RECsoprano VST soprano recorder plug-in version 1.1 is available now. RECsoprano is a free soprano recorder plugin instrument developed in collaboration with the musician Mihai Sorohan. RECsoprano 1.1 come with a bug fixed on the MIDI side, many optimizations and a small refresh of the user interface.
Genobazz R VST bass synthesizer version 1.1 is available now. Genobazz R is the first anniversary edition of our free monophonic bass synthesizer, released as a gift for our customers. In this update Genobazz R is still based on Genobazz 1.2.3, but we added some features from Genobazz 2 like...
We have released Arp-EG classic a MIDI arpeggiator plug-in. Using Arp-EG classic all the VST instrument you like and even your hardware synth (using your DAW MIDI out) can now play arp sequence.
INTERNOS & Banguru Records feat Stephen Pickup present you new remix contest on their new track Never Back Down. Winner will get released on Banguru Records plus prizes by Tek’it Audio and others.
We are happy to announce the release of Genobazz 2, our popular free monophonic synthesizer plug-in. In this major update we have kept the spirit of Genobazz and added features that open a new range of sounds for such a simple synthesizer.
"APC" VST synthesizer version 1.2 is available now. "APC" is a square wave synthesizer that creates "low-fi" sound, re-creation of a popular DIY circuit the Atari Punk Console.The main features of this update are a preset manager to select, rename, copy, save, load preset or bank and one click Undo Changes.
Findremix have teamed up with Paulatine Records to kick off a brand new remix contest! Winner will get released on Paulatine plus prizes by Tek’it Audio and SoundCloud.
We are happy to brought to you RECsoprano a soprano recorder plugin resulting from a collaboration between Tek'it Audio and Mihai Sorohan.


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From the Black Lives Matter protests in the US and worldwide, to the arrival of Pride Month, June has begun with conversation firmly focused on what we can do to support marginalised communities. We’re seeing unprecedented numbers of brands taking a stand on social media, openly declaring their allegiance to these movements, and urging followers to take meaningful action.
For the past few years, experts have been urging brands to show consumers what they believe in. This is especially important for those marketing to the younger generation, who are reliant on us to make a better world for them as they reach adulthood. Our research consistently shows that Gen Z are more loyal to brands that share their own values.
However, these smart young consumers see through any transparent attempt to jump on a bandwagon. They want to see brands taking action year-round, not just during Blackout Tuesday or Pride Month, and they want proof that these purported brand values are more than just a marketing campaign. Here are our recommendations for how brands can meaningfully support young people from marginalised groups throughout the year.

domain: news


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Vetdiet Adult All Breed Small Bites Chicken and Rice Formula is specially formulated with deboned chicken, whole grains and other natural ingredients. It is ideal for households with dogs of different sizes.
- A unique kibble in small bite sizes, preferred by some dogs
- Optimal balance of energy and nutrients for healthy vitality
- Omega-3 and omega-6 from flaxseed and fish oil in optimal levels for a healthy skin and coat
- Contains a blend of prebiotics to support optimal digestion
Main Ingredients: Deboned chicken, chicken meal, brown rice, dehulled barley, whole oats, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), flaxseed, sweet potatoes, dried tomato pomace, dried egg product, menhaden fish meal, fish oil, sun-cured alfalfa meal, yeast culture, natural chicken flavor, salt, potassium chloride, choline chloride, dicalcium phosphate, vitamin E supplement, yeast extract, DL-methionine, L-lysine, taurine, chicory root extract, Yucca schidigera extract, fumaric acid, lactic acid, citric acid, malic acid, L-carnitine, dried kelp, peppermint leaves, dried spinach, dried carrots, chia seed, dried pomegranate, dried blueberries, dried cranberries, dried apples, dried blackberries, dried broccoli, quinoa, dried pumpkin, dried avocado, dried kale, green tea extract, dried parsley, rosemary extract, thyme extract, carob bean, paprika, ginger, chamomile, turmeric, aloe vera gel concentrate, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, zinc proteinate, selenium yeast, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), iron proteinate, manganous oxide, niacin, calcium pantothenate, manganese proteinate, vitamin A acetate, copper sulfate, riboflavin, vitamin B12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine mononitrate, biotin, potassium iodate, copper proteinate, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid.
Crude Protein (min): 25%
Crude Fat (min): 15%
Crude Fiber (max): 4%
Moisture (max): 10%
Linoleic Acid (Omega-6 Fatty Acid)(min): 2.7%
Ash (max): 8.5%
Alpha-linolenic acid (Omega-3 Fatty Acid): 0.85%

domain: food


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Abortion has nothing to do with a woman's choice or health, of her body it has everything to do with with the .001% control over the rest of us. We shouldn't exist, and it is a laughable manner to joke about 'retroactively killing us".
Is anyone else irk'd by a conference that self labels itself as "the new establishment"?
If abortion isn't murder then why does the editor of Vanity Fair even speak of retroactive abortions?
The people in control don't care about us. Got it.

domain: sociology


After he crashed the car, a sheriff's deputy shot the man, identified as 37-year-old Richard Shreckengaust of Marin County, believing he was reaching for a weapon while he refused to come out of his car. The investigation was handed over to Santa Rosa police according to the Sonoma County Law Enforcement Employee-Involved Fatal Incident Protocol.
Police in San Rafael were first alerted to the kidnapping at 10:25 p.m. when the victim sent text messages to a friend saying she was being driven to Sonoma County against her will, police and sheriff's officials said.
The victim later told authorities that she had known Shreckengaust since January and had agreed to see him Thursday night. The two were not and had never been dating, Santa Rosa police said.
While driving, the two smoked marijuana together, but after that the victim told authorities that Shreckengaust was acting strangely and frightened her, talking about having explosives in the car.
She asked to be dropped off at Terra Linda but he refused and continued driving north on U.S. Highway 101.
When Sonoma County sheriff's deputies caught up with the car, he told the victim, "It's on," according to police, and sped away on state Highway 116 toward Guerneville, swerving around spike strips set up by deputies to disable his car.
The pursuit went onto Odd Fellows Park Road, where Shreckengaust allegedly smashed his car through a gate to a gated community. He continued driving through the community and park, in a narrow space between two buildings, and through two additional police barricades.
During the pursuit, the victim told authorities that Shreckengaust was smoking what she thought was methamphetamine, according to police. Finally, at about 11:20 p.m., he was unable to make a turn and went off the road, colliding with an embankment. The victim was uninjured and ran away from the car to the sheriff's deputies and behind a patrol car.
The deputies ordered Shreckengaust to put his hands outside of the car, and he did but took them back in several times. Deputies used dogs to try and get him out of the car, breaking the window and sending the dog in.
One deputy saw him reach for something, and fearing it might be a weapon, fired two to three shots. Deputies took him from the vehicle and performed first aid, but Shreckengaust was pronounced dead at the scene.
A search of his car did not locate any weapons, police said.
The names of the deputies involved have not been released pending further investigation. Anyone with information about the case has been asked to call Santa Rosa police at (707) 543-3590.


|Farmers’ payment scheme
‘out of control’, says MP
South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon, a member of the Commons public accounts committee, has said that the Rural Payments Agency still does not have proper control of the Single Payment Scheme.
Mr Bacon said: “The Rural Payment Agency’s failure to get a grip on the Single Payment Scheme is still proving toxic for England’s farmers”.
“Ministers went ahead on the back of bad advice. What officials said was possible was, in fact, impossible. As a result, chaos ensued”.
“Four years later, the Agency still does not have proper control of the scheme and the government has been forced to set aside over £200 million to cover disallowance of expenditure and the imposition of penalties by the European Commission”.
“Farmers across mainland Europe should thank their lucky stars that their payments are not administrated by the Rural Payments Agency”.
Mr Bacon was speaking as the Commons public accounts committee published its report into the Rural Payments Agency’s progress in resolving the difficulties in administering the Single Payment Scheme in England. The report finds that the Rural Payments Agency has not yet managed to bring the administration of the Single Payment Scheme properly under control.
Failings in implementing the Scheme have led to the risk of
significant disallowance of expenditure and the imposition of
penalties by the European Commission. The Department’s 2005–06 and
2006–07 accounts included total provisions of some £220 million for
disallowance, and £70 million accruals and contingent liabilities
for possible late payment penalties in respect of the Single Payment
Scheme in England.
15 July 2008
|© Richard Bacon 2010|


