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It is rare in my world of bookselling that an event causes a Constitutional examination. A few weeks ago, we got to witness our Constitution being tested when the President tried to stop the release of Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury. As an attorney, I am always fascinated by these types of events from a non-political viewpoint. Regardless of what the text says, I thought it may be interesting to look at the series of events from a Constitutional perspective.
Our trade magazine, Publishers Weekly, published the letter that the President of Macmillan wrote to his employees explaining the company’s position when it responded to the President’s Cease and desist demand letter. I am proud of our Constitution and strongly believe that every time it is tested, we always come out the other side as a better Country. Here are the a few of the Constitutional opinions that he shared:
…This is very clearly defined in Supreme Court case law, most prominently in the Pentagon Papers case. As Justice Hugo Black explained in his concurrence: “Both the history and language of the First Amendment support the view that the press must be left free to publish news, whatever the source, without censorship, injunctions, or prior restraints. In the First Amendment, the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government's power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government.”
Then there is Justice William Brennan’s opinion in The New York Times Co. v. Sullivan:
“Thus, we consider this case against the background of a profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust and wide-open, and that it may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.”
And finally, Chief Justice Warren Burger in another landmark case:
“The thread running through all these cases is that prior restraints on speech and publication are the most serious and least tolerable infringement on First Amendment rights.”
If you would like to read the entire letter, we have uploaded it on our website and can be found by clicking here.


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I've been painting since I was a child. Later on in life, I studied architecture, landscape design, as well as graphic design.
My values rest in the tradition of art. To me, art is more than just a pretty picture or striking composition. It is about provoking thought, evoking emotion, and captivating audiences.
As a person, I am passionate about life, nature, and the evolution of human kind. I draw my inspirations from these fundamental subjects. I draw upon my experience as an architect to create abstract, geometric compositions.
My paintings tend to focus on the conflict and harsh reality of life, as well as the fragility of people. As human beings, we constantly search for the meaning of life. As artists, we are active connoisseurs of beauty.
Within my work, I try to capture the intense emotions that life extracts from us.

domain: artistic


Will old users upgrade to the new iPhone 7?
One of the key drivers for the sale of Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone 7 will be the willingness of current iPhone users to upgrade and purchase the latest model. According to Piper Jaffray analyst, Gene Munster, the current iPhone installed base for customers using handsets more than two years old is approximately 275 million. A majority of these users will have handsets that have a screen size of 4-inches or smaller.
As we discussed earlier in this series, the base model of iPhone 7 will have a 4.7-inch screen while the larger “Plus” model will have a screen size of 5.5 inches. Munster forecasted iPhone sales to reach 234.5 million units in fiscal 2017, with 150 million units estimated to be of the new iPhone 7 model.
Sales fell in the past two quarters
According to research firm Gartner, 344 million smartphones were used worldwide in 2Q16. Apple’s share in the global smartphone market fell to 12.9% in 2Q16 from 14.6% in 2Q15. Gartner stated that Android (GOOG) (GOOGL) leads the OS (operating system) platform with 86.2%, followed by Apple at 12.9%.
Apple’s iPhone revenue fell by 26.8% YoY (year-over-year) to $24.0 billion in fiscal 3Q16 from $32.9 billion in fiscal 3Q15. Also, iPhone unit shipments fell by 21% YoY to 40.4 million units from 51.2 million units in fiscal 3Q15.
Apple’s revenues fell for the first time in 13 years in fiscal 2Q16 when the firm’s revenue of $50.6 billion was lower than the consensus analyst estimate of $51.5 billion.
The iPhone generates over 55% of Apple’s revenue, and any impact in revenue for this segment will significantly impact overall revenue as well.


Deshler Public Schools is excited to have Lt. Colonel Jan Frye as our guest speaker at our Veterans Day Program on Friday, November 11th, at 10 AM. U.S. Army Colonel (Retired) Jan Frye is a native of Chester, NE. He graduated from UNK in 1972 as a distinguished military graduate, receiving his Army Officer Commission upon graduation.
Frye entered active duty in 1973 and served in Korea as his first duty assignment. He served in numerous and varied leadership positions during his 30-year military career, including assignments in ten states within the U.S. and on multiple tours in Europe and Asia.
As a senior officer, he served as the:
- Deputy Commander, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois
- Commander, Defense Contract Management Command, United Kingdom
- Commander, Defense Contract Management Command, Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Commander, Defense Contract Management Command, Kaposvar, Hungary
- Commander, Contracting Command Korea, Deputy Principal Assistant for Contracting, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, D.C.
- Principal Assistant for Contracting, U.S. Army Surface Depoyment, and
- Principal Assistant for Contracting, U.S. Army Surface Deployment & Distribution Command, Alexandria, Virginia.
In addition to his undergraduate degree, he holds Masters Degrees from:
- Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida, and
- National Defense University, Washington D.C.
He is also a graduate of the Army's Command and General Staff College, the Defense Systems Management College, and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.
He retired from active service in 2004, and among his numerous awards and decorations, include the:
- Legion of Merit (with Oak Leaf Cluster), and the
- Parachute Badge.
In 2005, he was selected to serve as a member of the Federal Senior Executive Service in Washington, D.C. While in that role, he served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition & Logistics, Department of Veteran Affairs. He was responsible for all acquisition and logistic programs in one of the federal government's largest cabinet-level departments, encompassing over $30 billion dollars annually in total expenditures.
In October of 2011, President Barack Obama appointed him as a commissioner on the U.S. Ability One Commission. Mr. Frye continued to serve on this White House commission for seven years under both President Obama and President Trump.
In 2018, Frye retired for the second time. He and his wife Carrie moved to Gretna, Nebraska, where they enjoy helping to raise their two grandchildren.


The MAGNET vision is that Personal Networks (PNs) will support users' professional and private activities, without being obtrusive and while safeguarding their privacy and security. A PN may operate in both ad-hoc and infrastructure based networks and will be dynamic and diverse in composition, configuration and connectivity depending on time, place and circumstances as well as resources required, and last but not least preferred and/or needed co-operating partners.
The MAGNET mission is to enable commercially viable PNs that are attractive, affordable and beneficial for end-users in their everyday life. The MAGNET project constitutes a system approach to what is expected to be one of the most important telecom related growth markets of the future, Personal Area Network (PAN) style networking. MAGNET does not treat PAN networking in isolation: the concept is extended into that of a PN by interconnecting PANs with, in particular wireless wide area networks to access the rich services available on and trough these networks, including the interconnection to other PANs. The project builds on significant advances in peer-to-peer networking, interworking with infrastructure-based networks, wireless technology for PN and security in networking and services.
The project provides advances in PN concept that include:
- Architecture of PNs
- Insight into business models for PNs and related mobile data services in heterogeneous environments
- Networking issues at PN and PAN level: resource and context discovery, self-organization, mobility management, addressing and routing, service discovery
- Security and privacy issues
- Adaptive and configurable radio access sub-systems covering a wide range of data rates, optimised for low-power.
Solutions are tested though working prototypes of a PN, including a core PAN and remote clusters of devices. MAGNET will also provide input and recommendations to standardisation and regulatory bodies and relevant fora.
Funding SchemeIP - Integrated Project
UB8 3PH Uxbridge
75752 Paris Cedex 15
184-8795 Koganei, Tokyo
2800 Kgs. Lyngby
75013 Paris 13
NJ 07974 Murray Hill
1221 CN Hilversum
SN5 6PP Swindon, Wiltshire
221 00 Lund
KT6 0PS Chertsey
400001 Mumbai, Maharashtra
2628 BL Delft
GU2 7XH Guildford


