Listen to this article
Last month, Areva, the French nuclear engineering group, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) of Japan signed a deal to develop a new generation of nuclear power plants. In a world where new nuclear plants are rare, that might seem strange. But amid mounting concerns about global warming and continuing high oil prices, power plant builders are gearing up for a new nuclear era.
Moving to a situation of sustained demand for atomic power plants is likely to prove challenging even for the select band of precision engineers expert in the technology. New customers will want plants with more fail-safes, and built-in mechanisms to guard against any foreseeable terrorist attack.
Designing such plants is going to cost serious money. To recoup that outlay and make healthy profits, nuclear technology companies will need to sell a standard design to as many customers as possible, which means looking beyond their old national markets. So, it is no surprise that the collaboration between Areva and MHI has two goals: sharing development costs and enhancing access to international markets for each partner.
Each company need of the other. Both France and Japan have developed substantial parks of nuclear power stations because they lack fossil fuel resources. The three French companies that were home to the country’s nuclear engineering expertise, Cogema, Framatome and CEA Industrie were consolidated five years ago to form Areva, which has proprietary nuclear plant technology.
In Japan, construction of the country’s 54 nuclear reactors was divided between MHI, using licensed pressurised water reactor (PWR) technology from Westinghouse of the US, Hitachi, which has a partnership with General Electric, and Toshiba, which also built PWR designs.
All three Japanese companies want to leverage their experience both to build the new reactors in Japan, and to enter a resurgent US market and exploit new opportunities in Asia. But MHI’s ambitions were upset when Toshiba agreed to buy Westinghouse for $4.2bn in a deal completed last month. This secured access to US technology and markets for Toshiba. At the same time, Hitachi and GE have already reinforced their partnership and won a joint contract to build a new nuclear generating station in Texas. It will be the first new US nuclear plant started since 1979, when a serious nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania caused a 27-year dearth of new orders. MHI was out in the cold, without a contemporary design, despite decades of industrial experience.
On the face of it, Areva’s position looked strong. It claimed to be the only company in the world with expertise in every stage of the nuclear life-cycle, from mining uranium through generation to spent-fuel reprocessing. It has built power plants in China, seen as a strong market for the future, and has submitted proposals to build the US’s first nuclear waste re-processing plant, with US partners. It is also project manager on the construction of Europe’s first new-generation EPR pressurised water reactor in Finland. And it can be sure of a key role in the construction of the first French EPR reactor, even if the project manager will be EdF.
But building nuclear plants are hugely capital intensive (though they are relatively cheap to run once completed). Construction of the prototype Finnish plant has been hit by delays, and now looks set to take five years, rather than the four years Areva predicted. And as Anne Lauvergeon, the company’s chief executive, pointed out when she unveiled the deal with MHI, these two projects are very much at the heavy end of the market. The 1,600MW Finnish reactor is expected to cost €3bn and the Flamanville plant perhaps €3.3bn. Many developing countries and private power companies will want their new capacity in smaller chunks.
That is why the deal to jointly design a new plant will focus on a smaller reactor with a capacity of just 1,000MW. “It is said that the mid-sized market will expand greatly because many countries are now interested in nuclear power generation,” Ms Lauvergeon said when the collaboration was announced. She estimated global demand for 150 to 200 new nuclear plants, including mid-sized models, in the next 25 years.
Kazuo Tsukada, president of MHI, said: “It is true that the Westinghouse buy-out triggered the sector’s global reorganisation, but a bigger impact was that we have entered an era when we can expect strong demand for nuclear power around the world.”
Areva and MHI already know each other well. The two companies worked together to build the Rokkasho fuel reprocessing plant in Japan, using technologies developed by the French partner to construct France’s reprocessing plant at La Hague. “The alliance has been worked out on the ground of mutual trust and common vision,” said Ms Lauvergeon.
The anchor project is to design a commercial reactor that is both economic and reliable, and strong enough to withstand a direct hit by an aircraft. But the collaboration agreement also sets out a framework for other areas of possible co-operation, including procurement, services, fuel cycle management and other types of reactor.
On the one hand, the companies are seeking to share the costs of technology development, share risk in bidding for contracts, and improve the access of each to foreign markets, partly by reducing the number of competitors. But as the procurement element shows, they are also seeking to reduce operating costs by buying key components together and, thus, achieving economies of scale.
Building nuclear power plants is never going to be a volume industry. But collaborations across national boundaries should help to bring down costs, making nuclear power more competitive with alternative generating technologies.
Get alerts on Front page when a new story is published


text:
The Otzinachson Regional Group of the Sierra Club and the Edward Abbey Hiking Society will hold a number of hikes throughout the region in the spring and summer.
They are open to the public, but hikers should contact the hike leader prior to the event. Participants are advised to bring lunch and water on every hike.
Hikes will be held:
Today - The Pinnacle on the Appalachian Trail, Berks County, 13 miles, very strenuous. This loop hike leads to the spectacular Pinnacle, one of the finest vistas in Pennsylvania. Meet at 8:30 a.m. at the parking lot behind the Lewisburg post office; at 9:10 at the Sheetz on Route 54 in Elysburg; or at 10:30 at the Hamburg Reservoir parking lot. Leader: Paul Shaw, 717-215-8339 or firstname.lastname@example.org.
May 5 - Rider Park, Lycoming County, 6.2 miles, easy to moderate figure-eight loop centered around the parking lot. Hikers can opt to exit after two miles. Meet at 8:30 a.m. on Warrensville Road next to Loyalsock Creek just beyond the Interstate 180 overpass over Warrensville Road or at 8:45 at the parking area 1.6 miles up Calebs Creek Road. Leader: Roy Fontaine, 220-4707.
May 6 - Molasses Gap Trail Family Hike, Union County, two miles, easy (for grown-ups). Dress for stream encounters. Leader: Sam Pearson, 522-8159.

domain: geography


text:
He was the youngest to climb Mt. Everest. He’s known as the boy who conquered the Seven Summits, each of the tallest mountains on earth’s seven continents. Now, Jordan Romero has his sights set on his next goal, an American tale to the top of the tallest mountain in every US state.
A week into the campaign called “Find Your Everest,” Romero has already topped the tallest mountains in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
Though the northeast Appalachians feature modest terrain worn down by millions of years of erosion, this first leg of the journey hasn’t come without its share of perils. Romero, 15, and his father Paul, who has accompanied Jordan on each of his historic climbs, faced down severe weather conditions while climbing Maine’s 5,268-foot Mount Katahdin last Tuesday and then Vermont’s 4,395-foot Mount Mansfield on Wednesday.
“Both the Maine and Vermont climbs were like climbing waterfalls all day long,” Jordan’s father tells the Conway Daily Sun. “We battled torrents of biblical proportions both days, making our way up flooded trails and bordering on hypothermia.”
The pair will likely face more bad weather over the coming months as they climb peaks as small as Florida’s Britton Hill (345 feet) and as tall as Alaska’s Denali (20,320 feet), which Jordan already summited in 2008, when he was just 11 years old.
Jordan hasn’t published a schedule for the coming climbs, but he says “Find Your Everest” will end in two years atop Hawaii’s Mauna Kea (13,796 feet). If his history of reaching the top is any clue, we’re sure he’ll come through as promised.


text:
Tag: road racing
Qualify for Boston, or run your fastest 42K to date, at the 2017 Manitoba Marathon in Winnipeg, one of the flattest courses in the country.
April 11th, 2017 by Tim Huebsch | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
The Iowa race now says that “registration cost is equal for all and all are welcome” after previously charging men a higher entry fee than women.
April 7th, 2017 by Tim Huebsch | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Lindsay Doherty, a mother of three, passed away after collapsing at the finish line of the Scranton Half-Marathon in Pennsylvania.
The Vancouver Running Festival takes over, in part, for the races previously known as the the Rock ‘n’ Roll Vancouver race weekend.
Footage of three men helping a runner finish a half-marathon in Philadelphia has gone viral racking up 22 million views in two days.
March 28th, 2017 by Canadian Running | Posted in Uncategorized | 31 Comments »
Multiple runners, including one who finished in the top-10, have been disqualified from Hamilton’s Around the Bay 30K.
“It’s probably the craziest thing I’m ever going to experience,” 28-year-old Billy Covert says.
Ross Proudfoot nips unsuspecting Luc Bruchet at the line to win the St. Patrick’s Day 5K in Vancouver on Saturday.
One of Canada’s most competitive 5Ks, the BMO St. Patrick’s Day race in Vancouver, is one of many Irish-themed road races across the country this weekend.
Clear skies and moderate temperatures didn’t mean that runners’ shoes were going to stay dry at the Sooke River 10K in British Columbia.
This distance race in France had some of the strongest winds you will ever see. Check it out for yourself in this now-viral video.
Experience a Whistler, B.C. race weekend to remember with a VIP package courtesy of Canadian Running Magazine and the Whistler Half-Marathon.

domain: news


text:
Today is World Children's Day. And a couple of weeks ago we've made a special video, together with @UNICEF for this. To me this is one of the most special video's I've ever helped with. I really hope you want to watch it!
The words in the video hit me every single time I watch it. - 385 million children live in extreme poverty. - 264 million children are missing school. - 50 million children are uprooted from their homes - Millions of children are suffering violence. - 16.000 children die everyday from preventable diseases.
This is a day for children, by children, all over the world to help save children’s lives, fight for their rights and help them fulfil their potential.
Haven't posted in a while on Instagram. Been busy with exciting new plans for the upcoming year. Still managed to get all my training. Following a high volume mesocycle right now. Pumps are crazy. Strength is staying high during the sets. Really happy about that.

domain: sociology


text:
The Comeback Trail(2022)
Videos: Trailers, Teasers, Featurettes
Two movie producers who owe money to the mob set up their aging movie star for an insurance scam to try and save themselves. But they wind up getting more than they ever imagined.
The Comeback Trail - watch online: streaming, buy or rent
Currently you are able to watch "The Comeback Trail" streaming on Netflix. It is also possible to buy "The Comeback Trail" on Microsoft Store, SF Anytime, Viaplay, Google Play Movies, Blockbuster, Rakuten TV, SumoTV, Apple iTunes as download or rent it on Google Play Movies, Microsoft Store, Viaplay, Rakuten TV, Blockbuster, SumoTV, Apple iTunes online.

