On Sunday, January 15, SpaceX’s powerful Falcon Heavy launched the U.S. Space Force’s USSF-67 mission which deployed two payloads to space: the Continuous Broadcast Augmenting SATCOM (CBAS-2) and a Long Duration Propulsive ESPA (LDPE) ring, which is a spacecraft carrying five small satellites. Falcon Heavy lifted off at 5:56 p.m. ET from Launch Complex-39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to deliver the payloads into a Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO). The U.S. Space Force paid SpaceX $316 million in August 2020 to perform the USSF-67 mission.
Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/oMFOyojOqj— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 15, 2023
The USSF-67 mission marked the fourth time SpaceX has ever used the heavy-lift rocket configuration. Approximately eight minutes after liftoff, Falcon Heavy’s side rocket boosters performed amazing synchronized landings at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Landing Zones 1 and 2. SpaceX shared an incredible drone video view of the side booster landings, linked below. Now, SpaceX has landed a total of 164 orbital-class rocket boosters. The side boosters used for this mission are identified as B1064 and B1065 which each previously supported the U.S. Space Force USSF-44 mission which took place in November 2022. The rocket's center core B1070 was not recovered because the mission required use of all available fuel to propel the payloads to GEO. 01/16/2022 UPDATE: SpaceX founder Elon Musk explained the reason why the center core is not recovered -"Center core moving too fast return. Falcon Heavy is a 3 (or 2.5) stage rocket, but full & rapid reusability on Earth demand a 2 stage rocket. 1st stage returns to launch site immediately via boostback & 2nd stage orbits until ground track passes back over launch site to return," he wrote via Twitter on January 16.
Falcon Heavy’s side boosters have landed pic.twitter.com/jzxIbHSfFR— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 15, 2023
Drone shot of Falcon Heavy's side boosters landing at LZ-1 and LZ-2 pic.twitter.com/JfYRWDIi1j— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 16, 2023
The USSF-67 payloads that were deployed into GEO are the Continuous Broadcast Augmenting SATCOM (CBAS-2) and a Long Duration Propulsive ESPA (LDPE) ring. CBAS-2 weighs roughly 3,000 kilograms; it is designed for communication between the U.S. military and the government. Due to national security, there are no additional details about this satellite. The LDPE is a spacecraft prototype that will be tested in orbit. It is capable of hosting six payloads but is only carrying five during this mission. The LDPE has its own propulsion system to deploy the small payloads into separate orbits. Though, it is unknown if all payloads will be deployed or remain attached to the spacecraft. Two payloads attached to the spacecraft belong to the U.S. Space Systems Command, called ‘Catcher’ and the Wide Area Search Satellite (WASSAT). Catcher is a prototype sensor manufactured by The Aerospace Corporation designed to monitor potential space weather hazards. WASSAT is designed to monitor satellites in orbit to gather data about their trajectories.
Falcon Heavy launches USSF-67 to orbit pic.twitter.com/htJfgM0tdE— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 16, 2023
》 Author's note: Thanks for reading Tesmanian.com. If you have any story suggestions or feedback, feel free to Direct Message me on Twitter: Evelyn Janeidy Arevalo @JaneidyEve Or write your thoughts in the comment section below. Read my most recent stories here: Recent News Stories 《
Featured Image Source: SpaceX
About the Author
Evelyn Janeidy Arevalo
Evelyn J. Arevalo joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover news as a Space Journalist and SpaceX Starbase Texas Correspondent. Evelyn is specialized in rocketry and space exploration. The main topics she covers are SpaceX and NASA.


text: We source buy to let properties in Nottingham, the Midlands and South Yorkshire. Our mission is to find what’s right for you. We will take care of as much or as little as you want us to. We try to ensure that all the deals we find will give you a great ROI (more than a bank can currently give you !) The aim is to help you build the property portfolio you want. Despite fluctuations in the housing market, there’s still no better investment than bricks and mortar. Above all, let our expertise on what and where to buy make the difference to your investment success.

domain: economics


text:
The EU gender equality directive will make it unlawful to use gender as a differentiator in insurance and other financial products. From 21 December 2012 women will receive the same annuity rate as men when converting their pension pot into income.
Although current mortality figures show women still generally outlive men (the gap is reducing), this can no longer be used as a reason to price differently.
What will be the overall impact of the new rule as far as pensions and annuities are concerned?
Applying the rules
Not all pension schemes and retirees will be affected. Some confusion still exists about the way the ruling applies to work-based pension schemes and other types of pensions.
The equal treatment directive applies to occupational pensions and still permits gender-specific pricing, while the gender directive, which does not, applies to other types of pensions.
However, the European court of justice (ECJ) judgment and official guidance on the application of the gender directive suggest that if an annuity is purchased using funds held in a work-based pension scheme and without the involvement of the employer or the scheme, the purchase would fall under the scope of the directive and therefore would be subject to gender-neutral pricing.
In principle, this creates an incentive for female members of an occupational scheme to use the open market option but a disincentive for male members.
Providers are expected to launch unisex rates, with women better off by around 1% to 2% and men losing out by slightly less.
Many more men than women buy annuities and this has been an influential factor when pricing for unisex rates.
It is also important that women resist deferring the purchase of an annuity purely to obtain a unisex rate. Any modest increase in income could easily be reversed due to the real and immediate prospect of falling annuity rates in the prevailing economic climate.
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has issued revised guidance on the use of Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) tables for drawdown, stating that until it becomes clearer how annuity providers will apply the ECJ judgment, the maximum drawdown pension for both men and women aged 23 and over (known as table 1) should be calculated using the higher male table 1 rates from 21 December 2012.
This will apply to the calculation of the maximum drawdown amount where the commencement or review of an individual’s benefits takes effect on or after 21 December 2012. It means: women will be able to take a higher drawdown pension income than before; men will see no change in the maximum drawdown pension they can receive and drawdown providers can continue using the existing table 1 rates but for more of their customers.
This applies equally to occupational money purchase schemes offering drawdown and personal pensions.
Recognising the enormous pressure on drawdown rates created by plummeting gilt yields, on top of the reduction in maximum income from 120% to 100% of GAD last year, HMRC decided on a damage-limitation exercise for the time being.
If opting under scheme rules to crystallise benefits via drawdown from 21 December 2012 until further notice, male members will be no worse off and females better off.
In a supplementary communication to the Association of Member-Directed Pension Schemes, HMRC said the change was intended to be a temporary solution to prevent the potentially negative impact of the ECJ ruling on men’s drawdown income while minimising higher costs for providers until the outlook is clearer.
HMRC said because of the uncertainty, the government had decided it would be premature to determine any permanent change just yet.
We can only hope that any permanent change will be announced as soon as possible.
Nigel Orange is technical support manager, pensions, at Canada Life.

