In “Let’s Talk About X” Bobo gurgles that it’s time to break out of the 1986 paradigm of closing loopholes and lowering tax rates. Here’s a case for the consumption tax. Right, Bobo. A HUGELY regressive tax is just what this country needs. Cripes… Mr. Cohen, in “Keeping Egypt’s Republic,” says Morsi must correct course and liberals must seek compromise. In “The Gun Frenzy” Mr. Blow says nothing warms the heart for the holidays like cold steel. Prof. Krugman addresses the “Class Wars of 2012.” He says the same people who bet big on Mitt Romney, and lost, are now trying to win by stealth the ground they failed to gain in the election. Here’s Bobo:
In 1986, Democrats and Republicans came together and enacted a tax reform measure that closed loopholes and lowered tax rates. That was a great achievement. The ’86 act has shaped thinking ever since. Now when people talk about tax reform, they instinctively say, “Let’s do another ’86-style act.” When they debate tax ideas, they inevitably fixate on the two levers that were central back then: closing loopholes and changing top marginal rates.
The problem is that it’s not 1986 anymore. We have a different set of problems. The two levers highlighted in that earlier reform are not powerful enough to help us address the issues we face today. The 1986 paradigm has become an intellectual straitjacket, foreclosing considerations of the things we actually have to do.
Unlike in 1986, the baby boomers are now in full retirement mode. The aging population means more government spending, even if we get entitlement programs moderately under control. It also means slower growth. The United States grew at about 3.2 percent a year for the five decades after World War II. It is projected to grow at only 2.2 percent over the next few decades.
We need a tax reform that will raise revenue and significantly boost growth. The 1986 model is poorly designed to do both those things.
Let’s say we closed loopholes or capped itemized deductions at $50,000, as many of the current proposals would do. That would raise, at most, about $760 billion over 10 years. And it would produce much less than that if we started carving out exceptions for the charitable deduction, as we should. That revenue wouldn’t be close to covering the trillions in new debt.
Let’s say we raised the top tax rates back to where they were under President Bill Clinton. That wouldn’t come close to raising sufficient revenue either. It might raise $82 billion a year, according to the Joint Tax Committee. That’s small potatoes compared with what’s needed.
Let’s say we closed the loopholes and raised rates all at once. That might theoretically produce enough revenue, if you hit the middle class, but it would decimate growth.
Even the 1986 reform, which closed loopholes and lowered rates, didn’t do much to increase growth. Even after the reform was passed, people were paying the same amount in taxes, so they faced the same basic incentives.
If you closed loopholes and raised rates, as we’d have to do this time around, then you would make the incentives worse. Raising top tax rates may not be as cataclysmic for the economy as some have argued, but this is still one of the most growth-killing ways to raise revenue.
In other words, if we’re going to simultaneously address our two most pressing needs — raising revenue and boosting growth — we’re going to have to break free from the 1986 paradigm.
That means asking the basic question: What is the single biggest problem with the tax code? It’s not the complexity, bad as that is. The biggest problem is that it rewards consumption and punishes savings and investment.
You can’t fundamentally address that problem within the 1986 paradigm. You can address it only through a consumption tax. This idea is off the table right now, but reality will inevitably drive us toward it. We have to have a consumption tax if we want to both grow the economy and reduce debt.
But isn’t a consumption tax regressive since poor people spend a bigger share of their incomes than rich people? The late David F. Bradford of Princeton University effectively solved that problem with his so-called X Tax, which has recently been championed by Alan D. Viard of the American Enterprise Institute and others. Under the X Tax, you wouldn’t pay the consumption tax at the cash register. Businesses would be taxed on their cash flow, taking an immediate deduction for investments rather than depreciating them over time. Households would pay tax at progressive rates on their wages but would not pay tax on income from savings.
The X Tax effectively taxes the money you spend right now and rewards savings and investment. The government could raise a chunk of revenue this way and significantly boost growth with little or no change in how tax burdens are distributed between rich and poor. Most economists vastly prefer consumption taxes to income taxes.
The other complaint is that a consumption tax is politically impossible to get passed. There are, indeed, political difficulties. But there would be huge political difficulties if we try to do another 1986-style act next year. Every special interest will fight every loophole closing. And after all that, the country would get very little benefit in return. The political barriers to an X Tax are no greater, and we would actually address our problems.
It’s time to break out of the 1986 paradigm. It’s time to explore consumption taxes. Let’s think about X.
No, Bobo, let’s think about taxing you more than the file clerk in my office. Here’s Mr. Cohen:
President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt has made a big blunder. His motives may have been honorable — I am inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt — but the error is grave and needs to be rectified.
His seizure through decree of near absolute power, placing him above judicial oversight, recalls the famous phrase of the French diplomat Talleyrand: “Worse than a crime, it was a mistake.”
Morsi says his move is temporary — a means to fast-forward Egypt out of its post-revolutionary limbo — but “temporary” is not a credible word in a nation where the ousted President Hosni Mubarak’s “emergency” dictatorial powers lasted decades.
The constitution of the most important Arab state — home to almost 25 percent of the world’s Arabs, the litmus test of the freedoms promised by the Arab Spring — cannot be forced through by a constitutional assembly that has lost about a quarter of its 100 members, mainly liberals and women who have walked out in protest. It now amounts to a discredited rump body dominated by parties of Islamist inspiration.
Not when the nation’s judges (who would have to supervise an eventual referendum on a draft constitution) have gone on strike and Morsi through his rashness has accomplished a singular political feat: Uniting Egypt’s ineffective and divided liberal-secular factions in mass street protests and a demand that the decree be revoked. A tweet from Mohamed ElBaradei, the Egyptian Nobel laureate, comparing Morsi to a new Pharaoh has resonated.
Morsi must press the reset button. Democratic politics is laborious; ask President Obama. He cannot avoid difficult political trading in an Egypt where he won the presidential election this year with 51.7 percent of the vote. The other 48.3 percent cannot be trampled upon. At a minimum his decree must be undone and the constitutional assembly given the credibility only inclusiveness can confer.
I said I was inclined to give Morsi the benefit of the doubt on his motives. He knows dictatorship will not fly in the new Egypt. He outmaneuvered the military, helped on Gaza, was brave on Iran and Syria. He is a product of a Muslim Brotherhood culture that, as a result of fierce repression, inclined toward the conspiratorial and secretive. Enemies were everywhere.
It is easy to see how, with a court decision looming Sunday that might dissolve the constitutional assembly, Morsi would have convinced himself of an ancien-régime plot to undermine popular will and put Egypt back at square one in its transition. The problem is he did not try to resolve the issue by reaching out. He closed himself in an absolutist cocoon and has allowed voting on the draft to begin.
In a recent interview in Cairo, Essam Soltan, a prominent lawyer who was a member of the Brotherhood and left to form his own party, told me: “Morsi represents the will of the people. Still you must remember he comes from a movement with 60 years of being forced underground. This produces diseases; wild generalizations like seeing everyone as the enemy of religion.
“Interests and human ideas should be the basis for discussion, not religion. But the left and liberals also have problems. Their ideas came from outside rather than within an Egyptian democratic system.”
Plenty of liberals these days in Egypt are inclined to reduce liberty to a subordinate clause. Yes, they say, we are free to say what we like, write what we like, and that’s dandy, but we cannot abide the Muslim Brotherhood and oppose whatever they do. To which I would say freedom is not a parenthesis. And 51.7 percent in a democracy is enough to govern.
Egypt has traveled a long way: U.S.-trained generals have saluted a freely elected Brotherhood president and a proud nation has emerged from a crippling political deep freeze. But the achievements are fragile.
Morsi and his liberal opposition would do well to recall Benjamin Franklin’s words on emerging from the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and being asked what system of government had been adopted: “A Republic, if you can keep it.”
Keeping Egypt’s newfound freedom will take courage and compromise. Morsi must correct his mistake and Obama should work hard behind the scenes to ensure that. Liberals must come together and accept trade-offs.
The draft constitution fails Egypt by favoring the Islamic camp, but the problems are not insurmountable. Since I wrote about it last month, a controversial clause that said men and women have equal rights “insofar as this does not conflict with the rulings of Islamic Shariah” has been dropped. This is important.
A broad compromise alluding to the “principles” of Islamic law as a guiding reference, as in the current Constitution, seemed to have been reached earlier this month but disintegrated as Islamists tried to rush through the draft document, whose concentration of power in the presidency is worrying.
Railroading a document of this importance is not an option. Egypt will split, investment dry up and unrest continue. Morsi must overcome his Brotherhood suspicions to forge a credible constitutional assembly including liberal opponents who, like Republicans in Congress, should now express patriotism through pragmatism.
A free Egypt, the first, is worth keeping. It could be a core agent of change in a region that desperately needs new thinking.
Next up is Mr. Blow:
President Obama’s election and recent re-election have apparently fueled a gun-buying craze in this country unlike anything we’ve seen in modern times.
USA Today reported this week:
“For the second consecutive year, prospective gun buyers joined Black Friday shoppers in record numbers as firearms dealers swamped the F.B.I. with required buyer background check requests. The F.B.I. fielded 154,873 calls, a roughly 20 percent increase from last year’s previous one-day record of 129,166, according to bureau records. The requests came in such volume throughout the day that F.B.I. call centers experienced two brief outages — one of 18 minutes and one for 14 minutes — during the busy day, bureau spokesman Stephen Fischer said Monday.”
As the report made clear:
“The F.B.I. does not track actual gun sales. But the number of firearms sold Friday is likely higher because multiple firearms can be included in one transaction by a single buyer.”
According to the F.B.I.’s data, the number of requests for background checks normally peaks toward the end of the year. Nothing warms the heart for the holidays like cold steel.
The F.B.I. has conducted nearly 156 million background checks for gun purchases from November 1998 to October 2012 (the last month for which they have published data) and a full 40 percent of those checks occurred in just the four years since President Obama was first elected.
This week the popular conservative Web site World Net Daily quoted the National Rifle Association spokeswoman Jacqueline Otto as saying that the N.R.A. is not surprised by the surging gun sales because gun owners “are very informed voters and they have known that President Obama has opposed our Second Amendment rights his entire political career.”
Then they quoted her as follows:
“Gun sales are undoubtedly going up because gun owners know that at best President Obama wants to make guns and ammunition more expensive through increased taxes and regulation, and at worst he wants to make them totally illegal.”
That’s the N.R.A. line. Here is the reality. The president has done almost nothing in his first term to restrict gun ownership. As The Washington Post’s blog The Fix reported in July:
“The president signed bills allowing guns in national parks and on Amtrak. He has not pushed for the reinstatement of the assault weapons ban — and Attorney General Eric Holder was reportedly chastised for suggesting he would. Nor has he moved towards closing the gun-show loophole.”
That loophole allows guns to be bought from private dealers at gun shows without a background check.
During the second presidential debate with Mitt Romney, however, Obama said:
“But I also share your belief that weapons that were designed for soldiers in war theaters don’t belong on our streets. And so what I’m trying to do is to get a broader conversation about how do we reduce the violence generally. Part of it is seeing if we can get an assault weapons ban reintroduced, but part of it is also looking at other sources of the violence, because frankly, in my hometown of Chicago, there’s an awful lot of violence, and they’re not using AK-47s, they’re using cheap handguns.”
That’s sounds mild and logical to me, but the N.R.A. took it as a shot across the bow. They started running ads in swing states that said, “Defend freedom, defeat Obama.”
In fact, it should be noted that, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, gun lobbyists contributed more than $3 million in the 2012 election cycle, and 96 percent of those contributions went to Republicans. That was the highest percentage going to Republicans since the center began providing comparable data.
The World Net Daily article also pointed out that “gun owners also are worried because just hours after Obama’s re-election, the U.S. signaled its support for a U.N. committee’s call to renew debate over a draft international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global conventional arms trade.”
But as Reuters pointed out this month: “U.S. officials have acknowledged privately that the treaty under discussion would have no effect on domestic gun sales and ownership because it would apply only to exports.”
And it’s not like we need more guns, anyway. The United States has more guns per capita than any country on the planet.
Welcome to the Great American Arming.
Last but not least, here’s Prof. Krugman:
On Election Day, The Boston Globe reported, Logan International Airport in Boston was running short of parking spaces. Not for cars — for private jets. Big donors were flooding into the city to attend Mitt Romney’s victory party.
They were, it turned out, misinformed about political reality. But the disappointed plutocrats weren’t wrong about who was on their side. This was very much an election pitting the interests of the very rich against those of the middle class and the poor.
And the Obama campaign won largely by disregarding the warnings of squeamish “centrists” and embracing that reality, stressing the class-war aspect of the confrontation. This ensured not only that President Obama won by huge margins among lower-income voters, but that those voters turned out in large numbers, sealing his victory.
The important thing to understand now is that while the election is over, the class war isn’t. The same people who bet big on Mr. Romney, and lost, are now trying to win by stealth — in the name of fiscal responsibility — the ground they failed to gain in an open election.
Before I get there, a word about the actual vote. Obviously, narrow economic self-interest doesn’t explain everything about how individuals, or even broad demographic groups, cast their ballots. Asian-Americans are a relatively affluent group, yet they went for President Obama by 3 to 1. Whites in Mississippi, on the other hand, aren’t especially well off, yet Mr. Obama received only 10 percent of their votes.
These anomalies, however, weren’t enough to change the overall pattern. Meanwhile, Democrats seem to have neutralized the traditional G.O.P. advantage on social issues, so that the election really was a referendum on economic policy. And what voters said, clearly, was no to tax cuts for the rich, no to benefit cuts for the middle class and the poor. So what’s a top-down class warrior to do?
The answer, as I have already suggested, is to rely on stealth — to smuggle in plutocrat-friendly policies under the pretense that they’re just sensible responses to the budget deficit.
Consider, as a prime example, the push to raise the retirement age, the age of eligibility for Medicare, or both. This is only reasonable, we’re told — after all, life expectancy has risen, so shouldn’t we all retire later? In reality, however, it would be a hugely regressive policy change, imposing severe burdens on lower- and middle-income Americans while barely affecting the wealthy. Why? First of all, the increase in life expectancy is concentrated among the affluent; why should janitors have to retire later because lawyers are living longer? Second, both Social Security and Medicare are much more important, relative to income, to less-affluent Americans, so delaying their availability would be a far more severe hit to ordinary families than to the top 1 percent.
Or take a subtler example, the insistence that any revenue increases should come from limiting deductions rather than from higher tax rates. The key thing to realize here is that the math just doesn’t work; there is, in fact, no way limits on deductions can raise as much revenue from the wealthy as you can get simply by letting the relevant parts of the Bush-era tax cuts expire. So any proposal to avoid a rate increase is, whatever its proponents may say, a proposal that we let the 1 percent off the hook and shift the burden, one way or another, to the middle class or the poor.
The point is that the class war is still on, this time with an added dose of deception. And this, in turn, means that you need to look very closely at any proposals coming from the usual suspects, even — or rather especially — if the proposal is being represented as a bipartisan, common-sense solution. In particular, whenever some deficit-scold group talks about “shared sacrifice,” you need to ask, sacrifice relative to what?
As regular readers may know, I’m not a fan of the Bowles-Simpson report on deficit reduction that laid out a poorly designed plan that for some reason has achieved near-sacred status among the Beltway elite. Still, at least you can say this for Bowles-Simpson: When it talked about shared sacrifice, it started from a “baseline” that already assumed the end of the high-end Bush tax cuts. At this point, however, just about all the deficit scolds seem to want us to count the expiration of those cuts — which were sold on false pretenses, and were never affordable — as some kind of big giveback by the rich. It isn’t.
So keep your eyes open as the fiscal game of chicken continues. It’s an uncomfortable but real truth that we are not all in this together; America’s top-down class warriors lost big in the election, but now they’re trying to use the pretense of concern about the deficit to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Let’s not let them pull it off.
I love it that he calls it “Bowles-Simpson” instead of the other way around. It’s so apt — “the BS report” has a nice ring to it.