domain: entertainment


text:
Hair Transplant Surgeon: Robert Haber, M.D.
Hair transplant repair session before and after photographs
Hair Transplant Sessions: 1
This 34 year old hair restoration patient, who underwent two prior procedures elsewhere, desired greater density. One hair transplant session of FUT with 1064 1's, 1337 2/s, 208 3's, and 4 4's for a total of 2613 grafts and 4378 hairs.
Discuss this patient on our Hair Restoration Forum
Other Hair Transplant Patients Operated on by Robert Haber, M.D. : To view several other hair restoration patient results and their photos, you are encouraged to click on any of the links below. Alternatively, you can close this window by clicking outside this page.

domain: health


We sincerely welcome you to contact us through the hotline and other instant messaging methods. Whether it's project consultation or feedback, we will serve you in the fastest way and spare no effort to save time for customers.
OBORTS Company, Opposite the residence of old General Mambou, Near Dragage, Bastos, Yaoundé, Cameroon
Email: [email protected]
High crushing ratio kazakhstan crusher, conical crusher US $5000-50000 / Set 1 Set (M Do you want to show conical stone crusher for sale with ce iso or other . coal crushing coal crusher in kazakhstan,jaw crusher mill for sale,best crusher mobile granite hot sale produition line largest granite plant in …
2017-2-23 · What is an ISA? What is an ISA? ISA rules, tax benefits, limits and allowances explained. ISA charges Charges for our low-cost Stocks & Shares ISA, including dealing and annual service fees.; Junior ISAs Junior ISAs give you a £9,000 annual allowance to invest for the children in your life.; Open an ISA Open a Stocks & Shares ISA online in minutes. Invest a lump sum or set up regular savings.
2021-4-22 · China Coal Washing Plant manufacturers - Select 2021 high quality Coal Washing Plant products in best price from certified Chinese Mining Equipment, Mineral Processing suppliers, wholesalers and factory on Made-in-China
Coal mill,Coal crusher,Coal crushing plant. 2015-1-23 · Coal crusher, also known as coal crushing plant, is the coal mining equipment designed for coal crushing process in energy industry. As the Mosh's Hardness of coal is usually under 5, DASWELL design . Learn More
energy efficient washing machine press sale crusher. Staber high efficiency washers use less water, less energy, and less detergent compared to traditional top load agitator washers it is the only top load horizontalaxis washer made in the uS there are also many design advantages compared to …
Coal mills manufacturer design coal mill pulverizer for steam power plant, supply coal mill maintenance, operation. it set up the coal mill stardard. Read more how various crusher and pulverization used for coal power
2014-9-15 · Considering a 30-in. diameter roll crusher the maximum size particle that can be nipped with the roll crusher set at 1 in. according to this Equation is F = 0.085(15) + 1.0 = 2.28 in. <3½ in. feed. It will take larger than a 40-in. diameter roll crusher. A better solution would be to use a larger jaw crusher set at 1½ in., then a roll crusher
Stone Impact Crusher is widely used to crush the medium hardness brittle materials such as limestone, dolomite, shale, sandstone, coal, asbestos, graphite, and rock salt etc. In building materials, chemicals, coal and other industries.
Crushers, Screen, washing, Feeder, conveyor for Unit weight of coal As a leading global manufacturer of crushing, grinding and mining equipments, we offer advanced, reasonable solutions for any size-reduction requirements including, Unit weight of coal, quarry, aggregate, and different kinds of minerals.
aggregate stone crusher granite - room-with-a-viewcoza Crusher A crusher is a machine designed to reduce large rocks into smaller rocks, gravel, or rock dust, The earliest crushers were hand-held stones, where the weight of the stone provided a boost to mus.
Best Crushing Machines Dealers. Find the list of best Crushing Machines suppliers & Manufacturers. Yellow Pages Directory of Crushing Machines, Crushing Machines manufacturers, Traders, and Crushing Machines, Crushing Machines Suppliers & Dealers in India.
Coal Crusher Coal Crushing Machine Coal Crusher . However there exist special requirements for processing and using the coal thus fote technically produces a hammer coal crusher reasons for choosing the hammer coal crusher 1 if you have various demands for the particle size of finished products the fote hammer coal crushing. Get Quote
Primary crusher, secondary crusher and tertiary crusher, Dragon Crusher is the latest technology crusher which this 3 system is able to crusher function. Thanks to the strong setting blocks and large thinning rate is very high. 50 floor-thinning curve.(Valid forDragon 7, 9, 10, 15, 20, 25)
The coal which is supplied by train from the open cast mines in Ekibastus is crushed by companies currently mining coal in crusher australia; best coal crushing process . 2014918 Coal crushing plant is getting more and more important in modern mining coal etc Australian Mines Atlas.
The offered coal handling systems process the coal in multiple stages such as coal sampling, coal washing, crushing, screening, gravity separation and de-watering. From the coal storage building, the coal is crushed again and conveyed to smaller coal storage bunkers in the power plant. From there.
crushing strength of khondalite. Coal Crusher Bubbles Crusher Mills, Cone Crusher, crushing strength of khondalite in Honduras Republic – S60 glass bubbles have a crushing strength of khondalite . Limestone - Natural Stones. In the Cuddapah, Bijawar, Khondalite and Aravalli groups, limestones attain considerable development, some of
2021-4-21 · The Twentymile longwall coal mine is located 30km south west of Steamboat Springs in north-western Colorado, USA. It is the world’s most productive underground coal mine in terms of output per man-year. The mine was developed by Cyprus Amax, which sold it to the German company, RAG Coal International, in 1999.
how to work the washing machine sand crusher. sand washing machine sand making machine sand washing . About CFTC your browser does not support the video tag CFTC is crusher and sand washing machine manufacturer with a complete line of crushing grinding and screening equipment.Our equipment can be used in the mining building materials metallurgy transportation coal chemical and …
Jaw Crusher Working Principle. A sectional view of the singletoggle type of jaw crusher is shown below In one respect the working principle and application of this machine is similar to the Dodge crushers the movable jaw has its maximum movement at the top of the crushing chamber and minimum movement at the discharge motion is however a more complex one than the Dodge motion being the
2020-5-20Coal grinding mill plant.Gold washing plant for sale houston.Coal dryer manufacturer india.Revlon products makeup hair color. Live Chat Dryers In Coal Wash Plant In India Hotelcityheart. And provides machines for stone crusher gravity dryer for coal drying stone crushing plant have.Coal wash plant for sale in india.
2021-5-4 · For softer coal, a feeder Breaker can accept a 1200 millimetres lump of coal and reduce it to 350-400 millimetres in the first stage, followed by the secondary crusher with a reduction from 400 to
coal crushing machinery manufacturers in algeria. Mobile coal crusher Manufacturer Algeria The product range of our company comprises mobile crushing plant jaw crusher cone crusher impact crusher milling equipment ball mill vibrating feeders screens and equipment for washing sand Our product is widely used in mining metallurgy construction. 89% . list of manufacturing companies in algeria
Alibaba offers 1,447 coal preparation plant products. About 2% of these are Crusher, 14% are Mineral Separator, and 0% are Mining Feeder. A wide variety of coal preparation plant options are available to you, such as condition, applicable industries, and warranty.
How to Calculate the Coal Quantity Used in a Power Plant Coal Quantity. Since coal has a heat value of 20,000 kJ/kg, for producing one kw.hr we require (10765 / 20000) 0.538 kg of coal. This translates to (0.538 x 100 x 1,000) 53800 kg/hr (53.8 T/hr) of coal for an output of 100 MW. Coal Cost. Basic cost of coal depends on the market
Coal preparation plant Wikipedia. A coal preparation plant (CPP; also known as a coal handling and preparation plant (CHPP), coal handling plant, prep plant, tipple or wash plant) is a facility that washes coal of soil and rock, crushes it into graded sized chunks (sorting), stockpiles grades preparing it for transport to market, and more often than not, also loads coal into rail cars, barges
Prompt : Caesar is a famous mining equipment manufacturer well-known both at home and abroad, major in producing stone crushing equipment, mineral separation equipment, limestone grinding equipment, etc.
Welcome To lscrusher Heavy Industry Technology. sand making machine washing r6mtpp china,lscrusher Heavy Industry Technology is a joint-stock enterprise that mainly produces large and medium-sized series of crushers, sand making machines, and …
2021-5-10 · Since its establishment, LZZG has designed and produced a large number of high-quality coal washing equipment for many coal washing plants by using a full set of mechanical equipment such as forging, turning, milling, planning and welding. It has …
Unit weight of coal Products. As a leading global manufacturer of crushing, grinding and mining equipments, we offer advanced, reasonable solutions for any size-reduction requirements including, Unit weight of coal, quarry, aggregate, and different kinds of minerals.
The ideal entering material granularity of our PF type impact crusher is 100-500mm, themost greatly is not surpass the rating. The materail granularity user canajusts the hammer head and the impact board and th gap between component, according to theirs demands. 3.Main Features
Crushing of raw coal of 200/250 mm down to 100 mm in a suitable type of crusher; • Mixing of natural and crushed <100 mm coal and stocking and blending in a bunker of about 1 day’s capacity; • Screening of blended raw coal at 13 mm to produce two size fractions: 100–13 mm and <13 mm; •
Mining crushers mainly include jaw crusher, cone crusher, impact crusher, mobile crusher for crushing stone, rock crusher equipment: best crusher for coal underground mining bentonite jaw crushers india in india Jaw crusher price in india,price of jaw crusher in india,mobile Jaw crusher appeared in 1858, the first widely used
Primary coal crusher: Used for larger coal size. The primary coal crushers may be of different types such as: (1) coal jaw, (2) coal hammer, and (3) ring granulator. Secondary coal crusher: Used when the coal coming from the supplier is large enough to be handled by a single crusher. The primary crusher converts the feed size to one that is
For a set of crusher sizes and set openings, the calculations obtained from the work of Rose and English and others can be compared with data from equipment manufacturers. Figure 4.10 shows a plot of the results. Assuming a value of S C of 1.0, the calculations show an overestimation of the capacity recommended by the manufacturers.


