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Are you separated with kids, perhaps from more than one relationship? Something you have no doubt asked yourself from time to time is, what will happen to your kids if something should happen to you? Is it enough to simply specify your wishes about guardianship in a Will?
The situation becomes very complicated when parents are separated with children from more than one relationship. A recent court case involving a young mother with children to three different fathers highlights the difficulties of the situation.
When the mother died in a car accident, she and her children had been living with the father of one of the young children. However, the maternal grandmother sought guardianship of the children and it was left to the courts to work out what living arrangements would be in the best interests of the children. Only one of the children’s fathers engaged in legal action over the children’s guardianship, and the court ultimately determined that the children should all live with this father.
The matter had been complicated due to the sibling relationships, inter-parental and grandparental relationships, as well as animosity between the parties, including the ‘subtle undermining’ of the father, in which the grandmother had engaged. Ultimately the judge ruled that the father had played a primary role in the lives of the children – including those who weren’t his biological children – and maintaining this stability was considered of vital importance in this particular case.
The judge decided it was in the children’s best interests to continue to live with the father and for the grandmother to have access on alternate weekends and significant holidays and dates such as the mother’s birthday and the anniversary of her death. The father was also granted sole parental responsibility, with the requirement to confer with the grandmother on issues, but in the end to be the final decision-maker.
The case highlights the complexity of situations involving children of different fathers or mothers. It emphasises the importance of having clear orders in place for the care of the children. And it demonstrates that, while having a Will in place to appoint a guardian for your children is desirable in that it makes express your own wishes, such Will is not in fact able to override a decision made ‘in the best interests of the child’ by the court.
Should you need assistance with a child custody dispute, including in a situation where a parent has passed away, please contact Alliance Family Law to discuss your specific circumstances.

domain: sociology


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Bringing Animation Into the Woods: a performance in isolation
School of Visual Arts
Nate King, College of Architecture and Urban Studies, Creative Technologies
WHAT HAPPENS HERE?
As a response to ideas of isolation and social distancing, I took my projector to the woods to create a solo installation of my current animation, Everything Has Been Changing. I wanted to activate the rock face with movement, but without witness, in order to explore performance solely for oneself.
WHAT WAS THE PROCESS?
I started the project by creating looping animations that have different run times in order to composite them together and create a weave of animation. For example, if animation A is 4 seconds, and animation B is 3 seconds, we know the total loop needs to be 12 seconds. I searched for a location to install the animation and decided upon Falls Ridge Preserve due to the large rock surface I could use as a screen. The projector was powered with an external battery block, which lasted over an hour. Learn more.

domain: artistic


text:
Innovation is actually the process of cultivating or even presenting new services and products that include market value to a company. invent idea
The phrase can be applied to a large range of activities, featuring the intro of brand-new or even substantially improved services or products, or even to manufacturing, support and also ordering methods for items as well as services.
Innovation is actually a method that produces brand new products, companies or even company styles. It additionally enriches the use and also resilience of existing processes as well as items.
The procedure of advancement is a crucial component of the long-lasting financial growth motor. Organizations that carry out technologies enhance their procedures and separate their products/ companies, which leads to raised market portion, company development, profits, as well as income.
Organizations have to constantly introduce so as to stay reasonable and meet the demands of clients. They may do this by presuming creatively and also building innovative advertising and marketing projects that will improve their income as well as market allotment.
In order to successfully introduce, associations need to have to comprehend their personal meaning of advancement. When the process is actually functioning or not, this will assist all of them to acknowledge. It will additionally provide the best viewpoint for just how they need to approach it.
Resources of Advancement
Development is actually the method of building a brand new product or service and also launching it to the market. Whether it happens in a sizable provider or even a little business, an institution should establish processes to urge as well as lead technology.
Purposeful, organized technology begins with an analysis of the resources of opportunity. Peter Drucker classified 7 sources of development:
Modifications in industry and market construct promotion options to innovate, as rules modify, product expand or even reduce, and others end up being basically well-known. Changing demographics (age, learning, profit, as well as non reusable income) likewise provide a riches of opportunities for developing brand-new services and products.
Procedures of Advancement
Technology processes usually start along with a crystal clear understanding of the problem. This trouble could be a client that requires a boosted product feature, a team that has problem executing a shared duty or an association that is impacted by an interior restraint or even hold-up.
The upcoming step is to catch all the ideas that have been produced in the initial stage and also to connect them along with brand new knowledge and also potential information. This is an iterative process that may take weeks to finish, as well as is normally achieved by a staff of specialized professionals.
This procedure demands the proper sources, a marketing planning for clients as well as an open culture with strong proposal. It likewise aids to acquire comments, red flags for success metrics and various other criteria that help boost the advancement procedure once again.
End results of Technology
The results of innovation can be evaluated in a lot of techniques. They feature increased revenues, higher purchases, as well as decreased development costs. Furthermore, technologies may strengthen the premium of solutions or even items and also aid produce included market value for culture.
Business may raise their one-upmanship via advancement through launching brand new product and services that resolve unmet necessities as well as resolve concerns. They can easily also improve existing product and services by offering new features or even carrying out modifications in innovation.
Technology could be classified as step-by-step (renovation of an existing item) or even radical (advancement of a brand-new product). Typically, it can easily supply the business along with an one-upmanship, broaden its market reveal, satisfy durability goals/requirements, bounce back reductions due to item breakdowns, and help the business increase.
In purchase to effectively innovate, associations require to know their personal interpretation of innovation. This will definitely assist them to acknowledge when the procedure is operating or even certainly not. It likewise helps to obtain responses, signs for success metrics and other standards that aid boost the development procedure again.
The results of development may be gauged in a variety of techniques. In add-on, developments can easily improve the high quality of items or companies and also help make included worth for society.

domain: economics


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Defending champions defeat three-time winners Fohood Zabeel 2-1 in final
May 25, 2019: The seventh edition of the Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament – the biggest yet with more than 6,500 participants across 13 events – came to a close on Friday night with H.H. Sheikh Mansoor Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of Dubai International Marine Club, presenting Saudi Driving School with the winner's trophy following the NAS Futsal Championship final.
Saudi Driving School, winners of the title as Emirates Driving Institute 12 months ago, defended their crown following a tense 2-1 win over three-time winners Fohood Zabeel, with all three goals coming in the first half.
Fohood Zabeel had the consolation of winning three individual awards – Hassan Ali Hassan was named the Best Goalkeeper of the tournament, Jamil Ahmed was adjudged the Best Emirati Player and Williams Oliveira Do Nascimento picked up the Best Foreign Player award. Thiago Tellis Martinez of Al Taher was the tournament's Top Scorer with 14 goals.
H.H. Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum presented the two finalists and third-placed Dubai Police, and the individual award winners with their medals and trophies at the closing ceremony, in the presence of H.E. Saeed Hareb, Secretary General of Dubai Sports Council, and Hassan Al Mazrouei, Director of NAS Sports Tournament.
Representatives from all the sponsors of NASSports Tournament 2019 – Dubai Duty Free, DP World, Meydan, Al Tayer Motors, Dubai Health Authority, Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services, RTA of Dubai, Dubai Municipality, Dubai Electricity and Water Supply, Arabian Radio Network, Noon and Al Baddad - were also honoured at the closing ceremony.
Congratulating the winners, H.E. Mattar Al Tayer, Vice Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, thanked His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council for his generous patronage of the NAS Sports Tournament and the sports sector in general.
H.E. Al Tayer also thanked H.H. Sheikh Mansoor Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum for gracing the closing ceremony of the tournament.
“Under the guidance and generous patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the NAS Sports Tournament has emerged as the top community sports events in the country and the region,” said H.E. Al Tayer.
“This year, we increased the number of sports events to 13 from 11 last year, and we saw 6,535 participants belonging to 90 different nationalities compete over the past 18 days, cheered on by more than 50,000 spectators.
“The seventh edition of the NAS Sports Tournament, of course, will be remembered for another milestone – the launch of the Sports Imprint Award, which is a joint initiative of Dubai Sports Council and Watani Al Emarat Foundation, and presented as part of the Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournamen
“The Sports Imprint Award is an important initiative that seeks encourage and honour individuals or organisations that spread positive values in society through their humanitarian initiatives in the sports sector.
“I would like to congratulate the Organising Committee of the NAS Sports Tournament, chaired by H.E. Major General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police, on the success of the Tournament.
“The Organising Committee has successfully implemented the directives of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum by bringing athletes and fans of different cultures and nationalities on a single platform that promotes sports and a physically active lifestyle at the community level.”
Thanking the fans who packed the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex and other venues across the city every night, Tournament Director Hassan Al Mazrouei added: “The NAS Sports Tournament is not just a sports tournament but a social or family gathering in the night of this Holy Month of Ramadan.
“Confirmation of that came tonight in the NAS Futsal Championship final. It was an amazing atmosphere and I am sure the fans enjoyed a match that was really worthy of a final. Both teams played at a really high technical level, showing why both of them deserved to be in the finals.
“The prize money – AED 1 million for the winners and AED700,000 for the runners-up – is a huge incentive for the teams to go a win, plus the teams that reach the final do not have to go through qualifying for the following season.”