text:
Pulmonary hypertension (PH) can be related to several diseases, such as connective tissue disorders and pulmonary embolism, or to drugs; it may also be idiopathic. Few cases have been reported demonstrating an association between ascorbic acid deficiency and reversible PH. We report the case of a patient who arrived at the emergency department with dyspnoea, tachycardia and lower limb perifollicular haemorrhage. Examinations, including a transthoracic echocardiogram, revealed enlarged right chambers and an estimated pulmonary artery systolic pressure of 61 mmHg. Further evaluation revealed poor food intake due to paranoid personality disorder, leading to ascorbic acid deficiency and manifestations of scurvy.
Ascorbic acid deficiency, scurvy, pulmonary hypertension
A 51-year-old male patient without comorbidities and with low socioeconomic status was admitted to hospital with dyspnoea on minimal exertion, lower limb oedema and painful bruises on the lower limbs. The symptoms began one month before his admission to the emergency department. On examination, he was afebrile, presenting with tachycardia, dehydration, 20 breaths per minute and an oxygen saturation level of 98%. His body mass index was 17.9 kg/m2 (below the normal range). Cardiac and pulmonary examination were normal. Oral examination showed gum bleeding. His lower limbs presented perifollicular haemorrhage, bilateral pitting oedema and painful nodules and bruises (Fig. 1).
Laboratory tests demonstrated normocytic and hypochromic anaemia with the following values: haemoglobin 5.1 g/dL, iron 23 mcg/dL (normal range 59-158 mcg/dL), folic acid 2.07 ng/mL (normal range above 5.38 ng/mL), vitamin B12 118 pg/mL (normal range 210-980 pg/mL). He had a negative HIV test. Connective tissue disorders were ruled out on the basis of negative antinuclear antibody and normal serum complement. Electrocardiogram showed ST-segment elevation in leads DII, DIII and AVF associated with inverted T waves in leads V1-V4. Cardiac markers of myocardial necrosis were normal. Transthoracic echocardiogram was performed and enlarged right chambers and right ventricle systolic dysfunction were found (Figs. 2 and 3). Estimated pulmonary artery systolic pressure was 61 mmHg with mild tricuspid regurgitation (Fig. 2). Chest tomography and perfusion/ventilation scintigraphy were carried out and ruled out pulmonary thromboembolism as the aetiological cause of the patient’s pulmonary hypertension (PH). Lower limb Doppler ultrasound excluded deep vein thrombosis as well.
Figure 1. (A) Perifollicular haemorrhage; (B) gum bleeding; (C) painful bruising without trauma
Figure 2. Transthoracic echocardiogram. Tricuspid reflux with estimated pulmonary artery systolic pressure of 61 mmHg
Figure 3. Transthoracic echocardiogram. Right ventricle during systole (A) and diastole (B) and the difference between the area of the two ventricles (14.5 – 17.5 cm2) which is approximately 15% (which is below the normal value of 30%), thus attesting to the presence of right ventricle dysfunction.
Further evaluation including analysis of the patient’s mental health status revealed paranoid personality disorder. Psychiatric hospitalisation ten years earlier was also discovered. Since individuals with paranoid personality disorder display excessive mistrust and suspicion of others, this diagnosis provided a possible explanation of the patient’s low food intake. Indeed, the patient used to think someone in his house was poisoning his meals, and thus restricted his intake of food, including fruit and vegetables. The patient was assessed for ascorbic acid deficiency and showed a serum level of 0.05 mg/dL (normal range 0.5-1.5 mg/dL). Parenteral ascorbic acid supplementation (1000 mg/day) was administered and this treatment was continued after discharge in the form of oral ascorbic acid pills.
Sixteen months later, the patient was admitted to the emergency department again, presenting with symptoms of weakness and severe anaemia. He had a serum haemoglobin level of 5.0 g/dL. On this occasion, examinations revealed low serum folic acid (3.13 ng/mL vs normal range above 5.38 ng/mL), normal serum vitamin B12 and normal serum iron. Transthoracic echocardiogram did not show PH, and revealed normal right ventricle function. The patient has a serum ascorbic acid level of 1.38 mg/dL (reference range 0.5-1.5 mg/dL).
As PH is not a typical presentation of scurvy, few cases have been reported in the literature. This case report describes a patient with clinical manifestations of scurvy associated with PH, which was totally reversed with ascorbic acid replacement. Thus, considering that there were no other causes of PH in the present case, there probably exists causal relationship between ascorbic acid deficiency and PH. Moreover, the patient was later readmitted after some months with normal vitamin C serum levels and normal transthoracic echocardiogram.
Physiological studies have revealed that ascorbate (vitamin C) is a cofactor participating in the activation of oxygen-dependent prolyl hydroxylases which regulate the activity of the hypoxia-inducible family (HIF) of transcription factors. The HIF manages the body’s responses to hypoxia and if its activity is uncontrolled, this can result in pulmonary vasoconstriction, increasing the risk of PH. Previous evidence has shown that iron, as well as ascorbate, modulates the HIF pathway, and is capable of modifying the pulmonary vascular response to hypoxia. Vitamin C increases the production of nitric oxide, which modulates vasodilatory capacity. In summary, vitamin C and iron deficiency can provoke pulmonary vasoconstriction leading to PH.
A literature review was conducted searching the PubMed database for case reports either in English or Spanish. The search used the keywords “Pulmonary Hypertension” and “Scurvy” or “Vitamin C deficiency”. Besides the current case report, we identified nine relevant articles published between 1996 and 2019 (Table 1) [4-12]<7sup>. Five cases were males and the other five were female patients. The mean age was 40 years, despite two of the reported cases being children[9,10]. In all cases, serum vitamin C was below 0.2 mg/dL, and in four cases the level was undetectable[4,8,10,11]. The most common electrocardiographic abnormalities were T wave alterations (flattened or inverted T waves) followed by sinus tachycardia. In three patients, including the current case, ST-segment alterations were observed (ST-segment depression and non-specific ST changes)[8,10]. The most common echocardiogram alteration was dilation of the right chambers (including atrium and ventricle), identified in seven cases (70%)[5,7,10,12]. In five cases cardiologists performed right heart catheterisation to confirm the diagnosis of PH, whereas in the others this investigation was not carried out. Mean pulmonary artery systolic pressure was 71 mmHg when measured by echocardiography, and 57 mmHg when measured by catheterisation. In four cases, no conditions that might explain the dietary restriction were present[4,5,9,12], while the other cases reported some underlying condition. In 44.44% of the cases, some psychiatric condition was found to be the main cause of dietary restriction: anorexia, autism, video game addiction and paranoid personality disorder[5,8,11]. This association should alert physicians to the possibility that psychiatric patients with unsolved clinical problems may be affected by vitamin deficiencies due to dietary restriction.
Although iit s commonly believed that vitamin C deficiency is a condition of the past, studies have shown that it can still be found in some countries, including developed ones. In the low-income population of the United Kingdom, 25% of men and 16% of women have vitamin C deficiency. Therefore, given that the prevalence of vitamin C deficiency is still significant worldwide, scurvy is a diagnosis that should still be taken into consideration.
This paper reports an atypical cardiopulmonary presentation of scurvy. Physicians should recognise that ascorbic acid deficiency is a recurrent condition nowadays and consider this diagnosis in populations presenting with dietary restrictions, such as people with psychiatric disorders. PH could be a rare occurrence in patients with vitamin C deficiency. Vitamin supplementation seems to be the cure, since all cases presented with normal echocardiogram parameters after adequate supplementation.
Table 1 . Patient characteristics in 10 cases of pulmonary hypertension associated with vitamin C deficiency.
Vit C, Vitamin C; ECG, electrocardiogram; Echo, Echocardiogram; ND, not described; PASP, Pulmonary Artery Systolic Pressure; Cathe, Catheterization. *Without value: this article only mentioned that the patient had severe pulmonary hypertension, without giving the pulmonary artery systolic pressure.

