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An interview with Michael Keen
by James Stewart
Michael Keen, Deputy Director of the IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department, will be the keynote speaker at this year's WIDER Development Conference on Public Economics for Development. Back in 2014 we interviewed him at our offices in Helsinki, and asked him about his work on poverty, tax, and spending.
Why general subsidies are not a good way to help the poor
In the interview, Keen acknowledges that subsidies on things such as food and petroleum might seem like a tempting way to reach the poor. After all, the poor spend a larger proportion of their disposable income on these things than the rich, and it seems sensible to see these policies as pro-poor in nature.
However, Keen points out, the rich spend a larger absolute amount on food and petroleum, and most other products that might be subject to subsidies. As a result, most of the benefit in absolute terms goes to the rich, not the poor. Keen's research shows that for every 100 dollars a government forgoes in revenue for a food subsidy, the poorest get 4 dollars of the benefit. The question for Keen then is, are there better ways to use that 100 dollars to help the poor?
Alternatives to subsidies
In advanced economies with established structures of social support the answer can be relatively straightforward. Governments can simply choose not to forgo the 100 dollars, and use it to bolster social transfers to the poorest in society.
Keen accepts that this may be more difficult to do in developing and emerging economies where social support systems may not have the capacity to reach the poor effectively. However he argues that even the very blunt tools of redistribution available in these countries are often better for reaching the poor than reduced taxes and subsidies.
Keen also suggests rethinking the common view that VAT is a regressive tax. While it may be true that VAT in itself is regressive, if the revenue raised is spent on pro-poor measures it is not necessarily the case.
Keen also highlights property tax as a good example of a tax where there are potential gains in both fairness and efficiency terms. Even if we leave aside the potential redistribution effect of a property tax it can be quite an efficient tax base, especially in developing countries where tax collection capacity is weak, because property is more difficult to hide than income.
Practical matters often act as barriers to research
Keen argues that to a large extent practical issues are the barrier preventing research on how to help the poor turn into policy. He gives the example of the UK, where a zero VAT rating of food in the UK is generally recognized as a very ineffective way of helping the poor, but it is politically untouchable.
He highlights two reasons why it is so hard for politicians to take on these policies. First, it is the rich who gain the most absolute benefit from subsidies; they are therefore a natural and powerful constituency to campaign for their continuation.
Second, it is an issue of trust in the government. While the poor may be better off if the government removed subsidies, or raised VAT, and spent the revenue on pro-poor measures, people have to believe that these other measures will actually materialize in order to support such policies. In countries where trust in government is low this can be a significant problem.
Considering both sides of the coin
The overarching message of Keen's interview is that when thinking about how to help the poorest in society, we need to consider both the tax and spending side of the public economics coin. While a given tax may make the poor worse off, if the revenue raised is spent in a way which helps them, the overall policy package can be progressive.
The importance of considering tax and spending together is one of the key motivations behind the WIDER Development Conference on Public Economics for Development, which you can read more about here.
Other blogs by this author
Mini-documentary: Mozambique - Scaling up research and capacity
Domestic revenue mobilization and the role of data
Opening the vault
Affirmative action policies and South Africa's racial wage gap
Four graphs you need to see on International Women's Day
Prospects for a Tanzanian transformation
Poverty and wellbeing in Mozambique
Discrimination – the limitations of implicit association tests and the impact of the job market
Extractive industries and development – taxing profits and investing gains
Five lessons from Martin Ravallion's WIDER Annual Lecture
Extreme poverty - the poorest are being left behind
The role of economists in policy-making
Co-operation not competition – Joseph Stiglitz on the state and the market
Climate Change – The last 30 years and the next 30
Tax revenues in transition countries
By Ismoil Khujamkulov 24.01.2017
Tax structures and economic growth
Taxation and inequality in developing countries
By Bruno Martorano 14.09.2016
Updated Government Revenue Dataset provides new insights into developing country tax collection trends
Revenue data like you've never seen it before
Data for better tax policy analysis
Macro-economic management (M-EM)
Working Paper | Tax revenues in transition countries
Working Paper | Tax structures and economic growth
Working Paper | Taxation and inequality in developing countries
Blog | Too late, too little? The IMF and international tax flight
Blog | Updated Government Revenue Dataset provides new insights into developing country tax collection trends
Blog | Domestic revenue mobilization and the role of data
Blog | Revenue data like you've never seen it before
Blog | Data for better tax policy analysis
Lower exploration spending – another response to the end of the commodity price boom


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The Tragedy of Stephon Clark
Salena Manni, the fiancee of police shooting victim Stephon Clark, holds the couple's son, Aiden as she is hugged by Cecilia McClenton at a rally calling for police reform on Saturday.
PHOTO CREDIT: Rich Pedroncelli/AP via The Guardian
Last month, a young black man by the name of Stephon Clark was killed by police officers in Sacramento, CA. Police were responding to a call about someone breaking into cars and ended up shooting and killing Stephon in his grandmother's backyard. They claimed he had a gun but it was later discovered to only be an iPhone.
Stephon was just 22-years-old and an autopsy revealed that he was shot a total of eight times with six of those shots in the back. This contradicted the police officers' stories and combined with the fact that both officers muted their body cams during the incident, a lot of shade has been thrown in their direction.
Hundreds have been gathering day after day in Sacramento to protest for police reform. They have also demanded that the police officers involved in Stephon's death be fired. This is just the latest incidence to fuel the Black Lives Matter movement and draw attention to the immense injustice revolving around race and policing.
"Say his name! Stephon Clark!" Demonstrators matching down Michigan Ave in Chicago pic.twitter.com/OBoCpqQ1LY
— Aaron Cynic (@aaroncynic) April 2, 2018
Join a community of peacemakers and create a project to address racial injustice today!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


With today's technology, world news is readily accessible and stories abound for which we may feel empathy – yet rarely is there a chance to express this emotion publicly. It was this that my father, the artist, John Harrison, wished to address with the work, Empathy Tower, following an open call to artists from the Newcastle-based NewBridge Project to create a response to the Ken Loach film 'I, Daniel Blake'.
'I, Daniel Blake' follows the story of a 59 year-old Geordie carpenter, who needed welfare assistance from the State after suffering a heart attack, which rendered him unable to work. The film highlights loopholes in the Benefits system when Daniel finds himself in limbo, instructed by his doctor not to work, but being told to look for employment by Jobseeker Advisors.
The private response experienced by the viewer while watching the film is likely to remain just that – private. Whereas, Empathy Tower attempted to capture, and share publicly, the empathy many felt. The idea was to create a Jobseeker experience out in the street, visible to anyone on a given day. A desk, computer, chairs, were set-up outside and actors as Jobseeker Advisor characters handed passers-by mock appointment cards to sign on. By participating in this physical and visual recreation of the Jobseeker experience people were able to demonstrate their empathy for those going through the real Benefits system.
Wooden blocks symbolising Daniel Blake's profession as a carpenter, were used as the signing on medium and to build the tower. Wood has a natural honesty in contrast to man-made technology and the de-humanising computerised Jobseeker system. Participators were asked to sign their name or write a slogan on the block of wood before adding it to the growing tower. 'I, Daniel Blake' actor, Kema Sikazwe's block reading 'We are all Daniel Blake' was added to the tower alongside many others which carried similar empathetic messages of support such as 'We care!', 'We could all be Daniel' and 'Stand together'.
Empathy can be seen from two perspectives: cognitive empathy, which refers to the ability to deduce another person's feelings, and emotional empathy, or the ability to vicariously produce an emotional response and share feelings with another person as discussed by psychologist, Paul Van Lange. In his article 'Does Empathy Trigger Only Altruistic Motivation? How About Selflessness or Justice?' (Emotion, 2008), Van Lange identifies empathy as key to understanding social interaction and a prerequisite in prompting pro-social change. Yet this needs to be addressed sensitively because empathy also has the potential to create a divide between those empathising and those for whom they are feeling empathy.
I asked my father to explain his thoughts on empathy in relation to this public artwork and to address the question people involved with the project often asked – what is the point in publicly visualising empathy?
Roberta Harrison: Why did this project appeal to you and how does it fit into your practice?
John Harrison: I have had a wide-ranging practice over many years, using both digital and analogue media and I have lots of ideas and projects, which are works in progress. I was aware of the film, 'I, Daniel Blake' and the issues Ken Loach was addressing. The opportunity offered by NewBridge spurred me into action.
RH: What did you hope to achieve in recreating this space?
JH: I felt it was important to recreate a space to which people might have an emotional response, a familiar environment for some, that others would be curious about. The performance on Northumberland Street was an echo of a Jobseeker experience and ultimately sought to bring attention to the treatment of people in an increasingly script-led, automated Benefits system.
RH: Did you research the Job Centre?
JH: The Jobseeker process was based on my own experience of signing on in recent years. It was reinforced by the film and further researched by meeting up with Fran Heathcote of the Public and Commercial Services Union to discuss what it is like to work in the Job Shop from an employee's point of view.
RH: People can sometimes be reluctant to sign their names. It can feel very personal for the participant, as though they are giving away something of themselves. How do you feel this impacted on the work?
JH: I think this was essential to make the work personal and not just a casual experience. It was actually important to create an environment where people felt as if they were engaging with the bigger picture. This was a way of demonstrating empathy with those going through the Benefits system, by being seen as a Jobseeker and then by signing and defacing the wooden brick, they drew on their empathy to become instrumental in subverting the system. The act of signing their name in support of Jobseekers on a block of wood, which was then used to build a tower of strength, gave both a visual and a physical lasting expression of their empathy.
RH: Which are the examples of empathy from passers-by that stand out for you?
JH: A participant talked at length about her own family experiences regarding difficulties with disability benefits. She specifically wanted to talk about how these problems actually caused the onset of depression for the family member – the system was causing depression. A couple, who had had problems in the past through being in and out of work and signing on, were motivated to take part. They were very keen to support what the tower represented because this was the only the chance they had had publicly to say something about their own difficulties. The tower became the focal point for people to talk and empathise with each other.
RH: Were some comments more engaged with the theme of the work than others?
RH: Was it important for this to be a sculptural work?
JH: Yes, it had to be a 3D piece people could inspect and walk around – when there is a problem it is always good to look at the problem from more than one angle – the Benefit system needs to be addressed – interrogated, inspected and reviewed. One aspect that became apparent was that as the tower grew it became vulnerable and began to appear as though it would fall over – it took on a form which could be seen to represent the fragility of the system.
RH: Did you have to explain the design of the tower or did it take shape naturally? Was it significant that three structures formed?
JH: When the first blocks were signed, I laid the first four down in a shape, which would hold the increasing structure. People generally followed that design. When a block was placed in such a way that it would make the tower unstable it would be corrected. I had intended to have one tower, but logistically without further support this would not have been possible in a live situation. Multiple towers were recreated in the NewBridge Gallery space to reflect what was created in the original performance.
RH: What were participants' responses to the shape itself?
JH: People seemed to enjoy building something substantial and I think it made the work more significant. Participants signing felt more engaged when they understood that their personal block would be part of the tower. People were quite careful when adding blocks to the tower, and some felt on edge because of its vulnerability.
RH: The act of showing support to those going through the Benefits system struck a chord with a large number of people whether they had seen 'I, Daniel Blake' or not. Many had experienced the system, directly or indirectly. How was this expressed throughout the project?
JH: An unexpected side effect of the work was that people not only wanted to engage with the work and build the tower, but they also were very keen to give time to stand and talk about their own experiences or those of people they knew within the Benefits system or who were suffering hardship in general. This was extremely revealing and became one of the strengths underpinning the tower. Conversations were held in earnest, some individuals talked about how they were able to beat the system through hard work – these people had little sympathy for others finding hardships in the system, since they could only identify with their own achievement in escaping it.
RH: How did the work change when the performance was recreated in its subsequent iteration at the NewBridge Project Gallery?
JH: The performance on Northumberland Street was a raw experience, both for me and for people taking part. In signing a block, individuals were vulnerable and on display themselves. There was real interaction – an impulsive, natural emotional response. The gallery experience was more reflective and evoked a greater aesthetic curiosity – valid but somewhat less empathetic. People in the gallery were no longer participants, but had become observers, the artwork changed from being a live and organic performance provoking emotional empathy to an exhibit evoking cognitive empathy. In Northumberland Street people had been comfortable talking about others they knew and the discomfort of being out of work and claiming benefits. In the gallery, the dynamic was different and visitors were generally discussing the fact that people had signed the wooden blocks, and looking to see what they had been said. The gallery, however, ultimately is the lifeblood of a work like this, because the work can live on, as a totem.
RH: Why do you feel it is important to use art to think about empathy?
JH: In everyday life we come across situations or news stories and can empathise with those involved, but rarely is there a chance to engage with something that allows you to show physical empathy.
Following this conversation with my father, I believe the point in publicly visualising empathy lies in the hope of creating a longer lasting connection between the subject and the individual, rather than just another ephemeral story in a crowded media stream. By creating the space for dialogue around the subject of the Benefits system an opportunity was presented for those who are not directly affected by the topic to identify with something tangible and real in stories that otherwise might seem detached from their lives. It also provided a chance for those, who had struggled in the past, or know those who have, to show solidarity with people undergoing similar problems now, by signing their names and contributing to the tower.
Ultimately, Empathy Tower was a discussion piece on the subject of the failings of the Benefit system in the UK. The hope for this artwork was not to create a divide between those empathising, and the people for whom they are feeling empathy, and not even necessarily to prompt change, but to give a voice to the empathy that would otherwise be left unheard.
Empathy Tower took place on Northumberland Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 20 October 2016 and was on display at NewBridge Project Space, Newcastle-upon-Tyne from 28 – 30 October 2016.