domain: news


Capstone Success Continues in Industrial CHP and CCHP Market in Mexico
CHATSWORTH, Calif., Sept. 11, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Capstone Turbine Corporation (www.capstoneturbine.com) (Nasdaq:CPST), the world's leading clean technology manufacturer of microturbine energy systems, today announced that it received an order for one C800 and one C600 from one of its key distributors in Mexico.
Capstone distributor DTC Soluciones Inmobiliarias SA de CV secured the orders for two large industrial customers in Mexico. The C800 combined heat and power (CHP) system will be installed at a large food and beverage packaging factory in San Luis Potosi. In addition to supplying power for the facility using natural gas, the exhaust from the microturbine will provide hot water for the manufacturing process.
The C600 will be installed at a plastics injection molding company in Guadalajara. The microturbine will drive a combined cooling heating and power (CCHP) system, using chilled water in the injection molding process. The facility is expected to save 45% on its energy costs after installing the microturbine CCHP system.
Based in Guadalajara, DTC has been a Capstone distributor for three years and is one of the company's top distributors in Mexico. DTC has over thirty projects in the pre-order design process currently and more than sixty more opportunities targeted for next year.
"Capstone is very pleased with the continued order flow from DTC on the heels of the 5MW they sold back in March," said Jim Crouse, Executive Vice President of Sales. "We continue to see a growing demand for our products in Mexico where microturbines can offer significant cost savings for commercial and industrial customers."
"We have focused on the industrial CHP and CCHP market in Mexico which is booming right now," said Alejandro Munoz, DTC President. "Using efficient and reliable microturbines in place of less efficient onsite equipment and reliance on the electrical grid can provide a very attractive payback in Mexico."
"DTC has reinvested in its business year over year and is developing into a model distributor for Capstone," said Justin Rathke, Vice President of Sales for the Americas, Africa and the Middle East. "After each successful project they have hired more technical and commercial personnel, done more training, and opened new offices throughout Mexico to represent Capstone and the results are showing as they are now one of our top 10 distributors over the last twelve months."
About Capstone Turbine Corporation
Capstone Turbine Corporation (www.capstoneturbine.com) (Nasdaq:CPST) is the world's leading producer of low-emission microturbine systems and was the first to market commercially viable microturbine energy products. Capstone Turbine has shipped approximately 7,000 Capstone Microturbine systems to customers worldwide. These award-winning systems have logged millions of documented runtime operating hours. Capstone Turbine is a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Combined Heat and Power Partnership, which is committed to improving the efficiency of the nation's energy infrastructure and reducing emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases. A UL-Certified ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 certified company, Capstone is headquartered in the Los Angeles area with sales and/or service centers in the New York Metro Area, Mexico City, Nottingham, Shanghai and Singapore.
The Capstone Turbine Corporation logo is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=6212
This press release contains "forward-looking statements," as that term is used in the federal securities laws, about the environmental advantages and reliability of our products, increased sales in Mexico and the success of DTC as our distributor. Forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "expects," "objective," "intend," "targeted," "plan" and similar phrases. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties described in Capstone's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that may cause Capstone's actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied in such statements. Capstone cautions readers not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. Capstone undertakes no obligation, and specifically disclaims any obligation, to release any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
"Capstone" and "Capstone MicroTurbine" are registered trademarks of Capstone Turbine Corporation. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
CONTACT: Capstone Turbine Corporation Investor and investment media inquiries: 818-407-3628 firstname.lastname@example.org
Released September 11, 2013


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Sun, May 13th: Hui-Min Tsen – Presentation/performative lecture.
For Public Space Camp, I want to make a portrait of my neighborhood by walking the implied borderlines. I will start by tracing the periphery of my most personal space (my own block), hugging the outline up the street and down the alley. I will then cross over to hug the far side, up one side and down the other. As I walk, I will collect, as clues, objects and artifacts that are ubiquitous, typical, or mysterious, to create both a record of my walks and a portrait of the activities surrounding these division lines. Some questions I am interested in exploring with the routes and objects include, “do arbitrary lines on the earth create difference between one side and the other?”, “does crossing these very small borderlines have a psychological impact?”, “can you learn about a geographic area and its population by looking at its consumption and waste?”
I have not yet decided on the final form of the piece, preferring to wait until I have a larger collection of objects and have walked more borderlines. After walking my block, I anticipate expanding outward to other types of borders including the city boundary lines, the lines between neighborhoods, etc. For Compound Yellow the final form might be a book of artifacts, two lines of display tables set up to face each other, or a travelogue presentation.

domain: design


775 total views, 1 views today
An Oklahoma officer was captured on camera collapsing after he was exposed to fentanyl while packing up drug evidence.
Police officers regularly come into contact with dangerous drugs as part of their jobs. Unfortunately, even the smallest touch of fentanyl can have serious consequences.
“Becoming ill, light-headed and actually, basically, passed out or fell,” Bartlesville Police Sergeant Jim Warring said, describing his experience.