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Have you heard of unusual grief rituals around the world? Attending a funeral for a family member or friend is a common occurrence, with comparable customs and cultural influences passed down through the years. The beginning and end of life are ingrained in the culture, frequently through long-standing customs that make up the farewell ritual.
Death is universal, yet various countries and cultures have diverse ways of mourning a loved one’s death. The faith, beliefs, and traditions of the family all influence the death and burial rites. We’ve selected a few that could surprise or perhaps inspire you.
What is a Death Ritual, and how does one go about doing one?
When a loved one passes away, rituals can help the family decide how to bury the dead. To celebrate the life of their loved ones, family and friends observe mourning customs and conduct various ceremonies.
Civilizations have followed distinct rituals and customs throughout history, which generally revolve around burial or cremation, grief and mourning, and other rites. Today, Western societies (such as American families) frequently select between burying in a grave and cremating for the deceased. Additional activities or rituals give the opportunity for friends and family to engage in the grieving or life celebration of their loved ones.
While many death rituals are related to religious beliefs, many ceremonies are held in a traditional or familial context, and more and more families are blending traditions or choosing different methods to commemorate a life. However, whatever funeral traditions are observed or developed, they can give consolation to the bereaved family, allowing them to find meaning and healing in their grief.
Death/Grief Rituals Around The World
Other countries and cultures have distinct mourning rituals, whereas some societies have specific funeral rites. Here are some of the world’s most unusual dying rites; bear in mind that some may appear to be extremely different from what you’d expect:
- Tearing a piece of clothing: Immediate family members rip a piece of their clothes as a sign of the loss and sadness they are suffering in Jewish tradition.
- Sky Burials: Although it may come as a surprise, an estimated 80% of Tibetan Buddhists prefer sky burial to ground burial as a more natural manner of returning the deceased to nature fully. This ancient death ceremony concludes with the body being placed outside, usually on a hilltop, to be eaten by birds of prey.
- Scattering at Sea: For example, Hong Kong is extremely populated, with few burial places accessible. In Hong Kong, cremation is chosen by 90% of local families. Many individuals can’t afford or don’t want to pay for a pricey cremation niche, and bringing the ashes home is frowned upon. As a result, an ash dispersal ritual at sea is becoming increasingly popular.
- Burial Beads: Because there is a scarcity of burial space in South Korea, families are forced to think outside the box to remember their loved ones. Pressing cremated bones into multicolored beads is a popular procedure. The ornate beads are then used to create a display in a bottle or urn.
- Church Bells: The ringing of church bells is a common manner for people all over the world to memorialize a loved one, with varying customs regarding the number of rings and the length of time the bells ring out over a town.
- Jazz Funeral: The jazz funeral ritual was brought to New Orleans, Louisiana, and other families in various locations by a mix of African and European cultures. Live musicians walk and play instruments during the funeral procession, frequently singing melancholy melodies at the start. Following the burial, a post-funeral party is held with vibrant, joyous music to commemorate the life of the deceased.
- Pyre Cremation: Hindu cremation sites on the banks of the Ganges River work around the clock to provide cremation services for Indian families. The loved one is wrapped in brilliant, colorful cloth and religious ceremonies are performed. The body is then brought to the cremation place on a bamboo stretcher.
- Dancing with the Dead: In Madagascar, this death ritual takes place five to seven years after the first burial. The exhumation of a loved one allows the family to remove the burial clothes and replace it with new shrouds. The crypt is then sealed for another five to seven years with a placing ceremony. The “turning of the bones” or “dancing with the dead” is a term used to describe this behavior.
- Hanging Coffins: A typical dying ceremony in the Philippines’ northern regions is to create a beautiful casket and then bury it on the edge of a cliff. Family members engage in particular rites before the loved one is placed in the casket, such as sitting the individual on a “death chair” and covering them with a blanket.
Modern Death Rituals
In modern funeral traditions, major cultural influences or strands of tradition are frequently woven throughout the service. When attending a memorial service for a loved one, you may encounter any of the following current death rituals:
- Funeral Procession: Funeral ceremonies and burial sites are sometimes held in separate locales. Pallbearers carry the casket to the hearse after the funeral is completed. This funeral car leads the route to the cemetery, followed by a procession of relatives and friends.
- A handful of Earth: As the casket is lowered into the ground, family members watch. Then, one by one, funeral attendants approach the casket and put handfuls of earth atop it. This custom is popular in many cultures, and it represents a person’s return to the soil.
- Clothing: Dressing in black during a period of mourning dates back to Roman times and is still practiced in many cultures today. Wearing darker colors indicates that a person is in mourning in certain cultures, but other cultures may have different dress rules for funeral rites.
- Mourning: After a funeral, it’s usual for a grieving phase to last for a certain amount of time. Mourning is an external manifestation of sadness in certain cultures, such as weeping or crying. In some cultures, mourning is shown by wearing black or remaining at home for several weeks or months following a death.
- Wake: While the wake death ritual has its roots in religious rites, it may today be performed in a non-religious manner. Between the time of death and the funeral, friends and loved ones look after family members. These actions demonstrate commitment and affection.
- Drive-Thru Funerals: While drive-thru funerals have existed for a long time, their popularity has soared as a result of COVID-19 epidemic limitations. Family and friends welcome the family via the window as they pass by in a car during this dying rite.
Your family can pick from a range of funeral customs, but keep in mind the most important aspect of funeral planning: select the rites and practices that best suit your tastes and family traditions. There is no right or wrong way to honor a loved one, so concentrate on crafting a meaningful, unique ceremony or event that reflects their values, beliefs, and even style or personality.


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Yet another gesture of good will and concession made to Islamic supremacists who will only see it as a sign of weakness, and not respond with their own gesture of good will. “Exclusive: Obama’s Secret Iran DÃ©tente,” by Eli Lake and Josh Rogin for The Blaze, November 8 (thanks to Pamela Geller):
Long before a nuclear deal was in reach, the U.S. was quietly lifting some of the financial pressure on Iran, a Daily Beast investigation reveals. How the sanctions were softened.
The Obama administration began softening sanctions on Iran after the election of Iran’s new president in June, months before the current round of nuclear talks in Geneva or the historic phone call between the two leaders in September.
While those negotiations now appear on the verge of a breakthrough the key condition for Iran””relief from crippling sanctions””began quietly and modestly five months ago.
A review of Treasury Department notices reveals that the U.S. government has all but stopped the financial blacklisting of entities and people that help Iran evade international sanctions since the election of its president, Hassan Rouhani, in June.
On Wednesday Obama said in an interview with NBC News the negotiations in Geneva “are not about easing sanctions.” “The negotiations taking place are about how Iran begins to meet its international obligations and provide assurances not just to us but to the entire world,” the president said.
But it has also long been Obama’s strategy to squeeze Iran’s economy until Iran would be willing to trade relief from sanctions for abandoning key elements of its nuclear program.
One way Obama has pressured Iran is through isolating the country”s banks from the global financial sector, the networks that make modern international commerce possible. This in turn has led Iran to seek out front companies and cutouts to conduct routine international business, such as selling its crude oil.
In this cat and mouse game, the Treasury Department in recent years has routinely designated new entities as violators of sanctions, forcing Iran to adjust in turn. In the six weeks prior to the Iranian elections in June, the Treasury Department issued seven notices of designations of sanctions violators that included more than 100 new people, companies, aircraft, and sea vessels.
Since June 14, however, when Rouhani was elected, the Treasury Department has only issued two designation notices that have identified six people and four companies as violating the Iran sanctions….
“Sounds like Obama decided to enter the Persian nuclear bazaar to haggle with the masters of negotiation and has had his head handed to him,” Dubowitz said.

domain: politics


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Kenyan shilling stable vs dollar, eyeing c.bank
16 July 2012, 12:16
Nairobi - The Kenyan shilling was stable against the dollar on Monday, but traders said there were hopes of gains on the back of the central bank's tendency to tighten excess liquidity in the market.
The bank has stepped up its intervention in the market, curbing money supply via repurchase agreements to help the local currency gain 1.2 percent so far this year.
Traders attributed excess liquidity on Monday to maturity of government bonds and bills, which banks are not keen to reinvest in the debt market due to falling yields.
Kenyan yields, which surged on the back of a jacking up of official interest rates last year, have come down in the past month and commercial banks, the main buyers of government securities, opt to put their money in longer dated repos instead.
At 0650 GMT, commercial banks posted the shilling at 84.00/84.20 per dollar from Friday's close of 84.10/30. "We are waiting for the central bank to intervene," said John Muli, a trader at African Banking Corporation.
"If they come in, we might see a strong shilling." The central bank, which sought to mop up 2 billion shillings ($23.77 million) on Friday, received bids worth 8 billion shillings, signalling excess liquidity. It accepted 2 billion shillings at 14.4 percent.
Chris Muiga, a trader at Kenya Commercial Bank said importers, mainly from the energy sector, were likely to take advantage of a strong shilling to buy dollars, which could put pressure on the local currency.

domain: economics


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Margaret will work with the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Dhaka, Bangladesh. She will use her background in geography map cholera and other diseases such as leishmaniasis, shigellosis and malnutrition. This information is compi
Note: This award was made as an International Internship Award, which is no longer offered under that name. Those interested in global internships are now encouraged to apply to the Carolina Global Initiative Award.

domain: geography


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Finally, something to be thankful for in 2020! In just a couple of months, our famous Thanksgiving celebrations will return. Due to massive demand, this year we will be keeping the party going - the Thanksgiving Feast menu will be available on both Thursday and Friday:
Thursday 26 November: 12-2pm / 4-8.30pm
Friday 27 November: 5.30-8.30pm
Our chefs have put together a proper Stateside banquet for you all - tuck into our tender Norfolk Bronze turkey served with all the trimmings you can imagine - including cornbread stuffing, maple-buttered sweet potatoes, green beans & praline, and more - before your choice of pumpkin or pecan pie to finish.
Please make sure you book!


