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Hot on the heels of the 2015 album release The Outsider, the full-length documentary Island Bound, and an extensive tour schedule, Isle of Man-born Davy Knowles announces his new album Three Miles From Avalon. This collection of new songs sees Davy returning to his roots, and the sounds that first ignited his passion for music.
Recorded exclusively in his adopted hometown of Chicago, the capital of electric blues provided Knowles with a landscape steeped in legend, inspiring him to creatively explore the genre of music he's always loved – energetic, guitar driven blues-rock.
Knowles began the recording process for Three Miles From Avalon with a fresh approach, one that has resulted in a dynamic, gutsy sound: "I wanted to go back to the basics. The band and myself have racked up a lot of playing time together, and we have really started to gel. I wanted to capture that 'live' feel in the studio
This led naturally to a back-to-basics approach, and a search for authenticity when it came to recording the new material: "My favourite sounding records are certainly older ones, recorded to tape, with minimal fuss or overdubs. I wanted that lovely warm, vintage sound that only tape and glowing tubes can do."
A raw, vintage sound is evident in the album's opening two tracks, the hard-driving Ain't Much Of Nothing, and a long-time live favourite, What You're Made Of, a homage to one of Davy's musical heroes: "Rory Gallagher has been a huge influence for me, his energy and drive was so mesmerising. I wanted to get back to that high energy, big guitar riff style of writing."
Falling Apart, the album's third track, adds dark drama to the record's driving pace with its smoky verses and heavy, snarling, blues riff. "I've had this song kicking around for a long time, but it wasn't until I had found this guitar pedal called 'The Octron' (one of only two pedals used by Knowles on the entire album) that the song and the riff really came to life, it's got this wonderful menacing sound."
Weaving a moment of pathos into the tracklist is Oxford MS – a fictional account of shady dealing and violence. Storytelling has always been a vital ingredient in Knowles' work: "Songs with characters and stories have always grabbed me, and I wanted to write one in the blues and gospel vein, it's a story of blackmail, gambling and regret, though certainly not an autobiographical one!"
Yet it's the title track, Three Miles From Avalon, which brings to the fore very personal aspects to a tale. "The song is really all about being slightly further away than where you want to be, and the frustration that comes with that. Avalon is this Arthurian legend, the Island that could never be found. It became my metaphor for things just out of my grasp."
The song also reveals the musical influences close to Davy's heart, showcasing his love of blues and classic rock with affection
The album closes on a hat tip to one of the all-time greats, Willie Dixon, with a re-working of his blues classic What In The World. Performed with a live, 'after hours' feel, the track showcases Knowles' confident and distinctive guitar playing, but also a powerful solo on the Hammond B3 by Andrew Toombs – demonstrating that Knowles and his tight-knit band all possess not only stunning technical ability, but soul too.
Larkin Poe Kirk Fletcher

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Tattoo Playlist: 61 Pop, Rock, and Country Songs About Tattoos
If you're one of the millions of people who see body art as a form of self-expression, then celebrate your body ink with a playlist of pop, rock, country, and R&B songs about tattoos.
Photo by Matheus Ferrero on Unsplash; Canva
Tattoos Are Going Mainstream
Years ago when my daughter was a toddler, I often reminded her, "Don't write on yourself." I was trying to prevent graffiti surprises on our walls, the upholstery, or on her skin. My admonishments, however, prompted an awkwardly memorable interaction when she accompanied me to a local veterinary clinic.
At first, I didn't notice that my three-year-old was staring, mouth gaping at the young woman behind the desk. The clerk donned a prominent throat tattoo encircling her neck; it spelled REVOLT in ginormous letters.
I was so accustomed to dealing with the woman (who was actually pretty mild-mannered, in spite of her proclamation) that I had to shake my gobsmacked kiddo a little and ask her what was wrong. "The lady wrote on herself!" my toddler urgently retorted very loudly. She then quickly quizzed the patient clerk about her choice of body ink—what does that say, what does "revolt" mean, did she know that was never coming off, and what did her mom say?
Celebrate Body Art With Songs and Lyrics About Tattoos
You may not have body art that spells REVOLT, but chances get better every day that you have other designs. That's because tattoos are going mainstream. Celebrate body ink self-expression with a playlist of pop, rock, country, and R&B songs about tattoos, including those that are new ink, old and faded designs, matching tattoos, or regrettable tattoos. We have a long list of songs to start you off!
1. "Tattoos Together" by Lauv
As a couple, there's nothing like getting inked together to make lasting memories. In this catchy 2020 pop tune, a guy recounts a recent magical weekend in Portland with a new romantic partner when they threw caution to the wind and got tattoos together. He has fallen hard for her and he ardently hopes that their love will endure. However, even if it fizzles, at least they will have shared tattoos to memorialize their relationship.
2. "Rose Tattoo" by Dropkick Murphy
This 2013 rousing rock song has a strong Celtic kick and features a tatted up narrator describing his skin as the tapestry of his life. As the man does a show-n-tell of his body art, he explains what each design represents. Specifically, he takes care to point out his most prized tattoo:
I've got your name written here
In a rose tattoo, in a rose tattoo, in a rose tattoo
Signed and sealed in blood I would die for you.
3. "Tattoos and Scars" by Montgomery Gentry
In this 1999 country song, a young man meets an older one in a bar one night, and they compare notes on life histories. While the younger man's life milestones are etched upon his tattooed skin canvas, the older man's biography of hard work and wartime service is conveyed through a visual tour of his "ragged old and jagged ordinary scars." The elder gentleman is careful to point out to his youthful comrade that tattoos and scars are different things.
4. "Tattoo" by Jordin Sparks
The narrator in this 2007 worldwide pop hit has decided to move on with her life. After having grown weary of relationship gameplaying, she has learned some lessons from a relationship bust-up and doesn't plan on looking back with regrets. Instead, she regards their time together as an enduring part of who she is, wearing it like. a tattoo. (How very mature.)
5. "Tattooed Heart" by Ariana Grande
We all want to belong to somebody, and the woman in this romantic 2013 ballad is no exception. She wants to stake her claim on her partner through ink:
I wanna say we're going steady
Like it's 1954
No, it doesn't have to be forever
Just as long as I'm the name on your tattooed heart.
Country star Ronnie Dunn later recorded the song in 2016 as the title track to his album by the same name.
6. "Tattoo" by Van Halen
This bass-heavy tune was Van Halen's last Billboard Hot 100 hit before acclaimed guitarist Eddie Van Halen died in 2020. The 2012 rock track is a tribute to "poetry in ink" as a form of individual expression. The narrator particularly values brightly colored tattoos and dons a number of them himself, including Elvis on his elbow and hula girls on the back of his leg. Additionally, he sends out love to ladies with tramp stamps.
7. "New Tattoo" by Brian Dunne
Raw and emotional in its intensity, this 2018 pop ballad describes the disillusionment and doubt that often accompany aging. (Hey, adulting is a hard thing to master.) The protagonist in the song is a millennial who lives alone but still depends financially on his or her parents.
They get a new tattoo to remind them of their younger selves, back when they were untethered by expectations. Sadly, their desire for a no-strings-attached life has turned into a solitary one so that they now sleep alone, have no one to talk to, and they walk through life kinda numb.
8. "Angel with Tattoos" by Skylar Grey
Tattoos can harbor the weight of a lot of assumptions. In this 2019 pop song, a woman who has lived hard pleads for more understanding from her disapproving future mother-in-law. While the rest of her partner's family is supportive of the couple's relationship, her partner's mother remains judgmental and overprotective. The tattooed lady defends herself as a born-again tattooed angel whose evil past has faded like the ink in her body art. She swears she'll never do her man wrong.
9. "Like a Tattoo" by Sade
War is an experience that is seared into the psyche of those unlucky enough to have lived through it. This haunting 1992 jazz number is based on Sade's interpretation of a conversation she had with a Vietnam vet she met in a bar:
The war is still raging inside of me
I still feel the chill
As I reveal my shame to you
I wear it like a tattoo
I wear it like a tattoo.
10. "Matching Tattoos" by Gene Noble
Thank goodness for small miracles, like that decision to forego matching tattoos. Didn't it seem like a cute idea at the time?
In this 2020 R&B ditty, a guy who has broken up with his lady is super glad they didn't go through with their often discussed idea about getting matching tattoos to forever memorialize their love. Not having that constant reminder staring back at him makes it easier to move on emotionally from their failed romance. Always remember this: love may disappear but tattoos are forever.
11. "5 Tattoos" by Ella Henderson
In this 2014 emotional ballad by the British X Factor contestant Ella Henderson, a woman suspects that she may have met her one and only. It's early in their courtship, but their attraction is intense. Mesmerized, her attention fixates upon him. She takes in all of his details and counts the five tattoos between his shoulders and his hands. This man may be the one to complete her.
12. "Tattoos on This Town" by Jason Aldean
The narrator in this 2011 country song notices physical signs that conjure up memories of a teenage romance as he revisits his hometown years after being away. All over town, the young couple left marks on the world like a tattoo, and they still remind him (as if he could forget).
Georgia boy Jason Aldean was married to his high school sweetheart for 12 years, until he was caught "acting inappropriately" in a bar with failed American Idol contestant and cheerleader, Brittany Kerr. The country singer subsequently filed for divorce from his first wife. He then married the younger woman and has since started a second family. Aldean wears tattoos in honor of his new wife and children.
13. "Tattoo" by Ava Max
In this playfully taunting pop song from 2020, a narrator teases her sweetheart that once she focuses her love on him, it will be indelible, just like a tattoo. Part threat, part promise, the edgy lady notes that she'll soon be under his skin. Her love will be permanent, just like tattoo ink. What's more, she flirts, is that he shouldn't resist. It's gonna hurt but he'll like it. Wait just a minute! Is this love or something else?
14. "Margaritaville" by Jimmy Buffett
This laid-back 1977 country rock song defined Jimmy Buffet's career for more than four decades. The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for its cultural and historical significance.
The tune details a man's drunken escape to a tourist beach resort after a relationship breakup. He bullet points his vacation activities to include sunbathing and a whole lot of boozing it up. Proof that the guy is probably working on a serious substance abuse problem (let's be honest here) is that he now wears a brand new tattoo of a Mexican woman and has utterly no idea how it got there.
15. "Last Tattoo" by Rehab
If you're like many people, then you've probably fallen for a lover who turned out to have a roving eye. Unfaithfulness hurts like hell. In this 2005 rock song, a dejected man describers his heartbreak after discovering that his partner has not only abandoned him for another guy but also blamed him for her infidelity.
The love scorned man directs the tattoo artist to bear down hard in removing the tattoo of his ex's name. If only wiping away her memory were this easy:
This will be my last tattoo
To cover the memory of someone I thought I'd always need
Cover her name with a smoking gun
Make it hurt as much as possible and make it bleed.
16. "Tattoos Blues" by Corb Lund
Have you ever acquired a poorly considered piece of body art? Maybe it's located on your neck or head. Perhaps you allowed your friends to talk you into getting it on a whim when you were three sheets to the wind. If you can identify, then you'll particularly appreciate this funny poem about regrettable tattoos which has been set to music.
The 2020 guitar tune urges people to look at the tattoo artist's previous portfolio of work and consider the final nature of their choice of body ink. It also pokes fun at
badly drawn tats of your kids
Asian characters that aren't what you think
illegible script, and
misspellings.
Got a bad tattoo? We'd love to hear about it in the Comments Section below.
17. "Tattoos" by Shane Runions
They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but that's unfortunately not the personal experience of the heavily inked fella in this 2016 country song. His canvas of tattoos is a reminder of his sins, including a stint in prison. While some people use his body art as a weapon for casting judgment upon him, he reminds them that the tattoos haunt him more than they scare strangers. He wears those old prison tattoos proudly as proof of the sins that God washed away.
18. "Tattoo" by Stephen Lynch
Comedian Stephen Lynch offers up his opinions on what makes a tattoo cool in this 2012 song. Almost no tattoo is off limits from from his criticism: Laughing Jesus, barbed wire, angel wings, unicorns, Tweety Bird, school mascots, tramp stamps.
19. "Tattooed on My Heart" by Bishop Briggs
Have you ever wished you could press "undo" on that love relationship that crashed and burned? Unfortunately, starting over is harder when you've carved an ex's name into your skin and thus carry them as a constant reminder (think: Justin Bieber's Selena Gomez tattoo).


