text:
A deepsea 'oasis' is slated to become Canada's biggest protected area
An area four times the size of Vancouver Island is home to smoking vents, volcanic islands just under the water and a staggering abundance of life
June 27, 2019 11 min. read
A shortspine thornyhead at Dellwood seamount. Photo: Ocean Exploration Trust/ Northeast Pacific Seamount Partners
One morning in 1984, a pair of ships bobbed together in the swell 250 kilometres off the coast of Vancouver Island. The scientists aboard American research vessels Wacoma and Atlantis were about to make history.
Slowly and deliberately, two scientists and a pilot were lowered into the water in a submersible about the size of a shipping container.
The sub, Alvin, was there to confirm what a 1982 bottom-dredging expedition had accidentally stumbled across: deep down, chimneys were spewing volcanic heat and gases into the ocean. Scientists had discovered the first deepsea vents in the world seven years prior, along the Galápagos Rift, inspiring a flurry of research and public interest into what became one of the greatest biological discoveries of the 20th century. Alvin had been there, too.
Alvin had recovered hydrogen bombs and would later dive on the wreck of the Titanic, but many of its most valuable contributions have been to science. This day would be one of the latter.
Alvin is prepared for launch off the deck of Atlantis. Photo: Taollan82 via Wikipedia
It took Alvin two hours to descend the 2,200 metres to the sea floor.
"It's just a long way down," says chemical oceanographer Marvin Lilley, who was aboard the Wacoma that day. The discovery was startling: six-storey towers looming over the ridge, two kilometres down, one after another after another.
"In my experience, it's the most active 15 kilometres anywhere," Lilley says.
That activity fuels an alien ecosystem. The gas emanating from the sea floor is rich in sulphides, which can only be converted to food by extremely specialized organisms. Creatures that host these microbes in their gut dart in and out of the superheated water in a dance with death, gathering enough of the life-giving gas to feed their microbes without being cooked alive. A dozen species would eventually be discovered there that exist nowhere else on the planet, even at other vent sites — including the record-holder for the upper temperature limit for life, 121 degrees C.
On a normal patch of sea floor you could find a handful of worms or brittle stars in a square metre. A plot of the same size at what became known as the "Endeavour vent field" could hold up to half a million animals. The sheer volume of creatures is comparable to what would be found in a tropical rainforest.
This explosion of life exists far below where any light can reach. Hydrothermal vents are the only known ecosystems on the planet that exist completely independent of the sunlight that directly or indirectly feeds every other living thing.
Endeavour hydrothermal vent summit. Photo: CSSF/ Ocean Networks Canada
The alien landscape, with its huge spires crawling with life, was "mind-blowing," says Kim Juniper, one of the pioneers of hot vent science. "Nothing had ever been seen like that anywhere in the world."
Juniper is now chief scientist for Ocean Networks Canada, which has established an extensive network of underwater observatories around the vent fields.
But it wasn't long after that first discovery that the destruction began. By 1997, when Canada passed the Oceans Act, the Endeavour field was besieged by high-tech plundering in the name of science.
"We were at the point there where people were going down with chainsaws on the front ends of submersibles to slice off large pieces of these chimneys," Juniper says. "It was a bit like the Wild West."
That damage was only a shadow of a much more destructive force that threatens the ocean floor. Still unproven and with shaky financial justifications, deepsea mining has the potential to lay waste to entire vent systems in search of the valuable metals that can concentrate there.
Juniper and his colleagues pleaded the case for setting strict rules for what could and couldn't be done at Endeavour.
In 2001, the federal government announced it would protect this "Underwater Yellowstone," as the Globe and Mail described it, and two years later, the Endeavour Hydrothermal Vents became Canada's first Marine Protected Area. It protects 97 square kilometres of sea floor and the water column above it.
Now, there's a good chance the government will increase that 97 square kilometres by a factor of nearly 1500 times. The 139,700 square kilometre area would make up 2.43 per cent of Canada's ocean territory, adding significant progress to meeting Canada's Aichi commitments to protect 10 per cent of the ocean by 2020.
It would protect the vents as well as an enormous swath of ocean on all sides of it from bottom-contact fishing, deepsea mining, dumping and more growing threats, far from the public eye — and would in the process create an oasis for the weird, the unique and the imperilled creatures of the sea floor.
Black smoker activity in Endeavour vent field. Photo: Ocean Networks Canada
Octopus at Davidson seamount. Photo: Ocean Exploration Trust / Northeast Pacific Seamount Partners
An 'oasis' in the deep
The "Offshore Pacific Area of Interest" is four and a half times the size of Vancouver Island, the nearest point of land, and extends all the way to the outer edge of Canadian jurisdiction. It would be the biggest protected area of any kind in Canada, and nearly triple the total size of all current marine protected areas.
It would protect against just about anything that affects the ocean floor, including mining, bottom-contact fishing, oil and gas exploration and dumping. It would not protect against fishing higher up in the water column.
The proposal has been in the works since 2017, and could be officially designated by late 2020. It will likely be co-governed by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and coastal First Nations, though those groups are still negotiating the exact nature of that relationship.
The Offshore Pacific includes the Endeavour vent field, but it also holds many more undersea treasures — in particular, seamounts.
"If you think about a seamount as an offshore volcanic island that just happens to be slightly underwater, you've wrapped your head around what a seamount is," says Cherisse Du Preez, a marine biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
The location of the proposed "Offshore Pacific Area of Interest" marine protected area off the coast of Vancouver Island. Map: Carol Linnitt / The Narwhal
Eighty-seven per cent of Canada's seamounts fall within the area of interest.
"Although we have a lot of them, it is incredibly rare in this world to have stewardship over this amount of ecologically and biologically significant ecosystems," says Du Preez, who studied under Juniper, and now finds herself at the same table as her mentor as the regulations for the protected area are worked out.
Du Preez speaks about the seamounts and vent systems with barely contained excitement. It's clear that, for her, these are not remote, cold physical features on a map; they're living miracles that Canada has a chance to protect.
"We're out there and we're looking, and we're making discoveries that have global significance," she says. The designation of a marine protected area would require that Fisheries and Oceans Canada invest in monitoring and research programs, which would lead to a better understanding of the environment there.
"There are probably many species we've never discovered out there," says Jay Ritchlin, director of the western region for the David Suzuki Foundation. That organization, along with several other conservation groups, has branded the area the "Deepsea Oasis" in recognition of its rarity among the abyssal plain.
Coral and rockfish at SGaan Kinglas Bowie seamount. Photo: Ocean Exploration Trust / Northeast Pacific Seamount Partners
The mysterious plain of the deep sea is covered in thick mud, the result of eons of slow deposition of dead things and silt. It doesn't encourage much known life. But seamounts' steep-sided, rocky slopes ascend for thousands of metres from the muddy bottom, providing rare anchor points for bottom-dwelling animals like corals and sea anemones that need something hard to hang onto. Those in turn provide habitat for mobile creatures like crabs and octopus — and, "it's a huge snowball from there," Du Preez says.
Sharks and other oceangoing fish are able to find prey there. Jellies, turtles and whales join the party. What would otherwise be a desolate muddy landscape becomes an oasis of life, far offshore.
The shape of the seamounts is important as well. It works as a ramp, guiding the currents upward. That cold, nutrient-rich water swirls up to meet the sunlight and powers another bloom of life — from microscopic algae all the way up to whales and birds — in a giant whirlpool around the seamount.
Wherever there aren't seamounts or deepsea vents, the muddy plain stretches on, featureless and dark. But here and there, with no rhyme nor reason, there's a crush of activity. A dead whale has dropped to the sea floor, and a bizarre assortment of creatures take advantage of the feast from above. These bonanzas attract crabs, hagfish, ancient sharks and many other scavengers that will slowly break the carcass down to a skeleton. Then they'll eat the skeleton.
"You can't plan for them, and you can't necessarily draw a marine protected area around them," says Du Preez. But protecting a big area ensures that some of these hubs of activity will be protected as well. "So we know that we're catching a lot of them in this area of interest, too."
Co-governance or co-opting?
Fisheries and Oceans Canada brought their proposal for the area to the Haida, Nuu-Chah-Nulth, Quatsino and Pacheedaht First Nations in 2016. That, explains Nuu-Chah-Nulth fisheries manager Eric Angel, was their first mistake.
"We would much rather be involved in the conversations at the very start — not when they're saying, 'this is what we want to protect,' " he says. "We have concerns about what's happening in the ocean much closer to shore, and those aren't being addressed."
The First Nations responded with a proposal to co-govern the area, making decisions as full partners — a notion he says Fisheries and Oceans Canada seems willing to entertain but has so far been unwilling to put in writing. The government "wanted it vague," he says.
Statements from ministers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promising "nation-to-nation relationships" and "reconciliation" don't amount to much, Angel argues, when the actual process of dealing with the government has proven to be much more rigid.
Despite the procedural letdowns of the process and the mismatched priorities, Angel says the goals of the marine protected area align with those of the coastal First Nations. Parts of the Offshore Pacific area are part of their respective traditional territories, as places where whaling boats would have hunted far offshore.
Angel says working on this proposal has provided a catalyst for the First Nations to learn how to work together and has spurred new partnerships. They're now building their own "oceans dialogue forum" between coastal First Nations to discuss pressing issues that bridge their territories.
The process is also helping to teach a new generation of homegrown researchers. Two young Nuu-Chah-Nulth student scientists, Joshua Watts and Aline Carrier, will be aboard the Tully, a Fisheries and Oceans research vessel, this summer, building relationships with government scientists and conducting their own fieldwork.
"Each generation you make a little bit of progress and you leave it for the next generation," Angel says.
A shield and a buffer
The marine protected area designation would protect both the seamounts and the deepsea vents to some extent. Bottom-contact fishing would be ruled out. Oil and gas exploration, which is not of much interest in the area anyway, would also be prohibited. Scientific research would require permits and specific research plans. Deepsea mining, the aforementioned new technology with the potential to Fern Gully entire vent fields, will be preemptively banned in the area.
"There's not a ton of industrial activity out there at the moment, which is good," says Ross Jameson, ocean conservation manager at the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. "It's an opportunity to get all marine users and all interested parties on board."
ROV Hercules exploring sponge colony at Explorer seamount. Research in the marine protected area would require permits. Photo: Ocean Exploration Trust / Northeast Pacific Seamount Partners
Just 94 vessels reported fishing for groundfish in the area of interest between 2007 and 2016, according to a slide deck prepared by Fisheries and Oceans Canada. That fishing generated an average of under $150,000 per year in total. The fishing industry argues that's an underestimate but more current numbers are not publicly available due to privacy concerns.
Tuna, meanwhile, was a much larger fishery in the area. As many as 220 ships fished for tuna in the area of interest over a decade. That fishery, worth up to $2.9 million year on average, and making up about a fifth of Canada's tuna catch, would be allowed to continue under the new rules since tuna are mostly caught closer to the surface.
Representatives of the bottom-contact fishing industry have expressed opposition to some restrictions in the area.
But there is only so much the government can actually protect against. Some limits are natural, and others jurisdictional.
For example, Canada is not allowed to tell ships they can't pass through its marine protected areas. Normal ship traffic — and its associated noise, risk of ship strikes, discharge of bilge water and other pollution — will be allowed just like everywhere else.
Deck team prepares ROV Odysseus for deployment. Photo: Ocean Networks Canada
The core of the protected area as it stands now will also only cover an area of water well below the surface in most areas. Where the seamounts rise above the bottom, the protection will rise as well. Higher up in the water, an "adaptive management zone" will take over, which has significantly fewer protections.
"We're really pushing back that they have an obligation to protect the entire water column, from sea floor to surface," Jameson says. "So that's one battle that we're continuing to wage."
The protected area used to overlap with an operations area used for exercises and testing by the Royal Canadian Navy. That was changed in later versions, but the two areas will still be side-by-side, and noise pollution does not respect lines on a map.
Short-term stressors like ship traffic and fishing are one facet of the risks facing the area. Meanwhile, climate change is mutating offshore ecosystems.
"We've been seeing tropical animals inside Canadian waters for the first time," Du Preez says. Species like bottlenose dolphins and thresher sharks, which should be found off Mexico or maybe California — have been found following warmer water north in the same process that's happening all over the planet.
Big protected areas, like the Offshore Pacific, create havens for wildlife where they aren't put under additional stress from humans. They can act as nurseries, helping fish populations expand free from fishing impacts. They can also act as buffers against climate change and ocean acidification. But without action on climate change, they can only do so much.
"They're not the only solution, and they're not a magic bullet," says Ritchlin, of the David Suzuki Foundation. "A huge protected area like this is fabulous but it's not the end of the story."
Updated at 1:30 p.m. on July 1, 2019: The article originally attributed quotes from chemical oceanographer Dr. Marvin Lilley to chemical oceanographer Dr. John Lupton.
Banner: A shortspine thornyhead at Dellwood seamount. Photo: Ocean Exploration Trust/ Northeast Pacific Seamount Partners
deepsea mining
deepsea oasis
Department of Fisheries and Oceans
hydrothermal vents
marine protected area
ocean networks canada
seamounts


