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Canadian winners at Thailand 2018
From left to right: Sam Chiu, Charles Verge and David McLaughlin, all members of The Royal Philatelic Society of Canada (RPSC) international liaison, comprised The RPSC delegation at the 75th FIP Congress in Bangkok, Thailand.
By Jesse Robitaille
Several Canadian exhibitors, including three literature entries, received noteworthy honours at the Thailand 2018 world stamp exhibition this month.
Specifically, in the adult multi-frame category, Canadian representatives were "very satisfied" with the country's performance, said David McLaughlin, chair of The Royal Philatelic Society of Canada's (RPSC) international liaison. Of the five Canadian multi-frame exhibits, two were first-time entries to a Fédération Internationale de Philatélie (FIP) show. Altogether, there were two gold winners; one large vermeil winner; one vermeil winner; and another large silver winner.
"The two golds were strong golds with 93 points each, and one of our new exhibits won a large vermeil the first time out, making it eligible for expansion to eight frames in future exhibitions," said McLaughlin, who served as Canada's national commissioner for Thailand 2018.
"Judges critiques at FIP shows are held at the frames, and from the feedback that I received, I think all the exhibits have the potential to move up at least one medal level."
Canada's multi-frame exhibitors included:
McLaughlin, who earned one of the two golds with 93 points;
Luc Legault, who received the other gold with 93 points;
Ken Snelson, who received a large vermeil with 86 points;
Ted Nixon, who received a vermeil with 83 points; and
Michael Croy, who received a large silver with 78 points.
McLaughlin found these results to be a "mid-range" performance, although he warned comparing Canada's performance with other countries is "difficult."
The FIP tracks how many exhibits – and from which country – receive a vermeil or higher at least once in the past 10 years.
Since 2009, Canadian exhibitors have received 50 awards at the vermeil level or higher.
To create a "reasonable" peer group of eight countries, McLaughlin listed all other nations with between 45 and 55 qualifying exhibits. In addition to Canada, the peer group includes Austria, Chinese Taipei, Finland, Hong Kong, Korea, Pakistan and Russia.
"For Thailand, our adult multi-frame performance was midrange among our peer group, mostly because three other countries each had a large gold medal and one had four gold medals," said McLaughlin. "The peer group analysis provides better insight when comparing the full year because of the larger sample and because our participation in exhibitions is more consistent than the peer group."
SINGLE-FRAME EXHIBITS
There were two Canadian single-frame exhibitors entered into Thailand 2018, which ran Nov. 28-Dec. 3 in Bangkok.
They include Don Hedger and John McEntyre, who earned 78 points and 77 points, respectively, which "are quite respectable scores for one-frame exhibits internationally, McLaughlin said.
"We did much better than our peer group in the single-frame exhibit class," he said, adding one of the two exhibits was a first-time entry.
"Only one other country in our peer group entered one-frame exhibits."
LITERATURE EXHIBITS
While the other countries in Canada's peer group have "traditionally done better" in the literature category, Canada's literature entries "did very well" this year, McLaughlin said.
In the six FIP exhibitions before Thailand, Canada entered only five literature exhibits altogether; however, with the help of three of Canada's national philatelic societies, Canada entered three literature exhibits. This compares with an average of four entries for the six countries in Canada's peer group that entered literature.
Canada's entries into Thailand 2018 include:
The Canadian Philatelist, the bimonthly publication of The RPSC, which received a large vermeil with 86 points;
the PHSC Journal, which is published by the Postal History Society of Canada (PHSC) and received a large vermeil with 85 points; and
151 Personal Views of Canada, A Philatelic Sesquicentennial Project, which was published by the Philatelic Specialists Society of Canada (PSSC) and received a large silver with 73 points.
The PSSC entry – a celebratory book with pages for each year from 1867-2017 contributed by the society's members – was in class 11A, philatelic books and research papers, the top medals of which went to "professionally edited and published commercial reference books," said McLaughlin.
"I think that the silver medal at 73 points was a commendable achievement by the PSSC members," he added.
Both The RPSC and PHSC publications were entered in class 11B, philatelic magazines and periodicals, which included 27 entries.
"Only one publication, The Gibbons Stamp Monthly, published commercially by Stanley Gibbons, received a higher score at 87 points."
While some Canadian philatelic organizations are reluctant to enter their publications in competitions, McLaughlin said he hopes the recent successes "will encourage all our philatelic societies to support their authors' and editors' efforts through participation in international shows."
"Copies of the books, catalogues and journals entered in these shows end up in the philatelic libraries of the host country."
YOUTH EXHIBITORS
As for youth exhibits, Canada fared poorly compared to its peer group.
"Four members of our peer group had a total of 13 youth exhibits while we had none," McLaughlin said, adding there were no exhibit fees for youth entries of Thailand 2018.
NEXT FIP EXHIBITION
The next FIP exhibition is China 2019, which will be held in Wuhan, China, from June 11-17.
A world general exhibition, China 2019 will feature 2,500 competitive frames across all FIP classes, including the new picture postcard class.
"I am hopeful that we can have several youth exhibits for China 2019 next June," said McLaughlin, who added there are no exhibit fees for youth entries of China 2019.
To receive the exhibition prospectus and application form, which is due by the end of January, exhibitors can contact McLaughlin at david.mclaughlin@rogers.com.