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At what point will the masses turn on ukulele wielding troubadours like they did on disco music that day at the ballpark on Disco Demolition Night in Chicago? Can we trick them all into thinking they’re playing the halftime show of the Super Bowl and then drunkenly throw our bottles of rye at them? Thankfully The Leisure Society isn’t all ukulele but there is enough entry level piano and banjo music playing to get you steamed; especially in the Alone Aboard the Ark opener, Another Psalm Sunday, which has a harmonica thrown in mid song just for your pleasure. Sorry, for some reason I can’t get that Hannibal Lecter movie Red Dragon out of my head right now.
The next song isn’t much better as it comes complete with violins and woodwinds that have bad 70’s lounge music as their background. I kept waiting for Jack Tripper’s sleazy buddy Larry to show up at my door flaunting tons of chest hair. By the third song, you realize that all this band is, is a bunch of hipsters who can play a random assortment of instruments . They got together one night and decided that their glorified grad student plays weren’t working anymore, so why not form a band to get girls. They aren’t talented enough to play any kind of solos and musically they are all over the place. They can’t decide what they are or what they want to be, which is ok if you perfect a certain style on one album and then decide to mix it up on another. But to be average at every style you play doesn’t quite work when you are trying to be schizophrenic.
Tearing the Arches Down is their most rocking song and I use that term loosely. They bring in some distorted guitar and it’s the closest thing you’ll find to a traditional rock song on this album. All I Have Seen is the clear highlight with its late 60’s psychedelic harmonizing which instantly draws you in and thankfully it has lyrics you actually care about. The song ends with Hemming singing “No More, No More, All I have seen, take it from me” and fades out with carnival like music, continuing their weird trend of schizophrenia.
Maybe you’re really into folk/rock music and by the end you’ll be drowning in young flapper Roaring 20’s hipster bliss with Forever We Shall Wait and the never ending We Go Together. But for the rest of us, the next time I see some dude with greased up hair, an unnecessary 5 o’clock shadow, and rolled up sleeves; I’m going to assume that he saw the Robert Downey Jr version of Sherlock Holmes one too many times and throw my fedora at him! Oh the irony!
I have no one to blame but myself for never really giving The XX a fair shake. Had I checked them out under normal circumstances I might have liked them, but it just so happened that the first time I heard their debut album was while I was on a road trip with a really hot hipster zookeeper. We were trying to get the party started, and the intro track really delivered in that regard but sadly after that the album was just too slow and dark for the mood we were looking for. Well in hopes of getting laid that night, I instantly took the cd out and blew the band off; especially after I had later heard that their live shows weren’t all that great to begin with. Keep in mind however, that that was reaction to their performances during festivals and those who know The XX knows that their music isn’t really made for the daytime outside show. This is more of the night time club music with strobe lights and possible gender bending.
And I think that this is why bands release Ep’s in the first place; so they can both introduce potential fans to their sound in a rather quick fashion and at the same time experiment with some songs that they wouldn’t normally be able to release. The first track on this EP is Fiction, and it is exactly what you’d expect to hear from this indie pop sensation. It has their signature keyboards and light and complimentary guitar mixed in with the dark and low vocals of Oliver Sim. Once you combine that with his lyrics of “I wake up alone, with only daylight between us, last night the world was beneath us, tonight comes too long” you get a sound that’s next of Interpol’s Paul Banks and the INXS’s Need You Tonight without the charisma.
Next up was Together, the song they wrote for The Great Gatsby. It ends up being a perfect fit for that movie with it’s almost hip hop beat and dramatic violins that come in at the end. However, all throughout this song I just imagined Baz Lurhmann (director) unnecessarily throwing in flying satin sheets and a sky that’s raining pearls just so he can put in his grandiose two cents . But the good news is, that without a tattooed goddess sitting next to me to distract me, I was actually enjoying the album so far. Wait, is that really good news???
Now comes the first of the three Fiction remixes. This reminds me of when Filter had 7 remixes of Take My Picture; do you really that many? This version is a club remix for sure, especially since they just repeat “When we’re not together” over and over again. You can’t help but be reminded of Armand Van Heldon’s Funk Phenomena, which if you were alive when it came out, you most certainly spun a glow stick or two while dancing to it. The funky addition of the guitar might be my favorite part although it only appears briefly in the song.
The second remix is the Mary Jane Coles Version and it also continues to remind you of late 90’s dance music. This one brings back all of the lyrics of the original and musically it feels like something you’d hear in an upscale lounge in Europe or swanky Manhattan. Like my man Bill Cosby said in season 6 of the Cosby Show “This is the best elevator music I’ve ever heard”. I swear I’m related to this man some way somehow!
Finally comes the third and final remix of Fiction and this one belongs to Marcus Wogull. This one has more of a driving beat with the sound of a high hat that’s used for timing. Midway through the song they lose the Russian techno keys for a second and bring in the guitar but then they immediately get bored with that and resort to the unimaginative sound they initially introduced to the track. This is my least favorite of the three but that’s mainly because it’s so repetitive.
Overall I like this EP and suggest you at least give it a listen on Spoitfy.
When you first cue up Joy Formidable’s short EP Silent Treatment, you immediately have the pleasure of listening to the work of English musician/composer/producer William Orbit. Orbit has won multiple Grammy awards for his work on Madonna’s Ray of Light and has also collaborated with British indie legends Blur. This is what you call reaching the big time for a band out of the little known section of the U.K. by the way of Wales. I mean, what’s Wales really known for anyway? Weird indie movies like Richard Ayoade’s Submarine? Their women’s strange and inexplicable love for Tom Jones and David Hasselhoff? I personally know it because of a few naughty nannies that hail from this random country but that’s another story for another time. His work here is on the title track Silent Treatment, which is a heartfelt song that’s about finally getting over someone. In the original, the band only plays acoustic guitars on the track and this allows Ritzy’s (lead singer and guitarist) lyrics and emotion to take center stage. However in Orbit’s version, his addition of a drum beat, piano, and overall production gives it a cleaner feel and turns it into an almost danceable track. I’m not usually a fan of remixes but in this case it actually works out for the best.
If you don’t have much experience with Joy, they bring high energy with almost a grungy sound to your speakers. Ritzy is great as the lead and she has the ability to rip it on the distorted guitar. This EP however shows the more quiet and mellow side of Joy which they have been known to also feature on their albums. They aren’t afraid to slow things down a bit by adding in pianos and electronic keyboards to their songs and this is shown on the album’s third track All the Promise. It’s a nice little song that’s all piano and keys and it ends with Ritzy repeatedly proclaiming that she is more than just a number. But for those that prefer the high energy Joy Formidable, this song simply serves as a nice transition to the EP’s final song Tendons.
The live version of Tendons gives you a preview of what they’re really all about if this is your introduction into their world. It starts off with Ritzy conversing with the crowd and due to her thick accent you can’t understand a word she is saying; which of course only makes her hotter to this particularly lonely fan! This is right before she starts tearing into the powerful chords with her light and pleasant voice perfectly complimenting them. I appreciate it when female vocalist stay in their lane so to speak, and don’t try too hard to be punk or overly masculine. It just comes off rather comical when they do, ask Sheryl Crow when she went through her Chris Gaines phase. I like this EP and I strongly suggest that you get their latest album Wolf’s Law as well.
The first thought that came to mind when I heard The Silver Seas’s title track to their new album Alaska, was that these guys sounded like the Stone Temple Pilot’s awful attempt at a career saving side project. You remember Talk show don’t you? Of course you don’t; that’s because I am the only person who has ever owned that album and actually admitted it. The Seas are pop rock just like Talk Show minus the awesome Hello, Hello. I will say that their lead singer Daniel Tashian has a pleasant enough voice, one that will make pay to attention to whatever he has to say even if you are completely uninterested. It’s nowhere near as cool or as memorable as the great Barry White’s voice but it is similarly effective. Barry could be singing nursery rhymes and women would magically end up pregnant as a result. Again, Tashian isn’t quite there but he’s engaging none the less.
The best way to describe their music is to compare it to what you would likely hear playing at the kiddie stage of a music festival. Here is where you would also see old “hip” parents dancing off beat with their kids who are rocking recycled Toms shoes. It’s not completely awful (and that’s not a compliment), I just can’t quite figure out who their demographic is. Is it these weird out of touch parents, stoners who stumble upon the opening act for Phish, or simply the band’s family members and girlfriends?
Well, as I made my way through this attempt at rock, here were a few tracks that stood out to me. I’m the One was promising at times, that is until the awful musical breakdown midway through the song, this is where they realized that it actually takes just a bit of talent to do something outside of the basic music 101 drum beat. You may want to add in some fills from time to time and maybe even consider playing something better than Chop Sticks during the solo portion of the song.
I must however give them credit for covering multiple genres of music in this album. You have everything from 60’s banjo music in As the Crow Flies to easy listening 80’s in Roxy. And Sea of Regret is actually a pleasant sounding country music surprise with the addition of the steel guitar. They sing songs about love and unforgettable women but then the album eventually drifts off into nothingness. That is until you come to ear piercing Karaoke Star; this song sounds like it was a B side from one of the Flight of the Conchords episodes. Again, that is not a compliment. The closer Wild Honey is probably the best song on the album although it gets a little too Hootie and the Blowfish with the lyrics. “I’d fall deep in the ocean just to find you”
Given the hype that these guys have around them in that area, I cannot believe that this is the best Nashville has to offer. There is absolutely no way that town is as cool as Austin. I say pass on this album and go pick up Scott Weiland’s first solo album instead.
If you are like me and have slowly gotten over Frightened Rabbit, with the thinking that they have pretty much peaked at this point and that they can’t possibly add anything new to the indie scene; then their Late March Death March EP will work as a good lure to draw you into their new album. Early on in their latest effort Pedestrian Verse, the drums along with the keys are dramatic and prominent while the guitars play more of a complimentary role. However they eventually return to the sound that you are used to hearing from them which is guitar heavy and has Scott Hutchison almost crying lyrics into the mic.
As a side note, I am not sure why men in indie bands are so fascinated with crying while singing. This only works if you are Prince and if you are singing Purple Rain. After seeing that movie and seeing how hot Appalonia was, how can you not cry along with him? Well thankfully Hutchison isn’t quite as whiny on this EP.
It starts off with the title track Late March, Death March and once again the drums are prominent. It’s a catchy song that you will find yourself tapping your foot too but it’s one of the weaker tracks on the album especially since it features whistling. Hutchison begins singing about how his cursing in church shocks everyone and how that also stops the joyous handclaps of the congregation; I guess that’s better than calling yourself a black skinhead right Kanye? Well thankfully after this you move on to the acoustic Architect which is a collaboration they did with Atlanta’s Manchester Orchestra. It has decent guitars in it but musically it’s nothing special; the strong lyrics however to their best to save it.
I’m not normally down with alternate versions of rock songs however hip hop songs I’m ok with because typically it has a better beat and about 20 guest appearances by other rap artists. Rabbit’s alternate version of Late March sounds like it’s an 80’s cover. It’s like they went into the studio, popped the collar to their leather coats, threw on some face powder, and added in a little mascara before channeling their inner Simple Minds. The fact that they use electric drums and Hutchison’s voice isn’t as whiny as it is in the original, makes this version a little bit better than its predecessor. Now all its missing is a little Drake at the back end of it with P Diddy dancing in the video.’
The last two tracks are live versions of December’s Traditions and The Oil Slick. In December’s he sings about how depressing it is to lose the summer and the sun (obviously he doesn’t live in Texas) and wails “Ït’s not the answer treating cancer like a cold, what do you need from me” The ending is quite dramatic as well as it comes to an operatic climax both vocally and musically. Oil Slick is an odd track that tries to be a bit dancey at times but thankfully returns to a normal sounding Rabbit song by it’s end. I think the live tracks properly capture the energy of their shows and lets you hear that they are clearly not just a studio band. Give this EP a listen and I am fairly certain that you will be back on board with Frightened Rabbit and with what they have to offer.
Whenever I hear stories of how James Murphy didn’t really take off with LCD Soundsystem until he was 32 years old or how Quentin Stoltzfus was about to be sued by a wedding band for using their name before he returned 6 years later and made music with a few members of The Walkmen; it gives me hope that this old man can still make something out of himself. Maybe all I need to do is move to New York and grow an old man beard while drinking PBR with the local hipsters. Don’t laugh, it could work out and I’d become the new Samuel Jackson! But if I am being honest with myself I’ll more than likely end up like his character in Coming to America where he gets beat up by African students while trying to rob a McDowells. “Don’t stall me fat boy! All of it!’