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UAE-based Palestinian-American expat starts an employee benefits platform at age 27: Here's how
June 8, 2022 by worldhighlight
"Bet on yourself if you want to take financial risks. And take financial risks if you're given a chance while young and have less to ", says Brian Habibi, 35 years old, this Palestinian-American expat's parents had instilled these lessons in him from a young age.
He has been living in Dubai since 1992 from age 5, apart from his time at university in the US. "I grew up in a business-minded family. My dad was an entrepreneur, and my mother was an economics professor.
"At a young age, I began to understand the importance of being willing to bet on yourself and financial literacy. Since my father was an entrepreneur himself, and from a business perspective, entrepreneurship might be the hardest thing you do. Still, I learned that it has the potential to be the most rewarding on both a personal and financial level.
"I was fortunate to grow up in a safe city, observing it transform into a significant global player. Living here, I received an excellent education, had the chance to play several competitive school sports and built a strong network of friends worldwide."
Habibi was passionate about business from his high school days.
From an early age, he decided and wanted to study business. "In high school, I took economics, accounting and business studies. These subjects helped me form a base to better understand the implementation of marketing strategies, demand and supply, pricing and identify business opportunities. Also, they gave me a strong foundation for the business courses I studied at university."
He graduated from Saint Mary's College, California, in 2008 with a degree in business administration and began to work in 2009 in the marketing department at an FMCG food brand. "I became the marketing department's head and overlooked all online and offline marketing initiatives.
"Here, I spearheaded the development of a revised brand strategy to keep pace with the evolving landscape of Arab women in the GCC and to ensure brand relevance and affinity with consumers. I developed and managed the marketing budget, utilized marketing, sales and technology know -how to spearhead the development and launch of a fully customized ERP solution (software that organizations use to manage day-to-day business activities such as accounting, project management, risk management, etc.) and leveraged the brand's digital presence to launch many online initiatives.
UAE-based Bayzat started as a financial comparison site and evolved into a company software used to automate the firm's HR, payroll and insurance processes.
"The experience taught me that every endeavor must be tied to specific objectives and identify the financial costs and potential rewards to allow for a proper post outcome analysis."
When Habibi was 27 years, he, along with Talal Bayaa, also 27 years at that time, co-founded and launched Bayzat in 2014. Bayzat started as a financial comparison site and evolved into a company software used to automate the firm's HR, payroll and insurance processes.
The business essentially enables employers to grant their teams unprecedented access to work, finance, and medical benefits, while also giving employees access (via their smartphone app) to over 200 deals and offers across F&B, lifestyle and fitness and entertainment outlets in the UAE.
The platform is hosted in data centers based in the UAE and is delivered via the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model to customers. (It allows users to connect to and use cloud-based apps over the Internet. Common examples are email, calendaring, and office tools.)
How did you choose this business and expand your services?
Bayzat was launched when the founders observed and understood the need for a platform that provided better transparency and online visibility to consumers searching for banking and insurance products.
"And when the UAE made it mandatory for companies to insure their employees, we decided to pivot the business in 2015. The website was well optimized across banking and insurance lines; therefore, we started receiving many inquiries for group medical insurance, efficiently within the SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) sector.
"While engaging with an increasing number of UAE based companies, we saw a clear opportunity to develop technology to improve how businesses bought and used their medical insurance policies. There were also fundamental issues with how companies were managing their HR or human resources, insurance and payroll processes, with over 70 per cent of UAE businesses relying on excel and other outdated methods."
So, how did you fund your business?
Habibi said that during the early days, the founders self-funded the company by continuing to work at their full-time jobs while working the business during nights and weekends.
"Once we could show proof of concept, we raised our first few million dollars from family, friends and other individual investors. Today, the business raised over Dh132.2 million ($36 million) from a mix of individual investors, family offices and a variety of regional and international Venture Capitalists, such as BECO Capital, Mubadala and P72 Ventures."
Bayzat raised over Dh132.2 million ($36 million) from a mix of individual investors, family offices and a variety of regional and international Venture Capitalists. (Picture used for illustrative purposes)
Two entrepreneurship lessons Habibi shares from his experiences
Lesson #1: Challenges will come daily in the business course but be resilient and willing to embrace change and readjust.
Habibi said that although entrepreneurship is a humbling profession, be prepared to deal with new challenges in your journey.
"When you start fooling yourself into believing everything is running smoothly, a new curveball is thrown your way, forcing you to readjust.
"Each stage of the business and fundraising brought different challenges, but we have moved into hyper growth. COVID-19 has been an accelerator to remote work; hiring and retaining top tier talent is becoming harder than ever, making our offering more relevant now than before.
"There have been countless challenges faced and lessons learned across industries and sectors; something that stood out in my mind was the importance of remaining nimble, resilient and willing to embrace change to survive and thrive in the new 'normal'. These lessons are now embedded in our DNA as we have truly adopted an 'experimental' mind-set throughout the organization."
Lesson #2: To manage the cash flow well, be proficient at forecasting and setting contingency plans.
He added that as his current business has continued to raise money and generate additional revenue, they have become more proficient at forecasting and setting contingency plans to ensure they manage cash flow effectively. "Being focused on 'hyper growth' (rapid expansion where companies experience an annual growth rate of 40 per cent or higher), we have also learned that it is harder to scale back on expenditures versus identifying the right levers for investment to manage cash flow and achieve our budget (ie doubling down in marketing, sales, etc.)."
What money rules or strategies do you personally follow in life?
Money lesson: Don't jump into investment opportunities that sound 'too good to be true'.
Habibi said, "Bayzat is my most significant investment and hopefully will represent the most considerable portion of my future savings. I ensure that all my other investments are well diversified."
He and his wife put aside a specific amount from their monthly incomes for investments and manage their budget based on the remainder.
"We have diversity in our portfolio in equity, fixed income (bonds) and private investments, invest small amounts in high risk-high reward opportunities, and ensure they are amounts we can afford to lose.
Habibi and his wife put aside a specific amount from their monthly incomes for investments and manage their budget based on the remainder.
"The breakdown of our current investment portfolio is cash – 20 per cent, fixed income – 10 per cent, equity – 50 per cent, private investments – 15 per cent and cryptocurrencies – 5 per cent.
"Given my general outlook and the current economic and political environments, I am planning, very shortly, to reallocate my portfolio as cash – 10 per cent, fixed income – 7.5 per cent, equity– 55 per cent, private investments – 20 per cent and crypto –7.5 per cent."
For his children, he believes the future will hold more challenges; hence their ability to learn and adapt quickly will be crucial for their success.
"Education is one of the greatest gifts you can give your children. My wife and I set aside monthly savings for our two-year-old son's education.
"Ultimately, I believe the best investment I can make for my son's future is being able to instil the importance of hard work, accountability, and honesty. Hopefully, with some luck, he will succeed in whatever he chooses to do."
Eat and exercise well to prevent sarcopenia
New exhibition reveals the Baroness artist who wore cake as a hat and lived in poverty