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Melodrama has tended to characterise the reporting of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (Gatt). Peter Sutherland, Gatt's director-general, has warned that, if the 116 countries involved fail to sign a deal at Blair House in Washington on Wednesday, 'the law of the jungle' will rule. Loss of business confidence, a new twist to recession, even stock market collapses are threatened. Faced with extraordinarily complex issues, the media largely repeat what they are told. And what they are told is, eventually, what everyone comes to believe. How can anyone oppose trade if it is free?
Yet there is a world beyond Gatt. Contrary to the widespread impression that civilisation may founder if the talks fail, many people believe that the prospects for civilised life may be enhanced.
Shorn of its detail - multi-
fibre arrangements, intellectual property rights, Japanese rice imports and the like - Gatt represents an attempt to expand, enormously, the cash economy and the market imperative. This will allow goods and capital to flow more easily and quickly round the world, creating new markets and new jobs. The world's money economy, as measured by trade flows or national income, should grow. Good news all round, surely?
That depends on who gets the new jobs and what they cost - socially and environmentally. According to a study by the Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD), representing the rich nations, and the World Bank, a successful Gatt would add dollars 270bn a year (about pounds 180bn) to world income by 2002. Even if this were true - and one of Gatt's senior economic advisers has admitted that such figures are 'almost astrological' - the benefits would not be uniform and comprehensive. In some projections, the European Union wins - thanks largely to the dismantling of farm protectionism - but much of northern and sub-Saharan Africa, Indonesia, and the Mediterranean countries lose. In others, Brazil, Mexico and Canada lose, too. China wins, and so, just, does the US.
THE justification for expanding world trade is that, though the rich may get richer, the poor will be better off, too. The extra money will 'trickle down' to needier countries and, within each country, to the neediest parts of society.
But we have already seen an elevenfold growth in world trade since 1945 and many Third World specialists believe that the 'trickle- down' theory has failed. World poverty, both relatively and absolutely, is growing, they argue. Per capita income in the Third World actually fell in the 1980s. According to Michael Barratt Brown, chairman of the Third World Network, economists who argue that the market acts as an escalator, carrying the poor up behind the rich, are wrong. In the last three decades, he says, development 'has intensified the inequality of incomes, with the poorest countries most adversely affected'.
The 1980s also saw a widening of income differentials within the rich countries. Deregulatory policies - the lifting of employee protection, the abolition of exchange controls - have made Britain as a whole richer. But the poor have become poorer. The poorest fifth are worse off now than in 1979 - the poorest 10 per cent, for example, are 14 per cent worse off. Income differentials have widened from 10 to one in the 1970s to 18 to one. In the US, another enthusiastic deregulator, real wages for shopfloor staff fell by 18 per cent during the late 1970s and 1980s, while the executive classes gained.
Many critics, such as Tim Lang, director of Parents for Safe Food and co-author with Colin Hines of The New Protectionism, believe the 1980s were a dress rehearsal for the post-Gatt world. The financial gains from a Gatt deal, applied to an unequal world, would simply exacerbate its inequalities, they argue. The result would be the creation of a vast underclass - a source of crime and social instability - increasingly vulnerable to the movements of international capital.
The British government, for example, is already promoting Britain as a low-wage economy. Last year our labour costs were 12th out of 16 EU and European Free Trade Association countries. Hence the charges of 'social dumping' levelled at the UK when Hoover decided earlier this year to transfer production from Dijon in France to Cambuslang near Glasgow. Such policies may make some sense in a European context - but how far can they be taken?
Britain undercuts France and America in labour costs by 15 to 20 per cent. Compared with the Norwegians, whose labour costs are 76 per cent higher, we are an investor's dream. But set us against the Third World and we are priced out of the market. Mexico's labour costs are less than 15 per cent of ours.
And if Britain in the 1980s was a rehearsal for Gatt - rising crime, diminishing neighbourliness, longer working hours and increased unemployment - then in Mexico, critics argue, you can see the real thing. Along the Rio Grande border with the United States, multinational companies have taken advantage of rock-bottom wages (the equivalent of 35p an hour in one television plant) and almost non-existent environmental, social and employment protection standards to set up nearly 1,800 export-only factories - so-called maquiladoras -
employing half a million workers.
The result, according to Susan George, a director of the Transnational Institute, a development think-tank, is 'an ecological disaster zone'. Border towns have been turned into toxic dumps, rivers flow with hazardous waste, sewage routinely contaminates drinking water. In some border areas, the rate of anencephaly - babies born with no, or with partial brains - is four times the national average. 'For ordinary people,' Ms George says, 'crowded and unsanitary living conditions, social degradation and rampant environmental destruction have combined to make the maquiladora zone a reasonable facsimile of hell on earth.'
Throughout the world, governments are emulating Britain and Mexico in a Dutch auction of their labour costs aimed at luring multinational investment. Hence the rise of the so-called export processing zones - bits of national territory using cheap labour to produce consumer goods for the industrialised countries. There are now an estimated 260 such zones in 67 countries: safety is often minimal and trade unions unwelcome.
The zones set in revealing context the benefits to Western consumers that Gatt is supposed to deliver. Gatt's Mr Sutherland argues that consumers 'might be shocked' if they knew how much of their household budget outgoings were affected by trade protection. But might they not be equally shocked to discover how much the promised post-Gatt era of cheap prices owes to daily life in a Third World sweatshop? In May, for example, 210 people, mainly women, died in a factory near Bangkok in Thailand. Last month 81 died in a factory in China's 'special economic zone' of Shenzhen. Both factories were making toys for export, mainly to the West. In both cases, basic safety standards were lacking: doors were locked to prevent theft and absence. Such incidents lend a radically different meaning to the term 'protection'.
But the zones have something else to tell us about the post-Gatt world which citizens of Western democracies may find more difficult to ignore. Many of the jobs in Mexico's maquiladoras were once American. If trade barriers come down, more Western jobs will go to such places. According to a new study by Tim Lang and Colin Hines, published this month, Gatt will produce job losses rather than gains, at least in Europe.
Indeed, these job losses are already happening. In the year from March 1992, the top 1,000 British companies shed 1.5 million jobs, about a sixth of their workforce. In Germany, a survey this autumn of 10,000 large and medium-sized companies found one in three planned to transfer production to Eastern Europe or Asia in the next three years because of lower wages and laxer environmental standards. A special commission of the French assembly concluded recently that much of France's unemployment results from companies siting factories in the Third World: it estimated that unemployment in France would rise by 3 to 5 million in the next 10 years. Yet, according to the EU, 25 million new jobs will be needed by 2010 just to cope with a 15 per cent growth in the labour force.
No British government department has estimated the effect of Gatt on the economy or jobs. Nor has the Confederation of British Industry. When asked, all point to the rosy prospects outlined by the OECD, the World Bank and Gatt itself. If they know anything to the contrary, they are not saying.
A POST-GATT world could thus be bad news all round - huge job losses in the rich countries, eco- disasters and sweatshop zones in the Third World. So why do so many governments seem to favour a Gatt deal? The answer partly is that the beneficiaries tend to have political power while the losers do not. In the West, governments can get enough votes from what Professor J K Galbraith has called 'the contented' without worrying about the unemployed. Many Third World leaders do not face the ballot-box and need not trouble themselves about the sweatshop vote at all.
But the most important reason is that Third World governments may have no choice. Post-war development has already taken them down a road from which they are offered little chance of return. Informed that the path to development lies through urbanisation and industrialisation, the Third World borrows money for investment, plants cash crops for export, neglects the peasants, subsidises the city-dweller, encourages the growth of mega-cities. But commodity prices tumble and debts mount.
To recycle the debt, it agrees to more of the same free-trade medicine, in the guise of 'structural adjustment policies' imposed by the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank. These involve dismantling welfare systems, chopping down forests for sale abroad, destroying self-reliant craft industries and replacing barter economies with money economies. Reliance on cash makes them more vulnerable to global capitalism. The debt grows.
The general impression is that the rich world gives money to the poor world. This is quite wrong. Between 1982 and 1990, according to the OECD, the Third World gave the West, in debt servicing and loan repayments, and after all Western aid and investment is taken into account, the staggering sum of dollars 418bn - six times what the US gave to Europe after the war under the Marshall plan. According to development analysts such as Susan George, such huge South-North transfer payments result from the routine, daily operation of the global free market.
The Uruguay Round of Gatt, however, adds a novel twist. Any rule or institution that might prevent another nation's goods from entering freely will be counted as a tariff. (The process is known as 'tariffication'.) It will then, under a Gatt regime, be reduced. Environmental laws - action by countries to ban imports of rainforest timber or to impose rules on product recycling - are among the examples. But ways of life - cultural diversity - are also at stake.
The best-known example is the French film industry - the French government's subsidies are counted as tariffs because they give it an advantage over Hollywood imports. Another, lesser-known example is Japan's large-scale retail store law, which encourages small shops in pedestrianised streets - the hokoosha tengoku or 'pedestrian heavens'. American companies, used to car-borne shopping in the ubiquitous out-of-town mall, do not like pedestrian heavens and American trade negotiators consider them a barrier to trade. If Gatt goes ahead, the law, and the pedestrian heavens, could be tariffied out of existence.
So who does win from Gatt? The evidence suggests that the main winners from the Uruguay Round will be the big multinationals - the 500 companies that already control two-thirds of world trade - and will have an even wider and easier choice of cheap and unregulated locations for their factories. Those Western consumers who manage to hang on to their jobs may do well, too - as long as they do not mind the hours they are forced to work. Third World elites not faced with the choice between a neglected peasant economy and an urban sweatshop should also prosper.
The losers, however, will be a vast and growing proletariat, in both rich and poor countries, whose jobs, wages and employment conditions will depend increasingly on the caprices of international capital. It is a disturbing prospect - of a sort of global slave state. An alternative exists, one that deals more in regulation, moral frameworks, rural development, local and regional self-sufficiency, job sharing - and that might even restore some of the 'freedom' to free trade. The odds are, however, that if the Gatt power blocs sign a deal at Blair House, such alternatives will barely figure in their calculations.
(Photograph omitted)Reuse content