text:
Australia in the world: how our diplomatic partners see us
Australian Institute of International Affairs, ACT branch, Annual dinner
Thank you Heath. It is a great pleasure to be here for the annual dinner of the ACT branch of the Australian Institute of International Affairs.
I'd like to acknowledge Bob Lowry, President of the AIIA (ACT) and, of course, all of my DFAT colleagues - past and present.
This organisation holds a unique place in Australian foreign policy.
In some respect, the AIIA wrote the script for an independent Australian foreign policy.
In the 1930s, when Australia was yet to establish its own diplomatic service, the AIIA was laying the markers that would define Australia's long-term direction, particularly with respect to Asia.
Indeed, I'm happy to acknowledge that the AIIA helped me form my own views as a young diplomat – and that understanding of the salience of Asia has deepened as I've served in Hong Kong, Taipei, and Beijing.
Along with the US alliance, Asia has only become more central to Australia as our region has gone through the profound changes of the post-war period.
Ladies and gentlemen, as we all know, the United States is the scene of quite eye‑catching change at the moment.
The advent of a new US administration is always a busy time for policy thinkers, as leaders in all walks of life and diplomats around the world reassess how all the pieces fit together.
On this occasion, that regular adjustment has taken on a new urgency.
President Trump has made it clear that he will take an economic nationalist approach.
As the Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop said in her Fullerton Lecture in Singapore on Monday, "many regional nations are in a strategic holding pattern, waiting to see whether the United States and its security allies and partners can continue to play the robust and constructive role that they have for many decades".
The international implications of this could well be significant.
For Australia and Australia-watchers, the early focus was on that phone conversation between Prime Minister Turnbull and President Trump – and I know the interest has lingered, because I was asked about it in Senate Estimates.
The thing that struck me most that week, though, was not the conversation itself, but the public reaction it provoked in the United States.
From Australia's point of view, the real story of the phone call was one of diplomatic ballast in action.
Senator John McCain was particularly quick to endorse, in ringing phrases, Australia's value to the United States, focusing (for obvious reasons, given his distinguished military service) on our military ties, stretching back a century.
Then, Congressmen and women, Democrats and Republicans alike, and a wide range of commentators followed, pointing to our consistency and reliability in international affairs.
But, for me, it did raise an important question, one that every generation of diplomats this nation produces has to ask itself: how is Australia seen, around the world?
Diplomacy is not a popularity contest, but understanding how others see us is the first step in working out how to influence them.
What sort of diplomatic actor is Australia, as far as some of our key partners are concerned?
I thought this would be a good question to pursue tonight, in this city of embassies, for this audience with its many diplomatic insiders.
One indication of how others see us is the 107 diplomatic missions here in Canberra.
Twenty-four nations have established missions in Canberra since 1998 – a reflection of the increasing importance of Australia as a diplomatic centre in a region that, as each year passes, matters more to the world.
Latin America's representation, for example, has jumped from nine missions in 2009 to thirteen today.
Since 2015, the Australian Government has increased our diplomatic representation abroad.
- We opened a mission in Ulaanbaatar in December 2015
- a post in Makassar in March 2016
- then Phuket in June
- Doha in July and
- Lae this month.
Further, we expect to open
- Rabat next financial year, after we deploy the Head of Mission a few months from now
- Surabaya in the second half of 2017
- Bogota in 2017 and
- pending China's formal approval, our seventh post in greater China.
Once opened, this will bring our overseas representation to 106 DFAT posts.
This is a powerful statement, in each of these countries and overall, of Australia's international intent.
How a country perceives its international interests, and other diplomatic actors, can change over time, of course, driven by historical developments, shifting strategic circumstances and political will.
Consider the United Kingdom, a country which has been in the news almost as much as the United States in the last year.
Diplomatic relations between Australia and the United Kingdom are close.
So close it almost seems banal to point them out.
That said, I did hear one thing recently that captured our intimacy.
So trusted is Australia in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office that they even use Australia House, our High Commission in London, as a venue for meetings from time to time.
When the FCO organised an away day to plan its China policy recently, they chose Australia House.
FCO's Pacific team followed suit, as did the Human Rights branch.
Not too many nations do foreign policy planning days in the embassies of other countries!
In the years ahead, Australia can make much, much more of the rock-solid trust with which our counterparts in the UK see us.
After more than four decades within the European Union, Britain is now charting a new, independent, course – "Global Britain", as Boris Johnston calls it.
Consider this: when Britain applied to enter the Common Market in 1961, only five years had passed since the Suez Crisis.
From Whitehall, Australia appeared, in 1961, as a young country on the international stage.
Now, though, the British see a highly successful, independent regional and global actor.
Japan and India
Partners in our region are also seeing Australia in a new light.
As China's rise continues, the question of how it will exercise power becomes more pressing, and major countries are interested in the part Australia plays, and will play.
Japan for one.
As the Foreign Minister said recently, the practical engagement between the defence forces of the United States, Japan and Australia is, today, a first-order strategic fact.
After having built our trade and economic partnership over many decades, Japan now sees Australia as its primary ally in keeping the United States informed and focused on strategic issues in Asia.
This includes trade and investment – indeed, countries in our region are looking to Japan and Australia to advocate in Washington our shared perspectives on the strategic dimension of economic liberalisation.
Like Japan, India is reassessing its place in a world changed by China's rise.
As India steps out from the Non-Aligned Movement, and emerges as a maritime power, it finds more points of interest in Australian diplomacy.
India still values multilateral diplomacy highly, and India's diplomats appreciate the energy and effectiveness we bring to it – even when they are inclined to apply the handbrake.
India admires our highly productive relations with Japan, which parallel its own, and is seeking triangular cooperation on infrastructure and high-efficiency coal generation.
India has taken a new interest in the quality and consequence of our alliance with the United States.
When he addressed the Australian Parliament in August 2014, India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, gave his own account of how other countries see Australia:
"Today, the world sees Australia at the heart of the Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean region," Mr Modi said.
"This dynamic region holds the key to this world's future; and Australia is at its cross-currents. And, [he went on], as Australia has become more engaged in this part of the world, we welcome its growing role in driving this region's prosperity and shaping its security."
In part, Prime Minister Modi's words reflect the strategic adjustments underway in the Indo-Pacific, as states position themselves to benefit from opportunities and hedge against risks.
China and Indonesia
In Beijing, all nations compete for influence.
China has a score of challenging bilateral relations, in particular with countries on its land and sea borders.
Where does Australia stand?
Next week, Li Keqiang will arrive in Australia for his first visit as Premier of the People's Republic.
Prime Minister Turnbull and Premier Li will sit down across a table to discuss the full range of bilateral and international issues as part of the fifth annual leaders' meeting.
If you were a fly on that wall I suspect one of the deepest impressions you would be left with is that China regards Australia as a serious country.
There is a tendency in Australia's public discourse to focus on China's importance to us.
I can assure you that it is a two-way relationship.
China understands clearly the importance we attach to a rules-based international order and universal values.
In Beijing, we are a palatable, and, occasionally, sought-after source of government-to-government advice.
China values our economic relationship and our growing community ties.
It welcomes the expertise and capacity we bring through our growing services exports.
And it recognised the value to both economies of agreeing the most ambitious free trade agreement it has signed – ChAFTA.
Australia – China relations have been a success for Australia, but we will have to keep working hard to build on this foundation.
Closer to home, the way that the Government of Indonesia views Australia matters a great deal.
Indonesia and Australia are as different as any two neighbouring countries in the world, yet we loom large for one another.
Indonesia does not have a long tradition of southward diplomacy – ancient trade routes, yes, but government to government diplomacy, no.
In fact, Java's dangerous southern waters helped inspire a legend of a demon goddess that lured to their destruction anyone who set sail in our direction.
Relations have come a long way.
The storms are less severe nowadays, and in a fair wind we can both make progress.
Our development-assistance relationship is changing to one of economic partnership.
The new trade-liberalising commitments that Prime Minister Turnbull and President Widodo made last month are an excellent development in themselves, and augur well for a wider trade agreement between Indonesia and Australia.
Closer trade and investment ties will mean that more Indonesians come to appreciate Australia as a diverse and thriving place to do business and visit.
A key question for Australian diplomacy is what influence we will have in Indonesia as it grows in stature.
As Indonesia reaches its potential as a top-ten or even top-five economy, with strategic weight to match, we want Indonesia to look to Australia as a reliable source of acute judgements and sensitive advice.
Ladies and gentlemen, as Australia makes its way in the 21st Century, we have reason to be confident but no cause for complacency.
By being clear on how our major partners see us, we can calibrate our ambition, and effectively target our diplomacy.
In my recent international visits, I have found again and again that other countries want to do more with us.
In part, this is because of who we are and how we work: we're capable, effective, reliable, we have little baggage; we are nowhere maligned and generally liked.
In part, it is because the world is turning in our direction.
We have a new relevance to traditional partners as they reassess their global interests.
India and Japan see us as increasingly important diplomatic actors.
Indonesia is still forming its view of Australia as an international partner – this will be a gradual process over the decades ahead and it is a very important one for Australia's national interest.
Already, China is a potentially decisive actor on the most important international issues.
Our diplomatic engagement with China will only become more consequential as the years go on.
It is crucial that Australia wields diplomatic influence congruent with our opportunities and challenges – not just in Washington and London, Tokyo and New Delhi, but in the capitals and commercial centres throughout our region.
We can only succeed if Australians generate a broad base of the vigorous foreign-policy discussion that has been the hallmark of the Australian Institute of International Affairs for more than eighty years now.
In concluding, let me thank you for your contribution to the Foreign Policy White Paper.
I agree with many of the points in your national body's written submission, particularly on the importance of funding Australian diplomacy adequately.
In particular, I acknowledge the AIIA's face-to-face work, from Kim Beazley's conversation with the white paper lead, Richard Maude, to your many branch events on the White Paper, including in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne.
Ultimately, diplomacy is about contact between people, and I am sure that many future DFAT senior officials would join me in thanking you for it.