domain: finance


.....masking off when fibre glassing. I tried using shrink wrap this morning but it wasn't very good. It wouldn't stay tight and moved around when i was brushing on the resin.
Will masking tape be of or will it absorb the resin, and will the fibreglass stick to it when removing??
The item in question is the eyebrow section off my Morette's. I need to make a template of each one.


text:
Christopher M. Jones, PharmD, DrPH, MPH: No financial relationships to disclose
In late 2022, CDC published an update to its 2016 Opioid Prescribing Guideline, the CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain – United States, 2022. The updated Guideline includes an expanded scope to include additional focus on acute and sub-acute pain as well as chronic pain and has been revised to incorporate the latest science and lessons learned from the 2016 Guideline based on feedback from patients, providers, and the public. This must-attend session will be led by Christopher Jones, PharmD, DrPH, one of the authors of the updated Guideline. The session will cover similarities and differences in recommendations between the 2016 and 2022 Guidelines, practical clinical considerations to support implementation of the Guideline, and place the updated Guideline within the context of the evolving overdose crisis.
Discuss the motivations for updating the 2022 CDC Opioid Prescribing Guideline
Describe the scientific updates and structural changes to the updated 2022 Guideline aimed at providing the latest science on pain treatment and mitigating the potential for misapplication of the Guideline.
Identify practical considerations for implementing the Guideline in various outpatient and office-based clinical practice settings.
Place the Guidelines in the context of the evolving overdose crisis in the United States and the ongoing need to improve the lives of patients living pain.

domain: library


Mobile Developer (Tech Lead)
At Flipdish, we’re turning the tables in favour of independent restaurant and takeaway owners by providing them with the tools they need to make their lives easier. We provide our customers with a suite of powerful, but straightforward tech along with (real human) support, so they can thrive on their own terms.
Everything we do is designed to make running a restaurant satisfyingly simple, in a world that’s anything but.
About this role…
Due to our continued growth, Flipdish is seeking a mobile application lead developer to join our global engineering team. Our main goal is to provide our clients with groundbreaking mobile applications enabling online ordering and increased loyalty for our clients. The successful candidate for this role will be looking for an exciting new challenge in a hyper-growth environment. You should have a passion for technology and be willing to take on new challenges and input to the company’s growth.
In this job, you’ll…
- Hands on development building apps in (ios/android)
- Fixing issues in existing/legacy code
- Resolving technical issues
- Automated testing
- QA of own work and that of team mates
- Working with PM and TL to ensure accurate delivery of features
- Assist with the day to day running of the team in the Karachi office - reporting in to the Engineering Manager and managing communication channels with overseas teams
We’re looking for…
- Significant commercial experience developing mobile apps in Swift or Kotlin/Java (ios or Android)
- Experience in automated testing frameworks such as Espresso for Android and XCUITest for iOS
- Excellent communication in English, both verbal and written
- You are technically capable of defining, developing, and maintaining software applications
- Full software lifecycle experience
- Passion for software structures / architectures / design patterns
- Relevant computer science degree
🦄 About Flipdish
We’re Flipdish, an Irish unicorn (valued at over $1bn), serving independent restaurants in a world transformed by tech. No matter how fast Flipdish has grown, we’ve evolved around our customers and their needs. We’re not just an end-to-end ecosystem of technology, but a team committed to supporting people in the food industry.
We go to great lengths to understand our customers (check out our C-suite on work experience). We’re food industry natives. We’ve worked in busy kitchens and run busy restaurant franchises. We don’t just help our customers deal with real life problems, we give them a way of competing with the big chains, growing on their own terms, and falling back in love with what they do.
🙈Don’t be shy. Apply.
We know that imposter syndrome can be a thing. Don’t let it be. We want enthusiastic people from all backgrounds. If you feel like you’re up for working with us, get in touch.
We also understand neurodivergent candidates might need assistance. That’s not a problem in the slightest. Just reach out to us, we’d love to hear from you.
Working at Flipdish
Gender diversity (male:female)
Awards & Achievements
Other jobs you might like


text:
A service town for a large sugar growing and processing region, with
beef cattle and tropical fruits as secondary industries. Ingham is also
the administrative capital of the Hinchinbrook Shire. Ingham's Victoria
Mill is reputed to be the largest sugar mill in the Southern Hemisphere.
Location: 111 km north of Townsville; 1482 km from Brisbane; 29 km from
the mouth of the Herbert River; 14 m above sea level.
Ingham is situated on Palm Creek, not far from where the creek joins
the Herbert River. Set on a coastal plain, Ingham is downstream of the
Herbert River Valley and about 25 km from the mouth of the Herbert. The
plain is enclosed by steep ranges, through which the Herbert flows.
Every decade or so, Ingham suffers major flooding, when the Herbert
River peaks at over 12 metres, which it did in 1971, 1986, 1991 and
The mouth of the Herbert opens on to the Hinchinbrook Channel and,
whilst James Cook noted the mountains on Hinchinbrook Island, he missed
both the channel and the river mouth. Concealed by a maze of tidal
creeks, the river mouth was unidentified by Europeans until George
Dalrymple's expedition in 1864.
Ingham's Italian heritage has become a tourist attraction, and the
first Australian Italian Festival was held in 1995. It has been
estimated that over half of Ingham's population has one or more Italian
ancestors for, in addition to the initial influx in the 1890s,
migration continued for several decades. The Italian community built
its own hospital (1929-45), an exotic design with turrets at either
end. (In 1946 Hinchinbrook Shire had 22.7% of Queensland's Italian-born
citizens.) Between festivals, the Italian cemetery is listed as a
significant point of interest for tourists.
Natural features: Wallaman Falls; Mount Fox (365 metres); Jourama
Falls; Paluma Gulbaru National Park (Mt. Spec); Hinchinbrook Island;
Pelorus Island; Orpheus Island; Great Palm Island; Halifax Bay; Palm
Islands; Upolu Cay Reef; Low Isles; Michaelmas Cay; Cardwell Range;
Herbert River Gorge; Insulator Creek Environmental Park; Mount Fox
crater, Girringun National Park
Heritage features: Victoria Mill; Macknade Mill (1870s); Lee's Hotel
(the hotel was drunk dry by American servicemen celebrating the Coral
Sea victory during World War II. This incident was the original
inspiration for the famous song 'The Pub with No Beer').
Origin of name: recalls William Bairstow Ingham who, in 1874,
established a 700 acre sugar plantation which was known as Ings. The 32
year old was clearly well liked in the community, as the locals
successfully petitioned to have the settlement named in his honour when
the townsite was surveyed and gazetted in 1875.
View Larger Map
The Ingham area was first settled by Henry Stone in 1865, but unlike
many other regional settlements, sugar and not cattle was established
as the primary produce of the area from the beginning. The Gairloch
Sugar Mill was established in 1872. The sugar plantations were worked
by Kanakas brought in from the South Pacific Islands. When Australia's
immigration policy was changed around the turn of the 20th century, an
influx of Italian migrants began and continued until the beginning of
World War II. Tobacco growing began in the 1930s. Agriculture
diversified, and the Catholic Church established an agriculture college
at Abergowrie (the only one in north Queensland) in 1934. Vegetable
crops were grown for southern winter markets.

