After a dominant victory by Jorge Lorenzo on Oct. 4 in Portugal, the race is back on in MotoGP. 2009 Red Bull Indianapolis GP winner Lorenzo started from pole and led all 28 laps of the Grand Prix of Portugal at the Estoril Circuit for his fourth victory of the season. Lorenzo pulled to within 18 points of Fiat Yamaha teammate and points leader Valentino Rossi with just three races remaining.
Six-time MotoGP World Champion Rossi had an uncharacteristically sluggish weekend, finishing fourth, 23.428 seconds behind his teammate.
"What a day!" Lorenzo said. "I'm so happy to win here again in the same track where I won my first MotoGP race last year.
"This is a good track for me, but I am fast more or less everywhere now. The championship is closer now. It's still not easy, but we have nothing to lose."
2007 MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner finished second on his Ducati Team machine, 6.294 seconds behind Lorenzo. It was Stoner's first race since July 26, as he had missed the last three races due to illness.
Dani Pedrosa finished third on his Repsol Honda. He led for the first few corners of Lap 1 before Lorenzo took the lead for good.
The only suspense left in the race was how the charismatic Lorenzo would celebrate his victory. He wore leathers and a helmet that paid tribute to the U.S. Apollo lunar landing program, so Lorenzo did a "moonwalk show" as a salute to Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon.
While Lorenzo celebrated, it's safe to say 2008 Red Bull Indianapolis GP winner Rossi wasn't in a party mood. He qualified second but dropped to fourth on the first lap. He never challenged the top three due to a rear grip problem and finished off the podium at Estoril for the first time in his career.
Americans Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden finished fifth and eighth, respectively.
Edwards rode his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine across the line two places ahead of Andrea Dovizioso's Repsol Honda bike, picking up two points in their spirited duel for fifth in the point standings. Dovizioso leads, 142-134.
"If you're the next best rider behind the top four in the world, then you've done a good job, and I rode the strongest race I could today," Edwards said. "We've got three races to go, and I'll be giving it my all, as always, because I really want that fifth spot in the championship."
Hayden was plagued by lack of grip during the race on his Ducati.
The next event is the Grand Prix of Australia on Oct. 18 at Phillip Island.
Riders: Rossi 250, Lorenzo 232, Pedrosa 173, Stoner 170, Dovizioso 142, Edwards 134, Capirossi 97, de Puniet 93, Melandri 91, Elias 90, Vermeulen 90, de Angelis 88, Toseland 85, Hayden 81, Kallio 51, Canepa 38, Talmacsi 14, Sete Gibernau 12, Yuki Takahashi 9, Aleix Espargaro 8.
Manufacturers: Yamaha 330, Honda 236, Ducati 211, Suzuki 126, Kawasaki 91.
JORGE LORENZO (Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha/Bridgestone, winner): "What a day! I'm so happy to win here again in the same track where I won my first MotoGP race last year. I worked so hard in the break on my fitness with my father, and maybe that's given me a little bit of extra speed. I certainly felt so strong this weekend, and it is great to win like this after being top in every session, as well. I got a good start, and it took me just a couple of corners to get past Dani and take the lead, but I honestly didn't expect to be unchallenged from then on or to finish with such a big gap. This is a good track for me, but I am fast more or less everywhere now. The championship is closer now. It's still not easy, but we have nothing to lose! I liked my leathers and helmet a lot this weekend, and I wanted to celebrate Neil Armstrong and his landing on the moon, so this is why I made this 'moonwalk show' after the race."
CASEY STONER (Ducati Team Ducati/Bridgestone, second): "It is great to be competitive again and to stay that way right to the end of the race. I maybe could have been faster over the opening few laps, but I made a little mistake, which caused my foot to slip off the peg. It broke the footrest support and it was moving around in all the right-handers, so my foot was slipping off. As the laps went by, I was able to alter the foot peg position a little, but I wasn't able to go any faster. Obviously, Jorge was too fast for us today and he did a fantastic job, but I'm still really happy today for myself and for the team. It is brilliant to come back like this, and I think it shows that the decision to take a break and tackle a physical problem that was really making it impossible for us was the right choice."
DANI PEDROSA (Repsol Honda Team Honda/Bridgestone, third): "I made a very good start today and held the lead until the third corner, where I ran a little wide and Jorge came by. He was pushing really hard in the first few laps, and even though I was, too, I couldn't match his rhythm as he opened up a gap. When Casey came past, I tried to stay with him and was able to put some pressure on and maintain a good pace. I had a moment, though, where the bike was snaking as I braked, I ran wide and I nearly crashed. That cost me some time and opened up the gap to Casey. So I'm reasonably happy with a podium, and it definitely will now be an interesting fight for third place in the championship with Casey. He is the reference in Australia, and so the next race is going to be hard-fought. I'm looking forward to it. I definitely want to win at least one of the three races left, and maybe the next one is the most important."
COLIN EDWARDS (Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha/Bridgestone, fifth): "Like I said yesterday, if you're the next best rider behind the top four in the world, then you've done a good job, and I rode the strongest race I could today. I got a good start, but we've been fighting some front-end movement all weekend, and I knew early on I wasn't going to be able to go with Valentino (Rossi) in front of me. The tires worked great, but we were just missing something on the setup that meant even though Valentino was struggling a little bit, I couldn't really put any pressure on him. As much as I couldn't comfortably stay with the four guys in front, it was pretty easy for me to run a pace that meant I could pull away from the group behind me. Once I'd got a comfortable gap, it was just a case of staying consistent to make sure I didn't give anybody a chance of catching me. I got a few more points back on Dovizioso for fifth in the championship, and that is a good reward for the all effort my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 have put in. We've got three races to go, and I'll be giving it my all, as always, because I really want that fifth spot in the championship."
NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Team Ducati/Bridgestone, eighth): "After the morning warm-up, I was expecting a little more today, but I just didn't feel like I had the traction I'd had for most of the weekend. The bike was moving around a lot under acceleration, and it was hard to get out of the corners. We made good progress throughout the weekend, and like I said, this morning felt quite good. But the afternoon was really warm, and maybe that affected us too much. I got a decent start and moved up a few places, but a lot of guys were able to pass me on the front straightaway, and I'm not really sure why the bike didn't feel fast as usual. Nevertheless, we learned a lot this weekend and got some good data. I'd hoped for more, but eighth is the best we could do. It's not for a lack of effort or hard work, but sometimes that's not good enough. Hopefully we can do better at Phillip Island."


text:
record 1055 of 4233
Esar, Naheed Mrs.
Name Esar, Naheed Mrs.
Ethnic backgr. Pashtun
Function/Grade Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
2. Previous Function:
Political Researcher and Writer (2015-20170623)
Director Asset Registration and Verification Office (ARVO) of the High Office of Anti-Corruption (HOAC) (20180923)
Deputy Director of Government Affaires Administrative Office of the President (AOP) (20180215)
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for management and resources (20190824)
3. Biodata:
Mrs. Naheed Esar Malikzai was born 1989 and hails from Jalalabad, Nangahar Province. At four months old, she and her family were forced to flee to Pakistan, where they lived in a refugee camp. In 1999, she moved back to her native country and studied in an underground school in Herat Province. Esar helped her mother run an illegal school in Taliban time. She was a Fulbright student. Naheed successfully graduatied from the University of Arkansas as a Fulbright Scholar with a master's degree in cultural anthropology. (2012-2014)
Nahid is a women's rights activist. She has completed a longitudinal research project on the lives of widows in Kabul and, as a result, has founded a "Widows Association" to help the many women who have struggled with loss from decades of strife in Afghanistan.
She speaks Pashtu, Urdu and English

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
DOJ joins free speech lawsuit against Georgia college
According to the brief, "the college's speech policies were not content-neutral, established an impermissible heckler's veto, and were not narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling government interest."
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a brief in support of a student's lawsuit accusing Georgia Gwinnett College of preventing him from discussing his religious beliefs on campus.
Adam Sabes | Writer, Fox News Digital
Friday, September 29, 2017 12:32 PM
As previously reported by Campus Reform, GGC student Chike Uzuegbunam alleges that he was prohibited from distributing religious pamphlets outside of the school's library, even though he claims to have received advance permission, because the location was not in one of the two free-speech zones on campus.
[RELATED: College argues that preaching the Gospel is 'fighting words']
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) then filed a lawsuit against the school in December on the behalf of Uzuegbunam, with ADF Legal Counsel Travis Barham remarking at the time that "while touting commitments to 'diversity' and 'open communications,' Georgia Gwinnett College confines the speech of students to two ridiculously small speech zones and then censors the speech that occurs in those areas."
The DOJ filed a statement of interest Tuesday, arguing that the school's actions violated the student's First and Fourteenth Amendment rights because "the college's speech policies were not content-neutral, established an impermissible heckler's veto, and were not narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling government interest."
According to The Gwinnett Daily Post, the DOJ brief states that the government has "significant interest" in the case given its duty to ensure "the vigilant protection of constitutional freedoms in institutions of higher learning."
[RELATED: Constitution-wielding student sues college over speech policies]
"Congress has declared that 'an institution of higher education should facilitate the free and open exchange of ideas," the brief adds. "In recent years, however, concerns have been raised that some institutions of higher education have failed to answer this call, and that free speech has been under attack on campuses across the country."
"A national recommitment to free speech on campus and to ensuring First Amendment rights is long overdue," remarked Attorney General Jeff Sessions. "Which is why, starting today, the Department of Justice will do its part in this struggle. We will enforce federal law, defend free speech, and protect students' free expression."
Travis Barham, lead litigator on this case for ADF, told Campus Reform that ADF is "delighted" that the DOJ is taking interest in this case, noting that ADF has long encouraged the Department is taking the constitutional rights of students seriously.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @asabes10
Free speech zone
Adam Sabes
Writer, Fox News Digital
Adam Sabes is a writer at Fox News Digital. Previously, he was an associate editor at Campus Reform and graduated from Mississippi State University. Adam was also a Mississippi Senior Campus Correspondent for Campus Reform.


