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Video: Democratizing Wealth Building to Help Close the Racial and Gender Gap
By NCRC / November 30, 2022 November 30, 2022 / NCRC Videos
Online Event Archive Recorded November 15, 2022
Persistent racial and gender wealth gaps remain a major obstacle to building financial security for low- and moderate-income (LMI) households in the United States. How can we ensure that the financial system, and opportunities to build wealth, are developed to meet the needs of LMI people? Income alone is insufficient: too many people are just getting by.
Traditional pathways to wealth—homeownership, higher education, entrepreneurship, and investing in stocks—have been inaccessible to many, and emerging pathways including shared ownership and blockchain technology offer new opportunities. This is the time for innovation!
The panel explored the relationship between financial security and wealth building, shared key findings from in-depth research studies, pilot programs and deep engagement with LMI families across the country, and spurred thinking about new 21st-century pathways to building wealth for those who need it most.
Social innovators, fintechs, financial services firms, industry experts, employers, and policymakers will all benefit from this conversation.
Timothy Flacke, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Commonwealth
Tia Hodges, VP of Corporate Giving and Employee Volunteerism, MetLife; President, MetLife Foundation
Willa Tellekson-Flash, Director of Community, Public.com
NCRC video transcripts are produced by a third-party transcription service and may contain errors. They are lightly edited for style and clarity.
Flacke 0:02
Hello, good morning or good afternoon depending on where you are. Welcome my name is Tim Flacke and I am the co founder and executive director of Commonwealth Commonwealth is a national nonprofit building financial security and opportunity for vulnerable households through innovation and partnerships. And I am profoundly grateful that all of you are taking time to join us today to talk about wealth, and specifically democratizing wealth building and aiming to help close the race and gender wealth gaps. I want to thank the National Community Reinvestment Coalition for making space for this conversation. And again, for all of you, I hope we will have a conversation today. I am really, really pleased with the panelists we have, who will come on in just a moment Tia Hodges leads the MetLife foundation and is also its president and CEO, as well as being an adjunct professor at New York University, as probably many of you know that Tia has been a leader in financial health, and investing in financial health and is also an invaluable partner to, to Commonwealth, my organization. We're also joined by Willa Tellekson-Flash, who is the director of community at public, as she'll explain public is a leading FinTech working to make the public markets work for all people. We're also privileged to partner with public here at Commonwealth. I just have a few opening comments to frame the conversation. And then we'll dive in, as I may have already said, in my view, and I hope that you'll agree, today's topic is profoundly important. Wealth and wealth gaps matter, a great deal. I imagine we all have our experience of this. But wealth is the part of family's finances. That is not just about today or of the moment. It's the part about what we own. What has the potential to be long term durable, appreciating assets and wealth are vital roles in families and households, as a source of protection, some insulation against adversity, whatever it might be some insurance, as if you will see corn, opportunity to invest in the future and possibly to make a lasting difference in our households socio economics. Wealth also provides real self determination and choice and agency about things like where you live, or what kind of work you do, what kind of life you get. So to lead for many of us wealth, whether we want it to or not, is associated with dignity and self worth, hardly surprising and in a market based economy. And wealth has the potential to enable legacy, if you will, it's a chance to pass something on to the next generation in your own family or in your community. And I think we'll see through the conversation, it's it's more than just listed here as well. For viralization wealth is really what brought us together as a guiding principle 20 plus years ago, it remains our guiding light. And what we've seen as a get I imagine many of you have as well, is that there is no one solution to enabling wealth creation or attacking wealth gaps. We we need solutions that speak to different households in different circumstances, who are at different points in their own financial journeys. We of course, are aware of well known traditional pathways to wealth, things like homeownership, higher education, entrepreneurship, but we have to we have to be clear that those traditional proven pathways have not been equally accessible to all. I imagine a lot of us have heard the statistic about the median wealth difference between black and white households. It's now eight to one, but it is worth taking a moment and narrowing down and looking what happens when we add gender as well. If you combine race and gender, the median wealth for white men is 13 times the median wealth for black women. If we then tighten again and look at age, a single black woman under the age of 35, has a median wealth of just $101 Compared to $1,550 for a single black man and that same age group, or 22,006. $140 For a single white man in that same age bracket, so we have serious wealth gaps we have to remember. And beyond traditional pathways, it's also true that we live in an age and a time of rapid change in technology. But beyond that, and some of that change creates new possibilities for wealth creation. It's with those insights in mind that our traditional pathways have not been accessible to everyone. And that there is a rapidly changing world, including around wealth creation, that we sought support and a partner with another life foundation or a Commonwealth to explore a portfolio of wealth building strategies. If that is of interest to you, you can find out more about it in our wealth building blueprints, which is available on our website, build commonwealth.org publication is wealth building blueprints, the promise of traditional and new pathways for closing the wealth gap. Alright, Tia, Willa, thank you so much. I will just say briefly, before we dive in, that if any of you who are joining us today have questions or comments, please go ahead and put them into the q&a feature in zoom. We will do our best to monitor those during the conversation. But we'll also save some time at the end. So Tia, could you just introduce yourself and add anything that you think would be helpful for the audience briefly, and then we'll take it over to you, Wiila.
Hodges 6:34
I think so much, Tim. Good morning. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to participate, to share our perspective. And also learn from all of the questions that may be coming in as well. I equally learned from that. My name is Tia Hodges, I had a corporate giving employee engagement, volunteerism, and Presidency of now I foundation based here in New York City. And as Tim mentioned, our financial health has really been this has been center of the plate of our work for many, many years. So really excited to have this conversation or join this conversation today to talk about it at the intersection of race and gender. And I think the perspectives are immensely important from all of us as we really seek to tackle this issue. So I'll turn it back over to you, Tim.
Thanks. Willa, why don't you introduce yourself as well?
Tellekson-Flash 7:36
Thanks. Thanks so much for having me. Thank you for being here. For for those of you who are tuning in, really looking forward to this conversation. And as you said, to to learning from from all of you as well, my name is Willa. I work at Publix, which to provide a little bit of context on is an investing platform that allows members to build a portfolio of any asset class that includes stocks, ETFs, crypto and alternative assets as well. I know that community which is has been in my title can mean many different things at different organizations. So at Publix, that's meant overseeing investor engagement and advancement. So providing our community of investors with the context, the educational content, and the conversations that they need to be confident in, in their investing decisions. And that that confident pieces is something that that I've thought about a lot because it was intimidation that that I felt when I personally was was trying to learn more about investing that drew me to this role and to this company. I've found it and find it incredibly frustrating that the financial world can feel like it's not for a lot of people. And and so is excited to be part of conversations about opening up investing in particular, but I think financial health and wealth building at large to more people, both by eliminating some of the taboo factor of talking about money, and providing tools that allow us to actually address some of the obstacles that are in the way of democratizing wealth building. So really excited to be part of this conversation and grateful to Commonwealth as well, who we've we've gotten the chance to do some work with which we'll talk a little bit about later.
Thank you so much both. Let's let's just start with the really a baseline question which, you know, I've alluded to in my remarks, but I want to get your thoughts. Why is wealth important and how is it distinct from income? And what does this idea of democratizing wealth mean to each of you. Tia, can we come to you first on that?
