Chris Harley, a marine biologist at the University of British Columbia, took pictures of dead mussels in Vancouver's Lighthouse Park in late June.
It's so hot that Canada's sea creatures are cooking to death in their shells
Chris Harley smelled Kitsilano Beach before he even arrived.
The odour permeating from the British Columbia beach in late June signified one thing — death.
Extreme heat temperatures, rising up to 40 C in Vancouver, had caused sea animals like mussels, clams and snails to cook to their death.
"It's (like) leaving a car in a hot parking lot," Harley told the Star, recounting his visit to the beach. "It gets a lot hotter than the air does. So that's what happens to the shoreline when it's out in the sun and low tide."
Harley, a marine biologist at the University of British Columbia, roughly estimates that a total of one billion animals died in the Salish Sea off the coast of Vancouver during the heat wave, but says his team is still gathering data and whatever the actual number is, it's massive. This is in addition to the human impact. The B.C. Coroners Service reported a total of 777 sudden deaths in the province from June 25 to July 1 — a considerably higher number than the same period last year — and officials presume heat waves to be a significant contributing factor.
"It's a reminder that yes, there are very important human tolls to climate change, but the whole system around us is changing too, and we don't know what all of the consequences of those changes are going to be."
Harley calls mussels the "poster child" indicator of the heat's devastation to the sea, explaining that they were the most vulnerable and obvious when they died. They also play a role in water quality.
"Marine mussels, the ones that are dying here, just like freshwater mussels, they're filter feeders so they do clear out particles in the water and make the water a little clearer," explained Harley, adding that mussels are in the middle of the food web.
Chris Harley, a marine biologist at the University of British Columbia, estimates that one billion sea animals died in the Salish Sea during the recent heat wave in British Columbia.
"They grab plankton that's floating around in the water and use it to grow and then they feed other things on the shore so they sort of connect the open water habitat to the shoreline."
Death of a mass amount of mussels will also impact other animals that rely on them for food like starfish and sea ducks that migrate back and forth from Alaska.
Harley and photographer Carter Burtlake used a thermal imaging camera with a forward-looking infrared (FLIR) to measure the amount of radiation from a surface and determine its temperature. Some surfaces they captured were up to 50 C.
In Ontario, climate change's impact is felt in the decreasing population of Canada jays. A study from December 2020 showed that fluctuating autumn temperatures and more freeze-thaw days impacted the birds' food stock, having an effect on their population numbers.
Carter Burtlake took thermal images of the dead mussels at Lighthouse Park in Vancouver, B.C on June 28. The scale on the bar indicates hot and cool temperature. The camera uses forward-looking infrared (FLIR) to determine the amount of radiation from a surface and its temperature.
There's no immediate solution to the devastation of climate change, but Harley says there is one major thing to do in order to make our futures cooler, better and safer — reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"(During the pandemic) we changed our behaviours, and we tolerated lockdowns, started wearing masks, and I think if people care enough, they will also find ways to, you know, drive less, make their next car a cleaner vehicle," said Harley. "All these little changes that we do can make a difference."
Danica Samuel is a Toronto-based staff reporter for the Star. Reach her via email: or follow her on Twitter: _USER_
More from The Star & Partners
More News
Top Stories


What To Give Gerbils To Chew On?
Is it cruel to keep gerbils?
Keeping gerbils as pets isn't cruel if you take care of them and provide them with everything they need: other gerbils, a large enough cage and deep bedding layer, enrichment to keep them from getting bored, and a nutritionally well-balanced diet..
How do you tell if a gerbil is stressed?
Thumping. This is something gerbils do when they are excited or stressed, as a warning to other gerbils. 3 The thumping is produced by pounding both hind legs on the ground.
Can gerbils eat peanut butter?
The quick answer, yes. Peanut butter is perfectly safe for gerbils to consume. There is a tremendous amount of misinformation about peanut butter and gerbils on the internet. Gerbils can eat peanuts.
Can gerbils eat rice?
Gerbils can eat rice safely. It's not poisonous, and won't hurt your pet in any way unless there's something added to it e.g. lots of oil. Gerbils can eat all forms of rice including cooked and uncooked, brown or white, puffed rice/rice crispies and rice cakes.
Do gerbils squeak when happy?
Gerbils make noise to communicate, both with you and other gerbils. Gerbils squeak and thump their feet to frighten other gerbils or predators. They make 'yipping' sounds when excited. Gerbils also purr to show contentment, chirp to get your attention, and make clicking breathing noises when they're sick.
What do gerbils not like?
Gerbils like to chew, and can chew on their exercise wheel. If possible, buy a wooden wheel. You should avoid putting anything plastic in your gerbil's enclosure. Gerbils chew on everything, and when they do, they ingest some of what they chew on. Ingesting plastic is bad for your pet's health.
What natural wood can gerbils chew on?
In general, nontoxic and untreated wood work well for gerbil chews. You may give your gerbil branches from hardwood trees, so long as you know the trees were not sprayed, painted or chemically treated. Your pet will chew through soft woods in no time.
Why do gerbils chew on their cage?
One of the big reasons that gerbils chew their bars is that they are seeking a way to reduce the length of their teeth. A gerbil's teeth will grow constantly throughout their lives, and those living in captivity may lack all the hard food they need in order for their teeth to wear down naturally.
Can gerbils eat cheerios?
Plain cheerios are fine for gerbils to eat. They arent likely to make your gerbil fat. Cheerios are part of my gerbils staple diet, and they always eat their cheerios.
Do gerbils try to escape?
Gerbil Trying to Jump out of Cage. Something else you may notice is that your gerbil tries to escape from its cage. This behavior is characterized by your gerbil pushing itself up against the bars or glass of its enclosure. It will then stand up to try and reach the top.
What foods are toxic to gerbils?
Fruit (pear, melon, apple, oranges) and vegetables (cucumber, carrot, pumpkin and fennel) can be used to supplement your gerbils ration. Do not give your pets¿ grapes or rhubarb as these are poisonous to rodents. To avoid excessive amounts of certain seeds (e.g. sunflower) as they are fatty and can cause obesity.
Is it safe for gerbils to chew plastic?
If you are thinking about getting gerbils or already have them, you should know that they chew on everything. Not everything that they decide to chew on will be safe for them though. Plastic being one of them. So if you're asking can gerbils chew on plastic, then the answer is yes, they will chew anything they can.
Can gerbils have toilet paper rolls?
Gerbils love to chew. A cardboard tube from a toilet paper roll or paper towel roll is one of a gerbil's favorite things. … When you let them go, they loosen but stay more or less rolled, and your gerbils can have a ball with them. Even a small brown paper lunch bag will provide hiding, play, and shredding possibilities!
Should I cover my gerbils cage at night?
Unlike covering a bird cage, covering a gerbil cage at night won't help your gerbil sleep. Gerbils are active throughout the day and night, so darkness doesn't act as a sleep cue. However, covering the gerbilarium can help to muffle any noise coming from within. This may make it easier for you to sleep.
Can gerbils learn their name?
Your pet gerbil can learn its name, and it can learn that when you approach the cage, you probably will take it out to play. "Well-socialized gerbils will often readily climb up your hands and try to run up your arms once they know it means playtime," Childress said. Your pet gerbil can learn some neat tricks too.
What wood is bad for gerbils?
Pine and cedarwood contain oils that are poisonous to gerbils. Anything with print on it, such as newspaper and cereal boxes, is harmful due to the use of ink. Avoid giving your gerbils these items. Use materials which you know gerbils can safely chew.
Do gerbils like to be petted?


text:
Date of Award
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Geology and University Honors
Maxwell Lutman Rudolph
Mantle plumes -- Mathematical models, Thermal conductivity, Plate tectonics
We quantified the fixity of mantle plumes relative to the mantle in high Rayleigh number numerical thermal convection with radiallyand temperature-dependent viscosity structures in a 3D spherical shell geometry. The relative velocities between plumes and the mantle increased with increasing Rayleigh number. Net migration rates of plumes vary from ~0.016-0.053 °/Myr, and differential plume velocities can be up to ~25% of pastand present-day rates of net lithospheric rotation. Individual plumes migrate on average at ~0.0617-0.223 °/Myr for Rayleigh numbers between 1·107 and 2·108. We compared the ratio of plume velocity to horizontal average velocity (a) at the surface and (b) at mid-mantle for experiments with Rayleigh number between 5·107 and 2·108, which were (a) ~0.15 and (b) ~0.35. Additionally, we plotted the mean migration rates of plumes against Rayleigh number and found that a linear fit had a greater R2 value than a power law fit. There is a transition in the long-wavelength structure of convection from degree-2 to degree-1 poloidally dominant motion between Ra = 1·107 and Ra = 2·108 where thermal upwellings change from dominantly sheet-like to dominantly plume-like. Future studies should investigate whether the scaling of plume velocities with vigor of convection depends on the mode of convection. We find that all cases produce long-lived plume-like features which generate from a thermal boundary layer at the core-mantle boundary, and persist for more than 80 Myr. On average, the lifespan of mantle plumes decreased with increasing Rayleigh number. Our studies suggest that hotspots may be an imperfect proxy for a lower mantle reference frame.
Brown, Luke Douglas, "Drift of Plumes in the Mantle" (2015). University Honors Theses. Paper 201.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