Well once Stoltzfus returned to the scene he formed the band Light Heat and continued to make reincarnated 60’s music but with a modern day indie feel to it. Their sound is not like the latest trend of 60’s lo-fi that we here in Best Coast, The Soft Pack, or even The Raveonettes; who all make good songs themselves by putting a different spin on that era’s sound. But Light Heat with their mix of guitars, organs, drums, and pianos create a sound that is a true throwback and acts as a tribute to that era.
Stoltzfus comes in with his high pitched voice after a driving instrumental opener in Dance the Cosmo Light, sounding a lot like the Beatles when they were young. Right away this sets the tone for what is to come throughout this long awaited album. He soon follows it up with the dreamy Are We Ever Satisfied which has the sound that Scott Weiland so desperately attempted to reach on his first solo effort. The problem Scott ran into is that he took the 60’s too much to heart; you can’t be completely wasted on heroin when recording and performing Scotty. You’re only allowed to choose one. Then on Satisfied, Stoltzfus lets the drums and organs dominate while he allows his voice to act like an additional instrument to enhance the song. And as you’re listening to it, you can’t help but feel like this is the perfect song to take a drive down the coast to.
Once Elevation starts up you realize that this is a record hipsters will jump all over! It’s retro enough to sound authentic and the band itself is still a relative unknown; so they can claim them and still seem cool to their friends while talking about them at the local dive bars. Despite the fact that I may be considered a hipster for liking them, I love their song Lies as it is the most challenging piece on the album. They throw in every instrument you can imagine on this track and it comes complete with what sounds like photon noises in the background. And with the amount of percussion that’s on this album, I can see why The Walkmen are fans.
By the time The Mirror comes on you realize that from an experience standpoint these guys remind you of NYC’s The Cavemen. This is small venue music; it’s too mellow to try and see at a festival unless that festival is headlined by Willie Nelson himself. And if that’s the case, everyone will be moving in slow motion.
In spite of that, I like this trip down memory lane and suggest that you check it out.
If you have ever seen the movie PCU with Jeremy Piven then you know how hard it is to pick a band name that will attract people to you without them coming in with any preconceived notions of what you are all about. They went through names like Oedipus and the Momma’s Boys (too college radio) and My Johnson is 12 Inches Long before deciding to go with the charming Everyone Gets Laid. I would definitely go see a band with one of these clever names . However when someone feels the need to choose haikus for their band name like And You Shall Know Us By The Trail of the Dead or today’s subject The World Is A Beautiful Place and I Am No longer Afraid To Die; it makes me sigh in disgust. My friend pointed out to me that with a name that miserable, they clearly must be Morrissey fans. And when you think about it that’s actually really funny but I am a huge Thom Yorke fan and I would never name my band This is What You Get When You Mess With Us. Actually, when I type it out; it sounds pretty fresh! We’d clearly be a punk band and our first album’s name would be The Orphans (that’s a Warriors reference for all of you youngsters out there).
The World is an 8 piece band from Willimantic, Connecticut and they have been around since 2009. If you have never heard them before, the first thing you notice is the lead singer’s voice; it literally sounds like he’s crying when he’s singing. And every time he even thinks about sounding like a normal person, it’s as if someone is torturing him by repeatedly hitting him in the balls like they did to poor James Bond in Casino Royale. Every now and then someone comes in and starts screaming in the background to presumably add a little edge but even that falls flat. I do give them credit for trying to be a bit different from the typical indie emo band but maybe being typical should’ve been their goal in the first place, as musically they sound just fine. They bring a healthy balance of distortion and the standard atmospheric guitars you would expect to hear in this type of music. And if you have ever heard the Scottish band There Will Be Fireworks, The World sounds similar to them both musically and in their vocals however the lead here is distractingly bad.
There are actually 4 members of the band who contribute vocally and you hear this on the album’s second track Heartbreak in the Brain. When the distortion in this song kicks in it blends in well with their vocals but the second it becomes harmonic, you are left shrieking in horro. With 8 members of the band there are plenty of instruments to go around including piano and the useless horn that you hear in the next track Fightboat; which is one of the album’s highlights.
Their lyrics are as emo as they come and this is readily apparent in The Layers of Skin We Drag Around when they sing about not being young anymore and trying to learn patience when it comes to dealing with the modern world. They romanticize the days of yesteryear in which we are not that far removed from and have song titles like Picture of a Tree That Doesn’t Look Okay. Halfway through the album you want to simply give up and share these tracks with your 8 year old nephew but then you hear Ultimate Steve and it makes you wish that they would either become an all instrumental band or just replace their lead singer. It’s not as if they are reinventing the wheel musically but they are at least talented enough to hit the festival circuit.
I will say the production and the mixing of the album is excellent however that can only hide so many flaws and that ultimately makes this an album to pass on. So in the end, I would only suggest pumping this album up to the little annoying cousin of yours who you wouldn’t mind getting beat up at school. I’m kidding; please please don’t do that!
When you have a name like Jack Beauregard you may want to consider changing it to something that is a bit easier to spell so that the slow kid in the class like me can actually find your music. I can’t tell you how many times I Googled their name and Jack Bauer came up instead. There I was looking at Kiefer Sutherland beating up random scrubs instead of actually listening to Beauregard’s new album Irrational. They could go the route of Jon B and change it to Jack B. Or just follow in the footsteps of Ice Cube who dumped his name O’Shea Jackson completely so that he wouldn’t have to wear a dashiki every time he took the stage. And who knows maybe they are headed that way; when you look at the cover of Irrational there are men who are wearing what appear to be yellow jumpsuits. This immediately reminded me of Dignan from the movie Bottle Rocket and to be honest with you I would rather check out a new album by Dignan over that of some band name that I can’t even pronounce.
Well once I finally heard their latest effort, the one thing that stood out to me was that vocally the lead sounds like a weird mix of M83 and Ben Bridwell from Band of Horses while musically they sound a bit like Twin Shadow. This is when they are at their best; when they don’t quite reach this point they sound more like a prepubescent Paul Simon trying to adjust to his voice cracking for the first time. This is heard clearly midway through the album on It’s Going Down, which sadly isn’t a remix to Jay Z’s I Just Wanna Love You. “It’s about to go down!”
There really isn’t anything challenging from a lyrical perspective and that mixes in just fine with the light keys and the beat machines that are used for background noise. As a matter of fact, the pop duo’s Not That Kind would’ve been the perfect fit for Spike Jonze’s Where The Wild things Are. It just seems like it would be an awesome opener for that movie as Max runs around in his outfit along with his new found friends. Where Is The Line is the quintessential 80’s song that somehow escaped that era. You feel like you should be rolling around in a Ferrari while crying and flashing back to when Drago killed your best friend Apollo Creed in the ring. This is easily the best song on the album and it might have you dancing around like a fool. The drums in Bleeding Knees help it stand out a bit as they bring the song to life and make it a bit more grandiose than it actually should be. And I love it for that, when it comes to pop, the more over the to pit is the better.
The rest of the songs run together and are pretty much interchangeable with the exception of Houston; which just like the city is a pretty awful low point. For All The Time is the album’s closer and it gives you some hope that they will one day grow a pair and do something that will allow them to stand out from the pack.
But in the meantime, all this is is pop music that your daughter will only listen to around other girls. So if you are a parent I would suggest that you strongly push this on her so that she doesn’t lose her virginity and gets pregnant while listening to Kings of Leon . Actually now that I think about it, guys will have sex to an ipod that only plays construction music if they have the opportunity to! Lock your daughters up until they are done with their home schooled college courses!
It’s rare today when a band can stay together for 20+ years and still be relevant in the music scene, especially when you are talking about that of an indie band. Typically they make two or three albums and either flame out or get bored with making music and go back to waiting tables at coffee shops so they can hold on to their artistic integrity. But Canada’s indie darlings By Divine Right have been going strong since 1989 and have survived having 1500 different members cycle through the band since its inception. And that’s one thing I’ve noticed about Canadian bands, with the exception of the Japandroids, they either have 20 people playing on stage with them or they have 20 different musicians roll through their band within a year’s time frame. I think they all went to one too many Parliament Funkadelic shows in college and figured that that’s how its typically done!
Well once Jose Miguel Contreras finally stopped getting sidetracked, he buckled down and went in the studio to record their first album in 4 years and the result was the up and down Organized Accidents. The one thing that sticks out on this effort is that the best and most consistent instrument in each song is the bass. You hear that immediately in the opening track Past the Stars when it kicks off with its funky bass line. The second you start dancing it leads you to believe that you’re in for a great album. And their second song Mutant Message allows you to see what’s kept them around for so long; it’s Accidents’ catchiest and most memorable track. But along comes the light and happy Little You, which sounds like a song The Cardigans (Lovefool) would sing when they’re not playing their typical dark metal riffs. Aah, being cute and Swedish can take you far can’t it? But too bad for Divine Right that they are neither cute or Swedish. And so the album goes, pulling you in different directions until it reaches it’s schizophrenic climax in Zoomies; with it’s dark and heavy piano. This is easily one of the best tracks on Accidents.
It’s strange but as I was listening to this album, I felt like I was stuck in the 90’s wearing an over sized flannel shirt while checking out the downer opening band for Helmet in a warehouse venue. I kept waiting for Brandon Lee to jump through a window with his face painted and hearing someone scream “That’s not Skank right there! Skank’s Dead!” “That’s right!” And yes, I just dropped a Crow reference.
In the end the album is mixed well and each song flows right into the next, it’s just that nothing really stands out on it. Contreras mixes up the instruments on each track, which is impressive, however no one in the band appears to be exceptional at playing any of them. There is never that “Oh wow! That sounds amazing” moment. They do however come close in Tremolodians and Mountain’s Friend but that’s just it, they only come close. And sadly that is why this album will be forgotten the second hockey season starts up again in Canada. I’m off to go learn my French so I can pick up ladies in Montreal.
When Vampire Weekend released Contra, I officially wrote them off as the typical indie band who shot to stardom solely based off of the aid of Sirius radio. And as a result they reaped the benefits of being able to procure loose groupies and free booze while touring the festival circuit but then had no clue on how to follow up their successful self -titled debut album. This left them with what seemed like their only option and that was to try and recreate the sound that got them there in the first place. They wrote music that most of us can’t identify with; songs about walking around a rich college campus, being forced to leave Cape Cod, and consuming drinks that most of us have never even heard of. Meanwhile at their shows, rich kids with their boating shoes and linen shorts would dance off beat while high fiving one other, while the rest of us just sat there with our arms folded wondering why we paid to help get these well to do hipsters laid with our hard earned money. The only hope we had for any action came in the form of Consuela the taco stand girl who was working outside of the venue.
So as I was preparing myself for more of the same from their third effort Modern Vampires in the City, I was pleasantly surprised when the opener Obvious Bicycle started up. But just as the Wolf from Pulp Fiction taught me, I didn’t get too excited too soon; I decided to let it play out for a few tracks and then realized that my wish for these guys had come true. They have finally grown in both their song writing approach and in their lyrics. Gone for the most part are the fruity and happy guitars; instead they have been replaced with all keyboards and drums. Ezra Koenig decides to bring introspective and passionate lyrics to this album by writing songs about love, his belief or lack thereof in a higher power, how that will affect his place in an afterlife, and how life in general is tough in a cold cold world. Now that’s something we can identify with! “Life IS pain your highness!”
There will be period of adjustment for the fans of their older work but don’t fret as this album is still full of songs that you can sing along to. There’s the chorus in Obvious Bicycle where Ezra bellows over and over “So Listen Oh Don’t Wait” or the hook in the 50’s sounding song Diane Young that shows that Vampire still knows how to make you dance whenever the darn well please. Don’t Lie might be the best groove on the album with the driving beat of the drums and the emotive lyrics that accompany it. And the haunting keys at the end of Hudson remind you of Miles Davis’s Oh Doctor Jesus and the feelings you get when that song graces your ears. Who would’ve ever thought I’d make such a ridiculous comparison? But it’s true!
In the end, this change of style will do for Vampire Weekend what Ok Computer did for Radiohead, or it will turn the public against them like the removal of makeup and distortion did to Kiss. Gene Simmons needs as much make up and noise as humanely possible to distract you from that face!