Sure. I will be radically transparent as I was within the practice meetings, I'll be radically transparent with the audience. I've been in philanthropy and nonprofit for many years. And I think when we first initially think about income and wealth, we use, I use the word sometimes interchangeably, rightly or wrongly. And so I think, first, the definition around how income is generated, a wealth is generated. And I've been at MetLife foundation just a little over a year, probably about 15 months at this point. And when we were launching our new strategy, this year, we did a deep dive with a partner around our portfolio of work, and really understanding what our wealth building activities are investments that we have, from a Grants perspective, and what is income generation. So as my coach would say, you know, your time and talent helps you to generate income, and wealth. And he was, you know, you need an income to in order to secure a home. And in many instances, companies will have benefits plans for their employees, whether health care, or 401, K or 403. B, and the accumulation of those assets, and then the ability to also transfer that right when we talk about intergenerational wealth as well, the ability to transfer that from one generation to the next. So do I leave anything for my children or grandchildren etc. And but I think the clear definition is really important in terms of how we accumulate income, and then the idea around wealth is significantly important. And I finally got on the right track on that one, the other from a full philanthropic standpoint, and this is just my purview perspective. So the audience members, and then the philanthropies that you connect with, we'll all have a slightly different perspective, but also in our portfolio of work. You know, in our financial health work, we often talk about checking and banking accounts, access to savings, you know, having our nonprofit partners work with clients who are, you know, accessing, or saving money from a digital platform standpoint. So through FinTech, for example. And that is important to understand what what you have the ability to save, that's equally important, but that's also a slightly different conversation. That's also when our in our portfolio of work, such as benefits, so the conversation around public access to public and private benefits and benefits looks like access to health care to that forum 401k Four, three P. And there are other benefits that employers are offering sometimes a larger employers, whether that is also helping to you know, buy a home or reduce student debt. So a variety of things go into one the definition, but being clear about that, but also the different avenues around building wealth and also generating income. So that's how I kind of take a look at that broader ecosystem. And we're really working to suss out, what do our investments our brands look like? And what do we really need to link into? Right? So if many Americans, for example, have access to a checking and savings account, then do we need to really turn our focus on wealth building strategies. So that could be homeownership and increased savings and investing in the market? I think we may even talk blockchain and cryptocurrency what does the emerging currencies look like? So I hope that's a little helpful context and how I think about the definitions, but also how we're really being introspective at MetLife foundation on what, what we're supporting, and we're, you know, where do we really need to start to turn our attention to, especially for communities of color and for women.
Tellekson-Flash 14:25
Yeah, I think to to build on some of that. I think one of the one of the pieces that you talked about TIA is is this wealth being something that is so much more long term than than the income piece or, or even what you have in a in a checking or savings of any given time and mentioned homeownership and other things like that wealth is really something that unlocks opportunities over time, whether that being in your lifetime or in future generations as well. And Uh, because of of my line of work, I think about wealth most through the lens of investing. And I think that that's something that has been historically, an important way for, for individuals to build wealth over time, but also hasn't been something that's been easily accessible to most people for are up to present day. And still something that I think, is that we have a lot of lot of work to do. And I think the, the piece about democratizing wealth, comes down to not only access I think is a word that we use a lot, access to tools, but also how we are bringing these things to people and what the context that that we're providing is, and the education that we're providing is. So the individuals feel empowered to take part in this for themselves. So that it doesn't stop with just one person. But I do think that, that that long term, over your own lifetime and, and future generations is is a really important piece of of understanding why it can be so powerful, because of all the different things that that can be unlocked when it's a continuing a continuing journey for folks.
Flacke 16:24
Thank you both, I want to keep the conversation going. And also just take a moment to talk a little bit more about why race and gender are important and wealth. I threw out some numbers. And I saw in the chat, it sounds like some of you are interested in the source of those, which of course is great. But you know, sometimes numbers alone don't really give a full story. And so briefly, I wonder, Tia and Wiila if you want is there anything more you want to add about why race and gender really belong in this conversation?
Hodges 16:56
Yeah, I'm happy to start and Willa, of course, you know, pop in. I think the I think we have to one, one word that we use here at the Foundation is really an intersectional approach. Right. And I think we also have to be really radically transparent. And this is hard to say a little bit. And they're tough conversations. But we really have to take a look at it be radically transparent around how the the wealth gap, whether by race, gender, access, you know, what was created started, and I think we really have to start there from a historical lens. And in the US, I think that's really hard to do without talking about race and gender. I don't know how you, I don't know how we get our I don't, I don't know that it's possible to get around it to be quite frank. And so that plays a really important role. If we look at some of the policy over many years, decades and decades. You know, there were certain jobs that were not included it for example, in the New Deal, being eligible for any type of retirement benefits to how we think about decisions on loans for businesses, or redlining. They all have a great impact. And most importantly, as or equally important, is the conversation around narrative. So we don't really realize how that process works around why are certain groups not able to achieve intergenerational wealth or even have difficulty building income, right? So when we look at occupational segregation, for example, and look at dollar per hour access to benefits, and then even the ability to accumulate income, enough to be able to save for a home or get an education, or put what sometimes it's the perception around how much you can actually afford to put away in a 401 K, or 403. B I struggled with that when I worked in the nonprofit sector. But narrative is equally important. And so what are the stories we've been told or that we tell that say, who's deserving of wealth, the ability to to have that job to have that, to be able to build that business to be able to save, who has the right to own a home? And if so, in what neighborhoods, we've seen how homes are appraised as well, right? It's all a narrative, but it also has a very historical lens, as well. So disaggregating data is immensely important, because if we are to have interventions from a philanthropic standpoint, and you know, private sector and others, we really have to understand how each community of people of individuals are impacted and it's not necessarily equitable across that lens. So I think distilling by race and gender from a historical as well as an interest, historical play is immensely important and the narrative is immensely important, and how do we shape shift and change that narrative, because to me, some of the stories we tell some of the the ability to gain access to credit is about who is deemed valuable, or who's deemed invaluable. So, you know, just noodle on that for food for thought. But it is an important piece of the work. And that's really the hardest piece to manage, and identify and create solutions. And to and have a collection of across the ecosystem actually take action to address those really big changes, if we're talking about addressing gender and race where wealth gap is concerned.
I think the the narrative piece is something that, that I've seen it play in, in our community of investors of we surveyed our community of just over a year ago or so and large populations of of those using our platform identified as women as people of color. The intersection pieces, women of color, as well, and, and I think the the thing that I've seen in interacting with with members, time and time, again, is, is an appetite to participate, but not feeling like they themselves are an investor or can relate to what they've seen in media, but also just in what our understanding is of, of what wealth building is and who can take part in that. And so I think there's a lot of work on our end, at Publix and similar, similar organizations to think about, how do we help people find their place within our ecosystem? Even if that's a technological application? How do we help people find their footholds? How do we help them sort of connect the dots and be like, Oh, I actually can participate in this, this, this is for me, as we create more and more tools, in hopes of including more people in in these practices. But because the narrative has been different for so long, that won't shift automatically, just because we provide a tool or a piece of technology that allows someone to participate.