Karate Thoughts Blog
Contents / Email / Atom / RSS /
1650+ Posts... and Counting
A lot is made of lineage in Karate: who is your teacher and who was his, etc.
It should be obvious that a great teacher, such as Anko Itosu knew a great deal. That does not mean that every student who learned from him became a great teacher. Having a great teacher gives the student a tremendous opportunity. Whether or not the student takes full advantage of that opportunity is up to him.
Also, a lot depends on how long and how intensely the student learned from his teacher. I practiced once with Shoshin Nagamine and had my photograph taken with him. That does not make me his student! I've trained with many teachers but have had only a few sensei.
It is possible to learn from a poor teacher (one with limited skills). If the student is very bright and works hard, he can learn. Hopefully, the teacher is open minded enough to encourage his student to consult with other experts.
It is pretty silly to brag about lineage. In an actual self-defense situation, it won't help you. The only thing that will matter is your training and skill.
A teacher cannot teach you everything. At best, it is said that a teacher can teach you 80%. The other 20% will be your own interpretation or creation. Also, it is said that you learn 50% when you are taught and the other 50% when you teach. Therefore, much of what you learn comes from your own effort and actions. And you might choose to emphasize different aspects of the art than your teacher did.
I feel that too much is made of lineage, often for egotistical and commercial reasons. Choki Motobu may have been your teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher, but that won't help you at all unless you train hard yourself. I had the good fortune to meet Motobu Sensei's son, Chosei, who still teaches his father's and uncle's (Choyu Motobu) arts. Although the style of Shorin-Ryu I had studied for many years was partially derived from Choki Motobu, I found that much of what we did conflicted with his basic teachings. Name alone means little or nothing.
If you trace your lineage to a famous teacher, study what he taught and how he taught it. Also study his teachers and contemporaries. Study as much as possible. Don't rely on lineage alone.
Charles C. Goodin


text:
As we have an increasing number of roofing clients, C&C Consulting has pledged its support behind the National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC) Safe2Torch campaign.
This simple but effective campaign seeks to significantly reduce the risk of roof fires when using gas torches, either to dry out roofs or when used to install torch-on membranes. Put simply, Safe2Torch is a positive message which puts safety first at the design stage.
Roof fires caused by gas torches, no matter how minor, pose a serious threat to life, property, the image of the industry and possibly even the long-term future of torch-on as an accepted method of covering a roof.
By completing a safe to torch survey during the planning stage of this type of roof work, surveyors and contractors can identify high risk areas in the building process where naked flames should be avoided. Listed below are some areas that should be considered high risk and where naked flames should be avoided:
Expansion joints: Expansion joints which are filled with combustible fillers, such as foam or fibreboard, should not come into contact with high heat or naked flame
Adjoining a pitched roof: If a membrane roof is adjoining a pitched roof with details to be completed under abutments to roof tiles and slates, the slates or tiles should be removed and a compatible torch-free product should be selected.
Abutments with open cavities or open perpends: A compatible torch-free product should be selected for any abutments with open cavities or open perpends.
Fixed timber, plastic fascia or soffits: Naked flames should be avoided where there is fixed timber, plastic fascia or soffits
Here are some key points to reduce the risk of starting a fire in roofing work:
- Survey the roof area, highlight on working drawings high risk areas and mark them clearly as No Flame Zones
- Ensure a hot works permit is prepared for the works and controls are effective in managing the risks
- Provide flameless alternative tools for use in the areas designated as No Flame Zones
- Ensure fire extinguishers are provided and deployed at the point of work. Ensure this equipment is fit for purpose, inspected and maintained
- Employ competent supervision on site, that is following the Safe Systems of Work and Safe2Torch guidance at all times
- Have effective emergency arrangements in place that ensure the site workers and potential occupants of the premises can take appropriate emergency action upon hearing an alarm etc.
Many of the items above are pre-requisites for a Safe System of Work relating to hot works on roofs; the Safe2Torch Campaign seeks to reduce the risk potential by identifying and removing naked flames from the areas where flames are more likely to take hold.
The full Safe2Torch guide can be downloaded from here: _URL_


text:
Communities far from the southern border are taking extra steps to integrate new Hispanic residents.
The Hispanic population is growing more rapidly than other segments of the U.S. population, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released in May, so a growing number of local governments are working to integrate Latinos into their communities. Many cities are establishing liaison offices, improving communication with, helping immigrants learn English, and creating programs and events that help all residents embrace cultural diversity.
Latinos are not integrating as well as Asians, blacks and non-Hispanic white immigrants, according to the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute's report "Immigrants in the United States: How Well Are They Integrating into Society?," which was published in May. The report says Hispanics' progress — while occurring — has been slower in the areas of English proficiency, income, education, homeownership in integrated neighborhoods, legal status, voter registration and intermarriage.
Lack of integration can lead to a general feeling of not belonging and, therefore, a lack of participation in the political process and community activities, according to the Washington-based' (NLC). "Municipal Innovations in Immigrant Integration" report. The points out that immigrants sometimes become victims of crimes and, if they are undocumented, often fail to report the crimes for fear of being deported. Also, because immigrants may not know their tenant and property rights, landlords and others in the industry can take advantage of them. They also might not receive community messages about mental and other health issues and how to be screened and treated for them.
Having a plan to help immigrants integrate into the community is key to overcoming the hurdles that the Hispanic community is facing, says Ricardo Gambetta, NLC's manager of Immigrant Integration Programs. To aid struggling cities, NLC is supporting the creation of New American Citizens' Academies in several cities to help new residents who are going through or who have recently completed the naturalization process learn about the local government. NLC also encourages local governments to work with state agencies, provide input to the federal government regarding a nationwide strategy on immigration, create mayoral advisory boards on immigration issues and ensure that any plan includes a strategy across all agencies.
Cities need to tailor their approaches to integrating Hispanic residents based on those residents' specific needs, Gambetta says. "Every city is different and unique," he says. "The issue is complex, and we focus on promoting city engagement. We believe cities are integral in the integration of immigrant communities."

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


clocking between the transmitter and receiver, and low noise levels so that the detected voltage levels can be determined as required, and not hidden by background noise. Your modem should be running firmware version which has a variable QAM capability to deal with noisy systems. The QAM level that the OFDM channel is running will be an indication of how bad the noise level is, within that OFDM channel. That channel runs from 251.6 Mhz up to 443.6 Mhz.
3. Your upstream DOCSIS 3.0 channels also show the impact of the noise. Normally that modem runs around 30 to 32/33 dBmV for transmit level (output power level). Yours are running in the 44 to 47 dBmV level. That's still within spec, but, much higher than normal for this modem. That signal level is commanded by the Cable Modem Termination System, to ensure that the arriving signal levels and signal to noise ratios at the neighbourhood node are within an acceptable range. Unfortunately those numbers are not fed back to the user interface. Tech support also has access to those numbers. The key problem here, in terms of data rates is the QAM level for the modems output. Yours are all running 16 QAM. There should be two channels running at 64 QAM and one channel running at 32 QAM. So, the modem has to transmit data at a lower encoding level in order to ensure that its received and interpreted correctly at the neighbourhood node. That will result in a lower data rate.
4. The bottom OFDM/OFDMA is not used as Rogers hasn't enabled DOCSIS 3.1 upsream. They're working on it and hopefully we'll see that occur fairly soon.
Ok, so, problem one is noise. Problem two are the disconnects that you're seeing.
A couple of things need to be done, personal opinion.
1. Where is the modem located? If its upstairs somewhere, consider moving it and connecting it directly to the cable that arrives from outside of the home. By that I mean, in your basement, or upstairs utility room, there's probably a splitter that is connected to that incoming cable. Disconnect the splitter and connect the modem to the external cable. Then power up the modem and check the signal levels again for noise in the DOCSIS 3.0 downstream levels (1 - 32), higher DOCSIS 3.0 upsteam levels and reduced QAM levels for those upstream channels. The purpose of doing this is to prove or disprove the possibility that the noise problem is within your home. From your description of events, I don't believe the noise is caused within your home, but, never discount any possibility when your tracking down a cable problem.
2. Given the noise situation, when its ongoing and present within the modem, some tech, somewhere, is going to have to look at the data for all of the modems on your line that runs from the neighbourhood node to your home and possibly beyond. If you have noise on your modem, then so do a number of other customers. The question is, where is it coming from? There's a good chance that someone has a device that is connected to their cable system that occasionally fires up, injecting noise into the cable system and making everyone else's cable devices run in a high noise environment, or, in a worst case, it might even drop them offline. This is very hard to track down if that noise is intermittent and would probably require a Senior Tech (Rogers Tech) or a Maintenance Crew to track down the source. However, the starting point here is for a tech to check signal levels, signal to noise ratios and QAM levels, up and down the cable line to determine how widespread this is. Perhaps _USER_ can do this, or hand it over to a tech who has a good deal of experience in tracking down system noise. The DOCSIS 3.1 modems have a much better capability in detecting noise issues, compared to modems from previous years. Its just a question of using all of the available tools and capability that is built into the newer modems.
Hope this provides some explanation of what you're looking at.
Edit: can you check the Software version (firmware version) as shown on the STATUS page. It should indicate version