text:
Megan Taylor scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Rolla to an 82-70 victory over Fowler on Wednesday.
The News staff
It was Taylor's sixth double-double this season.
Three other Pirates scored in double figures, including Ashley Clark, who had 17 points and eight assists.
The game was scheduled for Tuesday, but was snowed out.
ROLLA (82)
Schwindt 4, Isidra Villegas 17, Warren 7, Barrett 2, Megan Taylor 24, Jade Greene 11, Ashley Clark 17
FOWLER (70)
Lundeen 17, Smith 22, L. Granados 2, B. Granados 3, Leis 26
Rolla 25 22 16 19 - 82
Fowler 16 15 17 22 - 70
3 point goals: R 3 (Villegas, Clark 2); F 5 (Smith 4, B. Granados)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


During New Moon phase, the world is yours to make your mark on. You tend to be subjective, even self-centered, in your approach. You feel that the rules other people make are not for you, you make your own rules appropriate to the present moment. For example, you may question why it needs to be done a certain way, and won't be satisfied with the answer that it's how we've always done it.
During this phase, you tend to charge forward with new ideas and impulses, even in the face of resistance. Your primary mission in life lies in actualizing new forms into an objective and concrete existence, as separate from the old way of being. You are fully invested in this sense of purpose, and yet you may also be very aware of the challenge represented by the status-quo since the older forms never will yield without a struggle.
During First Quarter Moon phase, you are a willful builder of new structures for yourself and society, and characteristically exert the utmost effort in order to achieve your goals of bringing new forms into reality, even in the face of resistance. This move forward must inevitably be accompanied with struggle, for the old will rarely yield gracefully.
During Gibbous Moon phase, you are powerfully drawn to the accomplishment of your goals, with an analytical and detailed mind. You are likely to have quite a passion for the building and perfecting of new forms and structures. You will not be contented with the status quo of outmoded conceptions, nor with any hesitation in going forward with the new element, which you feel must be perfected in order to achieve its true potential.
During Full Moon phase, you are very aware of the effect of your work on others. You are operating out of a mode of visible clarity rather than blind faith, and your watchword is objectivity. You are open to the influence of those around you, and are aware of the influence that you can have on them as well. In this sense, your work has meaning for you only in combination with other people.
During Disseminating Moon phase, your basic mission in life is to shed light. You are filled with the knowledge of what has been accomplished in a particular field of endeavor, and your purpose is to share it with others. As the symbolic fruition of the life of the garden, you represent the culmination of the entire planting cycle.
During Last Quarter Moon phase, you are an exemplar of the tearing down of the old structure to prepare the way for the new ones. Your type is characterized by a "Crisis in Consciousness" whereby you cannot get with the current scheme of things, and desire to change it. You possess a core level of discontent with the existing social structures you find in your environment.
During Balsamic Moon phase, you are very focused on a barely perceived distant reality and may feel somewhat alienated from the existing structure of society. Like the dying plant, you are sharing the knowledge distilled from the experience of the past in an effort to bring that encapsulated essence forward into the emerging new form. You feel a sense of mission in helping to prepare the way for something novel to emerge, even though what that new social structure will look like when it arrives may never be clearly discernable to you. You need to be able to strike out on your own, to shake off the remnants of the dead past and to trumpet out your message as a chanticleer for the coming new dawn.
The void of course Moon represents a period of time, usually lasting less than a day, when the course of events seems to be more difficult and arrangements may be subject to unexpected changes. People seem less likely to make a solid decision during a void of course Moon. Some Astrologers refuse to make important business plans during this type of period, or even on a day when the Moon is void of course during part of the day. The actual definition for the void of course Moon is that period of time when the Moon "wanders" after her last major aspect to another planet, and until she enters her next sign.