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We are a non-profit group, funded entirely by our members.
new competitions added to the site every day, your chances of winning couldn't be better!
vouchers and loads more. New competitions are added daily so join today and start comping with Loquax!!


text:
Q: Como almacenar un blob de sqlite con swift Desde mi aplicación recibo imágenes al consumir un servicio web. Debo almacenar dichas imágenes en la base de datos sqlite en un campo blob.
Aquí esta la base de datos:

Trate de utilizar NSData para almacenar el blob.
Aquí esta lo que he intentado:
let image = UIImage(data: decodedData)
let data = image!.pngData()! as NSData
let recurso1 = Recurso(idRecurso: 1, recurso: "paisaje1", _extension: "png", contenido: data)

if !dataManager.insertRecurso(db, recurso: recurso1) {
    print("No se pudo registrar recurso")
}

Aquí esta la función del insert:
let SQLITE_TRANSIENT = unsafeBitCast(-1, to: sqlite3_destructor_type.self)

func insertRecurso(_ db: OpaquePointer?, recurso: Recurso) -> Bool {
    var stmt: OpaquePointer? = nil;
    let sql = "INSERT INTO recurso(idRecurso, recurso, extension, contenido) VALUES(?, ?, ?, ?)";

    if sqlite3_prepare_v2(db, sql, -1, &stmt, nil) == SQLITE_OK {
        sqlite3_bind_int(stmt, 0, Int32(recurso.idRecurso))
        sqlite3_bind_text(stmt, 1, recurso.recurso, -1, SQLITE_TRANSIENT)
        sqlite3_bind_text(stmt, 2, recurso._extension, -1, SQLITE_TRANSIENT)
        sqlite3_bind_blob(stmt, 3, recurso.contenido.bytes, Int32(recurso.contenido.length), SQLITE_TRANSIENT)

        if sqlite3_step(stmt) != SQLITE_DONE {
            let errorMessage = String.init(cString: sqlite3_errmsg(db))
            print("Error al ejecutar insert:", errorMessage)
            sqlite3_finalize(stmt)
            return false;
        }

        sqlite3_finalize(stmt)
        return true
    } else {
        let errorMessage = String.init(cString: sqlite3_errmsg(db))
        print("Error al preparar sentencia:", errorMessage)
        return false
    }
}

Siempre obtengo el mismo error:
Error al ejecutar insert: datatype mismatch
Estoy seguro que la imagen y la conexión a la base de datos son correctas.
Que estoy haciendo mal?

A: Mi error fue en el numero del parámetro. Los parámetros deben empezar con el indice 1 y no 0.
sqlite3_bind_int(stmt, 1, Int32(recurso.idRecurso))
sqlite3_bind_text(stmt, 2, recurso.recurso, -1, SQLITE_TRANSIENT)
sqlite3_bind_text(stmt, 3, recurso._extension, -1, SQLITE_TRANSIENT)
sqlite3_bind_blob(stmt, 4, recurso.contenido.bytes, Int32(recurso.contenido.length), SQLITE_TRANSIENT)

Es fácil confundirse porque para obtener  los resultados de una consulta el indice de la columna comienza en 0.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Effective recognition of their important role in the inclusive and sustainable development.
Formal consultation with them, in the preparation of the UN negotiations concerning them directly.
In terms of climate, the energy and voluntarism of LRGs is reflected through important global networks and associations campaigning alongside UCLG [i] but also through the initiatives in place to encourage the emergence of territories with lower CO² emission and more resilience. The most known is the voluntary adherence to measure and report on reductions of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) [ii]. In many statements in preparation for the COP, LRGs reiterate their expectations: ratification and implementation by the states of the Paris Agreement, necessary involvement of the LRGs in the global fight, financing and effective decentralization.
"The repercussions of climate change come with enormous costs, both financial and human; there is a priority to invest heavily in energy transition and agricultural development..." Mohamed Boudra, Mayor of Al Hoceima, Morocco.
Unrest and conflicts giving priorities to more pressing emergencies.
Low financial resources and ability to raise funds.
Insufficient decentralization preventing full initiatives.
Nevertheless, there are in the Mediterranean region several dynamics and local initiatives of all sizes, regarding mitigation and coping.
By organizing the climate meeting of local and regional Mediterranean representatives (December 2014)[iv], by being a partner to the Medcop[v] or to the Trophies for Adaptation to Climate Change[vi] of ADEME, CGLU's Mediterranean Commission participates in the development of the abundance of these practices and to their dissemination as well as to helping raise a Mediterranean voice.
[ii] The recent merge of European and global covenant in one: Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy proves once again that the LRGs do not expect agreements between nations and are more proactive.
Catherine SIMO, is project officer at the Mediterranean commission of the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), she works on mainstreaming the role and initiatives of local and regional authorities and amplifying their messages in their countries and internationally. International Economics graduate, Catherine worked 5 years on agricultural policy and food security issues in West Africa before working with and for the Mediterranean territories.


Sailing in Phuket is no longer an option for us! We decided for the Gulf of Thailand as base of NAUTINESS II. If you want to share with a sailing trip on a specially designed and decorated catamaran, together with the Austrian expatriate and participant in a variety of sailing regattas? Andreas Duswald and his team are here for you – based on decades of experience in worldwide sailing and cruising.
Depending on your booking period you can sail around the island of Koh Samui, Koh Tao and the Angthong National Marine Park. If you book for three weeks or more you can even reach Malaysia (such as Pulau Redang od the Perhentiens), the northern Gulf of Thailand (Hua Hin, for example, Pattaya, Koh Chang, ..), or the Vietnam Cambodia or even Singapore!


The purpose of this lesson, developed by Facing History and Ourselves, is to encourage students to explore the origin of the modern movement for human rights. The lesson places the development of human rights in the context of the aftermath of the Holocaust, showing how the Charter for the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were influenced by that tragic event. In the course of the lesson, students are asked to complete readings that include sections of ancient legal codes, the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Holocaust and Human Behavior.
We all know we are unique individuals, but we tend to see others as representatives of groups.


How UK Museums Use Mobile Tech to Enhance Visitor Experience?
Still behind on my posts….read this piece from December which I wrote for New York based Publishing Perspectives and was headline story of the day.
LONDON: When I stepped through the doors of the Natural History Museum in London I seemed to have travelled almost as far back in time as the exhibits.
In this land that technology had forgotten there didn't seem to be any public Wi-Fi and instead I had to rely on 3G to open a website only whose homepage was optimized for mobile. When I wanted to know more about the exhibits it was easier to check Wikipedia about T-Rex than fight through the crowds to see the displays or struggle with a site which seemed more interested in telling me how to get to the museum rather than about the monsters I was seeing when I was there.
When I eventually found the museum's café there I didn't see a single tablet or laptop as its public Wi-Fi seemed to be a closely guarded secret. In fact the Wi-Fi was actually leaking from the Treasures gallery above and I was finally able to use an app designed by the museum to start argument with my young son about whether dinosaurs had actually turned into birds.
For mobile evangelist Mathew Petrie, this is an all-too-common mobile experience for visitors to museums in the UK – museums that have perhaps in the past been more worried about the Starbucks effect of "having people with laptops filling up their cafés" if they installed free Wi-Fi, rather than interested in what their visitor's expect. Petrie is president and founder of Fusion Research and Analytics, which has for the last year being conducting research for some of the country's best-known museums including the Natural History Museum into how their visitors use mobile.
Mobile, though, is more than just QR codes that "few people use" or providing free Wi-Fi (although that is a good place to begin). It is more than just publishing a couple of apps that soon languish forgotten and un-updated in the app stores or the "souvenir app" for big exhibitions.
"People want to search, to effortlessly get more information more quickly, but 50% of visitors are from outside of the UK and they turn off data roaming to save money," Petrie says. Tablet users tend to want a deeper experience of their visit but not necessarily in front of the exhibit.
For Dianne Greig these "well-documented" problems are evidence of a lack of robust visitor data to inform strategies – specifically demographic, experiential and behavioral research. Greig is associate director (digital) of Scottish digital development group Culture Sparks.
The result of this is a lack of understanding of the whole customer journey, with mobile becoming a "one size fits all" approach and a "fixation with apps" based on little more than "the fact that other museums and galleries are creating them." When in fact, Greig argues, a website optimized for mobile would be much more cost-effective to produce.
The Huntzz app allows museum-goers to create their own treasure hunts and tours.
At the moment the Pompei app is "still our main project," designed by an outside agency owing to a tight timescale. The app is tied in with the museum's 2013 blockbuster exhibition "Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum" and itsPompei Live film that was broadcast live to 250 cinemas in the UK in June almost like a "private view" and shown round the world in a recorded form.
"We have learned a lot from it as a trial for future exhibitions." The tablet version was much more popular than the phone version – despite the phone app being cheaper. The tablet app is content-rich and the phone more useful than educational.
"It's not a yes or no answer," says Hugh Wallace, head of digital media, National Museums Scotland, to the question as to whether UK museums have been slow to adapt to digital.
The National Museum of Scotland has three different apps, including a treasure hunt-type challenge, the highlights of the National Museum of Scotland, and Capture the Museum, which is being developed. The website is also being re-engineered for mobile.
Third party apps like Huntzz now allow museums and visitors to create their own treasure hunts and tours.
So perhaps Mathew Petrie's dreams aren't too far-fetched: "If in a few years' time you could say that one in four of visitors are using Wi-Fi then that would be huge.
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This CD is taken from some jam sessions that members of SubArachnoid Space had back a few years ago (1998). The people playing on the CD are: Mason Jones (guitar), Melynda Jackson (guitar), and Chris Van Huffle (drums), Jason Stein (bass) and Gravitar noise-maker Geoff Walker (guitar, brass, vocalizations).It is pretty free form spaced out material with some added space your head sound effects. The CD is simply broken up into 7 pieces of music each entitled Phase One, Two… Phase Seven. The CD begins quite spaced out but eventually builds up into a psychedelic jam when the drums really kick in. Phase 2 is a mellow spacey piece. Phase 3 starts spaced out and then at around 4 minutes really takes off and can get quite noisy and far out.. Phase 4 has a load of harsh sounds and spaced guitars. Phase 5 is full on space rock jamming! Phase 6 is arranged around the bass playing. Phase Seven, is quite experimental, perhaps like Bardo Pond, with the layers of feedback and guitar noises. Experimental and quite far out….