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The worlds of Lego and Minecraft have long captivated the imaginations of children and adults alike. The creative possibilities offered by these iconic brands are limitless. Now, the two have joined forces in a unique and engaging way – Lego Minecraft Stop Motion. This captivating combination brings the blocky landscapes of Minecraft to life with the magic of stop-motion animation, creating a new realm of entertainment and creativity.
The Fusion of Two Beloved Universes
Lego and Minecraft share a common foundation – building and creativity. Lego bricks have been a beloved toy for generations, allowing individuals to construct anything their imagination desires. Minecraft, with its virtual world of blocks, offers a similar experience in the digital realm. The fusion of these two worlds through stop-motion animation offers a fresh and exciting way to experience both Lego and Minecraft.
The Art of Stop Motion Animation
Stop-motion animation is a classic form of filmmaking that involves capturing individual frames, each showing a small movement or change in the scene, and then playing them sequentially to create the illusion of motion. In the context of Lego Minecraft, it means bringing Lego bricks and Minecraft characters to life by carefully manipulating them frame by frame to tell captivating stories and adventures.
Unleashing Creativity in Filmmaking
Lego Minecraft Stop Motion presents a wonderful opportunity for individuals to unleash their creativity in the realm of filmmaking. It allows aspiring animators and storytellers to create their narratives using familiar Lego bricks and Minecraft settings. From constructing intricate sets to crafting unique characters, every aspect of the stop-motion process becomes a canvas for boundless imagination.
The Joy of Hands-On Animation
In an age dominated by digital technology, stop-motion animation brings a nostalgic charm of hands-on creativity. Animators get to interact directly with physical Lego bricks and Minecraft figures, infusing their personality and artistry into every scene. This hands-on approach fosters a deeper connection to the creative process, making Lego Minecraft Stop Motion a fulfilling and rewarding endeavor.
Enhancing Storytelling and Expression
Through Lego Minecraft Stop Motion, stories come alive in a visually captivating manner. Animators can express their ideas, emotions, and humor through the movement of characters and the construction of intricate landscapes. The fusion of Lego and Minecraft opens up a world of storytelling possibilities, enabling creators to share their narratives with a global audience.
Community and Collaboration
Lego Minecraft Stop Motion has garnered a thriving community of animators and enthusiasts. Platforms like YouTube and social media have become hubs for sharing these imaginative creations with the world. Collaborations between different creators allow for the exchange of ideas and techniques, fostering a vibrant community that continually pushes the boundaries of Lego Minecraft animation.
Building Skills Beyond Animation
Lego Minecraft Stop Motion is not just about animation; it offers numerous opportunities for skill-building. From improving storytelling abilities to understanding the technical aspects of animation and video production, creators can develop a diverse skill set while having fun with their passion for Lego and Minecraft.
Lego Minecraft Stop Motion represents a delightful intersection of two iconic worlds, combining the physicality of Lego bricks with the virtual landscapes of Minecraft. Through stop-motion animation, creators can craft unique and engaging stories, showcasing their creativity to a global audience. This fusion of imagination, storytelling, and hands-on creativity fosters a community of animators who continue to bring the magic of Lego Minecraft to life on screen.

domain: entertainment


AV = Audiovisual...or Autonomous Vehicle?
Crossover provide Smart Mobility Living Lab (SMLL) with bespoke audiovisual systems for the world’s most advanced urban testbed environments for connected and automated mobility (CAM) and connected and autonomous vehicles (CAV) – or in layman’s terms: driverless vehicles.
Using 24km of private and public roads in London, across Greenwich and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, SMLL’s customers can trial a range of technologies relating to automated mobility. Being able to do so in both live and semi-controlled environments makes this a unique proposition, speeding the transition of these innovative ideas in transport into market-ready solutions.
AV for Control Rooms
Part of Crossover’s project brief was to equip SMLL’s two control room environments with the AV systems needed to monitor and analyse the automated vehicles and test environments. The two control rooms (Woolwich and QEOP) each feature a videowall and multiple operator displays where various sources can be displayed, with up to 3x3 sources per individual videowall display.
The videowalls are driven by sophisticated videowall processing equipment from manufacturer Datapath.
Input sources for control room monitors and videowall
- Around 270 individual network streamed cameras
- HTML based live data feeds (metrics and dashboards)
- HDMI inputs from local data servers outputting test data
- Programmatic sources and grouped sources based on metadata (e.g. GPS Cameras, Live Mapping)
- Local user devices connected to the system
Shared Research Programme
SMLL have partnered with a range of major players who are already shaping the future of transport. The collaborative Shared Research Programme (SRP) brings together their combined expertise and data, in order to tackle a range of questions on the future of mobility.
Bespoke Control Software
Crossover’s external partner company and certified geniuses Solo Works developed exciting bespoke software to control and operate these complex control rooms, presenting users of the systems with an intuitive interface.
Powerful back-end software allows users to route data and configure the environment to suit their needs - either selecting a predefined layout for the sources displayed on the videowall, or creating their own custom layouts.
From the user interface, field cameras can be controlled to recall presets and zoom in and out. By using vehicle GPS tracking data, the system can intelligently display the nearest cameras covering that section of the route in a dynamic way. A HTML view of the route highlights which cameras are currently on display, along with the vehicle position.
AV for Event Space and Client Areas
In addition, SMLL’s new facilities in Woolwich have a range of collaboration spaces for events, presentations and meetings, equipped with Cisco videoconferencing systems and networked video distribution powered by QSC’s Q-SYS. Wireless presentation connectivity is provided by Barco’s ClickShare system. The event space audio system features loudspeakers from Martin Audio, a range of wireless microphones by Sennheiser, and audio processing from Q-SYS.
Originally set to go live in Spring 2020, with the launch delayed until the Autumn due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this is a cutting-edge project the whole Crossover team are extremely excited and honoured to be a part of - a project that will meaningfully shape the vehicles of the future.
We’ve found that people’s confidence in the safety of autonomous vehicles is likely to increase if they’ve had first-hand experience of being driven in one


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An RCCPF Pilot book for the area between St Vaast-La Hougue to Ile d'Ouessant
RCC Pilotage Foundation Channel Islands, Cherbourg Peninsula & North Brittany is a comprehensive overview of all the cruising areas within the Channel Islands and the adjacent coast of France. Thousands of yachtsmen visit these areas every year, but the strong tides and currents mean that most keep to the main routes. Rich in local expert knowledge, this book presents the pilotage information in a calm and logical manner with numerous annotated photographs, allows those who wish to exercise their pilotage skills to explore further.
RCCPF The Channel Islands provides detailed pilotage information for the popular cruising areas of the French coast from St Vaast to Ouessant , Guernsey, Jersey, Herm, Alderney and Sark, covering key harbours in depth. There is also extended coverage of the smaller Islands including the Minquiers, Les Ecréhous, Iles Chausey and Roches Douvres as well as Ile d'Oeussant and Ile de Molene,with colour plans and photographs to highlight the areas of interest and help with passage planning. Sailors of all ages will be rewarded by cruising this area, with fascinating and fast-changing seascapes, bustling historic ports and interesting anchorages away from the tourist bustle.
The North Brittany section of this book has a long and distinguished pedigree which extends back to Adlard Coles' original Brittany Harbours and Anchorages written over 40 years ago.The Channel Islands section originates from work by Malcolm Robson which was followed by Nick Heath's major update. Peter Carnegie, with detailed knowledge gained through years of sailing and flying the area – and through much discussion with local experts – has combined the pilotage information for the two areas.
- Edition: 1st 2015
- ISBN: 9781846234439
Other Editions of this Publication

domain: library


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This gem is from 1984 and was titled, “What if Conan the Barbarian were Stranded in the 20th Century?” You gotta love the “What If?” series. Where else are you going to see Conan the Barbarian dressed up in the finest pimping outfit money can buy?
As you can see Conan puts on some fly duds and brings along his pet Cheetah to impress the fair Danette. But Dannette, like his movie love Valeria loves the man, not his earthly trappings. So Conan strikes out here and moves on and makes friends with Captain America and then proceeds to turn everyone in America out.
Despite looking like something out of the seventies, this issue of “What If?” was released onFebruary 1, 1984. It was written by Peter Gillis with art by Bob Hall, Ben Sean and Janice Chiang.
Latest posts by The Retroist (see all)
- I don’t really like New Coke, but it was worth buying it again - June 16, 2019
- Basic Math for the Atari 2600 - June 12, 2019
- Barnstorming for the Atari 2600 - June 6, 2019

domain: hobby


A few weeks ago I posted about Justin Bieber doing a live freestyle in LA. Now the pop sensation has taken his talents to the big apple. He was given a beat on a New York morning radio show, and did not disappoint! Check it out. At what point is the Biebs mature enough to […]
Moviefone.com asked the Twilight cast and “Breaking Dawn” director Bill Condon who would be cast in the movie if it were made back in the 80′s instead of today. According to Bill, the overall consensus from the cast was the following: Johnny Depp as Edward Ione Skye (from “Say Anything”) as Bella Ralph Macchio (Karate Kid) […]
Nikki Reed (Rosalie from “Twilight” and her new hubby Paul McDonald wrote and recorded a song together. It’s called “Now that I’ve found you” and it’s really pretty good. Listen to the whole song here! How adorable are they?!
It looks like your worst nightmare has come true fangirls. Bradd Pitt told Australia’s 60 Minutes that he will be retiring from acting in three years. This would make a Pitt 50 years old at the time of retirement. Brad hinted at possible directing, writing, or producing in the near future. He was quoting saying, […]
This is no joke here! Watch Justin Bieber lay down a sick freestyle at an LA radio station. For the record, I DON’T believe Biebs is a baby daddy. -Krash


Engaging citizens in cohesion policy: new call for proposals for civil society organisations published
You are a civil society organisation and you are convinced that citizen engagement can improve public governance and ensure stronger sense of ownership? We need your creative ideas to encourage and support a genuine and meaningful participation of citizens in planning, implementing and monitoring EU-funded projects.
The Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) is seeking proposals to support innovative ideas and initiatives for promoting citizen engagement in the design and/or implementation and/or monitoring of cohesion policy. The selected projects will promote active participation of citizens at the level of an operational programme, of a policy objective covered by the programme and/or of a within the specific objective.
Priority will be given to project proposals that will:
- Develop new tools or actions that support citizen engagement in cohesion policy; and/or
- Support scaling up of existing tools or activities for strengthening and widening citizen engagement in cohesion policy
- Grants will be up to EUR 25.000 covering max 85% of eligible costs. The total budget is EUR 250.000.
The deadline to submit your proposal is 31 May 2020.