text:
or can "peel back" layer after layer of matter in his mind. Opponents sometimes used lead-lined constructs in an attempt to hide things from Superboy. Kon-El is able to focus his vision past layers of matter, literally seeing "through" them — possibly perceiving x-rays, cosmic rays or other forms of energy invisible to normal human vision which pass through Earth's atmosphere (and solid objects) after emission from stars. Since it is passive, this ability would not generate harmful radiation in the same manner as a focused projection of hard X-rays.
Microscopic Vision: The ability to see extremely small objects and images down to the atomic level (normal optical microscopes can only see objects down to the size of chromosomes).
Heat Vision: The ability to fire beams of intense heat at a target by looking at it with the conscious act of activating this power. Visually, the power is typically depicted as two beams of red light firing from his eyes. These beams can be made invisible, allowing Superboy to work undetected. The maximum temperature of his heat vision is said to be around that of a nuclear detonation. The area of effect can be consciously determined by Superboy, down to the microscopic level.
Superhuman Hearing: The ability to hear any sound at any volume or pitch. The only Earth creature who can detect sounds at the frequency he can is a blue whale (0.01-200,000 Hz). He has shown enough control to block out ambient sounds to focus on a specific source/frequency. Superboy was able to detect disturbances in the frequency the human brain operates.
Superboy's strength level is mostly unknown, but it is estimated that he can lift far in excess of 100 tons.
Kryptonite: Due to his Kryptonian half, Conner is partially vulnerable to kryptonite and red sun radiation.
Red Sun Radiation: The damage from the Red Sun seems to be less effective on him than the full Kryptonians. His tactile-telekinetic field around his body can be penetrated by heat.
Yellow Sun Processing: Because Superboy absorbed less solar energy than Superman as an adult, Superboy is unable to process as much yellow sun energy as Superman can; as a result, overtaxing his powers could spell his death, as his body would literally begin to feed on itself, unable to absorb solar energy fast enough to restore itself.
Conner Kent is the second Superboy. Developed by Project Cadmus as a clone, he has the DNA of the world's greatest hero Superman and his nemesis Lex Luthor. Originally he appeared during the Reign of the Supermen storyline alongside three other "fake" Supermans, including Cyborg Superman, the Eradicator and Steel. He is a founding member of Young Justice, and has also been a long-time member of the Teen Titans. His longest romantic relationship is with love interest Wonder Girl.


text:
What is Sundarban? Why is it exciting? What can I see there?
Spreading out over 10000 sq km, Sundarban is the world's largest mangrove forest. It is divided among Bangladesh and India.
This magical forest hosts a dazzling array of birds and wildlife. This book shows some of the sights you can see while taking a guided tour of Sundarban in Bangladesh.


World's Largest Sheet Music Selection
Country Blues Guitar Duets
By Bob Brozman and Woody Mann
Be the first! Write a Review
Country Blues Guitar Duets composed by Bob Brozman and Woody Mann. For Guitar (Fingerpicking). Boxed, Duets. Grossman Guitar Workshop. Blues. Intermediate. DVD. Duration 62 minutes. Published by Grossman's Guitar Workshop (MB.GW310DVD).
While slowly illustrating classic country blues guitar duets in the styles of Big Bill Broonzy, Blind Blake and Lonnie Johnson, Woody Mann and Bob Brozman explore the techniques and thinking that go into creating cohesive duet guitar parts that compliment each other. Each part is taught separately. They explain and illustrate how you can arrange a simple song through the use of new chord positions, simple picking syncopation ideas, and open tunings as well as walking you through the basics of how to select a key, use of a capo, and listening to the song in new ways. The duo presents effective techniques for improving improvisational skills while jamming with other musicians. Each guitar part is a solo tune in itself. The ideas and techniques covered in this lesson offer creative approaches to expanding all aspects of your playing. A detailed tab/music instructional booklet is included as a PDF file on the DVD.
Buy Together
Buy both for $35.94
AddtoCart Print


Travel Safe
El Viento Cave
One of the largest lava tubes in the world
A visit to El Viento Cave gives you an insight into the role of lava flows in a volcanic eruption, and offers you the chance to see the whimsical forms sculpted by the lava in the bowels of the earth.
It is a veritable labyrinthine network of underground passages, with many unexplored ramifications. Its name ("viento" means "wind") is due to the significant flows of air that occur in its interior. Formed 27,000 years ago in lavas from the Pico Viejo volcano during its first eruptive phase, it is located in the foothills of the majestic Mount Teide. It is 18 kilometres long and consists of three superimposed levels, a phenomenon that has not been noted anywhere else in the world. It has beautiful geological phenomena like lava stalactites, lava cascades, side terraces and other ancient lava formations. It has been declared an Area of Community Interest. Visitors must wear suitable footwear and long trousers.
El Viento Cave
C/ Los piquetes, 51
38414 Icod de los Vinos, Tenerife (Canary Islands)
Eメール TEL：:+34 922815339 Webサイト:


Tag: monopsony
You'll be familiar with these types of posts from me, which typically start with a comment like: 'On my commute to work on …'. That's one of the good things about a long drive – the interesting and informative discussions that you hear on the radio. This one is another interesting piece from BBC Radio 4, looking at a very topical issue, especially to those living in the South West and other rural areas in the UK.
We have recently seen pictures of farmers protesting about the price of milk and in places like Somerset, the protest took a rather odd method, where farmers from across the region entered supermarkets and simply bought all of the milk, before giving it away. The issue is that dairy farming is no longer profitable, as the price that dairy farmers receive for each pint of milk is now lower than the cost of providing it. Thus, for each pint they make a loss.
There are many reasons that have contributed to this situation, including pressures imposed by customers demanding cheaper prices; pressures from supermarkets using their monopsony power to force down the prices paid to farmers; and pressures from abroad. In the case of milk, we have a surplus and with a perishable product, i.e. one that cannot be stored, unlike wheat, this has contributed to falling prices. Data suggest that we are seeing approximately one farmer per day being forced to leave the indsutry.
This programme explores the current dairy farming crisis and draws some similarities with the wheat crisis that the UK experienced in the 1930s. The programme below is 30 minutes and provides some interesting insights on two important commodities and the economics behind the markets.
Today's crisis in dairy farming and the wheat crisis of the 1930s BBC Radio 4; The Long View, Jonathan Freedland (29/9/15)
 1. Using demand and supply analysis, explain the situation in the milk market.
 2. Now consider the wheat industry and provide a similar analysis of how prices are set and what caused the problems seen in the 1930s.
 3. Although these two commodities have similarities they are also very different. Why can two different commodities experience such similar problems at such different times?
 4. What are the key demand and supply-side factors affecting the current low price of milk?
 5. Consider the market for (a) milk and (b) wheat. What are (if any) the market failures within each area?
 6. Agriculture is an area where we do see significant government intervention. Should the UK government be doing more to help the UK's dairy farmers? If so, what should they do and would this intervention create further problems, e.g. unintended consequences?
In the blog Effects of raising the minimum
Vince Cable said:
(Click here for a PowerPoint of the above chart.)
 6. What is meant by a Living Wage?
Many people are attracted to work in the private sector, with expectations of greater opportunities for promotion, more variation in work and higher salaries. However, according to the Office for National Statistics, it may be that the oft-talked-of pay differential is actually in the opposite direction. Data from the ONS suggests that public sector workers are paid 14.5% more on average than those working in the private sector.
As is the case with the price of a good, the price of labour (that is, the wage rate) is determined by the forces of demand and supply. Many factors influence the wages that individuals are paid and traditional theory leads us to expect higher wages in sectors where there are many firms competing for labour. With the government acting as a monopsony employer, it has the power to force down wages below what we would expect to see in a perfectly competitive labour market. However, the ONS data suggests the opposite. What factors can explain this wage differential?
Jobs in the public sector, on average, require a higher degree of skills. There tend to be entry qualifications, such as possessing a university degree. While this is the case for many private-sector jobs as well, on average it is a greater requirement in the public sector. The skills required therefore help to push up the wages that public-sector workers can demand. Another explanation could be the size of public-sector employers, which allows them to offer higher wages. When the skills, location, job specifications etc. were taken into account, the 14.5% average hourly earnings differential declined to between just 2.2% and 3.1%, still in favour of public-sector workers. It then reversed to give private-sector workers the pay edge, once the size of the employer was taken out.
Further analysis of the data also showed that, while it may pay to be in the public sector when you're starting out on your career, it pays to be in the private sector as you move up the career ladder. Workers in the bottom 5% of earners will do better in the public sector, while those in the top 5% of earners benefit from private-sector employment. The ONS said:
Looking at the top 5%, in the public sector earnings are greater than £31.49 per hour, while in the private sector, the top 5% earn more than £33.63 per hour… The top 1% of earners in the private sector, at more than £60.21 per hour, earns considerably more than the top 1% of earners in the public sector, at more than £49.65 per hour.
The data from the ONS thus suggest a reversal in the trend of average public-sector pay being higher than private sector pay, once all the relevant factors are taken into account.
This will naturally add to debates about living standards, which are likely to take on a stronger political slant as the next election approaches. It is obviously partly down to the public-sector pay freeze that we saw in 2010 and also to a reversal, at least in part, of the previous trend from 2008, where public-sector pay had been growing faster than private-sector pay. However, depending on the paper you read or the person you listen to, they will offer very different views as to who gets paid more. All you need to do in this case is look at the titles of the newspaper articles written by the Independent and The Telegraph! Whatever the explanation, these new data provide a wealth of information about relative prospects for pay for everyone.
Public and Private Sector Earnings Office for National Statistics (March 2014)
Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2013 Provisional Results Office for National Statistics (December 2013)
Austerity bites as private sector pay rises above the public sector for the first time since 2010 Independent, Ben Chu (10/3/14)
Public sector workers still better paid despite the cuts The Telegraph, John Bingham (10/3/14)
Public sector hourly pay outstrips private sector pay BBC News (10/3/14)
Public sector workers are biggest losers in UK's post-recession earnings squeeze The Guardian, Larry Elliott (11/3/14)
New figures go against right-wing claims that public sector workers are grossly overpaid Independent, Ben Chu (10/3/14)
Public sector pay sees biggest shrink on 2010, figures suggest LocalGov, Thomas Bridge (11/3/14)
Public sector staff £2.12 an hour better off The Scotsman, David Maddox (11/3/14)
 1. Illustrate the way in which wages are determined in a perfectly competitive labour market.
 2. Why does monopsony power tend to push wages down?
 3. Why does working for a large company suggest that you will earn a higher wage on average?
 4. Using the concept of marginal revenue product of labour, explain the way in which higher skills help to push up wages.
 5. How significant are public-sector pay freezes in explaining the differential between publicand private-sector pay?
 6. Why is there a difference between the bottom and top 5% of earners? How does this impact on whether it is more profitable to work in the public or private sector?
Conservative Party leaders are considering the benefits of an above-inflation rise in the minimum wage. This policy has been advocated by both the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats as a means of helping the lowest paid workers. From 2008 to 2013, minimum wage rates fell 5.2% in real terms: in other words, nominal increases were less than the increase in both the RPI and CPI (see UK minimum wage: a history in numbers).
Advocates of a real rise in the minimum wage argue that not only would it help low-paid workers, many of whom are in severe financial difficulties, but it would benefit the Treasury. According to Policy Exchange, a free-market think tank closely aligned to the Conservative Party, increasing the minimum wage by 50p would save the Government an estimated £750m a year through higher tax revenues and lower benefit payments.
But even such a rise to £6.81 would still leave the minimum wage substantially below the living wage of £8.80 in London and £7.65 in the rest of the UK, as estimated by the Living Wage Foundation (see The cost of a living wage). Although many businesses are now paying at least the living wage, many others, especially small businesses, argue that a rise in the minimum wage above the rate of inflation would force them to consider cutting the number of employees or reducing hours for part-time workers.
Meanwhile, in the USA 13 states have raised their minimum wage rates from the 1st January 2014 (see). Some of the rises, however, were tiny: as little as 15 cents.