Is a ceiling mount fan not an option? Then this bathroom exhaust fan is for you. It was designed specifically for through-the-wall mounting to enable ventilation in rooms where a ceiling mounted fan just won't do. It is perfectly suited for new construction and remodeling. An exterior hood with a backdraft damper is included with this bathroom fan as well as a bird screen.
This fan quietly moves air because it features a totally enclosed condenser motor and a large, double suction blower. The blower wheel is also designed to draw air in from both sides, which helps keep the noise down, as there is more area for the air to enter the wheel. This fan operates at a quiet 1.1 sones. This fan is also Energy Star® qualified to help save you money on your electricity. The built-in damper prevents outside air from coming in through the fan. You may also place loose fill or batt insulation directly over the fan housing to prevent heat from escaping.
This fan is covered by a 3 year warranty.
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Question: Is the offon operation thermostat control or manual switch ??
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Although Moovly is meant to be a user-friendly platform and we want to enable everyone to create blended content in a simple and intuitive way, we sometimes receive requests from users seeking professional help.
Our users range from single users, education, small to medium business to large brands and corporations. All of them have different needs and types of projects, so these types of requests can vary and we rely on our Moovly partners to handle these.
Once a certain request comes in, we refer them to one or some of our partners. At that point, the partner is in direct contact with the Moovly user to set up the project, make arrangements, agree on pricing and deliverables.
If you are interested in becoming a Moovly partner, simply fill in the Contact Form on the website and someone will get back to you!
How do I become a Moovly partner?


The Bravo superfans are teaming up on a new project.
"We play sisters," Jennifer revealed in an interview with the New York Times. "We're almost done writing. It just flowed out of us. We've got about 100 pages right now." Word? That sounds awesome. But here's the thing, we kind of hope they play sisters who love Bravo. We figure that if Mindy Kaling can come up with a fictional world in which Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a Bravo executive, Jen and Amy wouldn't have to stretch too hard to play a set of sisters who set out on a road trip to meet all the Real Housewives. IRL, they have never been shy about their fandom for all things Bravo (see: getting Hunger Games stars hooked on Vanderpump Rules and starring in a Countess Luann-approved Housewives sketch, respectively). So faking their adoration wouldn't be hard. In fact, we'll even let them have that plot idea for free.
Until this movie comes to a theater near you, relive the glory that is Amy's recent Housewives audition (above).
While this news has us sating "OMG," you can vote on on the OMG Moment in the Real Housewives Awards below.


Each RadPanelItem has a set of properties you can use to add images to your panel items. You can simply add a single image to each panel item, or you can add separate images that reflect the state of the panel item.
ImageUrl specifies an image that is added to the panel item. This image is always used, unless you set one of the other properties to specify an alternate image to use in a specific state.
HoveredImageUrl specifies an image that is used when the mouse is over the panel item.
SelectedImageUrl specifies an image that is used when the panel item is selected.
ExpandedImageUrl specifies an image that is used when the panel item is expanded, showing its child items.
DisabledImageUrl specifies an image that is used when the item is disabled.
To set the image properties at design time, use the RadPanelBar Item Builder.
The ImagePosition property specifies where the image appears in the panel item. When ImagePosition is "Left" (the default value), the image appears to the left of the item text. When ImagePosition is "Right", the image appears on the far right of the item.
Some skins (such as the "Web20" skin) use the position on the right to display an expand or collapse arrow. By setting ImagePosition to "Right", you can hide the arrow that the skin provides.


Chana Construction is a family company, we embody the traditional values of honesty, reliability, flexible customer service and value for money.
Chana has had a lifelong interest in building houses. After graduating from high school, he worked very hard to save money to go to college. He took classes to enhance his knowledge and received his license. He worked in the industry while attending college and after. He established Chana Construction in 1989.
The employees at Chana Construction are fully trained to provide customers #1 result. Chana makes his trips to his jobs on a daily basis and is willing to get his hands dirty to get the job done. With 25 years of multiple trade experience Chana is qualified to handle any task. Chana pays attention to details and ensure the projects are on schedule.
Chana believes his business is successful because of his customers' support. He ensures the voice of customer is heard. He believes word of mouth in the community can take you to the top.
He works with is architects and engineers to make his customers dream house come true. Chana has a good relationship with his suppliers and sub-contractors to execute the projects in a timely manner. We give much thanks to our customers who have been faithful to us throughout the years. We look forward to embracing new customers as our business continues to grow and thrive.
Chana is available for any questions and suggestions by phone, and is committed to #1 customer satisfaction.
Copyright © 2007 Chana Construction. All rights reserved.


It's hard to deny that 2008 was a big year for Valve and their good old Steam, starting with new Team Fortress 2 downloadables and the release of Steamworks, and culminating with Left 4 Dead and a partnership with EA.
Undeniably irresistible, visually stunning, cleverly thought out – if you haven't had the chance to play Fallout 3 yet, we couldn't recommend anything better right now. It's an open-world masterpiece that wants you to do it YOUR way, whether that be to follow the main storyline to the end, fish around for side missions, galavant across the world with a taste for blood or even just nuke entire towns. Fallout 3 is quite easily one of the most open-ended pieces of art the gaming world has ever seen and will leave you wandering around the gorgeous derelict wastelands doing jobs, killing bandits and blowing stuff up.
We at Steamfriends award our Game of the Year award to Fallout 3 and heartily recommend all Steam gamers to pick up a copy right now.
Who would have guessed that goo could be so much fun?
Now and again a game is released which stays under the main radar for a while and finally explodes after it is realised that, wow, this is actually an incredible game… This is the story of World of Goo. Created by little-known developers 2D Boy, World of Goo has shot the two guys to fame with it's brilliantly-formed puzzles and wacky ideas. Sticking gooballs together to form towers, bridges and pyramids has never been so much fun and gamers the world over have fallen in love with everything this game stands for.
There was no doubt that Valve would yet again pull out all the stops and create another gaming masterpiece and this time they've done their thang on the Zombie Genre. Literally ripping up the rule book and creating something far beyond the expectations of the Steam community, Left 4 Dead is quite easily the greatest co-operative gaming experience ever developed. Played are not merely asked to work together, they are FORCED too. Fending off hundreds of zombies with your friends watching your back took up the majority of Steam gamers' Christmas calendar and our review shows you exactly why.
Congratulation to Fallout 3! And now onto the Steamfriends Mod of the Year. With the introduction of Steamworks this year, Steam Mods have seen a huge boost, with Valve selected a handful of mods they deemed exceptional to become 'Official Steam Mods' and appear in our Steam browsers for immediately download. Of all these creations, one has stood out from the crowd and impressed up all here at Steamfriends ten-fold.
What at first looked to be a simple take on the classic 'Twisted Metal' quickly gathered speed and became a lot more than a simple re-make. DIPRIP sees players driving huge metal beasts around beautifully created landscapes, fending off fellow drivers with bombs, rockets and miniguns while carrying nuclear bombs into the enemy base to create just that little bit more destruction. Featuring its own achievements and packing completely destructable scenery and explosive action, DIPRIP is a hell of a lot of fun and more than deserves our Mod of the Year award. If you own a copy of Half-Life 2 or any Source game and haven't tried this wonderous beast out yet, head over to the official site and get it downloaded!
A big hurrah to all the games that won awards for 2008 and all we can say is, if this year is anything to go off, roll on 2009!


The Southern Conference established the academic all-conference teams for each sport beginning in the winter season of 2002-03.
Beginning in 2015-16, teams are selected after the fall (football, volleyball, soccer and cross country) and spring (basketball, indoor track and field, wrestling, baseball, softball, men's lacrosse, outdoor track and field, tennis and golf) semesters.
To be eligible, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.3 cumulative grade point average at the end of the semester of competition and have completed at least three semesters academically. The student-athlete must have also competed in at least one-half of the team's competition.
From 2002-03 through the 2014-15 academic year, teams were selected during the fall (football, volleyball, soccer and cross country), winter (basketball, indoor track and field and wrestling) and spring (baseball, softball, men's lacrosse, outdoor track and field, tennis and golf) seasons. Student-athletes must have carried at least a 3.3 cumulative GPA entering the semester of competition and be at least a sophomore academically. The student-athlete must have also competed in at least one-half of the team's competition. The cumulative GPA was raised to 3.3 from 3.2 in fall 2011, in keeping with the guidelines of CoSIDA Academic All-America honors.
Football had previously established an all-academic team each year from 1974-1987 before the team was discontinued. The team was reinstated beginning with the current program.