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Miller v. Liquor Control Com.Annotate this Case
44 Ill. 2d 155 (1969)
254 N.E.2d 502
VIRGINIA MILLER, Appellee, v. ILLINOIS LIQUOR CONTROL COMMISSION et al., Appellants.
Supreme Court of Illinois.
Opinion filed November 26, 1969.
Rehearing denied January 26, 1970.
*156 WILLIAM J. SCOTT, Attorney General, of Springfield, (FRANCIS T. CROWE, and HERMAN R. TAVINS, Assistants Attorney General, of counsel,) for appellants.
HALFPENNY, HAHN AND RYAN, and JAMES A. BROWN, both of Chicago, (JAMES F. FLANAGAN and MARY M. SHAW, of counsel,) for appellee.
Mr. JUSTICE SCHAEFER delivered the opinion of the court:
The plaintiff, Virginia Miller, brought this action in the circuit court of Cook County to enjoin the Illinois Liquor Control Commission from enforcing those provisions of the Liquor Control Act which prohibit the issuance of a State license to the holder of a Federal gaming device stamp (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1967, ch. 43, par. 120, subpars. (16) (17) (18) (19)), and to enjoin the sheriff of Cook County from enforcing the provision of the Criminal Code which requires the holder of a Federal gaming device stamp to register with the county clerk in the county where he resides and where he does business. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1967, ch. 38, par. 28-4.) The circuit court heard evidence and issued the injunctions as prayed. Constitutional questions are involved, and the defendants have appealed directly to this court.
The plaintiff holds a local retail liquor license issued by the Calumet Park Liquor Control Commission authorizing her to operate a tavern upon premises she has rented in Calumet Park, Illinois. She has also entered into an arrangement by which a coin-operated amusement device, commonly known as a pinball machine, would be placed in her tavern. The arrangement contemplated that she would receive "half of any monies that were in the machine." Sections 4461 and 4462 of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C.A. secs. 4461, 4462) require any person who permits a coin-operated gaming device to be used on his premises to pay an excise tax and receive a Federal gaming device stamp. *157 Plaintiff was required by rulings of the Internal Revenue Service interpreting sections 4461 and 4462 to purchase such a stamp for the pinball machine and she did so under protest.
In 1967 the General Assembly amended the Liquor Control Act to prohibit the Commission from issuing a license to anyone to whom a Federal gaming device stamp had been issued for the current tax period. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1967, ch. 43, par. 120, subpars. (16) (17) (18) (19).) The Commission requires an applicant for a State license to state whether he has a Federal gaming device stamp for the current tax period. The complaint alleged that because the plaintiff must answer that question affirmatively the Commission would be required to refuse to issue a license to her. It also alleged that because pinball machines are legal in Illinois unless prohibited by a municipal ordinance, which Calumet Park does not have, the refusal of a license deprives her of due process of law under the fourteenth amendment to the Federal constitution and sections 1 and 2 of article II of the constitution of Illinois, and that the statute is invalid under sections I and 22 of article IV of the constitution of Illinois.
The complaint further alleged, and the trial court held, that the provision of the Criminal Code which requires that any person who has purchased a Federal gaming device tax stamp shall register the stamp in the office of the county clerk in the county in which he resides and in which he conducts any business (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1967, ch. 38, par. 28-4) violates the fifth and fourteenth amendments to the Federal constitution and section 10 of article II of the constitution of Illinois.
We consider first the statute which prohibits the issuance of a liquor license to one who holds a Federal gaming device stamp. Like other courts, this court has often held that because of its nature the right to engage in the liquor trade is not an inherent one, but is subject to regulation by the State in the exercise of its police power. (Oak Park Nat. Bank v. Village of Broadview (1963), 27 Ill. 2d 151, 154; Schreiber *158 v. Illinois Liquor Control Com. (1957), 12 Ill. 2d 118, 121; Hornstein v. Illinois Liquor Control Com. (1952), 412 Ill. 365, 369.) It is axiomatic that the legislative judgment as to what the public welfare requires is not open to judicial dispute so long as that judgment is not exercised in such an arbitrary, oppressive and unreasonable manner as to constitute a deprivation of due process of law. The legislature's discretion is broad, and its determinations may not be overturned because a court may think them unwise or inappropriate. See People ex rel. Baker v. Strautz (1944), 386 Ill. 360, 364-5; South Carolina State Highway Dept. v. Barnwell Bros., Inc., (1938), 303 U.S. 177, 191, 82 L. Ed. 734, 743, 58 S. Ct. 510.
The plaintiff argues that the statute creates an irrebuttable presumption that a prospective licensee, to whom a Federal stamp has been issued, has in fact indulged in illegal gambling. And because pinball machines are not illegal in Illinois, she argues, this presumption is arbitrary and unreasonable. If this was the premise underlying the statute, the plaintiff would be correct in her assertion. But the statute makes no such judgment. Its underlying premise is not that possession of a stamp necessarily implies that gambling exists or has existed, but rather that those devices for which such a stamp is required are particularly susceptible to being used for gambling.
This prohibition against owning both a liquor license and a gaming stamp is prophylactic in nature; it looks not to past or present actions, but only to the avoidance of opportunity for future transgression. The legislature has decided that gambling and liquor in combination is an evil to be avoided. It has sought to implement that decision by preventing those situations which lend themselves to such abuse from arising. Unless it can be said that the legislative prohibition has no rational tendency to minimize the likelihood of gambling on premises licensed for the sale of liquor, the legislative determination must be sustained.
*159 Section 4461 of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 4461) imposes a tax upon "every person who * * * permits the use of, on any place or premises occupied by him, a coin-operated gaming device * * *." Section 4462 (26 U.S.C. § 4462) defines "coin-operated gaming device" to exclude "a bona fide vending or amusement machine in which gaming features are not incorporated * * *." Thus, by definition, it is only those devices which have built-in features suitable for gambling that are subject to the Federal tax. The Federal statute does not impose a tax on illegal gambling devices; it is concerned only with machines that have features which peculiarly afford the opportunity to gamble. (See Marchetti v. United States (1968), 390 U.S. 39, 19 L. Ed. 2d 889, 88 S. Ct. 697; United States v. Nine Gambling Devices (S.D. Ill. 1957), 59-2 USTC, par. 15,257; United States v. Korpan (1957), 354 U.S. 271, 1 L. Ed. 2d 1337, 77 S. Ct. 1099.) The general legality of the device under Illinois law is therefore irrelevant; the question is whether the legislature lacks the power to prohibit a device with built-in gambling features in an establishment licensed for the sale of liquor. That question must be answered in the negative.
The plaintiff relies heavily on Shoot v. Illinois Liquor Control Com. (1964), 30 Ill. 2d 570. There it was held that a rule of the Illinois Liquor Commission which made possession of a Federal gaming device stamp a ground for the suspension or revocation of a liquor license was arbitrary and unreasonable. The rule was regarded as asserting that the purchase of a stamp was "presumptive evidence of gambling." We are unwilling to believe that the General Assembly, which adopted the statute under attack in the face of the decision of this court in Shoot, deliberately intended to reassert the presumption there held invalid. On the contrary, we are of the opinion that the General Assembly intended rather to exercise its authority to safeguard against the existence of ready occasions for gambling. To the extent *160 that the Shoot case is contrary to our present holding, that case is overruled.
We now turn to the statute which requires the holder of a Federal gaming device stamp to register with the county clerk. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1967, ch. 38, par. 28-4.) In Marchetti v. United States (1968), 390 U.S. 39, 19 L. Ed. 2d 889, 88 S. Ct. 697, the Supreme Court held that the defendant could not be prosecuted for failure to pay the Federal wagering occupational tax or for failure to obtain a Federal wagering occupational stamp as required by sections 4411 and 4412 of the Internal Revenue Code. (26 U.S.C. § 4411, 4412.) Marchetti's activities were illegal in Connecticut where he conducted them. Because the information he was required to supply in order to obtain a wagering occupational stamp was made available to Connecticut law enforcement authorities, the court concluded that compliance with sections 4411 and 4412 would have confronted him with "substantial hazards of self-incrimination." See also, Grosso v. United States (1968), 390 U.S. 62, 19 L. Ed. 2d 906, 88 S. Ct. 709; Haynes v. United States (1968), 390 U.S. 85, 19 L. Ed. 2d 923, 88 S. Ct. 722.
The Supreme Court in Marchetti stated that the privilege against self-incrimination has been applied in those situations where the claimant is "confronted by substantial and `real', and not merely trifling or imaginary, hazards of incrimination." (390 U.S. at 53, 19 L. Ed. 2d at 901.) The court also stated, however, that if the claimant is not so confronted, he is not relieved from complying with the statute. (390 U.S. at 61, 19 L. Ed. 2d at 905.) We think that compliance with section 28-4 does not confront the plaintiff with substantial hazards of self-incrimination.
There is a fundamental difference between the danger which the plaintiff confronts, and that which confronted Marchetti. The underlying activities for which Marchetti was required to purchase a Federal wagering occupational stamp were illegal in Connecticut. There was no legal activity *161 for which he would have needed to obtain such a stamp. By complying with the tax statutes, therefore, he would have been put in the position of having to state publicly that he was then planning to engage in illegal activities. The plaintiff, on the other hand, faced no such danger in complying with section 28-4. The underlying activity for which she was required to register is not illegal in Illinois. She does not, therefore, confront any immediate hazard of self-incrimination by the mere act of registering the stamp. Although she may, in the future, decide to use her machine for illegal gambling, that is just a possibility at the moment. Although we have here held that that possibility is adequate to uphold a legislative decision to bar the holder of a stamp from obtaining a liquor license, we think it is too contingent to confront the holder with a "substantial hazard of self-incrimination."
The judgment of the circuit court is reversed.

domain: law


text:
The setting for the original serigraph of the Legend of Temlahan by artist Barry Herem is the Skeena River in Northern British
Columbia with its flanking of mountains and vast wildernesses. Temlaham
was an ancient native village said to have been destroyed due to
cruelty visited upon the local mountain goats. The village was
resultantly destroyed by flooding. Measures 13″ x 16″ 14 mesh mono deluxe needlepoint canvas. If you prefer a different mesh size, please indicate in the Notes section at Checkout. We are happy to select appropriate wool, silk or perle cotton threads to help complete. Please contact us if you would like us to add the fibers of your choice.