I appreciate all those comments. And I sometimes have an image in my head as I listen to one or something around the just so you know how long it takes ocean liners or large ships to change direction. And the reason I think that that image is in my head is that when we talk about wealth, it's already come up that this is a long term activity. And and the flip side of that, I think is we inherit the legacy of the past in a way that might be a little bit different than for current income.
It's good, I just mentioned one or one or two other things. Just to circle back to the points also that Willow was making by Guess we think about race and gender. It's always interesting, some of the health outcomes that also exists with when we talk about wealth and access to intergenerational wealth and income. And I always think about how, you know, financial freedom, what that feels like, and the emotional, social, emotional, and just folks feeling liberated, which we all should, should feel and have a right to feel, but how when we engage and support women and communities of color, to participate in investing or, you know, Blockchain or other access to credit. How, as on a very individual community level, and also in their own families, likely have better outcomes have the emotional capacity and mental capacity to manage life in a totally different way. And I think so much of what happens when there is such a wide wealth gap is there there are obviously the economic and social stress stressors that are at playing, but it also prohibits people from living, I believe, personally and professionally from living to their fullest potential, right. So if you're bogged down by, you know, having to work a couple of jobs and you can't save for retirement, how that impacts your home, your community ability to support and thrive, which we all have a right to, but I think also, you know, there's a lot of research city, in fact, in 2020 re released research around the impact of the racial wealth gap, and black Americans in particular, I think was that $16 trillion is lost. So it behooves all of us to ensure that we really address and find real world solutions to the issue. And some of that may be very hyperlocal. But we cannot forget the social, emotional and mental aspects of not being part or having such a wide wealth gap plays in each of our communities.
Yeah, I'm so glad that you made those points Tia, we find that all the time in our work that when you step back, really no one benefits from the gaps we have today, around short term financial security or around wealth. Well, no one has an extreme state. And but there's so much to be gained for the economy, for families, for communities for employers, by attacking positions, I would want to shift the conversation a little bit and let's go, you know, you know, we've been high level in concept, let's get down into some some nitty gritty, because I think that can be interesting. And to get us there. Let's go to an audience poll, if our host could help us with that. And what you'll see here, when it comes up is we're curious to get a take from all of you. On our first audience poll about the idea that people living on low and moderate incomes should have access to investing. And I'm just going to, here we go. You can read it for yourself how important it is, for people living on low and moderate incomes, to have access to investing opportunities, and you know, three simple choices there. You could go ahead and click on that. I think it'll be interesting for all of us to get a bead on how this group is feeling is this priority is not a priority isn't somewhere in the middle. And then we're going to go next to talk a little bit about some work we've done to try and enable access to investing for populations that frankly, told us that they would like to have this opportunity, but don't feel that they have and what happens when we create some circumstances to allow that? I'm going to ask our fabulous NCRC hosts, we can close out the poll here and we can see some results. It's kind of well, okay, this is an audience that, that I'll speak for myself that I I love that there's strong interest, and you see the importance of creating this opportunity. So what I'd like to do is, Willa, let's go over to you because as you well know, we have worked together Conwell and public to create an investing opportunity. Can you just tell us a little bit about what we did?
Yes, my unmute button got away from me for for a moment there. Yeah, so we we were able to work together on, on providing access through technology, but also through through seed funding, to to folks with low and moderate income to, to really look at what the possible effects and impacts of inclusive technology design, as well as as seed funding were for on investing outcomes for underrepresented populations. So we put together a pilot program that took place over seven months, and provided 241 participants with $250 in seed funding, and then used public's investing application to all or the community layer of of public's investing application to also connect participants with each other, as well as, as well as connecting some of them with access to mentors. And, and interact both with each other and with those mentors throughout the time that the pilot was running. And we'll talk a little bit about about outcomes in a moment and, and also are looking forward to working together on a larger national pilot for thinking more about investor identity and digging into what that means to folks moving forward.
Willal, why don't you just go ahead and what did we find what were the key takeaways
So I think two things really stood out. The first is that people crave learning opportunities, learning opportunities, looked like community interaction, so learning from one another mentoring interaction And as well as educational content that that provided overviews and sort of getting into the nitty gritty of of different investing practices and things like that. The second finding being that that seed funding is a really effective way to to get people started, especially if especially if the the financial piece has been a barrier or just a reason to pause and to think about, you know, is it is this money that I could potentially risk losing there, understandably, is risk involved in investing. And I think also through through the work that we did together, some of the recommendations that are outlined in the report that Commonwealth put together on the pilot, which can maybe be shared in in the chat, if folks want to dig deeper into it. Seed funding, it was one of the the main recommendations that came out of it as, as a win win for for new investors and for the the tools that they're the tools, the platforms, etc, that they're using, that they provide a way for people to learn by doing in a way that that can really get people over that initial over that initial sort of hump into, into feeling like this is something that they can participate in. The second recommendation and sort of, like, seed of of knowledge that that came from this is opportunities for for community interaction, in platforms like ours increased both comfort and belonging, I think, historically, investing is something that is a super solo activity for individuals that you're, you know, trying to take in information and make decisions on your own. And I think there can be a lot of hesitation around is this the right decision, I don't know. And so being able to interact with with other people and sort of hear different perspectives, different different ways of thinking, is, is helpful in terms of that decision making piece or like nervousness piece that can be there. But also a sense of belonging, we talked about the the narrative piece earlier, and being surrounded by people who you feel like you have things in common with and, and watching them be on a similar journey has has a lot of value. And then the third, the third piece is that embedding learning opportunities directly into an investing platform or an investing experience, makes knowledge more actionable. I think one thing that I think a lot about from the financial technology side is that we are not able to, to give people direction about what they should or shouldn't do to make smart investments or smart financial decisions. That being said, because we are providing access to tools that allow people to invest or just keep it to investing for for the sake of this. It's also our it's also our responsibility to provide people with the context to really understand the actions that they're taking, or the context around the the tools that they're using, so that they feel empowered to to make those decisions for themselves. That if that education or information is in the same place, that it's so much, it's so much more seamless, to, to sort of take in knowledge and then put it to use directly in that same place rather than fragmenting the the experience for folks.