text:
Raleigh News and Observer
1st-degree murder for man who killed Andy Banks during Range Rover sale in Raleigh
Virginia Bridges
December 2, 2022, 11:26 a.m. ·5 min read
Virginia Bridges/vbridges@newsoberver.com
After deliberating for over two hours, a jury found a Virginia man guilty of first-degree murder for killing William "Andy" Banks during the sale of his Range Rover in Raleigh two years ago.
The jury also found Justin Fernando Merritt, 36, guilty of robbery, larceny and possession of a firearm by a felon.
A first-degree murder conviction has an automatic sentence of life in prison, but Judge Graham Shirley could give Merritt additional prison time for the other crimes.
Defendants are typically sentenced immediately after a jury verdict.
The verdict is not necessarily surprising.
Merritt had admitted shooting and killing Banks while test driving Banks' 2011 Range Rover for a second time in September 2020.
In addition, a prosecutor put on four days of evidence, while Merritt's attorney didn't put on any.
Merritt's attorney Alexis Strombotne utilized her 10-minute closing argument to try to convince the jury that Merritt should be found guilty of second-degree murder. Strombotne argued that Merritt didn't plan to kill Banks, but panicked.
"There is one word for what occurred here: panic," she said. "Pure panic"
Strombotne said premeditation — that Merritt planned to killed Banks — doesn't make sense since he reached out to Banks using his real email address and phone number. He also brought his brother-in-law and niece to test drive the car that day, she said.
Wake County Assistant District Attorney Patrick Latour, however, argued that Merritt likely planned to take the SUV since he didn't appear to have any money since he didn't have a job, lived with his mother in Danville, Virginia and didn't have a car.
"Just because you are dumb doesn't mean you're not a murderer," said Latour, responding to Strombotne's statements about Merritt using his email address and phone number in arranging the test drives for the SUV he found online.
Regardless of whether Merritt planned to kill Banks before he left Virginia, Latour argued that Merritt deciding to pick up his gun and shoot Banks again and again – at least five times – meets the definition of premeditation and deliberation.
Under North Carolina law, first-degree murder includes premeditation and deliberation, but case law has shown those legal concepts can take only a matter of seconds between gunshots. Jurors can also find someone guilty of first-degree murder if the evidence convinces them that a killing happened during a dangerous felony, such as a robbery or a larceny.
During closing arguments, about 30 spectators sat on the five rows of wooden courtroom benches. Many were Banks' family and friends, including his parents.
Met at Cameron Village for test drive
Merritt, 26, of Danville, Virginia, found Banks and his SUV through the website CarGurus, which notifies customers when a vehicle is available that meets certain criteria. The Range Rover had more than 90,000 miles and was selling for about $15,000, according to statements in court.
Merritt initially met Banks, who was known to fix and sell cars, on Sept. 8, 2020, in the parking lot of the former K&W Cafeteria in Cameron Village, now known as the Village District.
They met at the same spot on Sept. 12, 2020, the day Banks disappeared. Merritt's brother-in-law John Wilkins III and niece rode down to Raleigh with Merritt in his mother's SUV.
When Banks pulled into the former K&W parking lot around 2 p.m., he moved to the passenger side of the Range Rover and Merritt took the car for another test drive, Wilkins said.
Wilkins and his daughter stayed in the parking lot during the 30-minute test drive, he testified. Then Merritt pulled up in front of him in the Range Rover and said it was time to head home.
Wilkins said he didn't notice anyone else sitting in the SUV, but said the windows were tinted and he didn't look closely.
The two vehicles traveled together back to Virginia until they separated around Yanceyville.
Latour said if Merritt had shown any human decency, he that would have kept Banks safe as he tried to sell a 2011 Range Rover two years ago.
"What's keeping me from just killing this guy and taking his stuff," Latour said.
"That's the question that the defendant asked himself on Sept. 12, 2020."
Merritt didn't appear to have the money, Latour said. Merritt, who worked as a welder, had been laid off, lived with his mother and didn't have a car.
Banks, who was described by friends as outgoing and friendly, bought and sold cars online.
Banks was shot at least five times
The evidence indicates that during a Sept. 12, 2020, test drive, Merritt pulled out a gun and shot Banks at close range in the Range Rover at least five times as Banks crouched toward the passenger side door, possibly trying to get out, Latour said.
The gun was so close to Banks that it singed the blue rain coat he was wearing.
After the shooting, Merritt searched for a map to figure out how to return to K&W parking lot and then a rural area in Virginia, Latour contended.
Merritt pushed Banks' body down in the front seat, met his brother-in-law in the K&W parking lot and drove with Banks' body in the SUV to a rural area in Virginia, Latour said.
There Merritt pulled Banks from the SUV and dragged Banks' body by the feet to a spot in the tall grass, where it was found five days later.
Police found Banks' Range Rover the day after he disappeared. It had been covered and parked behind a church near Merritt's home in Danville.
In the SUV, police found blood on the front seat, bullet holes, spent shell casings and cleaning supplies, according to testimony. Someone had tried to clean up the blood on the front passenger side seat.
This is a breaking news story. Please return for a fuller report and after the jury reaches a verdict.
Should Weakness in The Character Group plc's (LON:CCT) Stock Be Seen As A Sign That Market Will Correct The Share Price Given Decent Financials?
Apple's India supplier Jabil making AirPods parts for export-Bloomberg
Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim visits Singapore for his first official visit
England's old boys' club has evolved into 'the network', made up of high rollers and city slicks
With its stock down 14% over the past month, it is easy to disregard Character Group (LON:CCT). However, stock prices...
Authorities have issued severe weather warnings for the New Zealand capital and surrounding towns.
Apple Inc and Jabil did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The move marks another step in Apple's plans to shift its manufacturing away from China amid rising trade and geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Washington. The iPhone maker wants India to account for up to 25% of its production, from about 5%-7% now.
It is Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's first visit to Singapore since he became PM last year. Here's what he plans to do for his one-day visit.
Powerbrokering has shifted from landed gentry to financiers and businessmen, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik
Investors in Scicom (MSC) Berhad (KLSE:SCICOM) have unfortunately lost 9.8% over the last five years
While it may not be enough for some shareholders, we think it is good to see the Scicom (MSC) Berhad ( KLSE:SCICOM...
Aero Wing Market to Worth USD 20.35 Billion by 2028 | At a CAGR of 8.98%
According to Fortune Business Insights, the global Aero Wing Market size is projected to reach USD 20.35 Billion by 2028, at CAGR of 8.98% during forecast period 2021-2028Pune, India, Jan. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global aero wing market size is projected to reach USD 20.35 billion by 2028, exhibiting a CAGR of 8.98% during the forecast period. This information is shared by Fortune Business Insights in its report, titled "Aero Wing Market, 2021-2028". As per the report, the market value
Benjamin girls soccer wins Baptist Sports Performance of the Week
Benjamin girls soccer wins Baptist Sports Performance of the Week.
RPT-Apple's India supplier Jabil making AirPods parts for export-Bloomberg
Apple-supplier Jabil Inc's India unit has begun making components for AirPods in the country and is shipping plastic bodies or enclosures for AirPods to China and Vietnam, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter. Apple Inc and Jabil did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The move marks another step in Apple's plans to shift its manufacturing away from China amid rising trade and geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Washington.
About 150 antisemitic flyers distributed in West Palm Beach
West Palm Beach police officers pick up about 150 antisemitic flyers distributed throughout a neighborhood. A Ring doorbell video shows people in a U-Haul truck throwing the propaganda into people's yards.
KOAT - Albuquerque Videos
Local organization, law enforcement and hospitals tackling homelessness
Pantech Group Holdings Berhad (KLSE:PANTECH) shareholders have earned a 27% CAGR over the last three years
By buying an index fund, you can roughly match the market return with ease. But if you choose individual stocks with...
Dehydrated Vegetables Market to Hit USD 9.19 Billion by 2029 | At a CAGR of 7.07%
Companies covered in dehydrated vegetables market are ITC Limited (India), California Sun Dry Foods (U.S.), Mercer Foods, LLC (U.S.), Green Rootz (India), BCFoods, Inc. (U.S.), European Freeze Dry Ltd. (Denmark), Van Drunen Farms (U.S.), Bella Sun Luci (U.S.), Mondelez International, Inc. (U.S.), Sensient Technologies Corporation (U.S.) & other.Pune, India, Jan. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global dehydrated vegetables market size was valued at USD 5.32 billion in 2021. The market is project
Chopper season all week in Palm Beach County
Georgia head football coach Kirby Smart and Miami Hurricanes head football coach Mario Cristobal flew choppers to multiple schools in Palm Beach County.
Australia prepares for thousands of Chinese students to return as relations improve
Australia is preparing for the arrival of thousands of Chinese students, the education minister said on Monday, days after China's education ministry warned students enrolled overseas that online learning would no longer be recognised. Australia's education sector, which generated A$39 billion ($27.66 billion) in export earnings before the pandemic, has strong ties to China, with roughly 150,000 nationals enrolled in Australian universities.
Composites Market Size Worth USD 112.0 Billion by 2027 | Registering a CAGR of 6.88%
Companies covered in composites market are Exel Group, Huntsman International LLC, Hexcel Corporation, Teijin Limited, Owens Corning, Veplas d.d, Solvay and more players profiled.Pune, India, Jan. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global composites market size is projected to reach USD 112.0 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 6.88% during the forecast period. Increasing utilization of composite materials in 3D printing applications will broaden the horizons of this market, observes Fortune Bus
Kansas City Chiefs Fan Lights Fireworks After Team Advances to Super Bowl
A Kansas City Chiefs fan lit fireworks at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, video shows, after the Chiefs defeated the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, January 29.The Chiefs beat the Bengals 23-20, securing their spot in Super Bowl LVII, where they will face off against the Philadelphia Eagles on February 12. Credit: @Akr_Baby via Storyful
q.beyond (ETR:QBY) investors are sitting on a loss of 39% if they invested a year ago
Over the last month the q.beyond AG ( ETR:QBY ) has been much stronger than before, rebounding by 36%. But that is...
How Chiefs fans at Power & Light in KC celebrated the AFC Championship win vs. Bengals
Members of the Chiefs Kingdom from near and far were downtown to see the Chiefs earn a spot in the Super Bowl.


text:
List of Top IB Schools in Bettiah India 2019 Ranking
Checkout list of Top IB Schools in Bettiah 2019 offering International Baccalaureate (IB) programme. Find below the complete list of IB World Schools in Bettiah India offering PYP, MYP and IB Diploma (IBDP) Programme of International Baccalaureate (IB) with information on Fees, Admission procedure, Ranking, Rating & Reviews, Curriculum, Facilities, Contact Details and address. This list of Top Best IB Schools in Bettiah covers IB affiliated Schools in Bettiah India.
Click on the name of the IB school for information on Admission, Fees, Curriculum, School Contact Details, Ranking, Reviews and Ratings of Best International Baccalaureate Schools in Bettiah India. List contains both National and International IB Schools in Bettiah covering list of Daycare, Playschool/Pre School/Pre Primary, Primary, Secondary and Senior Secondary Schools and K12 Schools. The below list of IB world schools in Bettiah covers Girls Schools , Boys Schools and Co-ed schools providing Day or Boarding/Residential schools in Bettiah India.
Explore Schools in Popular localities in and around Bettiah


Details: Sunday, October 28th, Wine tasting with Joe Martin of Martin Alfaro wines at Vinocruz in Santa Cruz, CA. Joe Martin will be on hand to guide customers through a flight of Martin Alfaro wines. These wines are made from grapes grown on some of the finest vineyards in California. Joe's wines have been winning many awards and have started earning high scores in international wine publications.


text:
package jp.morihirosoft.mediacodectest18;

import android.content.Context;
import android.hardware.Camera;
import android.opengl.GLSurfaceView;
import android.util.AttributeSet;

class CameraView extends GLSurfaceView {
	//---------------------------------------------------------------------
	// MEMBERS
	//---------------------------------------------------------------------
	private final VideoParam mVideoParam = VideoParam.getInstance();

	private Camera      mCamera   = null;
	private MyRenderer  mRenderer = null;
	private MyRecorder  mRecorder = null;

	//---------------------------------------------------------------------
	// PUBLIC METHODS
	//---------------------------------------------------------------------
	public CameraView(Context context) {
		super(context);
		init();
	}

	public CameraView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
		super(context, attrs);
		init();
	}

	@Override
	public void onResume() {
		initCamera();
		super.onResume();
	}

	@Override
	public void onPause() {
		quitCamera();
		super.onPause();
	}

	public void startVideo() {
		if (mRecorder == null) {
			mRecorder = new MyRecorder();
			mRecorder.prepareEncoder();
			mRenderer.setRecorder(mRecorder);
		}
	}

	public void stopVideo() {
		if (mRecorder != null) {
			mRecorder.stop();
			mRecorder = null;
			mRenderer.setRecorder(null);
		}
	}