SOUTH PORTLAND — Incumbent Wayne Ross was re-elected Nov. 4 to the Portland Water District Board of Trustees.
Ross received 12,464 votes in an uncontested election for one of two seats representing South Portland and Cape Elizabeth.
Ross has lived in South Portland for 35 years and has served one five-year term on the water district board. He is a former president of Southern Maine Community College.
Ross is a member of the PWD operations committee, which oversees construction for the district.


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Q: magento : product options in product page i m a beginner in magento and i have a product page as described in image bellow :

so the i wanna show red area like the brown one in the image bellow :

how to do that in admin if its possible ?

A: Souf,goto view.phtml (app/design/frontend/yourpackage/yourtemplate/template/catalog/product/)here find code
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            <?php echo $this->getChildChildHtml('container2', '', true, true) ?>
        <?php endif;?>

just up the corroding to your wished place in view.phtml

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Monaco V, Ghionzoli A, Micera S. Age-related modifications of muscle synergies and spinal cord activity during locomotion. J Neurophysiol 104: 2092-2102, 2010. First published August 4, 2010; doi:10.1152/jn.00525.2009. Recent findings have shown that neural circuits located in the spinal cord drive muscular activations during locomotion while intermediating between descending signals and peripheral sensory information. This relationship could be modified by the natural aging process. To address this issue, the activity of 12 ipsilateral leg muscles was analyzed in young and elderly people (7 subjects per group) while walking at six different cadences (40-140 steps/min). These signals were used to extract synergies underlying muscle activation and to map the motoneuronal activity of the pools belonging to the lumbosacral enlargement (L-2-S-2). The comparison between the two groups showed that neither temporal patterning of motor primitives nor muscles loading synergies seemed to be significantly affected by aging. Conversely, as the cadence increased, spinal maps differ significantly between the groups, showing higher and scattered activity during the whole gait cycle in elders and well-defined bursts in young subjects. The results suggested that motor primitives lead the synchronization of muscle activation mainly depending on the biomechanical demand of the locomotion; hence they are not significantly affected by aging. Nevertheless, at the spinal cord level, biomechanical requirements, peripheral afference, and descending inputs are differently integrated between the two groups, probably reflecting age-related changes of both nervous system and motor control strategies during locomotion.


Hi Mike, I have recently have purchased a used 1/2 set of your pipes. Is there any way I can get a couple of reeds or send you my chanter in for new reeds? I am a beginner piper and any help would be appreciated.


MYHEAT Mirror Demister pads are a simple solution to a misted up mirror.
With a MYHEAT Mirror Demister installed behind your mirror and connected to the bathroom lighting circuit you can view a clear mirror when the bathroom is full of steam.
MYHEAT Mirror Demister pads will fit on most types of mirror. Self-adhesive backing to the heater pad sticks directly to the mirror. On large mirrors several mirror demisters can be combined to cover a larger area.
Connect to the existing room light circuit so that the heater pad operates automatically when the light is switched on. The circuit must be protected via a 30mA RCD and it is recommended that the installation is completed by a suitably qualified electrician.
- Polyester film as heated pads of size shown.


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Former Telecel CEO sues for US$1mKenyan government to float tender for 3rd digital licence, CCK disagrees
Vine lands on Android
Apple facing US sales ban
June 5, 2013 · by Brandon Gregory
Reeva Steenkamp's "encrypted" iPhone crucial to police investigation
Reeva Steenkamp. Gallo Images/Getty Images, guardian.co.uk
An iPhone allegedly belonging to former model Reeva Steenkamp is central to the police investigation into her murder by boyfriend Oscar Pistorius.
Pistorius is accused of murdering Steenkamp on Valentine's Day this year. The iPhone in question was found in the bloodied bathroom of Pistorius' home in Pretoria, and apparently contains volumes of encrypted data, according to a report by Times Live.
Yesterday, police were given three months to conclude the investigations into Steenkamp's murder.
The iPhone was reportedly one of four phones taken from Pistorius' home in Pretoria and it has been suggested it is the same phone Steenkamp took with her when she locked herself in the bathroom, where she was shot dead.
A source told Times Live much of the data had been downloaded off the other phones, except the iPhone, which belonged to Steenkamp. The source said the mobile phone was "either completely or at least partially encrypted".
"There are serious concerns around when the people and its data [were] encrypted and why," said the source.
Furthermore, it is believed the data on on the mobile phone could possibly reveal Steenkamp's last calls or messages.
Haroon Meer, an information security specialist, told Times Live the police could approach Apple for assistance in decrypting the data on the iPhone.
"Apple could get them data on SMSs, calls and phonebook contacts. The question is time, with Apple recently reporting a backlog in calls for help from law-enforcement agencies worldwide," said Meer.
Phuti Setati, police spokesperson and brigadier, said: "We are making progress... we are making sure that justice will be served."
He however declined to comment on the encrypted mobile phone.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has promoted chief operating officer (COO) Akram Atallah to the newly (more)


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Tag: Edward Leung
Exclusive: Beijing's 'red line' is constantly shifting, says Hong Kong's jailed ex-lawmaker Baggio Leung
by Rachel Wong 09:00, 5 September 2020 18:21, 4 September 2020
"If suffering is necessary on the journey to human civilisation, then I will calmly face up to the suffering," disqualified Hong Kong lawmaker Baggio Leung told HKFP, hours before he began a prison term for trying to enter the Legislative Council despite being barred. On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal rejected the 34-year-old politician's appeal […]
Jailed Hong Kong ex-localist leader Edward Leung to seek early release – report
Explainer: 19-year-old Tony Chung – the first political figure arrested under Hong Kong's security law
by Kelly Ho 14:00, 1 August 2020 14:18, 1 August 2020
Gov't refuses to say if protest anthem 'Glory to Hong Kong' is illegal, despite ban in schools
by Kelly Ho 17:39, 10 July 2020 17:40, 10 July 2020
Democrats' primaries: Getting ready for Hong Kong's last free election
by Guest Contributor 17:31, 10 July 2020 17:32, 10 July 2020
Exclusive: Illegal protest slogan 'immortalised' by Hong Kong gov't, says co-author
by Rachel Wong 21:08, 4 July 2020 10:27, 22 July 2020
Censorship concerns as Hong Kong Companies Registry grills startup over political stance
by Hong Kong Free Press 23:11, 1 June 2020 11:14, 2 June 2020
Ex-localist leader Edward Leung transferred to maximum-security prison – report
by Rachel Wong 18:29, 6 March 2020 00:04, 1 April 2020
'I will fight tyranny': Newly-elected Hong Kong localist, 25, becomes chair of North District Council
by Kris Cheng 19:51, 7 January 2020 00:01, 1 April 2020
First Hong Kong protest riot trial to be held in March as prosecutors criticised for 'not disclosing evidence'
by Holmes Chan 16:30, 11 December 2019 23:54, 31 March 2020