domain: artistic


by Alex Chafuen
Before jumps in inflation I used to see articles like this in Argentina. This piece by Steve Conover appearing in the AEI magazine argues that the “[l]ack of sufficient economic growth is behind most if not all of our fiscal and monetary problems,” and so printing money is not so bad. The current manipulation of money and credit is very dangerous. No doubt that an increase in the demand for cash holdings (what some call “velocity of circulation,” as if money would have an engine. . .) can off-set the printing of money, but there is a limit.
Related Articles – Sound Money Project
As I argued in my book Tomorrow 3.0, there is a lot of excess capacity in durable commodities in modern economies. We pay for everything twice, first to buy it and then to store it so that no one else can use it. Locked doors, parking lots, closets: it’s very inefficient. The alternative to having to lock stuff up is to reduce the transaction costs of sharing. The three categories of transaction costs, I argued, were triangulation (find each other, reach an agreement), transfer (agree on payment, and make delivery), and trust (ensure safety and honesty).
One of the most glaring examples is all those empty seats of cars and trucks sitting in huge traffic jams in our cities every morning and evening rush hour. Long ago, there was a system for using some of that excess capacity, on a kind of charity basis. It was called “hitchhiking,” beginning in the 1920s when cars were first beginning to travel long distances between cities. It works in transaction-costs terms, or rather in terms of the types of transaction costs I lay out in the book.
Triangulation: The passenger and the driver needed to find each other, to communicate where the passenger wanted to go, and where the driver was headed. They needed to arrange a time and location for the pick-up; that time and location had to be convenient for both (not far from the passenger, and on the route the driver was going to be traveling anyway). Hitchhikers used a simple but not very convenient system: find a road that goes (more or less) in the general direction of the desired destination, stand on the side of the road heading that direction, and then stand by the road and indicate the “demand” for a ride by holding out your hand with the fingers closed but the thumb sticking up.
Transfer: Both the driver and the passenger have to be able to go where they want to go, at the time they want to go. But this is hard to coordinate. Also, the driver might be more willing to pick someone up if the passenger could pay even a small amount. But arranging the payment, and the amount of the payment, and the process of making payment are not easy. Generally, hitchhiking was free, though the passenger might offer to make a token payment to share the cost of gas if the shared journey was long.
Trust: Trust, or the “creepiness” factor, is the central reason why hitchhiking is so rare in the US. Traditionally, the triangulation problem was solved by standing by the road with a thumb up, announcing the desire for a ride. And transfer was solved by having the rider stand on an entry ramp or by the side of the road in the direction of the desired destination. Those aren’t great solutions, but they worked well enough that hitchhiking was fairly common, reasonably efficient, and very cheap as a way of traveling.
As Steve Levitt put it, on the Freakanomics radio show:
Hitchhiking is a classic example of what an economist would call a matching market where there’s a person who wants a ride, and there’s a person who’s willing to give a ride, and typically no money changes hands, so somehow there are people getting a benefit on each side of the transaction. In the fifties, the sixties, and maybe even the seventies, there was some sort of equilibrium in which there was a set of people who wanted to hitchhike, and there was a set of people who were willing to pick them up. And somehow that equilibrium got destroyed. So the question is what happened to the equilibrium?
The answer is actually not clear. There was the “bad hitchhiker” in fiction, as in the movie Texas Chainsaw Massacre. There was the “rapist driver” in reality, as in the bizarre case of Colleen Stan, imprisoned and tortured from 1977 to 1984. In terms of objective probabilities, there is little evidence that hitchhiking became much more dangerous. But “trust,” or the lack of it, is likely one of the factors that clearly increased the perceived transaction costs of hitchhiking, which became much less frequent. Instead of trying to hitchhike, travelers used other systems. And instead of picking up hitchhikers, drivers rode alone.
In many countries, especially in Europe, there is an app designed to mitigate the high transaction costs of hitchhiking: BlaBlaCar. Unlike many other software platforms, BlaBlaCar offers pure sharing. The software provides key pieces of information: (1) the passenger’s location, (2) the passenger’s destination, (3) the time the passenger wants to leave, and (4) how much the passenger (and, ultimately, the matched driver) wants to talk.
Someone who has an extra seat in their car or truck and who is traveling that route at about that time is matched with the passenger. The passenger pays part of the cost of the trip that the driver is going to take anyway. The result is a pure efficiency gain with close to zero marginal cost to the system but benefits to both, or all, participants.
BlaBlaCar has more than 25 million users in 22 countries. At least 10 million trips are arranged per quarter, and of course each “trip” requires at least two members. In fact, the average car occupancy is 2.8 in a BlaBlaCar ride, compared to 1.6 to 1.8 (depending on the country) for car trips in general. BlaBlaCar estimates a reduction of CO2 emissions on the order of more than 1 million tons per year, but of course that estimate assumes that all riders would have taken their own trips solo, rather than take a train or simply not travel if the service were not available.
One of the interesting things about economics is that economists “in their studies” (to use the ambiguous phrase of A. C. Pigou, referring either to a published paper or the room in their own house where many economists do their “field” work) often miss the creative capacities of groups of people to build institutions that solve collective action problems. Elinor Ostrom was famous for discovering and telling the world about these kinds of institutions.
Another interesting thing is that these “market” institutions may not formally involve markets, in the sense that there is a payment and a good or service. Instead, cooperative private voluntary institutions can arise just around the existence of a shared interest. In this case, there is a shared interest in commodifying excess capacity, in the form of empty seats in cars and trucks. But there is an artificial sweetener, an important one, that makes cooperation much more valuable.
Like many artificial sweeteners, this one leaves a bad taste in many people’s mouths. It’s the legal right to use the HOV lane at rush hours. “HOV” means “high-occupancy vehicle,” of course, and is variously defined. The important thing is HOV lanes move faster, sometimes much faster, than the normal lanes of traffic. Access is partly the “honor system,” but you can get an expensive ticket if you use the HOV lane and get caught. Some people have tried to use mannequins, or inflatable dolls, as “passengers” to qualify for access to the faster HOV lanes. A hearse in Nevada did have a driver and a second person in the car, but the state trooper interpreted the law as requiring that second person to be alive to count.
Real legal access generally requires two, or in the case of the Washington, DC, area, three passengers, but motorcycles or alternative “green”-fuel vehicles can also qualify. Some people think that’s arbitrary, or unfair.
Other people, though, have found ways to reduce the transaction costs of cooperation. After all, hitchhiking would solve the problem. Instead of mannequins, a couple of real humans give a driver access to HOV and a much faster ride. And for the riders, the benefit is the ride itself. There are obvious gains to cooperation.
The problem, as is always the case, is transaction costs. The difficulties are the same as with hitchhiking, except that now you have to coordinate a driver and two riders. In the Washington, DC, area a convention has developed around a concept called “the slug line,” where slug is both a noun (the person seeking a ride) and a verb (“slugging” is offering yourself up as a ticket to use the HOV lane in exchange for getting a ride).
There have always been “ride billboards” at colleges, or military bases, for people who need to get home or somewhere. There may be an arrangement where the rider pays for some or all of the gas, but mostly the rider is looking for cheap transport. The HOV requirement adds a wrinkle, because having riders is actually valuable to the driver.
The “slug line” institution started up at least 45 years ago, in the mid-1970s, at least in DC. The creation of HOV lanes and the high price of gas meant that sharing a ride and (sometimes) kicking in a few dollars for gas benefitted all parties. There were a few designated (by convention: nothing was written) places where people who shared a destination would line up. Cars would pull up, call out their destination, and the next person in that destination line would get in. It was reliable enough that people used it to commute to work, which meant there was a high transaction density, where drivers could reliably find passengers and vice versa.
A car needing additional passengers to meet the required 3-person high occupancy vehicle (HOV) minimum pulls up to one of the known slug lines. The driver usually positions the car so that the slugs are on the passenger side. The driver either displays a sign with the destination or simply lowers the passenger window, to call out the destination, such as “Pentagon,” “L’Enfant Plaza,” or “14th & New York.” The slugs first in line for that particular destination then hop into the car, normally confirming the destination, and off they go.
No money is exchanged because of the mutual benefit: the car driver needs riders just as much as the slugs need a ride. Each party needs the other in order to survive. Normally, there is no conversation unless initiated by the driver; usually the only words exchanged are “Thank you,” as the driver drops off the slugs at the destination.
The difference now is that the system is much more organized, with morning slug lines, and afternoon slug lines, and detailed instructions about etiquette and rules, because there are so many people waiting and everyone is in a hurry.
If you pay attention, you’ll notice a lot of things that “economists in their studies” may not be able to imagine. But they exist. Because people are really good at finding ways to cooperate.
Michael Munger is Professor of Economics at Duke University and Senior Fellow of the American Institute for Economic Research. His degrees are from Davidson College, Washingon University in St. Louis, and Washington University.Munger is the author of Is Capitalism Sustainable? (AIER, 2019)
Related Articles – Economic Theory
Myths abound. This reality is unsurprising given that the number of ways to be wrong is immensely larger than the number of ways to be right. And because of the enormous complexity and dynamism of society and the economy, myths about society and the economy are especially abundant.
Most economic myths are (relatively) small. Trade deficits are evidence of domestic economic failure or of foreign government cheating – minimum-wage legislation is a boon for low-paid workers – government debt owed to ourselves isn’t a problem even if the size of this debt is massive – active supervision by antitrust authorities is necessary to keep the economy competitive – more immigration lowers the standard of living for many native-born workers – middle-class Americans have stagnated economically for more than 40 years – sound money can be supplied only by the state – economic growth depletes resources: these and a practically uncountable number of other such myths are, and for many years have been, current.
Although such myths will never be completely slain, their baneful impacts can be reduced by sound and unrelenting economic education and public commentary. (To this end, AIER is doing more than its share.) But even more destructive than are these (relatively) small myths are three Big Myths – foundational misconceptions of the nature of social and economic reality.
Big Myth #1
The most pernicious of all Big Myths is that the economy and society – or, at least, any economy that is productive, and any society that is good – are the conscious creation of the state. Classical-liberal scholars have fought for centuries against this social-creationist myth. In the 18th century Adam Smith celebrated the market’s invisible hand and warned against the “man of system” who arrogantly fancies that he (or she) can rearrange flesh-and-blood people in society as a chess player rearranges inert pawns and princes on a chess board.
In the 19th century Herbert Spencer observed that nearly all legislative schemes for uplifting society are doomed to fail because “[t]hey have their root in the error that society is a manufacture; whereas it is a growth.” In the 20th century F.A. Hayek repeatedly insisted on the vital importance of recognizing that while modern society and the economy are indeed the results of human action, they are not – and cannot possibly be – the results of human design.
In the 21st century this essential truth is emphasized and explained eloquently by a host of brilliant scholars, including, for example, Steve Davies, Richard Epstein, Deirdre McCloskey, Tom Palmer, Matt Ridley, and Mario Rizzo.
Yet this Big Myth seems only to spread and strengthen. Listening to politicians, and reading everything from popular punditry to much seemingly deep scholarship, makes clear that large numbers of people – I dare say most – conceive of social order, economic growth, and widespread prosperity as being unobtainable unless engineered into existence by the state.
Big Myth #2
An implication of this Big Myth is another Big Myth – namely, because all that is good in our social and economic relations is made possible by the state, each of us is deeply and forever in debt to the state. The state, dogmatically believed to be a secular creator, is therefore supposed to be owed by each of us everlasting thanks and offerings. (Oh, and owed also praise: singing the national anthem is not far removed from singing “Praise to the Lord” and other Christian hymns that I sang as a boy attending Catholic mass.)
“You didn’t build that!” was Barack Obama’s way of scolding everyone who denies that the state owns an open-ended claim on Americans’ incomes. According to this Big Myth, to complain about paying taxes – and, worse, to actively oppose tax increases – is selfishly to resist giving to the secular creator what is owed to it by each of us puny beneficiaries of the state’s beneficence, magnificence, and grace.
Big Myth #3
A third Big Myth is that government carries out the will of the people as long as its top officials are chosen by majority rule. At root, this naïve faith in majoritarian democracy is mistaken because there is, in fact, no will of the people. “The people” is not a sentient creature with a mind and preferences and fears and hopes. “The people” includes, of course, sentient individuals each with his or her own mind and preferences and fears and hopes. But this reality of each member of the group does not transform the group into a giant individual equivalent in all but size to each of the flesh-and-blood men, women, and children who comprise the group.
This ‘non-sentience’ of a group of individuals does not mean that two or more – or even millions of – individuals cannot agree upon goals to pursue collectively. Should we or should we not pool some of our resources to build a highway? Should we or should we not organize to provide community policing or national defense? And some form of democratic decision-making is the best means available for registering the preferences of each individual in a way that results in an acceptable collective decision.
But this reality does not mean that the results of the democratic decision-making process reveal that “the people” have a will that is in any way similar to the will that is possessed and exercised by each individual. All that even the best collective decision-making process does is to discover a compromise outcome that is acceptable to each member of the group.
Anthropomorphizing any group of individuals, and supposing that the results of majority rule express the will of this collective creature, creates the false and dangerous impression that if any individual objects to a majority-rule outcome, this individual is attempting to elevate his paltry self over a will not only as real as his own but also greater because it is that of many individuals. But, again, “the People” is not a being with a mind or a will. It follows that no method of collective decision-making, not even the most ideal form of democracy, reveals the People’s will. That which is unreal cannot be revealed.
Big Myths Be Gone!
If society would be rid of these three Big Myths, legitimate disagreement would still reign over the size and scope of government. Compromise for collective decisions would still be necessary, and democratic decision-making would remain the best means of achieving this compromise. But the risk of tyranny would be much reduced from what it is now because no one would anthropomorphize collections of people or deify the state.
Donald J. Boudreaux is a senior fellow with American Institute for Economic Research and with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University; a Mercatus Center Board Member; and a professor of economics and former economics-department chair at George Mason University. He is the author of the books The Essential Hayek, Globalization, Hypocrites and Half-Wits, and his articles appear in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, US News & World Report as well as numerous scholarly journals. He writes a blog called Cafe Hayek and a regular column on economics for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Boudreaux earned a PhD in economics from Auburn University and a law degree from the University of Virginia.