One day after being closed by the state Department of Revenue for nonpayment of taxes, Viva Bene Italian Ristorante, 144 Commercial St., reopened today.
The restaurant, across from the DCU Center, entered into a payment agreement Thursday and was allowed to reopen, a DOR spokeswoman said.
"It was resolved and we're now open," said Keivan Mizrahi, restaurant manager.
The restaurant was seized Wednesday for nonpayment of $48,213 in owed taxes. The owed taxes dated back to 2009, according to DOR.


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Die römisch-katholische Pfarrkirche Nickelsdorf steht oberhalb der Straße in der Gemeinde Nickelsdorf (ungarisch: "Miklóshalma") im Bezirk Neusiedl am See im Burgenland. Sie ist dem heiligen Nikolaus geweiht und gehört zum Dekanat Neusiedl am See.

Geschichte
1572 wurde erstmals eine Kirche in Nickelsdorf genannt. Ein Schreiben in den Klosterratsakten bezeichnet diese Kirche 1606 als "origine antiqua" (lat. 'von alters her').
Die alte vor 1572 erbaute Kirche stand inmitten des Friedhofs. Laut Berichten der Kirchenvisitation im Jahr 1696 stand auf dem einen Altar eine Statue der Gottesmutter mit dem Jesuskind. Im Turm hing nur eine Glocke.
Im Jahre 1739 wurde die katholische Pfarre wieder selbständig. Der erste Pfarrer neuen Gemeinde wurde Matthias Kern. Die Mehrheit der Bevölkerung stand ihm wegen Differenzen im Glauben ablehnend gegenüber. Trotz verschiedener Zwangsmaßnahmen zur Bekehrung der Abtrünnigen, gelang ihm ihre Rückführung zur alleinseligmachenden Kirche nicht. Er gab nach drei Jahren auf und verließ die Pfarre. Auch von den Nachfolgern blieben die meisten nicht lange, nur der Pfarrer Michael Lentsch übte dieses Amt 25 Jahre lang aus. Die restlichen Seelsorger im 18. und am Anfang des 19. Jahrhunderts blieben im Schnitt nur zwischen 10 und 13 Jahre in Nickelsdorf, bis sie sich um andere freie Stelle als Pfarrer bewarben oder versetzt wurden.
Leonhard Berger, der Pächter der herrschaftlichen Schäferei stiftete 1762 einen Nebenaltar.