One thing Nightwave isn't, is boring. There are more than a few superlatives to describe the storming atmosphere her sets generate, often blending ambient into hard hitting techno and low-slung electro. The Slovenian's output has seen her fire shots on labels like Unknown To the Unknown, Fabric, Ministry of Sound and her own label Heka Trax.
Psychic Tonic, her fiery new club EP on DEXT limited will fit nicely into her list of tracks she can play to stoke a dancefloor. The A side is a crazed breakbreat rhythm with slamming hi-hats and pinchy synths; that when coupled with the vocals reaches to the worlds of gospel techno. The B-side edit by Super Rhythm Trax's Jerome Hill distorts and adds to the tune creating another atmospheric stomper.
When asked to reflect on her sound, the Glasgow based producer states that, "Detroit music has a very special place in my heart, it got me into techno 20 years ago and I'm still a complete geek for it." In celebration of her new EP, we asked her to run us through ten of the Motor City's finest moments, picking out the sounds of Drexciya, Kenny Larkin, Mad Mike and Robert Hood on the way.
Juan Atkins is amazing with basslines, this one and No UFO's are proper heritage tunes.
This one fills me with joy, I started my Sonar 2012 set with this and it's still my most memorable set to this day. You can really hear Mad Mike's mastery of chords and emotions.
Unsung Detroit hero, responsible for so many great tunes but in my opinion doesn't get the recognition he deserves! His stuff is full of soul, funk and sexiness but not in the full on Chicago way. I play Detroit Zoo, Friday night and this track all the time.
Kenny Larkin is a genius. Master of melodies, his music is always full of emotion, slow rush of euphoria after steady build up. So many brilliant tunes, I picked Azymuth because, such a classic and so energetic.
Obviously have to include this one. I played after Derrick May once, he signed my record and twisted my arm for a laugh. Some guy!
Dare you not to get goosebumps within the first few bars! Mad Mike once again with his emotional wizardry. I sometimes play the Transition acapella over this for full on dance floor emo rush.
Have to mention Robert Hood of course, king of hypnotic loops and minimalism.
Finishing off with the legend Jeff Mills, I picked 'Berlin' off 'Waveform Transition 1' because it's one of the first tunes that inspired me to DJ, think it was actually the first tune I learned to mix (not very well). I love the energy in this track, a lot of Mills stuff is a bit gentler but this just destroys everything.
Psychic Tonic is out February 8th. You can buy it here.


Thousands of runners will head to Leeds on Sunday May 8th for one of the region's biggest charity road races.
It will be the 31st running of the Plusnet Leeds Half Marathon, which last year raised an estimated £300,000 for good causes.
A challenging course, hugely-supportive crowds and vibrant atmosphere combine to make the event one of the highlights on the UK's sporting calendar.
Among those due to be on the start line is former Leeds Rhinos star Jamie Peacock, who is taking on the challenge following his retirement from Rugby League last year. It will be his first half marathon.
Other celebrities taking part are actor George Rainsford – Ethan Hardy in BBC's Casualty – and Leeds Rhinos legends Barrie McDermott and Keith Senior.
Many of those tasking part will be raising money for the event's partner charities which this year are the Jane Tomlinson Appeal; Martin House Children's Hospice; Sue Ryder; St Gemma's Hospice; Forget Me Not Children's Hospice; Marie Curie; Overgate Hospice; CLIC Sargent, Leeds Children's Hospital Appeal and Macmillan Cancer Support.
The half marathon stands as part of the lasting legacy of the late fundraiser and campaigner Jane Tomlinson, who raised almost £2m for charity by tackling a series of epic challenges, including cycling over 4,000 miles across America, despite being diagnosed with incurable cancer.
For more information about Run For All events visit www.runforall.com.


First-time smartphone users who are in the market for cheaper devices with Internet capabilities should look no further as mobile phone and tablet maker Datawind is set to launch a device that could just be the world's cheapest smartphone to date.
Priced at only $15, the new phone is scheduled to hit the stores in India on Dec. 28, the birth anniversary of Dhirubhai Ambani, the founder of Reliance. The latter teams up with Datawind in a move to launch an affordable phone by the end of 2015.
"Our target is to bring a smartphone under Rs 1,000," said Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO of Datawind. "The new smartphone will be a Linux variant and consumers can get 12 months free Internet browsing."
The upcoming $15 smartphone will be priced at 999 rupees in India (AU$20 or £10) and will likely support 2G connectivity. It's definitely a non-Android device and instead, it will be based on Linux.
The two companies are aiming to sell the handset to customers who are upgrading to their first mobile device. As revealed from the research conducted by IDC, around 65 percent of the handsets sold in India are made up of feature phones towards the last quarter of 2014. It has noted how the trend of upgrading among users seemed to have dropped from the 78 percent that was recorded in the beginning of the first quarter of the same year.
"There are 900 million mobile phone subscribers but only 18 million broadband connections are available," said Tuli. "This gap segment is our priority. We create products that create the optimum balance between usability, performance and affordability for the Indian population. Instead of the small niche of high-end tablets and smartphones, our focus will continue to be on affordable devices that can empower the masses of India. Future specifications will include expansion to 3G and 4G networks."
According to Tuli, the phone's low-cost feature was made possible through the sliding prices of certain device parts such as processors and memory. Currently, the company is in talks with chipmakers from Taiwan and China.
"We want to replace feature phones with low-cost smartphones and hope to shrink the feature phone market base to 5-10 percent from the existing 60-70 percent in the next one to two years," adds Tuli.


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The Tapping Solution
Tapping Meditations
What is Tapping?
Tapping Meditations to Release Stress and Find Balance
The Tapping Solution has been featured on...
The Tapping Solution App is based on solid science. The form of tapping we use is called Clinical EFT. It's an "evidence-based" method that has been validated in over 100 clinical trials. If you'd like to find out more about this research, you can see a current list of studies at Research.EFTuniverse.com.
The Tapping Solution App has been evaluated in a scientific study and found to produce statistically significant reductions in anxiety and stress. The app developers consult regularly with the scientific advisory board members below.
Dawson Church, PhD Dawson is an award-winning author and researcher who has edited and written a number of books in the fields of health, psychology, and spirituality. His best-selling book The Genie in Your Genes has been hailed by reviewers as a breakthrough in our understanding of the link between emotions and genetics.
Earning his doctorate in Integrative Healthcare and postgraduate Ph.D. in Natural Medicine, Dawson founded the National Institute for Integrative Healthcare, a leading-edge 501(c)(3) nonprofit institution dedicated to education and research on evidence-based healing modalities.
His groundbreaking research has been published in prestigious scientific peer-reviewed journals. He is the editor of the professional journal Energy Psychology and a blogger for the Huffington Post.
His website, EFT Universe, is one of the largest alternative medicine resources on the web, through which he provides EFT learning opportunities, training, certifications, and a host of articles supporting the effectiveness and advancement of Tapping.
David Feinstein, PhD David is a clinical psychologist and a pioneer in developing innovative therapeutic approaches, leading to nine national awards for his books on consciousness and healing. He and his wife, Donna Eden, have built the world's largest and most vibrant organization teaching energy medicine. Their latest award-winning book, The Energies of Love, achieved best-seller status on the NY Times Relationship List. David has served on the faculties of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Antioch College, and the California School of Professional Psychology.
David received the 2002 "Outstanding Contribution" Award from the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology (and again in 2012), the U.S. Book News Award for the Best Psychology/Mental Health Book of 2007, the 2015 "Outstanding Leadership" Award from the Canadian Association for Integrative and Energy Therapies, and the Infinity Foundation's 2013 "Spirit Award" (with Donna) for their contribution to "the evolution of consciousness" and its "impact on society." A licensed psychologist (Oregon), he has contributed more than 100 articles to the professional literature.
Kim D'Eramo, D.O. Dr. Kim D'Eramo is a physician, bestselling author of The MindBody Toolkit, and founder of The American Institution of MindBody Medicine. She completed residency at Emory University in Atlanta, received board-certification in Emergency Medicine, and completed a fellowship in Osteopathic Medicine.
After healing herself from a chronic illness using MindBody Medicine, she has empowered thousands of patients to ignite their body's healing capacity and transform their health and life.
Dr. D'Eramo assists clients all over the world to incorporate MindBody Medicine for healing through online programs and live retreats. Receive your complimentary MindBody tools now at: DrKimD.com
Larry Burk, MD, CEHP Larry Burk, MD, CEHP, is holistic radiologist and dream tapping coach, trained in hypnosis, acupuncture and EFT. He was co-founder of Duke Integrative Medicine, a founding board member of the American Board of Scientific Medical Intuition and former board president of the Rhine Research Center.
He is author of Let Magic Happen: Adventures in Healing with a Holistic Radiologist and Dreams that Can Save Your Life: Early Warning Signs of Cancer and Other Diseases. His many articles, video blogs and newsletters can be found at letmagichappen.com.
Peta Stapleton, PhD, MAPS, MCCLP, MCHP Dr Peta Stapleton has 20 years experience as a registered Clinical and Health Psychologist in the State of Queensland, Australia and has completed a Bachelor of Arts, Postgraduate Diploma of Professional Psychology and Doctor of Philosophy. She is a member of the APS Clinical College and Health College.
Peta clinically specialises in Eating Disorders; Obesity; Binge Eating Disorder; Food Cravings; women's health; adolescence; lap-band (bariatric) surgery; Complementary and alternative medicine/integrative medicine; energy psychology; and health psychology. She is active in researching the effectiveness of energy psychology techniques for food cravings.
Peta has been awarded many honours including the Australian Psychological Society Elaine Dignan Award for research into women's issues, and the 2014 Harvey Baker Award for excellence in Energy Medicine Research. She has served as the President of the Eating Disorders Association of Queensland numerous times and is a certified practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming, Timeline Therapy and the Emotional Freedom Technique. Peta is the founder of the Gold Coast Eating Disorders Association Inc., and facilitated the support groups for 8 years. Prior to her position at Bond University, Peta spent 14 years as an academic for Griffith University.
Melanie A. Gold, DO, DABMA, DMQ, FAAP Professor of Pediatrics and of Population and Family Health, CUMC
Medical Director, School Based Health Centers, NY Presbyterian Hospital
Columbia University Medical Center
Over the past three decades, Dr. Gold has enhanced her patients' access to integrative medicine by developing and expanding her skills in osteopathic manipulation, hypnotherapy, Reiki, medical acupuncture, aromatherapy, mindfulness, Iyengar yoga, Ayuverdic Medicine and Transcendental Meditation. She is board certified by American Board of Medical Acupuncture since 2014. She completed a Doctorate in Medical Qi Gong in January 2017.
She is a Reiki Master since 2008. She has been gradually expanding the use of integrative health care modalities in the school based health centers (SBHCs) at the New York Presbyterian Hospital by adding aromatherapy, acupressure, mindfulness and self-hypnosis to the range of services offered by the SBHC staff. She completed the Foundations in Integrative Health Course, a 45-hour online course sponsored by the University of Arizona College of Integrative Medicine and the National Center for Integrative Primary Healthcare (NCIPH).
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Ports in Tenerife: Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Port of Los Cristianos
Tenerife has two ports. Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, near the capital, is the second largest of the Canaries in terms of passenger traffic, receiving cruise ships almost every day. Sea links to other islands of the archipelago, as well as sightseeing boats depart from Port of Los Cristianos, located in the south of the island.
Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife
This is the main port of Tenerife. Located less than a kilometre from the capital, on the northeast coast of the island, this port has several uses (fishing, commercial, sports and also passengers) and is the second largest of the Canaries in terms of passenger traffic. Several cruise ships of different sizes dock here almost every day.
This port also concentrates a large movement of goods, with shipping lines operating here to connect Tenerife to the island of Gran Canária, but also to important Spanish ports, such as Barcelona and Cadiz.
History points out that the city of Santa Cruz was born due to the port, and then grew around it. One of the most important episodes that took place in this port dates back to 1993 when, on 26 September, over 45,000 people disembarked to see a Michael Jackson concert (Dangerous World Tour).
The port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, managed by the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Port Authority, is 10 kilometres from Tenerife North Airport and 60 kilometres from Tenerife South Airport.
Port of Los Cristianos
Port of Los Cristianos, located in the south of Tenerife, has sea links to the islands of La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro, that generate a large passenger traffic, including many tourists who visit the island of Tenerife or the other islands in excursions.
Also several tourist boats leave this port for tours, dolphin and whale watching or to visit the cliffs of Los Gigantes. In the existing marina, there are also sailing and diving schools, among other sports.
The first records of the port of Los Cristianos date back to 1523, and the project was completed in 1974. At first, it played a very important role for fishermen and for the transport of goods.
Currently managed by the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Port Authority, this is an extremely busy port in the Canaries. It is a 15-minute drive from Tenerife South Airport (Reina Sofia), being well-positioned in terms of services, such as shops, supermarkets, tobacco shops, restaurants and bars.