text:
Samsung today announced the UD590, a new 28-inch 4K monitor that will go on sale this April in the US market for $700 (Via Engadget). The UD590 model includes a 28-inch display with 3840 x 2160 resolution, 1 billion (10-bit) colors and 1 millisecond response time, making it suitable for gaming or watching high-action sports or movies.
The UD590 ships with a picture-in-picture feature that allows users to connect two computers to a single monitor and view both desktops side-by-side. This same option provides a single user with the ability to view different content in two separate windows without a drop in resolution.
Samsung's UD590 monitor has a minimalist design with a simple T-stand and color options of silver or black. It features two HDMI ports, one DisplayPort connector and no DVI ports. The UD590 can be pre-ordered now for $699 and will start shipping April 18th.
This is the year of affordable 4K monitors with other manufacturers also selling 28-inch displays with sub-$1000 price tags. Lenovo will start selling the ThinkVision Pro2840m in April for $800, while Asus plans to launch its own $800 28-inch offering in Q2 2014. Announced earlier this year, Dell already is selling the 28-inch 4K P2815Q for under $700 on its website.
For those interested in 1080P monitors, Samsung also announced the SD390 and SD590 models. Both monitors will be available in 23.6 and 27-inch sizes and will feature a combination of HDMI and VGA ports. Pricing will start at $250 for the D390 and $310 for the SD590 when the monitors go on sale later in April.


Here at Don't Count On It Reviews, you can read reviews from different artists from different styles.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Haunted Horses - They Set Us Fevered Water EP (2012)
Country: Seattle, Washington
Style: Experimental Rock
Like most albums I end up covering, I was initially drawn to this release due to its cover, which in comparison to other groups that were in the same list that I was looking at with this, was surprisingly dark. This duo have been pumping out EPs for a little under a year now and this is the first I've heard of them so I was interested. Like the cover suggests, this is the third part of a series of EPs and a continuation of their last one, Oblivion, which came out near the end of last year.
Of the three EPs in this series thus far, this is the longest, with four tracks totaling up to around fifteen minutes of music. In terms of the quality of the release however, I can tell you that it is the duo's most accomplished release yet. Sonically, the duo play a style that seems to take influence from space rock and krautrock as well as more occult based psyche rock, though I'm not sure how descriptive this is for you, I hope that the fact that this is not just an average dark rock record is coming across. The music is very propulsive, with drums retaining an almost robotic pace that drive a song along and keep it grounded despite shifts in everything else around it. Personally, I enjoyed the longer songs on here more than the shorter ones only because an idea felt like it was more fleshed out, though to be perfectly honest, I could see even the longer songs, which happen to not even top six minutes by the way, going on even longer and they would probably be as, if not more, successful at creating a dark and trippy mood.
This is the duo's strongest release thus far and does feel a lot more complete than their previous ones have. I realize that at the moment, all the songs on all three EPs have only been sort of teasers because they are so short, but I do await the day when these guys release an album (hopefully a full-length) with longer songs that get really jammy and psychedelic. These guys are talented and I really am excited to see where they go in the future.
Overall Score: 7.5
Highlights: The Hymn, The Veil


Ebow "Metropolis" Graham, one of the founding members of Foreign Beggars, has passed away after an undisclosed accident at home at the age of 41.
The group - who fuse genres like hip-hop, grime and dubstep - broke the news to fans on social media.
A crowdfunding page has been created to help support Graham's family and 10-year-old son, Cassius, which can be found here.
The GoFundMe page states that Graham “suffered from an accident at home and passed away in the early hours yesterday morning.”
The page continues: “In his recent years, he had been on a spiritual journey and had really been exploring his relationship with existence and the universe, only last week he was in a very serene and happy place with his life, family and artistic vision.
'Some of the last words we heard him say were ‘The only way humanity will heal is when it understands that we are all Gaia and truly understand we are all one.'”
Listen to Foreign Beggars' 2011 collaboration with Skrillex 'Still Getting It' up top, and see some tributes from other artists that have flowed in on social media.


text:
SPOKANE, Wash. - The celebration was barely over, and already Michigan State had to start thinking about life in the NCAA Tournament without injured Kalin Lucas.
Korie Lucious, filling in for the Spartans' star guard, hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to cap a frenetic finish and give depleted Michigan State an 85-83 victory over Maryland yesterday in the second round of the Midwest Regional.
After Lucas went down with a leg injury, the Spartans blew a 16-point lead in the second half. Greivis Vasquez's basket put Maryland ahead 83-82 with 6 seconds left, but Michigan State inbounded immediately and Draymond Green pushed the ball up the floor.
Green passed to Lucious at the top of the key. He dribbled once and launched the game-winner as time expired, setting off a wild celebration as jubilant Spartans players streamed off the bench.
"I had an open look. Time was running down. I just shot it and it went in," Lucious said. "I didn't want the time to go out without getting a shot up."
"I think I'm just going to enjoy this today and I'll worry about Northern Iowa tomorrow morning," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. "This is going to be the 24-hour rule. We're going to enjoy this."
Moments after his team's thrilling victory, Izzo revealed sobering news about Lucas, saying the junior guard likely has a torn Achilles' tendon. That would make it almost impossible for him to play in the round of 16 - or beyond. "That poor kid, he was devastated," Izzo said. "It's a shame for him. But it's part of athletics and we're just going to have to move on."
Izzo added that the diagnosis was not definite because Lucas had yet to have an X-ray on MRI, "but the prognosis is 85 percent of that."
Vasquez's 26 points led the fourth-seeded Terps (24-9).
Evan Turner rebounded from one of the worst shooting nights of his career with 24 points, and second-seeded Ohio State beat foul- and turnover-plagued No. 10 Georgia Tech to advance to the Sweet 16 against Tennessee.