Laut dem Bericht der kanonischen Visitation im Jahr 1778 stand die katholische Kirche am Ende des Dorfes auf einem Hügel, was sie vor Feuer sicherte. Sie wurde als alt und eng beschrieben und konnte nur die Hälfte der Gläubigen fassen: Von rund 450 katholischen Gläubigen hatten etwa 230 Platz.

Der aus gebrannten Ziegeln errichtete Turm war stark durchfeuchtet und die Uhr musste repariert werden. Das Geläut im Turm bestand aus zwei Glocken. Im Innenraum war der Hauptaltar dem Heiligen Nikolaus geweiht, der von Leonhard Berger gestiftete Seitenaltar der Jungfrau Maria. Die Kanzel war alt und in schlechtem Zustand, ebenso der hölzerne wurmstichige Chor und die Orgel.

1884 wurde ein Kirchenbaufonds ins Leben gerufen. Die katholischen Grundbesitzer sowie die Erzherzögliche Güterdirektion verzichteten auf Bitten des Pfarrers auf ihre Jagdanteile zugunsten des Kirchenbaufonds. Mit Hilfe dieses Fonds, weiterer Spenden namentlich des Patronatsherrn, der 40.000 Gulden spendete, wurde die neue Kirche in den Jahren 1904 und 1905 errichtet. Die Bauplanung und Bauausführung übernahm der Baumeister Oross Istvan.

Im Herbst 1904 wurde in der alten Kirche der letzte Gottesdienst gefeiert und anschließend mit dem Abbruch begonnen. Das Material wurde zum Bau der neuen Kirche nördlich der alten Kirche weiterverwendet.
Am 15. Oktober 1905 wurde die neue Kirche mit einem Festgottesdienst eingeweiht.

Nach dem Neubau der katholischen Kirche wurde auf dem Platz der alten Kirche ein Pfarrgarten gestaltet. Auf diesem wurde in den Jahren 1972–74 die Aufbahrungshalle gebaut.

Architektur und Ausstattung
Die Kirche ist ein großer Bau mit Ostturm und Treppentürmen. Am Langhaus sind Strebepfeiler. Der eingezogene Chor hat einen 3/8-Schluss.

Der vierjochige Raum ist kreuzrippengewölbt, die Empore dreiachsig mit vorgebauter Brüstung.

Die drei neogotischen Schnitzaltäre stammen aus der Bauzeit.

Literatur
 Dehio Burgenland 1976, Nickelsdorf, Kath. Pfarrkirche hl. Nikolaus, S. 215.

Weblinks

Einzelnachweise

Pfarrkirche
Nikolaikirche
Kirchengebäude im Burgenland
Pfarrkirche in der Diözese Eisenstadt
Nickelsdorf, !
Erbaut in den 1900er Jahren
Neugotisches Bauwerk im Burgenland
Neugotisches Kirchengebäude

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Private financing in recent years has been the main source of bread and butter cash flow for many businesses trying to find a big break and scaling up. While there are usually a good number of really great business concepts, they often hit a wall on how much can be done as a micro-business with a few people. That's the point where the business needs to grow significantly in staffing, equipment and size to meet the demand that's available and really leverage the income potential. To do that, however, a small business needs big financing and investment.
While business loans from banks or the Small Business Administration is what the majority of small business owners think of at first, these options can often be disappointing. The criteria and lending requirements involved can be burdensome as well as hard to meet. Leaving a business owner with a lot of wasted time and nothing to show for it. No surprise, many look to private financing as an alternative.
However, private financing often depends on how an investment agreement is put together. Many investors are not just satisfied with providing money and getting it paid back with interest, they also want an ownership right in the business and the ability to influence management. Essentially, a business owner or team has to consider handing over some control of how his company is run to get the needed cash to make it grow.
Ownership in a company, known as equity, brings in new players with new ideas of how things should work. As a result, defining everyone's roles, rights, obligations and power is critical to making the investment arrangement work as a win-win situation. Otherwise, a business owner can quickly find himself at odds with an investor or worse, getting kicked out of his own company. That happened to Steve Jobs as well as one of the founding members of Facebook, Eduardo Saverin.
Writing up an equipment or partnership agreement isn't the only step either. A full investment arrangement often includes a number of critical pieces of paperwork, requiring good legal review to be done right. For those needing help from a good Washington state private financing attorney or legal office, Attorney Gary Schuetz should be considered. His experience as a Renton private financing lawyer has proven significant for clients wanting to protect their business interests but grow their company quickly.
Trying to take care of an investment agreement without good legal guidance is a big mistake, and professional investors will take advantage of that weakness when seen. Grow your business the right way by crafting an agreement that works.