text:
Business, Wayne State University
by William Pride
Since its original publication in Chinese in the 1930s, this work has been accepted by Chinese scholars as the most important contribution to the study... Read more
of their country's philosophy. In 1952 the book was published by Princeton University Press in an English translation by the distinguished scholar of Chinese history, Derk Bodde, "the dedicated translator of Fung Yu-lan's huge history of Chinese philosophy" (New York Times Book Review). Available for the first time in paperback, it remains the most complete work on the subject in any language. Volume I covers the period of the philosophers, from the beginnings to around 100 B.C., a philosophical period as remarkable as that of ancient Greece. Volume II discusses a period lesser known in the West--the period of classical learning, from the second century B.C. to the twentieth century.
Introduction to Econometrics (3rd Edition)...
Publisher: Addison-Wesley
Introduction to Mathematical Finance: Discrete Time Models
Publisher: Wiley


text:
Goat milk for Lucknow cubs ...
Colonial rulers partly blamed for ...
Goat milk for Lucknow cubs after isolation from tiger
Deepak Gidwani / DNATuesday, November 17, 2009 0:24 IST
Lucknow: Call it a twist of fate or an example of nature's wondrous ironies, a couple of newly-born tiger cubs at the Lucknow zoo are surviving on milk from the udders of a goat, one of the big cat's favourite prey.
The two cubs, just seven days old, were separated from their mother after two other siblings died over the past week. Two keepers are now looking after them at the zoo hospital round the clock. The zoo staff is praying for their survival.
"We were overjoyed when we the cubs were born because this happened here after 14 years," said zoo director Renu Singh. "But our joy soon turned to gloom after two of the cubs died one after the other," she said.
Asked about the chances of their survival, she said, "We are keeping our fingers crossed." The cubs are surviving on goat milk, as it is easy to digest. They are fed 25-30 ml every three hours from infant bottles.
Ipshita, which gave birth to the four cubs on November 8, and her mate Shishir, both Royal Bengal tigers, had been brought from Orissa's Nandan Kanan Wildlife Park in 2007. Ipshita is about five years old and has given a litter for the first time.
"That could be the main reason why she could not look after her cubs well," says zoo vet Dr Utkarsh Shukla. "Perhaps she does not know how to rear the little ones," he added.
He ruled out "rejection" by the mother as a possible cause of early deaths. "She was keeping the cubs close to her all the time but was not feeding them properly. After two cubs died, we didn't want to take any chances," Dr Shukla said. Asked if the cubs would survive, he said: "The chances are 50-50… hand-rearing is not half as good as the tigress feeding the cubs herself."
The last time a tigress, Shefali, gave a litter of three cubs, none of them could be saved. "We are praying that this doesn't happen again," said Rafiq, one of the keepers, folding his hands in prayer.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_goat-milk-for-lucknow-cubs-after-isolation-from-tiger_1312638
Colonial rulers partly blamed for tiger extinction
Sambar battles tigers, crocodiles for 24 hours
Santino Serval Goes to Vet Santino Serval has been on Marin ...
Unwanted "pet" servals among latest arrivals at La. animal sanctuary
REPORTER: Jeff Ferrell This weekend is the public's last chance until April to get ...
Naxalites destroying tiger reserves: Census
Naxalites destroying tiger reserves: Census Monday 18 February 2008 New Delhi: Tiger reserves in ...


Yo Ho, Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A Pirates Life For Me. This fun pirate inspired single bed is ideal for liven up your child's bedroom. With quality detailing and a vibrant painted finish it makes bedtime a whole lot more fun. Who wouldn't want to sail away to dream land in their very own pirate ship.
Made from a tough wood combination this single bed is strong and sturdy with a slatted bed base to provide durable and comfortable mattress support. A mattress is not included with the bed and needs to be purchased separately. This bed fits a standard UK single mattress (90x190cm/3ft).


Colored contact lenses are a great way to take just about any Halloween costume over the top. By changing your pupil shape or eye color, colored contact lenses can make you resemble vampires, animals, or other spooky characters.
Websites or Halloween costume shops often advertise colored contact lenses to target teens and adults with language such as, "one size fits all" and "no need to see an eye specialist" but did you know that these types of contact lenses are illegal?
Without the proper eye examination and prescription, colored contacts are very dangerous. In fact, according to The American Academy of Ophthalmology, "risks include dangerous infections that can lead to permanent vision loss and even require corneal transplants." Additionally, non-prescription contact lenses can cause cuts and sores on the eyes called corneal abrasions and corneal ulcers which can ultimately lead to blinding bacterial infections.
A lot of patients assume that if they have a current prescription that it's safe to buy costume contacts online. Even if you have a prescription from your eye doctor, you should only purchase your colored contact lenses from a retailer that sells FDA-approved lenses. Lenses that aren't properly fitted to your eyes can scratch them or cause blood vessels to grow into the cornea.
Nothing is quite as scary as patients who wear costume contact lenses— and not just for their spooky appearance. Before you purchase costume contacts, make sure that you have had an eye examination and that you are buying them from a certified retailer.
Schedule an eye examination online or give us a call at (800) 676-5050 with Eye and Lasik Center to get properly fitted for colored contacts this Halloween.


History: Carmen Basilio was born on April 2, 1927 in Canastota, New York. He won the World Welterweight Title on June 10, 1955 from Tony DeMarco. He won the World Middleweight Title from Ray Robinson on September 23, 1957. He retired after losing to Paul Pender on April 22, 1961 with a final record of 56-16-7 with 27 KO's. Presented here is an original Ring Magazine from November, 1958 which pictures Carmen Basilio on the cover and which he has boldly signed. Signature was obtained in person at the International Boxing Hall Of Fame in Canastota, New York.
Full description: This is an original November, 1958 Ring Magazine picturing Carmen Basilio on cover. 66 pages complete. Tight binding. Clean inside and out. Boldly signed on cover in thin black sharpie, "Carmen Basilio." Mild center crease. Minor edge wear. 8 1/4" x 11."


So I lost my final Round 5 game of the 2013 Azroy Kandan Spring Open to Sid Anjilvel. We played the Advanced Variation of the Caro-Kann. I had a comfortable position out of the opening, after an early exchange of the light square bishops on move 4. But I think I was complacent in my approach, which resulted in a blundered pawn (and a lost center) on move 10.
Despite the early blunder (which I should have totally avoided), I think I took the wrong attitude towards the game. I was looking to equalize quickly, by regaining the lost pawn. And this only helped my opponent who tried to simplify the position by exchanging pieces. And even though I was able to regain the pawn, I was lost positionally toward the end game.
I will now need to prepare against my next and final opponent for this year's 2013 Azroy Kandan Spring Open, starting with my list of games against Sid Anjilvel. Our previous encounters have been filled with blunders, on both sides. My current KCC tournament record with him is 4-1, with my most recent game being a loss. It's time for payback!
Despite my preparation, I didn't manage to get a huge advantage against the London System. But it was a reasonable game. The first 7 moves were as I had prepared, but White surprised me with a Queen exchange on move 8.


text:
Trump's Former Lawyer and Fixer Michael Cohen Pleads Guilty to 8 Felony Charges, Including Hush Money Payment to Porn Star
Filed to: Michael CohenFiled to: Michael Cohen
Trump former lawyer
Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney and fixer, exits federal court, Aug. 21, 2018, in New York City. Cohen reached an agreement with prosecutors, pleading guilty to charges involving bank fraud, tax fraud and campaign finance violations.
Photo: Drew Angerer (Getty Images)
President Trump's former personal lawyer and longtime fixer, Michael Cohen, has pleaded guilty to eight charges, including campaign finance violations; he also added that a hush money payment made to former Playboy model and porn performer Stormy Daniels was at the then president-elect's insistence.
According to the Associated Press, Cohen, 51, pleaded guilty to several charges as a part of a plea agreement reached with the FBI. According to a live CNN television report, there is no arrangement in Cohen's plea agreement that has him providing information to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential election. The news station does note that there is nothing preventing Cohen from cooperating on his own but that was not a part of his formal agreement with the FBI.
While Cohen did not name the women he paid on behalf of the president or name the president explicitly, CNN notes that the amounts and the dates from Cohen's account in court line up with payments made to Daniels and former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal.
"The FBI raided Cohen's hotel room, home and office in April and seized more than 4 million items" CNN reports. "The search sought bank records, communications with Trump's campaign and information on a $130,000 payment to Daniels and a $150,000 one to McDougal. Both women claimed Trump had affairs with them, which he denies."
Cohen could face anywhere from four to five years in prison.
Senior Editor @ The Root, boxes outside my weight class, when they go low, you go lower.
Recent from Stephen A. Crockett Jr.
Kellyanne Conway Goes on Unhinged Rant and Asks Reporter 'What's Your Ethnicity?'
Justice Department Won't Bring Charges Against NYPD Officer in Eric Garner's Death
President Trump to the Fab Freshman of Congress: Go Back to Your Country