domain: sports


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SAN FRANCISCO BLUES BANDS
Looking to book the perfect Blues Band? GigMasters has a wide selection of bands equipped to entertain at just about any event: weddings, birthdays, club shows, and more. Search in the San Francisco, CA area to find a professional Blues Band near you.
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F.SM01.09.06 Living Sorbents for Arsenic-Contaminated Drinking Water Remediation
Arsenic contamination is a growing problem in several parts of the world today. According to the FDA guidelines, Arsenic levels in Food and Dietary supplements must be regulated less than 10 ppb. But, arsenic levels in groundwater found in Bangladesh, Mexico, Argentina, Western USA, etc are rising to an alarming level. As arsenic poisoning can lead to adverse conditions to cardiovascular health, immune, and nervous system, to resolve this crisis, the presenter of this talk Yidan Bi(Brown University) looks for clues from natural detoxification mechanisms.
The toxicity of As(III) originates from its high affinity to the cysteine residues in proteins. So, the group engineered a benign strain of E. coli to overexpress specific fusion proteins which can impart an improved arsenic scavenging competency. This system is advantageous as it can easily sequester arsenic As(III) ions and bioaccumulate the arsenic. And the arsenic sorption capacity can be hastened to immobilize milligrams of arsenic in a few hours.
The Arsenic removal performance of the biosorbent cells was found to be much better compared to bayoxide in synthetic water as well as various other water matrices (such as altered pH and different salt concentrations). Moreover, the team was able to remove arsenic from water-matrices such as juice and wine. Lastly, to reduce secondary contamination, the bacteria from water is removed using magnetic-assisted labeling. Magnetic nanoparticles are used to label the engineered E. coli bio-sorbent cells which are then easily removed from the system using external magnets. Other solutions like pre-treatment or extensive removal of competing ions along with arsenic could increase the operation cost and unnecessarily eliminate other benign species from water. Comparatively, this method could be cost-friendly and accessible to rural areas that do not have access to fresh potable water and arsenic contaminant removal technology.


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A patient develops pericarditis 19 days after testing positive test for COVID-19. The authors describe how to recognize, diagnose, and treat this condition.
A 61-year-old woman presents to a rural emergency department with complaints of progressively worsening dyspnea for 24 hours and pleuritic chest pain.
Electrocardiography is performed in the emergency department to test for myocardial infarction. Image courtesy of Harrington et al.

domain: medical


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It's hard to believe that Cleveland rap legends Bone Thugs-N-Harmony have been around for 20 years, but that they have, and the group is still putting out great new music and performing with the same energy they had when they began their careers. All members were present, sans the recently departed member Layzie Bone, who announced his departure from the group in September. Bringing their legend to New York City's B.B. King's on Sunday night, the group turned back the clock for die-hard fans, and showed why they have been able to stay in the game for all these years.
On a night that paid tribute to legendary DJ Jam Master Jay for the 11th anniversary of his death, Bone Thugs, after a bit of a delay, came out and rocked NYC with an electrifying array of classic hits. In the spirit of tribute, the group paid homage to the fallen legends they have collaborated with, from 2Pac, to the Notorious B.I.G., to Eazy E and the nostalgic air was heavy in the crowded venue as the remaining four members performed their collaborative classics.
The night was a celebration, as fans were poured drinks from the stage, strange smoke filled the air, and cheers rang as fans celebrated the success and longevity of the pioneering hip-hop group.


Blockchain-Based Pilot for Exchange of Clinical Data Announced by Grapevine World in Collaboration with the University of Southampton and Tiani Spirit
Grapevine World is a decentralized ecosystem for the seamless exchange and utilization of health data in a standardized, secure manner. In collaboration with the University of Southampton and Tiani Spirit, a new blockchain-enabled platform using the trusted Microsoft Azure cloud platform to track the provenance of healthcare data has been developed to break down data barriers and simplify the access and the ability to utilize health data for professionals.
The importance of medical data, its origins and quality have long been recognized in clinical research. Data provenance is the foundation of data quality, commonly implemented by automatically capturing the trace of data manipulation over space and time.
This pilot aims to demonstrate the value of combining market-proven interoperability standards in health data exchange (IHE) and blockchain technology (Hyperledger Fabric) for tracking and assessing health data provenance. The pilot will act as a trial run to assess the potential of the solution for clinical trial matching for one of Grapevine’s early adopters, a Forbes 100 pharmaceutical corporation (requesting to remain unnamed at the time of the announcement).
“Following a successful pilot execution with our early adopter, we are excited to receive strong interest from multiple health and life science organisations to subsequently adopt our solution. Benefiting from Microsoft’s global reach and strong support from the interoperability community, we meet a growing market need and will together overcome the current limitations for achieving a truly connected healthcare community,” highlights Wernhard Berger, Chief Business Development Officer and Co-Founder of Grapevine World.
The “clinical trial matching” use case serves only as an initial launching pad for Grapevine’s platform, which is designed to facilitate the consented data access for various types of organisations with a need for large-scale health data (universities, med- and biotech companies, etc.).
Powered by Azure, Grapevine can more easily overcome privacy, security, performance, and scalability challenges preventing many blockchain-based projects from reaching production stage, and limiting real-world adoption of the emergent technology in healthcare.
“Blockchain holds great potential for healthcare consortiums to collaborate to improve the quality of care, lower costs, and improve the experience of patients and healthcare workers. Powered by Microsoft Azure, Grapevine can overcome many of the challenges preventing many blockchain-based projects from reaching production stage, and limiting real-world adoption of this emergent technology in healthcare. Azure delivers industry-leading cloud-based security and compliance capabilities to empower healthcare consortiums to leverage blockchain to its full potential to help improve healthcare.” David Houlding CISSP CIPP, Principal Healthcare Lead, Microsoft Azure.
Find more information about how this joint solution can benefit your organisation at site.


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2D & TMD Materials
- Channel: mechanically exfoliated MoS2 flakes
- Gate dielectrics: Al2O3/SiO2
- Metal contacts: Ti/Au
- Substrates: flexible PEN
- Contact annealing: Nd:YVO4 pico-second pulsed laser
- Transfer characteristics : on-current and field-effect mobility increase
- Output characteristics: output resistance increases
- Suggested mechanism: laser annealing on contacts → increased carrier concentration at the junction → reduced tunneling
Multilayer MoS2 phototransistor in a local bottom-gate structure. a) 3D schematic figure of a local bottom-gate MoS2 phototransistor. b) Optical microscopy image and c) 3D AFM topographic image of the device, showing ungated MoS2 channel regions (gate underlap) between the gate and the source/drain electrodes. d) Topological analysis of line profile data obtained along red line in Figure c. (Inset) Cross-sectional view of the device.
a) Transfer characteristic (Ids−Vgs) curve and field-effect mobility of the local bottom-gate multilayer MoS2 phototransistor at Vgs= 1 V. b) Output characteristic (Ids−Vgs) curves of the same device with different gate biases (Vgs−Vth = 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 V).

domain: design


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Do you always shy away from making caramel frosting for your cake? No worries here-- this is the easiest caramel frosting ever. It takes its time firming up, so there's no need to rush while frosting the layers.
1 (4.5-oz.) package dark chocolate-covered almonds, halved (we tested with Dove)
How to Make It
Beat butter and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; add to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Pour batter into 2 greased and floured 8" round cake pans.
Bake at 350° for 26 to 28 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks. Wrap and chill cake layers at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours. (This step enables you to split layers with ease.)
Using a serrated knife, slice cake layers in half horizontally to make 4 layers. Place 1 layer on a cake plate. Spread with 1/2 cup Whipped Cream Caramel Frosting. Repeat procedure with remaining 3 layers. Frost sides and top of cake with remaining frosting. Decorate cake with broken toffee bars and chocolate-covered almonds. Store in refrigerator.
I have to agree with Lygia. The frosting is WAY TOO sweet. I did follow Lygia's advice to cook the caramel long enough to melt the sugar so the caramel was smooth but the powdered sugar did not incorporate smoothly. I added enough whipping cream to get the frosting to a spreadable consistency. The frosting was delicious but after about 3 or 4 bites, you've had enough. I am going to try cutting the caramel mixture in half and using whipped cream to expand the frosting, hopefully keeping the yummy caramel flavor but cutting the sugar content. Or I would use this on mini cupcakes. The cake was nothing special, though.
cake good. frosting, ICK! wayyyyy tooo sweet. the instructions should specify cooking the sugar until it's melted. I folllowed the instructions and I had crunchy frosting. not making the frosting again. the cake was good, dense cake.
Eat Well. Lose Weight. Live Healthy. Delicious and healthy recipes customized for you!


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The URC was founded by Fran Rahn and Laura Passanita to focus attention on the Ukrainian Orphans. To accomplish this the URC works closely with local churches and other non profit organizations, locally and in Ukraine. “It is our desire to see children without families touched by the love of Jesus Christ and their spirits be filled with hope for their future,” said Fran and Laura, the URC’s founders.
The URC works to raise awareness for Ukrainian Orphans by focusing on Child Hosting Programs, Missions Trips to Ukraine, and International Adoption. Each program is designed to show the children who may feel unwanted that someone cares and that they are special, even if they are 4,000 miles away.
The Child Hosting Program operates as either a summer or holiday opportunity for a small group of Ukrainian children to experience life in a family setting in America. This is a once in a lifetime dream for these children, many of whom have never been outside their own city.
The Missions focus is designed to send small groups to Ukraine to spend time in the orphanages with the children one-on-one as a way to get to know them and their way of life. Through sharing the love of Christ, conducting Vacation Bible School, and various other activities, the missions strive to bring hope into their lives. While visiting in Ukraine the URC also provides humanitarian aid such as clothing, shoes, school supplies and sports equipment. During the Christmas season the URC hosts the Christmas Shoebox Campaign where gift-wrapped shoeboxes full of goodies are sent to each child.
If you would like to find out how you can get involved in supporting a Ukrainian Orphan, pleasecontact us today. There are many opportunities available and the needs are overwhelming.