domain: news


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How to prepare your favorite barqs root beer in spain.
The root beer is a beer that contains barley and other ingredients and is commonly used to fill a variety of dishes.
But barqs beer is different: it’s a true beer.
It has the same alcohol content as a pint of Guinness and the flavor is the same.
The barqs barqs, also known as the Spanish-style root beer has a distinctive taste, and a beer like it is hard to resist.
Here are the key questions we asked to find out how to make this root beer.
What is a barqs keg?
A barqs canister is a device used to make a beer from a mixture of malt and water.
The beer is then filtered to remove the alcohol, which is stored in an insulated keg or a cooler.
How long does it take to make barqs?
A typical barqs fermentation takes around two weeks.
How do I get started?
Start by using a beer filter.
The filter is made from a small metal piece that is screwed onto a plastic bottle cap.
Once the beer is cold, it is then placed in a plastic bucket.
After the beer has fermented for around 10 hours, it can be transferred to a keg that has been insulated.
How much water is in the keg and how long does the beer have to ferment?
A good barqs recipe includes around two liters of water for every liter of malt in the beer.
This is enough water to give you about 3-5 litres of beer, depending on the type of malt.
To ferment the beer, it needs around 5 liters (2 liters per barrel).
How do you remove the malt from the beer?
The malt is removed by pouring it through a wooden tube.
A metal funnel is then inserted into the tube and the malt is added to the top.
The tube is then tightened and the beer fermentation starts.
What’s in the glass?
The beer has about 10 percent alcohol.
How many times can I drink it?
The number of times you can drink it depends on the style of barqs you make.
You can have up to 5 litres of beer in a barq.
How often can you drink it again?
The barq is good for up to 3 weeks.
Do you need to store it?
If you have the right equipment, the barqs are good for a lifetime.
You don’t need to keep them for long periods of time either.
Do I need to fill the barq with water?
No, it’s OK to leave the beer in the bottle if you want to keep it fresh.
What happens to the beer after it’s done fermenting?
The alcohol is left in the barqi, so it can easily be stored for up a few years.
If it gets too cloudy or the temperature gets too hot, it could become a problem for you.
What are some other fun things to make with barqs.
The following recipes are great for barqs:

domain: hobby


text:
Top Things to do in Cabarete
Top Things to do in Cabarete (other than Surfing & Yoga)
Caberete, the action sport capital of the Caribbean. Located on the North coast of the Dominican republic, 20 minutes from Puerto Plata international airport (POP).
The first words that come to most peoples minds when they think of a holiday to the Dominican Republic is: Lazy all inclusive holiday. Whilst this is true for most resort towns in the DR like Punta Cana, Sosua, Puerto Plata. It couldn’t be further from the truth for Cabarete.
No gated big all inclusive resorts are found in Cabarete. What you will find is lots of smaller hotels / guesthouses and B&B’s. Why? The people that visit Cabarete are not your average lazy all inclusive hotel guests that sit on a sunbed and drink horrible cheap rum & coke’s from a plastic cup. The average tourist visiting Cabarete is there to be active in, under or above the water.
So what are the Top Things to do in Cabarete?
1. KiteSurfing and Windsurfing
Cabarete is ranked as one of the world’s top Kitesurfing and windsurfing destinations in the world. Big beaches, side onshore trade winds make for safe conditions for kitesurfers of all levels. The other reasons that beginners, intermediates & pros all love Cabarete is the variety of kite surfing spots in and around Cabarete. From the flat water at la Boca to the waves on the offshore reefs or the flat water at Kitebeach cabarete that is ideal for beginners and intermediates
2. Snorkeling and Diving
A short drive from Cabarete is Sosua. Clear water makes for great snorkelling and diving. There are a few dive operators offering half day snorkelling trips. From Swell we usually organize a snorkeling trip to Sosua once per week. Ask our manager for the snorkeling schedule. It is also possible to do a Padi dive course in Sosua or Cabarete.
3. Canyoning through the waterfalls
Swell guests repeatedly say that the Cayoning trip organised by Helmut and Matt for Swell is one of the best adrenaline fun filled day trips they have ever done. Expect to see spectacular scenery, jumping off waterfalls, swimming through gorges.
4. Enjoy fine food and drinks at Cabarete beach
Cabarete beach has a great dining and party scene. Start of with a sunset drink on one of the beach side bars, under palms trees on a white sandy beach. Then enjoy some fine food, from new york steak to fine sea food. Top recommendations are La Casita de Papi’s sea food restaurant right on the beach.
Party scene: the bars and nightclubs start to getting going by 10 in the evening until …. well..late. Which days of the week? Any day although friday and saturday it’s usually a BIG party.
5.Take a day trip to Playa Grande & ziplining at Laguna Dudu
Playa Grande is an hour away from Cabarete and is a stunning white sandy beach, lined with tall palm trees, and no development. Laguna El Dudu is an exciting and mostly unknown attraction on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. It requires a bit of bravery before one is able to swim in the water as the lagoon is surrounded by natural cliffs from which to jump into refreshment.
This is just a short list of the top things you can do in and around Cabarete, there’s loads more stuff to do. Have a look at this video and see for yourself if Cabarete and Swell Surf & Yoga retreat is the kind of place for your active holiday.
TOP ACTIVITIES IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Want to see more ideas on what the Dominican republic has to offer? Read our extensive article on the top 20 DR activities
Interested in an Active Surf & Yoa Holiday? Send us a message
Read our 5 reasons why a visit to the Dominican republic will satisfy all adventure holiday makers
Single / Solo Traveller? Read this article why Swell is the place for you
“Think of Swell as the anti-surf camp. There’s plenty of surfing, of course, but the similarities to other surf camps end there. For starters, the rooms are stylish — more boutique surf hotel than reggae-loving surfer digs. Then there are the legendary breakfasts (omelets, pancakes and crepes, fresh-squeezed orange juice, and fruit bowls). Structured surf lessons take place each morning, with an instructor alongside you and the head surf coach watching from shallow water, ready to offer learn to surf tips between riding waves. If you are serious about learning to surf, then Swell should be on top of your destination list. Highly recommended! ”
[Frommer’s Travel Guides]
Designed with the discerning surfer in mind, Swell Surf Camp is far from a crash pad. The spare clean lines, plush bedding, modern photographs and funky furniture say ‘boutique surf retreat’ but the pool, ping-pong and foosball tables and social vibe suggest otherwise. A huge wood communal table is the center of the hanging-out action, after all the surfing is done. Highly recommended!
SWELL SURF CAMP
THE TOP RATED
CARIBBEAN SURF HOLIDAY
Join us at Swell on a Surf, Yoga & Adventure Holiday

domain: geography


13 April 2021
During March 2021, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) published the eagerly awaited "Danske Bank" ruling (Case C-812/19) which dealt with the question as to whether or not a Swedish branch of a principal establishment that is established in a different EU Member State (Denmark in this case) should be considered to be an independent taxable person in situations where the principal establishment forms part of a VAT group in that other EU Member State.
Given the particular facts of the case, it is relevant to note that this case should not have any impact on VAT Groups formed between members that are exclusively established in one EU Member State.
The VAT treatment of services supplied between a principal establishment and its branch established in a different EU Member State was previously contemplated in the FCE Bank case (Case C-210/04). Given the specific fact pattern of that case, the CJEU held that the branch was not independent from its head office and this on the basis that it was not to be considered a legal entity distinct from the company of which it forms part. Thus, there was no legal relationship between the principal establishment and its branch (since they formed a single taxable person) and the services between the principal establishment and its branches should fall outside the scope of VAT.
On the other hand, by virtue of its ruling in the Danske Bank case, and mirroring its previous decision in the Skandia case (Case C-7/13), the CJEU found that the Swedish branch and the Danish VAT group of which the principal establishment forms part should be regarded as two separate taxable persons. This essentially means that services provided by the principal establishment that forms part of the Danish VAT group to the Swedish branch should not be disregarded as non-taxable internal flows - and may therefore be subject to VAT.
In deciding this case, the CJEU also took into consideration the territorial boundaries applicable to the Danish VAT group imposed by Danish law as a critical factor on which the decision was based.
Such territorial boundaries imply that only establishments in the territory of a VAT Group may form part of that VAT Group. In the context of the Danske Bank case, this effectively meant that the Swedish branch of the Danish principal establishment forming part of a Danish VAT group could not be considered to form part of the VAT Group since, in terms of Danish VAT law, only establishments situated in Denmark could form part of the VAT Group.
Maltese VAT grouping regulations do not contain the same extent of territorial limitations that both Sweden and Denmark have. In fact, the Maltese VAT grouping regulations allow, in certain situations, for non-Maltese establishments (or principle establishments) of a member of a Maltese VAT Group to also be considered to form part of the Maltese VAT Group for Maltese VAT purposes. Furthermore, the said regulations already take into consideration the Skadia decision that was mirrored in the Danske Bank case. On this basis, we do not anticipate any changes to the Maltese VAT grouping regulations as a result of this particular case.
However, we would nonetheless suggest that multinational enterprises which have establishments in and outside of Malta that form part of a Maltese VAT Group to assess whether the interpretation of the Danske Bank case impacts the VAT treatment of supplies provided between the members of their VAT Group.
Tax Partner, PwC Malta
Tel: +356 2564 6897
Senior Manager, Tax, PwC Malta
Tel: +356 2564 2427
Manager, Tax, PwC Malta
Tel: +356 2564 6442


text:
12. What is discretionary fiscal policy?
13. Discuss an important difference between the spending and tax multipliers.
14. Determine the net impact upon the nation's economy that results from equal increases in spending and taxes of $10 billion when the MPCis .8.
15. For the economy to be in equilibrium what must be the relationship between government spending, investment, savings, and tax revenue. (Hint: write out an equation)
16. Suppose that the MPS = .2 and the government is interested in raising the level of output in the economy by $100 billion. Calculate how much the government would have to spend to achieve this objective.
17. Assume that the government spending multiplier is equal to 4. Calculate the tax multiplier from this information.
18. Explain how some government tax revenue and spending can depend on the state of the economy.

