraordinary lengths in weakening this that the measure could be destroyed, and you would be simply re-establishing quackery in the country with regard to veterinary science. Amendments to this clause have been discussed with the Department of Agriculture and with others. For example, we have a record here of a suggested amendment to the effect that this section should not apply to the castration of lambs or calves, the castration or sharping of pigs or the docking of lambs. It was also suggested that this amendment should be enlarged to include parturition, de-horning and inoculation. Alternatively, it was represented that a preferable method might be to proceed by an amendment giving the Minister for Agriculture power to exempt such minor operations as he should specify after consultation with the various interests concerned.
We are doing in this Bill what was done in the case of the Dentists Bill and the Medical Bill, establishing a register with stringent conditions as to those who are to go on the register. The Bill is left open to amendment, provided the amendments do not run to the point of destroying the profession. A lot of things that were spoken of are not prohibited in the Bill within my interpretation of the clause. We had it from the opposite side that a man could not treat his own cattle under the Bill. Where does that emerge? We had Deputy Moore yawning and stretching himself and blathering with regard to what he thought was in the Bill. I suggest to the Deputy that he should try and find out what is in the Bill. If he does not know whether a thing is in it or not, then he had better ask.
Mr. McGilligan: If people want to set out to destroy the profession, let them vote against the Bill, because the principle of the Bill is to re-establish the veterinary surgeons profession in this country. The conditions under which that is to be done can be discussed in Committee. Deputy de Valera is going to vote against the Bill because he said it would establish a monopoly. The Deputy apparently despairs of breaking down the monopoly by way of amendment.
Mr. McGilligan: The second reason the Deputy gave was that this whole thing should have been done at the time the faculty of dairy science was being established in regard to a certain university. He said it was the only way in which university addition could be made to it. It was a pity he had not thought of that before he made his speech in which he said he was going to vote against the Bill on particular grounds. With regard to Deputy Corry and some others it is hardly worth while trying to convince them. There is no payment to be made by any veterinary surgeon who wants to practise in this country and does not want to get on the general veterinary register. Deputies can take that from me as gospel. No money is to be paid. Deputy Fahy read a clause from which he said he understood that it implied payment. Apparently the Deputy is a little bit doubtful about it now.
Mr. McGilligan: Unless the Deputy is illiterate—the clause is there to be read—he can use his powers of interpretation. I challenge contradiction on this that if a veterinary surgeon does not want to get his name on the general veterinary register at the other side he can practise in this country without any payment being made by him or on his behalf on the other side. The Deputy's speech is founded on a misconception. Deputy Fahy talked about fees. That is a factor for the people on the other side. If people want to get on a particular register which is controlled and managed entirely in Britain they must pay for it. If they do not want to get on the register they need not pay.
Mr. McGilligan: A guinea is all that is to be paid on the other side. That can be saved by any veterinary surgeon who does not want to practise outside this country. I do not know where the Deputy got his point as to the different conditions that operate in the matter of professional misconduct, treason and misdemeanour. I would point to one thing that has to happen before the treason or misdemeanour sections apply: that a person has to be convicted here of treason felony or a misdemeanour.
Mr. McGilligan: The only way in which this terrible fate can happen to him is after a court has found him guilty of treason felony. So that the politician that is waiting to get his knife into all these treasonable people has to wait until the court operates and then it is a case of “may.” The reason why there is an appeal to the High Court in the matter of professional misconduct is because professional misconduct is not tried by any kind of court, but by a body of the profession. It is regarded that members of the profession should not, no matter how close a trade union they are, be given power to deprive of their livelihood other members of the profession without there being an appeal to a court. In the case of treason or misdemeanour the matter is decided by the court.
Mr. McGilligan: Whatever court tries for treason. I do not know what point the Deputy is making. Deputy de Valera did mention one of the reasons why he would vote against the Bill: everyone must be allowed to play-act at treason and be good little vets. after. If people are going to fool about with treason and are convicted of that, then the penalty should fall upon them in regard to medicine, dentistry and veterinary science. That clause will stand, and I hope the House is not going to be foolish enough to vote against the Bill by reason of it. It is one of the best clauses in it. Section 45 caused considerable difficulty in drafting. In its present form we leave it open to certain amendment. With regard to amendments, although I have read a list of the things proposed and have examined certain Canadian and Australian Acts, it may be that certain operations of a particular type may have to be allowed. Other points will arise which can be dealt with in Committee. No statement has been made I submit to prejudice anyone against this Bill so far as its principles are concerned.
|Aird, William P.
Alton, Ernest Henry.
Beckett, James Walter.
Bennett, George Cecil.