	//---------------------------------------------------------------------
	// PRIVATE...
	//---------------------------------------------------------------------
	private void init() {
		setEGLContextClientVersion(2);
		mRenderer = new MyRenderer(this);
		setRenderer(mRenderer);
		setRenderMode(GLSurfaceView.RENDERMODE_WHEN_DIRTY);
	}

	private void initCamera() {
		if (mCamera == null) {
			try {
				mCamera = Camera.open(mVideoParam.mCameraId);
				Camera.Parameters cp = mCamera.getParameters();
				cp.setPreviewSize(mVideoParam.mSize.width, mVideoParam.mSize.height);
				cp.setPreviewFpsRange(
						mVideoParam.mFpsRange[Camera.Parameters.PREVIEW_FPS_MIN_INDEX],
						mVideoParam.mFpsRange[Camera.Parameters.PREVIEW_FPS_MAX_INDEX]);
				mCamera.setParameters(cp);
				mRenderer.setCamera(mCamera);
			} catch (Exception e) {
				e.printStackTrace();
				throw new RuntimeException("setup camera");
			}
		}
	}

	private void quitCamera() {
		if (mCamera != null) {
			mCamera.stopPreview();
			mCamera.release();
			mCamera = null;
			mRenderer.setCamera(null);
		}
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Feb. 10, 2009 -- Arkansas State University-Jonesboro's Department of Psychology and Counseling, located within the College of Education, recently received national approval. The School Psychology track of the Educational Specialist degree program in Psychology and Counseling was designated "Nationally Approved-Conditional" by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP).
This approval came as part of process of seeking reaccreditation for the teacher education programs at ASU by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). Receiving this approval is an important indicator that the educational program meets quality standards as judged by independent national reviewers in the field of school psychology. Approval also provides graduates the opportunity to become Nationally Certified School Psychologists (NCSP). The conditional nature of the approval means the program will be required to submit additional documentation to NASP within what is typically an 18-month period to be evaluated for continued approval.
The school psychology track, which is part of the Educational Specialist degree program in Psychology and Counseling, prepares students to become licensed School Psychology Specialists (SPS). These professionals are typically employed in school settings where they work extensively with teachers, parents, and other educators to help students experiencing learning, behavioral, and emotional difficulties. The duties of School Psychology Specialists include assessment, consultation, intervention and prevention, program planning and evaluation, in-service education, and supervision.
Dr. John D. Hall, who coordinates the track, stated, "While there is more work to be done this is a milestone for the department, college, and university. We are proud to have joined the ranks of some rather elite programs and universities across the country on our first attempt at receiving approval." He added that the degree program committee, consisting of Dr. Amy Claxton, Dr. Craig Jones, and Hall himself, has been working for a number of years to achieve this designation of quality. Dr. Hall also expressed his gratitude to the students, faculty, and administrators who have been involved with the program; as well the many professionals in the public schools who have contributed so much to the success of the program. "This reflects the dedicated work of many people," Hall said. Dr. Hall is professor of Psychology and Counseling who serves as ASU's coordinator for School Psychology. In addition, he is a licensed psychologist (Arkansas), a licensed school psychology specialist (Arkansas), and a nationally certified school psychologist (NCSP).
For more information, contact Dr. John D. Hall, Department of Psychology and Counseling, at (870) 972-3064, or e-mail him at jhall@astate.edu.


text:
Dubai Taxi Corporation launches new 'royal limo' with fridge, massage seats
The RTA chairman also reviews the implementation of AI in Dubai taxis
Dubai Taxi Corporation (DTC), part of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has unveiled a new 'royal limo' offering luxury services in the emirate.
The 'deluxe vehicle' will be fitted with display monitors, and will offer video communication with the chauffeur, internet services, a fridge, internal speakers, massage seats, and a USB port for charging mobile phones.
The new service was reviewed by RTA director general and chairman Mattar Al Tayer, who inaugurated the new control centre of Dubai Taxi on Saturday.
The control centre can manage the operation of 5,200 taxis, and 373 school buses serving 17 schools, with a capacity for 11 staff per shift.
It will monitor the negative practices of offensive drivers, attendance and dispersal of students and bus conductors, track bus movement, and control the fleet.
It will also manage the operation of 505 limousines, 'Mashaweer' and 'In Safe Hands' services as well as the smart towing service.
The centre will also oversee the electronic surveillance of taxi movement and verify compliance with work controls, a statement said.
Taxi drivers will be directed to areas experiencing high demand, with the centre also measuring the daily efficiency of vehicles movement.
It will also monitor the integration with the Enterprise Command and Control Centre (EC3) systems of the RTA.
HE Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of RTA inaugurated the new control centre of Dubai Taxi, and reviewed the new DTC corporate and logo scheme which will take effect in March 2019. Watch the highlights in this video.@DTCUAE pic.twitter.com/EYfYKVjMOX
— RTA (@RTA_Dubai) January 26, 2019
During his visit, Al Tayer also reviewed the new corporate identity and logo scheme of the DTC that will be officially be launched this March. It maintains the brand name and integrates it in the revamped design of the DTC logo.
He also reviewed DTC's Smart Transformation Plan (2018-2020) which is aimed at utilising artificial intelligence (AI) in taxi services and is based on three pillars – clients, drivers and employees.
As for clients, DTC has completed automating 20 out of 36 projects designed to improve the services to customers. Schools buses have been fitted with devices for tracking and monitoring them for added security and safety. They have also been equipped with GPS systems, radio waves to scan identity, an app, booking and students smart tracking systems. DTC has also upgraded its website to cover introductory information about services on offer and the booking of services online.
In terms of drivers, DTC has automated 38 out of 61 services. It had launched the drivers' stress measurement system operated via cameras fixed in the taxi's interior to focus on the driver's face only to monitor his motion and condition to detect any signs of fatigue or emergency conditions. The system sends automated alerts to the driver and cautionary signals to the control centre, the statement said.
For employees, DTC has finished 20 automated projects out of 58 projects. That includes the taxi smart technical testing system, which has reduced the time taken in testing taxis from 40 minutes to four minutes. The system has also cut short the number of required testing supervisors from five to one.
Under the plan, AI will also be used in airport taxis, for digital ads, smart booking using hologram technology, and the use of smart chat for both employees and drivers.
Convertible limo
During the visit, Al Tayer also inspected the Range Rover Evoque convertible limo, launched last year, which is provided in certain areas such as Burj Khalifa, Burj Al Arab, JBR and City Walk as well as the Can-Am Spyder RT limo bike.
The services are aimed at catering to tourists as well as residents, according to the RTA.


text:
Home » Models »
Top 10 Most Expensive Military Helicopter Models in the World
The most expensive military helicopter models in the world
Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk:
Boeing AH-64 Apache:
Bell AH-1Z Viper:
Kazam Mi-35:
Denel Rooivalk:
Eurocopter Tiger:
Sikorsky Sea Hawk:
NH-90:
Boeing V22 Osprey:
Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion:
When it comes to military helicopters, the first thing that comes to mind is Sikorsky, whose Turkish pilot had a somersault. If we leave the high maneuverability of our pilots and look at the prices of military helicopters, a list with plenty of zeros meets us. Let's start to read our article titled Top 10 Most Expensive Military Helicopter Models in the World.
The importance of unmanned aerial vehicles is gradually increasing, the effect of aircraft on military operations is decreasing. However, this is not the case for some vehicles that require freight and human transport. The helicopter stands out as one of these vehicles. Giant propeller aircraft, which can be customized for many purposes around the world, leave no alternative when it comes to military technologies.
Of course, it is economically difficult to have a civilian helicopter, but there are also many helicopters you can't afford to buy. For these, we need to take a closer look at the helicopter models used in the military field. We have compiled the world's most expensive helicopters, which attract attention with their specially designed physical structures, flight, and maneuvering capabilities.
Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion ($ 95,000,000)
Boeing V22 Osprey ($ 72,000,000)
NH-90 ($ 50,000,000)
Sikorsky Sea Hawk ($ 43,000,000)
Eurocopter Tiger ($ 41,000,000)
Denel Rooivalk ($ 40,000,000)
Kazam Mi-35 ($ 36,000,000)
Bell AH-1Z Viper ($ 31,000,000)
Boeing AH-64 Apache ($ 31,000,000)
Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk ($ 21,000,000)
When we think of Sikorsky, we immediately think of the Sikorsky S-70, which Turkish pilots made a somersault. Even pilots trained in the USA, where the helicopter was manufactured, cannot roll over these machines known as "Black Hawk". Let's leave aside the high skills of our pilots and go back to the S-70.
Produced by Aviation in 1979 and replacing the Bell Iroquois model, the helicopter is a model responsible for troop transport duties. The UH-60 Black Hawk, which started its duties in the early 1980s, can turn into a deadly aircraft when equipped with electronic warfare equipment.
The latest versions of the helicopter have two General Electric 701D turboshaft engines, which give the helicopter tremendous speed and maneuverability. The UH-60 Black Hawk, which can be equipped with heavy weapons, can also be equipped with AGM-114 Hellfire rockets and AIM-92 Stinger guided missile. The price of the helicopter is $ 21 million
Our readers who play Battlefield 3 and 4 will easily remember the AH-64 Apache model, which is a classic American attack helicopter. The AH-64 Apache, produced in 1981, is a gigantic war machine equipped with a 30 mm M230 chain gun between landing gear.
In addition to its appearance that scares the enemies, the AGM-114 Hellfire and Hydra 70 rocket compartments, which are used air-to-air or ground-to-air, next to the helicopter. The price of the helicopter is $ 31 million.
Bell AH-1Z Viper, another model that Battlefield players will be familiar with, began its service in the US Air Force in 2000. Produced as a serial attack platform, the Viper is sent to the mission at longer distances compared to similar helicopters and can identify targets from much greater distances.
Equipped with AIM-9 Sidewinder and AGM-114 Hellfire rockets, the Bell AH-1Z Viper has 75 percent less moving parts than similar four-winged war machines. This increases the durability of this helicopter significantly compared to others. The price of the helicopter is $ 31 million.
The Russian Armed Forces' primary ground support helicopter, the Mi-35, is mainly used to protect the soldiers on the ground, although the helicopter is sometimes used for medical assistance and sometimes to defeat the enemy from above.
The Kazam Mi-35's design is said to have been specially produced for taking or recruiting ground troops. The non-retractable landing gear of the helicopter enables it to land on even the most difficult terrain. The price is $ 36 million.
Denel Rooivalk, which was produced to be the most advanced attack helicopter of the South African National Defense Forces, is described by many war experts as an extremely agile combat helicopter.
Denel Rooivalk, which has extraordinary speed and maneuverability despite the heavy and powerful weapons next to it, has a twin turboshaft engine and makes a difference to many competitors in this regard. The helicopter costs $ 41 million.
Produced in cooperation with the French aviation company Aérospatiale and West Germany-based MBB, Eurocopter emerged in line with Europe's desire to respond to Soviet military helicopters. Produced towards the end of the 1980s, the multipurpose aircraft was performing many missions such as armored reconnaissance, anti-tank operations, and close air support.
The versatile structure of the Eurocopter combined the helicopter's high-level flight performance and firing power, and the result was a true war machine. Besides its high-performance firepower, the Eurocopter was quite agile. The price of the helicopter is $ 43 million.
The Sea Hawk was created because the US Navy needed a helicopter that could be used in a major naval battle. Sea Hawk, which has a high search and rescue capacity and can contain much equipment, could also be equipped with weapons that could stand against warships. With its size and advanced capabilities, the Sea Hawk took its place among the world's most expensive military helicopters. The helicopter costs $ 50 million.
Produced by the merger of several European aviation companies, NH-90 was produced in 2007 to assist NATO countries in both land and naval operations. The NH-90, the first helicopter to have a Fly by Wire system, had a fully electronic interface as well as traditional manual controls. NH-90, which has 2 main variations in 13 different countries, is used as Tactical Transport Helicopter and NATO Frigate Helicopter.
The V-22 Osprey has been serving in the US Armed Forces since 2007 and is especially helpful to the Marine Corps. Its design, which distinguishes the helicopter from other helicopter models, gives it the speed and swiftness of an airplane. The propellers on it enable the helicopter to land and take off steeply.
Osprey became notorious for the development cost that got out of control in the late 1980s. The development budget, which was stated as $ 2.5 billion in 1986, flew up to $ 30 billion in 1988. Features such as the ability to fold the wings of the helicopter to fit into aircraft carriers caused the most cost. The selling price of the plane was determined as 72 million dollars.
The Sikorsky / Lockheed King Stallion is the US Marine Corps' newest heavy-duty helicopter as well as the most expensive military helicopter ever produced. The CH-53K King Stallion, which is still in development to replace older Super Stallion models, will more efficiently transport larger quantities of war material.
The gigantic cargo section, 30 meters wide and 8 meters long can carry the King Stallion's two fully loaded tracks or a fully armored Humvee. Two General Electric T408 engines, each producing 7,500 horsepower, can accelerate this monster to 170 knots. Prototypes of the helicopter have been produced since 2014 and taken for flight tests. The huge and expensive helicopter costs 95 million dollars.
Bell AH-1Z Viper, Boeing AH-64 Apache, Boeing V22 Osprey, Denel Rooivalk, Eurocopter Tiger, Kazam Mi-35, NH-90, Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion, Sikorsky Sea Hawk, Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, Top 10 Most Expensive Military Helicopter
Newer Fighter Planes Go for Sale Online: 1980 Production F16 and More
Older 2021 Porsche Panamera introduced