I've now got enough data on Alfine Di2 to jump to some conclusions about Di2 battery life in general. Some of what follows is still conjecture, hence the jump, but seems reasonable based on the data I've got so far. Update: Click here to cut to the chase; a running report of my real-world battery life since January 2015.
I've made it through one full discharge cycle and am currently one bar into the second cycle. It took 35 days to completely drain the battery, 25 days until I was down to 1 bar, which seems pretty decent to me. However the amount of time moving during that cycle was a paltry 17 hours. That represents only about 3 days touring at my typical 5 hours per day. Pretty disappointing.
Separating Di2 from the Alfine hub itself, performance has been exceptionally good the entire time. Fast, consistent, silent shifts. Though not my ideal style of shifting, the pushbutton shifter is solid and works well with or without gloves. A huge improvement over the crappy SRAM twist shifters I've been using and until a Di2 twist shifter comes along, hands down the best shifter I've used on a trike. All of the components including the exposed battery, wiring, and junction box have endured without complaint the rain, snow, mud, and indescribable road sludge that coats everything in wintertime. The display looks and works great attached to my side mirror. The installation shown on the right looks pretty clean even though it was quick and temporary. Even the behavior with the battery completely discharged was well designed. The display went to zero bars and shifting stopped working with the gear stuck in its last position. But after a few seconds a single bar appeared and I was able to shift through all 11 gears before shifting died again. I repeated this about 15 times before losing interest. Granted I might not get as many chances in warmer weather but it looks like even when the battery dies you'll get at least one chance to jam it into a gear that will get you home. Di2 is definitely a keeper if I can make peace with battery life.
Considering impact on battery life, the display is the most obvious difference between my setup and Di2 configurations boasting phenomenal battery life. I needed to find out how much that pretty display was draining my battery. So I screwed up my courage, squinted my eyes, and took a knife to an incredibly expensive 200mm length of E-Tube wire so I could break out one of the leads and insert an ammeter to measure how much current the system is using. Cutting tiny pieces of wire with a sharp razor while squinting isn't always the best policy, good that my calling wasn't a surgeon, but I came out of it without any bloodstains and all fingers intact. In the process I learned that an E-Tube wire is nothing more than two very thin, stranded, individually insulated wires, one red and one black, inside the exposed thick black outer sheath. The outer sheath is easy to cut with a knife but seems resistant to abrasion; combined with the stranded conductors it makes a particularly strong and flexible wire. Add to that the thin, waterproof, click-to-lock connectors and you have a high quality cable, designed specifically for the environment in which Di2 is used, that probably justifies its high price. You could use any 2-conductor cable for Di2 but I'm certain nothing else would work as well.
Now for a little math. I chose not to post WARNING: Math Ahead at the top of the page for fear that readers might just click away to the latest cat video. Consider yourself warned.
A few things become immediately obvious with these measurements. One, in their "off" states, the display and SM-EW90-A cockpit junction box (shown right) are essentially identical. So from the perspective of battery life, the display is the only difference between the two. Two, the current draw while off is small enough relative to the other loads that it can be ignored. With these numbers the system could sit for over three years before the battery is discharged. I'm sure there are other factors that will kill the battery long before that, but you get the idea. Three, the display is drawing a relatively large amount of current. If the system sat idle but with the display on, the 5mA of continuous load would drain the 500 mAH Di2 battery in 100 hours. I'm currently running the display with the default 300 second timeout which means that it is on constantly whenever my trike is moving. In this configuration, 100 hours becomes the absolute maximum moving time I could get, assuming a full 500 mAH of capacity, perfectly efficient discharge, and shifting only enough to keep the display on, once every 300 seconds. So reality will be far less than 100 hours. Take the display out of the equation by either turning it off or using the cockpit junction box instead, and the run time is limited only by Ishift. I don't have a measurement of Ishift and it is directly proportional to the number of shifts made (averaged over time), but it's safe to say that battery life will be significantly better with that display turned off as much as possible.
Unfortunately the smallest display time the E-Tube software lets you set is 5 seconds, so I can't completely turn off the display. I'm sure from Shimano's perspective this makes complete sense—if a customer doesn't want the display they should just use the cockpit junction box instead. But in my humble opinion, Shimano needs to broaden their collective mind a bit. I use my trike in two very different modes: Daily commuting and recreational riding where a display is useful and battery life is not an issue, and touring where a display is optional and battery life is everything. In either mode the display unit is mechanically better than the cockpit junction box, so I'd prefer to use it even if the display is blank. It's better because it doesn't have the third, unused port and it allows a cleaner install on my handlebar. I'm sure one of the arguments for a non-zero minimum display time is that the display is the only way of learning the battery's state of charge. Fair enough, that is especially critical information on tour. But I don't need 5 seconds to read the battery gauge. A half second would do just fine and I'd see it whenever I shift. Still, 5 seconds might also work. Only more time on the system will tell.
Conjecture time. Stay with me.
Now I have all I need to estimate battery life in various configurations. I'll use 75% of the rated battery capacity to account for inefficiencies and my desire to recharge once the battery gauge reaches one bar instead of complete discharge, to provide some buffer. So C = 375 instead of 500. With these assumptions I'd expect to get 375 / 155 = 25 hours of moving time between full charge and one bar, if I could turn the display completely off. That represents 5 days of my style of touring with a roughly 20% buffer. Not great but it does meet my initial requirement that I consistently get a full work week of touring between charges. Even with 5 seconds of display time each shift I think I could make this work.
Now for a really pessimistic view. Let's say that instead of 25 hours moving in my always-on configuration, I never see better than the 17 hours I've already seen. That puts Ishift at 500 / 17 – 5 = 24mA. I'd be getting around 375 / 24 = 16 hours before the battery gauge gets to one bar (with still maybe 20% capacity left). Ouch. If this is the best I can expect I'll have some serious reservations about Di2. But I think this number is excessively pessimistic.
For example, even my most optimistic calculation of 25 hours of run time (display off) is dramatically lower than the lowest numbers I've seen reported about Ultegra Di2 (I haven't seen any numbers on Alfine Di2). This makes me wonder if I'm not accounting for the difference between the two. After the display, the next obvious difference between Alfine and Ultegra Di2 is the motor and shift mechanism. Up until now I've assumed the energy required to shift the Alfine IGH is no more than what's required to move a chain around an external set of gears with Ultegra. However I don't have much basis for this assumption and currently have neither an Ultegra derailleur to test nor an instrument capable of testing it. If I'm wrong about this, the Alfine itself could be another reason I'm not getting the fabulous battery life that others report. With my Alfine experience so far I may not need it, but this may be another reason to switch from Alfine to Ultegra.
Update: I have now seen a report for Alfine Di2 battery life. Roughly 360 miles in 6 weeks on a charge. The mileage is better than I've seen so far.
Update 4/25/2016: With 3 charge cycles under my belt in the Ultegra Di2 configuration, I'm averaging 48 hours moving, 100 elapsed days, and 527 miles from full charge to one bar. Now we're talking.
All right, so what can I currently say about battery life with any degree of certainty? Really just two things: 1) the battery life I've experienced so far does not meet my minimum requirements, and 2) turning off or eliminating the display should significantly improve battery life. Time will tell, but I think battery life for Alfine Di2 will still work out, though probably at the low end of my acceptable range. Given that reports on Ultegra Di2 battery life are dramatically better than what I'm seeing with Alfine, and in the absence of evidence to the contrary, I'm willing to believe that Ultegra Di2 might be significantly better than Alfine. This would put it well over my minimum requirements. Stay tuned as I compile more data, the most recent found here.
This entry was posted in Sprint Di2 and tagged Alfine, Di2, Ultegra on February 16, 2015 by Kurt.
Realistically, I will be touring in much warmer average temperatures than you experienced in these winter time tests. And it seems that is where it's critical. On a tour, charging may be more difficult than at home, where I can charge daily if need be. And, on tour I would think the battery could be easily charged, almost fully, every day with a light weight travel solar panel. If so, charging on tour is no problem. I really like the idea of having the display, maybe just for the cool factor, but I would think it would be particularly useful on tours where it would help finding just the right gear combination for long continuous slopes or flats with consistent wind. As you say, it's not as critical in town, where you're rarely in the same gear for more than a few minutes. So, I see little or no limitation in the battery.
Topping off the battery daily might be OK in extreme situations but it's not something I want to rely on. I think it's pretty likely I'll get at least a week of touring between charges when temperatures rise and I turn the display off as much as possible. I'm already getting good enough battery life for commuting and recreational riding and it's true that I can rely on warmer temperatures for touring, but I really don't know how much that will improve things. I want to see it last a week before I dump more money into this project. I'd gladly give up the display to get my week but I don't think I'll have to.
So if you DONT want a display and DONT need a front derailleur, could you use the EW90 A-Junction box to bypass the B-Junction box altogether?
That should work fine. The only problem I see is that, because the lead on the shifter is short, the EW90-A junction box has to be located near it. Which means you'll have two E-Tube wires running from the handlebar– one for the rear derailleur and one for the battery. On the trike configuration I've been concerned with that's a bit of a problem but on other configurations it might be fine.
have been attempting to locate the power drain source by simple process of elimination, however to date without success. Are you able to provide more detailed information on how you constructed your 'handy-dandy breakout cable'. Seems to be the obvious fault detection solution and my local bike shop don't seem to be able to offer an useful help or advice!
Hi Peter. For my breakout cable I just took the shortest Di2 cable on hand and cut one of the two wires in the middle (see article above for more details on cutting the Di2 wire). I put some heat shrink around it to give it some strength, and I tinned the resulting two bare wires (added solder to the wire strands so they wouldn't fray). With this you can plug the breakout between the components you want to test, and use a DVM (in ammeter mode) to complete the circuit between the two bare wires (that used to be connected). Depending on what you're connecting between, you might need an extra junction box (SM-JC41 Junction B) and another section of Di2 cable to act as a gender changer. With this setup you should be able to measure current draw (in milliamps) between various components of the system and isolate the offending component.
I'm guessing you'll need all of the components plugged in and operating to get a good result. By operating I don't necessarily mean shifting– getting an accurate measurement of current draw while shifting isn't really possible with this setup. But if a component is using too much current, It's likely happening between shifts when current is steady. If so you should be able to detect it. You can use some of the numbers in this article to compare against. Keep in mind most of my measurements were with the Alfine display, not the cockpit junction box that I'm guessing you're using.
FWIW I've got over a year on my Ultegra Di2 (with Alfine display) setup and am currently averaging about 3 months and 600 miles between charges.
Let me know how it goes, I'd love some advanced warning on failures that might be in my future.
I didn't use a setup like this to test components when my first battery failed, and since my new battery has worked fine now for over six months, it's pretty clear that the battery was the problem. I would definitely do the component testing in Peter's case, but keep in mind it still could be the battery that's failing.
Yes, I'm not sure which sounds worse, two bad batteries or a different bad component. If it turns out to be a non-battery component, my money is on a derailleur. But that is purely speculation. It's also worth noting that the battery isn't just a battery– it also has a microcontroller in it. So the battery could be failing because the cells are bad or because the circuitry around them is bad.
The bad circuitry theory seems like a stretch to me. My money is on or some sort of mechanical binding in either derailleur that is causing the servo to continue adjusting after the gear has changed, preventing it from going into sleep mode. It should be easy to detect a component that isn't going into sleep mode with the breakout cable. Again, all of this is speculation on my part, I haven't experienced it.
Now for the obvious: before doing any diagnostics, make sure you can talk to each component in the system with the Shimano software, and that each component is at the latest firmware revision.
One more thing: Between the three of us we've been speculating a lot about the health/capacity of the battery. This is a measureable thing, involving running a fully-charged battery down using a controlled load. Might be time to make that device. Or find a battery conditioner that would work with the e-tube battery. The hitch is whether the electronics would get in the way, that piece is a bit of a mystery to me. Maybe Shimano already has a way to do this, but I've never seen mention of it.
Ignoring these 60 second spikes we isolated the 0.75mA parasitic current to the junction box that has the LED and adjustment button. I had this unit fail on my bike about 12 months back, when I opened it there was a small piece of plastic left from the extruding process preventing the neoprene seal from seating properly allowing water inside. I sent the unit off to Shimano for comment, but they 'lost' it and told me I had invalidated the warranty anyway by prising it open. Its a simple snap lid like any cheap watch back and the plastic flashing looked like a manufacturing fault to me. Makes me wonder now that we seem to have another faulty junction unit.
Yes, I wonder if that 25mA pulse is servicing a watchdog timer. Seems awfully big for that. I didn't notice it when I was doing my testing but easily could have missed it. Or maybe this is a difference between the Alfine display/junction I'm using and the -A junction box (unlikely). Makes me want to get my hands on a 'scope to see what's really going on.
.75mA of idle current is big but by itself doesn't account for the battery draining in several days. Maybe that and the combination of the mysterious pulse? Still seems like we're missing something, but clearly your friend's junction box is odd man out, so likely the source of her problems. How much time does she have on it? Let us know if swapping it solves her problem!
Your experience with Shimano service/customer support is disappointing but not far from my own. Difficult to get any real information out of them and their decisions seem arbitrary.
Kurt, you are right the numbers do not make sense. I had a bit of a think about it and checked my bike again this morning with a more accurate measuring setup.
The current settles to 0.07mA after connecting the battery and waiting for the battery green light to go out on the junction connector.
There is an 8.5mA pulse that lasts approx 20mSecs every 59.5 seconds.
On my friends Di2 the current pulse was there but the current was much higher than the 0.07mA I am seeing on my bike, maybe I was out by a factor of 10 and it was 7.5mA which would discharge the battery in 60 hours which is more in line with what's happening. She lives some distance away so a retest will have to wait.
Kevin, I don't know which makes you more of a geek– knowing what an oscilloscope is or having one available to wheel out:). But now we know a lot more about what's going on.
Strange that the 60-sec pulse stops after 20 minutes. Initially I thought that blew the watchdog/heartbeat theory, but maybe not. Maybe that's intended for recovery only while riding and it's turned off after it goes into a deeper power-save mode. Who knows.
In any case, sounds like you have a plausible explanation for your friend's short battery life. Let us know how it turns out!
I enjoyed your excellent analyses of the vast, murky depths of Di2 electronics. Really, I did. Guess that puts me in the geek category as well.
I don't think this explains Kevin's friend's problem, but I noticed when I was fiddling with my derailleur calibration that it's pretty easy to leave Di2 in a non-functional, high current drain state. Just bring up the e-tube software and get it connected, then disconnect it without first exiting the program normally. It's pretty obvious there's a problem because nothing happens when you try to shift. Meanwhile the e-tube software warns that the system is in a bad state that may drain the battery rapidly (I'm paraphrasing from memory here). The fix is to plug the system back in, bring up the software, connect, and then exit normally. I learned this lesson when I knocked my computer onto the floor, disconnecting everything. The computer still works!
Mark, that's awesome, and tracks pretty closely to what I'm seeing. With three charge cycles in my Ultegra configuration I'm averaging 100 days and 527 miles from full charge to 1 bar. I'm guessing you'll see increased mileage on a charge as you ride more in the warm weather.
I am posting a follow up fix report on Di2 battery life on my friends bike. (see my earlier posts) Well I finally persuaded my friend to buy a new junction A box (actually a new to her but second hand unit on the local version of eBay here in NZ called TradeMe) Once fitted she was very happy to find the flat battery problem solved! She carried around a spare charged battery for a few weeks until her confidence in the fix was established. So that's my second experience with faulty junction A boxes. What's the story Shimano? I have asked if she will give me the old junction A box to investigate further but she has either forgotten or is unwilling for some reason. So if you are experiencing Di2 batteries going flat inside a week suspect the junction A box and also check the 4 way junction connector for low resistance.
Good to know that the junction boxes can be a problem. Note we're using the Alfine SC-705 display in place of a junction A or B. Guessing it is just as likely to have the same problem but we haven't experienced it.
Glad your friend's Di2 is working again!