points). Bottom row: two glues are used (-2 points), resulting in a stable tower (+6 points); this is the minimal amount of glue to keep the tower stable (+10 points). See for a video demonstrating the task.
2.0.4 Results
The gluing task was challenging for the human participants, but they still performed far above chance. We discovered several trends in people's behavior, such as working from top-to-bottom and spending more time before applying the first glue than before subsequent glue. The results here represent a preliminary exploration of people's behavior in construction tasks, opening the door for future research and providing a baseline comparison for artificial agents.
Participants achieved an average score of 900 points, with the lowest score being 468 points and the highest score being 1154 points (out of 1977). There was a small (though not quite significant) effect of learning, with a Pearson correlation of
between trial number and average scaled reward (confidence intervals were computed around the median using 10,000 bootstrap samples with replacement; "scaled rewards" were computed by normalizing rewards such that 0 corresponded to the reward obtained if no actions were taken, and 1 corresponded to the maximum achievable reward).
Participants' response times revealed they were significantly slower to click on the first block in a pair than the second block, with a difference of. This suggests they had decided on which pair to glue before clicking the first block. We found that people were significantly slower to choose the first gluing action (; averages computed using the mean of log RTs) than any subsequent gluing action (;, ). Also, we found an effect of the number of blocks on response time (, ) as well as an interaction between the number of blocks and whether the action was the first glue or not (, ), with the first action requiring more time per block than subsequent actions. These results suggest that people may either decide where to place glue before acting, or at least engage in an expensive encoding operation of a useful representation of the stimulus.
On an open-ended strategy question in the post-experiment survey, 10 of 25 participants reported making glue selections top-to-bottom, and another 3 reported sometimes working top-to-bottom and sometimes bottom-to-top. We corroborated this quantitatively by, for each trial, fitting a line between the action number and the height of the glue location, and find their slopes were generally negative ().
We compared people's choice of glue configuration to optimal glue configurations, and found that people were significantly more likely to apply glue when it was not necessary (73% of errors) than to fail to apply glue when it was necessary (, ). Additionally, participants were very good at avoiding invalid actions: although they had the option for gluing together pairs of blocks that were not in contact, they only did so 1.3% (out of ) of the time. Similarly, participants did not frequently utilize the option to un-glue blocks (0.29% out of ), likely because it incurred a penalty. It is possible that performance would increase if participants were allowed to un-glue blocks without a penalty, enabling them to temporarily use glue as a working memory aid; we leave this as a question for future research.
Figure 2: Graph network agent. First, the positions and orientations of the blocks are encoded as nodes, and the presence of glue is encoded as edges. These representations are then used to compute a Q-value for each edge, as well as a Q-value for taking the "stop" action. See text for details.
3 Leveraging Relational Representations
What type of knowledge is necessary for solving the gluing task? Physical knowledge is clearly important, but even that implicitly includes a more foundational type of knowledge: that of objects and relations. Inspired by evidence that objects and relations are a core part of human cognition


text: Primary stability is essential for the success of cementless femoral stems. In this study, patient specific finite element (FE) models were used to assess changes in primary stability due to variability in patient anatomy, bone properties and stem alignment for two commonly used cementless femoral stems, Corail® and Summit® (DePuy Synthes, Warsaw, USA). Computed-tomography images of the femur were obtained for 8 males and 8 females. An automated algorithm was used to determine the stem position and size which minimized the endo-cortical space, and then span the plausible surgical envelope of implant positions constrained by the endo-cortical boundary. A total of 1952 models were generated and ran, each with a unique alignment scenario. Peak hip contact and muscle forces for stair climbing were scaled to the donor's body weight and applied to the model. The primary stability was assessed by comparing the implant micromotion and peri-prosthetic strains to thresholds (150 μm and 7000 µε respectively) above which fibrous tissue differentiation and bone damage are expected to prevail. Despite the wide range of implant positions included, FE prediction were mostly below the thresholds (medians: Corail®: 20–74 µm and 1150–2884 µε Summit®: 25–111 µm and 860–3010 µε), but sensitivity of micromotion and interfacial strains varied across femora, with the majority being sensitive (p < 0.0029) to average bone mineral density, cranio-caudal angle, post-implantation anteversion angle and lateral offset of the femur. The results confirm the relationship between implant position and primary stability was highly dependent on the patient and the stem design used.


text:
Viewed against a dangerous and costly backdrop, clear team communication is obviously essential to create a safe, productive and effective work environment on the ramp. Tractor operators and wing walkers need to warn each other of impending dangers. The tractor operator needs to keep the flight deck informed of ground movement. And all ground personnel should at least be able to hear the flight deck and each other during a pushback.
Ramp workers can do much more without the wire, the shouting or the hand signals.
A typical wireless pushback and towing configuration uses a portable transceiver for continuous two-way communication among one or more wing walkers and the tractor operator during aircraft movement. The tractor operator is free to concentrate on correct maneuvering, and all crew members can warn others instantly of impending dangers.
To optimize the flow of communication and minimize chatter, the system is configured so that all team members can hear the pilot, but only the tractor operator can talk directly to the flight deck. Because wireless communication increases coordination and enables real-time verbal warnings, it decreases the risk of accidents, shortens turn-around times, and increases the likelihood of hitting flight slots.
In addition to pushbacks and towing, wireless team communication systems can also be used to improve safety and efficiency during deicing, cargo and maintenance operations. In a deicing configuration, a wireless system connects the driver and the basket, and the system itself can be connected to two-way radios enabling communication with remote users.
Communication between the driver and the basket takes place on open microphone over a 1.9GHz (1.8GHz in the EU) encrypted frequency while also allowing radio monitoring and transmitting with a push to-talk button on the headsets. Systems can be configured to enable multiple deicing crews to communicate while working on the same aircraft - further improving efficiency. Additional configurations are available for maintenance teams and are scalable to almost any size.
Choosing a Wireless Communication System
Wireless headset systems are available in a wide variety of configurations and price ranges. To ensure a system meets the diverse needs of ground support, consider the following factors carefully:
Is the system truly wireless? A number of so-called "wireless" systems actually require a wire from the headset to a radio or belt pack. While these systems allow freedom of movement, a belt pack or radio wire creates many of the same problems inherent in hardwire systems, particularly tangled cords. Moreover, belt packs generally have less than half the transmission range of self-contained systems worn on the head.
Does the system use DECT or Bluetooth technology? Transmission technology can dramatically affect how well wireless systems perform in the field. Systems that employ Bluetooth technology generally have a limited range and are subject to radio frequency interference from nearby devices.
Look for systems that use Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications technology. DECT units generally offer up to 30 times more coverage and are less subject to interference than Bluetooth. DECT transmissions also have multipath capability, meaning the signal will bounce up, over and around objects in order to establish the best possible connection. DECT signals are also digitally encoded to ensure privacy.
Is the system full-duplex or half-duplex? Half-duplex systems allow communication in both directions, but only one direction at a time. That's a walkie-talkie. On the other hand, full-duplex systems allow communication in both directions simultaneously. Full-duplex capabilities are an important safety consideration because they allow the parties to speak and hear others at the same time.
Is the system radio-compatible? Communication during pushback and towing is generally confined to the flight deck, wing walkers and tractor operator; however, other ground support functions may benefit from the ability to communicate with remote users over a two-way radio. Look for a system with maximum radio-interface flexibility.


text:
What is LaGriT?
LaGriT is a library of user callable tools that provide mesh generation, mesh optimization and dynamic mesh maintenance in two and three dimensions for a variety of applications. Geometric regions within arbitrarily complicated geometries are defined as combinations of bounding surfaces, where the surfaces are described analytically or as tessellated surfaces (triangles and/or quadrilaterals). A variety of techniques for distributing points within these geometric regions are provided. Mesh generation uses a Delaunay tetrahedralization algorithm that respects material interfaces. The data structures created to implement this algorithm are compact and powerful and expandable to include hybrid meshes (tet, hex, prism, pyramid, quadrilateral, triangle, line) however the main algorithms are for triangle and tetrahedral meshes.
Mesh refinement, derefinement and smoothing are available to modify the mesh to provide more resolution in areas of interest. Mesh refinement adds nodes to the mesh based on geometric criteria such as edge length or based on field variable shape. Mesh elements may become distorted as mesh nodes move during a time criteria such change in field. Mesh smoothing moves nodes to adapt the mesh to field variable measures, and, at the same time, maintains quality elements. During time dependent (Lagrangian moving mesh) simulation or when nodes are added as a result of refinement operations, mesh reconnection via a series of edge flips can be used to eliminate highly distorted elements.
LaGriT has three modes of use, 1) command line 2) batch driven via a control file 3) calls from C/Fortran programs. There is no GUI interface.
NOTICE: Information from this server resides on a computer system funded by the U.S.Department of Energy. Anyone using this system consents to monitoring of this use by system or security personnel. See conditions of use. LaGriT Trademark is owned by the University of California.