Baillonia Bocq., Adansonia 2: 251 (1862).
Baillonia amabilis var. heterophylla Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 3(2): 250 (1898).
Baillonia amabilis var. longifolia Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 250 (1891).
Baillonia amabilis var. pubescens Moldenke, Phytologia 2: 50 (1941).
Baillonia juncea (Gillies & Hook.) Benth. & Hook.f. ex B.D.Jacks., Index Kew. 1: 264 (1893).
Baillonia spicata Baill., Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Paris, n.s., 2: 880 (1890).


The two teams now go forward to each build a Show Garden designed by Diarmuid Gavin – both displaying a wide variety of techniques and materials requiring an outstanding array skills and craftsmanship. The competition is a platform to promote excellence and support up and coming landscapers, encouraging them to engage with high profile projects.
Visitors to the Show will appreciate the diversity of ideas and solutions displayed within the two gardens. Visitors will also gain a heightened understanding of the results that can be achieved in their own garden when employing the skills of an accredited landscaping company.
The gardens will be built using a variety of hard landscaping products in the domestic ranges from sponsors Marshalls. In addition, the landscaping and horticultural trades have come together to support the competition including plants donated by JA Jones, mentoring from Landscape Skills Academy, decking from EcoDeck and sculptures from artist Simon Probyn.
With both gardens completed and assessed to WorldSkills UK standards on Wednesday 13 June, one duo will be crowned the same day as BBC Gardeners' World Live Young Landscapers of 2018. The Show then opens to the public on Thursday 14 June.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Tall Girl 2019 Jodi, the tallest girl in her high school, has always felt uncomfortable in her own skin. But after years of slouching, being made fun of, and avoiding attention at all costs, Jodi finally decides to find the confidence to stand tall.
Director: Nzingha Stewart
Actors: Anjelika Washington, Ava Michelle, Clara Wilsey, Griffin Gluck, Luke Eisner, Paris Berelc, Sabrina Carpenter
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Summer of '92 2015
Summer of '92 2015 The 1992 Danish football team competes for the European Championship.
Country: Denmark, UK
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Loserville 2016 Loserville follows a dorky high school outcast named Chuck as he navigates the wild and confusing days of his senior year. Chuck must face the challenges that he…
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EuroClub 2016
EuroClub 2016 Three American guys who perpetually strike out with the ladies travel to Europe and embark on an adventure through the continent filled with drinking, dancing, and partying while…
The Toxic Avenger: The Musical
The Toxic Avenger: The Musical 2018 Based on Lloyd Kaufman's cult 1984 comedy film, The Toxic Avenger The Musical tells the story of the citizens of Tromaville who are crying…
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One More Time 2015 Beautiful aspiring rock star Jude is stuck in a rut – relegated to recording commercial jingles and lost in a series of one night stands. When…
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The Party's Just Beginning 2018 In a bleak Inverness midwinter, Luisaidh is careening off the rails after the suicide of her best friend. She medicates her misery with joyless sex,…
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Birds of Prey 2020 After splitting with the Joker, Harley Quinn joins superheroes Black Canary, Huntress and Renee Montoya to save a young girl from an evil crime lord. It's…
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Holly Slept Over 2020 This unconventional comedy follows the relationship struggles of a married couple trying to conceive, their friends who have lost their spark, and the tension that ensues…
Trailer: Tall Girl


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AL ARABIYA ENGLISH | HOME PAGE
Emirates NBD allowed to open 20 more branches in Saudi Arabia
26 hours ago in Economy
Iran's Zarif says US travel curbs on Iranian diplomats 'inhuman'
26 hours ago in Middle East
Hook: Bahrain to host 65 countries to ensure freedom of navigation
26 hours ago in GULF
Saudi Arabia calls on Qatar to cooperate on enabling nationals to perform Hajj
Jannati re-elected as chair of Iran's Guardian Council aged 92
World court orders stay of Pakistan death sentence for alleged Indian spy
Doha summit gives Arab states 'right' to arm Syria rebels
Arab League leaders and delegates pose for a picture at the opening of the Arab League summit in the Qatari capital Doha on March 26, 2013. (AFP)
Al Arabiya with Agencies Tuesday, 26 March 2013
The Arab summit in Doha on Tuesday gave member states the "right" to offer Syrians all means of self-defense including arms, in a resolution on Syria.
Leaders at the Doha meeting condemned President Bashar al-Assad's regime's violations against the Syrian people and urged for providing urgent aid to refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.
The Arab League members ensured Syrians' right to return the Golan Heights, which were occupied by Israel in 1967.
Syria's opposition chief took the Syria seat at the Arab body and demanded in a fiery address that the Syrian opposition be granted Syria's seat at the United Nations.
Moaz al-Khatib, head of the Syrian National Coalition opposition grouping, also insisted that Syria's future should not be determined by foreign powers.
"We demand ... the seat of Syria at the United Nations and at other international organizations," Khatib said, addressing Arab leaders at the summit.
Syrian people alone should determine who rules the country, said Khatib, who on Sunday resigned his post although his resignation has yet to be accepted by the Coalition.
"They ask who will rule Syria. The people of Syria will decide, not any other state in this world," Khatib said, possibly alluding to accusations by Damascus that the rebels are implementing Qatari and Saudi agendas.
In addition to the Syrian crisis, the statement focused on other Arab related issues.
Leaders at the Doha summit said they welcome dialogue calls in Yemen and Bahrain, urging all Arab states to support them.
The summit also condemned Iran's occupation of the United Arab Emirates' islands: the Tunbs and Abu Musa.
Last Update: Wednesday, 27 March 2013 KSA 23:23 - GMT 20:23