domain: literature


text:
Twitter is one of the most widely used social platforms in the world but it had enough to deal with on Wednesday.
There was a reversed engineering (hacking) spree which affected many accounts including that of Billionaire Microsoft founder, Bill Gates and Billionaire Technology Guru, Elon musk who is also the CEO of Tesla.
Their personal verified accounts having quite an ample number of followers tweeted about Bitcoins payment which wasn't initiated by them. The tweet were intended to lure unsuspecting victims into paying virtual cash into hackers' account through a link provided.
Below are pictures of Bill Gates and Elon Musk's official Twitter handles which were hacked and used to lure the public into paying virtual monies to an unintended recipient.
The company's official handle hopped in at the height of the downtime to announce it was officially having issues and another user warned users not to click on any link that looked suspicious.
Twitter which is a mini blog and definitely one of the most used social platforms is used by millions of people across the world.
Twitter's CEO Jack Dorsey will definitely be demanding answers from his security team.
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domain: news


Posted on Jan 6 2010 in International Homeschooling by
Below are two notes we recently received from contacts in the U.K. We trust they’ll keep you praying for our brothers across the sea! For more information on the Badman Report mentioned, see this LifeSiteNews.com article. – Katherine
From Peter van Zuidam, NVvTO Secretary
The select committee of the English house of Commons on Education has given out a (so to say bipartisan) report on the bill introduced to impose supervision on home education in England. They have finally listened to most of the objections that were raised against the bill by English home educators and their organizations.
See pages 5 and 6 for the summary.
From Roger Slack, Home Service
…In November 2008 Ed Balls, the UK’s Minister for Children, Schools and Families, commissioned a report on home education. The publication of the Badman Report in June immediately produced an outcry from home educators. It proposed compulsory registration renewed annually only with the approval of local authority officials who, on this side of the Atlantic, often know little about home education and are sometimes severely prejudiced against it. These same officials would be given power to interview home educated children without anyone else being present.
The management of the report was a travesty of democracy. Professor James Conroy, of Glasgow University, the only member of Mr Badman’s panel to have personal experience of home education: “In my 30 odd years of professional life in education I have rarely encountered a process, the entirety of which was so slap dash, panic driven, and nakedly and naively populist.” Its 28 recommendations were based on the wrong data, faulty evidence or in many cases no evidence at all. For example, it appears that none of the extensive and positive research from the USA was considered. I was amazed and ashamed to discover that such a report should be used to inform UK government policy. Many home educators believe Ed Balls had decided the recommendations before the report was written and Mr Badman knew it didn’t matter too much what he wrote. All he had to do was to fit a flimsy justification around them.
However, the minister has not had it all his own way. We have in the UK parliamentary select committees whose job is to scrutinise the work of government and they chose to look at the Badman report. I submitted to the committee some of the research (based on a list sent to me by Brian Ray) that could have been considered. Their conclusions, published last week, reveal they are not satisfied with the way the Badman Report was conducted nor with its handling of evidence and they disagree with almost all the major conclusions. Nevertheless the government ploughs on with Mr Badman’s draconian proposals.
We now know these proposals are due to be debated in the House of Commons on January the 11th. This is called the second reading of the bill. It is then due to go to the committee stage before it is sent to the House of Lords.
Please pray the Badman recommendations will either be rejected or will not complete their passage through parliament before the next general election, which must take place on or before June the 3rd. The UK has been a beacon of home education freedom in Europe. We want to keep it that way.


text:
A famous art collector was walking through the city when he noticed a mangy cat lapping milk from a saucer in the doorway of a store and did a double-take. He recognized the saucer was extremely old and very valuable, so he walked casually into the store and offered to buy the cat for $2.
The store owner replied, “I’m sorry, but the cat isn’t for sale.” The collector said, “Please, I need a hungry cat around the house to catch mice. I’ll pay you $20 for that cat.” The owner said, “Sold,” and handed over the cat. The collector continued, “Hey, for the $20, I wonder if you could throw in that old saucer. The cat’s used to it and it’ll save me from having to get a dish.”
The owner said, “Sorry buddy, but that’s my lucky saucer. So far this week I’ve sold 68 cats.” (from Cybersalt.org)
View more sermon illustrations for inspiration for your next message.

domain: hobby


text:
- Ruth Lafler
In thinking about the anniversary question, I started to wonder, not for the first time, what has happened to romantic restaurants?
Are there any restaurants out there that are quiet enough to murmer sweet nothings? That have flowers and candles and discreetly spaced tables (with long tableclothes for playing footsie)? That have the kind of food that induces a sensual haze (not necessarily cutting edge, "challenging" food)?
One of the most romantic restaurant that I've been to is Cafe Jacqueline. The owner/chefs whips up amazing souffles to share by two people. Small, quiet, candles and roses on all tables. My husband and I went there one time for Valentine's Day and it was very romantic.
1454 Grant Ave. (at Union)
San Francisco 94133
It was voted the most romantic restaurant in SF recently. I had the pleasure of dining there the same night the Guardian came out with the award for the most romantice restaurant. I had wanted to eat there since reading about it several months before in some magazine. The restaurant was small and intimate. Our waiter was not so helpful. He gave us the menu but did not tell us of the specials. I overheard the waitress at the next table talking about the specials and it was then that I knew I had to have a dessert souffle as well. How could I resist a white peach souffle?? My boyfriend and I shared an onion soup and a mushroom and prosciuto souffle and then the white peach one. It took about 2.5 hours total but was well worth it. What a wonderful evening.
I took the advice of the article I read and went to the bathroom. You have to go through the kitchen to get to the bathroom. This gave me an opportunity to meet Jacqueline herself and talk with her. Her picture was in the Guardian and I told her I had seen her picture in the paper that day. She did not know about it, so my boyfriend went off to get a Guardian for her. It was wonderful watching her make the souffles. She did all the cooking with the help of one man in the kitchen who did the prep work for her.
I highly recommend eating there. The food was really good and the atmosphere very pleasant.
I think Elisabeth Daniel is romantic... decently spaced tables, long tableclothes, and they don't try to turn the tables so you can linger as long as you'd like. Food is very good, but even with 3-5 courses, it's not so filling that you go into a food coma.