Flying drones is not as easy as it looks. These unmanned aerial vehicles require a certain amount of skill and experience. If not flown carefully, the drone can be damaged or can suffer a crash. Drones don't come cheap either. Companies like DJI and Yunec sell drones above the $1000 mark. Beginners are not the only reason for ill-fated drones. Sometimes there may be a malfunction or a rotor failure, the drone may hit an obstacle or harsh weather may strike down a drone. Probability of an accident can never be ruled out, therefore to solve this 'crash crisis' an Austria based company Drone Rescue started attaching parachutes to drones which open when the onboard systems fail.
The DRS-5 Module by Drone Rescue.
Drone Rescue has created two parachute modules, the DRS-5 and DRS-10, that can be attached to a range of remotely controlled copters. The DRS-5 is effective for drones weighing up to 18 pounds (8 kg), while the DRS-10 is for drones weighing between 11 and 44 pounds (5 and 20 kg). They have also created a DRS-M600 parachute module which is basically the DRS-10 redesigned for the DJI Matrice 600 series drones. DJI's M600 drones are a popular choice for aerial photographers and filmmakers.
The DRS-M600 module.
The parachute system comprises of a carbon container for the parachute along with sensors which inform the system of a drone failure and the parachute opens. The moment the drone begins to drop rapidly, the parachute automatically deploys to decrease the speed of the machine's descent. A feature in the parachute system disables the propellers on parachute deployment so that the propellers cannot cut down the lines or cables of the parachute and even prevent them from causing injury to people on the ground.
Drone Rescue CEO and co-founder Andreas Ploier said that"Its system has the advantage that it manages completely without explosive, pyrotechnical solutions.This means the parachute can simply be quickly repackaged for reuse, and also results in a system that's considerably lighter, and functions even in a worst-case scenario."
Another added feature includes a data recorder which helps to analyze the drone failure pattern and prevent similar failures in the future. This parachute technology is set to launch commercially before the end of 2018.
Watch as the DRS-5 module springs into action:
Flykit Logo


of the statement "If P then Q", then it's always true that if P is true then Q is true. If P is false, though, that doesn't mean that the proof isn't true. What it means is that we can't use this proof to conclude that Q is true.
 1. Real Analysis
 John, thank you very much. I have your blog in my RSS reader. Most of what your write is above my level, so I don't read much of it, although in 2 to 3 years I may be far enough to begin to appreciate what your write.
 What you're saying is helping me review some definitions, and drive some points home.
 I define proof as "valid argument", and an argument is valid if the conclusion necessarily follows from the premises, or in other words, if the argument is a tautology.
 If we assume proof P is a valid argument which assumes A in the premise (and assumes the truth of P is also dependent on A), then there's nothing that can change the fact that the form of P is a tautology. (Basically, I'm repeating what you say above.)
 However, it could be that what Mark means is that if we substitute not-A in place of A in our original argument, then the argument becomes false. Now it becomes a matter of defining what false means. Does false mean "not a tautology", or does it mean "contradiction"? It's not obvious to me that it would be a contradiction, or even a not-a-tautology.
 What I'm really trying to figure out is the definition of "B is logically dependent on A".
 I'm on Mark's site because logic and first-order logic fall under the specialty of computer science. He probably won't respond to me, since I'm a nobody, but because you're a somebody, he might feel compelled to respond to you.
 Please come back in a day (or two) to at least take a brief look at my thoughts on "logically dependent". From what I can tell, there's no standard definition. I started this here, since it's related to the post, but I'll definitely keep your page in mind now. It didn't occur to me until now to use it to get access to a mathematician who has broader knowledge of math than most PhDs.
 Test of LaTeX: x^2.
 1. John Armstrong
 It's partly a matter of determining what we mean by "a proof". Here's a concrete example that should make things a little clearer.
 Many computer science Ph.D.s have been granted for results that essentially state "if P = NP, then X", and many others have been granted for results that essentially state "if P!= NP, then Y". So, let's say that someone manages to solve the P-vs.-NP problem one way or the other. Does one of these groups of results suddenly become wrong, and all those Ph.D.s invalid?
 Another example: everyone in first-order logic agrees that "a false statement implies any statement". That is, "F => Z" is automatically true, no matter what the truth value of Z is. That is, there is always a proof that starts from the premise "False" and concludes Z.
 The catch — and what Mark was getting at — is that this doesn't make Z true. It just means that if you could prove False (you can't) then you could get a proof of Z. Similarly, having a proof that "if P = NP then X" doesn't mean make X true. It just means that if you could prove P = NP then you could get a proof of X.
 In the example he gives, the (hidden) premise is "bandwidth on a telephone line is accurately represented by this mathematical model". The existence of 1200-baud modems doesn't mean that the proof was wrong; it means that either the proof was wrong or the premise was wrong. In this case, the proof was fine, but the premise was wrong.
 It should also be noted that disproving a premise doesn't disprove the conclusion, it just invalidates the given argument. Another valid proof from true premises may manage to prove the same conclusion.
 1. Real Analysis
 Informal language, it hurts me so bad sometimes.
 It makes sense. I think I got it. "The proof is false" merely means that we didn't prove what we claimed to have proved.
 Of course, after the sentence I wrote above, I referenced Mark's post again, and I read,
 And I thought, "Was that there all along?"
 So because I don't care about compression, and was totally locked onto "dependent" in one of the paragraphs before that, I didn't read past the sentence I quoted in my first comment. Consequently, I've wasted a certain amount of people's time here, but I've gotten something extra out of your replies that I wouldn't otherwise have gotten, and also the idea of using your question page. Thanks.
 17. Jordan Rastrick
 As a child of about 10, I used to try and think of ways to achieve such "free" compression.
 As a 25 year old former mathematics and computer science student, I have a thorough understanding of the concept of Kolmogrov complexity, and the impossibility of ideal compression schemes.
 As a person with Bipolar Disorder who struggles with psychosis and occasionally emails unsolicited far-fetched ideas to people who probably have better things to do with their time, I suggest getting frustrated with a crank, calling him an idiot and publishing a mathematical proof refuting his self-delusions probably achieves little.
 A polite "Unfortunately your scheme will never work, if you can't understand why I don't have any more energy to explain it to you, if you think you honestly understand the issue better than computer scientists I suggest seeking the help of a mental mental health professional, and I'm afraid I will have to instantly delete all message from you in the future " would be my suggestion.
 18. Ingvar M
 The "one-to-one" correspondence between uncompressed and compressed data is an excellent start. But, the classic "reductio ad absurdum" ought to be good enough to illustrate this to most people.
 If you can always compress a file (by at least one bit), then decompress the result, there are at most two files in the universe. The file that a single 1 uncompresses to and the one that a single 0 uncompresses to. Since this is demonstrably not the case, we cannot compress all files.
 19. Tualha
 Do I really need to go through this again? Argh!
 You don't have to go through it again for your sane readers, because you already covered it.
 You don't have to go through it again for Jules, because he's impervious to argument. You have as much chance of convincing him as PZ Myers has of convincing William Dembski.
 The correct solution is to block him from your email and blog. Let him go bother someone else.
 Someone Is Always Wrong On The Internet, and life's too short to waste time on the ones who've proved they can't learn. Let him go.
 20. Spook
 I've got an awesome compression method that turns Jules Gilbert's blatherings into eight bytes with no loss of information. The output of this method is "BULLSHIT" 🙂
 21. Bernie
 A few years ago I wrote a humorous (ie, fake) encryption algorithm that has great compression as a side effect. Perhaps some of you might get a kick out of it:
 Encryption for the 20th Century!
 Fast, Efficient, Friendly
 1) Organize your plaintext into a queue of bits. They should represent your plaintext and not be just a bunch of random bits – that would be silly. Calls this queue IQ for Input Queue.
 2) Setup a queue for the bits of your ciphertext. This queue should be empty to start. Well, you can keep things other than bits in the queue. Bacon, root beer, sandwich condiments are OK; just no bits. Calls this queue OQ for Output Queue.
 3) Pop a bit off of your IQ.
 4a) If you got a zero bit, you need to change it to something else. (If you left it the same, your ciphertext would looks suspiciously like your plaintext.) So, pick a random bit value other than zero. Push this new bit onto your OQ. Goto step 5.
 4b) If you got a one bit in step 3, keep it exactly the same. The attackers are going to expect you to encrypt all of the bits; so, we'll keep the one bits the same to throw them off. Push the bit onto your OQ.
 5) If your IQ is not empty, loop back to step 3.
 6) Now we will validate the results of steps 3-5. Are there any zero bits in your OQ? If so, you need to finish getting your high school diploma; after all, this is not hard math.
 7) Since your OQ is full of nothing but one bits (or popsicle sticks, mushrooms, etc.), we can use very effective compression. You don't even need to count the number of one bits; they are all one bits.
 8) Your ciphertext is "All One (1) Bits."
 9) Send that simple message to wh