During his maiden voyage as a filmmaker, Primus bassist/leader/songwriter Les Claypool experienced something that every director — from Hollywood super-mogul to the most indie auteur — knows intimately: "If anything can go wrong, it will."
"The process of making this film was one kick in the n--s after another," he said. "Two trips to the hospital, a hit-and-run, a crew member had a nervous breakdown and threatened to throw all the footage in the fireplace. We had a gremlin following us around. It's like building a house with apprentice carpenters, and the building materials were on fire."
But by no means does Claypool regret making "Electric Apricot: Quest for Festeroo," a mockumentary that follows a fictitious jam band by that name, satirizing the sprawling patchouli scene the way "This Is Spinal Tap," "CB4" and "The Rutles" series did for heavy metal, hip-hop and Beatlemania, respectively. Claypool's movie took the Best of Festival - Feature, Audience Award at this year's Malibu Film Festival.
Many people assumed that the thousands of dubiously odored, financially carefree nomads that followed the Grateful Dead for 30 years would have dispersed upon the band's demise 11 years ago. But Phish grabbed the Dead's baton, and the jam-band subculture has mushroomed in the decade since, supporting not only the likes of moe, Leftover Salmon and the String Cheese Incident, but bands that never embraced the Dead's influence, like Ween and Claypool's multiple prog-rock/funk projects.
"It's a fabulous subject," Claypool said, "one that I know quite a bit about and one that hasn't been examined before. I could do the same thing for Ozzfest. Character study is my existence."
He noted that there's an ample potential audience for the film. "Bonnaroo is the highest grossing music festival in the United States, and it does so with only Internet advertising," he continued. "And it's not just hippie bands — Radiohead and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are playing this year."
Check out "Gridiron Gang," "Miami Vice," "The Devil Wears Prada," "Invincible" and more, on Overdrive.
Claypool's film will be screened at Bonnaroo in June, where he will also perform solo and play a set with Oysterhead, his supergroup with Phish's Trey Anastasio and former Police drummer Stewart Copeland.
The film tracks the progress of Electric Apricot from a gig at the storied Bay Area club the Sweetwater Saloon to sessions for their first album to "Festeroo," a jam band-heavy festival (these scenes were shot last year at the High Sierra Music Festival in Quincy, California).
Along the way, we get to know the bizarrely nicknamed members of the band (who are played by Claypool and three Bay Area musician pals): Herschel, the keyboardist and purest hippie of the bunch; Aiwass, the pseudo-intellectual bassist fond of quoting Wittgenstein and remarking, "I feel like Hitler at Waterloo"; and Lapdog, the archetypal drum nerd (Claypool).
Then there's the guitarist/singer, Gordo. "He drinks beer, wants to party and worships Jerry Garcia," Claypool said. Gordo looks likely to become the film's breakout star thanks to a scene in which he gets gangsta on a character who doesn't show sufficient reverence for Garcia.
Claypool devised the film's general plot, but much of the dialogue was improvised. "Electric Apricot" features cameos from Seth Green ("Robot Chicken," "Austin Powers") and "South Park" co-creator Matt Stone, playing a pair of concert "tapers," as well as brief turns from jam-scene icons including the Dead's Bob Weir, former Phish bassist Mike Gordon and Gov't Mule's Warren Haynes and Matt Abts.
But most characters are portrayed by Claypool's friends, non-actors who nonetheless capture the essence of the rock and roll periphery: a hapless manager, a hanger-on desperate to go on tour, a Yoko Ono-style girlfriend and a band therapist who not only sports blindingly ugly sweaters, but attempts to ingratiate himself into the band (Claypool swears that any resemblance to therapist Phil Towle, from 2004's Metallica documentary "Some Kind of Monster," is coincidental).
When the inevitable comparison to "Spinal Tap" is brought up, Claypool says his approach was inspired more by Ricky Gervais' acclaimed BBC series "The Office." "Are they parodying people who work at a paper supply company?" he asked, "Or are they portraying true characters in a certain setting? ['Electric Apricot'] is an endearing look at the jam scene, poking fun at these people and how they look at their universe so seriously."
The film is just one of several Claypool creative endeavors that will arrive in the coming weeks. He's also releasing his first proper solo album, Of Whales and Woe, on May 30, and will publish his first novel, "South of the Pumphouse," which he describes as "a cross between 'Deliverance' and 'The Old Man and the Sea,' " in July.