domain: finance


text:
General terms and conditions
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- Any person who enters into a contract with Travel Organisation Holland= on behalf of or for the benefit of another person is severally liable for all obligations arising from the contract.
- If the counter party has included general terms and conditions that conflict with the general terms and conditions of Travel Organisation Holland=, the terms and conditions of Travel Organisation Holland= prevail, unless explicitly and written agreed by both parties.
Contract / Prices / Payments
- Prices only includes that what is explicitly offered in the contract by Travel Organisation Holland=.
- Prices exclude VAT, governmental levies, unless they have been indicated in the contract.
- All propositions and offers made by Travel Organisation Holland=, are without engagement. Without mentioning of a period of acceptance, there cannot be any liability or claim on the propositions done by Travel Organisation Holland=.
- The contract applies only to the date and duration mentioned in the contract.
- Travel Organisation Holland= is allowed to let third parties carry out (parts of) the contract. Articles 7:404, 7:407 lid 2 and 7:409 BW are explicitly excluded.
- Counter parties are liable themselves for adequate insurance (e.g. cancellation, health, loss of property).
- Payments need to be made in the currency mentioned in the contract.
- Upon conclusion of a contract with Travel Organisation Holland= an advance payment must be paid of 20% of the total agreed sum within 14 days.
- If the performance agreed upon, starts/takes place within 14 days, the total agreed sum must be paid immediately and in full.
- The remainder of the agreed upon sum must in all cases be received by Travel Organisation Holland= no later than 14 days before the performance agreed upon starts/takes place.
- In case of late payment, the counter party is without prior notification automatically in default. Travel Organisation Holland= has in that case the right to terminate the contract. Travel Organisation Holland= has the right to claim the costs which have already been made for the contract.

domain: travel


Analysis of FOVEON multi-spectral sensor for counter-camouflage, concealment and deception applications
Nugent, Devon Courtney
Olsen, Richard C.
MetadataShow full item record
D techniques. A commercial off the shelf (COTS) imagery sensor able to distinguish near-infrared (NIR), near-ultraviolet (NUV), and visible wavelengths has been studied. The FOVEON image sensor, a multi-layer focal plane technology, was used in a simple camera implementation to test its viability as a multispectral imager. As expected the sensor functioned as both a visible and NIR detector. Vegetation was easily distinguished based on its NIR reflectance, and man-made materials could be effectively separated from the background.
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
Harrison, Stephen C. W. (Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School, 2009-12);Several articles have been written on Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) based microphones including directional sound sensors, mimicking the hearing of the fly, Ormia Ochracea. Determining the operating characteristics ...
Method and apparatus for hybrid time synchronization based on broadcast sequencing for wireless ad hoc networks Park, Sung C.; Tummala, Murali; McEachen, John C. (United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy, Washington, DC (US), 2017-06-27);Synchronizing a plurality of sensors of a wireless sensor network includes initiating, by a first sensor, a flood broadcast of a sequence discovery packet in the wireless sensor network; creating, by the first sensor ...
Gardner, D.L.; Hofler, T.; Baker, S.R.; Yarber, R.K.; Garrett, S.L. (1987-07);A fiber-optic interferometric sensor has been developed which consists of a seismic mass of 520 gm supported by two rubber mandrels, each wound with a single layer of single-mode optical fiber 6.5 m long. One end of ...


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I had some leftover crockpot chicken and a hungry husband, so I tried this fairly quick recipe for Tom Kha Gai. It has a lot of ingredients and I didn't have all of them but some of the swaps listed in the comments were helpful.
I added some yellow squash from the garden since I had it. I didn't have fresh lemongrass so I used some freeze dried I picked up. I don't know that I would do that again unless I put it in something so I could remove it between cooking and eating. I thought the soup had a little too much fish sauce (as you can see from the color) but otherwise, it was really good and we would have it again (although he was careful to tell me "not ALL the time, just every once in a while.")

domain: food


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domain: entertainment


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Army Reserves lieutenant colonel indicted for fraud Prosecutors say an Army Reserves lieutenant colonel has been indicted on accusations of fraudulently supplying Chinese-made baseball caps and backpacks as American-made gear to the Army Recruiting Command.
Thu, 26 May 2016 00:19:04 +0000 Feds blame pilot error, lack of oversight in Marine's death Federal investigators blame the Marine Corps, the Air Force and the pilot and operator of a privately-owned military jet for the death of a Marine killed last year when the jet crashed into his truck in Arizona.
Special Note: While we know some reliefs are well deserved or earned in every way (like Lt.Col (R) Stemple) - many listed here may be as the result of political correctness, social experimentation and oversensitive service members using the regulations to distract from their own shortcomings. Its up to you to decide!
Ex-brigade commander slammed for behavior -Army report says fired colonel’s underlings lived in ‘abject fear’
By Joe Gould - Staff writer Posted : Sunday Nov 20, 2011


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Helicopter Edited Out Of John Legend & Chrissy Teigen's Super Bowl Commercial After Kobe Bryant Crash
John Legend and Chrissy Teigen’s Super Bowl commercial was edited out of respect for Kobe Bryant. The power couple’s ad for Genesis, a luxury vehicle brand, made a last-minute change and removed a helicopter out of the opening moments of the commercial after the tragic crash on January 26.
“Today we re-cut our Super Bowl ad, to remove a stationary helicopter that was in the opening two seconds of the commercial,” a Genesis spokesperson told USA Today on January 29. “The ad had been filmed, produced and delivered well before Sunday’s tragedy, so we took down the spot out of compassion and sensitivity to the families.”
Before the helicopter was edited out, it sat in front of an extravagant mansion full of “old luxury” stereotypes. Chrissy, 34, and John, 41, star in the brand’s first Super Bowl commercial. In the ad, the former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model made a toast and introduced the “new luxury” car, the Genesis GV80 Sport Utility Vehicle.
However, the introduction didn’t go exactly as planned, which left Chrissy exasperated. Before the “All of Me” singer let his wife into the car, he asked Chrissy for a password. “Sexiest Man Alive,” an irritated Chrissy replied. The commercial is slated to run during the second quarter of Super Bowl LIV on February 2.
Kobe was killed in a helicopter crash on January 26 in Calabasas, California, along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna.
The other passengers that lost their lives in the crash were Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife Keri and their daughter Alyssa, as well as basketball coach Christina Mauser and Gianna's peer Sarah Chester and her mother Payton. The pilot, Ara Zobayan, was also killed.
The exact cause of the helicopter crash has yet to be determined. According to the flight tower audio the day of the crash, the flight tower responders cautioned the pilot of the overcast weather and low flight level. “You’re still too low level for flight following at this time,” the flight tower responder told the pilot moments before the fatal crash.
“I’m so sad and stunned right now,” the EGOT winner tweeted on January 26 in the wake of Kobe’s untimely death. “In Staples Arena, where Kobe created so many memories for all of us, preparing to pay tribute to another brilliant man we lost too soon, Nipsey Hussle. Life can be so brutal and senseless sometimes. Hold on to your loved ones. We miss you, Kobe.”


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domain: chemistry


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Aged care Sydney has recently seen an upsurge in the number of individuals pursuing aged care professional courses because of the growing demand owing to an ageing population. The sudden rise of the elderly population has given rise to several aged care facilities. As our loved ones grow old, they become frail and more dependent on others for daily chores, laundry, bath etc.
People interested in aged care Sydney services look for high quality services, impeccable customer service, quality equipment, extremely hygienic, and a team of highly skilled professionals. Professional courses for aged care Sydney requires everyone to clear basic requirements like trainings and exams. The two major age care professional courses available for nursing homes include Certificate III and IV in aged care Sydney.
The certificate III age care courses are required for caretakers who need to provide personal medical care and attention, whereas Certificate IV is an advanced course recommended for aged care workers and nurses. Aged care professional courses are designed to meet the basic health care requirements of the elderly. Short term courses for Aged care Sydney may include first aid training, basic safety principles, steps to take care of patients and administer medication.