CPAs and lawyers -- and tax practice
Knight Templar of the Sacred Tax
Posts: 6892
Joined: Sat May 19, 2007 1:59 pm
Location: Texas
CPAs and lawyers -- and tax practice
Postby Famspear » Fri Jan 06, 2012 9:28 pm
I'm engaged in an interesting discussion in another place on the internet about the differences between lawyers and CPAs when it comes to the subject of taxation. The party with whom I am interacting seems to think that CPAs don't do much more (in a tax practice) than subtract expenses from revenues and fill out tax forms.
This is a complicated subject, but I'll start with what is expected of a CPA candidate when he or she sits for the CPA exam. The following is taken from the Content and Skill Specifications for the Uniform CPA Examination from the Examinations Team of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) (rev. July 1, 2011). There is NOTHING anywhere NEAR this extensive in terms of testing for prospective lawyers on any bar examination, to my knowledge.
These topics test knowledge and understanding of concepts and laws relating to federal taxation (income, gift, and estate). The areas of testing include federal tax process, procedures, accounting, and planning, as well as federal taxation of property transactions, individuals, and entities (which include sole proprietorships, partnerships, limited liability entities, C corporations, S corporations, joint ventures, trusts, estates, and tax-exempt organizations).
In addition to demonstrating knowledge and understanding of these topics, candidates are required to demonstrate the skills required to apply that knowledge in providing tax preparation and advisory services and performing other responsibilities as certified public accountants. To demonstrate such knowledge and skills, candidates will be expected to perform the following tasks:
- Evaluate the tax implications of different legal structures for business entities.
- Apply analytical reasoning tools to assess how taxes affect economic decisions related to the timing of income/expense recognition and property transactions.
- Consider the impact of multijurisdictional tax issues on federal taxes.
- Identify the differences between tax and financial accounting.
- Analyze information and identify data relevant for tax purposes.
- Identify issues, elections, and alternative tax treatments.
- Research issues and alternative tax treatments.
- Formulate conclusions.
- Prepare documentation to support conclusions and tax positions.
- Research relevant professional literature.
1. Treasury Department Circular 230 [the Treasury regulations relating to practice before the Internal Revenue Service]
2. AICPA Statements on Standards for Tax Services
3. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and Regulations related to tax return preparers
Federal Tax Process, Procedures, Accounting, and Planning [... ]
A. Federal Tax Legislative Process
B. Federal Tax Procedures
1. Due dates and related extensions of time
2. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) audit and appeals process
3. Judicial process
4. Required disclosure of tax return positions
5. Substantiation requirements
6. Penalties
7. Statute of limitations
C. Accounting Periods
D. Accounting Methods
2. Inventory valuation methods, including uniform capitalization rules
3. Accounting for long-term contracts
4. Installment sales
F. Tax Planning
1. Alternative treatments
2. Projections of tax consequences
3. Implications of different business entities
4. Impact of proposed tax audit adjustments
5. Impact of estimated tax payment rules on planning
6. Role of taxes in decision-making
G. Impact of Multijurisdictional Tax Issues on Federal Taxation (Including Consideration of Local, State, and Multinational Tax Issues)
H. Tax Research and Communication
1. Authoritative hierarchy
2. Communications with or on behalf of clients
IV. Federal Taxation of Property Transactions [... ]
A. Types of Assets
B. Basis and Holding Periods of Assets
C. Cost Recovery (Depreciation, Depletion, and Amortization)
D. Taxable and Nontaxable Sales and Exchanges
F. Related Party Transactions
G. Estate and Gift Taxation
1. Transfers subject to the gift tax
2. Annual exclusion and gift tax deductions
3. Determination of taxable estate
4. Marital deduction
5. Unified credit
V. Federal Taxation of Individuals [... ]
A. Gross Income
1. Inclusions and exclusions
2. Characterization of income
B. Reporting of Items from Pass-Through Entities
C. Adjustments and Deductions to Arrive at Taxable Income
D. Passive Activity Losses
E. Loss Limitations
F. Taxation of Retirement Plan Benefits
G. Filing Status and Exemptions
H. Tax Computations and Credits
I. Alternative Minimum Tax
Federal Taxation of Entities [... ]
A. Similarities and Distinctions in Tax Treatment Among Business Entities
1. Formation
2. Operation
3. Distributions
4. Liquidation
B. Differences Between Tax and Financial Accounting
1. Reconciliation of book income to taxable income
2. Disclosures under Schedule M-3
C. C Corporations
1. Determination of taxable income/loss
2. Tax computations and credits, including alternative minimum tax
3. Net operating losses
4. Entity/owner transactions, including contributions and distributions
5. Earnings and profits
6. Consolidated returns
D. S Corporations
1. Eligibility and election
2. Determination of ordinary income/loss and separately stated items
3. Basis of shareholder's interest
4. Entity/owner transactions, including contributions and distributions
5. Built-in gains tax
E. Partnerships
1. Determination of ordinary income/loss and separately stated items
2. Basis of partner's/member's interest and basis of assets contributed to the partnership
3. Partnership and partner elections
4. Transactions between a partner and the partnership
5. Treatment of partnership liabilities
6. Distribution of partnership assets
7. Ownership changes and liquidation and termination of partnership
F. Trusts and Estates
1. Types of trusts
2. Income and deductions
3. Determination of beneficiary's share of taxable income
G. Tax-Exempt Organizations
1. Types of organizations
2. Obtaining and maintaining tax-exempt status
3. Unrelated business income
There is no bar exam that has this kind of scope for the testing of a candidate's knowledge of taxation.
As I stated in the other forum, this is not to say that the "tax skill" of a lawyer who specializes in tax law is the same kind of skill as the "tax skill" of a CPA who specializes in tax law.
There are certain skills that a CPA who has not become a lawyer will have, and certain skills he or she probably will not have. Likewise, there are certain skills that a lawyer who has never passed the CPA exam will have, and certain skills he or she probably will not have. Everything else being equal in terms of typical training and testing of lawyers and CPAs, the typical entry level CPA will know much more than the typical entry level lawyer about tax law.
Given a CPA/non-lawyer and a lawyer/non-CPA, there are certain aspects of tax law at which the lawyer will be "better at" (and, probably, vice versa).
User avatar
A Councilor of the Kabosh
Posts: 2610
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2010 8:01 am
Re: CPAs and lawyers -- and tax practice
Postby JamesVincent » Fri Jan 06, 2012 10:27 pm
I would probably have said its a non-starter simply because your looking at someone whos a specialist (a CPA being a specialist) and someone who is a generalist being a specialist (the lawyer who trains to be a lawyer and then picks a field to specialize in). And even then they both would approach the same things from different sides of the same book. Kinda like the argument over an engineer and a technician, who would be the smarter or the better to call with a problem. The CPA would know all the ins and outs of the actual working code and how it actually applies in real life. The lawyer would be able to tell you the laws and why they apply to you, but not necessarily the same way that the CPA could since that is not what they are concerned with.
Basileus Quatlooseus
Posts: 722
Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2008 1:19 am
Location: The Land of Enchantment
Re: CPAs and lawyers -- and tax practice
Postby LaVidaRoja » Sat Jan 07, 2012 4:29 am
The real issue is the TAX training and specialization of each. I once worked on the appeal of a CPA who was a hospital/health plans specialist. She had VERY LITTLE knowledge of tax law. In her field, she could run rings around me. But in tax law? Nope. A lot depends on the field of tax law. When it comes to the income taxes of the individual, a good EA is probably as capable as an expert who has a "more professional" credential. However, when you get into fields such as individual retirement plans, corporations, LLCs, partnerships, etc, you need a specialist. A CPA can do the basic reporting. Whether a CPA or a tax attorney is better at planning out, figuring how to work aggresive strategies is a question that is best answered on an individual situation basis.
A lot depends on the money involved. If you have ten million, you want a team