text:
The Fleet Code
Fleet Maintenance, Safety & IT
Gain a better understanding of IT's role in safety, maintenance, and fleet management, including adapting to innovations in fleet solutions.
Podcast Ep.5 — Fleet Maintenance, Safety & IT
Matthew Dziak: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Fleet Code. A podcast brought to you by Fleetio. Where we'll dive into the latest fleet trends, technology, and best practices. Get the inside scoop, as we decode the challenges of fleet management.
Adam Bliss: [00:00:22] Things are always going to change. There's going to be unknown situations that come up and the companies and the people that can adapt and innovate to assist in those scenarios are going to do better and survive. And that's what we want to be. That's one of the big things we do is innovate and adapt.
Matthew Dziak: [00:00:38] In this episode of the fleet code, we discuss fleet maintenance, safety and its role in fleet management. We welcome Christian Robinson, customer success manager at Fleetio, and joining us to lend his expertise is Adam Bliss. Adam is the safety and it manager at J. Pettiecord. A contracting and heavy haul service provider located in Iowa that specializes in environmental and other construction services.
All right, and we have Adam here from J. Pettiecord. Adam thanks for joining us on the show today.
Adam Bliss: [00:01:07] Thanks for having me. This is awesome.
Matthew Dziak: [00:01:09] Yeah, we also are joined by Christian. Thanks for joining us today.
Christian Robinson: [00:01:13] Hey Matt, thanks for having me.
Matthew Dziak: [00:01:14] No doubt. Well Adam, I'm really excited to get a chance to talk to you. Your company J. Pettiecord is in Iowa. If I'm not mistaken, correct.
Adam Bliss: [00:01:22] Yep, we are located in Bondurant Iowa, just East of Des Moines.
Matthew Dziak: [00:01:25] I was in Davenport a few years ago at the Iowa 80 truck stop out there. The largest truck stop.
Adam Bliss: [00:01:32] Unfortunately, that's one of the few things that many people know Iowa for. There's a lot of other cool things.
Matthew Dziak: [00:01:40] No, there's no doubt about it. It's one thing that was very prevalent being there was just how friendly the people are in Davenport. It's right on the river there. And I remember just having a fantastic meal. Might've been one of the best steaks I've ever had in my life, to be honest with you. So definitely more than just the truck stop there in Iowa for sure.
Adam Bliss: [00:01:57] Was your meal at the truck stop?
Matthew Dziak: [00:01:59] Oh, no. A restaurant that was near the downtown area of Davenport.
Adam Bliss: [00:02:04] That's good. That's good.
Matthew Dziak: [00:02:06] And this was of course, all pre pandemic, a few years back, and a lot of fun. Anyhow, I wanted to get right into this episode and just maybe give some people the background on who you are and the company you work for.
Adam Bliss: [00:02:17] Yeah. So I worked for J. Pettiecord. We do heavy lane clearing. We do trucking flatbed, step decks, heavy hauling, heavy equipment around for local contractors. We hire out, we do a lot of hauling on our own jobs where we're clearing trees or doing demolition projects. We do emergency spill response work for the railroad. If there's a derailment or other issues like that, we do a wide variety of different things involved in trucks or heavy equipment. So if there's a question of how do we do this, or what do we do? We get a lot of calls for various types of projects and we figure out a way to do it.
Matthew Dziak: [00:02:55] So you guys are actually not just a provider for the contracting services of the construction, but also the transportation of the machinery from the heavy haul perspective.
Adam Bliss: [00:03:05] Exactly. We'll move stuff all around the city at the Moines, let alone, most of our guys, we have several guys that are usually out in other States every day, haulin for. Various contractors will haul crane parts for energy contractors or companies installing the windmills in Iowa. We'll move crane parts or larger equipment for just about anyone,
Matthew Dziak: [00:03:25] those windmills that you mentioned that are going up in, in traveling around Iowa.
Is that something pertaining to renewable energy? That's a big thing around there, or what is that?
Adam Bliss: [00:03:34] Yeah. Yeah. There's a few companies around here that are putting those up in order to provide renewable energy. Exactly. So there's a lot of funding behind that, trying to make that a big project for Iowa overall.
And so we get to be a small piece of that in helping move the cranes that set up the equipment there and help get those installed. And then we get to move them onto the next site and help set them up for the next site. If you drive through Iowa, you're going to see various parts where there's just tons of those windmills scattered all over.
Matthew Dziak: [00:04:00] That's really interesting. I know it's always at the forefront of everybody's mind. Right now that's related to the fleet industry is a sustainability and just alternative sources of energy. That's really interesting to hear that you guys are involved in that speaking of involvement, how did you get involved in this fleet safety world?
Adam Bliss: [00:04:19] So Jeff Pettiecord is the owner of the company and he is my father-in-law. I was previously at Wells Fargo for close to 10 years working on the collection side and the home equity side, recovery and research. And we've talked several times about me coming over and eventually . I got my CDL and I came over and one of the first projects that they wanted me on was managing the ELD setup as that was, that was going into effect in November of 2017, I believe at the time.
And so there was a big push for that. I manage the installation and process behind that train and all the drivers on how to use them setting that whole system up. So that's my first big project. And that kind of pushed me into the IT safety side. That's where my skill sets been for a long time. As IT at Wells Fargo, I was the IT guy for our department handling any issues we had over here.
That's just the name of the game. We have plenty of IT related projects, upgrading servers, managing the camera systems, our fleet maintenance system, our fuel system, they're all integrated with the network and need to be managed and people need to be trained on how to use them and various tasks like that.
So that's kinda how I maneuvered into that role. And I handled some of the safety stuff from a paperwork side, so started learning more and more about that. And I ended up taking that role over as well.
Matthew Dziak: [00:05:34] That's really fascinating. You have a unique background to go from banking to having your CDL and migrating into the fleet management world, at least from a safety and IT management perspective. What, what are maybe some of the parallels between some of those universes and the major differences?
Adam Bliss: [00:05:52] Regulations, I would say Wells Fargo on the banking side, we're heavily regulated. So managing projects and tasks like that, transferred over pretty well into managing processes over here, making sure that we're compliant with the FMC DSA and their guidelines along with OSHA and any other regulations we would fall under.
It just involves reading through some dry material and figuring out how it applies to you and your company and whatever unique aspect of it you have because. Like I told you with what we do so many different things that we dip our toes into a lot of areas that are regulated through different organizations.
So yeah, involves a lot of learning and reading and understanding and asking people smarter than me and trying to figure it out.
Matthew Dziak: [00:06:33] Why is it so important for what you guys do at J petty court being a construction company and a heavy haul? Why is it so important for you to not only maintain your assets, but also just focus on safety and compliance?
Adam Bliss: [00:06:47] There is a lot of various aspects to running a company and running it profitably and safely, and having employees that want to work there and being able to hire people and there's scores that are given to you by the FMCSA that people can look up and see when you're driving down the road and you pull into a scale, they can pull up that score and see what it is and see if they should inspect you or not.
When you have employees out on the road, driving trucks. Operating equipment. You don't want to make sure that they get home safe at night, safe to their families and all those things tie together to make sure that we have the people to do what we need to do. We have the equipment in good condition in order to do what we want to do and that we can get from point a to point B without being stopped and fined.
Or we break down on the way and have to stop. And then that affects our customer that we're working for, or it affects our own internal customers that we're working for on a tree clearing job or whatever that is. So the less issues we have with safety aspects, the better off we are, the better off our employees are. The happier everyone is. There's just too many benefits to ignore.
Matthew Dziak: [00:07:54] The industry that you're in both trucking with heavy haul and also the construction side of things. There, they're two of the most dangerous jobs that someone could operate in. And so you need those safety measures in place, as you talked about for safety of the drivers and of their wellbeing and just overall for the company, how do you enforce those measures?
Adam Bliss: [00:08:13] Yeah. So various ways we would enforce those safety measures. We utilize a lot of different tools and communication is really a big part of it, right? The operators and the drivers need to have all the information. They need to understand how the equipment works. The mechanics need to get the information from the drivers operators about what's broken and what needs fixed.
And dispatch needs to get any information about what's going on on the road or at the job site that needs fixed. So they can make adjustments on the fly as to getting people there to help or assist or moving the people that are sitting around waiting to another job in order to be somewhat efficient.
So we've got various means of enforcing those things and we've got pre-trip and post-trip inspections that the drivers do on their phones. They do that with a fleet management system that we have that allows them to do it on their phone. Their inspections were created in a way that they can enter in all the information about what's wrong with something or take pictures of it.
And we use a communication tool as well. That's on their phone where they can share all that information with whoever we have around 65 employees. So there's a lot of different people that have knowledge that needs shared to everyone else so that we can make the best decisions with what we're working with and fixing the equipment and the trucks and making sure that we're efficient during the day. So, there's basically just a lot of information that needs to be shared in order to do our jobs appropriately.
[00:09:33] I Love that Adam, and one thing I want to build upon there is when you're enforcing these safety measures with the tools that you've mentioned around the DVIR tool that you have, as well as the communications tool, do you have any type of standard operating procedures that you've implemented or any type of policies that you're having your employees follow, that you can hold them accountable towards?
Adam Bliss: [00:09:56] Yeah so, we actually have a bonus program and it's in relation to safety, attitude, accountability, and productivity, and the employees are eligible for that after their first 90 days. And we include a lot of different things that are requested to be done in that bonus program. So turning in paperwork and that's required, whether it's related to safety or inspections, those inspections that they do on their phones, we track how many are getting done.
When, if they meet the requirements, we don't want to have a piece of equipment go out to a job site, two hours away, and then find out later that it was due for maintenance or service at that time. So in order to avoid that kind of stuff, we hold the guys accountable to make sure that they're doing inspections in a timely manner.
And we utilized our fleet maintenance program for that in order to do the inspections. And there's a lot of safety measures that we can enforce through our GPS ELD system, as well as it tracks how much fuel somebody using it can tell you if their seatbelts on and tells you where they're going. Cause we run into issues where maybe somebody didn't get communicated correctly where they're going and they're going in the wrong direction or whatever that may be.
And we can catch a lot of those things a lot quicker just by again, it comes back to communication and that's what those systems help us do is provide a means to communicate with the employees and get that instant feedback.
[00:11:16] No. That's awesome. I got to dive into the bonus program a little bit further.
So was that something being that you actually implemented and thought of from an IT standpoint, as a way to foster and encourage the adoption of the technologies that you were offering as a solution to your team? I've seen that work really well in my experience, I was just curious if that's how you employed that bonus program. If that was something that was already in place.
Adam Bliss: [00:11:38] So it was already in place. We made some changes to it in regards to the new technology that we added. But now that program was pre-existing, but it did get updated with new information in order to make sure that we're getting everything we need. Cause that's the important part.
When you've got a lot of pieces to manage a lot of people, to manage jobs, to manage equipment, to take care of, you gotta be able to get that information as quick as possible. And in order to do that with 65 people, you need a quick, easy way for them to get that information to you. But when they're doing it well, it works well and they're compensated for it.