domain: food


Home » English » Opinion/News » Not To Be Missed! PM’s Mann Ki Baat With Students Appearing In Board And Other Competitive Examinations.a
Our very own PM Mr. Narendra Modi Ji made a heart melting and motivational speech, not only for children going to appear for boards, but also their stressed out parents!
Truly, he is not only the PM of India but also PM of speech!
He urged students to shed their stress and worry, and develop a positive attitude. He was addressing students on the radio programme Mann Ki Baat ahead of board and competitive examinations.
The Prime Minister said he is with them at an important juncture in their life. He said he will not advise them on how to get more marks, but emphasized the importance of the right attitude towards exams. He urged students not to get nervous or tense. He said while all efforts should be made to perform well, exams should not become a burden.
Giving the example of the famous athlete Sergei Bubka, who broke his own record 35 times, the Prime Minister said competition should not be with others, but with oneself. He urged students to have faith in their own abilities, preparation and hard work.
Be steadfast in your goals, firm in your resolve; success will follow, the Prime Minister said.
He said exams should be a means to learn and recognize one’s own capabilities, and not to show them off to others.
The Prime Minister wished all students well for the forthcoming examinations.
Here is a broadcast of the whole speech for those who missed it…!
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Share or make them listen to it…remember, a few words can change your life and others too!
Every individual needs to assimilate the motto behind his speech and get inspired.


State Democratic Party executive director to speak to Democrats March 11 at Yukon Police Department
YUKON, Okla. – Lauren Craig, Oklahoma Democratic Party’s interim executive director, will speak to the Canadian County Democrats on Monday, March 11. The Democrats meet from 7-8:30 p.m. at Yukon Police Department at 100 S. Ranchwood.
A native of Yukon, Craig has political consulting experience with many winning Democratic campaigns including state Representative Jacob Rosecrants (D-46), state Senator Mary Boren (D-16) and Mayor Ed Bolt of Shawnee.
Craig worked for the state party as a consultant for more than a year before accepting the interim executive director position.
“Lauren has a passion for grassroots organizing and loves advocating for voters — helping them to feel informed and confident when walking into their polling places,” Canadian County Democrats Chair Jody Harlan said. “Her enthusiasm and positive approach to challenges inspires candidates to run for office and encourages progressive volunteers to work for positive change in Oklahoma.”
Craig will give an overview of where the Democratic Party stands, the focus for 2024 and how and why Canadian Democrats can get involved.
She will close her presentation by encouraging delegates to attend the state’s Delegate Selection Convention on April 6 at the Ardmore Convention Center.
Delegates at the state convention will elect Democrats to represent Oklahoma at the Democratic National Convention August 19-22 in Chicago.
Participants who want to join the Canadian County Democrats’ meeting on Zoom may email email@example.com by Sunday, March 10, to request a Zoom link and code required to attend. This is necessary for security reasons based on interference in past meetings.
The CC Dems also livestream meetings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CanadianCoDems.
For more information, email firstname.lastname@example.org or phone 405-326-3600.


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Hurricane Lake is located in Arkansas and is a fantastic area. There are many things to do in the surrounding areas. There are currently 16 listings at and average of $337,993.
Hurricane Lake is about a 15-minute drive from Benton, Arkansas, and is also close to the Saline Memorial Hospital and the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport. Little Rock is around 30 minutes away.
Spanning 332 acres, Hurricane Lake has all the joys of a larger lake with the atmosphere of a smaller lake.
Hurricane Lake has plenty for residents to do. Residents can swim or boat around the lake, and anglers will love the local populations of bass and catfish.
Those looking for fun off the water can visit the nearby town of Benton, Arkansas. One popular destination is the Royal Theater, where visitors can buy a ticket and enjoy several great shows. Another popular destination is the Urban Air Trampoline and Adventure Park, where visitors can enjoy a day of fun jumping from trampoline to trampoline.
Those looking for a great place to have fun will love living on Hurricane Lake.

domain: geography


Street Lighting, light pollution
Reported in the Street lighting category anonymously at 07:10, Wednesday 15 May 2019
Sent to Lambeth Borough Council 4 minutes later
I am writing to ask if Lambeth can please fit or paint a cowl or blackout/reflective surface to the rear portion (house-facing) direction of the street lamp outside 4 Courtenay Square as the light pollution is excessive and shines directly into windows on the square despite having blackout blinds ourselves.
This issue has been ongoing ever since the street lights were upgraded and I would be most grateful if the problem could be addressed.
Many thanks indeed. David
Provide an update


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This program provides you with the opportunity to develop and enhance your skills as an artist through courses in art history, drawing, design, animation, digital photography and more. You’ll explore mediums such as lino-printing, etching, sculpture, collage, acrylic and watercolour paint. Strong emphasis is placed on learning the basis of effective design and enhancing your drawing skills. This program helps you prepare yourself, and your portfolio, for a future
in the visual arts.
By the time you graduate, you’ll have a strong portfolio ready to apply for one of our two-year School of Visual Arts programs:
|Location:||Prince of Wales Campus|
|Credential:||Certificate, Fundamental Arts|
|Minimum passing grade per course:
- Grade 12 or equivalent with credits at or above the general level
- Portfolio of 5 to 6 pieces of your best artwork. This portfolio should include some color work and some observational drawing
- A 500-word essay describing your artistic journey so far and your goals and aspirations for the future
- Résumé including work and volunteer experience with applicable dates, membership in groups, associations or athletics, awards and distinctions, and any other information about yourself relevant to the program
Note: Portfolio will only be kept by the Admissions Department for one year.
By the end of this program, you will have gained the skills required for acceptance into more advanced training in your chosen area.
Tuition & Fees
If you have any questions concerning the Fundamental Arts program, contact:
- Gweneth Branch-Rice
- School of Visual Arts & Journalism office: (902) 629-4206

domain: artistic


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I don’t care about your bliss.
And neither should you.
In the last couple of months, it seems that my inbox has gotten more questions regarding blissful experiences than usual, so I guess it’s time to discuss spiritual bliss again.
The term bliss is immediately a problem because of its positive connotations and associations with joy, love, happiness, and so forth. This is on top of the fact that everyone experiences things differently anyone. One person’s bliss is different from another’s.
Regardless, I don’t care about happy, pleasurable experiences, and furthermore, they tend to be one of the worst spiritual traps into which people fall.
So let’s explore this topic and why you shouldn’t care about your bliss either.
The Joy of Not Being Your Ego
Did you miss our previous article…

domain: psychology


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The Financial Markets Law Committee (FMLC) has published an addendum to its comment paper concerning resolving issues of legal uncertainty relating to the recognition and supervision of central counterparties.
In September 2015, the FMLC and the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation co-published a comment paper entitled Resolving issues of legal uncertainty relating to the recognition and supervision of central counterparties (the Comment Paper). The Comment Paper examined the legal and regulatory issues in the context of the continuing delay in the adoption by the European Commission of a positive equivalence decision vis-à-vis regulation applicable to central counterparties (CCPs) in the US and the consequent non-recognition of the US CCPs for the purposes of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
The purpose of the addendum is to provide further comments on the problems of legal uncertainty posed by the continued delay in the adoption of a positive equivalence decision by the EU and US regulatory authorities in light of recent regulatory developments, particularly, the entry into force of the EU’s mandatory clearing obligation for certain interest rate swaps. The addendum also discusses ESMA’s recent consultation on draft Regulatory Technical Standards amending Article 26 of Commission delegated Regulation No 153/2013 with respect to margin period of risk for client accounts.
View FMLC addendum to comment on issues relating to CCP recognition and supervision, 3 February 2016

domain: economics


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The Boston Red Sox are one of the hottest teams in baseball right now, winners of eight of their last 10 games. Amid the club's resurgence and climb back into the AL East hunt, the team was given a huge update in regards to Chris Sale's injury recovery. Sale, who has yet to pitch this season as he deals with a ribs injury, has begun throwing bullpen sessions in Fort Myers, Florida. According to Chris Cotillo, Sale's fastball reached as high as 96 MPH during Monday's bullpen, a great sign that he's making solid progress in his recovery.
Red Sox were encouraged by Chris Sale’s live BP session today in Fort Myers. I’m told his fastball hit 96 mph.
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) June 13, 2022
The Red Sox were reportedly encouraged by what they saw from Sale on Monday, as the left-hander showcased some of his old fastball velocity during the session. Injuries have plagued Sale throughout the past few years, resulting in the 33-year-old making just nine appearances since the start of the 2020 campaign. Sale missed all of 2020 and managed nine starts in 2021, in which he recorded a 3.16 ERA with 52 strikeouts in 42.2 innings, registering a 5-1 record.
The southpaw was expected to be good to go for 2022 until he sustained a ribs injury during spring training. After being placed on the 60-day IL, Sale experienced a setback in his recovery in May, further delaying his return to the Red Sox.
It seems he's back on track now, however, and the positive updates from his bullpen session will have Red Sox fans fired up. With Nathan Eovaldi getting shelved due to back inflammation, the encouraging news on Sale is exactly what fans in Boston needed.