domain: entertainment


text:
Topic: Scripts for renew subscription and alarm messages and Payment
We have a script that is sending sms messages and e-mail, before the end of subscription and when finished .
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You can view all users by the expiry date of the subscription .
In the case of user delayed for renewal for a month moving to the archive .
You can also create a payment plan that you want, and you can receive payments via paypal and Checkout and activate automatically, and send a message renewal .
And a lot of other features you can see from here :
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domain: finance


A soft washed velvet with subtle texture and a casual, laid-back vibe. Its pale beige colourway with cool undertones has the natural tone of unbleached linen, but with a more lush look.
Suitable for drapery, upholstery, cushions, pillows, and other home decor accessories.
Note: like all velvet, the light catches it in so many ways that it's tricky to present exact colours. We strongly suggest you order a swatch first for colour reference.
- Content: 100% Polyester
- Width: 55.5"
- Double Rubs: 63,000
- Care Instructions: Manufacturer recommends spot cleaning with a mild, water-free solvent.


text:
“The sea is a God, an unseeing unhearing deity that surrounds us and has all imaginable power over us, yet does not even know we exist. We mean less than a grain of sand on an elephant’s back, and if the sea wants us, it will take us.That’s just the way it is, The sea knows no limits, makes no concessions. It has given us everything and it can take everything away from us.
To other Gods we send our prayer: Protect us from the sea.”
On the tiny island of Domarö in the Stockholm archipelago, Anders and his wife Cecilia take their daughter Maja to explore the lighthouse out on the frozen channel by the sea. At the top of the lighthouse in the lantern room, Anders and Cecilia steal a moment to reminisce about their childhood on Domarö, Maja sees something out on the ice and gets agitated and goes off into the adjoining room to play. When Anders and Cecilia go to look for Maja moments later, she is gone, leaving no footprints in the snow or any other sign of her passing. The novel that follows this event isn’t just about Anders’ grief or Maja’s disappearance, it is also a secret history of an Island of Mystery and a fairy tale wrapped in a horror novel born from John Ajvide Lindqvist’s elegantly simple prose.
Lindqvist is definitely most well known for authoring Let the Right One In, which was made into the incredible Swedish horror film of the same name and an excellent (although slightly redundant) American remake titled Let Me In. The novel Let the Right One In is much pulpier than the film adaptations and enjoys character driven shock value and splashing the grue much more than either film did. It’s said that Let the Right One In “re-invented” the vampire genre and to some extent I suppose it did re-invent it for audiences only familiar with the glittery, emo bloodsuckers we’ve been bombarded with over the last decade. For me the novel wasn’t so much a re-invention but more a distillation of the genre by taking out the glamour and decadence and stripping it down to the tale of a monster and its best friend. It made vampires a genuine threat again and showed that there was still (ahem) blood left to be squeezed from tales of the immortal. I haven’t read Lindqvist’s second novel, Handling the Undead, but what I’ve heard is that it’s way more interested on focusing on themes of grief and loss when faced with the end of society and a comfortable existence rather than telling a straight forward zombie survival story. When I sat down to open Harbor, I assumed it was going to be another deconstruction of familiar genre tropes but peppered with strong central characterization and a palpable sense of place. While I got the characterization and setting, the novel is much more structured around telling a scary story than examining horror as a concept.
After little Maja disappears, we pick up with Anders a few years later: Cecelia has left him, his grief is a constant consuming mass and he spends every minute of the day drunk on wine. He’s traveled back to Domarö so he can drink himself into oblivion surrounded by people he grew up with and to be enveloped by the memories of the last time he was happy. It is here where we meet the other two main characters of our story, Anna-Greta (Anders’ Grandmother) and Simon (Anna-Greta’s life partner). Anna-Greta and Simon have been together for 60 years but never married and live in separate cottages by the sea, but for all intents and purposes, Simon is Anders’ Grandfather and loves him very much. The second large story thread of the novel is Simon and his secret power which, in a lesser writers hands, could have been a magical deus ex machina that would have killed any momentum and danger inherent in the story but instead makes it feel organic and part of the larger mystery of the island.
When Simon was younger, he was a magician specializing in slight of hand work and narrow escapes such as Houdini was famous for. One day many years later (after his hands became too arthritic to practice magic anymore) while fishing for perch off of the jetty, Simon finds a black, worm-like insect called a Spiritus. He’d heard of them before through other magicians he’d admired in his youth and knew that a Spiritus could give you magical powers related to one of the elements. So, Simon picks up the Spiritus and spits on it, which instantly gives him power over all the water surrounding him (and he’s on an island). He can not only sense the paths of the water and how everything works, but he can also control it like Moses and get it to do pretty much anything he asks. At first, the Spiritus feels a bit like a get-out-of-jail-free card considering early in the novel Simon senses there’s something “broken” in the water and the reader has a pretty good idea that by “broken” he means “evil and scary”. It’s like having a story where a giant dog is terrorizing a small town and the town’s only weapon against it is a giant dog killing gun. It’s a massive deus ex machina, but by the end of the novel, I felt the Spiritus was explained well enough to feel organic instead of a convenient storytelling device.
The novel is very old fashioned in how simple the story is and how much of a slow burn it is to the final battle and that’s not a complaint at all. The book spends its first half jumping time periods and viewpoints so often (while slowly building the mythology of the island) that when it finally settles in and starts focusing in on Anders and his drunken grief, it becomes mesmerizing and impossible to put down. Anders is a difficult character to have fronting a novel. So much of his inner life is made up of self pity and a dangerous, spiraling depression, that spending four hundred pages with him is akin to hanging out with your suicidal ex-girlfriend for a weekend while she tells you how much better she’s doing at not cutting herself anymore. He’s hard to take sometimes, but he is just complicated enough to propel the story forward and keep you on his side throughout all of the mysterious, haunting occurrences on Domarö. Simon is a much more interesting character whose inner workings are consistently fascinating and propulsive, but by the time the final pages roll around he feels almost forgotten, like he was brought in from another novel without the structure being in place for his arrival. It’s truly the one big misstep of Harbor, but it’s still not enough of a derailment to keep the book from getting my recommendation.
I finished reading Harbor a few days ago, but I wanted to let it sit with me for awhile before writing the review, so I could figure out a way to correctly articulate how I was feeling. This novel haunted me a bit. The atmosphere is so thick with dread and bizarre occurrences that (even though the book doesn’t have many “scary” moments”) I found myself unable to let it go when I was trying to sleep at night. It’s not a flawless book by any stretch of the imagination, but the combination of the deceptively simple prose (born out of being translated into English from Swedish) and the concrete sense of place it builds, makes Harbor a story to share with those who love a less splattery horror tale, one built on character and a sense of timeless, ancient terror. When we finally get a look at the nameless evil of Domarö Island, it feels like we’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg, that there is so much more to the story than the narrow version of events we get from Anders’ and Simon’s perspectives. I wanted to read more of this world and learn all I could about the secrets lurking beneath the frozen water and Lindqvist’s novel only teases the true scope of what’s really going on. Harbor is a joy to read, warts and all, and will stay with you long after you turn out the light.
This book is available from Thomas Dunne Books and can be purchased through Amazon HERE.

domain: library


We started this year off with an open call to all music creatives to send in their work for the upcoming compilation album: Super-Sonic Family Vol. 2. You guys outdid yourselves! We received over 150 submissions and we were absolutely stunned. Narrowing it down to 12 tracks deemed impossible, so on November 16th we’ll release the massive compilation album ‘Super-Sonic Family Vol. 2’ with a whopping 31 tracks! Over the next few months, we’ll release these tunes in small bundles so you can get to know these amazing artists and songs.
We’ve just released the fourth bundle with new tracks by none other than Hatoon, Adrian Lucas, Johnny Miner Trio, Ronny Decarlo, Bouba Dola & The Amazulu Peoples. Scroll down to learn more about the artists and their work.
Listen to Bundle 4:
The 23 year old Sudanese-Dutch artist Hatoon is one to keep an eye on. Working through life’s challenges (growing up as a refugee in a small Dutch village) the young artist gained societal, spiritual, and mental insights which she translates into her music, hoping to inspire other young people that relate to her story. She delivers her intuitive lyrics with her warm, layered voice that is just as powerful (yet vulnerable) as the writing itself.
In the song “You” Hatoon narrates the empowering yet dreadful process of breaking off a meaningful relationship. She describes the addictive cycle she steps out of through this break-up, transitioning into an era of self-mastery and liberation. Though the song is easy to listen to, it has surprising elements like an enchanting capella choir as an intro and a smooth poetry breakdown.
Adrian Lucas makes music that feels warm, like loving hands. His goal is to create a space which empowers growth: the process of opening both heart and mind in order to develop oneself. “Let the music listen to your thoughts and help you grow in life.”
In the track “Get It”, Adrian Lucas is honest to himself, more than anything. “It’s about creating your own chances and just go for it. Be you in the biggest way possible without judging yourself.”
Johnny Biner Trio
Johnny Biner’s newest project is based in Amsterdam, playing contemporary, soulful beats. “The title tonic water is a wordplay from my favorite drink (pure tonic water) and a tease to music heads, as the song remains in the same tonality at all times aka has the same ‘tonic’.” The listener will be taken on a journey from summer vibes to ice cold beats.
Ronny deCarlo is the project of Colombian/Dutch guitarist Roenik Roa Espinosa. His instrumental compositions form a lush tapestry of fusion, gospel, and Latin, with influences from film and game music, and a prominent role for the guitar. In Ronny’s sonic world, genre boundaries are transcended, and cinematic melodies coexist with tight arrangements and catchy grooves. The music strives to strike a balance between raw live band energy and a contemporary electronic sound.
The Track ‘NTRLD Alleycats’ is a short theme song for a potential cartoon about crooked feline individuals roaming the East Coast backstreets.
Bouba Dola & The Amazulu People
Bouba Dola is on a multidimensional artistic journey, touching on visual art, graffiti, music production and film. He is currently based in Rotterdam, where his love for jazz flourishes. His music takes listeners on an immersive journey, blending elements of jazz, hip hop, and experimental sounds. He wrote a poem about his track ‘Lompole’.
In the realm unseen, where whispers reside,
There dwells the spirit, an essence untied.
It soars on the winds, a silent breeze,
A force unseen, yet it forever frees.
In the human heart, its ember does burn,
A flicker of hope, a desire to discern.
It transcends the body, the earthly plane,
A timeless presence, through joy and pain.
A spark of divinity, within us all,
The spirit’s call, a mystical thrall.
It yearns for connection, to the cosmic whole,
A boundless energy, an eternal soul.
In nature’s symphony, it finds its song,
In love’s embrace, it forever belongs.
The spirit, a mystery, a cosmic art,
A sacred flame, in every human heart.