text:
Home Arts Educational magazines Shoaf, Diann Blakely 1957–
Shoaf, Diann Blakely 1957–
COPYRIGHT 2009 Gale
(Diann Blakely)
PERSONAL: Born 1957, in Anniston, AL. Education: Sewanee University of the South, B.A. (art history); Vanderbilt University, M.A., 1980; attended New York University, 1981; Vermont College, M.F.A., 1989.
ADDRESSES: Home—Nashville, TN. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Story Line Press, Three Oaks Farm, P.O. Box 1240, Ashland, OR 97520-0055.
CAREER: Author and teacher. Harpeth Hall School, Nashville, TN, teacher, beginning 1987, and former writer-in-residence; also teacher at Belmont University, Nashville, TN, and Watkins Institute, Nashville; temporary adjunct professor, Vermont College.
AWARDS, HONORS: Walter E. Dankin poetry fellow, Sewanee Writers' Conference, 1993; Robert Frost fellow, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, 1994; Pushcart Prize, 1994 and 1995; Di Castagnoa Award, Poetry Society of America, 2001, for Cities of Flesh and the Dead; Harold Stirling Vanderbilt fellow, Vanderbilt University.
Hurricane Walk (poems), BOA Editions (Brockport, NY), 1992.
(As Diann Blakely) Farewell, My Lovelies (poems), Story Line Press (Ashland, OR), 2000.
Author of Cities of Flesh and the Dead and Rain at Our Door: Duets with Robert Johnson. Coeditor of Each Fugitive Moment, a collection of essays on the life and work of Lynda Hull. Works from Shoaf's books have appeared in New England Review, Paris Review, Southern Review, Yale Review, Parnassus, Oxford American, and Pushcart Prize anthologies XIX and XX, among others. Contributor to Bookshelf. Assistant poetry editor, Antioch Review, 1997–.
SIDELIGHTS: Born in the small town of Anniston, Alabama, Diann Blakely Shoaf moved with her parents at a young age to the city of Birmingham but spent school holidays and summers in Anniston with her maternal grandparents in their large home. In their back yard, Shoaf's grandparents housed a black couple who worked for them, the wife as Shoaf's nanny. According to a Poetry Net Web site essayist, "The intricately schizoid relationship, at once intimate and taboo-ridden, loving and exploitative, between such blacks and such whites was probably no more mind-boggling to [Shoaf] than to other children; nonetheless, the South and its racial divide, which became cruelly and explosively obvious in Birmingham during the early '60s, recurs as one of the central urgencies of her work."
Published as part of the "New Poets Series," Shoaf's Hurricane Walk was described as an impressive first collection by several reviewers, and Pat Monoghan indicated in Booklist that, "mincing no words," Shoaf thrusts the reader into the emotional center of each poem. The collection captures characters in the throws of every-day life—painting gripping portraits of mundane and ordinary activities. Joyce Peseroff noted in Ploughshares that "Shoaf writes about the self's desire to escape—from consciousness, from flesh—into art and nature, into otherness; finally, into death," and called the collection "rich in wit, humor, and irony." A reviewer for Publishers Weekly commented that Shoaf expresses an "eerie" and "horrific vision" in the "uneven" collection. The reviewer noted that, early in the collection, Shoaf's unique voice is evident in the speakers as they probe their ordinary, everyday, boring lives; the reviewer called Shoaf's poems "feminist yet focused on an ever-present lover." The reviewer felt that by the final third of the book, as speakers becomes more at ease with their lovers' presence, Shoaf's voice becomes less evident; to compensate, according to the critic, she writes through the voices of mythical or historic figures, "and the results are unimpressive." Frank Allen, reviewing the collection for Library Journal, called the forty poems "well polished" and "combining a purifying sensibility with compassion for loss."
Denise Duhamel, commenting in Ploughshares on Farewell, My Lovelies, said that Shoaf's second collection is "decidedly female poetry—tough, stylized, and heart-smart…. Her voice is an in-your-face voice, an almost performance-poetry voice, yet her poems are full of craft and gorgeousness." Writing in the Women's Review of Books, Lisa M. Steinman noted that the poems in this collection—published under the name Diann Blakely—contain "distinctly narrative elements … [that] often yield to the lyrical, as stories become icons of the soul." Many scenes contain distinct memories from the poet's own childhood and her personal reflections about race and class.
BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:
Booklist, September 1, 1992, review of Hurricane Walk, p. 27.
Library Journal, August 1992, review of Hurricane Walk, p. 106.
Ploughshares, winter 1992, Joyce Peseroff, review of Hurricane Walk, p. 238; fall 2000, Denise Duhamel, review of Farewell, My Lovelies, p. 227.
Publishers Weekly, August 24, 1992, review of Hurricane Walk, p. 73; January 10, 2000, review of Farewell, My Lovelies, p. 247.
Women's Review of Books, September 200, Lisa M. Steinman, review of Farewell, My Lovelies, p. 15.
Poetry Net, http://members.aol.com/poetrynet/ (August 13, 2004), "Diann Blakely."
"Shoaf, Diann Blakely 1957–." Contemporary Authors. . Encyclopedia.com. 17 Jul. 2019 <https://www.encyclopedia.com>.
"Shoaf, Diann Blakely 1957–." Contemporary Authors. . Encyclopedia.com. (July 17, 2019). https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/shoaf-diann-blakely-1957
"Shoaf, Diann Blakely 1957–." Contemporary Authors. . Retrieved July 17, 2019 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/shoaf-diann-blakely-1957


This quilt is great for the southwestern style home. There is an array of colors in this quilt. I love the orange, turquoise and yellow fabrics used in this quilt. This would be a great quilt to give as a gift.
This handmade quilt is 52" x 68". The fabric is 100% cotton. The batting I used was Warm and Plush. Using a cotton thread I quilted a variety of stitches in the rows throughout the quilt. The binding was machine stitched to the front, then hand stitched to the back to finish.