domain: medical


ASEBI: no blind spots!
Modular HEUFT InLine devices have been carrying out a truly gapless all-surface empty bottle inspection for 25 years. Therefore blind spots, that is container areas which remain completely unexamined, have long ceased to be an issue for HEUFT customers. And even more is now possible with the highly automated ASEBIs of the new generation – especially when it comes to a precise glass in glass detection and the reliable identification of base chips.
For some this seems to be something completely new: an in-line inspection which covers all the surfaces of different types of empty bottles from the inner finish to the outer base edge without blind spots. The use of an all-surface empty bottle inspector (ASEBI) has long been an essential target among the major players in the beverage industry: for example Coca-Cola has required one hundred per cent complete coverage of all the bottle areas for over 25 years for an empty bottle inspector to be approved for monitoring a critical control point (CCP) as part of an HACCP concept during the filling and packaging process. Comparable guidelines also apply to, among others, the Deutscher Brauerbund (German Brewers' Association), Verband Deutscher Mineralbrunnen (Association of German Mineral Water Producers) and Union of European Soft Drinks Association.
And in actual fact such an ASEBI is nothing new at all but has already been state of the art since at least 1995. At that time, only four years after the launch of the world's first empty bottle inspector for an efficient linear operation, HEUFT had already placed a modular system on the market which continuously inspected all the surfaces optically and furthermore identified residual liquids such as caustic lye on the base after the bath in the bottle washer. Whether glass, PET, standard or swing top bottles: from that point on all HEUFT InLine devices for inspecting the quality of different types of containers before the filling process always fulfil the essential criterion of a complete coverage without blind spots. No area remains unexamined. The modular and flexible ASEBIs, the automation, operating and detection reliability of which have been continuously expanded, can also be easily integrated along filling lines where space is limited and the installation position correspondingly narrow.
Gapless empty bottle inspection
Nonetheless the optical inspection of all the surfaces also includes the entire base of the bottle as well as the complete outer base edge in order to make glass splinters or chipping, among other things, visible there. And the empty bottle inspectors of the HEUFT InLine II series, with the option of an undistorted view by means of using two modules, carry out an unproblematic coverage of the complete lateral surface of the container from the base edge upwards unlike other devices which scan the sidewall area from just one perspective.
Blind spots at the sidewall where there are, among other things, often unsightly scuffing rings are therefore no longer an issue. Even ACL labels only impair the detection reliability in the non-transparent area – the specific rotation and up to eight undistorted front views of the empty bottle ensure that defects in the glass in addition to applied colour labels also become visible from a different perspective. Faults on or behind ACL labels require a modified illumination and evaluation method. HEUFT has also been dealing with these tasks for years successfully.
Complete coverage without blind spots
The clever combination of base and sidewall inspection ensures, together with the finish, sealing surface as well as underchip or thread inspection, that all the bottle areas are really covered by the high-performance cameras without any gaps and that blind spots are no longer an issue. And there is scope for even more with the pulsed X-ray technology available exclusively from HEUFT which can also be found in the HEUFT InLine II IXS ASEBI:
three-dimensional glass splinters with a size of 2 x 2 x 2 millimetres at the bottom of the bottle can thus be reliably detected even if they are surrounded by residual liquid the surface tension of which weakens the contrast and blurs the edges of the dangerous foreign objects in the camera images. Therefore it has been proved that the detection accuracy of cuboid, plate and needle-shaped glass particles in the bottle colour has increased by up to 29 per cent with the pulsed X-rays. And the X-ray assisted all-surface empty bottle inspection also improves the precision of the fault detection when identifying metal and air inclusions as well as cracks in the glass or shell-shaped fractures and chips on the outer base edge.


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Of late I have been lucky to be able to explore a few new concepts in garden design by designing a garden that’s both outdoors as well as somewhat indoors. ‘Closed in’ you could even say. Imagine a situation such as an inner city courtyard or apartment garden where the walls close in on you and cast shadows over the environment, and where the the light trickles in but only for a limited amount of time…….
I teamed up with the well established Tait Furniture to bring together a garden design to show how you can manage this difficult environment, and we’ve built it as a pop-up garden in the Tait Fitzroy store where it is on display now and for the next couple of weeks. (See details below). It’s aimed at the inner city homeowner looking for a garden that isn’t scared of crossing new borders for both the garden and the extension of the interior.
It’s a garden that represents both Tait and me, as it uses a contemporary colour palette with shape and hints that are of a more outspoken nature. We want people see how with imagination and a bit of daring they can create a back garden that combines the freedom of living, growing plants with great colour and fixed architectural elements to create a feeling of space. A space where they can live the sort of lifestyle they want.
In this sort of space we aren’t lent any borrowed landscape to work with, and are left to build a character all of our own. I looked to create the feeling of cool green in the planting, as when you come home from a long day and you step out into your space, you want to feel refreshed by living plants. We then looked to splash about some colour that would brighten the cold walls and your day, and to provide an area where you can relax and be at one with nature – or entertain into the night.
This space looks to let nature play on the fun side, with plants climbing out of vertical garden towers, and even draping from the string balls that hang and hover in the air for movement. It lets colours change from black and white through to pops of yellow and turquoise including the planters, which also have a hint of spirit, with stripes that interact with the bolder colours. I love to use strong colour but it needs to have some careful thought right across the board, from plants and planters to the green walls, and knowing where to let the eye rest so that it all adds up to an enriched experience.
I’m really glad I was invited to create this garden and I’d like to thank Tait Furniture, and also Bayroad Nursery for the plants, and Pop Plants for the help in setting up.
I think this kind of garden builds a real future for the whole pop-up garden/art experience and what can be achieved from it. I think that there is a whole other side to garden design that needs to be explored in terms of the experience of nature as art, especially within a city environment. Anyway I could talk about this forever but in the meantime…
Come on down and check it out. The installation is at Tait in Melbourne at 176 Johnston St Fitzroy, (10am-6pm M-F, 10-5pm Sat, 11-5pm Sun) up until Sunday, 27 October 2013.


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Femke Meines is a Dutch singer and actress. Meines began her career at age 12, when she represented the Netherlands in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2012, placing seventh. From 2016 to 2017, Meines portrayed Liz in the Disney Channel Netherlands& Flanders series Just Like Me!
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Family Owned and Operated
Douglas Garrison, D.O., Physician
Caitlin Garrison, PA-C, Acne, Aesthetics, and Skin Care Specialist
Melanie Garrison, R.N., Skin Care and Laser Hair Removal Specialist
Douglas E. Garrison, D.O.
Dr. Douglas Garrison: Transforming Lives through Lifestyle Medicine
With an extensive 25-year tenure in medical practice, Dr. Douglas Garrison is a seasoned and compassionate physician dedicated to improving the health and well-being of his patients. Throughout his career, he has successfully treated numerous clients with conditions such as High Blood Pressure, Elevated Cholesterol, Diabetes, Depression, Anxiety, and Painful Conditions.
In alignment with traditional medical practices, Dr. Garrison, like many physicians, initially recommended brief interventions such as diet and exercise before prescribing medications. However, he observed that in most cases, a single medication was insufficient, and over time, patients' conditions tended to worsen.
Driven by a genuine desire to make a profound difference in the lives of his patients, Dr. Garrison has chosen to adopt a different approach—one that prioritizes the significance of lifestyle changes in addressing the root causes of these conditions.
Drawing inspiration from his own journey, Dr. Garrison has personally embraced this new philosophy by making adjustments to his own lifestyle. While he continues to follow his doctors' prescriptions as necessary, he has achieved remarkable improvements by incorporating changes in his Eating Habits, engaging in moderate Activity, and practicing Mindfulness. His personal transformation includes losing 40 pounds, improving Blood Pressure levels, correcting Cholesterol imbalances, and, most significantly, experiencing improvements in Pain management and Mood.
Fueled by his own successes and a fervent passion for empowering others, Dr. Garrison is committed to helping his patients achieve their desired outcomes. Rather than relying solely on medications, he places great emphasis on the power of lifestyle modifications to address the root causes of various health conditions. Through personalized guidance and unwavering support, Dr. Garrison encourages his patients to make positive changes that result in lasting improvements.
Dr. Garrison's expertise and commitment to lifestyle medicine enable him to guide his patients towards optimal health and well-being. With his vast experience and a patient-centered approach, he strives to offer comprehensive care that goes beyond traditional treatment methods.
If you are seeking a physician who will prioritize your overall well-being and empower you to take control of your health through sustainable lifestyle changes, Dr. Douglas Garrison is here to help. Take the first step towards transforming your life and achieving your goals by scheduling a consultation today.
Caitlin Garrison, PA-C, MSPA: Your Trusted Dermatology Expert
Caitlin Garrison, PA-C, is a highly skilled and dedicated dermatology and aesthetic injectables provider with a passion for delivering exceptional care. With nine years of experience in the field, Caitlin has become a trusted professional in the industry, known for her expertise in dermatology and aesthetic treatments.
Caitlin completed her medical education at the prestigious Stanford School of Medicine, graduating in 2011. She further pursued her studies and obtained a Master's Degree in Advanced Physician Assistant Studies from ATSU (A.T. Still University). Currently, she is working on her Doctorate of Business Administration and has an ongoing dissertation at NCU (Northcentral University).
Living in the sunshine-filled state of California, Caitlin understands firsthand the effects of prolonged sun exposure on the skin, including premature aging and skin damage. It is this understanding that fuels her passion for helping individuals prevent and treat skin conditions related to the sun. Caitlin is particularly dedicated to skin cancer screenings and anti-aging treatments, striving to improve the quality of life for her patients by promoting skin health and well-being.
Caitlin's goal is to utilize her extensive knowledge and skills to make a positive impact on the lives of others. She takes pride in providing personalized and compassionate care, ensuring that each patient's unique needs and goals are met. By actively listening to her patients and understanding their aspirations, Caitlin tailors her treatments to deliver the best possible outcomes.
If you are seeking expert guidance and exceptional care for your dermatological concerns or aesthetic needs, Caitlin Garrison, PA-C, is here to assist you. She looks forward to the opportunity to hear your goals and work together towards achieving optimal skin health and overall well-being.
Melanie Garrison, RN
Melanie Garrison, R.N.: Your Trusted Laser Hair Removal Specialist
Welcome to Melanie Garrison, R.N., where we take pride in providing the most effective laser hair removal treatments at the best prices. With over 17 years of experience and a guarantee of exceptional results, Melanie is dedicated to helping you achieve smooth, hair-free skin.
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Schedule your consultation today and embark on your journey to a more confident you. Melanie Garrison, R.N., is here to provide you with the highest quality laser hair removal services and ensure your experience exceeds your expectations.