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FDA OKs Merck's Dulera for asthma
Dulera consists of an inhaled corticosteroid and a long-acting beta agonist, and shares an active ingredient with Merck's Asmanex and Nasonex (mometasone furoate), and Foradil (formoterol fumarate). Dulera carries FDA's most severe safety warning, the black box label, which in this case warns patients about the potential for asthma-related death associated with long-acting beta agonists, or LABAs.Tara Camp, director of global communications, respiratory, at Merck, said the company is currently conducting phase 3 trials with Dulera for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). GSK's Advair and AstraZeneca's Symbicort are also LABAs, and both have asthma and COPD indications. Merck's Foradil, like other LABAs, carries a black box warning and is approved for asthma, COPD and exercise-induced bronchospasm.
Sales forces supporting Dulera will target “any healthcare professional that is involved in respiratory care of asthma management,” according to Camp. She declined to comment on the number of reps deployed on the brand.
On the consumer side, Camp said educating patients is extremely important, and that Merck “will be sure to make available pertinent information that can aid in their interaction with their healthcare professional.” Cline Davis Mann is handling professional advertising on Dulera, and DaggerWing, DDB Needham and Saatchi are involved in interactive and consumer activities for the brand, said Camp.
Dulera is not indicated for the relief of acute bronchospasm, and should not be used with patients “whose asthma is adequately controlled on low or medium dose inhaled corticosteroids,” according to the drug's label. Two strengths of Dulera are expected to be available nationwide by the end of July, according to a company statement.
Separately, Merck inked a deal with Nycomed to co-promote Daxas, a late-stage COPD drug. Once approved, Merck will co-promote Daxas with Nycomed in Canada and the UK, and in “certain European countries,” according to a statement. In the US, Daxas will be marketed by Forest Laboratories, pending FDA approval. Daxas received a complete response letter from the FDA in May, but the letter did not request additional patient trials, according to a Nycomed statement.


The European Union Council summit held yesterday was another disappointment, following a string of recent high-level meetings that have failed to deliver a sufficient economic response to the Covid-19 crisis.
Leaders of the 27 member states of the EU issued a “declaration of progress”, through which they made a vague commitment to establishing a Recovery Fund linked to a bigger long-term EU budget (the Multi-annual Financial Framework, MFF). At the same meeting, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde warned that Eurozone GDP may shrink by up to 15% this year.
The Council could not agree on the precise size, structure or nature of either the Recovery Fund or future MFF. It did not reach agreement on how they will be funded, or whether the funds raised will be disbursed as grants or loans. The task of filling in the blanks is now with the European Commission, which will publish a proposal on May 6 or possibly even later. The option of ‘coronabonds’ appears to be off the table.
Media reports prior to the Council meeting showed that the Commission claimed it can “generate” €2 trillion through the Recovery Fund and new resources for the MFF, but no agreed-upon financial goal was announced following the summit. In her remarks, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke of measures worth just half that amount.
According to the pre-summit plan, the Commission said it aimed to raise €320 billion on the markets, then use that sum to “leverage” a much higher amount. The ‘leverage’ scheme has been favoured by the EU institutions since the global financial crisis, aiming – and always failing – to mobilise or ‘crowd-in’ private investment by providing a guarantee of a small amount of public money.
France, Italy, Spain and other member states have called for the funds raised to be disbursed through grants instead of loans, but Merkel said grants “do not belong in the category of what I can agree”. Politically, the EU is failing the test of solidarity both among and within member states.
Germany’s ‘Exorbitant Privilege’
The ‘exorbitant privilege’ Germany experiences within the EU has allowed it to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and economic losses far more powerfully than other states. An analysis of the budgetary measures taken so far within the EU shows that Germany has been able to provide around €150bn in expenditure based on immediate spending to respond to the health impact, grants to SMEs and self-employed people; social assistance. More than €1trn in liquidity and loan guarantees has also been provided, mainly through the state development bank.
While the German government’s coronavirus response is not perfect, its size and impact dwarfs those of other states. France by comparison has injected around €67mn in immediate spending, as well as €300bn of loan guarantees.
The differences between member states’ GDP size, public debt levels and ability to borrow cheaply on the market have all contributed to this divergent response. The institutional framework of the EU and the Eurozone has also provided advantages to Germany in each of these areas.
The average public debt to GDP ratio in the Eurozone was 65% in 2007. In late 2019 it stood at 86.1%. But for the countries affected by the sovereign debt crisis in 2010-2012, the debt level in 2019 was far higher – almost 180% for Greece, 137% for Italy, 120% for Portugal, 100% for France and 98% for Spain. Germany’s debt level for the same period was 62.6% of GDP.
The level of public debt in the EU was not caused by reckless government spending, but rather by the socialisation of private debt through the rescue of the financial sector, and dramatic increases in the costs of borrowing due to “market discipline” linked to the ECB’s failure to intervene. The pro-cyclical impact of the austerity programmes imposed by the Troika not only limited growth but devastated the public services, including healthcare.
In this way, the debt overhang from the Euro crisis has directly impacted on the ability of member states to respond to the pandemic effectively.
The Debt Weapon
Debt has been used as a weapon against the member states of the EU over the past decade in a similar way as it has been used by the IMF against the countries of the Global South for decades, demanding the imposition of structural adjustment programmes in all but name.
The EU has used debt as an instrument to transfer wealth from the public to private sector, and from the poor to the rich, while also using it to intervene in public policy areas it does not have legal authority over. For example, a report I commissioned earlier this year found that the Commission had used the Stability and Growth Pact to order member states to cut spending on, or privatise, healthcare services 63 times between 2011 and 2018. States were told to raise the pension age or cut funding to pensions 105 times over the same period.
The prospect of the massive spending required now and in the future being added to the balance sheets of member states’ public debt presents unique problems in the EU. While countries around the world are monetising their debt through their central banks, the EU has tied its own hands behind its back by enshrining monetarism and austerity into its Treaty. We remain stuck in the 1990s while the rest of the world has moved on.
Eurozone members cannot issue their own currency, but they do not have any control over the independent and entirely unaccountable ECB. Unlike during the 2008 crash and sovereign debt crisis, the ECB appears willing to act to support spending by member states, but cannot do so effectively due to Treaty constraints forbidding it from directly financing government spending or debt. Its mandate is solely to maintain price stability – to keep inflation low.
The design of the Eurozone contributes to debt crises, while the debt and deficit rules enshrined in the Stability and Growth Pact enforce anti-worker and anti-growth policies.
For members of the single market with an export-oriented economy, such as Germany and the Netherlands, the EU provides a major free-trade zone for its products. This set-up has allowed Germany to build up a massive trade surplus, under which it exports around €300bn more than it imports each year.
But for every surplus, there must be an equal deficit. Around two-thirds of Germany’s surplus is generated by intra-EU trade, sapping demand from the economies of other member states and forcing many of them to run significant trade deficits. If foreign direct investment is not forthcoming, these member states must borrow in order to finance this deficit.
Due to the harsh fiscal austerity applied after the recession, there is now not enough internal demand in the Eurozone to sustain German industry. Even before the coronavirus pandemic hit, a global slowdown was unfolding and the Eurozone was on the verge of another recession, exposing the dangers of this economic model.
Germany’s economic model is not only damaging for working people across the EU; the success of its export-led model is dependent on the impoverishment of German workers. The less a company has to pay its workers, the cheaper its exports can be. This long-term strategy was intensified in 2003 under the then social-democrat/Green coalition government, which carried out a radical and vicious reform of the labour and welfare systems entitled Agenda 2010 (also known as the Hartz reforms).
By 2015, more than 12.5 million Germans, out of a population of more than 80 million, were at risk of poverty. A significant proportion of this number is the working poor, employed in part-time, precarious or platform jobs, and those working full-time on the minimum wage. In 2018 the share of workers at risk of poverty in Germany had doubled to 9.1% from 2005, growing at a faster rate than all major EU economies.
There are many proposals on the table to deal with the massive economic contraction brought about by the coronavirus, including an important proposal from Spain for spending to be funded by perpetual debt. Our key priority must be ensuring that there is no return to the failed policies and models of the past – policies and models that harm us all.
The full power of the ECB must be used to finance government spending. The public spending required now cannot be added to the member states balance sheets, facilitating future decades of crushing austerity under the EU’s debt and deficit rules. We cannot nurse the corporate sector back to health with public money and then let it run wild again.
In the EU we need to fight not only for solidarity among member states, but above all, for international working-class solidarity among the people of Europe.