domain: geography


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text:
The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital is running 'virtual visiting hours' thanks to a donation of more than 120 iPads from local businesses.
The scheme is helping to keep families in touch with relatives who have been admitted.
It is being offered on all wards as well as the Critical Care Complex with Covid-19 patients the first to benefit.
“We’ve not forgotten that so many people in our community will be anxious and worried, unable to visit loved ones, and with this service we can reassure people that those closest to them are being holistically cared for. Our new service does not replace the clinical conversations that doctors have with patients’ relatives. Instead, we are here to ease pressure off ward staff and alleviate some of the anxieties for relatives of patients."
The Trust has also set up a 'Relatives’ Liaison team', made up of clinical staff who are unable to work on the wards due health and shielding requirements.
They have volunteered to act as a link between patients’ relatives and ward staff during the Covid-19 outbreak.
Each day the team contacts as many wards as possible to get a handover of a patient’s overall health and developments in their care.
They then phone relatives, giving priority to those who are more vulnerable, such as those who can’t use Skype or video calls to keep in touch with their loved ones.
“We know that enabling people to see each other as well as speak to each other will make for much more meaningful communication and will make a huge difference to them. This is helping to reunite couples; parents, children and grandchildren and we know this means the world to them. This is also really important for our staff: knowing that you have done all you can for your patients and their loved ones is a major morale booster.”

domain: sociology


text: The Opposable Thumbs blog got some hands-on time with Halo Wars, the upcoming RTS from Ensemble Studios. The early look is promising; concerns about the controls and the game's adherence to Halo's style have effectively been laid to rest. Now that work on the game is complete, Ensemble is shutting down, its employees splitting amongst at least two new game studios. "Thanks in large part to the game's control and Ensemble's clear consideration for the limitations of a controller when playing an RTS, Halo Wars manages to achieve a level of playability and accessibility that truly is fitting of the Halo dynasty. As Halo brought console FPS games to the masses in a way that Goldeneye couldn't, so too will Halo Wars introduce RTS games to a whole new league of gamers. ... Ensemble has done a great job at emulating what made Bungie's titles so great; from the orchestral themes to the massive battles and the ongoing drama of the Covenant war, Halo Wars is a Halo title through and through."

domain: entertainment


By Wintery Knight Here’s a post from Christian writer Terrell Clemmons about efforts by gay activists to redefine Christianity so that it is consistent with homosexual behavior. This particular post is focused on Matthew Vines. She writes: In March 2012, two years after having set out to confront homophobia in the church, Matthew presented the results of […]
The post Is Homosexual Behavior Consistent With The Bible’s Teachings? appeared first on Cross Examined.org | Christian Apologetics Organization | Dr. Frank Turek.


text:
The funding round was led by Galaxy Digital and Hashed.
The digital wallet has been spun out of parent company cLabs with some fresh funding.
Under the terms of an SEC Reg A+ offering, Exodus will accept bitcoin, ether and USDC, and sell equity tokens for $27.42 apiece.
Some telcos are looking at developing a digital wallet that would link the digital currency to users' mobile phone numbers.
The Tesla CEO said crypto users should avoid wallets that do not give them access to their private keys.
It’s a bitcoin bull run and you've forgotten the password to your wallet. What’s next?
FinCEN Deputy Director Michael Mosier encouraged commenters to provide practical, technical feedback on the rule.
“Indeed, cash poses a greater challenge to law enforcement than cryptocurrency in unhosted wallets," wrote Judge Zia Faruqui in an opinion on a forfeiture case.
Ledger was also targeted by hackers in Shopify's data breach.
FinCEN’s proposed rule regulating “unhosted” wallet transfers has a number of potential issues, including unintended consequences for decentralized finance.
Two weeks during the holiday season and a pandemic is not enough time, the exchange said, asking for the customary 60 days.
The integration with Securitize will enable users of the "sbiwallet" to sell, issue and manage tokenized securities directly within the app.
NGC Ventures, Capital6 Eagle and Amber Group co-led the round.
The number of crypto criminals using so-called privacy wallets to help hide their identities is on the rise, according to analytics firm Elliptic.


text:
YEP Says: Why '˜sink estate' is a place locals can be proud of
too many housing complexes envisaged as utopias end up as troubled sink estates which tend to be in the news for all the wrong reasons - drugs, violence and anti-social behaviour.
Leeds has more than its fair share of such places. But one of them, New Wortley, has proven that with everyone pulling in the right direction, such areas really can be secure, warm and welcoming places to live and raise families.
New Wortley is one of the country’s most economically deprived neighbourhoods but now its residents can tell people with pride where they live.
Locals secured a £680,000 Lottery grant to rebuild their community centre and residents lobbied relentlessly to encourage investment and came up with new ways of dealing with long-standing problems such as drugs and anti-social behaviour.
The community says some £3.5 million pounds of investment has now been made and new ways of working will “improve outcomes”.
New jobs have been created and a major initiative is under way to help people living there to thrive, not just survive.
This work hasn’t been easy but it shows with the right attitude and well-invested money, no-where should be written off. Other estates, rather than wallowing in self-pity, should follow suit.