Matthew Dziak: [00:12:08] I wanted to circle back on ELDs and just that general aspect of trucking, if you will, it's a heavily regulated industry and there's various solutions out there that people can adopt in order to make sure that they are on the electronic system for that. What has been your experience in adopting one? And what were you looking for in a partner and how has that maybe influenced your overall just strategy of integrating from an it perspective?
Adam Bliss: [00:12:36] When I'm changing to a new technology, I want to make it as easy and painless as possible. Ideally, hopefully it's a change, unfortunately, that needed to happen regardless. So you got to choose the best possible solution for you. And when I'm looking for a new technology that we want to use, I don't want 17 different systems that we use that don't talk to each other.
So if I ever need information from one system to another, I have to manually. Get that information and then type it in to another system. When we upgraded the new GPS ELD system, we've actually switched systems already since 2017 because the company that we were using just wasn't providing good service to us, the devices were failing.
It was taken a long time to get them. Fixed and updated. So we switched to another company and they were, they had an open API, which was important to me because I don't know how we're going to use it down the road. I don't know what technology we're going to be utilizing down the road, just in order to try and future-proof any systems.
I want them to be able to talk to each other if needed. So whether that's through an integration that that company builds that we're using, say it integrates with our fleet maintenance system, which our current one does. Then it's just less duplication of efforts. Before we switched to a new fleet maintenance program.
We were using a server base program and the drivers were doing everything on paper and handing it into one guy. And he was typing everything in every day with 65 people. And one guy typing that in that's a lot of extra work. Now we can utilize the drivers that are already writing down that information once and they just write it down once and it comes in same with the ELD instead of writing it on paper and keeping track of it there, I've got a GPS ELD system that does that for me now.
[00:14:10] So Adam, I heard you mention there the usage of on-premise software, as well as SAS solution. Do your processes change at all between those two solutions? You do notice a big change internally in your role in IT when you implemented the different platforms.
Adam Bliss: [00:14:24] Yeah. I'm a big fan of the SAS solutions software as a service, just because when we're looking at an on-premise solution, it really limits where you gotta be to use it and who can use it.
If we can implement a cloud based version, that means that if I'm out driving in the car, I can use it without having to do a VPN and try and get into our network and then utilize the internal network to log into it. And then I can source more people. Like one thing we're looking at down the road here is a dispatching system.
If we do so much different stuff, we do emergency response stuff. Unfortunately, there's jobs that come up over Christmas. We had three train derailments over Christmas. The spills come up anytime of night, anytime of day. And we may need to run permits, or we may need to get into the fleet maintenance system.
We're using the ELD GPS system at any point. And if it's limited to just me or me running into the office to do it, then that really handcuffs us and ties us down a little bit. The more we can utilize other people that can access it from anywhere, the better and looking down the road at a possible dispatching system, I'd like.
Multiple people to be able to enter jobs that are coming up that need to be dispatched out rather than just one person putting them in over and over again, through leveraging multiple people. It just makes the work a little bit easier and make sure nothing gets missed.
[00:15:38] I can totally see all those bottlenecks can get created and what type of risks that can put you in as well from a compliance standpoint, if you can't get into a solution and you can't document what's going on with that particular asset or that particular job, I can see how that can put you at risk. And of course, minimizing that risk on your side is a huge advantage.
Adam Bliss: [00:15:54] Right. And your security and your, just the fact of backups onsite security. It's so much easier to not have to worry about it with a cloud-based solution than to put all that weight on your shoulders and hope that your processes are covering any necessary backups. So that kind of information that needs to be retained.
Matthew Dziak: [00:16:14] Adam 2020 was crazy for everyone to that's the understatement of the decade, but how would it really impact sort of your process, whether that was from a safety perspective, where you've already had these measures in place to hopefully adhere to all of the compliance and safety measures that you need.
But now you have this added just uncertainty that can contribute to the potential hazards, if you will. So how does that really evolve and change your process?
Adam Bliss: [00:16:40] Yeah, 2020 was a test, I think for everyone. And it's definitely a test for me and learning how to deal with just lots of changes and lots of different things going on.
Me personally, I ended up running the shop for the past year and managing the mechanics there, leveraging our fleet maintenance system for that, but we had a lot of processes that changed with it. We have guys going out to job sites. We have guys going out to work for other companies hauling equipment.
So yeah, we had to make sure that they had the necessary tools to make sure that we were able to disinfect trucks when people had potential close contact. But fortunately for us, we were able to really keep moving through pretty much the whole year. And we had a scare at the beginning of the year and after two weeks we had all this work to do and we had to figure out how to get the guys what they needed and have them get the same information we needed with as minimal contact as possible. That's where fortunately having these solutions already in place really helped with that. And having that GPS ELD solution, we can see where the guys are, where they're going. See if there's a fault code on their truck without having to pull it in and read it.
We're getting inspections from the guys on the equipment, and then we can pull the equipment in and fix it, or just leveraging all our tools available and all the resources available, rather than putting that all through one tunnel where the guys can. Come to one person, those tools in place really just made things a little bit easier and helped us adapt quicker. And we were able to work all year long. And then, I don't know if did you guys hear about the Derecho that we had in Iowa?
Matthew Dziak: [00:18:04] Yeah. Tell me more about that.
Adam Bliss: [00:18:05] So we had a storm that came through with these horizontal winds that, you know, Cedar Rapids got hit really hard. It was hurricane force winds that just damaged. A whole bunch of buildings, took down a whole bunch of trees. And fortunately in one of our services we offer, since we clear trees all the time is wood waste grinding. And so we have three big horizontal grinders that we load trees into and grind them up into mulch. And we actually sell most products as well from that.
But that was a big need this past year. We actually had a very productive year. Unfortunately, some of these situations, there's a lot of negative outcome, except a lot of people in our company working. We did a lot of work last year because of this negative situation.
Matthew Dziak: [00:18:43] It was definitely a time where somethings that were uncovered and some people had some unfortunate outcomes and others really thrive. And whether that was by sheer luck or plan, it does sound like the technology and the resources that you had in place really kept you ahead of the game. Like you said, you had an initial layoff, but you were able to recoup that immediately and ended up really having the business grow because of this.
Adam Bliss: [00:19:07] Yeah, I think that's the key things are always going to change. There's going to be unknown situations that come up and the companies and the people that can , adapt and innovate to assist in those scenarios are going to do better and survive. And that's what we want to be. That's one of the big things we do is innovate and adapt.
We're pretty versatile and flexible. That's why we work all year long. Typically don't ever lay off in the winter and we pushed snow too. We'll do whatever with trucks and heavy equipment. We'll figure it out and get it done.
Matthew Dziak: [00:19:33] Yeah, it sounds like you guys have a pretty resourceful operation that we started off talking about renewable energy and your impact there and your participation there. And it comes full circle. How it's not just about clearing out the trees and helping the community in that regard to get back to normal, but that you're able to actually turn a business out of that where you said you can create mulch and you can do these things that will help not only other commercial businesses, but also just everyday residents who might want a little bit of normalcy by doing some gardening.
Adam Bliss: [00:20:01] Yeah. Speaking of that, we try and do a lot of things where it can reuse resources or help somebody get more out of something that they've been used in. So we talked about hauling equipment for wind farms. We're also doing a lot with recycling, those wind blades. That's a big problem. There's these huge windmill blades that they replaced and then they need somewhere to put them and they end up in the landfill.
More working on what kind of products we can turn that into in order to leverage those down the road. We've done sandbags screening where we'll screen the sand out of sandbags after they get used and disasters and pull that sand out. So it can be used for a company we've also done shingle grinding we'll grind up shingles for a landfill, and then they will utilize that. Product that we make to a certain spec. They'll utilize it in the gravel roads. In a portion of Iowa, they utilized it, they laid it down on the roads and mixed it with the gravel and it gets hot and kind of seals together and just makes it less dusty, which is a big problem with large amounts of gravel roads. And we've got multiple magnets pulling out any kind of metal out of there, and we make a product for them that they can reuse.
Matthew Dziak: [00:20:59] That's really fantastic. There, there's just so many avenues that you guys are tied to, and it just underscores the importance of having your software, your technology, anywhere you go.
Now, if you had to maybe rewind back when you first started, if there was one thing you could tell yourself back then that you know, now that would be a really big help. What would that be? And why?
Adam Bliss: [00:21:20] That's a good question. Let's see if I could tell myself anything, I guess it would be to not assume that the solutions in place, whether that's our company or another company we're working with, or even a fleet solution or an ELD GPS solution. Don't assume that those are already the best ideas out there. The way we use them, we've been able to suggest a lot of improvements or advancements to the various solutions that we use to in order to make them better. And our company and other companies, like we talked about, the ones that thrive in these uncertain times are the ones that adapt and innovate and taking feedback. Whether that's personally, professionally or corporate wise has just been a big impact on our business and the businesses we work with.
[00:22:05] That's great, Adam, I'm going to build off that question. If there was one problem you could solve or one solution you could provide in fleet management, what would it be? And don't be afraid to dream big here because I have all kinds of aspirational thoughts that I have in regards to fleet. So feel free to shoot for them on. I'm really curious to hear your thoughts.
Adam Bliss: [00:22:24] Oh man. I would love if we had one product that would tie in the GPS and ELD aspects. Would tie in the fleet maintenance side, project management and billing and invoicing dispatching.
And that's why I mentioned that we've chosen products that have an open API where they can communicate and integrate with other. Programs, because most likely with the things we do not super realistic at this point to have one product that can do all those things really well. That's why I'm going to continue to choose solutions that are more technologically advanced and can communicate and integrate with other products in order to make that happen and reduce the amount of workload that we have.
And I want to reduce the number of apps that we have. If you come work for us, I don't want to ask you to download 16 different apps and have logins and passwords for it. I don't know if you guys have ever shared this frustration, but people do not remember their passwords ever.
Matthew Dziak: [00:23:18] No you're so right.
Adam Bliss: [00:23:19] It's the most common problem. But in order to minimize that the fewer apps and the fewer passwords, they have to remember the better, especially in the trucking and construction industry.
Matthew Dziak: [00:23:31] No doubt about it, Adam, this has been such an informative session. I can't believe just the amount of impact your organization has in the community and the area in Iowa that you serve. Really thank you for joining us today and just sharing your knowledge on this specific part of the industry.
Adam Bliss: [00:23:47] Thanks for having me. I'm always interested to learn from other people and share with other people. So I appreciate it.
Matthew Dziak: [00:23:54] Thanks for listening to the Fleet Code. If you're looking for a modern software solution to effectively manage your fleet, be sure to check out Fleetio.com/podcast. To learn more. Join our monthly newsletter to stay up to date on all things Fleetio. And don't forget to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn by following at fleet.
Read the Full Transcript
Join thousands of fleets running on Fleetio
Questions? Call us at 1-800-975-5304 or email hello@fleetio.com