Bourke, Séamus A.
Byrne, John Joseph.
Cole, John James.
Collins-O'Driscoll, Mrs. Margt.
Connolly, Michael P.
Cosgrave, William T.
De Loughrey, Peter.
Dolan, James N.
Doyle, Peadar Seán.
Duggan, Edmund John.
Egan, Barry M.
Esmonde, Osmond Thos. Grattan.
Finlay, Thomas A.
Good, John. Rice, Vincent.
Sheehy, Timothy (West Cork).
Thrift, William Edward.
|Gorey, Denis J.
Hassett, John J.
Heffernan, Michael R.
Hennessy, Michael Joseph.
Hogan, Patrick (Galway).
Kelly, Patrick Michael.
Law, Hugh Alexander.
Mathews, Arthur Patrick.
McFadden, Michael Og.
Mongan, Joseph W.
Myles, James Sproule.
Nolan, John Thomas.
O'Connell, Thomas J.
O'Donovan, Timothy Joseph.
O'Hanlon, John F.
O'Reilly, John J.
O'Sullivan, John Marcus.
Reynolds, Patrick. Tierney, Michael.
White, Vincent Joseph.
Wolfe, Jasper Travers.
Cassidy, Archie J.
Corry, Martin John.
Crowley, Fred. Hugh.
De Valera, Eamon.
|Gorry, Patrick J.
Hogan, Patrick (Clare).
Kennedy, Michael Joseph.
Kent, William, R.
Lemass, Sáan F.
Little, Patrick John.
O'Dowd, Patrick Joseph.
Sheehy, Timothy (Tipp.)
Ward, Francis C.
Committee Stage ordered for Thursday, 26th February.
The Dáil adjourned at 10.30 p.m. until Friday, 29th February.
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Appearing yesterday on Fox Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) railed against the Obama administration’s decision to try a captured Somali terrorist in U.S. courts. McConnell said captured foreign terrorists should be detained and tried by military commissions at the controversial U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Why does McConnell think U.S. courts are unsuitable to try foreign terrorists? Because the U.S. justice system was unable to secure a murder conviction in the tabloid-fodder case of Casey Anthony, a Florida woman acquitted last week of the murder of her two year old daughter Caylee.
McConnell told Fox’s Bret Baier:
We just found with the Caylee Anthony case, how difficult is to get a conviction in a U.S. court.
I don’t think a foreigner is entitled to all the protections of the Bill of Rights. They should not be in U.S. courts. They should be at Guantanamo and before military commissions.
As CAP’s Ken Gude notes, the trial of the Somali terrorist, Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, will hardly be the first instance of the U.S. capturing a terrorist abroad and bringing them to the U.S. to be tried:
The most recent similar case dates from the Bush administration, when Afia Siddique was detained in Afghanistan by U.S. troops in 2008 for attempting to shoot U.S. military personnel. She was quickly brought to New York, convicted, and sentenced to 86 years in prison. During the Clinton administration, Mir Aimal Kasi stood outside CIA headquarters in Virginia in 1995 and murdered two CIA employees as they drove into work. He was captured in Pakistan in 1997 and brought to Virginia for trial, convicted of murder, and executed in 2002.
Gude says conservatives lodged no complaints about these procedures until the Obama administration picked up where his predecessors left off. “U.S. criminal courts…have an excellent record at convicting terrorists, writes Gude, adding that “military-commissions convictions can be counted on one hand.”
New York University’s Center for Law and Security tracks terrorism trials and found, according to a report most recently updated in April, that U.S. courts have successfully convicted 187 defendants on “Jihadi-related” terror charges since 9/11. Likewise, law-oriented group Human Rights First found even more convictions related to Islamic extremism, writing in a report:
[F]ederal courts, while not perfect, are a fit and flexible resource that should be used along with other government resources—including military force, intelligence gathering, diplomatic initiatives, and cultural and economic strategies—as an important part of a multi-pronged counterterrorism strategy.
At least McConnell, for his part, supports trying terrorism suspects at all. His Senate colleague Lindsey Graham (R-SC) laid out a case last week for what amounted to permanent interrogation of untried suspects.
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The government is in the midst of an all-out push to make information available to citizens anywhere at any time and to make customer service competitive with the private sector. To that end, federal agencies have launched more than 100 custom-built mobile applications and mobile-adaptive websites in recent years.
In October 2011, Nextgov asked three private sector app developers and experts to weigh in on a dozen government apps and tell us what worked and what didn’t. Their reviews pointed out a few gems, such as the Veterans Affairs Department’s PTSD Coach and the Social Security Administration’s Baby Name Playroom. They also spotted a few duds, such as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ ATF app, which was little more than a text-heavy website crammed into a 3.5-inch screen.