The New Ethanol Future Demands a New Public Policy
by David Morris, Vice President
Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR)
June 21, 2006
This document is an expanded version of “An Ear for the Market,” an opinion piece published in the New York Times.
Ethanol’s time has arrived. After 25 years of fighting just to survive in the face of overt hostility from most of the automobile and oil industries and the environmental community, ethanol has become a darling of investors and politicians alike. The vast majority of both political parties, even those who just two years ago were highly critical, are applauding ethanol. American automobile companies have made the ability of their cars to run on majority ethanol blends a major selling point in their new ads.
Wall Street may invest over $3 billion this year alone in new and expanded ethanol production. Investors recognize this is a perfect storm on the upside for biofuels. The price of oil is $70 a barrel. The federal government has guaranteed a national market for ethanol almost twice as large as the current market. Five states have already adopted 10 percent mandated blends.(Hawaii, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Washington). Half a dozen other state legislatures are debating a mandate. The handsome federal incentive for ethanol(51 cents per gallon) remains in effect until the end of 2010.
The combination of these positive factors has resulted in an unprecedented increase in ethanol production capacity. That increase will be almost 3 billion gallons in 2006-2007, three times the total increase that occurred between 1995 and 2002. At the current rate, American ethanol production capacity may exceed the federal 2012 mandate of 7.5 billion gallons by the end of 2008.
Recognizing the increased support for ethanol, and the rapidly increasing production capacity, members of both Houses of Congress have introduced legislation to dramatically increase the current mandate. Some versions would increase the current 7.5 billion gallon mandate of 2012 to 10 billion by 2010 and 30 billion in 2020 and 60 billion in 2030.
Not only is the ethanol industry rapidly expanding, it is also dramatically changing its internal structure. In 2003, some 50 percent of all ethanol refineries and perhaps 80 percent of all proposed plants were majority owned by farmers. The average new plant produced about 40 million gallons a year. Today, around 80 percent of new ethanol production is coming from absentee owned plants producing 100 million to 125 million gallons per year.
The ownership structure of the new plants significantly weakens the close link between expanded ethanol production and expanded prosperity in the agricultural sector. The farmer is slipping back into his or her traditional role: supplier of raw materials to a concentrated value-added processing and manufacturing sector.
The context for ethanol, and biofuels in general, has changed. Policymakers should redesign federal policies to reflect this change. That requires redesigning both the federal ethanol mandate and the federal ethanol tax incentive.
Redesigning the ethanol mandate
The current ethanol mandate is a prescriptive standard, that is, it prescribes a specific fuel. The current mandate is also an absolute mandate, that is, its measure is a specific number of gallons. The states have also adopted prescriptive standards, including the two that have adopted biodiesel mandates(Minnesota and Washington). States, however, have adopted a relative mandates, that is, the measure is a percentage of the transportation fuel.
The existing federal mandate should be changed in two ways.
First, it should become a performance standard. More than 15 states have already enacted a performance standard for electricity. These renewable portfolio standards require electricity suppliers to increase the percentage of renewable electricity in their supply. The term “renewable” refers to a class of fuels that meet a specific performance standard, not to a specific fuel. For the foreseeable future, wind energy will supply over 90 percent of the renewable electricity. But a renewable portfolio standard is not a wind mandate. It is designed to enable various renewable energy sources to compete with one another, and to allows new renewable fuels to enter the marketplace.
The federal government should change the federal ethanol mandate to a renewable transportation fuel mandate. Such a mandate would still be met overwhelmingly by ethanol. But like the renewable porfolio standard, it would enable the introduction of other renewable alternatives (e.g. renewable hydrogen, compressed air, etc.).
Second, the mandate should be redesigned to require a specific percentage of fuel supply to be renewable based on energy equivalencies, rather than to require an absolute number of gallons of transportation fuel to be renewable. There are several reasons for doing this. A percentage requirement is more appropriate for a performance standard. And there is a significant difference in the energy content of ethanol and gasoline. A gallon of gasoline contains about 50 percent more energy than a gallon of ethanol. Thus a 10 percent ethanol standard is actually equivalent, in energy terms, to a 7 percent renewable energy standard.
Europe has adopted a percentage target goal for biofuels(both biodiesel and ethanol) based on energy equivalency. The U.S. should do the same. For discussion purposes, we propose a 5 percent energy equivalency standard by 2012, which would be equivalent to about 10 billion gallons of ethanol. This should rise to 10 percent by 2020 and 25 percent by 2030.
Redesigning the federal ethanol incentive
It will be difficult, if not impossible, to politically justify a 51 cent per gallon incentive for ethanol if there is an ethanol mandate for 10 or 20 or 30 billion gallons and oil prices remain high.
Ethanol needs no financial incentives to compete when crude oil prices are over $65 a barrel. However, history demonstrates the volatile nature of oil prices. The price of oil in the last 10 years has dropped below $20 per barrel several times. Moreover, the cost of ethanol production is highly dependent on the cost of its feedstock, and although corn prices have not varied nearly as dramatically as oil prices, they do vary. Corn prices briefly topped $4 per bushel in the late 1990s, although they have held fairly steady at about $2 per bushel for most of the last 20 years.
How might we redesign the federal incentive to honor the nation’s commitment to both farmers and taxpayers? The incentive needs to be structured to protect the farmer-producer if the price of oil plunges or the price of the feedstock(corn, soybeans, cellulose) jumps. The taxpayer must be protected from having to underwrite handsome subsidies when the biofuels industry no longer needs them.
For purposes of discussion, we propose that half the current 51 cent per gallon federal incentive for ethanol be converted into an indexed incentive. The index would be based on a combination of the price of wholesale gasoline(or diesel) and the cost of the agricultural feedstock. Thus, for example, at a corn price of $2.20 per bushel and a crude oil price of $70 per barrel, no incentive would be paid. At a price of $2.50 per bushel and a crude oil price of $40 per barrel, the full 25.5 cents per gallon would be paid.
There is precedent for structuring an incentive in this way. Congress based the royalty paid by oil companies to the federal government for offshore drilling on the market price of crude oil.
The other half of the federal incentive would be redesigned to take into account the changing ownership structure of the ethanol industry, and the need to link biofuels production and agricultural prosperity.
The existing federal incentive is designed to increase consumption. The incentive goes to the blender and marketer, not to the producer of ethanol. In some months, the entire incentive is taken by the middlemen. Typically, about half goes indirectly to the producer.
With national mandates there is less reason to offer financial incentives for consumption. But there is still a reason to offer incentives for production, or at least for a certain kind of production.
Farmers have traditionally been simply raw material suppliers to an increasingly concentrated processing and manufacturing and retail sector. As a result, the relative purchasing power of their crops have consistently declined. The real price of corn, for example, is no higher in 2006 than it was 30 years ago, even though the price of corn flakes has more than doubled during that time period. In 1974, a bushel of corn could buy about 5 gallons of gasoline. Today a bushel of corn can buy about 2/3 of a gallon of gasoline.
Farmers do benefit by an increase in the demand for ethanol. The price of a bushel of corn has increased by 10-20 cents because of the increase in the demand for ethanol in recent years. But the real benefit to the farmer occurs when he or she becomes a part owner in the manufacturing plant.
Farmer-owners receive, on average, about 50 cents a bushel in dividends per year, and more than $1 per bushel in very profitable years. Farmer-owners can also use their ownership in an ethanol plant as a hedge against a drop in the price of their raw material. If the price of corn falls, so does the production cost of ethanol; all other things being equal, refinery profits and therefore dividends will rise.
How might Washington redesign the federal incentive to reflect the realities of an increasingly absentee-owned, large-scale ethanol industry?
Transform part of the federal incentive from a gas tax exemption for those who market the ethanol into a direct payment to those who produce it. Minnesota did this in the 1980’s, transforming an incentive for consumption into an incentive for production. In the early 1980s, Minnesota had an ethanol incentive that mirrored that of the federal government. It offered a partial state gas tax exemption for each gallon of ethanol sold in the state. The incentive worked. Ethanol sales increased. But no ethanol production occurred in Minnesota.
Minnesota farmers demanded that public monies be invested more wisely. The legislature responded by converting the pump credit into a producer payment. Instead of a partial gas tax credit, the legislature paid producers 20 cents per gallon. But there were conditions attached. The ethanol had to be produced inside the state, thereby spurring economic development. The payment was only for the first 15 million gallons produced. There was no limit to the scale of the ethanol facility but only the first 15 million gallons received an incentive. And finally, the payments stopped after 10 years. Thus it was not an indefinite and open ended public subsidy.
The redesign of Minnesota’s incentive ushered in what came to be known as the Minnesota model: more than a dozen largely farmer owned, small and medium scaled biorefineries.
The new federal producer payment should take a page from Minnesota’s biofuels playbook. The objective of the redesigned incentive should be to spur many biorefineries in many parts of the country, and to spur widespread local and farmer ownership of these new biorefineries.
For discussion purposes, we propose that the new credit pay 15 cents per gallon for the first 20 million gallons produced each year for an absentee owned plant, and 25 cents per gallon if the plant is majority owned by farmers or local residents. No plant should be able to receive payments for more than 10 years.
The federal government does have a 10 cent per gallon tax credit for the first few million gallons produced from “small” plants. But its definition of small has changed from 10 million gallons in the early 1980s, to 30 million gallons in the late 1990s, to 60 million gallons in the 2005 energy bill. We recommend that the federal incentive establish a 40 million gallon size limit to plants to qualify for the producer payment.
Some may argue that we can more quickly expand biofuels production if we encourage 100 million or even 150 million gallon plants, and large plants can produce ethanol more cheaply. This may be true, but to a limited extent. The economies of scale of ethanol plants peaks at about 40 million gallons. There are some engineering economies of scale in much larger plants, but there are also diseconomies of scale.
For example, the feedstock needs to come from further away, increasing transportation costs. And the ethanol needs to be sold further away, increasing transportation logistics complexity. And the important byproduct of corn ethanol facilities, animal feed, must be dried in order to be exported long distances. This dramatically increases the energy costs of making the ethanol, since the largest single use of energy in the ethanol plant is for drying the grains. Small facilities often can sell a portion, or all of their animal feed wet to nearby livestock.
Drastically changed times call for a drastically changed federal biofuels incentive, one that minimizes the long-term costs to America’s taxpayers while maximizing the long-term benefits to our rural communities and farmers.
 In another report, A Better Way To Get From Here to There (December 2003), I argue for an alcohol-electricity transportation strategy where electricity becomes the primary propulsion source. If this were done, using plug-in, flexible fueled, hybrid electric vehicles, the engine’s fuel requirements could drop by 75 percent. It might be possible to restructure the percentage requirement so that it focuses only on the engine fuel. If that were the case, the percentage levels could increase substantially as part of a dual fueled transportation policy.
About David Morris: David has been an energy advisor or consultant to the energy
administrations of Presidents Ford, Carter, Clinton and George W. Bush. He
is the author of five books on energy, including The Carbohydrate Economy.
He directs the Institute’s New Rules Project.
About ILSR: The Institute for Local Self-Reliance is a nonprofit organization founded in 1974 to advance sustainable, equitable, and community-centered economic development through research and educational activities and technical assistance. More at https://ilsr.org/