text:
Q: Firefox does not accept ⌃⌘Space keyboard shortcut for Emoji & Symbols I really love the option of ⌃⌘Space to bring up Emoji & Symbols in macOS. Unfortunately this does not work in Firefox.
How can I get this to work?
I am on macOS Big Sur 11.3.1, and Firefox is the latest version.

A: It is a known issue: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1563862
However the issue is closed, and based on the comments it looks like it is related to the language of the browser.
As far as I can see the Firefox can be downloaded in different languages, but also language of the UI can be changed after. Also, it looks like if you are changing the language compared to the default the Emoji shortcut stops working.
So your best bet is to download Firefox in the language you are using it, instead of changing the language afterwards. Or you can always try to go to Preferences and change the language to the one Firefox was downloaded in originally. It may also matter to have the language of the System and Firefox set to the same.
In my case if I set Firefox to Italian the shortcut stops working, but if I set it to UK English, it starts to work (after restart). I assume it is because I've originally downloaded Firefox in English.
If you don't want to do that another workaround I've found is to go to System Preferences… > Keyboard and on the Keyboard tab turn on the "Show keyboard and emoji viewers in menu bar". With this there will be a flag icon in the upper right of the screen, where the Emoji viewer can be opened, just like as if it were opened using the ⌃+⌘+space shortcut. Bit more cumbersome...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Job market strong but it might not last long
The New Zealand job market remained strong in the first quarter of 2018 but this may not last long, according to an analysis of over 66,000 vacancies listed on Trade Me Jobs.
Head of Trade Me Jobs Jeremy Wade said that while the employment market appeared healthy, there are signs this could change in the absence of government investment decisions. "After some impressive double-digit growth in 2017, the number of job listings appears to be slowing and only grew a minuscule 0.4 per cent on last year."
Mr Wade said the average wage was also relatively stagnant on the year prior, up just 0.6 per cent. "As has been the case for the past two years, national wage growth remains stubbornly low. Employees will be pleased to know that with the recent minimum wage increase, we're expecting to see some good growth in the second quarter."
Despite evidence the market is cooling, Mr Wade said it's still a job hunter's market after the average number of applications per listing fell 13.3 per cent on last year. "Job hunters remain in prime position as we head into April. While there's still competition for roles, qualified candidates have a better chance of obtaining a new job than they have had in recent memory and employers are going to have to work hard to secure the right candidate for the job.
"This is not 'doom and gloom' but it is 'watch this space.' Job listings have cooled, particularly in our biggest centres, but in most sectors there's still hot competition for top talent. It's tough for employers, but we could see the market swing back in their favour should there be continued uncertainty in the infrastructure sectors."
Wellington City breaks $70,000 ceiling
"Wellington employers are bucking the trend and appear to be putting more money on the table to lure candidates away from their current roles," Mr Wade said.
"Employers in the capital broke through the $70,000 ceiling for the first time, but Wellington is still second in the race for the highest earning area. However, if this rate of growth continues it could soon overtake Auckland again where wage growth was up just 1 per cent to $72,509." Mr Wade said growth in Wellington is likely if demand, as expected, picks up in the government sector.
The average number of applications in Wellington fell 23.6 per cent on last year, while the average wage climbed a solid 4 per cent to $70,307. "Listings in Wellington City actually fell 5.2 per cent on last year, but it looks like employers are putting more on the table because finding talent is increasingly tough."
Uncertainty in construction and roading
Mr Wade said the number of job vacancies in the construction and roading sector fell 3.5 per cent year on year due to growing concerns in the industry.
"Recruiters and employers have told us that uncertainty around future Government infrastructure projects is causing many employers to think hard about their next hire. Coupled with further uncertainty around foreign investment rules and the challenges facing Fletcher Building, it's a tough road ahead for employers and they're more cautious committing to new or replacement hires while projects beyond the next year or two are unclear," he said.
Mixed bag in the regions
Mr Wade said Taranaki, Southland and the Bay of Plenty had 'amazing' growth in the first quarter of the year with the number of job listings increasing 17.2 per cent, 14.1 per cent and 12.4 per cent on last year respectively.
"The Auckland and Wellington regions are bearing the brunt of the construction and roading industry uncertainty with job listings falling 5.4 per cent and 9.4 per cent respectively," he said.
Sectors prove patchy
"If you work in banking, finance, central or local government, marketing, media or communications it is a great time to be looking at your next move," said Mr Wade.
The average wage in banking & finance grew 11.6 per cent on last year, with the number of applications down 12.6 per cent. Marketing, media and communications saw the average wage climb 8.7 per cent with applications down almost 40 per cent, and the government and council sector experienced an 8.3 per cent jump in average wage following a 22.8 per cent dip in applications.
The manufacturing and operations sector was strong in the first quarter, with job listings up 17.2 per cent along with transport and logistics which climbed a solid 11.5 per cent on the year prior.
The sectors with the largest decrease in new listings included executive and general management (down 29.4 per cent), IT (down 14.9 per cent) and sales (down 13.4 per cent).
IT roles still the highest paying
"IT roles continue to dominate the highest paid roles on Trade Me Jobs, taking out the top five spots," said Mr Wade.
IT project managers topped the list with an average pay of $146,256 followed closely by IT architects with an average wage of $145,063.
Please see our Media Release for full tables and results.
Business blues rock the job market
Employment market goes cold
Demand for IT skills on the rise
Wages increase as job market favours employees
Forty per cent of Kiwis have seen workplace discrimination
Women still less likely to apply for six-figure roles
Kiwis wouldn't mind robot workmates
Wage war: $2 between Wellington and Auckland cities
Jobs you never knew existed
Search jobs now