text:
Solar powered pole lamp.
A solar powered pole lamp with 3 petals placed at varying heights to form a tree-like canopy. Solar cells are positioned on the top of each petal beneath a clear high-impact acrylic lens. Warm-light LEDs are mounted on the underside onto a highly reflective luminaire behind a translucent acrylic lens. Each unit consumes between 25-50 watts of power. Contact [email protected] for purchase information.
Japanese studio Akihisa Hirata has designed the ‘Tree-Ness House’, a multi-story complex that replicates the structure of a tree — creating an organic layering system that refutes traditional layered architecture. The firm designed this residential complex in the metropolitan area of Toshima-ku, Tokyo, with the purpose of exploring the possibilities of......read more
Standing at the top of a hill overlooking the coastline in New South Wales, Australia, is ‘Headland House’, a great hulking mass of extraordinary cantilevered rooms designed by Sydney-based firm Atelier Andy Carson. The client, Beau Neilson (the daughter of art patron Judith Neilson and billionaire Kerr Neilson), and her partner required the house should be an......read more
Designed by architect Chris Price and his partners at Park City Design + Build, the Treehaus is a beautiful blend of modern mountain architecture and cutting-edge energy efficiency. Nestled into the pines of Summit Park, Utah, the clean lines, stacked segments, and dark cedar exterior create a fine figure, seamlessly integrating the 3,643-square-foot abode into its sylvan surroundings.......read more
As modern as it is adaptable, the Knook Corner Chair is a perfect modular piece for the modern living room. The corner chair features a mid-century modern design with clean lines and tapered legs with an armrest on one side. The Knook design includes a corner chair, armless chair and an ottoman that can be combined to create two-seaters, three-seaters or a sectional. This piece has a wooden......read more

domain: artistic


text:
News out of the AFC and NFC East..
- The Giants thought they had Brandon Graham before he re-signed with the Eagles, Jeff McLane of The Philadelphia Inquirer tweets. He was prepared to make the move to a 4-3 team like the Giants, but he changed his mind and the Eagles found a way to keep him.
- Jets free agent defensive lineman Kenrick Ellis is picking up a decent amount of interest and six teams are talking to him, Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports tweets. The Jets want him back but Ellis wants to scan the market first.
- A source tells Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald (on Twitter) that the Patriots are one of three teams in on free agent running back Roy Helu.
- The Dolphins and Mike Pouncey have yet to discuss an extension/new deal, Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald tweets. Miami has understandably been busy in recent days.
- A half a dozen teams are seriously monitoring Chiefs safety Ron Parker and the Giants are among them, Jordan Raanan of the Star-Ledger tweets. We learned earlier today that the Dolphins are among the teams with interest in Parker. The Jets also have interest in Parker and he could be on the Eagles’ radar now that they missed on Devin McCourty.

domain: sports


text:
Jake Clemons joined the E Street Band for the Wrecking Ball Tour in 2012. In Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen writes that “Jake had E Street soul in his blood and bones,” and in his decade-long tenure, he has pulled off the balancing act of carrying on his uncle Clarence Clemons' legacy while establishing himself as his own musician. He played on the Wrecking Ball, High Hopes, and The River tours, and he appears on the albums High Hopes and Letter to You.
In between E Street outings, Clemons maintains a busy tour schedule with his own band, across the US and overseas (what he describes as a “perpetual world tour”). On stage, he can be seen playing tenor and baritone saxophone and percussion and contributing backing vocals, but he is also skilled at the piano, flute, clarinet, bass, drums, and guitar—with plans to continue learning more instruments.


text:
St. Louis filed a lawsuit against the National Football League on Wednesday over last year’s decision to let the Rams relocate to Los Angeles. City authorities, the county, and the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority—which owns the team’s former stadium in St. Louis—filed a 52-page complaint over the decision, accusing the league of violating its own relocation guidelines. The NFL voted to allow the Rams to move to L.A. in January 2016 after the team filed for relocation rights, a move that left fans in St. Louis outraged and disappointed. The move came after authorities in St. Louis spent $17 million on designs and plans for a new stadium, The New York Times reported.
“The N.F.L., through its member teams and the votes of the teams’ owners, approved the relocation of the Rams despite the failure of the Rams franchise to meet its obligations under the relocation policy or even to offer a credible, persuasive statement of reasons concerning the factors set out in the relocation policy,” the plaintiffs argued in the lawsuit. The lawsuit also says St. Louis authorities were urged to build a new stadium for the team shortly before the relocation decision was made, a factor that should have been taken into account when voting on the relocation. The NFL “failed to apply and enforce the policy’s standards and procedures,” the plaintiffs said. The city, the county, and the stadium owners are now seeking damages worth more than $1 billion. The NFL dismissed the lawsuit as having “no legitimate basis” late Wednesday, saying the Rams’ relocation process was “honest and fair at all times.”


text:
Smith mentioned in Morning Sentinel article on exhibit of artwork by children in detention camps
Susan Smith, assistant director of the intermedia master of fine arts program at the University of Maine, was mentioned in the Morning Sentinel article “Artwork from children in detention camps coming Saturday to Waterville.” Mary Dunn, a retired teacher who traveled to the border to bear witness at child detention facilities, is organizing a traveling exhibit of artwork done by children at the Tornillo Detention Center in El Paso, Texas. The exhibit, “Uncaged Art,” consists of matted and framed high-quality digital photos of the children’s original pieces. An opening reception and silent auction to support organizations that help immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers will be held Oct. 12 at Waterville Brewing Co., where the exhibit will be on display through Oct. 26. Donated auction items include artwork by Smith, who also traveled to the border and whose associated artwork received the Juror’s Award from the Surface Design Association. The exhibit will travel to the UMaine campus next, Morning Sentinel reported. Portland Press Herald published the Morning Sentinel article.


text:
The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting every part of our daily lives. 105 Gibson Centre greets you with our blessings and wishes everyone well! 105 Gibson Centre has been closed to the public since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic. Yet we did not stop caring for the community. In fact, we
Since 2013, 105 Gibson Centre has been serving the community with diversified services with aims to address physical, emotional and physical needs. The COVID-19 pandemic response forced us to close in mid-March and has since greatly impacted the Centre’s operations and finances. We are currently providing only two essential services by appointments through Food Bank
In the last six years, we have encountered many people who have faced challenges in their lives: older adults isolated from community; youth at loss and uncertain about their future; food bank clients adjusting to a new country or the homeless seeking warmth and shelter. While our existing programs and services can alleviate some of
~ By Reverend Jonathan Chan Former General Director, 105 Gibson Centre Since 2013, 105 Gibson Centre has been serving the needy. Yet sometimes it is hard to even imagine that there are needy around us because of the success stories of the community. The reality is, there are those who are “hidden” in the community.


text:
'Children are not in my plans': Cheryl Fernandez-Versini opens up about parenthood in interview conducted just BEFORE shock wedding to Jean-Bernard
Cheryl Fernandez-Versini insists she has no desire to start a family with new husband Jean-Bernard – despite marrying the Frenchman after just three-months of dating.
The 31-year-old singer stunned fans by announcing her nuptials to the wealthy restaurateur after they exchanged vows in tropical Mustique on July 7.
But while those closest to Jean-Bernard have speculated that twice-married Cheryl could well be expecting her first child, the returning X Factor judge says falling pregnant doesn’t fall into her immediate plans.
It's not on the cards: Cheryl Fernandez-Versini insists she has no immediate plans to start a family with new husband Jean-Bernard
‘Possibly – only possible,’ she told The Times magazine shortly before her hush-hush wedding. ‘Because I went through a real phase, just recently, of like, maybe it’s not for me. Because you just assume it's a natural part of your life.'
She added: ‘If it happens, don’t get us wrong, it happens. But who knows? We’ll see. It’s not in me plans.’
During the candid interview Cheryl also reflected on her first marriage to former England footballer Ashley Cole, who recently signed for Italian club AS Roma.
Surprise: Fans were left stunned by Cheryl's decision to marry the wealthy restauranteur after just three months of dating
The couple separated and subsequently divorced following claim that left-back Cole had cheated on her during their four-year marriage, but she insists there is ‘no bitterness’ on her part.
She said: ‘There was no horribleness – apart from what happened at the end. My marriage wasn’t bad. I wasn’t treated badly.
‘I wasn’t the victim. We weren’t arguing. Nothing like that. It was just weakness on his behalf – which is unfortunate. But… it happens.’
Pals: Jean-Bernard with close friend Curtis Brown (front)
Elsewhere one of new husband Jean-Bernard’s closest friends claims she could well be pregnant.
In a recorded interview, Curtis Brown says: ‘Don't get mad at me, but your baby momma is hot. She's very gorgeous. She is a great singer. She's awesome.'
He also said that Jean-Bernard was smitten with the X Factor judge: 'The last time I spoke to him, he was like, "I've got a girl. She's awesome." Just bigged her up like she was the Queen of England.
'Then I found out who she was and I was like, oh now, that's a keeper.'
Here she comes: Cheryl has made a welcome return to The X Factor judging panel
Most watched News videos
- Rowdy Mexican couple get 'intimate' inside a public bank
- Is this parrot channeling Rihanna by singing along to her hit song?
- Annoyed woman attempts to teach indecorous man a lesson on the train
- Bat-wielding men jump out of van and start brawling in the road
- Children run in horror after seeing 'goblin' whilst playing
- Police release CCTV footage of hit and run in Birmingham
- Horrific moment he is attacked with pool cue in South African bar
- Scene in Heidelberg as police react to car incident
- Obama cheered on the streets of New York like a rock star
- Djokovic and wife argue on Facebook after she forgets to end live
- Terrifying moment a huge great white lunges at a surfer
- Terrified 96-year-old rescued by kind man as she clings to lamp post