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Our East Meets West series, Volumes I & II, provides ready to use intervention lesson for flexible grouping in a variety of settings. Included are 23 children’s books analyzed for narrative and expository structures, literate language features, phonological awareness skills, and vocabulary. Cultural aspects of each selection are also highlighted. Our easy implementation approach is a perfect fit for busy teachers and interventionists. Volumes may be purchased separately or together. Read about Volume I here • East Meets West Quick Start here
East Meets West For The Holidays and Important Life Events, Volume II, is a guide for the implementation of evidence-based clinical intervention for students who have language and reading disabilities.
13 children’s book analyzed for story elements of narrative and expository text structures (Time Saver!)
Includes a structured, guided approach for implementation
Each story includes activities for vocabulary development and phonological awareness.
Guides the speech/language pathologist and other educators through aural/oral activities using quality children’s literature as a base.
Provides detailed, ready-to-use interventions for small group or whole class settings.
Integrates current theory and practice by providing ideas for modeling and guided practice.
Provides the structure for read-alouds and activities to scaffold oral responses.
Organizational maps of text structures, lessons and children’s literature selections.
Children’s Literature Analyzed in East Meets West™ Volume II:

domain: library


- November 2, 2022
- AI Projects
Anyline, the world leader in mobile data capture and artificial intelligence, today launches the first tire tread depth scanner that works on any smartphone or mobile device with a digital camera. This cutting-edge software innovation has the potential to completely transform the automotive sector by providing a precise and dependable method for measuring tire tread depth. The product will be unveiled at a press conference to be held on November 2 at SEMA Show 2022 Vegas.
The process of measuring tire tread wear necessitates the utilization of custom-designed analog or digital instruments, employed by technicians to meticulously inspect the grooves of each individual tire. This particularly slow and tedious process leaves room for data entry errors and inconsistent measurements, costing tire retailers hundreds of millions of euros each year, in addition to risking endangering driver safety.
Anyline’s revolutionary tread scanner works simply by pointing the camera of any standard mobile device at the tread to be measured. Using state-of-the-art computer vision and artificial intelligence technology, a 3D model of each tread is created, giving an accurate digital measurement, which can be instantly stored and shared with customers. This software solution can be integrated into mobile applications intended for professionals or consumers. Tire technicians and customers can scan tire treads without special training and get consistent, objective results.
The digital transition has revolutionized automotive safety standards over the past decade, but tire maintenance remains stubbornly anchored in the analog age, says Lukas Kinigadner, CEO and co-founder of Anyline. The consequences of this situation are significant. According to the NHTSA (National Highway Safety Administration), there have been more than 11,000 crashes on American roads in 2021 which are the direct consequence of faulty tires. At Anyline, our mission is to replace outdated analog measurement procedures with state-of-the-art digital data capture techniques, revolutionizing tire inspections. Our cutting-edge approach not only streamlines the process, making it quicker and more efficient but also enhances safety for motorists.
Anyline entered the automotive market in 2020 with the launch of the first DOT/TIN tire scanner. This solution created in partnership with Discount Tirethe world’s largest independent tire and rim retailer, has enabled their technicians to digitally capture vital tire data in seconds, with dramatically increased accuracy.
We are excited to hear about the next developments from Anyline as they continue to push the boundaries of what can be done in terms of mobile data capture technology, said Tom Williams, Chief Experience Officer at Discount Tire.
Anyline is ready to apply its mobile measurement technology to use cases in the automotive sector, as well as other sectors such as retail, logistics, and healthcare. By allowing users to measure and read every type of data with a simple mobile device, Anyline seamlessly connects the physical and digital worlds and makes datafication possible for everyone.
Inaugurated in Vienna, Austria back in 2013, Anyline swiftly ascended to become a dominant force in the realm of mobile data capture, solidifying its position as a market leader. Leveraging the latest artificial intelligence applications, Anyline makes any mobile device able to process handwritten characters and barcodes in real-time, even offline.
Anyline’s mobile scanner technology, powered by artificial intelligence, is used by leading automotive aftermarket manufacturers and retailers to scan tire sidewall and vehicle data, including codes DOT tires, vehicle identification numbers (VIN), license plates and barcodes using a standard mobile device or a camera-equipped TPMS.
Anyline’s mobile data capture technology ensures full compliance with CCPA and GDPR regulations, safeguarding the collected data securely on the user’s device. It thus eliminates any risk of compromising the integrity of the data. Not only is it more accurate than manual data entry, but it is also 20 times more efficient. Renowned for their reliability and accuracy, these scanning systems have earned the trust of major brands like PepsiCo, Discount Tire, and IBM, along with national governments and esteemed organizations like the United Nations.
- Adobe Launches a New GenAI-Powered Music Creation Tool
- An Ai Chatbot Designed To Provide Emotional Support
- Building Custom Models with PyTorch Lightning
- Innovative Ai Technology Predicts Data Trends To Improve Storage Efficiency
- OpenAI Introduces Sora, An Ai Tools That Turns Text Prompts Into Instant Video
- The Meta Calls For Standardized Labeling Of AI-Generated Visual Content
- Reinforcement Learning with OpenAI Gym
- Amazon Introduces Rufus, a New AI-Powered Shopping Assistant in Its Mobile App
- Scientists Create Algorithm to Analyze Users’ Eye Movements on Screens
- Using AI to Enhance Creative Expression in Art Therapy
Get regular updates on data science, artificial intelligence, machine


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I’m not sure when I started to believe in the existence of the Soul. I often had conversations with things and people who were not always physically there. It was natural for me to have a discussion with a single rose, a mango tree and the crow that perched on the wire connecting the streetlamps. My childhood was full of these silent conversations. I learned that I could listen, watch, and be engaged all in the same moment. Thoughts, unspoken words and the feelings of others were accessible to me. I also noticed that I would become aware of events before they occurred. It was many years before I discovered that not everyone had these same gifts, and what was natural for me, was extraordinary for others. I had recognized there was an invisible link between everything, and yet, knew each thing was separate.
Our gardener knew this too. He would walk into the garden with a smile and greet the plants and trees he tended to. He inspected the plants, checked the soil and stroked the leaves and petals. He watched carefully for changes and sometimes stared at the sky looking for signs. He would mumble questions and answer them himself. Occasionally he disciplined his green charges. I watched him and would try to enter his world and mimic his inner communication. Most of the time I could tap into his mind and pick up on his silent conversations.
I found him gentle and humorous and I loved the fact that he had very little stimuli from outside. He was in control from within. I fell in love with the lifestyle that was inwardly inspired. With neither a visible agenda nor a philosophy, the garden thrived and so did the gardener.


- This long sleeved poolside cover-up is just the ticket to keep her cozy between dips.
- Terry cloth will keep her warm and dry.
- Attached hood.
- Long sleeves with ruffle cuffs.
- Embellished Kate Mack™ logo on front.
- Hidden full snap-button placket down front.
- Tiered ruffle hem.
- 80% cotton, 20% polyester;
Lining: 100% polyester.
- Machine wash cold, tumble dry low.
- Product measurements were taken using size 2T (Toddler). Please note that measurements may vary by size.


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(SportsNetwork.com) - SMU forward Markus Kennedy, a unanimous preseason all- conference selection, has been cleared to play, according to multiple reports Friday.
The junior forward was ruled ineligible before the season started, reportedly over academic issues.
He is available to play in Saturday's game against Michigan, the reports said.
Emails sent to SMU athletic department spokesmen and coaches for the men's team were not returned Friday night.
News of Kennedy's ineligibility came months after SMU learned that prized incoming freshman Emmanuel Mudiay had decided to play in China rather than join the Mustangs.
SMU was still ranked No. 22 in the preseason Associated Press poll, but lost three of its first five games.
The Mustangs have won five in a row since.
Kennedy was named to the All-American Athletic Conference second team as a sophomore after leading the Mustangs in rebounding, blocked shots and steals.
He averaged 12.4 points in 37 games after sitting out the previous season following his transfer from Villanova.