Thanks. Willa, and I just want to underscore one thing from from what you said, we did a ton of research, this is Commonwealth before designing this pilot, and something we heard over and over again, as people said, this just isn't for me. And when you push to look, look at the kinds of people and I saw a comment, I think that went by in the chat along these lines. And as we talked a little bit about in our free call. Boy, that doesn't seem like a reason why people shouldn't have a choice, a sense that there's just they're just not well, it's just not built for them. And after writing this pilot, we saw a movement from 25% to 65% of participants said I feel confident in being able to make investment choices. And to be clear, these were all people who who opted in who wanted to have this experience. So I really think the point of have, you know, even a modest amount of seed fund gives people a chance to experience something that might have felt off limits. And that is profound. I do want to move us on Thank you. This is great conversation, we have a lot a lot of ideas to cover. Investing in capital markets is a Path to Wealth Creation, proven one. But I want to talk briefly about another one. Working with with support from from MetLife Foundation, we've done some deep work on credit building and credit repair, specifically with an eye to wealth creation. And while the idea of helping households build credit or even repair credit, is not a new one. And lots of people have done fabulous work on this, we found a really important opportunity to intentionally link that work to this idea of wealth creation and wealth aspirations and financial aspirations. So we had an opportunity to work with a leading credit building, FinTech and mission driven FinTech called lock box. And we did extensive consumer research with over 400 people to really understand their experience, and came up with some messaging and design adjustments that really try to link credit repair to financial aspirations and wealth. And what we found after testing that is that people who participated in the New Revised Version, if you will, of this tool, lifted their credit scores by an average of 52 points, and that 88% of those who participate in the pilot, were able to successfully apply for credit after completion of the pilot. And it's it's it's really basic and important stuff, being clear about the the link to financial aspirations from credit building work, being transparent about the tools and approaches and costs, and providing supplemental information that people want. So I invite you to read all about it. I feel like we're we're directing you several times to our website. But that is the place to get all the the quotes. This one or all of the information. This one is a case study in credit building on build Commonwealth, that word. But this is a really different approach to think about wealth creation. And I just wanted to give it a chance to weigh in here because in your position, leading the MetLife foundation and really thinking across a whole portfolio of different financial health and wealth creation strategies. Tia, are there any thoughts or comments you want to add about this concept of credit building and how it relates to wealth creation?
Yeah, thank you for teeing that up in the background on it. I think I will say a couple of things, I think globally, I think but globally, access to credit is essential is really important. But when we when I land the plane, specifically in the US, and it's very important, obviously, our society and our culture, you know, credit is immensely important credits initially reported around the world, but just to centralize the the points around the US. So much of what we're able to acquire from a wealth building standpoint, access, you have to have really good credit. And if you do not, we know that people with poor credit, pay more, or are not able to buy a home may be entrepreneurs who may have maybe not the best credit, and may not be able to expand a business that is ready for growth for them. That's just an example. Because you have to have credit in order to do that. So it's immensely important. When we look at it from our own portfolio. Once again, financial health is really center the plate of the work that we do. And we've evolved our work to now include economic inclusion and resilient communities. But we look at financial health across all of our portfolios, because it is central to all of our allies. access to credit, having good credit scores is important, especially for low income communities, individuals and families in particularly if they do not have intergenerational wealth. In fact, we are funding a project in New York City that is working to increase the credit scores of black and Latin X entrepreneurs, to help them increase their credit scores, but then also, with the thought of, and I think we'll assign it best thinking about the long term, you know, when they're launching their business or trying to grow versus their sustain or grow their business. Do they have access to credit that enables them to do that? I think it is a really important pillar. If we were to look at our financial health portfolio, so moving beyond income generation or income and into wealth, that's where it becomes really in Orton, to have that important of almost foundation. Building Block is another word you can say. And it is those building blocks that enable both low income people, women and people of color to, obviously have a greater opportunity at wealth building. And then if you also take a look from an entrepreneurial standpoint, I don't have the statistics in front of me. But we do know that many entrepreneurs of color, for example, often borrow from friends and family, which is really important, as well. But once again, going back to in terms of growing a business, or expanding it, it is hard to tap those networks again, and you have to have good credit in order to do that. And their ability to generate income and to provide for their family is immensely important. And so access to credit is that. So I hope that's been a little bit helpful in that I've answered your question on that particular piece of it. But really thank Commonwealth for all the work that you've done on looking at credit as a part of the wealth building toolbox for people across the country. And also, I think also applicable globally as well.
Thanks, Tia. I think that image of building blocks seems like a really powerful and appropriate one, when you think about cross cutting issues like like credit, really appreciate that, I want to I want to ask us to shift gears again. And I want to do a little bit on innovation and wealth creation, wealth building. And then to get us started, this is something that we have thought a good deal about and wondered a good deal about on our team and what the potential and role of innovation and technology change might be in wealth creation and democratizing access to wealth. And one idea just to kind of make that series of boards a little bit concrete. One idea that we've studied and are really excited about is the idea of shared ownership, there are some assets that might be acquired and held on to and realize appreciation from in a group, whether that's family members, community members, faith community, or some other kind of community. And like most good ideas, this is not an entirely new one. There are precedents for this. But one thing we know about a lot of wealth creation is that there can be significant entry barriers, and especially costly assets. Imagine real estate in one's community can be really difficult for individuals to acquire on their own. We know that there are things called Real Estate Investment Trusts that are accessible to more wealthy and sophisticated investors. And it's an interesting question, if we now have new tools and technologies that might create that same opportunity make it more accessible to people living on low and moderate incomes. And at the risk of putting a lot on the table at once. It's interesting when you start to look at real estate, shared ownership generally, or with regards to real estate, some of the challenge are the frictions involved, the legal agreements that are necessary, the trust arrangements, the record keeping the way that you build trust among a community here, I mean, trust small team at the banking service of a trust. How do you do that in a way that's cost efficient? When you're thinking about, you know, large, sophisticated investor pool, you can, you can absorb a certain amount of cost to do all of this. But many of those functions, ways to combat or or address those frictions, conceptually, are actually well suited to distributed Ledger's or blockchains. blockchains offer public, transparent, immutable records of ownership, the possibility of smart contracts, and the promise of all of that happening at low cost. So that's a whole webinar unto itself to unpack that. But I want to throw out this idea that technologies that we might associate in one context, for example, cryptocurrency might actually pay dividends in other contexts, like shared ownership. So with that headspace, I wanted to turn it back to the panel and ask for your thoughts about innovation and wealth creation and technology, innovation. And Tia, maybe we'll go to you first on this one, I think you have some from our pre conversation, I know this is something on your mind.
Willa might be better.
Either way
I'll jumping after you.
What I will say I will be radically transparent with the audience and everyone who hears this after today's live. I am still learning about blockchain and all the currencies in the crypto as in had a very good week most recently. Um, But I think it's important one from an education and knowledge standpoint that some of our most vulnerable or marginalized communities are aware of the potential and the opportunity. I'm always big on that I think that is significantly important. And blockchain cryptocurrency and even we're even exploring Metaverse as well, one from a financial inclusion, financial health standpoint. But also, as we're looking at workforce training and future work and and variety of skill sets and the ability to learn, I just think we have to really invest the time and effort in these, for me as an older person emerging technologies, they've probably been around for a lot of folks, but newer emerging technologies, and I think they have an opportunity to, to be game changers for low income communities. But I think understanding what that opportunity is making sure there's equitable access to the table. And one thing that we did touch on Tim previously was the necessity to have representation at the table. So we talked about women and communities of color, a lot of these technologies are already in formation, or they're being updated, where are the voices from these communities to make sure that the technologies are accessible and are fairly representative of low income communities, people of color, and women, I think we've seen some of that with AI, you know, all of all algorithms that are there that can be biased. And that is because not enough diverse representation is at the table. So knowledge is important represent representation is important, and really clearly delineating for our communities, how these technologies can help them build wealth, the opportunity and the potential, but also to understand the risks as well. So Willa, I'll turn it over to you, you're probably much more adept than I.