text:
Week 6.2 - The fashion sustainability week in review
by Stephen Frost
Brands in this issue include: Abercrombie & Fitch Co., Allbirds, ELK, Reformation and Selfridges (new signatories to Canopy), Alternative Apparel (ditches wool after PETA appeal), Amour Vert (green and local manufacturing), H&M (public statement on Bangladesh unrest), Houdini (pushing transparency), H&M, Next, Mango, Guess and Saks (sourcing from factories laying off workers after unrest in Bangladesh), Kenneth Cole (humanitarian mission in Haiti), Nike (interview with new CSO), Rotate, Baum und Pferdgarten, Rodebjer, Cecilie Bahnsen, and Stine Goya (Nordic labels setting standards for sustainability), Timberland, UGG, The North Face and J.Crew (sourcing from Philippines factory accused of union busting), TK Maxx, JD Sports, Missguided and Boohoo (respond to interim report in the UK on sustainable fashion), and more.
Reports released this week:
Apparel and Footwear International RSL Management Group, Restricted Substances List, by Afirm Group
Fibre to fibre recycling: An economic & financial sustainability assessment, by WRAP
In general news:
Check your supply chain or cop $1.1 million fine as Australian modern slavery legislation kicks in
Social audits in the textile industry: How to control the controllers?
A milestone for organic cotton
10 takeaways from the UN's – yes, the UN's – sustainable streetwear conference
Full ban on animal fur farms in the Czech Republic is now in effect
SFRA event to combat greenwash with evidence focus
China ushers Year of the Pig with annual fashion binge – and the environment is picking up the bill
Why 50,000 garment workers in Bangladesh went on strike
Is there really such a thing as "Ethical Consumerism"? [Ed's note: highly recommended.]
If there are so many great vegan alternatives to leather, why don't ethical brands use them?
fibre2fibre recycling - turning the UK's unwanted clothes into the latest fashion
In the supply chain:
Bangladesh: minister seeks fair prices for apparel; suppliers to H&M, Next and others lay off workers after wage protests; United Steelworkers demand release of arrested RMG workers; Liberty Fashion seeks Accord clearance
Cambodia: Young Cambodian workers move a step closer to leadership
Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur plans reform on migrant labour laws
Mexico: Matamoros strike nears victory, 44 of 48 plants settle
Nigeria: Don't tax new minimum wage, trade union pleads
Philippines: Timberland workers in the Philippines strike over union busting
Manufacturers in this issue include: PILI (dye powder from bacteria), and more.
Quotes of the week:
"Sustainability in the fashion industry is often targeting selected issues, selected stakeholders and selective parts of the organisation." Esben Rahbek Gjerdrum Pedersen (05 Feb).
"I have decided that "ethical consumerism" is a nonsense concept. I don't mean to say I've come around to a global supply chain that chews up lives and vomits landfill, or given up on the idea that ugly mass production practices can and should be changed. I've merely let go of my belief we can shop our way to progress." Maya Singer in the latest issue of Vogue (04 Feb).
By Stephen Frost, CUHK Business School, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Unrest in Bangladesh: [Ed's note: a public statement from H&M.] The well-being of the workers at our suppliers' factories is a priority to us and we are therefore deeply concerned about the recent development in Bangladesh (07 Feb).
Alternative Apparel stops wool sales after PETA appeal: "After PETA informed Alternative Apparel about shocking, systemic cruelty in the wool industry, the Norcross-based clothing company announced that it will no longer produce items made from wool" (06 Feb).
Why fashion falls short: retailers respond to MPs' sustainability charges: "The environmental audit committee's interim report on fashion retailers' ethical and environmental track records show the industry needs to make up a lot of ground" (06 Feb). [Ed's note: includes responses from TK Maxx, JD Sports, Missguided and Boohoo, all of whom were criticised in the report for lack of engagement on sustainability issues.]
Protecting the future of sport: "Noel Kinder, Nike's new Chief Sustainability Officer, reflects on the importance of preserving our planet for Nike's long-term growth" (06 Feb).
Canopy announces new signatory brands: "Environmental not-for-profit Canopy has announced the addition of a host of new brand commitments aimed at developing next-generation rayon and viscose fabrics that will reduce sourcing from the world's ancient and endangered forests. With the addition of Abercrombie & Fitch Co., Allbirds, ELK, Reformation and Selfridges, the CanopyStyle initiative has now reached over 170 brand partners since its launch in 2013" (05 Feb).
These Nordic labels are setting the standard for style and sustainability: Rotate, Baum und Pferdgarten, Rodebjer, Cecilie Bahnsen, and Stine Goya (04 Feb).
Houdini – TrusTrace partnership: "See how TrusTrace – Houdini Partnership is pushing the boundaries of Fashion Value Chain traceability and transparency" (04 Feb – 1:29-minute video).
Kenneth Cole & Haiti: An exclusive look at the designer's humanitarian mission: ""We come here to make sure [our efforts are effective]. We want to bring business to the community – that's the ultimate sustainability," said Cole. "One of the issues here is that you can feed hungry people today, but someone has to feed them tomorrow. You need to empower the community. The health center is a platform we can build upon"" (04 Feb).
Amour Vert brings a green side to local manufacturing: "Before domestically made, sustainable apparel manufacturing became a major trend, San Francisco–based Amour Vert provided women with well-made clothing that combines style with sustainability, and it has ever since it was founded in 2010" (31 Jan).
Check your supply chain or cop $1.1 million fine: "New modern slavery legislation has been passed and this legislation will have a significant effect on the operations of businesses in the fashion industry. Organisations must be aware of their obligations, as well as the potential legal and reputational consequences of non-compliance. The Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) (Federal Act) became law on 29 November 2018 and will take effect on 1 January 2019. This follows the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (NSW) (NSW Act) which was enacted in June 2018 and is due to take effect after the Federal Act commences" (07 Feb).
Social audits in the textile industry: How to control the controllers? "Another typical shortcoming of social audits is that problematic choices about the audit scope are all too often hidden behind seemingly technical choices regarding their design. For instance, the auditing firm TÜV Rheinland claimed that it was not asked to inspect the safety of the Rana Plaza building structure. Subcontracting factories are also generally excluded from auditing procedures. Certifiers, financed by the very same businesses they have to assess, are bound by contradictory incentive structures. Certificates generate a high-level of trust within supply chains and, ultimately, with consumers, while incurring almost no legal risk. Who takes responsibility for the content or impact of audit reports is not defined. As these are generally not made public, there is no way for interested or independent parties to oversee the audit process or assess its accuracy. And workers – who are the supposed beneficiaries of the whole auditing enterprise – have no means of verifying such reports or holding auditors accountable" (06 Feb).
A milestone for organic cotton: "With all the negativity in the media, it can be easy to miss the good news. It can be easy to miss that we are right in the middle of unstoppable movement towards sustainability. And it can be easy to miss the milestones. This month, Pakistan hit one of those important milestones producing its first bale of certified organic cotton" (06 Feb).
10 takeaways from the UN's – yes, the UN's – sustainable streetwear conference: "Last Friday, sustainable streetwear went global. In a special event hosted at the United Nations, everyone from Dapper Dan to NASA astronauts dropped knowledge as part of The Study Hall Summit, a one-day conference devoted to sustainable fashion" (06 Feb).
Made for next to nothing. Worn by you? "A new report shows the depth of the fashion industry's exploitation of female home workers in India" (06 Feb). [Ed's note: the report is "Tainted Garments" by Siddharth Kara.]
Full ban on animal fur farms in the Czech Republic is now in effect: "Last week, a long-debated ban on animal fur farms in the Czech Republic finally went into effect, more than eighteen months after it had been signed into law. Approved in June 2017, the ban was enacted after lengthy campaigns from local animal rights groups and public pressure when video from local farms surfaced that allegedly depicted inhumane treatment of the animals during fur production" (05 Feb).
SFRA event to combat greenwash with evidence focus: "The newly-established Sustainable Fashion Research Agenda (SFRA) event is set to shake up the fashion and textile industries' summer calendar when it debuts in May 2019. The event has been conceived as a tonic to the industry shows which the new summit's organisers say "have celebrated the concept of sustainable fashion," despite a perceived absence of "concrete information about the actual progress towards sustainability"" (05 Feb).
China ushers Year of the Pig with annual fashion binge – and the environment is picking up the bill: "As the (Year of the) Dog passes the 2019 baton to the Pig, families from Beijing to Boston are celebrating by consuming everything from dumplings and dresses to digital gadgets. In China, where retailers enjoy a sales boom over the Lunar New Year, we're also witnessing the country's voracious fashion consumption habit: an annual clothing purge followed by a splurge" (05 Feb).
Why 50,000 garment workers in Bangladesh went on strike: "Fifty thousand garment workers in Bangladesh struck earlier this month for higher wages and were met with rubber bullets and tear gas. The minimum wage in the garment industry was recently raised 50 percent, but still stands at just $95 a month. Five thousand have been fired as a result of the strikes and property destruction the striking workers are accused of. Bangladesh's highest court has ordered shut down the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, an innovative institution monitoring workplace health and safety created five years ago" (05 Feb).
Is there really such a thing as "Ethical Consumerism"? "You know that thing, where you say a word to yourself a couple dozen times in a row, and by the 25th repetition, the word doesn't signify anymore? It's just a bunch of syllables. That's how I've started to feel about the phrase "ethical consumer." Who on earth is that? Does such a person exist? I write this as one who has spent the past decade beating the drum for fashion shopping that takes matters such as environmental sustainability and labor rights into account. Last September, for instance, I brought the Bangladeshi garment worker activist Taslima Akhter with me to New York Fashion Week shows, and wrote despairingly of the disparity between the attention paid to the clothes on the runway and that given to laborers in Bangladesh, who were then agitating for a raise in their viciously low minimum wage. The subtext of these pieces is always the same: Please, for God's sake, could someone just care?" (04 Feb). [Ed's note: if you read one thing this month, then make it this.]
If there are so many great vegan alternatives to leather, why don't ethical brands use them? "There are ostensibly many fantastic vegan leather alternatives out there today: cork, upcycled rubber, mushroom leather, grape leather, apple leather, and pineapple leather, and even all the fruits together in something called Fruitleather, plus lab-grown leather. With such an embarrassment of plant-based leathers, many of my readers ask: why do ethical and sustainable fashion brands still use real leather?" (04 Feb).
How Ontario is becoming a hotspot for ethical apparel: "Now a recent wave of designers and apparel producers in Ontario wants to offer a lasting alternative. The province's burgeoning ethical-apparel industry consciously embraces collaboration, transparency, and innovation, emphasizing the DIY approach and creating new networks that promote collaborations between like-minded designers, dyers, farmers, weavers, knitters, and other professionals" (04 Feb).