Contributor biographical information for God against the gods : the history of the war between monotheism and polytheism / Jonathan Kirsch.
Jonathan Kirsch is a book columnist for the Los Angeles Times and author of the bestselling and critically acclaimed King David, Moses, The Harlot by the Side of the Road, and The Woman Who Laughed at God. He lectures and consults widely on biblical, literary, and legal topics and is a past president of PEN Center USA West.


text:
Q: FreeOSMemory() in production I am using goroutines in a package where there is a tcp server. The response most of the time is very heavy, but when the routines end it is not cleared from the memory.
func Handle() {
    service := ":7777"
    tcpAddr, err := net.ResolveTCPAddr("tcp4", service)
    checkError(err)
    listener, err := net.ListenTCP("tcp", tcpAddr)
    checkError(err)
    defer listener.Close()

    for {
        conn, err := listener.Accept()
        checkError(err)
        go handleRequest(conn, db)

    }
}

func handleRequest(conn net.Conn, db *sql.DB) {
    message := make([]byte, 0, 4096)
    tmp := make([]byte, 256)
    n, err := conn.Read(tmp)
    if err != nil {
        if err != io.EOF {
            fmt.Println("read error:", err)
        }
    }
    message = append(message, tmp[:n]...)
    fmt.Println("Message Received:", string(message))
    // do something to get resp
    conn.Write(append(resp, []byte("\n")...))
    conn.Close()
    debug.FreeOSMemory()
    return
}

So in this case the response is big, and a goroutine using 10% of the memory, thats okay, because I'm getting 170.000 users from the database and parse the result to JSON. But when the handleRequest and it is still in the memory, if I'm not using debug.FreeOsMemory(). I have doubts it is a good way to do it because it is in the debug pacakge so my question is it a good way to empty the memory what the goroutines are using? I tested it so it is not affected to the system and working very well. If not, what is the good way? I can't wait the GC for clear it up?! I read this and this is why I started to use it, in the first answer there is the last suggestion.

A: As an alternative to occasionally invoking debug.FreeOsMemory(), you can control the aggressiveness of the garbage collector with the GOGC environment variable or with the debug.SetGCPercent() method.
Empirically, I've seen that with a value as low as 10, it does its job.
See Package runtime

A: GO lang clean all memory that is not in use, but is not inmediate. You can read the other question:
Golang - Cannot free memory once occupied by bytes.Buffer

A: The Go runtime does not release free memory back to the OS "immediately", it would be inefficient. Read more about it here: Golang - Cannot free memory once occupied by bytes.Buffer.
You should let the Go runtime handle this. If your app is unstable without calling debug.FreeOsMemory(), there are bigger problems which you shouldn't cover up with this even if it "seemingly" helps. It may even make things worse, as if serving a request does require a large amount of memory (which is properly freed by the GC when done with the request), calling FreeOsMemory() will just return it to the OS which the runtime will have to ask for / allocate again when serving another request. Should you have not handed it back to the OS, it would be available for the next request...
Try to decrease the memory requirement of the request handler. If it is not possible (questionable), then limit the number of requests requiring large memory that may be served concurrently.
See this question+answer how to do that: Process Management for the Go Webserver
Also: Is this an idiomatic worker thread pool in Go?

A: That is crazy, I think is a bug for golang,My code include:
go func() {
    for {
        debug.FreeOSMemory()
        log4sys.Warn("NumGoroutine:",runtime.NumGoroutine())
        time.Sleep(1 * time.Minute)
    }
}()

to solution this question

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
<?php
/**
 * Created by PhpStorm.
 * User: root
 * Date: 08.07.16
 * Time: 15:11
 */

namespace victorynox\AnalyticReports\Middleware;

use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface as Response;
use Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface as Request;
use Xiag\Rql\Parser\Node\Query\LogicOperator\AndNode;
use Xiag\Rql\Parser\Node\Query\ScalarOperator\EqNode;
use Xiag\Rql\Parser\Query;
use zaboy\rest\DataStore\Interfaces\DataStoresInterface;
use zaboy\rest\Middleware;
use zaboy\rest\RestException;
use zaboy\rest\RqlParser\RqlParser;
use Zend\Authentication\Storage\Session;

class CDSManagerMiddleware extends Middleware\DataStoreAbstract
{
    /** @var  DataStoresInterface */
    protected $cdsManagerStore;

    /** @var  DataStoresInterface */
    protected $dataStore;

    /** @var DataStoresInterface */
    protected $cds;

    public function __construct(DataStoresInterface $dataStores, DataStoresInterface $cdsManagerStore, DataStoresInterface $cds)
    {
        $this->cdsManagerStore = $cdsManagerStore;
        $this->cds = $cds;
        parent::__construct($dataStores);
    }

    public function __invoke(Request $request, Response $response, callable $next = null)
    {
        $httpMethod = $request->getMethod();
        $cdsId = $request->getAttribute('Primary-Key-Value');
        switch (true) {
            case $httpMethod === 'POST' && !($cdsId): {
                list($request, $response) = $this->methodPostWithoutId($request, $response);
                break;
            }
            /*case $httpMethod === 'PATCH' && $cdsId: {
                list($request, $response) = $this->methodPatchWithId($request, $response);
                break;
            }*/
            default : {
                throw new RestException(
                    'Method must be POST or PATCH . '
                    . $request->getMethod() . ' given'
                );
            }
        }

        if ($next) {
            return $next($request, $response);
        }

        return $response;
    }

    protected function methodPostWithoutId(Request $request, Response $response)
    {
        $body = $request->getParsedBody();

        if (isset($body['scriptName'])) {
            $scriptName = $body['scriptName'];
        } else {
            throw new \Exception('script name not set');
        }

        if (isset($body['query'])) {
            $queryString = $body['query'];
            $query = RqlParser::rqlDecode($body['query']);
        } else {
            $query = new Query();
            $queryString = "";
        }

        $cdsId = $this->generateCsdId($scriptName, $queryString);

        if (!$this->checkCds($cdsId)) {

            $data = $this->getData($scriptName, $query);

            $this->cdsManagerStore->create([
                'cds_id' => $cdsId,
                'script_name' => $scriptName,
                'query' => $queryString,
                'freshness_date' => (new \DateTime())->format("Y-m-d H:i:s")
            ]);

            foreach ($data as &$item) {
                $item['cds_id'] = $cdsId;
                $item['data_id'] = $item['id'];
                unset($item['id']);
            }

            $this->cds->create($data);
        }else{
            $cdsConf = $this->getCdsConf($cdsId);
            $freshnessDate = \DateTime::createFromFormat("Y-m-d H:i:s", $cdsConf['freshness_date']);
            $currentDate = new \DateTime();
            $dateDiff = $currentDate->diff($freshnessDate);
            if($dateDiff->days > 0){
                $request = $request->withAttribute('Primary-Key-Value', $cdsId);
                return $this->methodPatchWithId($request, $response);
            }
        }

        $request = $request->withAttribute('CDS-ID', $cdsId);
        $request = $request->withAttribute('Response-Body',['cdsId' => $cdsId]);

        $response = $response->withStatus(200);

        return array($request, $response);
    }

    public function generateCsdId($scriptName, $query)
    {
        //TODO generate token by query string and scriptName
        $cdsId = md5("{$scriptName}{$query}");

        return $cdsId;
    }

    public function checkCds($cdsId)
    {
        return empty($this->getCdsConf($cdsId)) ? false : true;
    }

    private function getCdsConf($cdsId)
    {
        $cdsIdQuery = new Query();
        $cdsIdQuery->setQuery(new EqNode('cds_id', $cdsId));

        /** @var array $resp */
        $resp = $this->cdsManagerStore->query($cdsIdQuery);

        return empty($resp) ? [] : $resp[0];
    }

    protected function getData($scriptName, Query $query)
    {
        $reqQuery = new Query();
        if ($query->getQuery() !== null) {
            $reqQuery->setQuery(new AndNode([new  EqNode('scriptName', $scriptName), $query->getQuery()]));
        } else {
            $reqQuery->setQuery(new  EqNode('scriptName', $scriptName));
        }

        return $this->dataStore->query($reqQuery);
    }

    protected function methodPatchWithId(Request $request, Response $response)
    {
        $cdsId = $request->getAttribute('Primary-Key-Value');

        $cdsConf = $this->getCdsConf($cdsId);

        if (empty($cdsConf)) {
            throw new \Exception("this cds id not found");
        }

        if ($cdsConf['query'] !== '') {
            $query = RqlParser::rqlDecode($cdsConf['query']);
        } else {
            $query = new Query();
        }

        $data = $this->getData($cdsConf['script_name'], $query);

        $query = new Query();
        $query->setQuery(new EqNode('cds_id', $cdsId));
        $items = $this->cds->query($query);

        foreach ($items as $item){
            $this->cds->delete($item['id']);
        }

        foreach ($data as &$item) {
            $item['cds_id'] = $cdsId;
            $item['data_id'] = $item['id'];
            unset($item['id']);
        }

        $this->cds->create($data);

        $this->cdsManagerStore->update([
            'id' => $cdsConf['id'],
            /*'cds_id' => $cdsConf['cds_id'],
            'script_name' => $cdsConf['script_name'],
            'query' => $cdsConf['query'],*/
            'freshness_date' => (new \DateTime())->format("Y-m-d H:i:s")
        ]);