I still feel like I'm I'm trying to stay on top of all the developments and all these new new asset classes. But I think one of the interesting things about crypto and blockchain technology is is some of the things that you just mentioned here, the first being transparency of you know, if if systems have been designed to benefit certain individuals over time, then those who who haven't been sort of brought along, are interested in in having a more clear line of sight into how these things are working to sort of build trust in in some of these things. And, and I also think that the some of the elements of what blockchain technology is building is allowing more people to be at the table to be part of building these, these things that may not have have been included in the past. And so I think for those reasons, it's it's something that I'm certainly curious to see how we leverage this technology moving forward. And something that Tim we talked about, prior to this conversation was, crypto is something is an investing, or an asset class that we added to public during the time that we were doing a pilot with Commonwealth. And I think that's sort of that's in line with how we're trying to think about what innovation and what we can do with technology to to play a valuable role here. And I think, for us, that's meant, how can we think about, you know, bringing all these emerging asset classes into a central place where people can learn about them, invest a small amount of money in them if it's something that they're interested in to sort of see how it works and learn about that asset class and compared to in comparison to others, sort of by doing for the same reasons that we talked about value of, of seed funding. And so I think crypto has has been a big one there. But, you know, the, the markets continue to change the types of investments continue to change real estate, you mentioned, there all sorts of different sorts of alternative asset types and how can we continue to provide people with context for what these things are to help them make decisions around? Is this something that's that's for me? Or is this something that that I want to learn more about or invest in? So I That's what, that's what I'd add there.
Thank you both. I appreciate all those kind of comments. And maybe just to underscore, Tia, I think your point about who is involved in the creation of technology, who was involved in the testing, you know, who's who's there who's at the table and representation, boy, that that resonates. If we want some of these promising innovations to serve, just serve this work. We have a little less than 10 minutes left, and I did want to make some space for audience questions. So we're going to pivot over that. Over to that. Now. Just a note about the technology. If you can send your questions through the q&a function as distinct from the chat function, there's been so much activity on the chat, which is fabulous, I hope you all are answering one another's questions. But I don't think it's realistic for us to catch all of that. So in the q&a, one of the questions that we have is, should our discussion be organized into two parts? Part one might be how to make reparations for past discrimination against minorities and women. Part two might be how to ensure that wealth building processes are fair and equitable going forward. Does this make sense? So I'm curious if either of you would like to offer any thoughts about that question? Well, whoevers our question asker, you you've asked a good one, because we're all we're all giving it some serious thought.
Um, I would say, Wow, you can, I would say a couple of things. One, one hour is not sufficient for the conversation, because I think there's a lot to chew on, you know, and everybody has a slightly different vantage point. And that's important, because the perspectives are important. And so I do think that conversation around reparations is important to address. And that should probably Wow, Tim, we can have a whole conversation on that. And there'll be several, I think, leading thought partners on on reparations one, what does it mean to how does it materialize or manifest? And just like the chat is active. Today, the chat would be super active on what reparations look like, because everybody has a slightly different way of thinking about how how reparations should manifest. But I do think, how do we get past discrimination? Yeah. wealth building our fair, I think fairness and equity should be ideally at the center. I just go back to some of the earlier comments around narrative. I'm looking at the chat. Yes, I said low income people, I need to reverse that even I get sucked into not saying things the right way. So narrative matters. So thank you, to everyone in the chat for calling that out. But, you know, fairness and equitable. But I also think that there's a part of narrative that is in that, and who do we deem to be a deserving how that conversation comes about around who is deserving around reparations around the wealth building processes, what is fair, what is equitable, those are really difficult issues to assess through and you could spend oodles of hours really just debating and thinking about it and working through it. We all have a really hyper local, regional, and live life experience that would I think, have a variety of interesting aspects to that conversation. So I think I answered the question, y'all tell me if I didn't, in the chat. So I hope that's helpful.
Yeah, I think you were brave to start us. So I really appreciate that. Willa, do you have anything you'd want to add on this one?
No, I think I appreciate Tia's response and don't feel like I have sufficient expertise on on the first part of the question to to add much more there.
Totally fair. And I guess my reaction is that there's something really constructive about recognizing, distinguishing between what got us to here and what we do going forward. And so maybe, just after that reflection, I think we have time for one more question. So I'll read this. I'm curious to know how responsible it is to present a crypto as an asset to invest in especially for low income individuals starting their journey to investing. Given crypto is so risky compared to other asset classes. I would love to hear the panel's take on this. So Wiila, I feel like because when we might start with you.
Yeah, I think I agree that, you know, it's it's an asset class that does carry a higher level of risk. And that's something that that shouldn't be ignored. And I think the the other piece of that this is that we've we've talked a lot about wanting to make sure that access to certain asset classes isn't limited to certain groups of people. And so when we thought about adding, adding crypto as an available asset on public, I think we spent more time thinking about how can we make sure that we're providing as much information as possible, so that folks understand the potential risks and then can can sort of assess whether that is something that they're willing to take on. And we did that in many ways via technology. And so certain risk labels and things like that. And we we don't necessarily need to get into all of that. But I think sort of my my broad takeaway is, there's a lot of responsibility involved with, with providing access. And so taking on the, the pieces of conceptualizing and making sure that people have as full a picture of possible as what this investment type entails to make that decision for for themselves is valuable. And I think Tim, you had mentioned seeing during during the pilot that understanding the risk, it wasn't necessarily something that folks were taking to in large amounts, sort of, because of that understanding, potentially.
Yeah, I'll just say very briefly speaking for Commonwealth, we struggled a lot with whether to allow, we had an option in conversation with public whether to allow crypto once they introduced it on the platform, we ultimately decided to allow it in the context of the pilot because we weren't providing seed funds. So we felt that that provided some measure of flexibility. And we were deeply curious to see what the response was, as already alluded, there was actually very modest take. And I just want to repeat what I think really You already said what we what's really important is to help people who are beginning to invest he is as knowledgeable and clear as they can about what their goals are. And what are the ways to achieve those goals. There is something and Tia, your head nodding, and then we're gonna run short on time, but you may you may have thoughts on this. There is something uncomfortable about standing between somebody and something that they want, or they read about in the newspaper that makes me uncomfortable. But it is a really, I think it's a really tough question. We are, we are approaching time. So I want to bring us we're actually at time. So I want to thank first of all, Tia and Willa for spending the time and our preparation conversations to be with us today. I know that we didn't get to all of the questions, much less all in the chat. I think there's some great, rich, rich stuff in there. And I guess as a way of wrapping up, I just appreciate that all of you recognize the importance of the wealth conversation, and are open to thinking creatively about the challenge going forward and to consistently linking it back to questions of equity and closing racial wealth gaps, gender, gender, wealth gaps, and the intersection of those both gaps. And with that will thank you and wish you the best for the rest of your day. Thanks so much.
Video: Generational Wealth: Credit Barriers for People with a Criminal History
NCRC Videos
Video: NCRC MicroBiz Capital Accelerator Program (MCAP) Webinar
Video: NCRC Appraisal Bias Investigation
Video: What Will Banking Look Like in 2030?