A new Parliamentary bill aims to widen the Freedom of Information Act to cover public services provided by contractors and the likes of fire risks at housing associations.
Hammersmith MP Andy Slaughter introduced the private members’ bill, which was drafted by campaign group the Campaign for Freedom of Information and is due for a second reading debate in the Commons tomorrow.
The bill will allow members of the public to request information held by housing associations and private companies working on behalf of public authorities, like they already can with local councils themselves.
Information could be obtained by a request to the public authority, subject to the Act’s exemptions.
The change is necessary, Slaughter said, because companies can currently “provide public services without having to make themselves open to public scrutiny”.
Over £250bn, a third of all public spending, now goes to private companies or charities to provide services to public authorities, Slaughter said.
The Labour MP (pictured) said: “There have been significant changes to the way public services are procured over the 18 years since the FoI Act came into effect, with more public services than ever being provided through private companies.
“The general public has a right to know as much about Carillion or Serco when they are given public contracts or providing public services as we do about public authorities doing the same work.
“My Bill would bring FoI into line with the way public services are now being delivered in 2018.”
Currently, information held by contractors delivering public services is only available under the FoI Act if the contract specifically entitles the relevant public authority to that information.
Other bodies that would be brought under the FoI Act by the bill include electoral registration officers, returning officers and local safeguarding children boards.
Maurice Frankel, director of the Campaign for Freedom of Information, said: “The public pays for and depends on these services, regardless of whether they are provided by an authority’s own staff or a contractor’s.
“The right to know should not depend on the logo on the jackets of the staff delivering them.”
The campaign group said the current lack of access had meant 54 out of 61 housing associations had refused to supply their fire risk assessments to Inside Housing magazine last year after the tragic Grenfell Tower fire.
Picture: Hammersmith Labour Party
Email firstname.lastname@example.org to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog


Inspired by the ocean at Bells Beach, this floral print reflects the electric aqua and deep marine blue hues of the surrounding local beaches of Torquay.
Move freely and enhance your yoga experience in the cross back, non clip, Yoga Bra.
• The Yogi Peace Club Cross back Yoga Bra is made for Yogis.
• The thick straps are supportive.
• The cross back means no clips, so much more comfortable.
• Our premium fabric has serious stretch and recovery while being breathable.
• The fabric is moisture wicking and breathable.
• Designed with Love by Yogis for Yogis.
• 75% Polyester 25% Spandex
• Cold machine wash with like colours
• Tumble dry lowDo not bleach
• No softeners
• Do not Iron
• Do not Dry Clean
• The yogi is wearing a size small.
• The bra has an internal removable inserts.
• Fully lined with moisture absorbing lining.
• 3 cm encased band around the bust for support.
• The cup size is suited for B / C sizes.
• Small metallic Yogi Peace Club logo on back centre band.


text:
Press Release Description
Automotive Safety Concerns Promulgate Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems
The Global Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems Market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 9.0% in the forecast period of 2023-28, cites Markntel Advisors in the recent research report. The rising safety concerns, government regulations, and the surging number of passenger and commercial vehicles, along with the elevating number of luxury vehicles, increasing economic and environmental policies, and shifting consumer and manufacturer preference for advanced safety features, are fueling the market growth.
Additionally, the automotive need to reduce vehicular emissions and improve vehicle fuel efficiency further garners manufacturers’ interest in the industry. However, the high replacement costs of the sensor, with added installing charges, could lead to consumers avoiding replacing sensors leading to safety concerns and hindrance to market growth, further states the research report, “Global Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems Market Analysis, 2023.”
The market is broadly fragmented based on Technology, Sales Channel, and Vehicle Type. Type, Base Oil, Demand Category, and Sales Channel. Based on Technology, the market is segmented into Direct and Indirect Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems. Additionally, on the basis of the Sales Channel, the market bifurcates into OEMs and Aftermarkets. Further, Vehicle Type classification includes Passenger cars and Commercial Vehicles.
Advanced Direct Tire Pressure Monitoring System Holds Lion’s share
Direct Tire Pressure Monitoring System is expected to gain the largest market share, attributed to the features such as delivering exact pressure for each tire, no loss of tire pressure information, sensor batteries that last the vehicle’s life mostly, and the ability to monitor spare tires. Furthermore, added features like reducing the handling of multiple components via the different sizes of the printed circuit board and removing the extra cost for external components further accelerated market growth.
Asia-Pacific Region to Significantly Grow with A Prominent Market Share Acquisition
Asia-Pacific is expected to address the maximum growth in the market during the forecasting period, attributing to the adherence to strict regulatory rules concerning safety and the use of tire pressure monitoring systems in emerging nations such as China, Japan, and South Korea. Additionally, with the dedicated research and development in the region, rising population, and fleeting on-road vehicles, with more disposable income and safety awareness, the region is expected to accelerate its market expansion.
Furthermore, the surge in the production of premium cars and a rise in safety installation with more trade in the region with increasing automotive vehicles with TPMS, such as compact and mid-sized vehicles in various countries, fuel the market expansion.
With strategic initiatives, such as mergers, collaborations, and acquisitions, the leading market players, including Continental AG, Denso corporation, Delphi Automotive, Sensata Technologies, Dunlop Tech Gbmh Wabco, Bendix Commercial Vehicle systems LLC, Schrader Electronics, Pacific Industrial Co., Ltd., and Huf and Hlsbeck & Frst Gmbh & Co are looking forward to strengthening their market position.
Key Questions Answered in the Research Report
- What are the industry’s overall statistics or estimates (Overview, Size- By Value, Forecast Numbers, Segmentation, Shares)?
- What are the trends that have shaped the industry to its current form?
- What key factors would propel and impede the Global Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems Market?
- How has the industry been evolving in terms of geography & product adoption?
- How has the competition shaped across various countries, followed by their comparative factorial indexing?
- How have buying behavior, customer inclination, and expectations from Tire Pressure Monitoring System manufacturers evolved during 2018-28?
- Who are the key competitors, and what strategic partnerships or ventures are they coming up with to stay afloat during the projected time frame?
Place an order
100% Safe & Secure
Strongest encryption on the website to make your purchase safe and secure


Members of the public are to be given the chance to trial driverless cars on Britain’s roads.
Volvo is behind the scheme – said to be the UK’s “most ambitious” pilot of driverless car technology.
The Swedish manufacturer said it would be the first time members of the British public would be recruited to get behind the wheel of autonomous driving (AD) cars on public highways.
A limited number of semi-AD cars will take to the streets of London early next year, before the scheme is extended in 2018 to up to 100 vehicles.
Adapted versions of Volvo’s XC90 sport utility vehicle will be used in the trials.
They will be fitted with additional computer systems, cameras and sensors to enable them to carry out steering, lane changes, acceleration and braking without driver control, Volvo said.
It emerged in February that more than 40 miles of road around Solihull and Coventry would be used to test a new generation of “smart” cars in the next step to developing vehicles which drive themselves.
New roadside communications equipment will be installed along the route during the three-year project, to allow a fleet of up to 100 connected and “highly automated” cars to send information to each other.
Volvo president Hakan Samuelsson said: “Autonomous driving represents a leap forward in car safety.
“The sooner AD cars are on the roads, the sooner lives will start being saved.”
Business Secretary Sajid Javid said: “Driverless cars will see our journeys become faster, cleaner and safer.
“The UK is leading the way in developing the technology needed to make this a reality thanks to our world-class research base and these types of trials will become increasingly common.”
Chancellor George Osborne announced plans in March’s Budget for trials which will allow driverless cars on motorways next year.
Proposals sweeping away regulations that prevent autonomous driving are expected to be brought forward this summer that would allow driverless cars to take to the roads by 2020.
Engineers suggest that driverless cars, which can alert drivers to accidents and traffic jams, could eventually prevent 95 per cent of crashes, according to the Treasury.
Tests of “truck platooning” will be carried out on motorways, which would see lorries travel in a tightly packed convoy that improves fuel economy by reducing aerodynamic drag.


text:
Entire cabin hosted by Lisa
- 4 guests
- 2 bedrooms
- 2 beds
- 1 bathroom
You’ll have the cabin to yourself.
This host has committed to Airbnb's 5-step enhanced cleaning process.
Check yourself in with the lockbox.
Highly rated host
Lisa has received 5-star ratings from 90% of recent guests.
Where you'll sleep
1 king bed
1 double bed
What this place offers
Free parking on premises
Patio or balcony
Select check-in date
Add your travel dates for exact pricing
- 94 Reviews
- Identity verified
During your stay
You can call me at any time, Lisa Marino 607-382-1021
Lisa is a Superhost
Superhosts are experienced, highly rated hosts who are committed to providing great stays for guests.
- Response rate: 100%
- Response time: within an hour
To protect your payment, never transfer money or communicate outside of the Airbnb website or app.

domain: travel


text: This photo really shows you how much the Berlin postering culture was and is thriving. This is a part of one of the many lamp posts in the city centre that during the last 2 decades were used as home for hundreds of posters. Layer after layer after layer. Every one of them telling a story about Berlin’s culture. It is a bit like a tree and its tree rings from which you can read its life history.