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Happy Monday! I love Greek food, but don’t we all? One of the classics that I love but I have found is usually done incorrectly in the US is the classic Greek salad. While the Greek Salad from Panera is good an all, it’s just not authentic enough for my liking.
What you may not realize is that the climate in Greece doesn’t yield lettuce so the true Greek salad doesn’t even have much lettuce. In fact, on the islands they rarely get rain and the only reason they can grow tomatoes is because of the moisture that comes off the sea in the morning sticks to the plants and waters them. How crazy is that?! That’s your little “factoid” for the day. While I probably ate one a day for 14 days and they were all different, they had some of the same things on common:
– red onions
– kalamata olives
– fresh chunks of feta (think the.more the better)
– olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano
Clearly the real one looks better, but I didn’t do too bad myself. Just a simple, quick, and yummy dish.
Have a great start to your week!


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MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Realtors in Memphis say you are more likely to buy a house below the listing price than you were at the same time last year.
Michelle Hayes Thomas with Hayes Homes & Realty said that after a year or more of it being a seller’s market, things are starting to slow down, allowing buyers to negotiate a little more.
“The market is stabilizing,” said Hayes Thomas. “It’s good for a healthy market for everyone to have opportunities, both the sellers and the buyers. It is still an excellent market for sellers. Not as aggressive and strong as it was in 2022, but the average sale prices are up.”
According to a recent study, Tennessee house prices rose 16.3% in 2022. In fact. Santa Monica realtors looked at data from Zillow and found the volunteer state had the fourth-highest increase of any state.
First on the list was Florida, where housing prices went up 19.9%. South Carolina came in second with a 19,2% increase. Next was Vermont, where housing prices went up 16.9%. Finally, North Carolina came in fifth with a 15.7% increase.
In Memphis, house prices rose by 9% in 2022, and the average house cost was $262,000. However, Hayes Thomas said that number dropped to $240,000 in December.
“Closer to the end of the year, we started to see a little bit of a slowdown because the interest rates started to pick up a little bit, so home sales slowed down some, but we still have a pretty steady market right now,” said Hayes Thomas.
Hayes Thomas said last year, some houses sold the same day they were listed or in just a few hours. She said now it’s more like weeks. She said while inventory is still a bit low, you can get more for your money in Memphis.
“We are still one of the better places to come for affordability,” she said. “You can still get a nicely priced home, a lot of square footage, a lot of yard. When you compare what you get in Memphis to other regions, we still have good offerings.”
Idaho saw the smallest increase in housing prices last year. The price of a home in that state increased by just 1.3%.


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This is typical for us when we tour on our own. Other folks might start out with two weeks worth of motel reservations and pre-planned routes, with detailed research about specific landmarks along the way. We just tend to make it up on the fly, rarely planning more than one or maybe two days at a time. With this flexibility, when we stumble upon something interesting, we can easily change things up to take in a new road, interesting village or cool looking hostel. This approach would drive some people crazy, and admittedly has occasionally resulted in some scurrying to find accommodation, but more often than not, we have discovered some amazing places that we might have otherwise missed.
One thing that had made the planned list for this trip was something that had captured John's attention a while back, the Oregon Coast Gravel Epic. The actual event was held a few weeks before our trip, but we found GPS tracks of the route online. Since the route started in Waldport, my task for this day was to get us from Corvallis to Waldport, so we could ride the epic route the following day.
The obvious route out was along a numbered main road, but having an aversion to main roads, we naturally sought out a quieter one, with hopes of finding some nice gravel roads to sate our dirt appetite.
Now, as more and more maps and routes are available digitally and online, it's getting easier to find routes and sometimes it is tempting to just download and follow a track, making use of local knowledge, as it were. However, it isn't always a good idea to blindly follow a route found on Strava or RWGPS, since some folks like riding down busy main roads or, at the other extreme, bushwhacking through overgrown trails. Also, we have learned the hard way that sometimes a road found on a digital map is pure fantasy.
Anyway, I've had lots of practice over the years coming up with interesting and challenging routes, finding gravel when we want it, or avoiding it if we don't. I have a pretty good track record, with only a few times where we've either had to turn back or bushwhack, or conversely have found ourselves on an unpleasant busy road. We have found that the National Forest maps are invaluable for helping to determine whether a road shown on a digital map is paved, gravel or actually a hiking trail. They have much more detail than state or county maps, and tend to cover areas where we like to ride. As we travel around in different places, we are amassing a large collection of forestry maps! It's also really handy to unfold a paper map to have a big picture, while still being able to see roads - not something easily done on a tiny laptop or GPS. All this to say, when planning routes in unfamiliar areas I use both paper and digital maps.
After looking through various routes on RWGPS and Strava heatmaps, I stumbled upon the Willamette Gran Fondo route starting near Corvallis. Looking at the various uploads for the Gran Fondo, it took me a while to realize this was actually an out and back route, turning back well short of our destination on the coast. Since this route didn't go all the way to the coast, I cobbled together a route using roads from both the Gran Fondo and the Epic, with some previously uncharted sections connecting the two routes. Now I will point out that one of our big goals for the week was to take in lots of quiet and scenic dirt and gravel roads. However mountain bike trails weren't part of the plan. The question loomed: Had I picked actual roads? Would there be bushwhacking?
For the convenience of air (and train) travel, we had brought S&S coupled bikes. David was riding John's coupled Seven Axiom with 700X32mm tires. Now while John's Evergreen might have been slightly better for the gravel roads since it can take much bigger tires than the Axiom, it lacks the couplers that greatly simplify both flying and getting to and from the airport. Prior to getting the Evergreen, John had taken the Axiom on many rough dirt and gravel adventures, so we knew it would be fine for this one.
John and I were riding our new coupled Co-Motion tandem with super plush 650BX42 tires, designed perfectly for the types of gravel we'd find on the forest roads. David's 32mm tires, while well suited for dirt roads, with slightly less volume than those on the tandem, would likely prevent him from bombing the descents at the same speed as the tandem. But that's probably the case regardless of tire size.
Now since Phil wasn't around to carry all our supplies, we had to manage on our own. The fine folks at Oveja Negra made us an awesome custom frame bag to fit the large open area in the rear section of the tandem. We were very excited by the new open frame design on this tandem. It meant one less tube, two fewer couplers, and this massive space that could house a frame bag.
We used a combination of this large custom frame bag in the rear along with a smaller stock frame bag in the front, also from Oveja Negra, a Dill Pickle handlebar bag and a giant Revelate Viscacha saddle bag to carry all the gear for the two of us for the week. David also had a Dill Pickle bar bag, a nice lightweight, completely waterproof set of panniers from Arkel and a bright orange Oveja Negra seat bag, which, while amazingly visible, sadly earned him the nickname of baboon butt at some point during the week!
Some eagle eyed readers noticed that frame bag in previous posts and asked a few questions about it, so here's a bit more info.
We were absolutely thrilled with the Oveja Negra frame bag. It was stable and silent, not having any of the rattles or movement one often gets from panniers. It also made the tandem feel even faster on descents than ever - more weight without additional frontal area. And despite the large side area, the tandem seemed much more stable (even in crosswinds) than when we've used panniers. Having the weight within the frame eliminated any tail-wagging-the-dog issues.
I have to confess, though, that due to some poor planning and communication, we only got the new tandem the day before flying (do as we say and not as we do!) and hadn't had any time to try out the new bag on the actual bike before the trip. We ordered the frame and the bag at the same time. Since we didn't yet have the bike when we ordered the custom bag, Co-Motion were kind enough to give us detailed measurements which we sent to Oveja Negra. They then made the bag - which exudes top-notch construction - precisely to our specs and shipped it to us several weeks before the trip. This gave us time to at least check out capacity, even if we didn't have a bike to put it on. Once we had a chance to put it into actual use, we discovered a few minor issues in our design. We'll use the lessons we learned to spec a Rev-2 bag.
Internally, the bag has two sections (top and bottom) , making it potentially easier to keep stuff organized. For Rev-2, we will specify the bottom section be narrow enough to completely clear the timing belt. We learned quickly not to over stuff the bottom section, otherwise the Gates timing belt would rub the bag. Fortunately, the belt didn't wear through the bag on this trip. I suspect a chain might have been more of a problem, and would certainly have left more of a mark.
The other change we will make is to eliminate the space we requested for the water bottles and just put a Camelbak-type bladder into the bag - as Oveja Negra had actually suggested. Even using side mount bottle cages, I simply could not get the bottles in and out. John would drink and then pass back the bottle back for me to take a swig. Once his bottles were dry, we'd stop and trade them for the full bottles in the back. Eliminating the space for bottles will give the bag more capacity and allow us to add more attachment (and tensioning) points. That said, we can't emphasis how rock solid this bag was, something which was especially noticeable out of the saddle.
One custom detail that we requested and which worked out really well, was a cutout section in the top of the bag, under the top tube. This created a hand-hold position, something which was useful when parking the tandem and crucial when portaging across a culvert, more of which below.
We haven't gotten around to ordering the new bag yet, but we will soon. And I'll repeat that Oveja Negra made the bag exactly to our specs., but real-world use caused us to refine our design. Since I'd received some questions based on the photos, I wanted to at least include some details about our experience and the revisions we plan to make.
So with all that said, let's go for a bike ride.
After filling up with omelets and sampling espresso at a couple of different coffee shops in Corvallis, we made our way to a grocery store to pick up lunch and snacks for our journey into the unknown. While John and David were in the grocery, I was outside keeping an eye on bikes and booking a place to stay in Waldport. I'd left messages earlier at a couple of places I'd found online and luckily got a call back before we left cell phone range.
Now with plenty of food for the day and a place to sleep for the night, we pointed our bikes west. Our first stop was in a crossroads called Alpine where David had a flat tire. While fixing it, we discovered a split in the sidewall and replaced it with Dave's spare. Uh oh, we were barely out of civilization and had already used one spare tire!
|Where the cool kids go.|
Maybe it was the excitement of the tire change, but somehow we missed the sign here that said "road closed 15 miles ahead."
However, 10-12 miles later, shortly after passing the parking area for Alsea Falls, we did notice a "road closed ahead" sign, with no detour mentioned. We pressed on, hoping for the best, since with bikes, one can often get around in places where cars and trucks cannot. Then a truck passed us, and we felt reassured.
But then we came to the construction site, and heard the driver who had just passed us asking the workers about a way around. I heard something about going back 15 miles to where they said there was a "road closed ahead" sign, taking a right and taking the 25 mile detour!
Fortunately, when they saw us on bikes, they actually called out, telling us that we could get through! They said that they were about to take a lunch break and then we could walk through. They even moved some dirt around to provide us a nice path across the culvert!
After scampering across the culvert, we had the road all to ourselves. By then, we were ready for our own lunch, but finding no lay-bys with picnic tables, we just sat on the deserted road. A short while later this lovely quiet road that we had all to ourselves T'd out onto another road, ending our solitude.
|Apparently it can be cool and damp here too.|
Still traffic was almost non-existent.
Next up was a road called Lobster Valley Road. The temperature was rising and the sun was intense. We wondered if Lobster Valley was in reference to what would happen if we had no sunscreen. A short while later, in an attempt to cool down, we stopped to dangle our feet in a stream. This is where we discovered why the road is called Lobster Valley!
|The source of the name, Lobster Valley|
Then we came to our uncharted territory and these roads were divine. So it was looking like I'd picked out a nice route, until we joined the Epic route and found ourselves winching our way up a steep gravel road, making it not just nice, but glorious!
The next descent got a bit exciting. John and I had stopped to take a photo while Dave pressed on. Soon after, a truck came scurrying around a corner toward us at high speed, spraying gravel all around.
A short while later, we caught up to Dave, who told us his guardian angel had saved him, as that same truck was taking up the whole road when he encountered it. So, we barely saw cars all day, and then this idiot came along!
Not long after, we popped out in Yachats where we were very happy to find a grocery. We'd all been out of water for a while, and had also finished off all our snacks. Yachats looked really inviting, but silly me, I had booked a place 10 miles north in Waldport, so after our brief snack, we began our 10 mile slog into the wind.
One bit of advice we had gotten about riding on the Oregon coast at this time of year was to travel north to south. And now we definitively knew why everyone told us this. The headwind was merciless.
We eventually made it up to Waldport, though, found our lodging, then found dinner and turned in for the night, since the next day was to be epic !