text:
Nitropolis 2 Slot Free Play
Theme of The Game
The sequel, Nitropolis 2, is taking us back to the futuristic city that the first game covered as well. Once again, we're looking at the same gangs of formerly domesticated animals, all racing on its roads. You're going to notice the city's skyscrapers and advertisements in the background image, while the dark looking reels feature a mix of symbols that revolve around certain colors and gangs. Each gang has one top symbol with one of the animals, a symbol with the gang logo, and a Royal of the gang's color.
This means that the regular symbols will feature the Pest Control dogs, the Dobermans which are the Dirty Dawgs, the Gritty Kitties, and the Pug Thugs. There are four dogs and cats, four Wanted posters with their logos, and four Royals, Jack to Ace. A couple of feature symbols are also present, with the Bonus logo, and a Wild.
ELK Studios has always designed slot machines that are fun to play, and we see it in Nitropolis 2. The difference is that this slot machine innovates, just like the original did, using the Nitro Reels to attract players that love games with big payouts.
Provider: Elk Studios Reels: 6	Paylines: up to 85155840	RTP: 96%	Free Spins: YES	Bonus Rounds: YES	Jackpot: NO
You Are here: Online Casinos > Free Games > Nitropolis 2 Slot Free Play
Nitropolis 2 will be played with wagers as low as $0.20, but they may get as high as $100 per spin as well. There will be 100 coins in use, with denominations going up to $1.
You're going to play on 6 reels, and there are typically 4096 ways to win active there. The Nitro Reels allow you to expand the game area though. Winning combinations will form when 3 or more symbols appear left to right, on consecutive reels.
First, a word about Nitro Reels. These are double-stacked symbols, that will have within them 4 to 12 symbols, all of the same type. Since you go from 2 to as many as 12 symbols in those spots, the reels can have up to 24 symbols, if you get two Nitro Reels there. That's a huge expansion of the game area, and it can occur on multiple reels at the same time.
Get a win to form, and a Winning Respin will trigger next. It will hold the winning symbols, along with the Nitro Reels that contributed, while the rest of the positions will respin. Should new combinations form, the respins continue.
Help will come from the Wild, a substitute that's used in the place of any regular symbol. It will also form combinations directly, and it pays as a top symbol would.
10-25 free spins can be obtained, when 3-6 Bonus symbols appear scattered at the same time. In this mode, the Nitro Reels are locked in their positions, so you keep using a bigger number of ways to win, once you got to that stage.
The game has one more extra feature to offer, compared to the original slot. It's a Nitro Booster reel, shown at the top, showing 8 types of modifiers, to be used on the reels below. Some will give you wild reels below, others will add wilds to the Nitro Reels, or will allow only high value symbols to land there. Upgrades, respins, pays both ways, these are all potential modifiers that you can trigger.
There are some good things to note about Nitropolis 2, like the 10,000x jackpot that the game will deliver. The downside is that the 95% RTP is much lower than the average amount expected to get back to players these days.
Nitropolis 2 improves on the original slot machine in some ways, adding more features and reducing some of its volatility. Unfortunately, it reduces the RTP to 95%, from the original's 96.10%, so I would suggest you stick with the first game of the series.
Sinbad Slot Free Play
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What is the change? Nationals of China, India, Thailand and Vietnam who hold Schengen or U.S. visas are eligible under a new program to enter Colombia without a Colombian visa.
What does the change mean? Though the program was announced in February, some immigration officers may not be aware of it yet. Travelers from the countries above should be prepared to show additional documentation and may want to consider normal visa processes until the program is more fully implemented.
Visas/permits affected: Under the program, those who qualify can receive a Permiso de Ingreso y Permanencia (PIP) upon entering Colombia.
Who is affected: Nationals of China, India, Thailand and Vietnam holding a Schengen or U.S. visa or permanent residence permit.
Business impact: Some business travelers could have an easier time entering Colombia.
Impact on processing times: No significant impact is expected, but demand for Colombian visas could be eased since more nationals from the countries listed above are eligible to come to the country without obtaining a Colombian visa.
Background: Colombian authorities announced the change in February to coincide with the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Colombia and China.
The program aims to make it easier for nationals from the countries listed above to visit Colombia, including for business purposes. However, those who do not have a Schengen or U.S. visa or permanent residence permit still have to go through regular visa processes. The program also does not cover holders of C-1 or transit visas.
Some immigration officers may not be aware of the program, and travelers should be prepared to show additional documentation, including letters from the companies they intend to visit and information about their travel to and from Colombia. They must also carry their passports with their Schengen or U.S. visa or permanent residence permit.
The PIP-6, issued to business visitors, is a single-entry permit that allows visits of up to 90 days and extensions for an additional 90 days. The PIP-6 does not allow work activities.
BAL Analysis: While the change is a boon for Chinese, Indian, Thai and Vietnamese travelers to Colombia who hold Schengen or U.S. visas, it is not a full-scale visa-free travel arrangement. What's more, because the program is new, some immigration officials may not be aware of it. Travelers who qualify for the program should be prepared to show additional documentation and may want to consider using the normal visa process to enter Colombia.