Big Boi blasted By PETA for Super Bowl fur coat: ""The way you move is horrifying when animals have to DIE for your outfit," wrote the animal rights organization, tagging the artist in their tweet. PETA has long been vocal about their stance on fur, digging into musicians who wear it and urging them to switch to faux fur. Big Boi may not have gotten the memo. He looked fly as hell, though" (04 Feb).
Sustainable supply chain: Why thinking green isn't enough: "If you are running or working in a supply chain today, you have witnessed the rise of global mass production driven by increasing consumer demand. This era has introduced new business and supply chain practices such as outsourcing, offshoring, and economies of scale – to name a few. It has created global corporations that have sold standardized products in every corner of the world. More importantly, in this era, we have seen the growth of emerging economies, which will reshape business for years to come" (04 Feb).
Workers in Bangladesh deserve protection: "European governments and brands must put more pressure on the government and producers in Bangledesh, writes Aruna Kashyap, lawyer at Human Rights Watch. They must improve the living and working conditions of textile workers and guarantee a fair wage" (01 Feb).
Freshfields 2019 Asia Employment Law Bulletin: "Welcome to the 2019 edition of our Asia Employment Law Bulletin. As always, we have set out to highlight those areas in various key Asian jurisdictions where key legal changes to the employment law landscape were made in the past year and where we expect changes to be made in the coming year" (01 Feb). [Ed's note: covers Australia, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.]
fibre2fibre recycling - turning the UK's unwanted clothes into the latest fashion: "A new report published today by sustainability experts WRAP is the first to examine the economic factors influencing fibre2fibre recycling and assess how it may help clothe the UK in the future. Using data from established and emerging business and academic trials, WRAP's report (Fibre to fibre recycling: An economic & financial sustainability assessment) is the first detailed appraisal of the financial viability of using post-consumer clothing and textiles as feedstock for chemical and mechanical fibre2fibre recycling operations" (28 Jan).
THE SUPPLY CHAIN
Minister seeks fair prices for apparel: "Bangladesh demanded fair prices for garment items from the US retailers and brands as the local apparel exporters spent billions of dollars to strengthen workplace safety that increased the cost of production" (06 Feb).
Bangladesh suppliers to H&M, Next lay off workers after wage protests: "At least three garment manufacturers in Bangladesh that supply European brands such as H&M and Next have laid off thousands of workers weeks after they had joined wage protests, union leaders said on Tuesday … "Next is aware of the situation - and its directly-employed audit staff on the ground in Bangladesh are currently investigating this matter," the retailer said in an email. H&M said it "regards freedom of association to be a non-negotiable human right," and that it is "deeply concerned by the recent events in the Bangladeshi textile industry"" (05 Feb). [Ed's note: article also mentions Mango, Guess and Saks, and names three manufacturers: Crony Group, East West Industrial Park Ltd and Metro Knitting & Dyeing Mills Ltd.]
Global labour rights group demands release of arrested RMG workers: "The United Steelworkers, one of the largest unions in North America and Canada, has urged the Bangladesh government to release immediately all the garment workers and union representatives arrested on 'trumped-up charges' due to demonstration protesting against the inadequate minimum wage increase" (05 Feb).
Liberty Fashion seeks Accord clearance: "Liberty Fashion Wears Limited, one of the largest supplier factories of European brands, on Monday demanded compliance clearance from the EU buyers' platform Accord to resume production for the global buyers as the unit remained closed since May 2013 due to 'noncompliance'"(05 Feb).
Young Cambodian workers move a step closer to leadership: "The participants discussed the situation of youth in Cambodia, in society and at the workplace. They identified fears which young workers have over failure to implement labour laws, fixed-term contracts, piece-work, forced overtime, discrimination against young workers and the lack of protection for pregnant workers" (06 Feb).
Kuala Lumpur plans reform on migrant labour laws: "Malaysia's Human Resources Minister M Kulasegaran said the Pakatan Harapan government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad would propose changes to the country's patchwork of decades-old labour laws to offer both domestic and foreign workers more legal protection. "We need to ensure the dignity and protection not only of domestic workers but also foreign ones," Kulasegaran told the Sunday Times. At issue are as many as nine industrial relations laws dating as far back as the 1950s that give the government broad powers to prevent or disband unions and limit collective bargaining" (04 Feb).
Matamoros strike nears victory, 44 of 48 plants settle: "A mass strike at assembly plants at Matamoros border city is nearing victory, after 44 of 48 "maquiladora" factories agreed to 20 percent pay increases" (06 Feb). [Ed's note: this strike does not – to my knowledge – involve garment factories, but the issues at the heart of this large and coordinated action concern all maquiladora factories in Mexico.]
Don't tax new minimum wage, NLC pleads: "The Nigeria Labour Congress has called for an amendment to the present Income Tax Law so that the new National Minimum Wage of N30,000 will not be taxed. NLC's General Secretary, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, made the call in Abuja in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday. Ozo-Eson was reacting to a motion submitted by the National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria at the plenary session of the 12th National Delegates Conference of the NLC" (06 Feb).
Timberland workers in the Philippines strike over union busting: "Workers at Pulido Apparel Company Inc in the Philippines, which supplies global brands including Timberland, UGG, The North Face and J-Crew, have been on strike since 21 January after the company temporarily shut down its main factory to break the workers' union" (06 Feb).
Dye powder made by bacteria for more sustainable clothes: "The French startup PILI has found a way to make biodegradable dye powder with the help of bacteria. Thanks to that innovative biotechnology, they want to make fashion industry – one of the most polluting industries – more sustainable" (07 Feb – 2:46-minute video).
Kingpins to require denim exhibitors to meet supply chain standards: "As part of its effort to improve the denim industry, Kingpins said Tuesday that, starting with its Kingpins Amsterdam Show in April, it will require all exhibiting denim mills to "meet or exceed standards" where corporate social responsibility (CSR), environment and chemical usage are concerned" (05 Feb).
Processing mills concerned over hike in water cost: "All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association (APTPMA) chairman Rizwan Ashraf has raised his concern over the government move of increasing tax over the usage of underground water by the textile processing mills, arguing the move will further hike the cost of industry which is already uncompetitive in the international market" (05 Feb).
NGT asks govt to submit report on villagers' health in Pali: "The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has taken a serious note of the absence of any serious study or action by the state government on health issues of the villagers, scarcity of drinking water supply and damages to the agriculture because of use of contaminated water in river Bandi released by the textile industries in Pali district. Now, the NGT has directed the state government to carry out a detailed assessment of loss of the agriculture and submit a detailed report on the status of the health of the villagers in a month" (04 Feb).
Wiser Wash provides cleaner production opportunities for denim brands: "Approximately 15 years ago, [Kevin] Youn [apparel-industry veteran and Tortoise Denim founder] encountered ozone methods for denim processing, and seven years ago, while working with an ozone machine to create a variety of samples, he discovered the slow-moisture-transfer method" (31 Jan).
A look at the Sustainable Angle's latest Future Fabrics Expo: "The Sustainable Angle wrapped its latest Future Fabrics Expo (FFE) on Jan. 25, leaving the industry with lots to be excited about where future fabrics are concerned. The expo, which is a showcase of commercially-available fabrics and materials that leave a lower environmental footprint. (30 Jan).
[New listings or updated information marked with *]
12 February, webinar: The State of Anti-Corruption in the Supply Chain: Highlights of the EcoVadis Study on 20,000 Companies.
13 February, Mumbai: ZDHC Regional Conference: "Signatory Brands, other stakeholders and industry captains of the textile & leather value chain will meet and deliberate on how to integrate sustainable chemistry in business strategies, implement best practices in textile manufacturing and encourage innovations in the chemical industry."
15 February, Amsterdam: Circular Textiles Ready to Market – ECAP Event: "Sharing the results and learnings of the European Clothing Action Plan after more than 3 years of work."
18 February, Izmir, Turkey: GOTS Regional Seminar Turkey: "Through focused and challenging discussions, this one-day seminar shall address pressing issues relevant to the organic textiles industry."
25 February, Tempe, Arizona: GRI Reporters' Summit: North America: "3rd Annual GRI Reporters' Summit: Practical Solutions to Improve your Sustainability Reporting."
* 26 February, Mexico City: SAC & ZDHC Manufacturer Forum: "All interested industry stakeholders and supply chain partners are welcome to participate in this manufacturer-focused event."
26 February, London, Fashion's Big Fix: "How do we fix the mess of the fashion industry?"
26 – 28 February, Phoenix, AZ: GreenBiz 19: "Premier annual event for sustainable business leaders."
28 February, London: The Nature of Fashion: "The panel, which will include Edwina Ehrman and Kate Fletcher, will explore how to use fashion as a pro-environmental force."
14 March, London: Drapers Sustainable Fashion 2019: "Brings together the most sustainable brands and retailers, trailblazers and unicorns, disruptors, progressive thinkers and pioneers."
14 March, Hong Kong: Sustainability in the Leather Supply Chain Hong Kong Conference 2019: "Focus on emerging risks to the leather industry and how these may be addressed through innovation and sustainable solutions."
21 March, Melbourne, Australia: The Australian Circular Fashion Conference.
09 – 10 April, Amsterdam: Sustainable Apparel and Textiles Conference: "How brands can transform factories, increase transparency and implement circularity in fashion and textile supply chains."
02 May, Dhaka: Bangladesh Fashionology Summit: Transparency through technology, technology for decent work and environment, future skills development.
15 – 16 May, Copenhagen: Copenhagen Fashion Summit: "Join us this May when fashion's most visionary and innovative minds gather to discuss the most critical issues facing our industry and planet."
03 – 06 June: Detroit: SB'19 Detroit: "Navigate your brand's sustainability journey to deliver business success," by Sustainable Brands.
10 – 12 June, London: Ethical Corporation's 18th Responsible Business Summit Europe: "It's time to Lead: Innovate, Engage and Collaborate."
18 – 20 June, Minneapolis, USA: Circularity 19: "Circularity 19 will bring together more than 500 thought leaders and practitioners to define and accelerate the circular economy."
22 June, Barcelona: Planet Textiles 2019: "The 10th edition of Planet Textiles will be a seminal event on sustainability in the textile manufacturing sector and will see an unrivalled gathering of experts from the entire fashion value chain."
15 – 18 October: Vancouver: Textile Exchange Sustainability Conference: Textile Exchange call for breakout presentations.
(Photo Holger Feulner, CCO)
Disclaimer: The Fashion Sustainability Week in Review (FSWIR) is a twice-weekly roundup of sustainability news items relevant to the fashion, apparel, textile and related industries. The views and opinions expressed in the FSWIR by individual authors and/or media outlets cited do not necessarily reflect the position of GoBlu International or any individual associated with the company.