domain: news


"How do you transgress boundaries? How do you dismantle polarities? How do you manoeuvre a system that’s being operated by opposing poles?" These are the questions Dennis Gupa, MFA directing student, is seeking to discuss in his production of The Bacchae 2.1.
Gupa’s production brings this reimagining of Euripides’ The Bacchae, adapted by Charles Mee, into context for a contemporary audience.
A dynamic, physical piece, Bacchae 2.1 draws on Gupa’s Filipino roots, and his views on equality, spirituality and testing the limits of the body.
"I react to contemporary issues, but am guided with my traditional spiritual practice, and my values are very much traditional," said Gupa on the juxtaposition of Greek and contemporary theatre.
Through rehearsal, the actors have focused on the contemporary issues and polarities through themes of excess and movement.
"It has led me to the conclusion that this is a play about emotions, it’s a play about feelings, and it’s a play about excess," said Thomas Elms, who is playing the role of Dionysius, on the exploration of both Greek tragedy and Gupa’s style of directing. "It’s about making people feel things, and it’s about the connection that kind of transcends language."
Ghazal Azarbad is playing the Orange Woman, a member of the traditional Greek chorus. The individuality of the women in the chorus is something unique and different from Greek tradition.
"I think it is an ensemble piece," said Azarbad. "It requires a lot of group mind, a lot of group decision making, especially when it comes to furthering the story along and making sure that the focus is in specific places. It takes a lot of generosity from everyone."
In Mee’s version, however, the Greek tragedy is made much more anachronistic, sexual and perhaps more feminist. "We discussed a lot about the individuality of each of the women in Bacchae," noted Helena Fisher-Welsh, BFA acting student playing Agave. "There’s qualities to them that are not really quite human, but they do take on human qualities. Much of the rehearsals were finding out how we move, because it’s such a big part of who the women are."
The separation of the women’s individuality is brought to light largely through the innovative costume design of student Kiara Lawson.
"They have a certain anonymity to them, because they are all [initially] looking the same, and that’s kind of what a Greek chorus does to its members -- they’re one entity," said Lawson. "So as the play progresses, they remove that costume and underneath you find these crazy, wacky costumes that don’t have any particular base in period or time or place."
Lawson has been designing the costumes since the summer, and has relished the freedom and creativity with this position.
"It gave me a lot of opportunity for creativity and designing things from my mind as opposed to conforming to a specific period," said Lawson when asked about the originality of her designs.
Like in many Greek tragedies, the essence of the play lies in the tensions of opposites. Gupa questioned throughout the process "how do you dismantle that, how do you understand man and woman … I feel that this play will give me an opportunity to breathe a new knowledge into these two opposing systems."
The production is layered with live music stemming from Gupa’s Filipino heritage, influencing the movement of the actors. Azarbad noted how the use of movement and music ensures the actors rely on more visceral stimulation, rather than deep analysis of the text. "We’ve just allowed the text to be in our bodies and through our voices, so the rehearsal process has almost been reversed."
As a production with endless levels, Bacchae 2.1 is not something to be missed.
"We’re still trying to decide what this play is really about," said Azarbad. "There’s so many different things to think about, which is what makes this play so dynamic and incredibly rich to work on. It will just keep unravelling and will never have an end."
The Bacchae 2.1 opens on January 22 at the Frederic Wood Theatre. Tickets are available online and at the door.


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Moves led by Western agri MNCS heavily supported by Bill Gates and by the UK and USA are setting out to dominate Africa’s seed market, forcing farmers to by imported seeds, including GM. This is totally unnecessary because African subsistence farmers – which is the vast majority of them – have always had a system of generating their own free seed, and this move will literally drive many of them out of business.
Another example is the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (or CAP) which takes up half the EU budget and lavishes subsidies onto the EU’s biggest landowners at the expense of millions of the poorest farmers in Africa.
The huge subsidies they get allow the EU to dump thousands of tons of heavily-subsidised food into Africa every year. This effectively blocks African producers from exporting their own products because they compete with the lower prices made possible by the CAP. For instance EU farmers are guaranteed a price for their sugar which is three times higher than the world price.
Mozambique loses more than £100 million a year because of restrictions on importing into EU coupled with the dumping of cheap exports at its door, while many thousands of workers in Swaziland have lost their jobs because the local industry cannot compete.
Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal have been hit by cheap, subsidised imports from Europe.
Thousands of tonnes of powdered milk from the EU are dumped in West African countries such as Mali at a cheaper price than local cattle owners can sell at, devastating the economy and driving them out of business.
Unwanted EU chicken thighs and wings are often frozen and exported to Africa where they are sold for rock-bottom prices. Chicken farmers in Senegal and Ghana used to supply most of the country’s demand – now their market share has virtually disappeared because subsidised imports are 50 per cent cheaper.
As Claire Godfrey of Oxfam, says: “Not only does the Common Agricultural Policy hit European shoppers in their pockets but strikes a blow against the heart of development in places like Africa”.
As a result, it is now estimated that Africa imports well over 80 per cent of its food when, not so long ago, Africa was totally self-sufficient in food production.
Not content with this, the EU, the UN, the World Bank and the IMF have been trying for a long while to impose free trade deals on African nations which African trade unionists have described as the latest ‘colonialist scramble’ for the continent.
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has said that the proposed Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) would allow the continued exploitation of the continent by European big business.
Its general secretary for Africa, Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, has said that the colonial economic structure set-up to export raw materials and import manufactures remained and called on Africa to reject “the latest scramble” by European powers.
“Structural Adjustment foisted on Africa with the active involvement of the European Union has killed off the little industrial capabilities countries mastered immediately after independence,” he said.
He said that the alleged market access offered under this and previous trade agreements were “contrived”.
“As the tariffs came down on African raw materials, they went up for manufacturers.
“It is highly disingenuous to conceive of a free trade between the poorest continent on earth and the world’s most powerful trading bloc as the solution,” he said.
Therefore it is clear that these EPA’s are designed to open up of all Africa for EU exports, exposing African producers to overwhelming competition from the world’s most powerful and rapacious transnationals.
The starkest example of this imperialist domination is coffee. In 2014 Africa, the home of coffee, earned just £1.5 billion from the crop. Yet Germany, a leading processor, earned nearly double that from coffee re-exports.
The reason for this is that Africa is punished by the EU with a 7.5 per cent tariff charge on roasted coffee but non-decaffeinated green coffee is exempt. As a result, the bulk of Africa’s export to the EU is unroasted green coffee and German manufacturers reap the rewards.
The charge on cocoa is even more debilitating as the EU tariff charge is a massive 30 per cent for processed cocoa products like chocolate bars or cocoa powder, and 60 per cent for some other refined products containing cocoa.
This of course effectively stifles technological innovation and industrial development in Africa, yet another reason for Africa’s continuing poverty, with 91% of the population earning less than US$5 a day, and 43% under $ 1.90 a day.
Indeed, the battle against poverty is in retreat. Even the AU admits that progress is not keeping pace with the developed world. In fact – a fact little publicised but confirmed by the World Bank – is that there are 300% MORE Africans in extreme poverty now than there were in 1981. And the income gap between Africans and Westerners has also risen by 300% since 1960.Post published in: Featured