text:
Q: Extension to upgrade Target Framework in VS 2012 Is there a Visual Studio 2012 extension or other utility, which can change the target .Net framework version for all the projects in a solution?
I am aware of Scott Dorman's Visual Studio script, however that script will not work in Visual Studio 2012, as Microsoft discontinued VS scripts in favor of extensions.

A: This might just solve your problem.
http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/47bded90-80d8-42af-bc35-4736fdd8cd13
Please note this does not take care of managed C++ projects.
You may need manually change the target framework
Changing the Target .NET Framework for C++/CLI
To change the version of the .NET Framework for C++/CLI projects

*

*Right click on project in Solution Explorer and click Unload project

*Right click on unloaded project in Solution Explorer and select Edit <projectname>.vcxproj

*In project XML file locate node <PropertyGroup Label="Globals">

*In that node locate node <TargetFrameworkVersion> (if the node cannot be found, add it)

*Inner text of the node defines target framework. It can be v2.0,v3.0, v3.5, v4.0 or v4.5

*Save vcxproj file and close it

*Right click on unloaded project in Solution Explorer and click Reload Project

Example:
<TargetFrameworkVersion>v4.5</TargetFrameworkVersion>

Hope this helps.
-manirup

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gui

qcli.h

Go to the documentation of this file.

    1

    8 #ifndef QCLI_H

    9 #define QCLI_H

   10

   11 #include <QThread>

   12 #include <QMessageBox>

   13 #include "../cli/cli.h"

   14

   18 class QCLI : public QThread{

   19     Q_OBJECT

   20

   21 public:

   22     QCLI(QString, int, QWidget* = 0);

   23     void run();

   24     CLI* getClient();

   25 signals:

   26     void sendMessage(QString);

   27 public slots:

   28     void receiveMessage(QString);

   29

   30 private:

   31     QWidget* mother;

   32     CLI* client;

   33     QString hostname;

   34     int port;

   35

   36

   37 };

   38

   39 #endif // QCLI_H

CLI

Class represents CLI client.

Definition: cli.h:51

QCLI

Class QCLI used for storing Game state in separated thread.

Definition: qcli.h:18

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A High Pressure Ridge across Jamaica and the northern Caribbean. It is expected to linger across the region over the next three days.
This site is protected with Urban Giraffe's plugin 'HTML Purified' and Edward Z. Yang's . 262138 items have been purified.


text:
Q: Изменить тип графика у меня есть csv файл, по которому я строю график.
https://dropmefiles.com/4vUsn

Нужно сделать его сплошной линией, подскажите как это сделать. Пытался изменить его тип, получалась либо просто линия, начиная от 0 и под углом 90 градусов вправо, либо вообще попросту исчезала.
Вот как я это делаю
data = pd.read_csv("C://Users//vlz//pjct//venv//2.csv",header=None, usecols=[0,6],
        names=["year", "val"], index_col=0)
        data = data.query(("{} <= year <= {}").format(A,B))
data.plot()

A и B - данные, которые я получаю из комбобоксов, по факту это диапазон годов

A: У вас есть 85 значений -1:
In [39]: data.query("val < 10")
Out[39]:
      val
year
1981 -1.0
1981 -1.0
1981 -1.0
1981 -1.0
1981 -1.0
...   ...
2004 -1.0
2004 -1.0
2004 -1.0
2004 -1.0
2004 -1.0

[85 rows x 1 columns]

можно их исключить и нарисовать график:
data.query("val >= 10").plot()

Кроме того у вас есть несколько значений меньших 20:
In [43]: data.query("0 <= val < 20")
Out[43]:
        val
year
2007  19.07
2007  17.07
2007  15.92
2007  14.98
2007  14.23
2007  13.79
2007  13.41
2007  13.28
2007  14.36
2007  16.52
2007  19.82

A: Как совершенно справедливо заметил Эникейщик,
попробуйте сначала преобразовать фрейм так, чтобы учитывались недели, а затем уже отрисовать график:
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(12, 8))
data = pd.read_csv("2.csv",header=None, usecols=[0,1,6], names=["year", "week", "val"])

data['date'] = pd.to_datetime((data["year"]*100+data["week"]).astype(str) + '0', format='%Y%W%w')
data = data.set_index("date")

ax.plot(data["val"])


text:
@extends('layouts.user')
@section('content')

Add new Internship Preference

            <form data-parsley-validate="" action="{{route('internships_program.store',['user'=> $user])}}"
                  method="post"  class="main-forms" id="add_internship_parsley_form">
                {{method_field('POST')}}
                @include('company.internship_program._form')
            </form>