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Structural engineers, soldiers, medical professionals and teams with search and rescue dogs. All of them set out from all over the world to help Turkey and Syria. Some have already been, some will be in the area within hours.
Here are the countries that lend a helping hand and the aid sent:
The Union’s Copernicus satellite system has been activated for agencies that can provide emergency maps to aid teams.
At least 13 countries have offered to send aid so far.
United States of America
The US is sending emergency aid to Turkey, including teams to support search and rescue efforts. Six specially trained dogs were sent to Turkey along with nearly 100 Los Angeles County firefighters and structural engineers in California.
Rescuers from the Russian Ministry of Emergencies were dispatched to Syria, where the Russian army already deployed began work with 10 units of 300 men to help clear the wreckage and search for survivors. The Russian army set up points to distribute humanitarian aid. Russia also offered to help Turkey, Ankara accepted.
The Israeli army sent a search and rescue team of 150 engineers, medical personnel and other aid workers to provide assistance. The two countries are in humanitarian contact for the first time on this occasion after years of tension in relations. Israel and Syria do not have diplomatic relations, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he also approved the humanitarian aid request for Syria.
Turkey’s neighbor Greece, with which Turkey has had tense relations recently, was one of the countries that sent the first rescue team to Turkey. A military transport plane arrived in Turkey with a 21-person rescue team, two rescue dogs and a rescue vehicle, a structural engineer, five doctors and seismic planning experts.
“Greece is ready to mobilize all its forces,” Prime Minister Mitsotakis said. Similar statements, which strengthened the possibility of starting a new era in relations, came one after another within 24 hours.
Emergency generators, tents, blankets and water treatment equipment come from the Germans. In addition, the German THW civil protection organization offered to send a special team to Turkey. The International Search and Rescue Germany group is also preparing to fly many doctors and rescue specialists to Turkey.
Rescue teams arrived in Turkey. The French landed in Adana with two planes full of relief supplies. The first group consists of 73 search and rescue officers accompanied by 4 specially trained dogs.
A search and rescue team of 60 people and medical supplies will be sent. The government also announced that $5 million in humanitarian aid was provided in the first phase, and the Gyeonggi provincial government also plans to provide $1 million in humanitarian aid.
An aircraft relief material was sent along with a search and rescue team of 50 people. The government announced that daily aid flights to Syria and Turkey will start from Wednesday.
The Sunak government sent 76 search and rescue specialists and an emergency medical team to Turkey with equipment and dogs. Britain also announced that it is in contact with the United Nations on providing support to victims in Syria.
Along with 100 personnel from the Natural Disaster Response Force, teams with dogs and equipment are on the way. In the statement made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was stated that the medical teams consisting of trained doctors, paramedics and essential drugs are ready to go.
Swiss rescue dog service REDOG is sending a professional rescue team of 22 people with 14 dogs to Turkey. The government also announced that a total of 80 experts, including army disaster experts, would be sent to Turkey.
Czechs are sending a team of 68 people to Turkey, including firefighters, doctors, civil engineers and dog rescuers.
One of the first countries to react to the earthquake disaster was Japan. The Japanese, who have the most advanced technology and experience in the world in this field, sent a rescue team of about 75 people equipped with the most professional equipment.
Even the financially troubled Lebanese government is sending troops, first responders and firefighters to Turkey to assist in the rescue efforts.
It was proposed to send 84 soldiers from a military disaster relief unit to Turkey, but there is no information about the outcome of this offer for now.
Two search and rescue teams with 85 personnel and a volunteer firefighter unit are being sent to Turkey.
It is sending 76 fully equipped firefighters and eight trained dogs to Turkey.
It is sending expert personnel and supplies to Turkey with two military planes.
40 personnel, 10 dogs and rescue equipment on the way.
A 21-man rescue team and three liaison officers are on their way.
24 firefighters are dispatched.
The President said 55 rescue workers have been sent to Turkey.
King II. By the order of Abdullah, emergency aid teams and supplies were prepared to be sent to Syria and Turkey.
The foreign minister said the country would send equipment and rescue specialists to Turkey.
He promised Turkey urgent humanitarian aid.
The Civil Protection Agency offered assistance to Turkey. A fire brigade prepares to leave Pisa. The Italian military said it would transport medical and other personnel, as well as professional equipment on a transport plane. Italy is a country with highly experienced teams in earthquakes.


text:
There’s something epic everywhere you look in Texas. From the awe-inspiring Palo Duro Canyon
, to natural wonders like Enchanted Rock
and Natural Bridge Caverns
, you’ll find landscapes begging to be explored. You’ll find countless ways to explore them, too, from hiking and biking to kayaking and canoeing. You’ll also find superb bird-watching chances, since such an incredible variety of species have flocked to Texas.

domain: travel


text:
CIVIL CAUSE NO. 66 OF 2000
NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY .........................DEFENDANT
MISS A. RASHID...............................................................3RD PARTY
CORAM: KAPANDA, J.
“The Defendant was at all material times the insurer of minibus Reg. No. MH 1671 Toyota Hiace under certificate of insurance No. A 55374 issued on 3/5/99 to 12/5/2000 which was at the material time being driven by Chipiliro Kankhuni.”
The Defendant filed a Notice of intention to defend on the 25th day of January, 2000 and proceeded to plead in its defence that it was not liable to indemnify the insured because the minibus in question was being driven by a person who had no valid or relevant driving licence. In so far as it is relevant to quote, the pertinent paragraphs of the Defence in relation to this denial of liability to indemnify, it was averred by the Defendant as follows:-
“6. The Defendant estates that it was the term of the policy of insurance between the Defendant and the insured that the liability of the Defendant would only extend to indemnify any licenced driver whilst driving the
vehicle herein referred to on the order or with the permission or consent
of the insured.
7. At the time of the accident referred to in the statement of claim, the driver of the said Toyota Hiace registration No. MH 1671 had no valid or relevant driving licence for a minibus contrary to the policy of insurance.
8. In the premises and by reason of the said breach of the policy of insurance the Defendant is not liable to indemnify its insured or at all.”
At the hearing of the Summons for Directions, before the Deputy Registrar on 28th June, 2000, it was prayed for by the Defendant and ordered, amongst other orders, that the following question of law be tried as a preliminary issue viz:-
On the 17th day of October, 2000 the hearing of this preliminary point of law was before me and Counsel for the Defendant addressed me at length on what position the Defendant is taking regarding the said preliminary point of law. Despite being served with the Notice of hearing, for the inquiry into said preliminary point of law, Counsel for the Plaintiff did not appear to argue the Plaintiffs’ position regarding the said preliminary point of law. I proceeded to hear the matter because there was proof that Plaintiffs’ Counsel had been ordered with the said Notice of hearing.
In his submission learned Counsel for the Defendant has argued that
the requirement that a person driving must have a valid driving licence
is a stipulation of the Road Traffic Act and that a person commits an offence
if he/she drives a motor vehicle without a valid licence in respect of
a particular class of a vehicle. Thus an insured can not be indemnified
where his/her vehicle is involved in an accident when such vehicle, at
the time of the accident, was being driven by a person who had no valid
driving licence for such type or class of a vehicle.
The Defendant has further argued that in terms of Section 148(1)(a) of the said Road Traffic Act the rights of the Plaintiffs are not greater than those of the insured. Consequently, since in this case the insured can not successfully claim for an indemnity under the policy in view of the fact that the driver was not a person authorised to drive, in terms of the clause in the policy, then the Plaintiffs’ claim against the Defendant as an insurer should also fail on that ground. It appears Cousel is reading the said Section 148(1) (a) of the Road Traffic Act in isolation. In my view this section must be read with the provisions of Section 148(2) of the Act for one to get a full meaning of what this section is all about.
“The insured or any person driving with the insured’s permission provided that the person driving holds a licence to drive the motor vehicle--- The term “licence” means a licence or other permit required by the licencing or other laws or regulations.”
The Plaintiffs, in their letter from their legal practitioners dated 4th October, 1999, exhibited in the affidavit of the Defendant filed in support of its application herein, contended that although the driver had no valid driving licence to drive a minibus the insurers were still liable. The Defendant submits that an insurer can not be held liable to indemnify an insured where the insured’s vehicle was being driven by a person with no valid driving licence, like in the instant case, due regard being had to the terms of the insurance policy
Before proceeding to interprete the provisions of the said Section 148 of the said Road Traffic Act it is necessary that the terms of the said section be stated in extensio. The section provides that:-
“(1) Any person having a claim against a person insured in respect of any liability in regard to which a policy of insurance has been issued for the purposes of this Part shall be entitled in his own name to recover directly from the insurer any amount, not exceeding the amount covered by the policy, for which the person insured is liable to the person having the claim:
(a) the rights of any such person claiming directly against the insurer shall, except as provided in subsection(2), be not greater than the rights of the person insured against such insurer;
(c) the expiration of such period as is mentioned in paragraph (b) of this proviso shall not affect the validity of any legal proceedings commenced during such period for the purpose of enforcing a right given under this section.
(2) In respect of the claim of any person claiming directly against the insurer by virtue of subsection (1), any condition in a policy purporting to restrict the insurance of the person insured thereby shall be of no effect:
Provided that nothing in this section shall require an insurer to pay
any sum in respect of the liability of any person otherwise than in or
towards the discharge of that liability, and any sum paid by an insurer
in or towards the discharge of any liability of any person which is covered
by the policy by virtue only of the operation of this subsection may be
recovered by the insurer from that person.”
“--- In our Legislation, the third party has been given the right to sue not only for damages, but also to establish his case before the courts which he could not do before. We are fortified in our reasoning by the fact that Section 65(1) and (2) specifically provides that the insurer can not disclaim liability for breach of conditions of the policy of insurance. This being the case, therefore, it appears to us that whether the third party sues the insured or the insurer, neither of them can disclaim liability except, perhaps, the quantum of damages---”
It was put in argument by learned Counsel for the Plaintiff that in terms of Section 147 as read with Section 148 of the said Road Traffic Act the rights of a third party can not be greater than those of the insured. Thus where the insured can not recover damages against the insurer, if the insured is in breach of the conditions of the insurance policy, it follows therefore that the third party can not recover damages against the insurer. This argument by Counsel, with due respect, is not in conformity with the interpretation that has been given to this type of a section in other countries which have a similar section like our said Section 148 of the Road Traffic Act.
The position at law is that if a person drives a vehicle, with the authority
or consent of the insured, the insurance is not operative or the insurance
is invalidated at the time such person is driving the vehicle without a
valid driving licence but this is only as regards the insured and not third
parties. An in instructive authority on this position of the law
is the case of Pioneer General Assurance Ltd -vs- Mukasa A.L.R. Comm. 188.
In this case the court was concerned with interpreting Section 102 of the
Traffic Act of Uganda which provided as follows:-
In explaining the meaning of this Section 102 of the Traffic Act of Uganda, in the case of Pioneer General Assurance Ltd -vs- Mukasa , cited above, Law Ag. V.P. had the following to say, at page 191, which is very illuminating:-
“The liabilities to be covered--- are liabilities in respect of third parties. Such a third party, in a claim against an Insurance Company, is not affected by the conditions in the policy which may relieve the company of liability towards the insured, but those conditions remain effective contractually between the company and the insured--- third parties are enabled to recover their damages from the insurer notwithstanding such conditions. Such conditions are not void, but in relation to third parties the insurer can not rely on them. He can however seek to enforce them against the insured---”
“It made the insurance of motor vehicles compulsory and in order to protect the public made the insurer directly liable in damages to a person who was injured through negligence or other unlawful act, in respect of a motor vehicle.”
In my view, even though the driving of a motor vehicle by a person who has no valid driving licence or no licence at all is an unlawful act still the insurer would be liable to third parties notwithstanding the clause in the insurance contract disclaiming liability. The intention of Parliament, when it regulated that an insurance policy that purports to restrict the policy of the insured shall have no effect, was that even in cases where there is an unlawful act, on the part of the insured or an authorised driver the third party should still be in a position to sue and recover damages directly from the insurer.
“The right to proceed against the insurer directly is purely a statutory provision given to a claimant who issues process in respect of a statutory policy--- By enactment of Section 25 of the Act and by making the insurer liable directly for the death or bodily injury of a third party the legislature introduced a new form of vicarious liability, which in certain circumstances absolves the person who would otherwise be liable to compensate a third party---”
The above observation holds as well for the position, at law, in Malawi for I see no reason why I should depart from it in view of the fact that our Section 148 of the Road Traffic Act is similarly worded. It is the correct exposition of the law on compulsory third party insurance as engendered by our statute.
Lastly, I would like to make some remarks in passing regarding the procedure
that was adopted in this matter concerning the preliminary issue that has
just been decided above. It is my opinion that the provisions Order
14A of the Rules of the Supreme Court were not considered at the time the
order for the determination of the preliminary issue was being prayed for
by the Defendant. I am of this view because it is evident from the
case file that, even though this court has made a determination on the
question put before it, there will be no finality to the entire cause or
matter. It is as if the court was given an academic question to answer.
That is not the purpose of this procedure. In future it would be
advisable that before an application for order is made for the determination
of a preliminary point of law, like in the instant case, the provisions
of the said Order 14A of the Rules of the Supreme Court should be borne
in mind so that once a determination is made there is finality to the entire
cause or matter.