domain: politics


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European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton pledged support for rebels in east Libya on Sunday, making the most senior visit to the area by a foreign official since a revolt against Muammar Gaddafi began.
"I saw the posters on the way from the airport to here saying 'We have a dream' and I'm here today to explain not only about our short-term support but also the breadth of our support," Ashton said in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
Visiting to open a representative office for the EU, Ashton toured the square next to the Benghazi court house, epicentre of the revolt that erupted in mid-February.
Several Libyans surrounded her, flicking "V-for-Victory" signs. One man nearby said: "Every Libyan is very happy."
Ashton's visit "shows the increased support of the European Union in supporting us to have a democratic and free state", said the head of the Benghazi-based National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil.
"Tightening EU sanctions"
Ashton said she discussed support for health, education, civil society, border management and security reform.
"We seek to support, not just now, but for the future and as long as the people of this country wish us there," she said.
The most foreign senior visitor to visit the rebel-held region until now had been the Polish foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, who travelled to Benghazi on May 11.
Western diplomatic sources told Reuters last week the EU was considering tightening sanctions on Gaddafi's government by blacklisting ports to prevent oil exports and fuel imports.
One source said EU experts had reached an agreement to put six ports -- Tripoli, Zuara, Zawiyah, Al-Khoms, Ras Lanuf and Brega -- on the list. Proposals could be submitted to the EU sanctions committee next week.
Another EU diplomat said the measure could be discussed by foreign ministers who meet in Brussels on Monday.
The revolt against the Libyan leader's rule has crippled the refining industry and Gaddafi urgently needs fuel imports. His government wants to raise fuel imports by using a loophole in international sanctions.
The need for humanitarian aid is rising, particularly in the eastern region of the country
Mob lynching is becoming a serious issue in Nigeria, with many people being killed by what is often described as "jungle justice."
Signaling a possible shift in the peace negotiations, new FARC guerrillas have arrived in Cuba.
Zambia, now seen as a model of African democracy, won independence from the United Kingdom on October 24, 1964.
John Kerry says allegations are "extremely serious."
Kenya and China signed a $3.8-billion deal for the construction of the railway in May
Arrawa Hammad, 14, was shot in the head with live ammunition by an Israeli sniper during clashes in Silwad village
An explosion rocked an army checkpoint in Egypt's restive Sinai Peninsula, leaving 25 soldiers dead and 20 wounded, a military source said.
Mali's Health Minister Ousmane Kone told state television that the patient in the western town of Kayes was a two-year-old girl who had recently arrived from neighbouring Guinea,
Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic says other European countries are preparing to recognize Palestine as well
European Union calls on Turkey to ‘respect’ the Greek Cypriot administration’s 'sovereign rights’ in waters which it claims as its territory.
A reporter covering fighting between Myanmar's army and Karen rebels said to have been shot dead after arrest
Court extends detentions of three people, while five suspects released
Frelimo, which has ruled Mozambique since its independence in 1975, also maintained its majority in the 250-seat parliament.
"It is not acceptable, it an appalling way to behave," a visibly angry Cameron told a news conference in Brussels
The child died from birdshot injuries after security forces dispersed a pro-Morsi rally in the Al-Matarya district northwest of capital Cairo


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The Strategy to 2020 has taken Cochrane into a new phase of its evolution. It offers us a new strategic framework in which to operate, so that Cochrane prioritizes work that is aligned with the Strategy and ensures that it is ‘fit for purpose’ to deliver the Strategy with an organization configured to deliver our strategic goals.
This means that we need to revisit the core functions of Groups to make them more relevant to our future needs and external demands. It is also likely that structural changes will be required to ensure we can deliver our Strategy. Whilst Cochrane’s Strategy to 2020 continues to place primary importance on the production of high-quality, relevant evidence, it also emphasizes the need to make our evidence accessible and for us to engage actively in advocacy around evidence-based practice to achieve our mission. The dissemination and promotion of Cochrane evidence in health and healthcare policy and practice amongst diverse user groups in different countries and regions; knowledge translation – including translation into local languages – of Cochrane evidence into forms of products and services that are much more accessible and valuable for people in their geographic space; and advocacy initiatives for Cochrane policies and positions, and for evidence-informed medicine, all represent areas of greatly increased activity for Cochrane in its Strategy to 2020 which require us to think differently about the roles, functions, and structures of Cochrane Groups.

domain: medical


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Dining Accessories & Tableware
The dining accessories that we provide are perfect for adding that final touch to your dining room. Within our selection of dining accessories you will be able to find tableware, cutlery, dining room furniture as well as drinking glasses, in fact just what you need to get the most out of your dining experience. Our dining accessories collection is full of quality sought after tableware brands such as Denby, Emma Bridgewater, Orla Kiely and Robert Welch, to name but a few, for you to choose from. So why not discover today, the ideal solution to your dining room requirements. Discover our range of dining accessories online or visit us in store at our Norwich Department Store.

domain: design


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We all know the extraordinary Kira Kosarin as being one all-around, incredible and spectacular, young lady! From being an amazing actress, a wonderful singer and a skilled dancer, the list goes on and on about the many reasons why we all love and adore Kira Kosarin! The fabulous fashionista was at it again enlightening us all with her fashion wisdom as she did another fun recap with Teen Vogue, this time for their Teen Vogue Red Carpet Rewind at the 2016 Oscars.
The lovely Kira Kosarin discussed all her fashion faves with Phillip Picardi of Teen Vogue and she looked so stunning (as always) while doing so. Did you all know that Kira Kosarin also did Teen Vogue’s very first video recap for the GRAMMYs?! You can check it out here!
Kira Kosarin shared the marvelous tweet as seen below:
Anything and everything the terrific Kira Kosarin does always leaves us mesmerized! Be sure to watch Kira Kosarin’s red carpet rewind with Teen Vogue at this link! Comment below and tell me or tweet me at @alexisjoyvipacc, what was YOUR favorite part from Kira Kosarin’s Teen Vogue recap video for the Oscars? What were some of your Oscars fashion faves? I want to know!
Follow Kira Kosarin on Twitter: @KiraKosarin
Follow Teen Vogue on Twitter: @TeenVogue