ABOVE: This is your standard four-cylinder crank, with the two outside pistons going up and down together, and the central pair balancing them out
Fundamentally, the crankshaft performs a simple task: translate the linear motion of the pistons into rotation. It’s doing the same job as the crank arm of a bicycle, which turns the more-or-less up and down motion of your legs into rotation.
Although the principal is simple, there are complications aplenty when it comes to high performance motorcycle engines. But before we get into them, we need a few definitions. The crankshaft (or crank) is connected to the pistons by connecting rods (conrods), which have a bearing at each end. The end connected to the crank is bigger, because the bearing it holds has to fit around the crank, which has to be chunky to resist a multitude of forces. So that’s called the big end. The bits of the crank which hold bearings are called journals - and there are two types. The main journals are where the crank is held in place, so these are along the crank’s centreline. The rod journals are, you guessed it, the bits the conrods attach to (these are also known as crank pins). Then there are the webs. These are the lumpy bits which look relatively unmachined compared to the rest of the crankshaft. Their job is to try and balance out the forces created by the pistons flying up and down and the crank itself rotating.
ABOVE: This is a crossplane crank from an R1, and you can see how the pistons aren’t paired – the crank pin for each conrod is offset from previous one.
The forces the crank has to withstand are enormous. As you’d expect, one major force is created by combustion chamber pressure, which slams the piston and conrod down, turning the crank against the resistance of a sticky tyre - the twisting and bending forces associated with that are huge.
Then there are the forces created by piston acceleration. As the piston nears the top of its stroke, for example, the crank is forcing it to decelerate – if it wasn’t attached to the crank, it would fly upwards, smashing into the valves. Though modern pistons (and the associated gubbins of wrist pin, small end bearing etc) are light, the speeds they reach are so high that this deceleration, and the associated forces on the crank, are large.
Besides being strong enough translate explosive linear forces into rotation, a crank also determines when the pistons of a multi-cylinder engine go up and down, which in turn determines the level of vibration, the type of noise it makes and how the bike grips. Take an old Brit twin like a 1960s Triumph Bonneville, for example. These have a crank which lines the two big ends up exactly, so both pistons go up and down in unison – it’s like a single cylinder with two pistons, though they fire on alternate rotations so it’s slightly smoother. Result? Plenty of vibes and that glorious crobba-crobba noise.
By contrast, most inline four-cylinder engines have a crank that sends the centre two pistons up and down together, and the outside two up and down together at opposite times to the central pair. This means the main (primary) forces of the pistons going up and down are balanced, and by firing the cylinders at even intervals there’s a smooth flow of power (which also means the webs can be lighter because they don’t have to keep the crank spinning while it waits ages for the next power pulse).
ABOVE: If this looks longer than the other cranks, it is – it’s from a BMW K1600 six-cylinder engine
There are downsides to this layout though. The crankshaft has to be long, which can make the bike feel fat compared to a twin, and because some of the smaller forces are not balanced, you can get plenty of buzzing vibrations if designers are not clever with engine mounts.
Of course there are plenty of other crank designs - some parallel twins (eg the new BMW F850GS), have cranks with offset crank pins so they mimic the feel and sound of a V-twin. And Yamaha introduced the crossplane crank to four cylinder motors – this uses the same offset crankpins as those twins, which evens out the pulses of what Yamaha calls the inertial torque (which is generated by the crank spinning). The end result is a cool droning engine note and, supposedly, better grip under acceleration.
Then there’s Ducati’s new V4, which sounds and feels ridiculously similar to one of their twins because its crank makes the four pistons move in pairs. The two crankpins (each has two conrods attached in a V4) are offset by 70-degrees so that one pair of cylinders can fire close together, then there’s a pause, then the other pair fire close together. It results in a completely different sound and feel to Honda’s silky smooth V4s, in which the crank pins are separated by 180-degrees.


We Make Ideas Reality.
At Torsion Source, we are proud of the knowledge we have acquired in the garage door market. This makes Torsion Source unique. We can provide design assistance with an understanding of your needs. Our product development team will help explore design options and provide insight to the proper material selection.
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Regardless of the challenge, contact Torsion Source to find a solution.
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The engineering experts at Torsion Source can take your product idea from concept to a finished product. We can assist in the design process with Auto-CAD support, prototyping, and any other testing or modeling that is required.
Beyond the product development cycle, our team of experts focus on the garage door solutions while matching the manufacturing process for that particular application.
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Our unique connection with the channel allows us to provide the latest product ideas and consumer trends.
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Torsion Source Has State-of-the-Art Manufacturing Facilities.
Based on your specific product requirements, Torsion Source will help develop the most efficient and cost effective process for the application.
Torsion utilizes multiple manufacturing processes:
• Metal Stamping: Including progressive dies and assistance with metal alloy selection. All material is tested to the garage door industry standard parameters.
• Solid or Hollow Extrusion: We can color match to your specifications. We also offer cap stock options, embossing or texturing capabilities, and post-production fabrication services.
• Injection Molding: We offer a range of mold types and sizes and we will work with you to determine the best material for your application.
We work hand-in-hand with all our manufacturing locations. This allows for immediate contact to resolve any issues. Regardless of your needs, Torsion Source will develop a process solution that will provide a repeatable, high quality product at an economical price.
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We have ideas for product innovations resulting in cost reduction and efficiency gains. Our industry experts will meet with you in order to better understand your unique situation.
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Contact Torsion Source today for more information!
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The Town of Smithfield approved the last phase of the Waterford Oaks subdivision in 2000 by mistake, planning officials say.
The town Planning Commission voted Tuesday night to accept $77,500 from a developer for homes built without proper zoning. But the reimbursement falls almost $180,000 short of what Isle of Wight County asked Smithfield to accept.
Town officials learned just recently that H.W. Roberson Co. Inc., the Newport News developer of the Waterford Oaks subdivision in Smithfield, built 183 homes but had a rezoning for only 160 lots. The last phase, which allowed for the 23 extra units, was approved by mistake in 2000, town planning officials said.
The original 160-lot count goes back to a 1989 county rezoning. Smithfield annexed the Waterford Oaks area in the late 1990s.
H.W. Roberson developed the 23 extra lots since 2000. But it paid cash incentives -- called proffers, money that helps to offset growth-related cost such as expenses for schools, fire and rescue -- to the town for only 160 lots.
County Planning Director Jonathan Hartley asked the commission during its last meeting in October to request that the developer pay $11,190 for each of the 23 lots, which would have totaled more than $257,000.
The company agreed Tuesday to pay $2,500 per additional lot and $20,000 to the town for lighting and other upgrades for Waterford Oaks.
According to the town's annexation agreement with the county, Smithfield has to pass on 80 percent of these cash incentives to Isle of Wight.
"In all fairness, it was an oversight on everyone's part," Planning Commissioner Delores Cahoon said. "Since this was something that happened several years ago, before all these proffer studies were done, I feel like we should not punish them for this oversight."
The $11,190-per-lot price tag concurs with the county's recent proffer study. It will ask developers in the future to voluntarily shell out more money to help pay for growth in Isle of Wight. The county is building a $19 million middle school in Smithfield. Also, town residents will soon have to pay higher rates for a $2 million filtering system to reduce high fluoride levels in Smithfield's drinking water.
Between 1998 and 2000, builders paid the county and Smithfield an average of about $2,000 per lot in cash incentives. In the future, developers might have to dig increasingly deeper into their pockets.
The developer of Mallory Pointe off Battery Park Road has recently offered $11,770 for each of the 265 units, the largest payment per home in town and county history. *


I first tried the Dragonfly and I felt Dragonfly is not for me, it does not share the same repo as FreeBSD despite it is based on FreeBSD. So I tried the FreeBSD then tried the OpenBSD, and I still like FreeBSD because the installation as compared with OpenBSD is friendlier and more automatic than … Continue reading [FreeBSD] Installation and setting up
So on my XFCE i cannot click on shutdown or restart, both buttons are greyed out. So I check the information with this command pkg info -D xfce4-session which gives this information. So I created a new rule file known as shutdown.rules and put the following contents inside the file. there is no need to … Continue reading [FreeBSD]Grey out shutdown and restart button in XFCE
Dragonfly is a FreeBSD distribution, the installation wizard is the command line type of menu, I had a feeling of nostalgic, I am a Windows and Linux user on modern Linux desktop distribution especially those forked from Debian or Ubuntu have very intuitive and attractive installation wizard which even tries to dynamically detect the hardware … Continue reading [FreeBSD]Installing Dragonfly BSD
There are two functions in python which can convert the ascii to the integer equivalent and vice versa. To convert ascii character to integer representation use ord(), to convert integer to ascii representation use chr(). Example: Result [104, 101, 108, 108, 111, 32, 119, 111, 114, 108, 100, 33] hello world!
I wrote this script to teach myself on how to do RSA key generation (public key e and private key d), and how to encrypt and decrypt message mathematically. This tool will also be used as a refresher if I have forgotten how to calculate the RSA mathematics. This learning tool presents how the Euclidean … Continue reading [python]RSA mathematics learning tool
I took my exam last night, and I guessed I would fail as I did not know how to calculate extended Euclidean Algorithm required for RSA. I came across this video, which explained eGCD really well, better than the slides I had and the tutor's explanation, the substitution method explained by my tutor was confusing. … Continue reading [python]Extended Euclidean Algorithm
I am studying how to calculate RSA, and in the way the formula has something related to GCD, not only in RSA also in Affine Cipher also has a condition that gcd(a, b) = 1 when choosing a and b as keys. So this is a code snippet after I have learned about gcd. The … Continue reading [python] Greatest Common Denominator