domain: law


Independent Complaints Procedures
The APPC is responsible for taking disciplinary action should the Code of Conduct or other regulations be breached. Any breach of the Code of Conduct is dealt with in accordance with the APPC Complaints & Disciplinary Rules & Procedures and it is an obligation of membership that each member is bound by those Procedures.
In 2012 the APPC formalised the appointment of the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) to carry out its Complaints & Disciplinary Rules & Procedures. This allows anyone to lodge a complaint that a member firm of the APPC has breached the APPC Code of Conduct, which regulates a member firm’s dealings with its clients and with institutions of UK Government.
The Procedures – including an independent Professional Practices Panel – have been in place since the formation of APPC in 1994. They were reviewed and updated in 2009, when APPC appointed Independent Adjudicators to resolve complaints, without any input from the members of the APPC or its Management Committee.
In the event of a complaint, the Management Committee appoints (through CEDR) an Independent Adjudicator and, if necessary, a Professional Practices Panel, comprising three persons from outside the profession, appointed on the basis of their knowledge and public reputation. If a member is found to have acted in breach of the Code of Conduct or any other APPC regulation, the independent adjudicator or the professional practices panel may issue a warning or reprimand, require remedial action, or recommend suspension or termination of membership. The Management Committee may also publish a statement on a complaint once it has been finalised.
The APPC Management Committee retains the right to lodge its own complaint in the event of it becoming aware of a possible breach of the Code of Conduct.


In a world where we all need to reduce our dependence on fixed carbon fuel sources such as oil and gas, it’s good to have viable options that are greener and cleaner to live with.
There are various types of renewable technologies eligible to benefit from the generous incentive schemes set up by the Government. The Renewable Heat Premium Payments (RHPP) and Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) payments for ground or air source heat pumps, solar thermal and wood biomass, to the Feed in and Export Tariffs (FITs) for Solar PV. Churches, as an Microgeneration Certification Scheme accredited installer, has the expertise to guide you through the complexity of systems on offer and find a solution that works best for you.
Whether you are looking for improved performance and reduced energy usage, savings over existing fossil fuels (especially LPG and heating oil) or a reduced carbon footprint and climate change levy; our fully accredited engineers can design, install, commission and maintain an integrated system perfectly tailored to fulfilling your energy requirement needs.


text:
Seoul shares down 0.8 pct in late-morning trade
Published : 2013-08-22 11:35
Updated : 2013-08-22 11:35
South Korean stocks traded 0.8 percent lower late Thursday morning, dented by losses in foodmakers and brokerage houses, analysts said.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 14.86 points to 1,852.60 as of 11:20 a.m.
Major brokerage firm KDB Securities Co. dipped more than 2 percent, and CJ Cheiljedang, a food manufacturing giant, slumped 3.1 percent.
In contrast, defensive shares gained, with state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. climbing 2 percent.
The local currency was changing hands at 1,124.35 won against the greenback as of 11:20 a.m., down 6.95 won from Wednesday's close. (Yonhap News)

domain: finance


text:
Browse the Collection
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Passio (from Speculum Passionis Domini Nostri Ihesu Christi): Entry of Christ into Jerusalem - Nuremberg - Dodgson II
16th Century Germany Works on Paper
Your current search criteria is: [Objects]Object Type is "Works on paper" and [Objects]Display Artist is "Hans Schaufelein".


Cisco has been named the official network infrastructure supporter for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, and will be responsible for enabling the connection of data, voice, video and devices throughout games locations.
The network will consist of 2,300 IP phones, 441 switches, 378 access points, 16 routers, 15 digital media players, 14 ace load balancers and eight firewalls. Phil Smith, CEO Cisco UK, said that Glasgow 2014 is the perfect stage to showcase its 'Internet of Everything' approach to connecting people, process, data and things.
"It is crucial in a high-performance and fast-paced Games environment that information flow is seamless, and we are delighted to have a company of Cisco's calibre on board to keep Glasgow 2014 connected as we focus on the delivery of the largest multi-sport Games Scotland has ever seen," said Glasgow 2014 Chief Executive David Grevemberg.
The Games will consist of 11 days of sport running from 23 July through 3 August 2014. They will feature 15,000 volunteers, 1,000 staff and 6,500 athletes from 71 nations.
Cisco was the official network equipment provider for last year's London Olympic Games, where it constructed the world's largest high-density WiFi network, consisting of nearly 1,000 access points across nine Olympic venues.


text:
The Security Council on Thursday extended the mandate of the United Nations force monitoring the ceasefire in the Golan Heights between Israel and Syria for another six months.
According to a UN press release, the resolution extending UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) mandate was adopted unanimously. The statement said the UN Security Council was "deeply concerned that recent events have put the long-held ceasefire in jeopardy."
UNDOF did nothing to stop Syria from sending their people to the Israeli border on May 15 and June 5, pretending that they were "Palestinians."
To their credit, the US and Germany noted this. From the UN press release:
Speaking in explanation of position after the vote, Council members noted that the renewal deviated from previous practice, with several stressing that the events of 15 May and 5 June were the most serious since UNDOF’s creation and could not go unremarked. Representatives of the United States and Germany, among others, expressed concern that the Syrian Government had played a role in those demonstrations, and suggested that it seemed willing to risk an international conflict to divert attention from its own domestic demonstrations.The UN being the UN, of course, those concerns were buried by Russia and China:
A number of speakers highlighted the Secretary-General’s recent call for the Council to express itself on Syria, suggesting that such expression was long overdue. Stressing that the situation in Syria was not sustainable, the representative of the United Kingdom said delegation would continue to press for a resolution on the situation in Syria. However, the representative of the Russian Federation pointed out that Syria was not on the Council’s agenda, while China’s delegate said the Syria question was an internal affair and should be left to the parties concerned.
Ron Prosor, the new Israeli ambassador to the UN, spoke:
RON PROSOR ( Israel) stressed that the international community must continue to support UNDOF’s mandate, underlining the need for all parties fully to respect the disengagement line. Indeed, given the regional instability, the need for doing so had never been clearer. As for recent events, he recalled that on 15 May a large organized group of protesters had torn through the defence wall and engaged with the Israel Defence Force near Majal Chams. On 5 June, hundreds had sought to breach the disengagement line with Israel, trying to break through the fence, he said, adding that they had also thrown Molotov cocktails and used other modes of violence.
Noting that the Syrian regime had not prevented demonstrators from reaching the line nor stopped their attempt to breach the defence walls, he said its actions were a blatant attempt to distract attention from its own internal actions. Indeed, the regime’s fingerprints “are all over this process”, he said, adding that one need not be a forensic detective to see them. He said Bashar al-Assad was the only ophthalmologist he knew who was incapable of ensuring the vision of his own people, adding that the Syrian regime should not be allowed to behave in such a way just because it did not want the cries of its own citizens to be heard.


text:
Snail eggs! I am very excited, I've never had brigs eggs before. I'm reasonably certain that the parents were a striped yellow and an ivory, too, so I may get some red and whites, and more purples. I'm incubating them in one of those Gerber bottle liners with paper towels, using badflash's plastic bag method, for anyone who cares to know.
I started designing patterns because I couldn't find a pattern for the sweater I wanted! Or the hat I wanted! Also, the world has a severe shortage of crochet cable patterns. I'm going to try and fix that.