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The Co-Intelligence Institute CII home // Y2K home // CIPolitics home
Transformational Politics
by Tom Atlee
This article was written in 1991. I have revised it slightly in Sept. 1999, as it is still remarkably appropriate, and may become even more so in the near future.
Fran Peavey, author of Heart Politics, tells a story from India of a bird that lays its eggs in the stratosphere. The egg plummets down, the embryo madly gestating into a raggedly little birdlet who, at the last minute, mere yards above the rocks and branch-spikes, breaks from of its shell and flits skyward toward the clouds.
This time of transformation is a real edge-of-the-seat affair, isn't it?
I visited Czechoslovakia in the spring of 1991 and was saddened to discover how, even in the midst of mind-boggling social changes, so much was stagnant. At the heart of the problem was a tenaciously inert mind-set: a deep, alienated irresponsibility showing up as apathy, fear, blame, inability to think critically or creatively, and disassociation from one's heart and neighbors. These things were apparently widespread, and took me by surprise.
But I recognized this syndrome as the brother of American alienation. Ours arose from our techno-consumerist culture; theirs from totalitarianism. Both systems are inimical to real selfhood and community. It hurt to watch Czechoslovakia, bursting with possibility, walk out of its cultural trap into ours. Little did Czechoslovakians suspect that freedom of choice, the pursuit of happiness, affluence and other exalted aspects of our society easily become - as ideology became in their world - strings through which to manipulate a puppet population.
As I began to put together programs for Czechoslovakia (my favorite being called "recovery from totality" [1]), my awareness of our common fate grew. We may be ahead of them in resources and they ahead of us on the curve of transformation, but we are both heading toward a moment of truth -- a realization of interdependence -- upon which all cultures are converging.
It is a good time to think hard about how to do politics appropriately.
A POLITICS OF ENABLEMENT [2]
In the ideal world, authority and power would be used
to enable people, in context with others, to build their lives and evolve (like helping a community start its own clinic) [3]
to restrain destructive forces long enough for positive forces to prevail (like taxing gasoline to finance public transportation)
to ensure that the interests of all involved are spoken for, including the voiceless (the immigrants, the unborn future, the plants and animals, etc.)
To the extent we use our authority this way, we will live our future culture while we build it.
We live in a culture where authority and power are seldom used this way, but rather
to serve the interests of the few (like the corporate subsidies)
to increase dependence (like welfare)
to release destructive forces with inadequate regard to consequences (like nuclear power)
to suppress destructive forces without nurturing positive forces to transform them (as in prisons)
to suppress creativity, uniqueness and aliveness that resist pressures to conform (as in most schools).
TRANSITIONAL POLITICS
In our society, power is used to manipulate the public to think that their interests are served by the same things that serve the elites. Our mass-consumer economy, electoral politics, technological wizardry and media environment are all dedicated toward this end. These things make people feel they are supporting their own interests when they support the elites with their purchases, votes, flag-waving, etc.
So when we advocate policies like environmental protection that serve the larger society but undermine elite control, we are called "special interest groups." Over the long haul, that will change and is changing. In the meantime, we'll often have to act like special interest groups and fight as if we were.
This exemplifies a characteristic of politics during a transition from old to new: We'll have to do things in old ways to buy time and space in which to do (and learn to do) things in new ways. Step by step, we can replace adversarial/power-over methods with sustainable/holistic ones.
Neither "purity" nor "realpolitik" are appropriate for this journey. It is more useful to see this as a search for balances appropriate to circumstances and evolution in the direction of sustainability.
A SPECTRUM OF POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT
In general, politics is anything that influences the activities of the larger society in one direction or another.
Political phenomena fall into a spectrum (see chart after this paragraph) not unlike the rainbow of visible light. Although the different bands of this spectrum are depicted as distinct, they blend into each other just like yellow blends into green.
Band 0-A - APOLITICS
Consumer - "Politics is someone else's business. I'm just trying to live my life. I'm not interested in politics."
Characteristics: Isolation, search for personal security, addictions, opinions nonexistent or implanted from media, manipulated, "cocooning" (escaping into customized personal world), fear of authority and catastrophe, denial
Anti-political variant: Political disillusion results in sublimation of political energies into non-political personal, community, group, or cosmic realms, sometimes very idealistic.
Band 0-B - SPECTATOR Politics
News-tracker - "Politics is a spectator sport. The relevant questions are: Who's ahead and Where's the drama?"
Characteristics: Political gossip, stays informed through media (usually with no search for alternative or clarifying info), often doesn't vote even when partisan; political insight can range from sophisticated to pedestrian; much talk, little action.
Cynical variant: Political disillusion results in degradation of political energies into mere political critique, sarcasm, and the bad-mouthing of politics in general, as exemplified by current events.
Band 1 - ROUTINE Politics
Voter - "Politics is how our country is run. We should all do our part."
Characteristics: Morality, conscientious voting, manners, "upright citizen," respect for authority, often simplistic thinking swayed by political imagery, formal democracy, patriotism, doesn't make waves
Band 2 - POWER Politics
Activist, Politician, Lobbyist, Corporation - "Politics is the struggle for power and influence. We fight to make other people and the government do what we want them to (to benefit ourselves, things we care about, or the general welfare)."
Characteristics: Competition, controversy, violence, gamesmanship, secrecy, us/them, win/lose, critical thinking, manipulation, impact, heirarchy, righteousness, debate, domination, rebellion, disrespect, black/white thinking, blame, search for leverage. [4]
Band 3 - CO-OPERATIVE Politics
Community organizer, negotiator, facilitator, neighbor, citizen - "Politics is public life, the shared solving of problems. We come together to make things better and to co-create our common future."
Characteristics: Discussion, common goals, organization, mutual aid, listening, co-action, common security, win/win, conflict resolution, mutual respect, fairness, citizen democracy, communities, grassroots initiatives, tolerance of diversity.
Band 4 - HOLISTIC Politics
World Citizen, Socially-conscious Systems Thinker or Engaged Buddhist, Deep Ecologist, Permaculturist - "Politics is our conscious participation in the whole [system, community, history, ecosystem, universe]. By increasing our consciousness of -- and taking responsibility for -- our connections to each other and our place in the whole, we can tap the wisdom of the whole and play a constructive role in its evolution."
Characteristics: Integrity, compassion, dialogue, satyagraha (truth force), service, solidarity with all life (including opponents), ethical/ecological awareness, collective intelligence, honoring the consciousness and aliveness of everyone and everything, creative use of diversity.
Just as few real-world objects are pure green, few political activities occupy only one band on the spectrum. Greenpeace, for example, involves itself in virtually all bands: thrills for the apolitical, experts for the dutiful, confrontation with the powerful, cooperative projects for grassroots groups, and a vision of respect for all life. Most of us concerned about the world live a bit in each band.
As transformational activists building a sustainable culture, we are called to do more than advocate our agenda, as in Bands 1-3. We are called to raise the quality and quantity of political engagement, per se.
One of our jobs is to enable people to move into higher bands - enabling the apolitical to vote, the voter to lobby, the lobbyists to come together in search of common ground, and everyone to see the "big picture" and to act out of awareness of their role in it. Another job is to introduce higher-band values (like diversity) and techniques (like consensus process) to lower-band realms (like corporations [5]).
Whenever we need to do lower-band actions we can learn to do them from a higher-band awareness or lift them into a higher-band mode. A boycott, for example, lifts consumption into the realm of power politics. And global consciousness can inform our voting.
The spectrum of politics clarifies the actions of powerholders. The ownership of most media, for example, and the dependence of election campaigns on money, allows elites to keep people either apathetic (since they can't win), dutifully compliant (as in patriotic), or engrossed in issue-battles which, even if won, wouldn't change the destructive system. For example, fighting for federally-enforced higher car mileage maintains dependence on cars, centralized power and government-subsidized highways and parking lots. An alternative approach -- taxes on gas and low-mileage cars, with the revenues used to subsidize public transportation and car-free city planning and community development -- helps transform the whole transportation system.
Powerholders sometimes introduce low-band elements (provocateurs, apathy, consumerist obsessions) into higher-band activities in an effort to disrupt them. If we are aware of this and stay grounded in Bands 3 and 4, our activities will be harder to disrupt. For example, the efforts of an agent provocateur trying to create dissention in a deep dialogue (a process to tap group intelligence) could simply become grist for the process-conscious mill of the dialogue. To succeed at this requires a high level of group consciousness and cohesion.
(For another version of the spectrum of politics, see "Transformational Politics (draft outline)"
THE STRUGGLE FOR POWER
The struggle for power is at the heart of American politics. Power-over is the governing principle of centralized government and management. Whoever is in charge, or whoever exerts the most pressure, gets their way. Individuals and interest groups battle for leverage. Bits of cooperative activity creep in - like alliances, compromises, political deals, protocols - if only to prevent the whole thing from tearing itself apart.
Into this fray we must go because that's what's available.
But let's not accept this status quo. Most government programs establish dependence or privilege or otherwise reinforce the power-over, adversarial system. We need to realize that depending on the power-over machinery of government to achieve our ends (e.g., empowering federal agencies to police polluters) is reinforcing the old unsustainable system. To the extent we want to facilitate transformation, we need to ask ourselves: In what ways do these proposals move our culture through the transition and in what ways do they root us more firmly in the old power-over ways of doing things?
In many cases (like controlling pollution), we have to depend at least in part on power-over, adversarial solutions, because the power balance in our society is so skewed. But we needn't do it from the old mindset, because we're mad as hell or can't envision any better approach. We can do it because we've consciously decided it's a tactical necessity in our strategy for building a non-adversarial, decentralized, sustainable society. From a strategic perspective, we want to increase the amount of participation and imagination (compared to the amount of domination, control and resistance) in any solution. We also want to not merely solve problems but move in the direction of a sustainable society.
Ways we might use government power appropriately and strategically include:
creating conditions for transformation (e.g., subsidizing citizen Study Circles like they do in Sweden, or training people in deep dialogue and consensus processes)
making social power more equitable (e.g., establishing citizen boards to monitor corporate policy, as Ralph Nader has proposed in his Concord Principles),
enabling people to act more sustainably (e.g., subsidizing the transition to organic farming)
restraining the destructiveness of powerholders and short-sighted citizens - especially where it may be irreversible (as in species extinction and nuclear holocaust), or where it will buy time (as in slowing global warming, or feeding starving people while population-control and sustainable agriculture programs get underway).
TRANSFORMING POWER STRUGGLES
While we are engaged in this realm of power struggle, we can experiment with upper-band approaches to power, both for our own experience and to find out which ones can facilitate transformation within the existing system - and of the system itself.
For example, we can promote the use of power in the service of values, not interests. A Green Party candidate, for example, might make it clear that her purpose is not to serve her constituency or the powerholders, but to build a society that will support the welfare of people for thousands of years - and that people should only vote for her if they share that value.
Many people will say that's not good politics, meaning that it won't get you elected. We should look carefully at what we want to do with the power of an office, if it's not to further our values. Should we use candidacies to change the terms of electoral debates toward a discussion of values - or to win? What effect would each option have on the transition?
We can experiment with enabling the bad guys to do the right things. What would help Muxxup, Inc., stop polluting? In many bad companies there are good people who, with help from us, could create good effects. When we attack their company directly, they may be disabled from allying with us because they'd be betraying their company. But if we are publicly ask the company (or privately ask the insider allies) what we can do to help them reduce their pollution, such people would probably be empowered to make a difference from within.
Even if we did what we were going to do anyway (take the company to court, demonstrate in front of their factory) we can benefit from not being adversarial. "We believe Muxxup contains basically good people who need this demonstration to help them stop polluting. We're offering them our help." We might even admit: "We haven't been as active as we could in cleaning up our environment, and we thank Muxxup for getting us involved."
To my knowledge no one has done anything like this. I wonder how Muxxup's PR people would handle it...
Another approach would be to creatively personalize the powerholders and our relationship to them. [6] Gandhi used this approach. He steadfastly refused to treat people as if they were their roles; even in very trying circumstances he would treat them as real human beings. He once challenged a judge who was trying him for sedition, saying that if the judge believed the laws were just, he must give Gandhi the maximum penalty and, if he thought the laws unjust, he must step down from his judgeship since he could not in good conscience do his job.
There are undoubtedly many powerholders who are immune to being treated as real human beings, or who keep themselves too insulated to reach. But some will be affected. It is always worth the experiment. Gandhi won some powerful converts with his principled humanity.
I know of one project, the Nuclear Dialogue Project (in the US, their address was 145 Witherspoon St., Princeton, NJ 08542) in which small groups of citizens "adopted" nuclear policy-makers, studied their histories and writings, and started years-long written and in-person communications with them, concerned human-to-concerned human.
In a very real sense, we are all in the same boat. As Betsy Rose sings: "We all came here on different ships, but we're in the same boat now." This understanding underlies the higher bands of politics. We are challenged to apply that understanding to Band 3 politics, to transcend adversarialness and attempt to transform ourselves even as we transform the struggle for power.
BEING GOVERNMENT
We shouldn't wait to be elected to act like a government. In Czechoslovakia the dissidents became the government almost overnight, and found it much harder to be wise leaders than wise critics ("Havel's Choice," Vanity Fair, Aug. 1991). If we are serious about transforming this culture, we need to assume the mantle of leadership before it is given to us.
This could mean creating shadow governments that go beyond think-tank policy recommendations. They would have no institutional power, but would try to model how institutional power could be better used than it currently is. They would actually do scenario studies to see what resistances and resources would be involved in putting positive policies into practice, and what they would do to deal with such contingencies if they were in charge.