\hackscore{kk}\delta\hackscore{ij}.
125 \end{equation}
127 The $\delta\hackscore{ij}$ is the Kronecker $\delta$-symbol, which is a matrix with ones for its diagonal entries ($i = j$) and zeros for the remaining entries ($i \neq j$). The body force $f$ in Equation (\ref{GENERAL NAVIER STOKES COM}) is the gravity acting in the $x\hackscore{3}$ direction and is given as $f = -g \rho \delta\hackscore{i3}$.
129 The Stokes equations is a saddle point problem, and can be solved using a Uzawa scheme. A class called StokesProblemCartesian in Escript can be used to solve for velocity and pressure.
130 In order to keep numerical stability, the time step size needs to be below a certain value, known as the Courant number. The Courant number is defined as:
132 \begin{equation}
133 C = \frac{v \delta t}{h}.
134 \label{COURANT}
135 \end{equation}
137 where $\delta t$, $v$, and $h$ are the time step, velocity, and the width of an element in the mesh, respectively. The velocity $v$ may be chosen as the maximum velocity in the domain. In this problem the Courant number is taken to be 0.4 \cite{BOURGOUIN2006}.
139 As the computation of the distance function progresses, it becomes distorted, and so it needs to be updated in order to stay regular. This process is known as the reinitialization procedure. The aim is to iteratively find a solution to the reinitialization equation:
141 \begin{equation}
142 \frac{\partial \psi}{\partial \tau} + sign(\psi)(1 - \nabla \psi) = 0.
144 \end{equation}
146 where $\tau$ is artificial time. This equation is solved to meet the definition of the level set function, $\lvert \nabla \psi \rvert = 1$; the normalization condition. However, it has been shown that in using this reinitialization procedure it is prone to mass loss and inconsistent positioning of the interface \cite{SUCKALE2008}.
148 The Rayleigh-Taylor instability problem is used as a benchmark to validate CFD implementations \cite{VANKEKEN1997}. Figure \ref{RT2DSETUP} shows the setup of the problem. A rectangular domain with two different fluids is considered, with the greater density fluid on the top and the lighter density fluid on the bottom. The viscosities of the two fluids are equal (isoviscos). An initial perturbation is given to the interface of $\phi=0.02cos(\frac{\pi x}{\lambda}) + 0.2$. The aspect ratio, $\lambda = L/H = 0.9142$, is chosen such that it gives the greatest disturbance of the fluids.
150 \begin{figure}
151 \center
152 \scalebox{0.7}{\includegraphics{figures/RT2Dsetup.eps}}
153 \caption{Parameters, initial interface and boundary conditions for the Rayleigh-Taylor instability problem. The interface is defined as $\phi=0.02cos(\frac{\pi x}{\lambda}) + 0.2$. The fluids have been assigned different densities and equal viscosity (isovisous).}
154 \label{RT2DSETUP}
155 \end{figure}
157 %The Level Set Method can be applied to many areas of science, for example simulating subduction zones in geophysics, motion of bubbles, and flame propagation. Its also used in image processing. However, the Level Set Method does have limitations. The level set function can still become irregular after reinitialisation, leading to artifacts in the simulations, requiring more thought into the implementation of the reinitialisation step.
 ViewVC Help
Powered by ViewVC 1.1.26


text:
Australia: A Cultural History
By John Rickard | Monash University Publishing | $39.95 | 306 pages
When John Rickard's Australia: A Cultural History was first published in 1988, cultural history as a subgenre was still the relatively new kid on the block. The "new" social history was well into late adolescence and showing signs that its early promise would not be realised. The politics of identity had settled into producing some dramatic departures, with women's history, black history and the first glimmers of gay history, but these forms, because they were defined by culturally constructed identities, were subsumed methodologically as forms of cultural history. The novelty of cultural history meant that, when Rickard began the book in 1981, he was afraid the term might sound "pretentious." By the time the book appeared seven years later — and good books take time — there was no longer any need to worry. A second edition appeared in 1996, with a short "coda" to bring it up to date.
This third edition of Australia: A Cultural History is to be welcomed, not just because Rickard's book is still one of the two best overviews of the nation's history. Along with Stuart Macintyre's A Concise History of Australia (1999), it sits as a worthy successor to Keith Hancock's Australia (1930) and Manning Clark's A Short History of Australia (1963) in its readability and imaginative reach. But to see it as simply a good general history is to miss how groundbreaking it was; a new edition provides an opportunity to reflect on where history has taken us since the bicentenary.
Thirty years later, cultural history is no longer flavour of the month — a term that itself seems to have had its day. Since 1988 cultural history has been largely displaced by new kinds of history: a new political history and a new economic history, the history of the emotions, environmental history and queer history, along with the turn to "settler colonialism" and the "transnational" turn. History has taken so many "turns" in the last few decades that many historians are still spinning.
What is remarkable is how many of those dizzying turns Rickard anticipated in 1988. While the book is still very much a national history, he recognises that Australia can only be understood in its transnational relationships: British influences obviously, but also the way Americanisation, migration and overseas travel have shaped the culture. Nations, it can be said, only exist transnationally. Similarly, well before there was much talk about the history of the emotions, Rickard, with his early interest in psycho-history, sought out emotional patterns in Australian life, where some of his most astute insights are to be found. Homosexuality is also discussed quite naturally, without diffidence or fanfare. And though this is a cultural history, there is a surprising amount of the new political history, with politics understood as being shaped by culture, the sort of culture "which, having conceded women political rights, did not seriously envisage that they would exercise them." Environmental history is there, too, in the attention (perhaps there'd be more now) given to attitudes to landscape — not just the European fervour for making it productive but also the appreciation, among both European and Indigenous Australians, of its aesthetic possibilities.
Perhaps the only significant lacuna, from today's perspective, is "settler colonialism," which might now be expected to shape a cultural history of Australia quite profoundly (for good or ill). For Rickard, the colonial was and remains primarily about Australians' cultural deference to Britain — more specifically, he argues, to England — rather than white Australians' colonial dispossession of Indigenous culture. That's not to say Rickard is not sensitive to the destructiveness of relations between black and white, which is a recurrent theme; just that positioning white Australians as the colonised rather than colonisers is the more significant shaping principle. When he observes that "colonisation is a relationship, even a mentalité, and one from which Australia found it difficult to escape," he was thinking in terms of Australia as a cultural fragment of Britain. And that's to the good: to read Australian history simply through the lens of settler colonialism would be reductionist. The reappearance of Rickard reminds us not just that intellectual contexts change but also that no single over-arching paradigm will ever adequately reveal the complexity of the past: that even something as blindingly obvious as colonial power is many-faceted. To leave it a battle between white blindfolds and black armbands, as the history wars tended to, is to do profound damage to how we can understand the past.
In treating the colonial condition not as a failing to be deplored but as a reality to be investigated, Rickard brought two important considerations to understanding Australia. Both need reaffirmation given the transformation of Australian nationalism that took place — in very different ways — under Keating and Howard after 1988. The first is Rickard's insistence that to obsess about what is distinctive in Australian culture is to ignore most of what makes up a culture. He insists he is not trying to define a national identity but "suggesting the emotional range of the Australian people" — though occasionally the difference is rather too subtle.
The second crucial contribution is his insistence that culture is not created by strivings to project a shared national identity but "by the means it develops to reconcile, or at least accommodate the dissonant forces within it." Rickard is unusual in putting his emphasis on the first half of the twentieth century, when many of those accommodations were reached, when Australians came to terms with modernity and being a (somewhat) independent nation. Some are "silent accommodations": an acceptance of Anzac commemoration in the 1920s, despite disagreement about the significance of the war, or Labor's tacit acquiescence in "the forms of imperialism" while proclaiming its Australianism in the 1930s. Rickard listens to murmurs in the culture, not just the loudest voices. Other accommodations were more explicit: Australia's unique mix of public and private enterprise, for example, or employers' and workers' ritualised conflict in the arbitration courts, or Catholic and Protestant "joined together by a regulated code of mutual hostility."
Rickard himself has lived out one of those accommodations. He grew up and was educated in Sydney but then, after an interesting acting career, made his name as a historian in Melbourne. One of his strengths is his avoidance of any Sydney or Melbourne bias, just as Australia accommodated rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne by building Canberra.
But his greatest strength is the elegance and subtlety of his judgements. Look at the single paragraph — short, sharp and illuminating — on the emergence and power of the professions in Australia, "where the pecking order was much more negotiable": professions were "all the more powerful for being less noticeable." Again, he has just two paragraphs on Federation, ending before the readers' eyes have time to glaze over, yet we feel he has got the gist of things: a movement "modest in its vision," festivities "characterised more by good humour than patriotic fervour."
And then there are the gracefully incisive turns of phrase and the quiet eloquence of his writing: how in the face of the "rituals of public patriotism" during the Boer war, many resorted to "discreet apathy"; how the relative tolerance accorded artists' eccentricities was born of "a general indifference"; how Australia's beach culture suited its temperament, the beach "a place for physical expression, not emotional intimacy." There are nice juxtapositions too: the famous photo of the AFL's Nicky Winmar, pointing to his blackness, is now offset by Cathy Freeman's Olympic victory; and social media meant both that Cronulla could riot and that Julia Gillard's misogyny speech could go viral.
It is always a problem updating a text: how much of the original to fiddle with? A new bibliography brings "further reading" up to the present, but the footnotes are almost entirely to pre-1988 publications. Occasionally a sentence has been dropped or added. "Aborigines" has been quietly altered to "Aboriginal people" throughout, and "conqueror" to "invader." Somewhat inexplicably, the acknowledgements have had a major makeover. A few minor errors persist: Bondi lifesaving club was formed in 1907, not 1906; women's suffrage passed the Victorian parliament in 1908, not 1909; Vegemite was launched in 1923 not 1922; the Coca-Cola logo appeared on a spinnaker not a flag in the First Fleet re-enactment in 1988. A new chapter brings the story to the present but keeps the same themes on the boil.
One thing has changed significantly. Over the life of the book, Rickard has argued that not only are the old accommodations fraying, but new ones have become harder to achieve. My tattered first edition ended optimistically: new dilemmas and divisions could be exploited creatively, "The uncertainty of the future offers the opportunity to invent one." With the second edition, the history wars had taken their toll: he ended it with fears that new accommodations (particularly around the republic and reconciliation), which depended on an acceptance of both the good and bad in Australian history, had become more challenging. By the third edition, the ending is bleak: "Achieving the cultural accommodation between our past and future seems just too difficult. There is a risk we may get the future we deserve." Not curmudgeonly old age, just despair. If this


text: Just for pre-school-aged children, Pre-school Prehistorics includes hands-on songs and dinosaur patterns to make learning about dinosaurs fun and exciting. Students recreate the classic fairytale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears with a twist using the flannelboard patterns. Students enhance their critical thinking skills by finding what is different in the Visual Discrimination Activity; then, reinforcing the idea of time by discussing what objects are out of place with the dinosaur illustrations. Students then get their hands dirty as they recreate a dinosaurs environment in the sandbox with the Sandbox Dinosaur Landscape activity. Finally, students create their own dinosaur fossils with Fossil Making. This Primary Studies lesson provides a teacher and student section with illustrations, puzzles, big book, hands-on activities, and certificate to create a well-rounded lesson plan.