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Saudi Kadambal Island in the Red Sea gains popularity for its unique mountain
The breath-taking Red Sea island is slowly gaining in popularity because of its beautiful scenery, vast areas of natural formations and an attractive climate for tourists. (Al Arabiya)
Dhafer al-Bakri, Al Arabiya English
An uninhabited Saudi Island in the Red Sea off the coast of the Asir region is gaining in popularity for its unique geographic location and its unique mountain.
Known locally as "Kadambal Island", it is has a mountain attached to a beach on its eastern side.
The breath-taking Red Sea island is slowly gaining in popularity because of its beautiful scenery, vast areas of natural formations and an attractive climate for tourists; making it a destination for them to watch the waves breaking on its coast.
Tourists can take a four hour boat trip to arrive on the island. Tourists passing by the al-Qahma road to al-Shaqeeq can see the Mount on the island which looks like a solid rock in the middle of the sea.
There are stairs paved on the mountain for enthusiastic hikers as well. There are rocks on its sides that have been eroded, forming a beautiful rock formation. Under the mountain, there 11 tombs, possibly for some of the sailors who has died nearby and were buried beneath it, as well as another smaller mountain called Miva nearby.
The Kadambal Island is still primitive, as no people have inhabited it yet and not much has been known regarding the island. It is considered as a main passage for migratory birds. Although it has no inhabitants, it is a preferred place for fishing amateurs who visits it with their small boats to enjoy the quiet beach and crystal clear waters to swim and dive. Also, it is famous for the Iprr pigeons.
Kadambal Island is about to witness a new touristic and developmental era, through the continuous experts' visits to turn all the possible opportunities into a reality, to achieve the 2030 vision. The municipality of al-Qahmah coast held a winter festival that attracted thousands of visitors, carried 10 cruises daily to the island to realize its natural components and introduce the place and its touristic importance to the participants.
kadambal island
saudi nature
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AI predicts how athletes will react in certain situations
The models could help teams improve their play styles.
Stu Forster via Getty Images
Jon Fingas|@jonfingas|March 6, 2017 6:04 PM
When you think of sports analysis, you probably think of raw stats like time in the opposing half or shots on goal. However, that doesn't really tell teams how they should have played beyond vague suggestions. Researchers at Disney, Caltech and STATS believe they can do better: they've developed a system that uses deep learning to analyze athletes' decision-making processes. After enough training based on players' past actions, the system's neural networks can predict future moves and create a "ghost" of a player's typical performance. If a team flubbed a play, it could compare the real action against the predictive ghosts of more effective teams to see how players should have acted.
The Toronto Raptors already have a manual ghosting system where coaches mark out where they think players should have been. This technology, however, lifts that burden. It can create ghosts in real time, even in soccer (aka football) and other sports where the continuous play can lead to predictions that gradually veer from realistic outcomes. The scientists rely on imitation learning, where AI bases its actions on demonstrations, to keep that long-term prediction in check.
The early results are promising. In an example soccer match between Fulham and Swansea, a league-average ghost team replacing Swansea performed about as well in a defensive situation... not well at all, unfortunately. However, swapping in the ghost of a strong defensive team dramatically improved Swansea's chances of preventing a goal. Provided this approach can be adapted to both offense and a wider range of sports, you could see coaches offering more specific advice and shoring up weaknesses that might otherwise go unaddressed.
deeplearning
disneyresearch