domain: celebrity


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Pace of new releases has picked up appreciably and so have buyer support
Dubai: A quite sizeable 2,513 off-plan units were released in Dubai during the first three months, indicating that developers are shrugging off the inertia brought on by a market yet to revive itself in full. The Q1-16 closely tracks what the market saw during the same period last year.
But this is where the similarities might end. Last year, developers took their foot off the accelerator with new launches as both sales and property values came under tremendous pressure. Eventually, the year closed with 20,000 units released.
But with the pace of activity already picking up in the first quarter — led by master-developers such as Dubai Properties (which came out with the instantly sold out Serena Villas) and Emaar and private ones such as Nshama and Azizi — off-plan launches could easily cross 20,000 units, industry sources say.
The launches have been fast and furious this month, though official stats are still being collated. (April’s most significant launch, The Tower from Emaar, and Dubai’s next tallest structure will not, however, have a freehold component.) The best part is that off-plan launch prices have not seen any sharp markups in the secondary market, and which would have hurt market dynamics just as the worse seems to be over. In another plus for the longer term stability, the steep discounts that were being offered last year in secondary market transactions are also no longer there. The move to stability is thus gaining traction.
Developers with new launches are also playing it mighty smart — more of them are now offering split payment plans, with the bulk of it to take place after the handover. And with the added comfort of two or three years post-completion. To juice up the offers further, some developers even have interest-free instalment plans.
“While it is too early to state how they (the off-plan sales) are faring, what we are able to ascertain is there has been somewhat of a pickup in the response to these launches,” said Sameer Lakhani, managing director of Global Capital Partners, which issued the data. “The increased response has been a function of post-handover payment plans, a select reduction in launch prices, as well as improvement in the overall economic sentiment.”
Where developers are able to offer a pricing more in sync with buyer sentiments, they have been able to generate a good deal of support. “Price declines are stimulating demand and bringing the market to equilibrium, perhaps far quicker than most would have anticipated,” Lakhani added.
The interesting aspect is that demand for ready properties is also on the mend. In fact, this is where end users are most likely to be seen as they seek out homes that fit in with their budgets. Locations such as Sports City, Jumeirah Village Circle and Emirates Living are up 30 per cent in transactions in Q1-16 from a year ago.
But Kalpesh Sampath, chief operating officer of SPF Realty, suggests off-plan is where price appreciations are most likely to be seen in future. “If you invest in the right off-plan, the capital gain is significantly higher annually compared to ready property appreciation,” he said. “Some developers in the current market are even offering attractive, flexible post-handover payment plans. Banks also provide support towards the end of the payment plan, usually after you have paid 50 per cent.
“Most of the demand has been in the low- and mid-segment space … mainly for Dh700-Dh900 and Dh1,000-Dh1,200 per square foot. However, the real estate market in Dubai has indeed become a lot more stable in Q1-16 as compared to 2014 and 2015. Overall, transactions have increased as more buyers have realised that the market, in terms of pricing, has bottomed out.”
A tale of many market dynamics
With master-developments such as MBR (Mohammad Bin Rashid) City, Meydan One and Culture Village seeing more launches, as well as those happening near Dubai Canal, the average off-plan launch prices are on the up. Even then there are price gaps that a canny investor can make use of.
“When we look at the Downtown area, for example, off-plan products are trading at between a 20 per cent discount to a 10 per cent premium to the ready market depending on the stage of the project,” said Sameer Lakhani of Global Capital Partners. “In Arabian Ranches, the discount factors are much tighter, with prices being traded at a slight discount (2-5 per cent) when compared to the ready space.”
In Abu Dhabi, off-plan sales had a major lift this month with Aldar Properties launching Yas Acres and to feature 1,315 villas from Dh3 million plus. The recent Cityscape Abu Dhabi also saw other developers piling on with new releases.
All rights reserved to the initial publisher for gulfnews.com


A motorist who drove on the wrong side of a traffic island was more than twice over the alcohol limit.
Jack Beavers, 23, of Knowle Avenue, Cleveleys, pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol.
He was banned from the road for 17 months and fined £160 with £20 victims’ surcharge by Blackpool magistrates.
Martine Connah, prosecuting, said police saw Beavers in a Vauxhall Astra driving on the wrong side of a traffic island on Blackpool Old Road, on October 11 at 1.45am.
A breath test showed 77 micrograms of alcohol in his body – 35 is the limit.
Beavers told magistrates that he had let himself and his family down and he apologised for what he had done.
He added that he had lost his job as a plumber because of the offence, as his employment involved working out of town.


It has been a long week, we all know that, you had a few jars last night, who could blame you? So to make Saturday morning’s hangover a little more bearable we bring you every thing you should’ve heard this week.
All the best tunes for your dicky tummy, a pill of the sweetest tracks we have heard this week – like a paracetamol of punk, pop and everything in between.
London’s Black Honey are providing this most refreshing of beverages with new track ‘Corrine’. According to the band’s singer Izzie, the song was written about a drunken fight with a friend who left before she could re-conciliate. Heartfelt and heavy is the order of the day.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Trapdoor
The second song to be taken from Australia’s King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard newest acoustic LP Paper Mache Dream Balloon (yes that is the best LP title for a while, we agree) is beautiful mix of wood pipes, double bass and the kickiest psyche you ever did hear. Ladies and gentlemen ‘Trapdoor’
As Casey’s vocal drawl takes us on a wandering through the underbelly of our minds while the angular guitars add another jaunt and make this a juxtaposition of joviality and incandescent derision.
It keeps the heavy mood whilst creating a still danceable (well, swaying) tune. It speaks of the band’s new direction that they can complete a pop-tinged tune still within their preferred medium of post-punk punchiness. Released via Hardly Art we are very much looking forward to the LP.
SMILE – Bopundless Plains To Share
SMILE are one of those bands that if I told you were 20 or 30 years old you would happily believe me. But they’re not. They’re from now – by way of Melbourne, Austrailia. The five-piece dream pop style smacks of 90’s vibes so strong it leaves us with a yearning for pills
TRAAMS – Costner
The video for Costner was directed by Steve Glashier, who wanted “something simple and raw that captured their energy as a band and their live experience, the energy of the crowd, that swell and movement.”
The single is taken for their forthcoming LP, Modern Dancing, which is released on the same date. Recorded and produced by MJ of Hookworms at Suburban Home Studios in Leeds, where the band located briefly, the album is the follow up to their 2013 debut Grin.


text:
This Slim Jacket is cut in a slim fit created by engineered seam positionings. The collar can be kept high up by using the chintab. Inside the collar you'll find a hood stored away. A rubberized zipper conceals the vertical placed chestpocket that is covered by a flap. Along the left sleeve two additional pockets offer room for your phone or keys. Inside you'll find a small zip pocket to keep your wallet secured, adding another anti-theft feature to this style.
- Shirt collar with chin tab- button closure
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Model is 1.89m and is wearing a size M (Chest 97cm). See size guide
Higa Stretch Denim
Higa Denim was inspired by the vintage collections of the Cone Denim Mills USA. A deep indigo with a slight green cast resembling the natural oxidation process, which happens over time on vintage indigo dyed jeans. Optimized with elastane, the Higa Stretch denim was designed with a hint of comfort.
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3D Cobler Processed Water Repellant
Expertly finished with baked-in 3D-wrinkles and a deeply broken-in look, finished with a water repellant treatment.
30° normal process
Art. nr.: D14497-A670-A882