With the White House redoubling its efforts on mobile, we decided it was time to make these app reviews a regular feature.
Our experts look at three apps this month: The Forest Service’s Smokey Bear app, which offers tips on making a safe campfire, the General Services Administration’s Per Diem app for federal workers traveling in the continental United States and the FBI’s Child ID app, where parents can store information for quick access if their child is abducted.
Stay tuned for new federal app reviews each month.
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Greece’s credit rating may be hit by a “multi-notch” downgrade by Moody’s Investors Service if the government doesn’t cut the budget deficit enough or the European Union fails to agree a united response to its crisis.
German and French government bonds rose, pushing yields to record low levels, and securities of so- called peripheral nations such as Spain fell on concern Europe lacks a united response to its debt crisis.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy threatened to pull out of the euro unless German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to back the European Union bailout plan at a summit last week in Brussels, El Pais newspaper said.
U.K. unions said strike action is possible if talks with the government over public-sector pensions are unsuccessful as labor leaders met in London to coordinate their response to the government’s spending cuts.
Greece’s three-year emergency aid package worth as much as 120 billion euros ($159 billion) will meet its immediate financing needs and may help the country keep its investment-grade rating, said Brian Coulton, managing director of Fitch Ratings’ sovereign debt team.
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http://topics.bloomberg.com/united-response/
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New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is still acting as if he means what he says about controlling the costs of government. By canceling the long-planned construction of a second commuter tunnel under the Hudson River today, Christie has reaffirmed the principle that government should not try to do more than it can afford. A close look at the finances of the scheme showed that cost overruns were likely to send the bill on the project to as much as $14 billion, almost $6 billion more than the original estimate. That means that New Jersey — which is to say, New Jersey’s taxpayers — would have to pay at least $8 billion of that amount, the remainder being contributed by New York’s Port Authority and the federal government. But in the absence of givebacks by the state’s civil-service unions, whose contracts and pensions threaten to send the state into the red even if the tunnel were not to be paid for, Christie said no, to the utter consternation of the unions, the rest of the political class, and New York Times‘s columnist Paul Krugman.
Other politicians (like Christie’s predecessor Jon Corzine, who authorized ground breaking on the project without thinking about the costs to the taxpayers) are shocked by Christie’s chutzpah. The idea that government should only undertake those projects it can pay for without having to further bilk the taxpayers is considered a shocking concept.
Krugman, the Times editorial page, the unions, and many of the politicians who have worked for this project all think the mere fact that the tunnel is needed justifies any amount of debt to build it. They also seem to think that worrying about where the extra $6 billion will come from is just silly.
They are right in that a new tunnel is desperately needed. New Jersey Transit is currently forced to share one Hudson River tunnel that is owned by Amtrak. The result is massive congestion and delays that will only get worse in the years to come. Even worse, since Amtrak owns the tunnel, to the injury of those commuters who take NJ Transit, the worst commuter line in the region (in terms of its on-time record), is added the insult of often having to wait for long periods while Amtrak trains breeze through — Amtrak always getting priority from the dispatchers. This means that there is a large (and generally ill-tempered) constituency of commuters who would like to see the tunnel built. Among them is Krugman, who confessed on his blog that: “And yes, if anyone should mention it, I am a resident of New Jersey who often visits Manhattan, and therefore has a personal stake in this project. You got a problem with that?”
As it happens, I, too, am a daily NJ Transit commuter into New York. But as much as the prospect of a better train ride in the distant future appeals to me, I’d bet that the majority of disgruntled and delayed passengers would prefer not to have their taxes raised. Nor would they like Krugman’s suggestion that Christie radically raise gasoline taxes to pay for the cost overruns, since almost all of them drive their cars to the train stations from which they start and end their daily trek to work. Voters are sick and tired of tax-and-spend politicians who think nothing about the long-term consequences of their largesse, so long as someone else is paying for it.
Christie will probably take a lot of flak for his decision, perhaps even more than the criticism he took for his confrontation with the state’s teacher unions. But the bet here is that the majority of the people of New Jersey — including many of those unhappy souls who are forced to take NJ Transit — prefer to have a governor who doesn’t think he has a right to pick their pockets in order to play the hero by championing expensive projects. In case Krugman forgot, that’s the reason Christie was elected last year and why so many other fiscal conservatives will rout free-spending liberals in the congressional elections this fall. And whether or not Krugman has a problem with that, it’s what we Americans call democracy.