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An untapped talent and the art of photography
The-Latest is delighted to introduce to you the work of Mike Farrier, as part of its feature on inspirational photographers who have agreed to share their images with us for your enjoyment.
Mike, who is 31 and says he was born in a basement flat on Priory Road in Kilburn, north west London takes us through his journey as photographer, describing his fascination with film and his first camera, the influences on his work and the methods of photography he uses to create his stunning images as well as giving some sage advice for those interested in pursuing photography as a hobby or career.
Mike Farrier
My primary interest and passion is film making so my interest in photography stems from this. I write, direct, edit and shoot my own projects so my interest in each element of film production, which in my view is the only art form that encompasses and can encompass all others, has led me to explore and teach myself about them to do and achieve the vision I imagine. I can't remember a time when I didn't see the world in a cinematic way. Some of my earliest memories are of watching movies both on television, old afternoon showings of black and white films, and in the cinema on weekends with my father.
The first camera I remember using and was fascinated with both from a mechanical "how does it work" point of view and the obvious capturing of imagery, was an elongated cigarette packet shaped, hinge opening, 110 film camera which used 16mm film instead of 35mm, like the minox spy cameras did, made famous by the original James Bond films.
My parents had owned this camera since before I was born so I remember playing with it all the time and I can't remember a toy or thing I played with before it or more. When there was no film in it, I'd open it up to see how it worked, I would frame scenes through the viewfinder and press the button, pull the lever to wind the film on that wasn't there, and then do it again. I must have framed and not shot hundreds more images like this than I ever did when there was film in it. The first camera I ever bought myself was another 110 film camera, a tiny Kodak (if I remember correctly), black and blue, water proof camera, probably double the dimensions of a lipstick case. I remember buying it because I was going on a school trip and knew we were going to be swimming so I wanted it for that, even though I couldn't swim or do more than a mushroom float at the time, so this would have made me under 8 years old as I didn't learn to swim properly until around that age.
I have absolutely no formal training in any of the things that I do. I left mainstream school at 13 and completely left the educational system at 15, so I didn't sit any exams or obtain any qualifications. I'd started writing at 13 and knew that this and my interests in the others aspects of film production was where I wanted to spend my life and that these were the things I wanted to learn about, so I went about teaching myself about them. I was too young to do film courses of any kind so my main source of education was simply watching films. It was VHS then with no filmmaker commentaries like we have now with DVD.
My style of writing had always been incredibly detailed visually and full of camera direction which isn't the norm. As my scripts became more and more personal and thus full of more detailed descriptions of how I wanted things to look and work which was from the perspective of the audience watching the end product, I got more interested in how these things could be achieved and wanted to be the person doing them, so I could get exactly what I wanted.
The biggest thing that helped me learn anything I think was simply the mathematics of film, that 24 individual still images equalled 1 second of what we see as film motion. From that I extrapolated the math of different effects, shooting less or more frames per second, what that meant when played back and how the exposure of each still image changed because of this. Only by experimentally shooting film, video & stills photography and as my access to more information has changed over the years (thank you internet and dvd commentaries) have I had my theorising about how things are achieved actually confirmed.
Coming to still photography through cinema first, meant I didn't have any influences from the stills photography world at all when I started, just the film world when it came to my favourite cinematographers, many of who did started out as stills photographers. I bought my first film SLR camera for a specific purpose, and before Digital ones got good or affordable. This was to experiment with some stop motion style effects for one of my stories with the added incentive and argument that I would also be able to shoot some stills should I want to. Only after shooting a moving time lapse sequence as an experiment to see if a larger sequence I had always envisioned was possible, and the costs of doing that with actual film stock, did I make the move to shooting with Digital SLRs.
In my reading about and experimenting with all kinds of post production software, from 3D to compositing, I came across a technique called HDR or High Dynamic Range photography as a tool used by post production effects houses in order to capture sets, environments and objects in as many variations of lighting as possible. This would then be used for reference later when doing their end of a project. However, it wasn't until about a year and a half ago that I discovered the work of Trey Ratcliff (stuckincustoms.com) and saw how this reference technique had been adopted into an actual style which really struck me as something I wanted to experiment with myself.
While I do shoot plain stills, my visual style of film making and love of actual film stock is very much about the reality of textures, how dirty and gritty things are. When I started to do HDR photography myself, I was captivated by how I could now capture texture that, to my eye, can go beyond what film itself is able to reproduce without the intricacies of the lighting setups and control over the environments that are involved with traditional filming and photography.
I love creating the illusion of movement and the effects you get by capturing movement with long exposures, this comes from my love of both filming techniques where you change the frame rate of capturing the subject and really great comic book art.
I would say that at present HDR is may favourite method of photography to use since I'm still experimenting and exploring it as an image capturing technique. Prior to this I was doing a lot of time lapse photography and long exposure photography where I was using really dark Neutral Density filters to capture movement for both the time lapse and stills during the day. After this I'm going to do some Infra Red photography, which is fascinating.
I think like most people really, I'm trying to capture either what I see or what I have imagined. I get my satisfaction through being the creator or provider of entertainment and if something I create touches another person in some way then that is incredibly gratifying. With HDR, as I've said, it's texture with the added bonus of a much more extensive and sometimes, extreme colour palette than we can see or could imagine possible. The first thing I do when I get excited and start to experiment with something, which I did with the HDR technique, is forget about all the conventions of the medium I'm working in and simply work on the element that got me excited until I have a handle on that. I then fold that new thing into the conventions so it becomes a new technique I can add to the arsenal of what I can do within that medium. In this case that meant framing first and foremost and patience second.
When I first started I would just quickly grab bracketed exposures of anything and everything, regardless of angles or framing, I simply wanted to capture it and then get home so I could work on the images to see what I could pull out of the shots I'd taken. The blog I started is really just a documentation of that experimentation and learning process that is still evolving. I'm starting to fold this technique into my arsenal of skills now but that process won't really be anywhere near complete until I have a good tripod, which in the world of HDR photography makes me a rebel since I shoot all of my stuff handheld unless there is something solid close at hand and convenient for my framing to sit my camera on. This part of the shooting process is considered a must since all the images must be from the same position, just at different exposures. I've either been lucky or have a pretty steady hand since I don't have that essential piece of kit but I have compensated by buying very good lenses with wide apertures so I can shoot in low light without having to increase my ISO setting from the base level.
Mostly I enjoy photographing movement, the sky, architecture with stone work, wood and glass, reflective surfaces, crystals and objects of any kind. I've been asked why I don't take more photographs of people and my only answer to this is that I simply don't see people and think, "I wish I had my camera to take a picture of that". There's a ton of amazing photographers who photograph people and do it really well, I like their work a lot and people fascinate me on every level but my interest in putting a camera on people is really limited to the medium of cinema and not stills photography.
At the moment I don't have any real career ambitions as a photographer outside of occasionally having someone like something I've done as much as I do. It's not just that I don't consider myself a photographer, from the perspective of the definition being someone who makes a living from it, which I don't. It's more a case of my personally not investing the same amount of myself in this medium as I do with my writing within the medium of cinema, where I hope to touch someone or stir something within them that causes them to think about something they otherwise might not. I think photography has the same power as a communicative tool and art form, I just prefer film and storytelling for doing that.
My advice for anyone interested in photography is buy a camera, any kind but I'd start with a digital one for learning purposes and cheapness. Shoot anything, experiment as much as possible and don't ever worry about making mistakes as there's no such thing. Learn from every shot you take by using the information contained within the metadata of every digital photograph.
This information carries all the settings used when the image was taken, lens length, f-stop, ISO number and shutter speed.All of these are invaluable when learning what gets you what you want and what doesn't. From there, use your imaging editing software to experiment even more. Do the tutorials that come with it, they all have them, even if they're only in the written form of a PDF as part of the manual, there's always something in there you will end up adopting into the techniques you'll eventually use, even if it isn't in the intended form in which you learnt them.
As a career, I wouldn't have a clue since I don't make money from doing this, I do it for my own interest. I would recommend reading some photography sites and blogs by pros who do this for a living. Scott Bourne's photofocus.com is very good, he's been photographing for a living for a long time and is very generous with his time, advice and nuggets of information, especially on the subject of earning a wage from photography.
Photography: Mike Farrier
* View more of Mike's work on his blog blacksmithpro.wordpress.com.
* View our previous six Featured Photographers by clicking on each of these links: first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth.
Submitted by Newsdesk on Fri, 07/17/2009 - 21:00
What's that name, again?
'Alcohol will kill me one day,' says Lady GaGa
'Sicko' opens in the cinemas
1 Response to "An untapped talent and the art of photography"