Skills: Operations Management, PR / Corporate Communications
Other Skills: Communications, Journalism, Government, Social Media, Stakeholder Relations, Corporate Communications
Experience: 2 + Years
Education: Some College
Employment Type: Full Time Salaried Employee
Location: Houston, TX, US
In order to apply for this position, applicants MUST meet the following criteria. If your resume does not match these criteria, you will not be able to apply for this position.
Authorized to work in: US
The Communications Analyst position will focus on supporting the Partnership's current communications and stakeholder relations efforts. This individual will work directly with the Plains Communications team and interact with multiple disciplines within the Partnership to support effective communications to the media, community, public officials, and other stakeholders in the areas where the Partnership operates. The Communications Analyst is responsible for assisting in the development, coordination, and implementation of location-specific communications, community relations, and stakeholder relations plans and programs. Additionally, the Communications Analyst will be involved in monitoring activities that may affect the public perception of the Partnership and in preparing Plains to communicate effectively during incidents related to the Partnership's assets.
ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:
The Communications Analyst will serve as an integral member of the Plains Communications team, providing support in the following activities:
- Media Monitoring - log media inquiries and actively monitoring media for Plains coverage and for issues that could affect the Partnership
- Social Media Coordination - actively monitor social media to assess and report dialogue about Plains and to recommend appropriate responses if necessary
- Stakeholder Relations - support ongoing communications initiatives with local elected officials, business leaders and reporters in places where Plains operates; work with the Stakeholder Relations Manager and other groups within the Partnership to develop stakeholder communications plans tailored to the specific needs of each project or initiative
- Incident Response - Participate in regular incident communications training and drills; maintain communications tools, information and materials likely needed during an incident, including stakeholder contact lists
- Community Relations - Respond to requests for assistance or information from members of the community
- Background Materials Development - create reference materials for the Communications team and update evergreen collateral materials, such as a company tool kit, periodically
- Communications Measurement - Maintain and analyze communications-related data streams, such as the stakeholder relations call log, track website hits for project websites, and other metrics
- Corporate Communications Support - Time permitting, support additional activities, including internal communications, corporate website and intranet updates, news release drafting and distribution
KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS:
- Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to develop effective collaborative working relationships with internal and external personnel at all levels, and from a variety of disciplines
- Strong writing and verbal communication skills
- Knowledge, experience and aptitude with social media
- Solid attention to detail
- Results-oriented team player
- Ability to prioritize and manage multiple projects simultaneously while meeting deadlines
- Works well under pressure and in a fast-paced environment
- Highest standard of personal integrity supported by open and honest communication
- Ability to travel and work overtime, as required
EDUCATION / EXPERIENCE:
- Bachelor's degree, ideally with a focus in Communications, Journalism or Government, or equivalent work experience
- At least 2-4 years prior communications or government relations experience required; stakeholder relations and energy experience preferred.
Plains All American Pipeline (Plains) is a publicly-traded master limited partnership that owns and operates midstream energy infrastructure and provides logistics services for crude oil, natural gas liquids (NGL), natural gas, and refined products. We own an extensive network of pipeline transportation, terminalling, storage and gathering assets in key crude oil and NGL producing basins and transportation corridors, and at major market hubs in the United States and Canada. On average, we handle over 4 million barrels per day of crude oil and NGL on our pipelines. The company is headquartered in Houston, Texas.


text:
The Natives believe in San Diego. “The potential in this city, that’s the influence, man,” says singer Tony Fantano, who gave a shout-out to the Kumeyaay natives at a recent Whistle Stop gig. “I love this area. It feels good to represent where you’re from. I want people to believe there is hope for the San Diego music scene. I want people to feel, like, Hell yeah!”
They’ve been playing their own brand of energetic, danceable, tongue-in-cheek shock punk since 2003.
“You gotta take the seriousness out of the situation,” says Tony, whose giant blonde afro and muttonchops testify to his blithe outlook. “It’s bumpin’ uglies, man!”
Tony, original bassist JoJo, Mikey Peterson (drums), and brother Jordan Peterson (guitar) started playing together as teenagers at Scripps Ranch High School. Sick of some all-ages venues’ “pay to play” arrangement, which required bands to pre-sell a set number of tickets and cough up the difference, the Natives began organizing impromptu shows in public parks.
“I printed all these fliers and took them to school,” Tony says. “We had four bands and maybe 80 kids came out. It was phat! People were skating, lighting fires, someone got a tongue-piercing. It was going nuts. But what happened was, the first band played, the second band played, and the cops came. So, we realized we had to play first next time. We called it the ‘No Dough No Po Show’ because the cops kept showing up.”
The band took a hiatus when Tony split for college in San Francisco but has since been playing regularly at venues all over town, including Pure Platinum.
“It’s kind of awkward, you know?” says Sebastian Lopez, bassist since 2008. “Because you’re in this strip club and the strippers are always asking you for money.”
Inspired by show houses in San Francisco, the Natives hope to start their own home venue in the future.
“Free shows that are for the benefit of the community, for the benefit of the music scene, that’s what it’s all about,” says the band. In April, 2011, Mikey Peterson embarked on a tour with Heavy Hawaii. The Natives followed with a video for “TJ Hooker” and albums Salutations and Funn Sexy.
A new single appeared in 2019, “It’s Starting to Hurt Us.”
(Photo: Becky DiGiglio)


LEISURE-ORIENTED developer Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. is allotting P12.6 billion for the residential component of its new upscale development in the south of Metro Manila, the Westside City, near Manila Bay in Paranaque.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Tuesday, Travellers said the allocation would be made through its subsidiary, Manila Bayshore Property Holdings Inc., a joint venture with Travellers’ sister company Megaworld Corporation.
Megaworld and Travellers are both under the Alliance Global Group Incorporated, one of the country’s largest conglomerates and owned mainly by the family of business tycoon Andrew Tan.
On Monday, Megaworld announced another tie-up with Travellers to build Westside City to the tune of P65 billion in the booming Entertainment City.
The Westside City will house the country’s second development under the Resorts World brand, the first being located in Megaworld’s Newport City township in Pasay.
Westside City will also feature a 3,000-seater grand opera house, positioning the township project to become the “Broadway of Asia.”
The development will also include a luxury mall and upscale residential condominiums.
Travellers said Westside City is “in accordance with its Provisional License and Joint Venture Agreement with the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR).”
The company said it has allotted $1.1 billion for its mixed-used entertainment development in Westside City, which will be through the company’s 95-percent owned subsidiary, Westside City Resorts World Inc.
The project is set to be completed around the last quarter of 2020.


text:
Seller: Walmart US by Panasonic
Technical InformationConnectivity Technology: DockingDevice Supported: Tablet PCMiscellaneousCompatibility: Panasonic FZ-Q1 Mk1 Tablet PC
click here: https://wiki.ezvid.com/best-desktop-computers.
What if you could someday put the manufacturing power of an automobile plant on your desktop? According to Neil Gershenfeld, the renowned MIT scientist and inventor, the next big thing is personal fabrication-the ability to design and produce your own products, in your own home, with a machine that combines consumer electronics and industrial tools. Personal fabricators are about to revolutionize the world just as personal computers did a generation ago, and Fab shows us how.
This is the story of how a handful of geeks and mavericks dragged the computer out of corporate back rooms and laboratories and into our living rooms and offices. It is a tale not only of extraordinary innovation and vision but also of cunning business deals, boardroom tantrums and acrimonious lawsuits. Matt Nicholson has been a computer journalist since 1983 and has edited a number of popular newsstand magazines, including PC Plus and What Micro.
From A (the first floppy disk drive in a PC) to Zoomed Video Port, ZV Port (cross-referenced to VGA pass through), and 0K (zero kilobytes) to 9-track (the standard format for half-inch tape reels), this update from the 1995 edition provides comprehensive coverage of computer terminology. Includes a multimedia CD-ROM version, and bandw graphics. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
This book is required reading for personal computer users and experienced professionals responsible for setting up sophisticated systems and networks in laboratory or office environments. It provides a wealth of valuable information that explains PC equipment, programs, networking strategies, and applications. Among the topics detailed are specific hardware and software products, applications, networking methods, future trends, and choosing the right system. Office managers, business...
Computer role-playing games (CRPGs) are a special genre of computer games that bring the tabletop role-playing experience of games such as Dungeons & Dragons to the computer screen. This genre includes classics such as Ultima and The Bard’s Tale as well as more modern games such as World of Warcraft and Guild Wars. Written in an engaging style for both the computer game enthusiast and the more casual computer game player, this book explores the history of the genre by telling the stories of...

domain: library


text:
The sixth of eight reissue CDs (available individually or as an eight-CD box set), covers RCA's occasional jazz ventures of the 1970s. There are big band performances by the Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Orchestra, Woody Herman (a reunion version of "Four Brothers"), Buddy Rich, Doc Severinsen (a weak effort) and the electrified Gil Evans Orchestra. In addition, there are vocal numbers from Nina Simone, Cleo Laine and Louis Armstrong (his second version of "What a Wonderful World") and funky outings from the Brecker Brothers and Lonnie Liston Smith. The fusion that is included (such as it is) is weak; the avant-garde is not represented, and overall this release makes the 1970s look weaker than it was. RCA was just not "with it" during the period.
Share this page
AllMusic Review by Scott Yanow