Whitefish - Study On Operation Improvements For MT-40
July 24, 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Lori Ryan, Public
Information Officer, (406) 444-6821, email@example.com
of Transportation Proposes Study on Operational Improvements on
Montana Highway 40 Near Whitefish
WHITEFISH — The Montana Department
of Transportation (MDT) would like to notify the public and seek
comments on a proposal to study operational improvements on a segment
of Montana Highway 40 (MT-40) in Flathead County. The study will
begin at the intersection of MT-40 and U.S. Highway 93 and extend
easterly 2.6 miles to reference post 2.6, about 0.1 mile east of the
intersection with Dillon Road and Conn Road.
The study will evaluate
options for surfacing rehabilitation and options for operational
improvements that may include widening to provide a two-way left-turn
lane and widening for right-turn-only lanes at selected
intersections. The results of the study may lead to a design project
that would develop plans for a future construction project.
study is currently scheduled to be completed in late 2019.
information, please contact Missoula District Administrator Ed Toavs
at (406) 523-5802 or Project Design Engineer William Squires at (406)
444 6228. Members of the public may submit written comments to the
Montana Department of Transportation Missoula office at P.O. Box
7039, Missoula, MT 59807-7039, or online at:
Please note that your comments
are for project UPN 9187000. Alternative accessible formats of this
information will be provided upon request by contacting the Office of
Civil Rights, P.O. Box 201001, Helena, MT 59620; (406) 444-9229; fax
(406) 444-7243, or e-mail to firstname.lastname@example.org. Those using a TTY may
call (800) 335-7592 or through the Montana Relay Service at 711.


January 18, 2018 Thin Skein
Joint House Judiciary and Oversight Committees
Clinton Email Server
From The Hill (January 18, 2018):
Two House panels on Thursday questioned former FBI Director James Comey’s former chief of staff during a closed-door interview that lasted over seven hours.
FBI official James Rybicki faced questions from lawmakers on the House Judiciary and Oversight committees as part of a joint investigation into the way the bureau handled the investigation into former secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.
Democrats have slammed the investigation as a sham designed to distract from the federal investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia, while Republicans have defended it as a legitimate oversight exercise. Oversight chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) characterized the interview as nothing more than a standard deposition.
Lawmakers of both parties filtered in and out of interview tight-lipped on the details of the interview, although they largely indicated that Rybicki was cooperating with the questions. Without divulging particulars, Gowdy described it as turning up previously unknown information. Like a similar marathon interview with FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe in December, the briefing was confidential but not classified.
Rybicki — flanked by Greg Brower, the bureau’s chief liaison to Capitol Hill, and Scott Schools, a senior career attorney at the Justice Department — declined to comment on the interview.
The interview with Rybicki drew far from full attendance from either of the two committees on Thursday. Others lawmakers seen entering the hearing room Thursday morning included Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Stacey Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas).
Also weighing in:
- Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.)
- Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.).
- Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)
Let’s go over it one more time again. And again. Seven more hours of busy spinning conspiracy web. Your U.S. tax dollars hard at work, going straight down the drain. The unstoppable Trey Gowdy rises up for a sustained effort to champion a lost cause, since Benghazi has never stopped hurting his soul. Russian hackers, bots, and disinformation operations infiltrate being these Guardians on a Mission and corrodes our Democracy. They hold hearings while America is Stricken, and Trump.45 twits personal spite, revenge, and hurt feelings.


text:
Since graduating from ASU’s College of Architecture and Environmental Design in 1996, Coconut Contracting’s founder Rob Gruber has been creating some of the Valley’s most spectacular residential and commercial landscapes. Offering innovative designs, lush installations and meticulous project management, Rob and his Coconut team strive to deliver a final product that is tailored to your unique vision.
Rob previously owned two successful landscape construction companies, one of which was ranked #4 in the State by Arizona Business Magazine. Rob is also certified as a Master Gardener by the Maricopa County Cooperative Extension. He is a rainwater collector, composter and avid home gardener. Contact Rob to get your project started.
I love what I do. Being able to visit new sites and meet new people; drawing creative designs and then getting to build it. It’s a very rewarding process for me. - Rob Gruber


text:
The Government’s decision to back HS2 will boost the economy by giving investors confidence, one of the Bank of England’s most senior personnel has said.
Joanna Place, chief operating officer for the Bank of England, said that businesses will respond positively to the Government’s move on the rail project and in turn feel more optimistic on their own investments.
In an exclusive interview with The Yorkshire Post during a visit to Leeds, Ms Place added that the current Government was more likely to get through any prospective trade deal agreement through Parliament owing to its strong majority delivered at the December election.
Speaking on the same day it was confirmed that the HS2 project would go ahead, Ms Place said: “I think generally promises of infrastructure and delivery of infrastructure are going to boost the economy,
“It will help confidence for a start. I think businesses will look at the actions Government is taking and decide on their own investments and feel a bit more confident.”
Ms Place had been speaking to pupils at Horsforth School in Leeds about the work the bank does as part of its outreach programme.
When asked if she felt that business was feeling more confident and secure following the election of a stable government and the successful exit of the UK from the European Union, she said: “A lot of people were holding back but there is only so long you can hold back for.
“We still don’t know what is going to happen at the end of the transition period but I think this has given people confidence that we have now got time.
“The Government has got a majority so that if they want a deal to get through it is more likely to than perhaps when Theresa May was in power.
“With Brexit people have got certainty. Until the election, people were still wondering if it was going to happen or not.
“What people are wondering now is ‘what is Brexit going to look like?’.”
The operational boss was in Yorkshire as part of the Bank of England’s outreach programme to raise awareness of what its function is in society, something Ms Place said was important for the UK’s regions.
“It is partly because we are mostly based in London and that we have always felt that it is important that people understand what we do and how we do it and the importance of financial stability,” she said.
She added: “Part of our mission is not just delivering financial stability, it is ensuring that people understand what financial stability is why it is important.
“We want people to have certainty, we want people to feel confident that they can go to banks and withdraw money and its going to be there.”
When asked about sentiments expressed from those who had attended the sessions in Leeds, Ms Place said that people’s outlooks largely mirrored the national picture in that there was a slight increase in optimism.
She said: “People also said they felt they will be a little bit better off.
“Which is quite interesting as it suggested they expected to keep their jobs and also maybe get a slight pay increase.
“I would say that the poll told us they were cautiously confident.”