Chris Gaynor
 Good stuff - I seem to remember reading that award winning film director Martin Scorsese never had any formal training for his art. He once said before fame: "I don't go to film school. I go to movie theatres."


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By Allan on October 2, 2014 • ( 5 Comments )
Piers Morgan talks about CNN
In an interview with Politico, former CNN host Piers Morgan talks about CNN… and his former colleague, Anderson Cooper.
"I've never looked back, because I never feel negative," Morgan said in his first interview since leaving the network in September. "The problem is when you go into a deep decline and start believing what other people are saying about you, like, 'I'm a terrible dimwit British failure who's been sent home packing in the goat class, and we're never going to see him again."
"If you actually believe this bulls—-," he says, "you're never going to get out of bed."
But CNN's decision to cancel his 9 p.m. interview program is a topic he returns to frequently.
The way Morgan tells it, CNN President Jeff Zucker believed it was impossible to sustain a nightly interview show because there simply weren't enough guests. Instead, Morgan says, Zucker offered him an opportunity to do a show that would air 20 times a year, but Morgan declined because Zucker wouldn't let him co-produce it and hire his own staff. (High-level sources at CNN tell a different story: Morgan was pretty much done in March, when the show was terminated due to poor ratings, but he stayed through September because he was on contract.)
During the interview at his home here, Morgan says the offer was "completely, 100 percent on the table. Unequivocally. You can have that on the record." Later, he adds that after his show was cancelled he had "five months of full pay without having to work, which is a nice position to find yourself in and a great way to clear your head."
Whatever the case, Morgan has no hard feelings toward Zucker. He sympathizes with his former boss's Sisyphean effort to boost ratings at a network that, since its inception, has been subject to the whims of the news cycle, and he understands that ending his show was a necessary step in that effort.
Still, Morgan faults Zucker and CNN for being overly preoccupied with ratings.
"I've always felt that CNN should be more resilient to media criticism about monthly or quarterly ratings," Morgan says. "Ted Turner once described CNN to me as The New York Times of television. We don't care about chasing ratings or chasing readers. We care about having a brand that is so trusted that whenever anything important happens in the world, people turn us on."
"If I was running CNN, if I was Jeff Zucker, I would come out and do an interview with someone like you, and I would say, 'I'm not going to discuss ratings again,'" Morgan continues. "Our business proposition is not predicated on ratings, our global brand is not dependent on how we rate at 9 p.m. in America."
Zucker won't actually say that, of course, because "everyone would probably perceive it as him looking weak."
Despite all his talk, Morgan has his own preoccupations with ratings. Though he now claims he "never worried too much" about the fluctuations, he was always happy to tout high ratings whenever the news cycle or the guest booking worked in his favor.
Morgan blames Anderson Cooper, his former colleague, for being a bad lead-in.
"Could I have done with a better lead-in? Yes," Morgan says. "Anderson is a great field reporter, but does he drive big ratings at CNN, outside of a big news cycle? I don't see any evidence of it. And yet the whole bank was being bet on him at 8 and 10 o'clock.
"I never bought into that as my best way of getting ratings" he continues. "You look over at Megyn Kelly on Fox News and she's inheriting 450,000 or 500,000 from Bill O'Reilly in the [25-to-54-year-old] demo, and some days I'd be getting 60,000. That's not to denigrate Anderson so much, because I think he's pretty good at what he does. But was he the golden boy everybody thought he was? I didn't see much evidence of that in ratings."
(Morgan says he and Cooper "were never the easiest of bedfellows." Cooper was "just a totally different character than me," he says, "and we never really clicked.")
There's another page, but it doesn't contain anything interesting about his time at CNN.
Tagged as: anderson cooper, cnn, jeff zucker, piers morgan
Cutting through the fluff
José Manuel Rodríguez upped at CNNEE
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President Lyndon Johnson designated the third Sunday in June as Father's Day in 1966 (57 years after the idea was introduced), and President Nixon made it official in 1972. On the 97th anniversary of the year the idea was born, many Hoosiers and Americans alike will be trying to find that special gift for Dad. Doing so is more difficult than it probably should be, given the numbers.
At the national level, the retail trade industry boasted more than 1.1 million establishments in 2002 and employed over 14.6 million people. Indiana makes up 2.2 percent of those stores and ranks 14th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia for its number of retail establishments (see Figure 1). Each of the following retail industry subsectors ranked Indiana in the top 20 and could spark some gift ideas for Dad: men's clothing, hardware, home center, sporting goods and nursery, garden center, and farm supply stores.
With that in mind, one thing is for certain: Hoosiers have options. Looking for a necktie? Shoppers have 161 men's clothing stores to choose from across the state, or 1.7 percent of all menswear stores in the United States.
Is Dad a handy-man? Shoppers in Indiana will have a good shot at finding the perfect set of tools, be it hammers, wrenches or screwdrivers. There were 387 hardware stores and 137 home centers dotted across the state in 2002, pulling in nationwide ranks of 13th and 14th place, respectively (see Figure 2).
It shouldn't be too difficult to find sporting goods for the more active men in Indiana this Father's Day, with a total of 481 stores to choose from.
And for the fathers who enjoy spending time working in Hoosier soil or those with an environmentally-friendly mindset, Indiana's 476 nursery, garden center and farm supply stores secure another 13th place ribbon for the state and provide a variety of possibilities for gifts.
For those of us just beginning to think of a gift for dad, being low on options isn't an excuse. With Indiana's 24,322 retail establishments (men's clothing, hardware, home center, sporting goods and nursery, garden center, and farm supply stores make up 6.8 percent of that number), there is bound to be something every father can enjoy.


During this English lesson you will start learning what is simple past tense and how to use it using regular verbs and irregular verbs.
What is simple past tense and how do I use it?
You will use simple past tense when you talk about actions that have already happened at a some time in the past. You need to use a time adverb when using in a sentence.
I went to the hospital last week.
I cleaned the house. I didn't clean the house.
You washed the clothes. You didn't wash the clothes.
He lived in England. He didn't live in England.
She studied French. She didn't study french.
It ate its food It didn't eat it's food.
We had a good time. We didn't have a good time.
They saw a good movie. They didn't see a good movie.
Mr Bean was born in London August 4th 1970.
He worked as a secret agent for many years.
Yesterday Mrs Bean woke at 7am.
Mr didn't work last week as he was on holiday with Mrs Bean.
When I was younger I didn't like to go shopping with sister as she went to many shops.
The past tense form of do= did.
I didn't have any money last month.


We are pleased to announce that the Online Performers Group is now representing two more talented content creators, TigerWriter and DJTechLive.
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With the passion and desire for his career in entertainment, TigerWriter is known for welcoming viewers into the community he has built, bringing smiles and merrymaking positivity to all.
DJTechLive is a full-time variety streamer with a focus on creating a positive, friendly environment for his community. Whether playing through the latest exciting video game or spending a relaxing day in Twitch's Creative directory, you can always count on DJTechLive to bring the kind of entertainment that the whole family can enjoy.
A well-rounded broadcaster, DJTechLive has had experience in event hosting, commentary, interviewing, and correspondence across multiple platforms during his career.
We will be providing business development, negotiation, and day-to-day management services so that TigerWriter and DJTechLive can continue to focus on providing high-quality, live streaming entertainment to their fans.


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The 1954–55 Hapoel Ramat Gan season was the club's 29th season since its establishment in 1927, and 7th since the establishment of the State of Israel.

During the season, the club competed in Liga Alef (top division) and the State Cup.

Match Results

Legend

Liga Alef

League matches began on 6 February 1955, and by the time the season, only 20 rounds of matches were completed, delaying the end of the league season to the next season.

League table (as of 2 July 1955)

Source:

Matches

Results by match

State Cup

References

Hapoel Ramat Gan F.C. seasons
Hapoel Ramat Gan

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Another excellent position for lovers of oral pleasures, its distinct advantage is obvious, because both partners are absolutely equal, they both can relax and get pleasure. The woman lies on her back, her legs are closed and slightly bent at the knees. The man lies on his female partner from top for his face to be between her legs, he takes her thighs with his arms and opens slightly his legs apart, opening his private parts desiring for caress to the woman. If the partners know what they do, they both are guaranteed with a lot of pleasure.