text:
April 1, 2007
By Lew Sichelman
Five years ago, the Latino home-buying market was largely invisible. Now, it is not just a so-called emerging segment of the housing market, but a market unto itself. But it's one that still needs to be reckoned with.
Back then, many Latinos had the capacity to become owners, but the mortgage business didn't see them. Some didn't speak English and had little understanding of the home-buying process. Others didn't use banks, so they had not established the all-important credit histories that lenders require to determine whether people are creditworthy.
Nowadays, a fair number of lenders are reaching out to Latinos, as well they should. But this group still faces barriers to ownership. Latinos continue to be penalized for dealing in cash rather than checks and credit cards.
So what's the problem? At about 43 million, or roughly 14% of America's population, Latinos constitute the country's largest and fastest-growing minority group. And they're not just recent immigrants, or illegal immigrants, either. In fact, the majority of the country's Latinos are native-born U.S. citizens. Almost half are younger than 25, which is said to be the beginning of the prime home-buying years.
Nevertheless, their ownership rate is roughly 50%. That's just a shade higher than the rate for blacks, but it is still far behind that of whites. And the reason, according to several speakers at the recent National Assn. of Hispanic Real Estate Professional's annual legislative conference here, rests with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-sponsored enterprises created by Congress to grease the home-buying wheels.
Fannie and Freddie are responsible for keeping local lenders flush with cash so they can continue to make mortgages. The two congressionally chartered corporations do that by buying loans from primary lenders and packaging them into securities for sale to investors worldwide on the "secondary" mortgage market.
But the GSEs have yet to incorporate into their automated underwriting systems such alternative credit data as rent and utility payments, cellphone payments and money sent back on a regular basis to a would-be borrower's native land.
These underwriting systems are key to the approval process for most mortgages. So until they include alternative credit information, the speakers told the conference, most Latinos will continue to be relegated to what constitutes the back of the mortgage bus, where loan applications are often pushed into the sub-prime basket. Those loans are more expensive and have harsher terms.
"Fannie and Freddie are just not there yet," said Michael Nathans, founder and chairman of Payment Reporting Builds Credit (PRBC), a different kind of credit bureau that collects the type of bill-paying data that is absent from conventional credit reports.
One company that isn't waiting for Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac is the Hispanic National Mortgage Assn., a minority version of the two secondary-market facilitators that launched in October.
It uses a Latino-centric electronic system to underwrite the loans it purchases from lenders.
"With our system, [lenders] originate the loans, and we do all the rest," said Ron Jauregui, senior vice president of community alliances at the San Diego-based company. "This isn't about lowering credit standards, it's about expanding the window."
PRBC is a federally regulated credit bureau that enables consumers to build a credit file and score, based on their history of making rent and other recurring bill payments, which can be delivered electronically to the leading automated underwriting systems.
Even the Fair Isaac Corp., the company that created the all-important, industry-standard FICO scoring algorithms, has developed a new score card using alternative data. And tests show that its Expansion Score is able to obtain a score up to 90% of the time for consumers who had little or no credit data on record.
That's good news for the 50 million Americans who are now being lumped into the high-risk category, if they can get credit at all.
Source: Los Angeles Times

domain: finance


text:
Human rights defenders supported by KIOS change the world both at the grassroots level and in international arenas. Every year we provide funding for around 30 organisations in East Africa and South Asia. Since 1998, we have supported over 450 organisations in almost 60 countries. See below examples of what the brave activists we support have accomplished.
In Nepal, casteless people, or Dalits, and especially Dalit women, are in a weak position in the society. The casteless women's organisation FEDO wants women to learn to demand their rights in a society where casteless women often lack basic rights, such as the right to education or care.
Queer Youth Uganda promotes the rights of sexual and gender minorities in Uganda, where the rights of the LGBTIQA+ people are violated in many different ways. With the support of KIOS, the organisation has successfully educated the community about their rights.
In Nepal, widows, divorced and other unmarried women face many forms of stigma and discrimination. Through KIOS grantee’s work, they have been informed about their rights, are better able to organise and run their own cause.
KIOS’s partner organization in Kenya promotes access to services and inclusion in decision-making for sexual and gender minorities in five provinces. PEMA Kenya was founded by a group of gay men who decided to take care of a funeral of a deceased young person who had been abandoned by his own community.
Standing up for human rights can be extremely dangerous. In East Africa, activists have received security training and emergency aid.
Two Asian NGOs gathered witness statements in refugee camps in Bangladesh about human rights violations against the Rohingya people in Myanmar. The information was delivered to the International Criminal Court, which decided to continue investigating the crimes.
In Bangladesh, transgender people have received information about their rights and have become empowered. At the same time, the understanding of the local authorities, the media and the general public about transgender people and their rights has increased.
A Kenyan slum community won a long battle in court when the authorities and a polluting metal smelter were ordered to pay € 10.2 million in compensation to the slum residents.


text:
- Material : Sheesham Wood and Brass
- Colour : Brown
- Durable construction
- Multifunctional works as a storage case as well as holder- the bottom enclosure / stash is used to store the sticks while the top is used to hold the sticks
- Handmade from wood with copper colored metallic fillings of elephant designs.
Imagine if you could be satisfied and content with your purchase. That can very much be your reality with the Wooden Handcrafted Agarbatti Incense Holder size 10 inch sheesham wood made with Brass inlay elephant work.
Inventory Last Updated: Apr 23, 2021