domain: politics


text:
Lemna (duckweed) is the smallest flowering plant on Earth that multiplies rapidly and is rich with protein. This is exactly what the world needs. “It feels good because it can offer a solution within an attainable timeframe,” researcher Ingrid van der Meer explains.
More and more people are eating meat. Approximately 2.5 kilos of plant protein are needed to produce one kilo of meat. In her search for protein, Ingrid ran into duckweed. “It offers good chances as a protein crop,” she explains. “It does not make use of farming land and it can grow in a basin on the farm or in a simple greenhouse on diluted manure. It grows very rapidly and contains a lot of protein. One hectare of duckweed produces just as much protein as ten hectares of soya.”
All the disciplines needed are present at Wageningen to help research the use of duckweed as a possible new protein crop that can be used world-wide. The most important points of attention are whether duckweed is suitable for animal feed as well as for human consumption, to determine the optimal cultivation circumstances, and the profiles of the different varieties of proteins as well as the method of processing.
“It looks promising, especially the harvest yield,” says Van der Meer. “But there are many steps left to be taken. Cultivation with industrial water may be suitable because we know that it contributes to water purification. We want to get started quickly and conduct a pilot test, among others. I am optimistic. Using duckweed as animal feed to produce meat could be a solution. A burger filled with duckweed protein on my plate? That would be a great accomplishment.”
Back to all Food for Thought, Thought for Food projects

domain: agronomy


text:
We have all heard almost enough about Hurricane Katrina. But a special on public television about the pet rescue, reminds us that there are many things we need to learn from this disaster.
Katrina was the worst animal disaster in United States history. It's estimated that 250,000 pets lived in New Orleans, and 15,000 of them were rescued. Wow, what a statistic.
Many people locked their pets inside the house with some food and water, thinking they would only be gone a few days. Some turned their pets loose to fend for themselves. Some even tied their pets to a front porch, which was sure death.
Most of the rescued pets had gone for two weeks or more without food and water. There was water everywhere, but it was quickly contaminated.
Pets left behind were terrified and confused as well as starving and dehydrated. Rescuers could see their fear turn to relief when they approached and took them to safety.
The rescuers urge pet owners not to leave their pets behind when evacuated.
Because of logistical and health issues, animals have not been part of the evacuation process.
Since Katrina, pressure has been put on government agencies to allow people to evacuate with their pets. Humans accept a grave responsibility when they assume the care of a domesticated animal. These animals are no longer able to fend for themselves. In a disaster, that dependence can be fatal.
June is National Disaster Preparedness Month. Now is the best time to make preparations for a quick exit with your pets. After recent wildfires caused evacuations in Flagstaff and Sedona, we know the danger is real.
People with horses and other large animals or farm animals also need to be making plans. Leaving animals behind should not be an option.
Paws in the Park in Payson will be ready once again to house dogs at the dog park and some provisions will hopefully be made for cats.
The Humane Society of the United States has helpful hints for evacuation preparations and they have a special Web page for Arizona pet owners. Knowing the threat is real, how many of us have our pet duffel ready to go?
Lou Guyton, director of HSUS Southwest regional office said, "If it's not safe for you, it's not safe for your pet." He urges all pet owners to take their pets with them when they evacuate.
"Pets who are turned loose or left behind to fend for themselves are likely to become victims of starvation, predators, contaminated food or water, accidents or exposure to the elements."
Since many evacuation shelters do not accept pets, make plans ahead of time as to where you will go or who might take your pet while you are staying at a shelter.
The Humane Society of the United States recommends an emergency supply kit for each pet in the household. The kit should contain: a three day supply of food and drinking water, bowls for food and water, plastic bags for waste disposal, current photos and physical descriptions including details of markings, a collar and ID tag with a cell phone number or number for relative or friend, medications and health records showing dates of all vaccinations, license and first aid supplies, leashes chew proof tie outs and a sturdy carrier for each animal which is large enough for the pet to be comfortable. Cats need a carrier large enough for them to move around in and also have room for a small litter box. Bring along extra litter and a scooper. A microchip is one of the most reliable forms of identification for all pets.
Check your pet's health records today. Are all vaccinations up to date? If he needs to go to a shelter, shots will be required. Dogs brought in might be sick. Protect your pets with up to date vaccinations and rabies shots.
For more information about preparing for evacuation, check out the Humane Society's Web site, www.hsus.org/disaster.
On a lighter note, try this for fun. The 2006 Pets and Pals Photo Contest, sponsored by the American Humane Association and Bush's Baked Beans, is seeking photos in four categories: Pets demonstrating special skills or tricks, Best friends, Kids and pets and Down on the farm. Winners from each category will receive a prize package from AHA. The top winner will receive a prize package worth $5,000. The contest deadline is July 31, 2006. For more information, visit the Web site www.americanhumane.org/petsandpals or call (800) 227-4645.
Be sure to provide shade and lots of fresh drinking water for all your pets during these hot days. Rinse the water bowls daily and fill with fresh water. Put out several bowls in case one spills. It is amazing how much water our pets consume in a day.
-- Christy Powers can be reached by e-mail at firstname.lastname@example.org or by snail mail at HC1Box 210, Strawberry, AZ 85544.

domain: pet


text:
E-textiles are advanced textiles that include electronic functionality ranging from conductive yarns/tracks [1
] to sensing/actuating [5
], communications [10
] and signal processing [12
]. Emerging advanced e-textile technologies offer rich opportunities to push the boundaries of wearable healthcare applications by improving the user experience (e.g., comfort, ease of use, unobtrusiveness) thus motivating the user to adhere to the recommended usage.
Electrodes are fundamental elements used in numerous healthcare devices to measure the body’s bio-potentials, for example, electrocardiography (ECG), electroencephalography (EEG) and electromyography (EMG). They are also being used in therapeutic healthcare devices such as transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for pain relief and functional electrical stimulation (FES) for muscle exercise and rehabilitation. Traditional gel electrodes are not suitable for long term wearable applications due to the reduced performance over time due to moisture evaporation and faster contamination build-up. There are increasing levels of research activity focusing on integrating dry electrodes into textiles for wearable healthcare applications. However, most applications focus on diagnostics and monitoring such as ECG [14
], EEG [16
] and EMG [18
]. Their application in therapeutics is limited mainly due to the issue of discomfort caused by the high impedance between the dry electrode and skin [20
This paper presents the development of a novel fabric electrode-based wearable training system for stroke rehabilitation through a co-design process with end users. Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability. Every year in the UK over 100,000 strokes occur, and worldwide this figure is 17 million [22
]. Half of all stroke survivors have resulting arm/hand disability and need assistance with everyday tasks, which impacts on their quality of life. Intensive, repetitive, task-oriented training is beneficial for arm rehabilitation [23
]. This can be delivered though FES, which is applied via electrodes on the skin to stimulate the underlying nerves. The stimulation contracts the muscle allowing the person to practice specific movements. Extensive motor learning and neurophysiology research, backed by substantial clinical evidence, underpins FES as an effective way of recovering movement, post-stroke [24
]. However, there are several barriers to using FES, which limits uptake of this technology among stroke survivors. For example, current commercial FES devices use large gel electrodes that are very difficult to place in the correct location and which only stimulate a limited number of muscles. To overcome the limitation of using large electrodes, a gel electrode array with multiple elements which can be individually activated has been used in many studies [27
]. This work has developed a 24-electrode array by printing an array of dry electrodes directly on a textile. The dry electrode developed in this work has a longer lifetime compared to the gel electrode because it can be washed and reused many times. The electrode array layout eliminates the need for accurate positioning as it covers a wide range of muscle groups (Figure 1
) and the control algorithm used in this study can calculate the optimized combination of electrode elements to achieve targeted movements. The e-textile-based wearable training system developed in this work can facilitate intensive, repetitive and task-oriented training. While the initial tests were targeted on stroke rehabilitation, the technology can also be used for rehabilitation activities for subjects with other neurological disorders (e.g., Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis, and Spinal Cord Injury).

domain: health