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The final report from the University of Tennessee on the Dollywood Foundation's My People Fund confirms what nonprofits have long said: Cash donations are most helpful after a disaster.
Dolly Parton Q&A: Who came up with the name, "My People Fund" and explain what those three words mean to you.
What helps most in times of disaster?
It's still cold, hard cash.
For the report, UT College of Social Work professor Stacia West and her students surveyed a sample of My People Fund recipients twice — in April and December 2017 — and then compared the results.
The foundation gave 885 families who were victims of the November 2016 Gatlinburg wildfires immediate cash assistance in December 2016; almost 1,000 families received some form of assistance, including gifts and donations from other organizations.
Of those surveyed, 61 percent said cash donations were the most helpful; 27 percent said they found donations of items most helpful.
The fires destroyed 1,300 homes. The My People Fund gave families who lost their homes $1,000 a month for six months, then a final $5,000 in May 2017.
Though most of the 70 percent who worked prior to the fires had to take time off immediately afterward, the survey found that over the period of the report, most survivors continued to work, with 40 hours a week as the median, though there was an overall reduction in median household income — possibly because some time away from work wasn't paid.
The number of survey respondents who had emergency savings, however, increased from 53 percent to more than 59 percent between April and December 2017.
And while in April 2017, 78 percent of wildfire survivors were renting, by December the percentage of those renting had dropped back to 49 percent, with 48 percent owning their homes, comparable to November 2016, when 55 percent owned and 45 percent rented.
In addition, about 70 percent had homeowners or renters' insurance, up about 10 percent from the time of the fires.
The survey did show the median cost of monthly housing in Gatlinburg increased after the fires, and many people were paying an unsustainable percentage of their incomes toward housing.
"Following the monthly disbursements of unconditional cash assistance, participants were able to return to baseline financial stability reported prior to the wildfire, and improve their ability to set aside savings for hypothetical future emergencies," said the report, noting that future research may focus on how well those in regions where natural disasters are more common are able to prepare.
The survey also documented increased physical and emotional problems among survivors. About 26 percent of wildfire victims reported having significant health problems before the fires; that went up to more than 33 percent afterward. More than 25 percent of people reported developing breathing or pulmonary problems as a result of the fires, the report said.
A little more than 20 percent reported symptoms of depression prior to the fires, but in December 2017, 63 percent reported "feelings of sadness and depression," and 56 percent said they had "lost pleasure in things." In December 2017, 17 percent said they had received counseling for depression and 21 percent counseling for anxiety, up from 12 percent in December 2016.
"In addition to causing damages to finances and housing stock, surviving traumatic disasters like a wildfire can have substantial impacts on anxiety, depression and sense of loss of control that may persist well after housing and finances are restored," the report said.
The research was funded by UT's Community Engagement Incentive Grant, the UT College of Social Work and the Dollywood Foundation.