When the USSR came apart or Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait or massacres occured in American high schools or small countries, these shadow politicians could have been there with proposals and comments about how their past policy recommendations would have changed things. This would simultaneously benefit those working in the shadow governments (as preparation and learning) and introduce the public to alternatives. Perhaps they'd be impressed enough to vote some of those involved into office.
At the very least, it would show we were serious.
We might even begin to build real Band 3 and 4 quasi-governments among ourselves in our bioregions, communities and networks, laying the foundations of tomorrow's decentralized, sustainable civil society. One interesting approach is sortition, Ernest Callenbach's and Michael Phillip's proposal for a legislature chosen by random lottery (A Citizen Legislature, Clear Glass, 1985; or New Age Journal, July 1984, p. 47). There are abundant Band 3 and 4 ideas for governance crying out for intelligent trial (see the imagineering tale "The story of Pat and Pat, the view from the year 2019" for a broad selection).
CITIZEN DEMOCRACY
One effort to generate a holistic form of Band 3 cooperative politics is Frances Moore Lappé's work with the Center for Living Democracy (RR#1 Black Fox Road, Brattleboro, VT 05301, [802] 254-1234). My conceptualization of Band 3 on the chart is derived from her definition of public life. She goes on to say that public and private are complementary dimensions of our individual lives. We each have a deep personal need to share in the creation of a common future and thus to participate in a public life that makes sense to us. [7] (See the article Living Democracy for more on this approach.)
In citizen democracy, self-interest encompasses everything we care about, and power is power-with, the enabling quality of relationships. Politics involves people gathering together so as to pursue their self-interests more effectively than they could alone.
The archetypical American Band 3 tradition is the New England Town Meeting. A few more recent approaches include
Swedish Study Circles, a ubiquitous (in Sweden) form of grassroots self-education and discussion being promoted in the US by the Study Circles Resource Center, Route 169, Box 203, Pomfret, CT 06258.
Principled negotiation in which the conflict is seen as a shared problem, and the adversaries as colleagues in solving it (see Getting to Yes, by William Ury and Roger Fisher).
Mediated dialogues, in which both sides are called upon to communicate each other's positions, to clarify their differences, and to search for common ground (Search for Common Ground, 205 Mass. Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20036).
Co-operative education, in which students collaborate in their study, projects and even tests.
VALUES-BASED POLITICS
Transformational politics is always looking for the interests, values and assumptions that underlie the surface drama of political debate and struggle.
Hidden behind the embattled positions of Band 2 adversaries are their interests -- what they're trying to protect or accomplish. Those interests are, in turn, rooted in their values -- what they consider important, right and good. And those values are rooted in their assumptions about life -- what they consider to be real or true.
All these have political significance. For example:
Opponents will often discover a basis for agreement when they move from defending their positions to satisfying their real interests.
People with diverse interests and positions can often work together if they share values.
The "paradigm shift" required for human survival involves changing our deepest assumptions about life -- from assuming separateness to assuming connectedness and wholeness.
Bringing values to the foreground is a major task of transitional politics. One approach is to advocate holistic values like sustainability. Perhaps a more holistic approach would be to help people clarify what their values are, to help them see the impact of their lives (or of some company or policy) out in the world, and then to help them explore how that impact fits (or doesn't fit) with their values. Transformation happens when they decide to change either their impact or their values. Of course, this is best done in dialogue with others.
I saw an excellent video of a high school teacher asking his students who should be punished for the Holocaust. They struggled back and forth (Hitler? SS soldiers? Holocaust administrators? The German people?), arguing with each other, fine-tuning their own sense of ethics and responsibility. There is no answer to these questions, only a certain deadness or sensitivity to the issues they raise.
This personal act of values/impact clarification is what I call holistic responsibility. You could call it taking the world personally. I and many of you are trying to become more vegetarian, more organic, more simple and self-reliant in our lifestyles. I, for one, don't do this out of guilt or political correctness. I do it in an effort to reduce the dissonance I feel between my values and my impact. Pure harmony between them is impossible. Our culture demands compromise if we want to stay alive and/or make a real contribution. Once again, it is a matter of balance and direction. We do the best we can.
And we stay conscious. That's the hard part - not sliding into denial or righteousness or ignorance This is important because everything we do (or don't) is contributing to what happens next. All of us are full participants, inevitably. To the extent we can be aware of our role, making conscious choices about it, and staying aware of what's happening, we can co-navigate toward a sustainable society.
Of course our political action, service, spirituality, voting, being informed, etc. -- or lack of them -- are as much a part of our role as our organic-ness and self-reliance. It's all a seamless whole.
DEEP DIALOGUE: LEARNING, EVOLUTION, AND GROUP INTELLIGENCE
In exploring resources for my Czechoslovakian "recovery from totality" project, I talked with a friend, Jeff Groethe, who taught peer counselling at the Berkeley Free Clinic. I discovered he also was on the advisory board of an organizational development firm which tries to enable organizations to become learning organizations.
The idea entranced me and I explored further. Jeff told me that a key tool for them was "dialogue" - which I called, earlier in this article, "deep dialogue," and which he described as a process for accessing group intelligence.
I had experienced this phenomenon (if not Jeff's process) during the Great Peace March across the US in 1986. In a smelly fertilizer factory east of Denver, with no place to sit and with rain and hail clattering on the roof, dozens of marchers took turns sharing (through a portable PA system) their thoughts and feelings about whether we should march all together or strung out in an undisciplined line. There were hundreds of us, we were wet and tired, and this was the most passionately divisive issue among us. But by the time the rain stopped, we all knew we'd walk together in the cities and spread out in the countryside. There had been no vote - indeed, not even a decision. That's just where the talking took us. The group came to a point where it knew.
Quantum physicist David Bohm, creator of dialogue process, tells of a North American tribe of hunter-gatherers who met in a circle from time to time. "They just talked and talked and talked, apparently to no purpose. They made no decisions. There was no leader. Everybody could participate... The meeting went on, until it finally seemed to stop for no reason at all and the group dispersed. Yet after that, everybody seemed to know what to do, because they understood each other so well." [8]
For most people, the word dialogue means a discussion. For David Bohm a discussion involves bouncing ideas back and forth. Dialogue, he says, is different. In dialogue "people are no longer primarily in opposition, nor can they be said to be interacting, rather they are participating in this pool of common meaning, which is capable of constant development and change." [9] Dialogue is the process through which a group gains access to a level of intelligence unavailable to individuals.
I am fascinated by the significance of being able to achieve this level of group connection predictably. [10] Does this open a door to a culture capable of conscious learning and evolution? It is hard to imagine a more fitting tool for Band 4 holistic politics.
Related to this new form of dialogue is the practice of strategic questioning, developed by Fran Peavey. The archetypical strategic question was, "Why is the emperor wearing no clothes?" It implied other potent questions like, "Why have we not talked about this before?" and "Shouldn't we do something about our emperor? - and about ourselves?" The purpose of a strategic question is allow for a shift in the significance of a situation so that options for change can emerge. It assumes that the answers for any society or individual reside within them, and its purpose is to elicit such answers rather than to provide them.
NEW PARADIGM POLITICS
Holistic politics, together with higher forms of cooperative politics, constitute a new paradigm politics. It is one facet of our culture's megatrend away from the mechanistic worldview (ref: Fritjof Capra's The Turning Point, Marilyn Ferguson's The Aquarian Conspiracy, and John Naisbitt's Megatrends). Looking at politics in terms of transformation, sustainability, enablement, holistic responsibility, dialogue, values, etc., lifts politics out of a linear, mechanical world of forms and forces, entities and quantities...and recreates it in a universe of relationship, wholeness, process, quality...and no boundaries.
In the mechanical paradigm it is almost as if everything is contained in - and defined by - boxes, structures, boundaries. Ideas are contained in categories, objects in forms, people in skins, countries in their borders. Each is defined by what's inside and outside its box and what that box looks like.
The new paradigm is not so interested in boxes and their boundaries, but rather in the center/heart/spirit/essence of things, and in the relationships between them, and in the larger contexts and dynamics in which they live and which their lives embody.
For example, the old paradigm sees humans as bodies and personalities to be decorated, manipulated, defended or attacked. Its politics specializes in such things. The new paradigm, from which our new politics is evolving, sees us in terms of the personal creativity, meaning, and identity which arise from within - in a dynamic, mutually-defining dance with the world around us. The new paradigm says that this heart-to-heart dance is who we really are, and what the world is. Its politics, of course, embodies that perspective.
A politics rooted in such principles is transformative because its focus on creative relationship (rather than on forms) frees it from the dynamics of attack and defense and makes it more naturally adaptable - freely responding to and participating in change. Like protoplasm and spirit, this politics can create and abandon forms, as necessary, while it, the creative force, survives them all. That very fact, of course, is what makes it sustainable.
ANOTHER BENEFIT
Additionally, this new paradigm offers a way out of the the territorialism that bedevils traditional political activism. Here's a scenario familiar to activists:
The monthly meeting of Local Folks for Peace is in progress. A woman has just suggested that they ought to address environmental and economic issues. A man replies, "If we try to fix everything, we'll succeed at nothing. We'll lose our focus. Let's stick to peace, OK?!" An argument ensues - the woman insisting that the environment and justice are related to peace, and the man responding sarcastically that "so is everything else, so why don't we just do everything at once!"
A young man, new to the group, stands up and says: "Wait a minute. You're both right. And I think there's a way we can address other issues without losing our identity. Why don't we think of ourselves as peace-centered activists. Our central concern is stopping wars, resolving conflicts and the other dimensions of peacemaking. But we're all deeply sensitive people and peacemaking shouldn't limit our concern. I think of peacemaking as my special way of addressing any issue. And I view other issues as avenues for advancing the cause of peace. For example, our military is vulnerable as one of America's worst polluters. The Pentagon budget could be used to build schools and houses and repair the environment. Militarism is the blood brother of sexism and the enforcer of injustice.
"When we join, for example, with environmental- and justice-centered activists to advocate using funds from the military budget for meeting human and environmental needs, we are all working for peace. They have not lost their focus; and we have not lost ours. Not only are all these issues connected, but we can and should use those connections to create peace - at the same contributing our peacemaking perspective to those other causes. As far as I can see, the whole problem doesn't have to be a problem at all."
DOING IT
We share with all peoples of the world the challenge of seeding and cultivating a profoundly democratic, creative political culture.
Luckily, intelligently, we are in the midst of creating such a politics, one that is actually a way of life. Even now we are evolving politics out of the so-called "halls of power" into our hearts, our homes, our communities and our vast, alive, interconnected world. We just need to do more of it, more consciously, with flexibility and a healthy respect for our own mistakes.
If you are interested in seeding communities of concern, dialogue and cultural transformation - or if you know of more activities like those described in this article - let me know.
1 "Totality" is a Czechoslovakian term for the totalitarian culture which includes the above-described mindset as well as authoritarian institutions and a set of assumptions designed to replace individual experience and conscience. Vaclav Havel, former dissident leader and president of the Czech Republic, wrote extensively about totality in his essays, pointing out its presence in the West, too: "Our task is to resist the anonymous, impersonal and inhuman power of ideologies, systems, bureaucracy, artificial languages - whether in the form of consumption, advertising, repression, technology or cliché, all of which are the blood brothers of fanaticism and the wellspring of totalitarian thought." (Politics and Conscience)
2 Enablement and many other facets of this article have economic and social implications. James Robertson proposed in New Options (12/26/89) a multi-level global economy, with each level designed "to enable its component sub-economies to be more self-reliant and more conserving." David C. Korten applies enablement to international development in In Context #28.
3 The Achilles Heel of the politics of enablement is many people's unwillingness to participate. They want to have someone else envision, decide and manage things. They don't want to be bothered. A large part of the problem is that powerholders don't want people to participate, so the society is designed to distract and channel people rather than to encourage creative participation. This is already changing in the business world. And there are many schools and communities that are working on cooperative, participatory modes. These we can and should help, in order to build a population ready and able to participate in broader politics.
4 Discussions of power bring up class, race, gender and other issues of oppression and privilege. While it is true that the use of power (including violence) by oppressed people has a certain greater legitimacy than the use of power by oppressors, it is also true that the shadow side of power politics degrades all involved regardless of who uses the power -- and that both oppressor and oppressed are dehumanized by oppressive systems. I see intrinsic value in all efforts to move beyond oppressive systems and the use of "power-over."
5 Corporations are particularly good for this. Since international trade is in such flux, companies will try anything to give them an edge. Advanced band 3 and 4 organizational techniques have had a better reception in the business world than among activists.
6 This is one facet of heart politics - politics motivated by our sense of connection to people and shaped by their thoughts, feelings and needs. See Heart Politics, by Fran Peavey (New Society Publishers, 1985). One of many forms of activism inspired by Fran is The Listening Project (c/o RSVP, 1901 Hannah Branch Rd., Burnsville, NC 28714) which sponsors door-to-door canvasses not for fundraising or advocacy but to bring to life the concerns of the people of a community by actively listening to them. Heart politics occupies the border between Bands 3 and 4.
7 This need has often been frustrated, warped or buried by our culture. See footnote 2.
8 On Dialogue, David Bohm, David Bohm Seminars, PO Box 1452, Ojai, CA 93023, p. 11.
9 David Bohm in The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, by Peter M. Senge, Doubleday, 1990, p. 241. Also see "Transforming the culture through dialogue," Utne Reader Mar/Apr 91, pp. 82-83; and On Dialogue, David Bohm Seminars, PO Box 1452, Ojai, CA 93023.
10 This state is akin to the state of "real community" described by M. Scott Peck in The Different Drum, Simon and Schuster 1987. He describes a way to achieve that state predictably, as well. The two methods appear highly complementary.