        $request = $request->withAttribute('CDS-ID', $cdsId);
        $request = $request->withAttribute('Response-Body',['cdsId' => $cdsId]);

        $response = $response->withStatus(200);

        return array($request, $response);
    }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
How big is this weeks Supreme Court Ruling on NCAA Student Athlete Income?
This week has been monumental when it comes to student athlete income. On June 21, 2021, the US Supreme Court made a ruling that can only be described as a victory for the nation's top college athletes in their ongoing dispute with the NCAA over the limitations the latter has placed on education-related benefits and/or gifts that schools are allowed to provide amateur athletes. The judges unanimously decided that the limitation the NCAA places on the already short list of education-related benefits student-athletes are allowed to receive including graduate school scholarships, musical instruments, computers, and tutorial expenses, was a breach of federal anti-trust laws and should be removed.
The court's ruling in favor of the athletes is a heavy blow to the NCAA's current policy of placing strict limitations on student athlete income other than providing gratis tuition and accommodation. It does, however, stop short of allowing schools to pay salaries to college athletes.
The court's decision on Monday is the latest salvo in a protracted legal war that started in 2014. In that year a number of athletes from college sport's highest levels – the NCAA's 'Football Bowl Subdivision' and Division I basketball – decided to take the matter of limitations on student athlete's compensation to the Supreme Court.
During the court proceedings, the NCAA tried to convince the court that it should not be bound by antitrust rules that forbid businesses from working with their competitors to determine workers' compensation. The implication of the court ruling is that, at least in a situation like the current one, the NCA is bound by the same antitrust laws as the rest of society.
The NCAA argued that it fell outside the scope of antitrust laws because it acted as a 'joint venture'.
The athletes argued that the NCAA has effectively been running a system that is a perfect example of restraint of competition and that this breached US antitrust legislation. The NCAA responded by arguing that its rules were put in place to preserve amateur college sports and as such were to a large extent not covered by antitrust legislation. Another argument used by the NCAA was that its rules broadened consumer choice by making a distinction between professional sports and college sports.
The NCAA also argued that paying student-athletes large amounts of money would fundamentally change the product that it offered to the public. According to the Association, that product was amateur athletics provided by students who didn't receive professional salaries. The court didn't take this argument very seriously.
To make sure there's no misunderstanding it has to be said at this stage that student-athletes are currently not going without compensation. Many of the top athletes get scholarships that not only cover their tuition but also their accommodation and board. Some players might also get small cash allowances to cover their living expenses and other perks such as medical care for injuries that are related to their sports.
They do, however, not get anywhere near the astronomical salaries paid to the top professional athletes. Plus, even the best student-athlete compensation can only be described as meager when compared to the massive profits they bring in for their universities, the NCAA, and a plethora of broadcasters and merchants who benefit from college sports.
During the 2015/16 academic year, the total revenue generated by Division I and Division I-A football amounted to $4.3 billion. And the broadcast agreement the NCAA currently has for the yearly March Madness basketball tournament alone is worth well over $1bn per year.
A view from one of the Justices…
Furthermore, the Supreme Court's decision does not prohibit the NCAA from preventing that student-athletes be paid the same as professional athletes. Having said that: in a separate opinion, one member of the Court argued that, if they challenged all of the current NCAA compensation limits in a new court case, student-athletes would be given much wider relief.
Writing on behalf of the court afterward, Justice Neil Gorsuch said that the decision to relax the above-mentioned restrictions would not, as the NCAA argued, blur the lines between professional and college sports, in the process impairing demand among supporters.
Gorsuch added that allowing universities and colleges to pay higher education-related benefits could actually benefit scholastic achievement and provide student-athletes with a level of compensation that is more in line with the value they add to their respective schools.
Judge Kavanaugh, the second judge in the case, wrote after the case that in nearly every other industry in the United States the NCAA's business model would be downright illegal. Among other things, he added, the market for student-athletes was controlled by the NCAA. It used that position of power to set student-athletes' remuneration at below-market prices. On top of that, Kavanaugh said, student-athletes currently had no significant ability to negotiate with the NCAA over matters related to their compensation. That is precisely the kind of 'iron grip over pricing' that antitrust legislation aimed to prevent, Kavanaugh added.
What money-making opportunities are now open to student-athletes?
The first direct effect of the Court's unanimous ruling is that the nation's top student-athletes will no longer be barred from receiving scholarship money that exceeds the cost of their education and accommodation. The court's decision could, however, have wider implications, and eventually it could lead to student-athletes receiving salaries.
On the 1st of July Alabama and Florida will become the first two US states to break ranks with the NCAA over pay issues when they will start allowing athletes to generate income from their name, image, and likeness. This will include personal appearances, product endorsements, and social media channels. A large number of other states are planning similar moves in the future to make it possible for student-athletes to sign marketing deals, including Mississippi, New Mexico, and Georgia.
How much can top athletes expect to make?
It is not expected that the remuneration of top student-athletes will any time soon match that of professional athletes, at least not before the athletes manage to get a court order that rules all NCAA restrictions on what they are being paid as unlawful.
In the long run, however, this is bound to happen because the current system is simply unsustainable. A 2020 study conducted by the NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research) revealed that only 7% of the $8bn in income generated annually by the NCAA found its way to basketball and football players via living stipends and scholarships.
The researchers estimated that, if football and men's basketball players in the top conferences should get 50% of annual revenue, every basketball player would get close to $500,000 per year and every football player would earn around $360,000 every year.
The two best-paid football positions (wide receiver and starting quarterback) would earn $1.2 million and $2.4 million, respectively. Under such a 50/50 system starting basketball players can expect to earn anything from $800,000 to $1.2 million a year.
The example of a 50/50 system wasn't plucked from thin air either. Professional players in, for example, the NBA and the NFL have been receiving 50% of the income generated by their sports activities for many years.
How will this affect college sports in the long term?
The director of Tulane University's sports law program, professor Gabe Feldman, said it "potentially opens the door for a massive loss and a complete changing of the amateurism model and the limits on compensation to college athletes."
Former NFL player and top NCAA official Oliver Luck described the court ruling as a victory for students. It opens the door for universities and conferences to pay benefits that, as long as they are linked to education, can not be capped by the NCAA.
He believes that the rules for what can't and what can be paid will probably be institutional. He quoted the example of a 17-year old start athlete that has to choose between 3 different schools and added that, at least theoretically, these schools might offer this athlete all types of benefits, as long as they are academically related. Examples could include internships, a year abroad, or paying for his or her medical or law school education.
Jeffrey Kessler, the lead counsel for the group of athletes who initiated the case, described the court's ruling as 'historic' and said it might have a significant impact on a large majority of athletes, including those who will never become professional.
He added that he hoped it will open doors to even bigger changes so that the nation could finally have a competitive and just compensation system where these amazing players can enjoy the economic benefits of their labors while at the same time pursuing their educations. He concluded by saying that "Only then will the NCAA truthfully be able to say it is devoted to the welfare of the student-athletes."
Which sports are most likely to benefit the most and the least?**
At the present moment, the NCAA functions as the hub of the wheel that is student sports. With the massive income it generates, college football is what makes that wheel turn. Of course, without the students who are willing to sacrifice their time and effort, football will also grind to a standstill, and so will the NCAA.
Likely Winners: Football, Football…Football
Monday's court ruling will make big waves in this pond. The bigger football schools might soon consider leaving the NCAA completely and establishing a new amateur football league that pays players. There have already been discussions around this in recent years and the court's decision will most probably just speed up the process.
Schools without large football programs are likely to drop the sport altogether. These smaller schools are well aware that the big programs can't be bothered over what happens to them, and they are also aware that the big guys are considering programs that need a lot of capital. Deploying a football team costs a huge amount of money, and a big majority of the smaller schools simply can't afford that, particularly if they have to start paying players what's due to them.
Since the revenue generated by college football has for many years been the driving force behind the nation's Olympic successes, these teams could well end up requiring huge support from the federal government.
Likely Losers: Soccer, Volleyball, Track & Field
Another victim of the new system could be the US women's national soccer team where until now money generated by student football was what paid for top-level coaches and state-of-the-art facilities.
The same dynamic is expected to play out with the national volleyball team, numerous US track and field athletes, and also athletes from other disciplines where money from football so far has paid for facilities, coaches, resources, and travel expenses. In the end, the US federal government might be forced to choose whether or not to use tax money to keep Olympic sports afloat, as many other nations do.
For now, Monday's court ruling might not be truly ground-breaking. The judges, however, clearly indicated that they believed the NCAA model needs to be fixed. And if a system that generates billions of dollars every year should fall apart, those funds will have to flow somewhere else. With such a lot at stake, it's a safe bet that the current role players are already busy behind the scenes to reshape the future of the industry.
** This section largely reflects the views of Donald H. Yee, a lawyer and partner with Yee & Dubin Sports, which represents professional athletes and coaches. Yee wrote for the Washington Post on 22 June – see first link below.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/06/22/ncaa-football-alston-ruling/
https://www.vox.com/2021/6/21/22543598/supreme-court-ncaa-alston-student-athletes-football-basketball-sports-antitrust
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/09/01/ncaa-athletes-could-make-2-million-a-year-if-paid-equitably-study-suggests/?sh=1e842c605499
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/21/supreme-court-ncaa-decision-how-college-athletes-plan-to-cash-in.html
https://apnews.com/article/ncaa-supreme-court-alston-college-athlete-benefits-5be12caeaf014da7d71baf0bb60646fe
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/supreme-court-rules-ncaa-caps-student-athlete-education/story?id=78182798
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/21/1000310043/the-supreme-court-sides-with-ncaa-athletes-in-a-narrow-ruling
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/06/ncaa-looks-like-dead-organization-after-supreme-court-ruling.html
Sports Student Income
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