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This is a masterpiece work by Muttathu Varkey that takes us through the bond between siblings and their extraordinary journey. Promises hopes and dreams of two little siblings are sure to entertain the kids and inculcate moral values in them.
Baby and Lilly are orphaned kids they lives with their aunty and this is their story. Gracy is from a rich family and she has a beautiful umbrella. On a rainy day Gracy refuses space for Lilly in her umbrella. This made Baby angry and he hits Gracy with a stone. Thereafter Baby leaves the home after promising a sparrow engraved glass handled umbrella to Lilly. But Lilly was destined to leave the home after the tortures of her aunty.
Lilly reaches a doctors home and he raised her along with his other kids.
On the other hand fate brings Baby to Saudamini -a music teacher. Saudamini takes music lessons for doctors kids. And from her the doctor comes to know about baby and ask her to bring him.
What follows next is a story of intertwined suspenses and emotional ride. Fate has something else for not only Baby and Lilly but also for Gracy.
Oru Kutayum Kunjipengalum is an ever loved story. Its 35th edition is in stores. The first DC edition was released in 1979. It is published under Mambazham-an imprint of DC Books.


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Last weekend IDFC Bank announced Aadhaar number based cashless system. Retailer’s phone is used for digital payments. It has been named as Aadhaar Pay. Its launched in partnership with NPCI, UIDAI and IDFS Bank. The new system has been rolled out to 100 shopkeepers in the last three days. In this, Aadhaar and UPI are used for payment.
Meanwhile, SBI has announced that it has adopted Shidki village in Pen taluka of Maharashtra for testing of Aadhaar payments. The shopkeepers of this village have been provided with android smartphones and fingerprint scanners to promote cashless system there.
What is Aadhaar Payments?
As we have already told you that UPI is a big discovery in the field of banking. It uses your mobile to identify you and turns the mobile into a debit card, allowing you to make payments from anywhere.
In a word, UPI lets you transfer money instantly using the IMPS payment framework without knowing the account number or IFSC code. All you need is their virtual ID address such as gopal@icici (for example), or 1234567890@axis (use your phone number instead of 1234567890).
Aadhaar is considered the supporting infrastructure of UPI. With the help of which Aadhaar payments are done. With its help, after verification of biometric information given in Aadhaar, payment will be possible from those accounts which are linked to Aadhaar. This means that in the coming days, you will be faced with fingerprint readers instead of POS terminals.
Payment will be like this
Right now the system of Aadhaar Payments is in the initial stage. SBI has adopted a village in Maharashtra for Aadhaar payments and IDFC has provided this facility for 100 shopkeepers. This figure is so small that the chances of you encountering this system are extremely small.
As this system becomes more popular, you will need to… The first thing to do is to have an Aadhaar card. After this Aadhaar has to be linked with the bank account. If you haven’t linked already, go to the bank and share your Aadhaar details. However, many people are considering it a violation of privacy. But if you look at the merits and demerits of this system, you would want to be a part of it. After this you will not need anyone else.
The shopkeeper should have a system of Aadhaar payment. For this, bank account, Android smartphone and fingerprint scanner will be required. The merchant needs to install the Aadhaar Payment app on his phone. It is not yet on Google Play, but it will be made available in the future. At present, payment is being made by the banks for this arrangement. As it becomes operational, merchants will have to pay for it like a POS machine.
You just need to provide your Aadhaar number to pay at the store. After this your fingerprint will be scanned. Now you choose the bank linked with Aadhaar and then the payment will be done. You don’t need to install any app. No wallet is needed, nor should there be a special card nearby.
What will happen next…
Expect Aadhaar Payments to become more popular. Especially in small towns and villages, where smartphones and accompanying systems like wallets or UPI are unlikely to be used.


The Met Office has issued a level three heatwave alert for England from Tuesday until Saturday this week.
Londoners have also been told to brace for grassfires as temperatures are expected to hit 32C, amid a dry month with little rain.
Last month, the Met Office issued a Red warning for exceptional heat for the first time ever, as temperatures a hit 40C.
People were recommended to “look out for those who may struggle to keep themselves cool and hydrated,” according to the NHS, and to avoid drinking excess alcohol.
Here’s exactly what the warning means, along with what the other heatwave levels mean.
What do the Met Office’s heatwave levels mean?
The Met Office will sometimes issue weather warnings if temperatures exceed certain levels. These are predominantly to help healthcare services and workers to manage through these periods.
“Should thresholds for an alert be reached outside of this period, an extraordinary heat-health alert will be issued and stakeholders are advised to take the usual public health actions,” the Met Office website states.
There are five levels in place, here’s what they are and what they mean:
The first level entails long-term planning in order to avoid the risks and complications involved with heatwaves, along with “year-round joint working to reduce the impact of climate change” and discovering ways to adapt to the temperatures.
It mainly exists to remind authorities of the importance and need for planning ahead for the warmer periods.
Level 1 - Green — Summer preparedness and long-term planning
The Met Office uses level 1 throughout summer, in order to stay vigilant as temperatures rise. Social and healthcare services will be working to ensure that they are prepared for extreme weather.
Level 2 - Yellow — Alert and readiness
The level 2 alert is rolled out when the risk is “60% or above for threshold temperatures being reached in one or more regions on at least two consecutive days and the intervening night”.
This is when social and healthcare services will be on high alert and working to try and ensure the heatwave does not cause harm to people and patients.
Level 3 - Amber — Heatwave action
The Met Office has triggered a level 3 heatwave warning to parts of the UK. This is when the threshold temperature has been reached for one full day and the following night, while the following day also has a 90% chance of hitting the threshold temperature again.
Healthcare and social services and workers will now be rolling out actions to protect high-risk groups who may not fare well in soaring temperatures.
According to the NHS website, those most at risk include:
Older people – especially those over 75
Those who live on their own or in a care home
People who have a serious or long-term illness – including heart or lung conditions, diabetes, kidney disease, Parkinson's disease or some mental health conditions
Those who may find it hard to keep cool – babies and the very young, the bedbound, those with drug or alcohol addictions or with Alzheimer's disease
People who spend a lot of time outside or in hot places – those who live in a top floor flat, the homeless or those whose jobs are outside
Level 4 - Red – National Emergency
The fourth and final warning level means a heatwave has continued for so long at such high temperatures that its effects “extend outside the health and social care system”.
The Met Office warns that death and illness may occur among the fit and healthy at this stage, as well as in high-risk groups.


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Many people consider fake news and disinformation a threat to democracy. According to a poll conducted in 2018, 85% of the participants see fake news as a problem in their country. Social media plays an important role as a news source for many European citizens. At the same time, it serves as an easy and fast way to spread fake news. Sharing content without reading it is common practice on social media platforms. Six out of ten items are shared without being read.
Every citizen and internet user can be a fact checker and can help to spot and debunk fake news and misinformation. This is especially important now, shortly before the European elections. If you want to know, what Europe does for amateur-fact checkers, click here. The European Parliamentary Research Service gives the following eight tips on how to deal with news and information:
The recent attempts by different players to meddle in national elections and to divide people over social media have prompted the European Union to react to the growing exposure of citizens to disinformation. In 2015, for example, a small team, called the European External Action Service had been set up to debunk and collect pro-Kremlin and anti-EU disinformation in an archive.
In 2017, the Digital Commissioner Mariya Gabriel gathered experts to receive advice on this matter. This resulted in the recommendation to improve media and information literacy, media tools for users and journalists, and a diverse and sustainable European news media. Furthermore, the European Union is part of a project called InVID. InVID is a toolkit that helps journalists and citizens to check videos and images for accuracy and authenticity.
If you want to learn more about what has been done regarding this issue, check out these Commission’s press releases from December 2018 and April 2019. Watch this video to find out how the European Parliament discusses fake news and hate speech:
A Europe that Protects: The EU steps up action against disinformation. European Commission – PRESS RELEASES – A Europe that Protects: The EU steps up action against disinformation. http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-6647_en.htm. Accessed May 16, 2019.
Bentzen N. How to spot when news is fake . ttps://www.europarl.europa.eu. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/ATAG/2017/599386/EPRS_ATA(2017)599386_EN.pdf. Published March 2017. Accessed May 16, 2019.
Disinformation Cases. EU vs DISINFORMATION. https://euvsdisinfo.eu/disinformation-cases/. Accessed May 16, 2019.
Fake news and online disinformation. Digital Single Market – European Commission. https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/fake-news-disinformation. Published December 11, 2018. Accessed May 16, 2019.
Fake news: how to counter misinformation | News | European Parliament. Fake news: how to counter misinformation | News | European Parliament. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/eu-affairs/20170331STO69330/fake-news-how-to-counter-misinformation. Published April 10, 2017. Accessed May 16, 2019.
Iate. https://iate.europa.eu/entry/result/3574878/en. Accessed May 16, 2019.
Parliament E. Fake News and Hate Speech: How to Fight the War Online? YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQf0gJZGbnA. Published April 7, 2017. Accessed May 16, 2019.
What Europe does for me. What Europe does for me – #EUandME. https://what-europe-does-for-me.eu/en/portal/2/N10. Accessed May 16, 2019.
What Europe does for me. What Europe does for me – #EUandME. https://what-europe-does-for-me.eu/en/portal/2/N09. Accessed May 16, 2019.
Written by Annemarie Menger – Communication Trainee at the Terminology Coordination Unit of the European Parliament (Luxembourg) and a student of the Master’s Program in Learning and Communication in Multilingual and Multicultural Contexts at the University of Luxembourg. She holds a teacher’s degree in the form of the First German State Examination for Elementary Education, a BA in Cultural Basic Skills and an additional degree in Global Systems and Intercultural Competence from the University of Würzburg.


text: This full-length junior novel should hold a place with the best Civil War fiction for young people. The fighting takes place in the West. . . . A young farm boy joins the Union forces, becomes a scout . . . There is suspense in the telling and many a colorful character.--The Horn Book.