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Home · Legal Subject Areas · Costs (5 sites)
Association of Costs Lawyers
The Association of Costs Lawyers (ACL) is the professional body for costs lawyers (formerly known as law costs draftsmen) in the UK. Its site includes information on the role, education and training of costs lawyers, a directory of members and news items. Some content is only available to members and/or registered subscribers.
Costs Lawyer Standards Board
The Costs Lawyer Standards Board (CLSB) is the Approved Regulator of costs lawyers in England and Wales. Documents accessible on its site include the costs lawyers' Code of Conduct, Practising Rules, and Disciplinary Rules & Procedures. There is a searchable register of costs lawyers who hold a current practising certificate and are therefore regulated by the CLSB.
Litigation Futures
This site describes itself as "the free guide to costs, funding and the Jackson reforms". It was launched in 2012 and is edited by a team of legal journalists. Site content includes news (archived back to January 2011) and a blog.
Review of Civil Litigation Costs
Lord Justice Jackson was appointed by the Master of the Rolls in November 2008 to lead a fundamental review of the costs of civil litigation in England and Wales, and to make recommendations. His final report was published on 14 January 2010 and its recommendations largely implemented on 1 April 2013. Both the final report and an earlier preliminary report are available here on the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary web site, together with related material including consultation responses and lectures on implementation.
The Senior Courts Costs Office (SCCO), part of the High Court of Justice, was known before the establishment of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in 2009 as the Supreme Court Costs Office. This section of the GOV.UK web site includes the Senior Courts Costs Office Guide and other guidance documents, links to cause lists, and links to decisions 2000 onwards on the BAILII site.