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Alpha Epsilon Delta is an honorary pre-health fraternity. Leadership, scholarship, expertness, character, and personality are the qualities by which students are judged for membership. The organization seeks to bridge the gap between Premedical and medical studies."
Alpha Kappa Delta, an international sociology honorary, promotes the use of the sociological imagination in understanding and serving human beings. The chapter, Gamma of Mississippi, founded in 1984, is a joint chapter with Tougaloo College.
Alpha Psi Omega, a national honorary dramatics fraternity, recognizes members of the Millsaps Players for their effective participation in acting, directing, makeup, stage management, costuming, lighting, and publicity.
Beta Alpha Psi encourages and recognizes scholastic and professional excellence in accounting.
Beta Beta Beta, established at Millsaps in 1968, is a national honor fraternity for students in the biological sciences. Its purposes are to stimulate sound scholarship, to promote the dissemination of scientific truth, and to encourage investigation of the life sciences.
Beta Gamma Sigma is a national honor society dedicated to the principles and ideals essential to a worthy life, as well as to a commendable business career. Membership is the highest scholastic honor that a student in a school of business or management can achieve.
Eta Sigma Phi is a national honor fraternity recognizing ability in classical studies. Alpha Phi, the Millsaps chapter, was founded in 1935.
Financial Management Association National Honor Society, established in 1984 on the Millsaps campus, encourages and rewards scholarship and accomplishment in financial management, financial institutions, and investments among undergraduate and graduate students and encourages interaction between business executives, faculty, and students of finance.
Kappa Delta Pi is an international honor society promoting fellowship and service among professional educators.
Kappa Pi is an international honorary art fraternity established in 1911.
Mu Phi Epsilon promotes scholarship and musicianship among its members, promotes service and friendship on campus and in the community, and rewards excellence in music.
Omicron Delta Epsilon is the international economics honorary society. It is dedicated to the encouragement of excellence in economics, with a main objective of recognizing scholastic attainment in economics. The Delta chapter of Mississippi was formed at Millsaps in 1981.
Omicron Delta Kappa is a leadership society with chapters in principal colleges and universities. Pi Circle at Millsaps brings together members of the student body, faculty, and administration interested in campus activities, with a limited number of alumni, to plan for the betterment of the College.
Order of Omega is a national leadership society that recognizes student achievement in promoting inter-Greek activities. The Millsaps chapter, Eta Kappa, was founded in 1986.
Founded in 1921, Phi Alpha Theta is an international honor society in history. Membership is composed of students and professors, elected on the basis of excellence in the study and writing of history. It encourages the study, teaching, and writing of history among all its members.
Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest academic honor society, was installed at Millsaps in the spring of 1989. It recognizes and encourages excellence in the liberal arts. The Millsaps chapter, Alpha of Mississippi, elects members from the senior class on the basis of broad cultural interests, scholarly achievement, and good character.
Phi Eta Sigma is a national honorary society that recognizes outstanding academic achievement among freshmen. The Millsaps chapter was established in 1981. Membership is open to all full-time freshmen who achieve a grade point average of 3.5 in either the first semester or both semesters of the freshman year.
Phi Sigma Tau is a national philosophy honorary.
Pi Delta Phi, the national French honor society, was established at Millsaps in 1957. This honor society recognizes attainment and scholarship in the study of the French language and literature.
Pi Mu Epsilon is a national mathematics honorary.
Pi Sigma Alpha is the national political science honor society for college and university students of government in the United States. It seeks to stimulate productive scholarship and intelligent interest in the subject of government among students.
Psi Chi is the National Honor Society in Psychology, founded in 1929 for the purposes of encouraging, stimulating, and maintaining excellence in scholarship, and advancing the science of psychology.
Sigma Delta Pi, the international Spanish honorary, was established at Millsaps in 1968. This honor society recognizes attainment and scholarship in the study of the Spanish language and literature.
Sigma Gamma Epsilon is a national geology honor society. Established in 1993, the organization recognizes achievement in geological sciences.
Sigma Lambda is a leadership and service honorary society whose members are primarily sophomores selected on the basis of character, scholarship, and involvement in College and community activities.
Sigma Pi Sigma, a national honor society in physics, was established at Millsaps in 1988. Its purpose is to honor excellence in physics.
Sigma Tau Delta is the national English honor society. The purposes of the society are to confer distinction for achievement in the English language and literature, to promote interest in literature and the English language, and to foster the discipline of English in all its aspects, including creative and critical writing. The Zeta Sigma chapter was chartered at Millsaps in 1983.
Theta Alpha Kappa is the national honor society for Religious Studies and Theology.
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http://millsaps.edu/academics/honor_societies.php
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