Perioperative outcomes afterlaparoscopic cholecystectomy in the elderly patients: Asystematic review and meta-analysis (2020)
Type of publication:
Conference abstract
Kew T.; Lin A.; Ekeozar C.; Bundred J.; Evans R.; Griffiths E.; Kamarajah S.; *Karri S.; Singh P.
British Journal of Surgery; Jun 2020; vol. 107 ; p. 5-6
Aim: The need to perform elective and emergency cholecystectomy in an ever ageing population increases yet these risks are poorly quantified. The study aims to review the current evidence to quantify further the postoperative risk of cholecystectomy in the elderly population.
Method(s): A systematic literature search of PubMed, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library databases were conducted and a meta-analysis was performed in accordance with the recommendations of the Cochrane Library and PRISMA guidelines.
Result(s): This review identified 99 studies incorporating 333,041 patients. Increasing age was significantly associated with increased rates of overall complications (OR 2.33, CI95%: 2.00-2.71, p<0.001), major complication (OR 2.32, CI95%: 1.52-3.54, p<0.001), risk of conversion to open cholecystectomy (OR 2.32, CI95%: 1.95-2.76, p<0.001), risk of bile leaks (OR 2.05, CI95%: 1.18-3.55, p<0.001), risk of postoperative mortality (OR 5.99, CI95%: 3.77-9.52, p<0.001) and was significantly associated with increased length of stay (MD 2.12 days, CI95%: 1.01-3.24, p<0.001).
Conclusion(s): Post-operative outcomes such as overall and major complications are significantly higher in all age cut-offs. There is six-fold increase in perioperative mortality which increases by nine-fold in patients >80 years old. This study confirms preconceived suspicions of risk in elderly patients undergoing cholecystectomy and will aid treatment planning and informed consent.
Link to full-text [no password required]


text:
This paper discusses the role of grand urban visions in neoliberal urbanism by drawing on ethnographic and other research into the administration of New York City's ex-CEO Mayor, Michael Bloomberg. It argues that such visions illustrate the cultural dimensions and power of neoliberal urbanism, of which Bloomberg's approach to governance and development was an example. It describes the details and development of such visions in the Bloomberg administration, their role in the administration's ambitious development agenda, and the ways in which they affected the politics surrounding this agenda.
- New York
- urban development


text:
Several installations in the Defenses of Washington, the ring of forts built around Washington, D.C., to protect the federal capital during the Civil War, were located close to and in Alexandria.
Unlike Fort Ellsworth and Fort Ward, which were positioned on higher inland elevations to the west, Battery Rodgers was located along the Potomac River, just south of the existing city limits.
Battery Rodgers was named for George W. Rodgers, a U.S. naval captain who was killed in 1863 during an attack on Fort Wagner at Charleston, S.C. Battery Rodgers was strategically positioned on a bluff at Jones Point, on the western side of the Potomac with Fort Foote, located about two miles south on the opposite side in Maryland. In this location, Battery Rodgers was able to guard against Confederate ships on the Potomac and enemy approaches by land to the south.
Plans for the water battery, as it was sometimes referred to, included a 185-foot-long main face, five 200-pounder Parrott rifles, one 15-inch Rodman gun, and two magazines. In this 1864 photograph, the door to one of those magazines is visible on the left, as is the Rodman gun. The gun was large enough for a person to crawl inside it and at least one man was photographed inside doing so. Additional facilities for this fortification included barracks, a mess hall, prison, hospital and slaughterhouse.
No remains of Battery Rodgers exist today, but markers along the waterfront and at the intersection of South Lee and Green streets recall its history.
Out of the Attic is provided by the Office of Historic Alexandria.


rdesktop(1) rdesktop(1)
 rdesktop - Remote Desktop Protocol client
 rdesktop [options] server[:port]
 rdesktop is a client for Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), used in a number of Microsoft products including Windows NT Terminal Server, Windows
 2000 Server, Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server.
 -u
 Username for authentication on the server.
 -d
 Domain for authentication.
 -s
 Startup shell for the user - starts a specific application
 instead of Explorer.
 -c
 The initial working directory for the user. Often used in combination with -s to set up a fixed login environment.
 -p
 The password to authenticate with. Note that this may have no
 effect if "Always prompt for password" is enabled on the server.
 WARNING: if you specify a password on the command line it may be
 visible to other users when they use tools like ps. Use -p - to
 make rdesktop request a password at startup (from standard
 -n
 Client hostname. Normally rdesktop automatically obtains the
 hostname of the client.
 -k
 Keyboard layout to emulate. This requires a corresponding
 keymap file to be installed. The standard keymaps provided with
 rdesktop follow the RFC1766 naming scheme: a language code followed by a country code if necessary - e.g. en-us, en-gb, de,
 fr, sv, etc. The default is en-us (a US keyboard).
 -g
 Desktop geometry (WxH). If geometry is the special word
 "workarea", the geometry will be fetched from the extended window manager hints property _NET_WORKAREA, from the root window.
 The geometry can also be specified as a percentage of the whole
 screen, e.g. "-g 80%".
 -f Enable fullscreen mode. This overrides the window manager and
 causes the rdesktop window to fully cover the current screen.
 Fullscreen mode can be toggled at any time using Ctrl-Alt-Enter.
 -b Force the server to send screen updates as bitmaps rather than
 using higher-level drawing operations.
 -B Use the BackingStore of the Xserver instead of the integrated
 one in rdesktop.
 -e Disable encryption. This option is only needed (and will only
 work) if you have a French version of NT TSE.
 -E Disable encryption from client to server. This sends an
 encrypted login packet, but everything after this is unencrypted
 (including interactive logins).
 -m Do not send mouse motion events. This saves bandwidth, although
 some Windows applications may rely on receiving mouse motion.
 -C Use private colourmap. This will improve colour accuracy on an
 8-bit display, but rdesktop will appear in false colour when not
 -D Hide window manager decorations, by using MWM hints.
 -K Do not override window manager key bindings. By default rdesktop attempts to grab all keyboard input when it is in focus.
 -S
 Enable single application mode. This option can be used when
 running a single, maximized application (via -s). When the minimize button of the windows application is pressed, the rdesktop
 window is minimized instead of the remote application. The maximize/restore button is disabled. For this to work, you must
 specify the correct button size, in pixels. The special word
 "standard" means 18 pixels.
 -T
 Sets the window title.
 -N Enable numlock syncronization between the Xserver and the remote
 RDP session. This is useful with applications that looks at the
 numlock state, but might cause problems with some Xservers like
 -X
 Embed rdesktop-window in another window. The windowid is
 expected to be decimal.
 -a
 Sets the colour depth for the connection (8, 15, 16 or 24).
 More than 8 bpp are only supported when connecting to Windows XP
 (up to 16 bpp) or newer. Note that the colour depth may also be
 limited by the server configuration.
 -z Enable compression of the RDP datastream. This currently only
 works for a colour depth of 8bpp.
 -x
 Changes default bandwidth performance behaviour for RDP5. By
 default only theming is enabled, and all other options are disabled (corresponding to modem (56 Kbps)). Setting experience to
 b[roadband] enables menu animations and full window dragging.
 Setting experience to l[an] will also enable the desktop wallpaper. Setting experience to m[odem] disables all (including
 themes). Experience can also be a hexidecimal number containing
 the flags.
 -P Enable caching of bitmaps to disk (persistent bitmap caching).
 This generally improves performance (especially on low bandwidth
 connections) and reduces network traffic at the cost of slightly
 longer startup and some disk space. (10MB for 8-bit colour,
 20MB for 15/16-bit colour and 30MB for 24-bit colour sessions)
 -r
 Enable redirection of the specified device on the client, such
 that it appears on the server. Note that the allowed redirections may be restricted by the server configuration.
 Following devices are currently supported:
 -r comport:=,...
 Redirects serial devices on your client to the server. Note that
 if you need to change any settings on the serial device(s), do
 so with an appropriate tool before starting rdesktop. In most
 OSes you would use stty. Bidirectional/Read support requires
 Windows XP or newer. In Windows 2000 it will create a port, but
 it's not seamless, most shell programs will not work with it.
 -r disk:=,...
 Redirects a path to the share \\tsclient\ on the
 server (requires Windows XP or newer). The share name is limited
 to 8 characters.
 -r lptport:=,...
 Redirects parallel devices on your client to the server. Bidirectional/Read support requires Windows XP or newer. In Windows
 2000 it will create a port, but it's not seamless, most shell
 programs will not work with it.
 -r printer:[=],...
 Redirects a printer queue on the client to the server. The
 is the name of the queue in your local system.
 defaults to a simple PS-driver unless you specify one.
 Keep in mind that you need a 100% match in the server environment, or the driver will fail. The first printer on the command
 line will be set as your default printer.
 -r sound:[local|off|remote]
 Redirects sound generated on the server to the client. "remote"
 only has any effect when you connect to the console with the -0
 option. (Requires Windows XP or newer).
 -0 Attach to the console of the server (requires Windows Server
 2003 or newer).
 -4 Use RDP version 4.
 -5 Use RDP version 5 (default).
 Main website of rdesktop
 March 2005 rdesktop(1)
Man(1) output converted with man2html