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Smart News & Research
for Latin America's Changemakers
Smart News & Research for Latin America's Changemakers
DAtA, Opinion and analysis
Democracy & Elections
Economics, Trade & Development
Facts and Consequences
Foreign Policy & U.S./Latin America Relations
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Policymaking
Social Inclusion, Minority Groups & Discrimination
The Future of U.S.-Colombian Relations
Global Americans news monitoring initiative: Lessons learned
Caribbean: 2030 Trends
Central America: 2030 Trends
South America: 2030 Trends
Liberals, Rogues & Enablers: The Sequel
Empty Promises, Broken Commitments and Fake Election Monitors
Solidarity with the People?
Liberal or rogue? Latin American foreign policy and human rights
Liberals, Rogues & Enablers: The International Order in the 21st Century
Working Group on Inter-American Relations
Jamaica has broken with its Petro-Caribe benefactor, Venezuela, in the most recent OAS-General Assembly vote on the deterioration of democracy in Venezuela. Nevertheless, the country remains a laggard in terms of its definition and protection of women's rights.
Below is a breakdown of Jamaica's actions and votes at the various venues we are monitoring. For more information click on each title and summary.
Scoreboard:
Freedom Status Partly Free
Aggregate Score (100 is perfect freedom and protection of rights) 75/100
Political Rights (scores out of 7, with 1 being the best) 2/7
Civil Liberties (scores out of 7, with 1 being the best) 3/7
Press Freedom Free
Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 39/100
Global Rank 83/176
Evaluation of OECD Compliance Not a signatory
World Justice Project [1]
Rule-of-Law Index 0.58
Regional rank 13/30
UN Human Development Index
Human Development Index 0.730
Global rank 94
Americas Quarterly [2]
Social Inclusion Index N/A
Regional rank N/A
United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC or Council)
Jamaica has never been on the UNHRC.
UNHRC's Universal Periodic Review
As part of its mandate to promote human rights around the globe, the UNHRC has instituted a Universal Periodic Review (UPR), where, once every four years, each country's human rights record is examined. Other countries are invited to review the record and make comments and suggestions for improvement. The country under review then acknowledges each comment by either "accepting" the comment, meaning typically that they agree to focus on, or "noting" it, indicating that they disagree and will not be focusing on improvements in this area.
As recipient: Jamaica received 170 recommendations. Accepted 94, noted 76. (only select topics listed below)
Area Received Accepted Noted
Civil society – – –
Elections – – –
Enforced disappearances 5 – 5
Extrajudicial executions 1 1 –
Freedom of association and peaceful assembly – – –
Freedom of opinion and expression – – –
Freedom of religion and belief – – –
Freedom of press – – –
Human rights defenders 2 2 –
Human rights violations by state agents 5 3 2
Impunity – – –
Indigenous peoples 1 – 1
Internally displaced persons – – –
International instruments 45 9 36
Justice 10 8 2
Migrants – – –
Minorities – – –
Racial discrimination – – –
Sexual orientation and gender identity 18 2 16
Torture and CID treatment 20 2 18
Women's rights 28 19 9
Total 100 37 63
Note: some comments are classified under multiple categories.
As commenter: Jamaica has not been very active in the UPR process, with 38 comments made so far in the 2nd cycle (for data available). With 36% comments made towards other Latin American countries, it consistently made 2-3 comments for most, but not all, countries around the globe.
Note: This data is for the 2nd cycle of the UPR. However, the final round of countries were reviewed in November/December 2016, and that data is not yet available to include in our analysis here.
UN NGO Committee
Jamaica has not been on the committee since 1993.
Inter-American System:
OAS Permanent Council
Under the new leadership of Secretary General Luis Almagro, the OAS has re-found its focus on defending democracy but is still bound by the wishes and will of its members. But the newfound leader's commitment—and the challenges—were shown at a meeting in June 2016 where Almagro presented his report on the state of democracy in Venezuela and proposed invoking the Inter-American Democratic Charter.
In June 2016, OAS members voted on whether Secretary General Luis Almagro should present his report laying out the evidence on how and why it was necessary to invoke the Inter-American Democratic Charter in Venezuela. Surprisingly, Jamaica voted in favor of hearing the report. Jamaica joined a list of PetroCaribe countries that abandoned their usual support for Venezuela.
During the Meeting of Foreign Ministers on the Situation in Venezuela, at the 2017 OAS General Assembly, Jamaica voted in favor of a U.S.-backed resolution that called for the release of political prisoners, and urged the Venezuelan government not to convene a constituent assembly that would rewrite the Venezuelan constitution. It abstained from voting on a CARICOM backed resolution asking Venezuela to reconsider leaving the OAS. By supporting the U.S. backed resolution Jamaica joined Honduras, another PetroCaribe country, in voting in favor of human rights and against the interest of Venezuela.
Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR or Commission)
Jamaica has not financially support the IACHR, though it has been cooperative with the organization.
Year Contributions by Jamaica Percentage of Total
Contributions to IACHR
2011 – –
Voluntary financial contributions to IACHR (as of Sept. 16, 2016):
Electoral Missions
The OAS has conducted a three electoral observation missions to Jamaica since 2007. The latest electoral observation mission took place on February of 2016, when the OAS monitored Jamaica's general elections. The OAS also monitored elections in 2011 and 2007.
Freedom of Information Laws
Since 2000 the right to information and freedom of information laws have expanded across the region. However, the existence of the laws on the books does not necessarily mean full enforcement.
Signatory/Participant in MESICIC* Yes
Constitutional protection* No
Specific law enacted* Yes- enacted in 2002
Is there a presumption of right* Yes
Scope/Exceptions/Overrides* right to information not constitutionally protected, materials can be excluded, requestors do not have a right to access records/documents.
Received information under FOIA law?** N/A
Received information within a week?** N/A
Received the appropriate information?** N/A
*Data taken from the Global Right to Information ratings, provided by the Center for Law and Democracy.
**Information from the 2015 World Justice Project Open Government Index
Women's rights:
Protecting women against gender-based violence is a human rights issue often overlooked globally even though it crosses social, economic and national boundaries. And according to the United Nations Population Fund, gender-based violence undermines the health, security, dignity, and autonomy of its victims. Although 16 countries in Latin America had modified their laws to include a specific type of crime referring to the murder of women by 2015, they are not uniformly implemented, and practices to convict perpetrators of gender-based violence are still extremely weak. A 2016 report published by the Small Arms Survey found that Latin America and the Caribbean is home to 14 of the 25 countries with the highest rates of femicide in the world.
Jamaica has a female homicide rate of 9.3 per 100,000 women, making it the 11th country with the highest rate of femicide in the world. Although Jamaica criminalized domestic violence in 1995, male "macho" behavior is experienced across the country. In 2009, the government passed the Sexual Offenses Act, which defined rape as nonconsensual penetration of a vagina by a penis, which is a narrow definition that fails to protect female victims of non-vaginal rape or vaginal penetration with an object or body part other than a penis. According to the World Bank, Jamaican women between 15 and 24 years old have the highest risk of being victims of violence, and of the 12% of women who reported being raped in Jamaica in 2008, 46.7% of them were under 20 years old. Jamaica does not appear to have a law on femicide, which would serve as a first step in trying to end femicide in the country.
[1] WJP Rule-of-Law Index measures 4 principles: 1) The government and its officials and agents as well as individuals and private entities are accountable under the law; 2) The laws are clear, publicized, stable, and just; are applied evenly; and protect fundamental rights, including the security of persons and property and certain core human rights; 3) The process by which the laws are enacted, administered, and enforced is accessible, fair, and efficient; 4) Justice is delivered timely by competent, ethical, and independent representatives and neutrals who are of sufficient number, have adequate resources, and reflect the makeup of the communities they serve.
[2] AQ Social Inclusion Index uses 23 different factors to measure how effectively governments are serving their citizens, regardless of race or income, and is published annually by Americas Quarterly at the Americas Society/Council of the Americas.
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Chattanooga High School Center for Creative Arts » News & Events » What's New » IMPORTANT: Facilities Survey and Meetings
IMPORTANT: Facilities Survey and Meetings THIS WEEK!
MGT, a nationally recognized company specializing in school facilities, has released the survey link to allow the community to provide thoughts on the facility study group's plans for school buildings in Hamilton County Schools. MGT presented the company's preliminary findings earlier this year. The findings of the company are preliminary at this stage and have not been presented to the board as a final recommendation, and the board has not approved a final report. The survey is the next step to allow MGT to complete a final recommendation to the board by helping MGT get the community perspective and better understand the role schools the school facilities play in the social fabric of our community before making final recommendations.
Factors considered in the MGT facilities audit preliminary report included each schools' enrollment, capacity, utilization, physical condition, educational program suitability, and technology infrastructure. MGT will include community input from the survey responses, and community meetings to finalize the company's recommendation.
The community can access the survey at https://mgtamer.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ePyWdfHlUaBgUVn The survey will be open until Sunday, December 15. The survey will include some details to explain current recommendations from MGT in the survey.
The community meetings will be held in each of the Learning Communities in the district and will be open to the entire community. The meetings will provide information about the MGT preliminary plan and allow those attending to respond to questions electronically during the meeting. You can select the meeting that best fits your schedule.
CCA PARENTS, Mrs. Smith is requesting attendance at the Wednesday meeting if possible. If you cannot attend the Wednesday meeting, please attend one of the others. Thank you!
The community meeting dates are:
Hixson High, 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Harrison Elementary, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Lookout Valley Middle/High Schools, 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Dalewood Middle, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
East Brainerd Elementary, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
For more information, you can view the MGT preliminary report on the Hamilton County Schools website under Building Our Future. The survey can also be accessed from the district website.
MGT's Preliminary Report is simply a first look at current facilities using an assessment of building conditions and capacity, enrollment, projected growth, and technology readiness. The information is not a final report, has not been presented to the Hamilton County Board of Education as a final report, and is not an approved Hamilton County Schools facilities plan. The Hamilton County Board of Education has not approved a final facilities plan for the school district. The report is an initial look at facilities and options that may be considered as MGT Consulting Group prepares a final report to present to the board.