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|ITEM SPECIFICATIONS: RING|
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When people ask to borrow money, the words they use can predict whether they will pay it back – Quartz
The words people use say a lot about their personality, emotions and thinking. And the ones they use when asking to borrow money, at the end of the day, also say a lot about their likelihood of repaying others.
Borrowers who try to appeal to the emotional side of their potential lenders – by mentioning God, divorce, or the needs of family members, for example – are less likely to meet their loan obligations (something to keep in mind when our buddies or family members try to make fun of us).
On the other hand, people who mention aspirations like higher education or marriages are more likely to repay their loans.
The findings were presented to the Boulder Summer Conference on Consumer Financial Decision Making this week and comes from research by Columbia University professors Oded Netzer and Alain Lemaire, and University of Delaware professor Michal Herzenstein. Research is ongoing and has not yet been published.
The team analyzed the text of more than 18,000 loan applications made between 2007 and 2008 via the US peer-to-peer lending website. Prosper to measure which words appeared most often in the 33% of loans from that period that eventually went into default. (Remember, the United States was on the verge of a major recession then, and Prosper was just getting started.)
They found, for example, that the word God was 2.2 times more likely to appear in a loan application where the borrower ultimately defaulted. Borrowers who used the term “payday loan” in their applications were 2.7 times more likely to default than average.
Being nice (using words and terms such as “hello”, “thank you” and “to your blessings”) correlated with higher default rates, as did future use (“will not” , “Will have”). The two tend to correlate with making promises that a person doesn’t intend to keep, Netzer told the conference. Meanwhile, people who referred to financial stability signals and demonstrated financial literacy with phrases like “excellent credit” and “lower interest rates” were more likely to repay their loans.
The group found that analyzing words used in initial loan applications could improve the ability to predict defaults by 4% to 5.7% compared to information traditionally used like credit scores and others. financial measures, which the researchers said could have saved Prosper’s lenders from losing over $ 1.4 million in loans gone bad.
Discoveries take on greater importance in a world where a an increasing amount of lending is starting to occur on the internet, without a human loan officer who once could have adopted questionable body language.
Instead of real people, we can find meaningful traces of personality in the words people use, Netzer said.
Certainly, making lending decisions in part based on a borrower’s grammar, spelling, and word choice could unintentionally bias lenders against groups like immigrants with poor English.
“One of the perks of being an academic is the ability to study things without thinking about the ethical issues of implementing those processes,” Netzer said. “When it comes to people, banks and lenders actually using these techniques, ethical issues absolutely have to be taken into account. “
|Words more likely to be mentioned by defaulters||Words more likely to be mentioned by payers|
|Payday loan||Excellent credit|
|Give me a chance||University|
|Will not do|


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Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), recently, revealed that the total number of telecom subscribers in Gujarat increased by nearly 3.09 lakh in March 2022, standing at 6.73 crore, as compared to nearly 6.67 crore in the month of February.
However, this marked a slight dip as compared to 7.03 crore in July 2021. Key reason for this drop is said to be higher tariffs, which have increased by 20% since December last year. This rise in tariffs has forced people to give up additional connections and move to cheaper alternatives.
Inflation in other industries, especially that in essential commodities like food and food products as well as services like healthcare and transport has also led to people cutting expenses in telecom services.
Nevertheless, with tariffs going up and other factors, telecom companies’ average revenue per user (ARPU) has risen 5.6% in the quarter ending December 2021 quarter as compared to the previous quarter.