text:
|A Conversation With John Berlyne, Tim Powers, Peter Crowther and Dirk Berger|
|conducted by Sandy Auden|
John Berlyne's Powers: Secret Histories is so much more than just a bibliography of Tim Powers' stories -- it's
a unique insight into the writing life of one of the most respected fantasy authors around. The project has been a
huge undertaking for Berlyne, taking nearly a decade to complete, and here he is joined by the book's artist Dirk
Berger, the publisher Pete Crowther and Tim Powers himself to discuss how the book came into being, the problems
with designing it, the artwork, the bodies buried in the garden and spilling beer.
How It All Began
And one of the most important pages in the book, once I had read the story, was the bit that says "by the same author." I said, "God I would love to read something else by this guy, he's great." And I began to try and find copies. And I couldn't. Nobody had ever heard of him. You would go a book store -- don't forget the internet doesn't yet exist, we are in the mid-80s so you can't click a mouse and get whatever book you want sent to your door within a day. Back then you had to go to book stores and ask around. And thus began for me a huge hunt.
This went on for years, and the more difficult it was to find the books, the more determined I became to locate these damn things. I wrote to Grafton which is a UK publisher:
"You're listing other books by this guy…"And so it became a bit of an odyssey to try and find these books. I contacted relatives in America or Canada and said "Can you find them?" Nobody could find these things. And this went on for at least ten years, trying to find these books.
In the meantime, there were new books coming out. You would get the subsequent ones that Tim had written. I mean ten years, that amounts to about two books. So I was at least able to keep current. But actually I did find one of these books -- and that moment of finding actually turned me into not just a Tim Powers collector, but a book collector.
The more I dug, the more I began to find out about limited editions. I began to find out about what it meant to be out of print, books not available, print runs, final print runs. And I started delving and learning about the book world. By this time the internet had been invented and I said to myself well you know it would be good to have a resource where I could have just visited but there wasn't one. So I decided to build one. I was working as an actor at the time, out of work, not doing anything at all and thought this would be a good creative endeavour.
So I joined the British library and started researching their catalogues to try and find out why you couldn't find some of these early books. And it became a terrible kind of obsession to get the answers to these questions. It was feeding itself all the time.
The website was created and I continued to find out more about Powers. And my interest was always in the work rather than in the person. I was just absolutely fascinated by the kind of stories that he was telling. And I wanted to eat them, kind of, you know, to devour them.
Then I got the chance to meet Tim back in 1999. I had created this website. Tim had got in touch with me and very generously said "What an amazing website you have done. I'm very flattered, you make me seem very important."
Tim: It really does.
John: And this is the key: he then said to me "If there is anything I can do to help you in your research, please don't hesitate to say the word." Which is the kind of thing that, talk about music to your ears. He introduced me to a friend of his named John Bierer who lives north of LA and is THE Tim Powers collector. What I did discover is that Powers is not a Powers collector. He doesn't have any of this stuff and it's a very good thing that he doesn't because this way it's safe and looked after and it's all in John Bierer's archive.
Tim: How could you collect your own stuff? "Here's the coke you drank from" -- you know?
John: I went to see Bierer who shared his archive with me. Tim is of a generation of writers who pre-date word processors. There are handwritten books that he wrote where it comes out of his brain and down his arm and onto a piece of paper. It doesn't get stuck in a word processor first where you start to lose the history and the development of the novel, because you simply just delete. So you don't have a record of the evolution of the story. But on paper you've got everything. And I remember when I held the original manuscript -- the handwritten manuscript -- of The Anubis Gates. There is only one of these things in the world. And you can see on the pages the creative processes of the brain.
You can see this little spidery handwriting as this story travels and it goes onto the page and then it goes back. He starts to write and then crosses something out, and there are bits where crossings out are very leisurely done, don't like that. And there are bits where it goes "Arghhhhhh." And so you actually start to get an emotional connection with the creative process of the writer. I'm fascinated by writers and what they do and how writers, particularly in Tim's case, create these extraordinary plots.
Tim: And you see the writer spills beer a lot.
John: Yeah, you see the writer spills beer. You see pages that are nibbled by rabbits. There are Coca-Cola stains. I became quite fascinated by the creative process. And to cut a long story short, I thought "Wouldn't it be cool to see all this stuff in a book? Wouldn't that be great?" And I am just sitting there wetting my pants with all this stuff.
And John Bierer is getting so much pleasure sharing this wonderful memorabilia…
Sandy (Interviewer): You're not wetting your pants together are you?
John: No, no, we wet them at separate times. But the idea of sharing this information with other people who would be as passionate about it, who would find such pleasure in discovering such things is a kind of common experience. And that's basically why the book was written.
The other reason the book was written was because the material is there and it should be seen. I discovered Tim could draw and I never knew this before. Tim's manuscripts are covered with drawings and some of them are characters in the books. They illustrate the situations that we are reading about in the novel. There are maps that show you how he is working out the locations, how character A gets here, and character B gets to character C or how situations link. And I thought these are things which should be seen by people, because they're the DVD extras to the books that we love. And so Secret Histories is an attempt to convey the pleasure that I experienced in seeing all this stuff for the very first time. So that the legions of Powers fans that are out there, who feel as passionate about his work as I do, can also share in that.
Under The Cover
Sandy: Beer stains aside, what does Secret Histories reveal about Tim Powers' actual writing processes?
John: With Powers you essentially get a stream of consciousness. And I liken it to jazz music -- in the book we have a number of examples of this stream of consciousness jazz notation. Where he is basically working stuff out and working out the mechanics of the story. For instance there will be people here who I'm sure know about Tim's On Stranger Tides which begins with a very interesting section in the notes. Basically from the day he sat down he thought "Come on, you know, I need to write a novel, what shall I do?" I'm paraphrasing but essentially he goes "Oh I don't know. Maybe we'll do a novel about this or that, or pirates, that's a kind of cool idea, yeah. Hang on a minute what about…?" So it's like opening a little window in the brain and you get to see these ideas actually in this book.
Another good example is in Last Call. There is a very substantial section in Secret Histories on the Last Call notes. It shows Tim really working out how this story is going to function. And recorded very clearly, as you read through this, is the moment where he conceives of this card game, this Assumption that really becomes the anchor point of the novel, an essential plot device. And he is kind of thinking, "Yeah, it would be good to have a variant of poker in this book that was played with tarot cards. What could we call it?" I don't know. This or That or Assumption. You know Assumption, I kind of like that, that's a good name. And then he goes off and he works out this variant of poker which actually is a perfectly viable, workable game…
So it's like reading a window of what's going on.
Tim: Actually it's an effect of something I have figured out. I mean to suddenly start writing stories, or try to, you have to think of a plot. And you think, "Well you know? How about a talking rabbit?" Well maybe not a talking rabbit but a tattoo of a rabbit that talks? You kind of go rambling and free associating and after a while you come to a conclusion, and often as not the conclusion is stupid. And if you did it on your head you don't remember the trail of thoughts that led you to the conclusion. But if you did it into a keyboard where you say, "How about a guy that's covered with tattoos? Or no, a guy that's remarkable for not being covered with tattoos? Or a dog that's covered with tattoos."
And then, if you've done it all into the keyboard every thought, every little stray thought that you had, even though the conclusion on page ten is stupid you can page up, page up, page up, or in the old days flip back, flip back, flip back. And say: here I was onto something. This was not bad. You should have taken this sideways. And so you can hang onto and use the thoughts. Where if you just let it all happen in your head your memory doesn't bother to hang onto them.
The result is, as John says, a very rambling, free association, unconnected string of thoughts. But I do find it really useful to be able to have something besides simply the conclusion you come to. Where you can look back up and say there I was onto something.
Getting Into Print
Sandy: Pete (Crowther from PS Publishing) where did you get involved in the process and what happened?
Pete: Well I got involved because I figured that somebody had to do it. We've got here one of the world's greatest storytellers in Powers, there's no question about that. Also there's John, the guy who developed the website to keep Powers' work tracked down. So when John came to me and said I've got this idea, it was a much more modest affair than it's turned out to be. Then it was just a history of Tim's books to that point. And I'll make one other mention, for those who are worried about this book becoming obsolete, Nicky (my wife) and I have taken steps to remove Tim Powers from this earthly plane, because we can't have him write any more books now.
Tim: It's almost unnecessary since I work so slowly, we will all be in old folk's homes before the next book comes out.
Pete: So John called me and he was asking advice on how to go about it and what to do. And when he was outlining what this thing entailed I just thought to myself, "You know, this sounds fantastic." And so I said that we would love to do it. And that was eight, nine years ago now.
Sandy: There was one more person needed to bring this project to fruition -- Dirk Berger. Dirk did the fantastic artwork featured in the book. So where did you get drawn into the mix?
Dirk: Well it's hard to remember. I think it was three years ago, though I think it must be centuries since I met John the first time. He came over to a convention in Germany and I remember Tim was a Guest of Honour and of course when Tim Powers was in Europe, John had to come too…
John: It cost me a fortune.
Dirk: And we met. Of course I had already seen his wonderful website and used it as a base for getting my own information about Tim's work. And when John came over he had his notes and everything with him. So I heard for the first time about Secret Histories. And from that point onwards we were talking about a lot of this on Skype and phone nearly daily. And it was a very interesting work because the material was already there but it was bringing it in so that this whole material could be viewed without becoming boring.
John: When I took the material to Dirk, it was kind of formless. I had a really clear vision about how this stuff needed to be presented but I had no skills in actually rendering it, presenting it, organising it. So meeting Dirk actually crystallised the project. Because we discovered that we have the same obsessive eye for detail and would be very happy to argue the toss for many hours on you know…
Pete: Just let me say here that he is actually understating the case.
John: This is very true. But Dirk and I considered we were kindred spirits. And once we got working together we began to find a way to impose a structure on this. Initially we went to about three or four designers who just kind of, their brains…
Pete: They're buried in our back garden.
John: They are, their brains melted at the prospect of what this thing needed to be and it became apparent to me that the only way to create what I had in my head was to do it myself, it really was one of those scenarios.
There's no precedent for a book like this, if you pick up this book and have a flick through it, you will see that every single page of this book is bespoke. There are no two pages that are the same. So it's not a question of designing a template in Quark and then cutting and pasting and dropping it. That doesn't happen in this book.
If you insert something, it knocks everything else out. That means changes on one page actually knocks something out 450 pages later and you've got to redesign everything in between. So these were the challenges that I was faced with, and completely hopeless and helpless until I ran into my absolute saviour Dirk Berger. And thus we began the very laborious business of actually creating the physical book, rather than the contents if you like or the concept.
Tim: I remember you telling me, "Powers here's a proof but you cannot cut anything because it won't shift back."
John: Yeah, everything starts from scratch if we mess with it. You still cut stuff.
Sandy: So how did you decide what artwork was needed?
John: Well the first problem to solve was the fact of a bibliography. One of the early constraints that Tim dictated for this project was that it should be a bibliography -- and I completely understand why, now that we can see the book, and I think it was a good idea.
Tim: That's originally what it was supposed to be.
John: Yeah, well it is, it says so on the front, a bibliography. What is a bibliography? It's a list of dry data. A list of books that have been published by this author. And I thought, well that's okay but it's not actually very interesting to look at. What about if we threw the covers in, that would be really cool. But it would be really nice to have it in colour because there's plenty of beautiful artwork and beautiful covers for Powers books.
But then Dirk and I got talking about how we could enliven the material, this dry data. How can we make it live, how can we make it so that somebody actually might want to read the data rather than glance it and go to what they might think was the cooler stuff later on.
At which point, Dirk quietly revealed that he was a super talented artist of Michelangelo proportions. Which was a secret he had kept from me originally, and we suddenly discovered we had an opportunity to, well, pay homage or tribute to some of our favourite novels, and do it in a way that we could make this thing look beautiful.
Sandy: Tim how was the overall experience for you -- having all your nooks and crannies probed by John?
Tim: Ah, I kept trying to restrain him. For one thing you know, some of these old manuscript pages where I'm jabbering to myself -- there's old phone numbers there, and I don't remember whose phone number it is but I hope people don't go calling it. And a lot of the manuscript pages have a couple of paragraphs crossed out, and in a bibliography that's interesting. If I was looking at a bibliography of some writer I had never heard of I would say "Well that's interesting, here's a couple of paragraphs he crossed out." But when I look at it and I think maybe I crossed it out because it was embarrassing, maybe I crossed it out because it was blatantly stupid. And admittedly I crossed it out, I said I recognise that it was stupid, but I think well, I guess that's alright, at least I did cross it out. But I think, John, you noticed that throughout I was always sort of saying, take it easy here.
John: Yeah, we've had to establish a degree of kind of trust really, a line. I've always looked at the material very sensitively and only ever used material that was complementary or showed Tim in a good light, but also served the purpose of the book. But you should see some of the stuff that didn't go in.
Tim: Yeah, and as a one time collector myself, if this was about some writer I didn't happen to know it is still an intriguing book, just because of all the weird little details it's got. So just as an objective reader I was thinking, that's kind of cool, this manuscript here and this hand drawn map there, that's kind of neat. But then I think "Wait a sec Powers, this is you. Do you want all this in -- especially some of your pictures? Okay Powers, you were probably not 100% sober drawing this little monster here, entertaining yourself for two minutes while you were writing. Do you really want it in the book?" But John would always say, "Oh you know Powers that's a very cool drawing…"
As for the kinds of things that didn't get in… Well, if you're just totally talking to yourself -- simply transcribing the thoughts that are going through your own head with no thought of anybody but yourself ever seeing this -- you're not politically correct, you might say, "Let's see if you can handle this scene a little bit better than such-and-such writer did in his misguided…" So for the book you think "Let's ditch the name there". And "Let's change this adjective a little bit." And then some of the notes are: "How did this character do something? Don't forget tonight you're supposed to pick up the laundry…"
On The Topic Of Books And Nosebleeds
Sandy: Secret Histories comes in three different formats I believe?
John: Yeah. The trade state is a full colour
production. This is litho printed, with stitched binding, gilt blocking and a dust jacket. It's limited and
signed by Tim and Dirk.
There is also a slipcase edition which contains, additional to Secret Histories, a copy of the
novel The Waters Deep, Deep, Deep, a previously unpublished and actually unfinished novel written
by a twenty-year-old Tim Powers. The slipcase edition is signed by all the contributors which includes
Dean Koontz, China Miéville and James Blaylock, who is a long-time friend and collaborator
with Tim. William Ashbless -- whom some of you may know of -- has written a typically scathing and unpleasant
piece which, although it cost us a certain amount of money, he has allowed us to print it in
Secret Histories and he's signed the copies as well.
John: We have also produced a deluxe
slipcased edition of which there are only twenty six lettered copies available. This extraordinary
item has a piece of original Powers art on the spine, and as well as the 'signed by everybody' status
and a copy of The Waters Deep, Deep, Deep, it contains a facsimile reproduction of the original
handwritten manuscript of The Anubis Gates. Signed by Powers and in full colour so you can actually
see Tim's most famous novel as it came out of his brain, unedited, unexpurgated…
Tim: Sounds like a nose bleed.
John: It's very fascinating to see this and…(picks up the book)
Sandy: Stop stroking it.
For more information about Secret Histories go to: PS Publishing
For more information abut Tim Powers books visit The Works of Tim Powers
This is an abridged version of the Eastercon panel that took place in the UK in 2009.
Sandy Auden is currently working as an enthusiastic interviewer/reviewer for SFX magazine; a tireless news hound for Starburst magazine; and a diligent interviewer/reviewer for Interzone magazine and SF Site. She spends her spare time lying down with a cold flannel on her forehead. For background information, visit www.sandyauden.co.uk.
If you find any errors, typos or anything else worth mentioning,
please send it to firstname.lastname@example.org.
Copyright © 1996-2014 SF Site All Rights Reserved Worldwide