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6 Factors for Organizational Innovation
By Sam Marshall | Dec 22, 2015
CHANNEL: Social Business
Organizational innovation isn't just about having original ideas — it isn't even always about originality — it is about the ability to mobilize those ideas into a product or service.
Innovation: The Organizational Amplification of an Idea
The knowledge spiral or SECI model by Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi is probably the most famous in the field of knowledge management (KM). But why is it a spiral and not a circle? The model is most commonly used for tacit-explicit knowledge debates, but it was also meant to illustrate a key message about innovation: Japanese companies were successful because they could make incremental innovations, each one building on an organizationally-embedded knowledge base.
SECI model developed by Nonaka (1994). Used under Wikimedia Creative Commons license
This idea of amplification is the difference between a good idea 'floating around' a company and the company acting on that idea at scale. Although tools to share and collaborate are important enablers, it is the softer factors that really matter:
1. The ability to have honest conversations about progress. If people are afraid to say "the project is delayed" to stakeholders, they will keep taking safer options. Often business deadlines aren't real, but people sweat them because they've given a date to some senior person. You can't accurately predict timescales for true innovation because you're learning as you go. If you want predictability you tend to favor things you've tried before.
People say innovation means letting people fail. But we also need to stop people weakly succeeding. Think of internal projects, for example: they rarely have a clean stop as a "fail," instead they limp along and disappoint.
2. Time to play. If people are 100 percent occupied doing business as usual, they rarely will be able to step back and do things differently. This is especially true of process innovations, where the good ideas originate from the people doing the job (unlike product innovations where you can dedicate R&D). You need to create some slack (see Tom de Marco's excellent book) and let people experiment, recognizing that output is likely to dip during this time.
3. External connectedness. There are many volumes on "disruption." One common theme is that groupthink is the enemy of innovation. Your experts are the most likely to put down a new idea that runs contrary to everything they know. Having mechanisms to bring the outside in will help: diversity in recruitment, secondments in and out, sabbaticals, trade shows, social networks, university partnerships and open innovation platforms, for example.
4. Commitment to take to market. You only really know if something will work when you get data from the real world. Some companies are internally very innovative but then sit on patents and products because they are afraid to put them out there (and yes, I know there are other reasons they sit on patents). Digital products in particular, are amenable to launching with a minimum viable product and then iterating. Many start-ups do this, but bigger companies need to overcome their reluctance.
5. Willingness to let go. Kodak often comes up as an example of a company that failed to innovate. Yet they invented the digital camera that was at the root of their ultimate demise. What they didn't do was put enough weight behind marketing the product and developing it further when it meant diverting resources from its traditional product lines.
6. Money for uncertain outcomes. A clear innovation process is important to nurture ideas beyond the prototype stage. A key part of this is putting money into things that don't necessarily have a clear ROI at the start. As with the commitment to market, you don't have the data at this point to judge if it's truly innovative. This isn't to say that you should continue funding bad ideas, only that ideas need the oxygen of cash to develop.
Note that none of these factors says you need to get rid of hierarchy. I'm not even sure that high levels of connectedness internally is necessarily a good idea. Very dense networks can suppress new ways of doing things by drowning them out. For example, a study of Yammer usage in a large consultancy by the University of Sydney found that 25 percent of all posts were "aligning activities," basically people telling their peers "this is how we do things."
Innovation can of course happen in a networked organization — people may use personal ties to mobilize resources when they're not available by formal routes — but a strong network isn't a necessary condition.
Title image CC BY 2.0 by aakanayev
Sam Marshall is the owner of ClearBox Consulting and has specialized in intranets and the digital workplace for over 18 years, working with companies such as AstraZeneca, Diageo, Sony, GSK and AkzoNobel.
He is the lead author of the annual SharePoint Intranets in-a-box review.
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Tags digital workplace, enterprise 2.0, enterprise collaboration, innovation, sam marshall, social business

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