The California Renters Legal Advocacy and Education Fund (CaRLA) today filed a lawsuit against the City of Sausalito, CA alleging that the city violated the state’s Housing Accountability Act with an unlawful denial of a housing project. In 2016, David Holub, the owner of the project at 77 Crescent Avenue, proposed a modest addition to his property that would add one new unit of housing to the Bay Area’s already scarce housing supply. On September 11, 2017, Sausalito City Council voted to deny David’s project.
The City of Sausalito denied the project on the grounds that the project is “out of scale with the village like quality of Sausalito”. CaRLA alleges that the city’s reason for denial of the project was based on subjective criteria, which is a violation of the Housing Accountability Act’s requirement that projects be denied for objective, well-defined criteria.
“One home may not seem like the solution to the state’s housing shortage,” says CaRLA Executive Director Victoria Fierce, “but every journey begins with a single step. The remedy for the housing shortage will be the sum of many individual new housing units.”
“We can’t let exclusive suburbs like Sausalito off the hook” added CaRLA co-founder Sonja Trauss. “We have to take the fight against gentrification to the place where it starts - in the high cost, highly desirable suburbs that have historically been very good at keeping new housing, and new people out. That demand doesn’t just disappear. … Housing must be built in every kind of neighborhood: high density apartment housing near transit and in big city downtowns, medium density multi-family on small town main streets, and also single family homes on underutilized lots in exclusive low density neighborhoods.”
“The Bay Area’s wealthy enclaves cannot break the law with impunity,” said attorney Ryan Patterson. “As we have done elsewhere, we will compel Sausalito to obey state housing mandates and approve code-compliant projects.”
CaRLA is a 501c3 non-profit organized in California for expanded access to all forms of housing for all income levels through enforcement of state housing law. Enacted in 1982, the Housing Accountability Act (Government Code Section 65589.5) requires that cities grant applications for housing development projects that comply with objective code requirements, except in rare cases where specific health and safety risks cannot be mitigated.
That CEQA abuse is rampant should surprise no one. As Holland & Knight confirmed in their 2015 study, most CEQA actions attempt to block infill development, mass transit, and renewable energy projects. Anti-housing advocates use CEQA to delay, kill, or reduce the density of housing projects, as recent actions in Redwood City illustrate. According to the UC Davis Center for Regional Change, Redwood City boasted 56,093 total jobs, but only 28,825 total housing units as of 2014 (Excel document). Home to long-time tech heavyweights Oracle and Electronic Arts, Redwood City needs to build more housing, especially in its downtown core served by Caltrain.
Geoff Carr, a criminal defense attorney in Redwood City, opposes the City’s plan to build tall housing downtown. Carr typifies a species of NIMBY who wields a law enacted to promote environmental sustainability to demand a reduction in housing density, which encourages sprawl. In November of 2016, Carr successfully compelled Redwood City and a developer to settle his CEQA suit, which resulted in downsizing a proposed 91-unit condo building to 68 units. Emboldened by his victory, Carr is now attempting to reduce the density of another proposed 8-story housing development in Redwood City. At a City Council meeting last year, Carr declared, “There is an end to this chitchat and it ends with me… Make this six stories and you won’t get sued.” Evidently, Carr has declared himself to be the Commissar of Housing, never mind the democratic decision-making process.
CaRLA is working with pro-housing advocates in Redwood City to prevent additional CEQA abuse. While state-level reform is necessary to align the effects of CEQA with the bill’s intent, we hope that by working with YIMBYs, the City, and the developer, CaRLA can prevent additional homes from being killed.
Boom California recently published an interview with Mike Davis, a “chronicler of the California dark side and LA’s underbelly,” and advocate for community planning. I’ve excerpted sections from Davis’ best-known work, “City of Quartz,” (PDF) on Twitter to highlight how Los Angeles homeowners demanded land use and tax policies that enriched themselves while furthering racial and class exclusion. Davis is a talented prose stylist with a knack for skewering profiteering and segregationist Angelenos, but his lack of understanding of real estate markets leads him to support perverse policies. Below, I discuss shortcomings in his “progressive” approach and propose four suggestions when thinking about land use policy.
Devise policy to limit home prices, not land prices.
Davis assumes that “the stabilization of land values is the precondition for long-term democratic planning.” Like Davis, I support a Georgist Land-Value Tax, but the real problem for low- and middle-income people isn’t high land prices, it’s high home prices. Few people live on unimproved land. High land prices are a market signal to use land more intensely, i.e., to build dense housing instead of detached single-family homes. In hyper-expensive San Francisco, land acquisition costs are a small portion of the costs for new condo towers, but they are the majority of the costs for detached single-family homes. Urban policy that values class and racial inclusion will limit home-price appreciation by permitting more homes to be built.
Most poor people live in market-rate housing. Don’t abandon them.
Aside from a Land-Value Tax, Davis’ other big “nonrevolutionary” solution is to more strictly regulate land use. He wants to “municipalize strategic parts of the land inventory for affordable housing, parks and form-giving greenbelts.” Those are fine ideas IF the city either a) builds massive amounts of social housing on restricted land (politically & fiscally impossible) or b) permits private developers to meet the need for housing on unrestricted land (politically hard, fiscally easy, but not what Davis supports). Otherwise, home prices will climb and the poor will be displaced. Rent control helps incumbent residents, but does little for low-income migrants. If local policymakers seek to prevent displacement and permit in-migration of low-income people, they need to think more about the real estate market and less about publicly subsidized housing.
Value a diversity of uses and urban play over rigid long-term planning.
On the one hand, Davis supports “long-term democratic planning” and thinks developers ruin social democracy by engaging in the political process to secure variances for their projects. On the other hand, Davis wants to allow a “democratic variety” in urban space and encourage “unprogrammed fun and discovery.” These desires are incompatible. Limiting development and prescribing permissible land use activities restricts in-migration to wealthy residents and proscribes the creative adaptation of disused space. Weirdo 22 year-old artists aren’t going to apply for a below-market-rate housing waiting list, they’re going to move where rent and studio space are cheap.
Economic dynamism militates against long-term planning. Support flexible land use policies.
Davis believes “if you don’t intervene in the operation of land markets, you’ll usually end up producing the opposite result from what you intended.” As housing scholarship (PDF) makes clear, the reality is the opposite – if cities intervene in the operation of land markets via restrictive zoning, they may lower the price of land, but will increase the price of homes and worsen segregation. That’s not to say there is no need for infrastructure planning and encouraging home building along transit corridors, but councils of local residents are unlikely to concern themselves with the interests of nonresidents and therefore shouldn’t direct policy. What’s more, would-be planners face many unknown unknowns. As a former manager of the Communist Party’s bookstore, Mike Davis should take Marx’s analysis of capitalism in the “The Communist Manifesto” seriously:
The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionising the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society. Conservation of the old modes of production in unaltered form, was, on the contrary, the first condition of existence for all earlier industrial classes. Constant revolutionising of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainty and agitation distinguish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones. All fixed, fast-frozen relations, with their train of ancient and venerable prejudices and opinions, are swept away, all new-formed ones become antiquated before they can ossify. All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind.
Not only do localities further exclusion when given the opportunity, they attempt to preserve existing built form and use when changed economic and social conditions demand alternatives. Marx could have been writing about California land use and tax policy when he declared, “the tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living.” Let’s embrace the future by surrendering our futile desires for stability. Achieving inclusive communities demands it.
In “The Experience of Racial and Ethnic Minorities with Zoning in the United States” (PDF), Andrew H. Whittemore of UNC Chapel Hill offers a good review of the environmental, planning, and legal literature. Whittemore describes how the practice and ideology of modern zoning – physical separation of “incompatible” uses like apartments, single-family homes, and industrial activities – maintained racial and class segregation after successive laws and court decisions forbade explicit exclusion. Planners upheld zoning as the cartographical embodiment of good government, while white homeowners and city officials supported facially race neutral policies to preserve racial and class segregation. White residents demanded restrictive zoning by virtue of their “positions as homeowners, consumers, and taxpayers concerned about property values, community services, and quality of life.” City officials likewise defended the exclusionary status quo by strengthening environmental protection, traffic mitigation efforts, and city finances. The result was “…an American brand of apartheid that saw wealthier and white households secluded from poorer and minority Americans in separate geographies.”
New to me was the concept of “expulsive zoning,” the practice of zoning residential areas for industrial uses, which often displaced the existing (typically Latino or black) residents. In cases where residents remained, they were often exposed to environmental toxins and noxious activities. While YIMBYs may cheer environmental justice campaigns, we often neglect the good work of public health and environmental policy researchers in this area.
Conversing with the economic literature and more recent planning scholarship would have strengthened Whittemore’s brief discussion of zoning reforms to integrate communities. His use of Charles H. Cheney, a planning consultant in the early 20th century, as a champion for the economic advancement for poor immigrants is especially bizarre. Cheney, the co-author of Berkeley’s first zoning ordinance, clarified the purpose of large lot single-family zoning in a letter to Frederick Law Olmstead. Cheney wrote, “The type of protective restrictions and the high class scheme of layout which we have provided tends to guide and automatically regulate the class of citizens who are settling here. The restrictions prohibit occupation of land by Negroes or Asiatics. The minimum cost of house restrictions tends to group the people of more or less like income together...” To achieve housing affordability and integration, we YIMBYs must make common cause with fair housing advocates to dismantle these “high class schemes” in the courts and at the ballot box.
To date, scholars have examined two common effects of zoning that disproportionately impact racial and ethnic minorities in the United States: (1) exclusionary effects, resulting from zoning’s erection of direct, discriminatory barriers or indirect, economic barriers to geographic mobility; and (2) intensive and expulsive effects, resulting from zoning’s disproportionate targeting of minority residential neighborhoods for commercial and industrial development. In light of recent legal and federal policy developments, continued research is needed to better understand the scale of the gap between the treatment of white and minority communities and to better understand how zoning can reverse past injustices.


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Even though our entire family is home on most days, we still look forward to snow days, when the world outside our door is blanketed in white and we can spend the day playing in the snow, sipping and hot chocolate and just enjoying each other.
These cake mix cookies are so easy, and we keep a box of cake mix on hand so that we can whip these up on snow days throughout the winter.
They would also be perfect for making cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve!
- 1 box any flavor cake mix
- 2 eggs
- 1⁄2 cup oil
- mix-ins, optional
Mix oil, eggs and cake mix.
Drop by teaspoonfuls on a cookie sheet and decorate with sprinkles and candy.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes.
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domain: food


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From The Wall Street Journal: New York Education Task Force Report Expected This Month
By Leslie Brody
Attempts to overhaul education in New York face a big test.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo ’s task force on academic standards and testing expects to hand in its much anticipated report this month, amid a continuing push by teachers unions to end the use of student test scores in teacher evaluations.