text:
Identity document validation (and detecting fraudulent identity documents) is a major part of a robust Know Your Customer (KYC) process. Authenticating and verifying government-issued identity documents is becoming more complex and costly due to the innovative ways in which money launderers, fraudsters, and identity theirs are using even the most rudimentary tools to try to spoof identities and create false identity documents.
There are many different forms of identity spoofing and tampering that exist. Organizations need to be on the lookout and develop strict identity document validation processes.
Onboarding with Geolocation Intelligence
Cybercrime is borderless, location-independent, and most organizations just don't have the capacity to identify it in time.
One form of protection against this form of cybercrime during customer onboarding is IP-based geolocation intelligence. A bad actor attempting to successfully spoof or assume a stolen identity may use IP-masking techniques such as routing through several virtual private networks (VPNs) whose servers and signal may be located thousands of miles away. Several services now employ methods to block these sorts of tools despite their largely benign use by the general public.
Major forms of cyberattacks which may be thwarted using geolocation intelligence include:
Email and internet fraud.
Identity fraud (where personal information is stolen and used).
Theft of financial or card payment data.
Theft and sale of corporate data.
Cyberextortion (demanding money to prevent a threatened attack).
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, here is a list of methods you can use to protect your identity:
Read your credit card and bank statements each month.
Never give your credit card number over the phone, unless you made the call and trust the business or person.
Report suspicious transactions to your credit card company or bank.
Review a copy of your credit report at least once each year. Notify the credit bureau in writing of any questionable entries.
Shred any documents with personal or financial information on them.
In addition to using geolocation intelligence, leveraging customer utility data as a form of address verification is extremely useful to identity validation services.
Address Verification Services To Fight Fraud
A potential customer (bad actor) can engage in address spoofing or building a synthetic identity through the use of actually valid pieces of an identity stitched together to achieve some sort of financial gain. Using identity verification services that integrate this type of address verification into their process can detect spoofed, invalid, or inaccurate addresses.
Countries across the world have specific address formats. In addition to criminals, there could be just a data input issue (by the customer themselves in the situation where a form isn't style appropriately for the corresponding country or by inexperienced identity verification services themselves) that results in low match rates and costs your organization in the long run.
Identity verification services, and their systems, need to have a dedicated, experienced, team that is able to actually apply the rigorous 'first pass' review process and understand red flags that may hint at a geolocation issue, a spoofed or synthetic identity fraud attempt or just plain manual error. These types of attempted incursions follow patterns and criminals have specific typologies (a term often used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and law enforcement personnel).
Synthetic Identity Fraud vs. Legacy Fraud
Synthetic identity fraud differs from traditional identity theft because the perpetrator creates a new composite identity rather than stealing an existing one. When synthetic ID fraud occurs, fraudsters take different personally identifiable information (PII) from real identities and piece it together with fake information. Some or all the identity information is correct, but the combination of various data creates a usable identity that represents a fake person. In many cases, real Social Security numbers (SSN) are taken and attached to fake information, but it can be any combination of real and fake PII. It is the combination of all these different pieces of information that create synthetic identities that are used for fraud.
Synthetic fraud is bad for companies because they are the ones who are affected by it. Unlike other types of fraud like identity theft, there is no real consumer victim. This means the responsibility of dealing with synthetic identity fraud falls on the institutions that provide services to synthetic identities. Businesses can lose significant revenue dealing with the repercussions associated with synthetic identity fraud. Synthetic ID fraud is associated with 5% of uncollected debt and 20% in credit losses. Plus, businesses can lose more money by receiving fines for violating Know Your Customer (KYC) or Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations.
That is not the worst of it though. Reports state that synthetic ID theft is growing at a rate of 18% each year. This means companies must rally together to find solutions that stop synthetic fraud from happening.
Identity Document Spoofing, Synthetic Ids And Tampering
Identity document validation is a challenging task as bad actors and criminals are becoming more ingenious and often fly under the radar due to the simple nature of this crime.
Methods typically used in tampering are:
scratching
opening using heat, solvents, and tools
adding a foil on top of the card with the impostor's data
Identity Theft & Synthetic Identity Crimes in 2020
According to the Insurance Information Institute, "There were 4.8 million identity theft and fraud reports received by the FTC in 2020, up 45 percent from 3.3 million in 2019," Major identity theft & synthetic Identity crimes are rising at an unparalleled rate.
"The Consumer Sentinel Network, maintained by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), tracks consumer fraud and identity theft complaints that have been filed with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and private organizations. There were 4.8 million identity theft and fraud reports received by the FTC."(Insurance Information Institute)
Business/personal loan
Miscellaneous identity theft
Credit card fraud—new accounts
Government benefits applied for/received
Insurance & Identity Fraud Among Crimes NC Woman Faces
North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey announced that Angela K. Whidbee, 33, of Greenville was arrested and charged with identity theft and insurance fraud, both felonies. Whidbee is accused of giving false information to authorities. Specifically including another person's name, date of birth, address and driver's license number to avoid legal consequences of an automobile crash. Unsophisticated crimes like these are just the tip of the iceberg and a major reason why identity verification services are so important.
Twenty-Two Charged in Connection with a More than $11-Million Paycheck Protection Program Fraud Scheme
More than twenty individuals have been arrested and charged with attempting to obtain approximately $11.1 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and to use those funds to purchase luxury vehicles, jewelry and other personal items.
The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and its purpose are defined pretty well by the Small Business Administration: "Paycheck Protection Program loans provide a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll and to maintain their operations. PPP loans are eligible to be forgiven provided certain requirements are met."
Legitimate uses of the PPP loan program include: Payroll, mortgage interest, rent/lease, and utilities. It is important to underscore that these uses somehow have escaped the minds of modern fraudsters and criminals.
Past fraud cases include fraudsters using fraudulently obtained funds to purchase:
Mansions, upscale condos
Defendant Purchased Lamborghini with COVID-19 Relief Funds
Recently, a PPP fraudster decided to purchase a Lamborghini with his fraudulently obtained COVID-19 relief funds. A Florida man was sentenced to six years in prison for fraudulently obtaining more than $8.9 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and using the funds to purchase an exotic $318,000 Lamborghini car.
Thieves Stole More Than $1 Million In 'Synthetic Identity Fraud Scheme, New York District Attorney Claims
A complex scheme involving pieces of fraudulent identities stitched together by thieves that garnered them a profit of $1 million dollars is being unraveled by police in New York. According to Newsday the scheme involved 13 people "including at least 10 Long Island residents, and three corporations are facing charges in a 108-count indictment involving what Suffolk District Attorney Timothy Sini on Wednesday dubbed a "a massive, nationwide synthetic identity fraud scheme."
Utility data and stringent document verification can help thwart these types of stolen identity and 'Frankenstein fraud' schemes before they occur.
Document Verification Using Utility Data
User-permissioned utility data can provide the wealth of information that your organization needs to onboard faster. Identity verification services use this data to cross-reference during the document variation phase of onboarding.
Typical data used by identity verification providers includes:
Utility bill data
Monthly bill amounts (average or current)
Monthly usage data
Customer's biological information
This type of cross-referencing during onboarding is an advanced form of identity verification and can:
Prevent forgery
Detect & deter fraud
Allow you to verify more customers, faster
Create a seamless user experience
IDMconnect: User-Permissioned Utility Data For Identity & Address Verification
The IDMconnect Data Platform connects to 2300+ utility and telecom providers across 40 countries.
Fully Customized, ResTful API Gets You Connected To Utility Data Fast
Real-Time Access
Become KYC & AML Compliant
AML Experts Always Available
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 How Do You Know Your Training Simulation Will Be Successful?
Home » How Do You Know Your Training Simulation Will Be Successful?
How Do You Know Your Training Simulation Will Be Successful?
There are several different components to consider in designing and developing interactive 3D software that will ensure that your training simulation will get the results you want. These components aren't random in design and structure. They are developed within each serious game to allow management and training coordinators to have measurable data to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of the training program. In addition, having clear objectives that translate into real world behaviors for learners is another sign of a very effective and successful training simulation. Without this element it is literally impossible to determine if the learners are actually mastering and implementing the tools and skills developed in the immersive learning simulations.
A multimedia approach to the presentation of the information including text, chat, audio communication and tips, visual clues, realistic and accurate video, music and actual sound effects based on the game environment.
The ability to know immediately if they have made the right choice in moving forward through the game rather than playing through to the end and discovering a mistake occurred in the path they chose.
A realistic and authentic interactive 3D environment that allows the processing of the visual images and clues before prompts and text information is provided.
The ability to allow different learners to interact with each other throughout the game. This may be in a voice or text chat program running simultaneously with the serious game .
Knowing what they are expected to learn in the simulation and having fun with the learning experience.
Information that is relevant to their lives and can be used in practical ways in their environment.
Making sure that the training simulation accurately and clearly links or connects the skills taught in the game and the content of the game to the actual performance goals of the company or business.
Using a Learning Management System (LMS) program to connect the learning objects of the game to the specific programming in the code to highlight the objectives and goals that you want to reinforce or develop through the training.
Collecting data, feedback, game scores and specific issues such as dwell time and patterns in the way the learners approach the serious game scenario. This can help to determine any cultural issues, external motivators or patterns of response that are negative or positive with respect to the company's goals and objectives. It can also be used to quickly modify or adjust the game for optimum learning.
Displaying the results of the training scenarios as they reflect actual improvement in productivity, sales, performance and satisfaction within the company or agency.
A great interactive training simulation will be highly successful providing it contains the aspects of online training that learners want, as well as what management needs.


No need to rush to the grocery store to get your marshmallow fix. Marshmallow Man brings you your favorite fluffy treats, those creamy puffs that you craved so dearly are now bottled for on the go deliciousness! VG to PG ratio: Max VG You Will Receive: 1x - Bottle of Marshmallow Man BEASTLY BECAUSE Marshmallow man helps your clouds stay afloat and keeps you puffed on your favorite fluffy treats! Warning for California Residents Regarding Proposition 65: This product contains nicotine, a chemical known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm.


Financial District's finest florists and flowers. Delivered.
Wouldn't it be helpful if there was a website dedicated to letting you browse sensational flower bouquets and plant arrangements from local florists in the Financial District neighbourhood? Well look no further, thanks to Floom.
Just enter your delivery zipcode to send flowers (with same day delivery if you'd like) or a plant arrangement to a Financial District zipcode today.
Financial District same day flower delivery is available when ordered before 12pm and next day flower delivery in Financial District is available if ordered before 11:59pm.
Order your flowers for Financial District online with Floom, and the local independent florist fulfilling your order will ensure they are hand delivered to your chosen recipient. We also provide the (free) option for a gift message, handwritten by a florist, in the delivery card which will arrive with your bouquet - for that personal touch.
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Located in the New York City borough of Manhattan, the Financial District (also referred to as FiDi) is a neighbourhood situated on the southern tip of Manhattan Island. The area of the district excludes Battery Park and Battery Park City, and includes the One World Trade Center (the tallest building in the United States). The New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ and the New York Board of Trade are all located within the boundaries of the district.
Surrounding areas include Tribeca and Two Bridges.
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text:
Аферьево  — деревня в Калязинском районе Тверской области. Входит в состав Старобисловского сельского поселения.

География
Находится в юго-восточной части Тверской области на расстоянии приблизительно 14 км на юго-восток по прямой от районного центра города Калязин.

История
Была отмечена на карте 1825 года. В 1859 году здесь (тогда деревня Калязинского уезда Тверской губернии) было учтено 7 дворов, в 1978 — 4.

Население
Численность населения: 51 человек (1859 год), 4 (русские 100 %) в 2002 году, 0 в 2010.

Примечания

Населённые пункты Калязинского района


text:
Effective private enforcement of EU competition law: an input and output legitimacy analysis of collective redress
Petrucci, C (2016) 'Effective private enforcement of EU competition law: an input and output legitimacy analysis of collective redress.' In: Drake, S and Smith, M, (eds.) Effective Enforcement of EU Law and Policy. Edward Elgar, 231 - 255. ISBN 9781784718688
Petrucci - Effective private enforcement of EU competition law_ an input.pdf
Download (176kB) | Request a copy
This paper assesses the effectiveness of the 2013 Commission?s Communication and Recommendation on collective redress mechanisms by combining the theory of input/output legitimacy with the EU legal concept of effectiveness. In particular, this paper asks first, whether the inputs provided by the European Parliament and stakeholders in the course of the policy-making process of private enforcement of competition law and of collective redress had an impact on the EU rules currently adopted; and second, whether such inputs have increased rather than decreased the effectiveness of these rules. The paper shows that the European Parliament and stakeholders? positions are reflected in the adopted rules. As for the impact of such inputs in terms of more, rather than less, effectiveness, the assessment seems to point to a decreased effectiveness of these rules, which is reflected in the adoption of soft-law, which means that the Member States may not adopt it, and in the capability of these rules to promote compliance with Article 101 and 102 TFEU. However, this paper also shows that the European Parliament and stakeholders? inputs highlighted the need that the collective redress rules should respect some important legal values that make the judicial decision-making process legitimate. This is an important precondition for the proper application of the new rules on collective redress by the legal community, which in turn is likely to make such rules effective.
Faculty of Humanities > Law, School of
Carlo Petrucci
http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/17653