text:
Chair's Column
Law in Practice
Westminster Watch
William Byfield's Secret E-Diary
Your Bar
Your Bar Association
Recruitment & Announcements
Main menu Chair's Column News Features - Profession - Law in Practice - International - Westminster Watch - Lifestyle - Reviews - Profiles - William Byfield's Secret E-Diary - In My Opinion - Your Bar - Your Bar Association - Recruitment & Announcements Latest Cases Member Benefits Current Issue Partner Content Subscribe
Brexit: an important role for the courts
Proceedings have been instituted challenging the power of the Prime Minister to activate Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty without the prior consent and authority of Parliament. In the second of a series of personal opinion pieces looking at the spectrum of views within this contentious area, Jolyon Maugham QC argues that the courts have an important role to play in answering crucial questions about the role of Parliament.
I'll take some things as read.
You'll know there's a legal challenge to the Government's position that it is for it, and not Parliament, to decide what action to take following the result of the EU Referendum. And that the challenge will be heard in the Divisional Court in October with a likely leapfrog appeal to the Supreme Court in December.
You'll be aware that the challenge raises a question about the nature of the limits to the Royal Prerogative. Will triggering Article 50 denude the European Communities Act 1972 of content? Will it deprive UK nationals of their rights as an EU citizen? Is it Prime Minister Theresa May's finger on the trigger? Or is must it be by Act of Parliament?
Some people argue that these are political questions – and that the courts should not get involved. I disagree. That there are political ramifications to the answers doesn't change the nature of the questions from legal.
Few of us would baulk at the suggestion that the courts have an important role to play in regulating the relationship between the citizen and the Executive. Or in circumscribing when the Royal Prerogative can and cannot be used. Baulkers, if there are any, should read the words of Lord Oliver in Rayner (Mincing Lane) v DTI [1990] 2 AC 418, 462:
'… as a matter of the constitutional law of the United Kingdom… the Royal Prerogative, whilst it embraces the making of treaties, does not extend to altering the law or conferring rights upon individuals or depriving individuals of rights which they enjoy in domestic law without the intervention of Parliament.'
Indeed, publicly at least, even the Government says that the challenge raises a justiciable question. I can't tell you what the Government's pleaded position is because, remarkably, the Divisional Court has ordered that all documents produced by the Government be kept confidential.
But, as far as we are aware, the issue is not a live one. So let me turn to the question why the proper functioning of democracy requires that Parliament decide. There are at least four overlapping reasons.
First, Parliament is supreme. It chose to enact a referendum that doesn't mandate our departure from the European Union. It chose one that the then Foreign Secretary recognised in Parliament as merely 'advisory'. Philip Hammond went on to say that the Government would regard itself as bound by the result – but that political commitment does not alter the legal character of the European Union Referendum Act 2015 as advisory. To treat it as binding is to undermine the supremacy of Parliament. To replace its intention, as enacted in the Referendum, with the intention of the Executive.
Second, the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union gives us rights as individuals: to live abroad, healthcare cover on temporary travels, to accrue pension rights working in other member states, and so on. Parliament has not acted to modify or abrogate those rights. It cannot be right that the Executive can. To say this is to do no more than articulate a specific instance of an important general rule about the limits of Prerogative Power. To ignore it is to put citizens at the mercy of the Government.
Third, the fact that it is advisory inevitably gives rise to the question: who does it advise?
We know Theresa May opposes a second vote on the outcome of our negotiations with our EU partners. We also know that others in the Conservative Party feel differently. Nicky Morgan, who as Education Secretary also publicly contemplated standing for the leadership, says that Parliament must have a say on the final deal. There are wide open spaces between these two positions. One will lead to us leaving the EU: Brexit, after all, means Brexit. The other might not. The difference between them reflects the personal approaches of those two politicians to the outcome of the Referendum. But the electorate has had no chance to speak on which position should prevail. The only choice was one made by Conservative MPs pursuing considerations which included (and I mean no criticism when I say this) parochial ones. To deny Parliament any say on the choice between these positions cannot be right.
Finally, alongside the question, 'who did the Referendum advise' is the related one, 'what did it advise'? The binary formulation put to the electorate 'Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?' skates over the many parallel universes offered up during the campaign: lower and not lower immigration, inside and not inside the single market, money spent and not spent on the NHS, retained and not retained regional investment and agricultural subsidies, and so on. These, and the trade-offs between them, are profoundly important questions. But they were not put in the Referendum; they figured in no election manifesto; no politician can claim a democratic mandate to answer them. I say they cannot be for an unelected Prime Minister.
Let me acknowledge this.
Although the argument I am putting forward is a procedural one – should Parliament or the Prime Minister make the decision about triggering Article 50 – I am interested in it because I believe the sovereignty of Parliament is substantively engaged. And I can only say that if I am prepared to contemplate that Parliament might take a different view to the Prime Minister.
But to contemplate this is not to urge Parliament to ignore the outcome of the Referendum. It is to urge Parliament to consider it in the context in which it arose. That context includes a number of assurances – of a points-based immigration system, of £350m extra to spend on the NHS, of VAT cuts on fuel – each of which has already been disavowed by the Prime Minister. Is the accuracy of a representation relevant to the quality of the consent it induces? For legal readers of Counsel, there is only one answer. It includes the imprecision of the Referendum question and the competing accounts of Brexit that were given. It includes the fact that Parliament enacted only an advisory referendum. It includes the enormous importance to our life as a nation of whether we are inside or outside the EU. And it includes the small margin of victory. Each of these factors must be weighed in the balance, alongside the democratic importance of adhering to the outcome of a hard-fought referendum campaign.
This weighing exercise is not one for an unelected Prime Minister. Parliament, with the roving democratic mandate given to its members, must find a resolution. It should decide what to do with the result of the Referendum. And those who value democracy should hope that the Divisional, and then the Supreme Court, will direct that it does.
Contributor Jolyon Maugham QC
Jolyon Maugham QC has a predominantly litigation-based practice in the fields of direct and indirect tax, with particular expertise in avoidance, intangible property, tax and judicial review, and employment taxation. In January 2016, The Lawyer featured him as one of only 10 members at the Bar in their 'Hot 100 2016.' He runs the successful blog http://waitingfortax.com.
Home > Brexit: an important role for the courts
Brexit [1]
© Lexis Nexis. All Rights Reserved.
Employment Law Forum
Insolvency Law Forum


Every website is designed from a marketing standpoint.
Updates to software, Malware check, and Increased speed.
account creation and optimization, social media graphics, facebook ads.
Market Research: We take the time with every project to get to know you, your biz, and your audience. This process is extremely important to your brand and your conversion.
Analysis of Project: Based on our meeting with you, research, and our marketing knowledge, we can recommend a plan that will help you rock the webz.
Design & Creation: This is where the magic begins! We take everything from the previous step and design the site of your dreams.
Development & CMS: We take that AMAZING design and bring it to life. Your site is not only beautiful, but it is fully equipped with key marketing elements you must have.
Get Started! Schedule a Free Consultation Now Schedule a Free Consultation!
"Working with Felicia and Rockin Websites was one of the most satisfying business relationships I've ever had! I heard her speak at a quarterly meeting of a women's entrepreneur group and I was immediately impressed with her knowledge, sense of humor, and her reminders that our websites should be building our client lists and making us money. I kept her card and six months later when I was ready for a new website I signed up for a complete redo of my existing one. The entire process was PAINLESS, professional, and the I LOVE MY WEBSITE! Felicia delivered more than she promised, earlier than planned and I got two additional educational benefits I wasn't expecting: I learned about many tools for email marketing and business organization AND she created an instructional video for me (using my own website) on how to edit my website, add features, and manage it myself as I grow and expand. Felicia is the real deal, her energy is positive and generous, and I am a more powerful and savvy entrepreneur for having worked with her. Three thumbs up!"
There are no words that can express my gratitude to Felicia Pratt. Felicia saw what was inside of me, that I didn't see. She allowed me to confront my concerns and fears and to step out and do what I needed to do. She allowed us to be real, she allowed us to share what our concerns and fears were and then she turned around and gave us valuable guidance and tips to step out claim what is ours. This mentorship class rocks!!! Thank you so much Felicia.
Before Felicia"s Rock The Webz Mentorship Class I was feeling as if I was on a journey into the scary but VERY exciting world of becoming an Online Business Provider (OK so maybe scary is not the correct word, maybe "slightly daunting" suits it better). Since being in Felicia's class she has helped me to focus and set goals that I have never thought about or considered before. Her business mentorship class was full of valuable information that I was able to start implementing right away to beef up my business foundation. Felicia has a natural gift for teaching and is so giving and willing to share her knowledge, and her real-world experience she has gained through years of running her own successful business. A HUGE thank your or your guidance and your mentorship in these past weeks. I cannot wait for your next class!
My Four hours strategy session with Rockin' Websites has helped move me in a more systematic way of doing business. The successioin plan we developed was already proven to be effective to offering my products and service. The teaching moments regarding each step has helped me better understand why I need systems in place.