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‘Tis the season for yacht charter shows. I will be attending the charter show put on by International Yacht Brokers Association (IYBA) in the US Virgin Islands. Below are the superyachts that will be available for charter throughout the Caribbean this coming 2023 winter season.
The USVI Charter Yacht Show 2022 just announced the winners of their Culinary and Mixology Competition, themed Posh Picnic. Many yachts entered this delicious contest and expert judges had a challenging time choosing the winners – but they persisted! And here are this year’s winners.
There is so much beauty in the Caribbean! What may be less well-known is the Caribbean regatta season, where sailors from around the world come to meet and compete. Charter yachts are available to race or to just watch from at some of these racing events which run from December through May each year. Early planning is essential for this popular seasonal attraction.
I love the Friday night street jump-ups in Gros Islet, St. Lucia. It’s one of the best examples of Caribbean dance, music and food festivals. If you have a chance to attend, it offers great people-watching, lively local music, street food vendors, and a wide range of crazy beverages. Here, you are in the heart of the Caribbean. If you’re thinking about a Caribbean yacht charter or just a visit to the tropical islands, below are more events that may inspire and energize your vacation planning.
When your charter yacht is at anchor, you are among the most spectacular array of sea creatures, fish, flora, and fauna. Your yacht is equipped with the gear you need to enjoy this undersea world. Your crew can guide you to these secluded anchorages that you cannot reach by cruise ship or “bareboat”. The top Caribbean snorkeling spots are best accessed by boat. Here are some of our favorites, in detail.

domain: travel


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Is gnocchi pasta or a potato?
What does ‘gnocchi’ mean?
How to make gnocchi
What you will notice in the cheese sauce recipe is that I added chicken or vegetable stock. This is a great way to add extra flavor to the cheese sauce.
If you’ve tried this Baked Gnocchi with Sage and Cheese Sauce or any other recipe on the blog then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below. I love to hear from my readers! You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST to see daily recipe updates.
Baked Gnocchi with Sage and Cheese Sauce
Baked gnocchi with sage and cheese sauce is a cozy departure from heavy mac and cheese. A comforting dish of pillowy soft gnocchi bathed in a creamy, two cheese sauce flavored with earthy sage.
For the gnocchi
- 2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes cut into large pieces
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
For the cheese sauce
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 1 cup chicken stock or vegetable stock warmed
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup Fontina cheese grated
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese grated, plus more for garnish
- 6 fresh sage leaves finely chopped
- Small pinch fresh nutmeg
For the gnocchi:
Fill a large saucepan with water. Add the potatoes and 1 teaspoon of salt and bring to a boil. Boil the potatoes until they are very soft.
Drain and set run through a food mill, or ricer for nice smooth potato. Put the potatoes in the fridge until they are cool, this will help keep them fluffy.
- Prepare 2 sheet pans by dusting them with flour, set aside.
On a clean work surface mix together the potato, flour and salt, make a well in the center. Knead for about 4-5 minutes until the dough is soft and smooth. Only add enough flour so the dough comes together and is not tacky.
Add the egg and mix using your hands until it forms a ball. If it is wet and sticky, sprinkle with flour. Only add enough flour so the dough comes together and is not tacky.
Cut the dough into 4 equal parts. Roll one 1 quarter of the dough into a 3/4 inch log. Cut the log into 3/4 inch pieces.
Roll the pieces over a gnocchi board or the back of a fork to create ridges onto the floured sheet pan in a single layer. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
- Let the rolled gnocchi dry out for about 1 hour before cooking.
For the cheese sauce
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and whisk until flour turns golden brown, about 3 minutes. Add the warm stock and milk, continue to whisk until it thickens, about 3 minutes.
Add the fontina and Parmesan cheese and stir with a spoon until melted. Stir in the chopped sage and nutmeg.
Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Once the water is boiling, turn the heat to a gently boil, so you don't break up the gnocchi.
- Add the gnocchi and boil for about 3 minutes, or until they rise to the top. Drain and transfer to the cheese sauce, mix well. Pour into a casserole dish and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the top is golden brown and bubbly.
Serve warm topped with grated Parmesan cheese.

domain: food


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By Ashleigh Brown, journalist, Justmoney
With the unemployment rate being the highest in six years, according to reports, job seekers could feel that lying on their CV is the only way to get the job.
However, allegations of CV fraud have landed SABC chairperson, Ellen Tshabalala, in hot water. It is alleged that she lied about her qualifications. With the issue of CV fraud firmly in the spot light, the South African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS) has warned that lying on your CV could lead to jail time.
“When members pick up [candidates] that have lied, they have the ability to list the incident that has taken place on the SAFPS database that will then alert other companies that this individual did lie, or provide false documents, and that they must be cautious when dealing with that individual,” said Carol McLoughlin, executive director of SAFPS.
Each company has a different policy regarding CV fraud, and thus will handle every case differently. It is up to the company to decide whether to take a criminal charge or not.
Even ‘white lies’ are considered a no-go. “Any fraud is regarded as a criminal offence. You cannot commit a light fraud or a heavy fraud – fraud is fraud,” said McLoughlin.
She confirmed that there has been a rise in CV related fraud listed with the SAFPS, but added: “We weren’t getting the full cooperation and support from member companies to actually list those types of incidents in the past. Last year we had quite a fight because we started to make it known to members that they can list these types of incidents. And the employment screening bureau has also started to participate. So from that perspective we have seen a spike. But I can’t attribute that to incidents happening more frequently, or because companies have started to list these incidents and have seen the benefits from doing that.”
McLoughlin said that there were different reasons as to why people would commit CV fraud, one of those reasons being the high unemployment rate.
“I think that people are desperate to get jobs, so I think they are willing to try every means possible.”
She went on to say that peer pressure could be another reason for the rise in CV fraud. The need to be better than fellow classmates could lead to applicants lying on their CV.
“It could be peer pressure as well: ‘why don’t we try this’, type of story. And they don’t understand the consequences, and that is quite sad. They might end up on a database like SAFPS, and once there it limits their future, because once they are listed there they are treated as a dishonest individual until proven to be honest, so they would be treated more cautiously in terms of them trying to get a job, or open an account, or to try and get a loan,” said McLoughlin.
Only member companies of the SAFPS have access to the database. Any company can register however, and then will receive alerts when an ID they are checking comes up as fraudulent.
“[The member companies] subscribe via a subscriber agreement where they agree with rules and regulations of [the SAFPS] code of practice. So there is quite strict governance around the database. It is basically just an alert to alert the member companies to be on the lookout,” said McLoughlin.
Clearing your name
As it is the company’s job to list a fraudulent person on the SAFPS database, it is also the company’s job to remove them from it, if they have proven that they are innocent.
“We don’t want to list people unfairly,” said McLoughlin.
McLoughlin went on to explain that: “For example, if [someone] presented a matric certificate which was valid, but perhaps they then got a new matric certificate, because they had lost their old one, but that information had not been updated, the information then would not ‘gel’, the person would just have to explain to the company which listed them and their name would be removed.”
The onus is on the person listed to prove their innocence, or explain their case with the company which listed them, in order to have their name removed.
Matric pass rate
reported that the matric pass rate might rise, due to the matriculants not being prepared enough for the working world.
If the matric pass rate were to rise, it may result in an increase in CV fraud too. With the slipping standards in education, and the increasing employment rate, will individuals looking for jobs take the chance of jail time?


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In his chapter on Geneva, written in 1960, Ian Fleming describes the fields around Noël Coward's chalet in the Swiss Alps as being thick with flowers (it being summer and the time, Fleming notes, of the Narcissus Festival, which celebrates the flowering of the narcissus). In passing, Fleming wonders when an alp becomes a berg. It was a question, slightly modified, that he later gave to Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1963). “What is the difference between a piz, and an alp and a berg?” he asks Irma Bunt. Not much, it seems, a piz being a local name for a peak, but an alp and berg both being used to describe mountains.
Then, in West Berlin, Ian Fleming enjoys a schnapps with a beer chaser known as Molle und Korn, or a 'boiler-maker and his assistant'. James Bond has the same combination (described as Molle mit Korn) when he's in Berlin ahead of his rendezvous with 'Trigger' in 'The Living Daylights', first published in 1962.
|Oyster crackers, enjoyed both by Fleming and Bond|
Anyone interested in the origins of ideas and memes in the later Bond books would not have to look very far in Thrilling Cities before finding them. Some of the experiences Fleming had while visiting cities around the world he would give to Bond. After all, the thrilling and intriguing aspects of Fleming's visits were natural material for Bond. But the experiences Fleming had, which he recorded with his journalist's eye, also give the Bond books a sense of reportage and reality that still make the books so compelling to read.
Fleming, I, 1963 Thrilling Cities, Cape
Gilbert, J, 2012 Ian Fleming: The Bibliography, Queen Anne Press

domain: literature