@stop


text:
Home » How the broiler and turkey industries have changed since 1998
Industry News & Trends / Business & Markets / Poultry Processing & Slaughter / Broiler Husbandry / Turkey Production / North America
(Andrey Armyagov | Bigstock)
By Austin Alonzo
How the broiler and turkey industries have changed since 1998
Broiler production increased significantly while turkey production remained relatively flat.
U.S. production of chicken steadily increased over the past two decades while turkey production remained relatively flat.
That insight, along with others about the U.S. chicken and turkey market, were shared as part of WATT Global Media's April 24, 2019, webinar, "WATTAgnet Top Company webinar: 2019 US broiler and turkey producer rankings." The webinar is available to view, for free, on demand.
The webinar reviewed WATT PoultryUSA's 2019 Top Company data, its profiles of the top poultry companies and the historical performance of the industries. The most recent data set can be viewed in the March 2019 issue of the magazine.
Chicken industry's change over time
Historical performance from 2013, 2008 and 1998 was reviewed as part of the webinar. For the chicken industry, there was a notable growth in overall production of millions of pounds of ready-to-cook (RTC) chicken produced on a weekly basis.
In 2018, the most recent year for which data is available, the 29 integrated broiler companies that compose WATT PoultryUSA's top companies produced a total 904.1 million pounds of chicken. By comparison, in 1998 only 581.7 million pounds – or 64.3 percent of 2018's production - was produced by a total of 46 companies.
In 1998, the top five chicken companies were: Tyson Foods Inc., with 120 million pounds of ready-to-cook chicken produced on a weekly basis; Gold Kist Inc., with 53.3 million pounds; Perdue Foods, with 45.3 million pounds; Pilgrim's Pride Corp., with 34.6 million pounds and ConAgra Poultry Co., with 31.8 million pounds.
In 2018, the top five were: Tyson, with 192.33 million pounds of ready-to-cook chicken produced on a weekly basis; Pilgrims, with 156.02 million pounds; Sanderson Farms, with 86.6 million pounds; Perdue, with 64.42 million pounds and Koch Foods Inc., with 50 million.
The growth in production, and industry consolidation, continued in 2013 and 2008. In 2013, the 35 integrators included in the top companies produced 784.5 million pounds of chicken, or 86.7 percent of 2018's production. In 2008, the 38 companies included in the survey produced 735.6 million pounds of RTC, or about 81.4 percent of 2018's production.
Turkey industry change over time
While there was an increase in turkey production during the same time period, the growth was not as substantial as it was in the broiler industry.
In 2018, the top 22 turkey companies produced a total of 7.408 billion pounds of live turkeys. By comparison, 26 companies produced a total of 6.675 billion pounds of live turkeys in 1998. That's about 90.1 percent of what the turkey industry produced in 2018.
In 1998, the top five turkey companies were: Jennie-O Foods, producing 855 million live pounds; Butterball, 840 million pounds; Wampler Foods, 619 million pounds; Cargill, 588 million pounds and Carolina Turkeys, with 455 million pounds.
In 2018, the top five were: Butterball, with 1.331 billion pounds of live turkeys produced; Jennie-O Turkey Store, with 1.230 billion; Cargill Protein, with 950 million; Farbest Foods, with 635 million and Tyson Foods, with 368 million.
In 2013, 23 companies produced a total of 7.019 billion total live pounds of turkeys, or about 94.7 of what the industry produced in 2018. In 2008, 24 companies produced 7.403 billion total live pounds, or about 99.9 percent of what was produced in 2018.
Austin Alonzo is editor of WATT PoultryUSA. www.wattglobalmedia.com/contact-us
Will McDonald's give broiler, turkey industries a turn?
VIDEO: How will COVID-19 affect the holiday turkey market?
VIDEO: How feed prices will impact the broiler industry
VIDEO: Caution is the word for broiler, turkey industry


No other game has captured my imagination and time more so than UFO: Enemy Unknown (also known as XCOM: Enemy Unknown stateside and on the PS1).
Is this the greatest turn based strategy game ever?
UFO Enemy Unknown is the master of all turn based strategy games and you need, nay, absolutely, categorically must play this game.
Many have tried to emulate its awesomeness; some got closer than others but most were like a mongrel versus a pedigree at Crufts.
This game is the master of all turn based strategy games and you need, nay, absolutely, categorically must play this game.
So with the news that this strategy classic is a diamond in the rough you might think you don't need to read anymore?
Well you might want to as we are now going to divulge why the game is so good.
Read on as you have clearance commander!
It's 1999, UFO's are being seen by people all over the world and it's getting out of control.
You are in control of XCOM (Extra-terrestrial Combat) and are tasked with repelling the alien invaders from Earth.
You do this by shooting down, recovering, researching, manufacturing and replicating alien technology to use and ultimately defeat the multiple unified races of aliens who want to call Earth theirs.
It sounds like standard alien invasion fare.
However, it's the non-linear way to win this that keeps players coming back time and time again!
The game starts out with you choosing the location of your base on a global map known as the Geoscape.
This is where the bigger picture is seen and its where you intercept UFO's which are on a variety of terror-inducing missions including alien abduction, government infiltration, alien base supply and so on.
When a UFO is detected you will send one (or more) of your fighter jets to intercept and hopefully shoot down the unknown craft.
Another tactic is to shadow it until it lands so that it can be captured intact.
This is where it gets very interesting.
Upon shooting down or seeing a landed UFO a retrieval is required including the elimination or capture of its otherwordly occupants.
This is where the squad based tactical element comes into play which is known as the Battlescape.
After all, someone has to mop up!
You send your troop carrier craft to the crash zone and land when you do, you will be able to arm your soldiers with the weapons and equipment you put into the craft prior to the start of the ground assault.
Once you are satisfied that your armed force are as armed to the teeth as they can be you start the ground mission.
While the Geoscape works in real-time, the Battlescape is completely turn based.
Each soldier has time units that will give a limited amount of movement across the map or fire a weapon a certain amount of times.
This is where the tactical elements comes in to play.
The ground missions are what make this game so compelling as they are randomly generated every time on each level.
Whether it be UFO retrieval on farmland, desert, ice pack, jungle or city based terror missions.
Players can also attack secret alien bases that you either get informed about by XCOM agents at the start of a new month or by sending one of your jets on patrol and they come across one by chance.
As the game progresses so do the surviving soldiers.
Troops get promoted and get more skilled as more missions are survived and this is where players have to be really careful not to get them killed.
Replacement soldiers will not cut it when up against stronger and more dangerous aliens and an easy tactic to use is the save feature.
Talking about the aliens, there are quite a few to contend with, naturally they start easy. First off you'll be facing Sectoids.
These are your standard Grey aliens (Sectoids return later on in the game with mind control powers) and then there are the amusingly called Floaters.
Later on, though you'll get some very tough opponents and for those that have played it before.
The very thought of going up against Crysallids and Muton's with only earth based weapons will probably make even the most seasoned player break out in a cold sweat.
As this is a strategy game there are other things to consider.
The main one is research and this is vital to progress the game and start taking back control of Earth from the invaders.
When a mission is completed, be it a UFO retrieval or Terror Mission there will be a horde retrieved of alien goodies that need to be researched before engineers can manufacture it and soldiers can use them on the battlefield.
Investing in additional labs will need to be done pretty quickly alongside a huge science-based payroll to pay for, but it's worth it.
The alien's blaster bomb missile is a sight to behold even today and is a mission winner as are researching new craft to fight in the air and ground with.
Also vital to the research effort is finding out who the aliens are and what they want and even where they came from .
Knowing the enemy becomes very important at the end when the fight is taken to them.
Finally, one of the most important things in UFO Enemy Unknown is to manage resources wisely.
Players get funding from participating countries into the XCOM program but sometimes they leave which will leave a hole in the budget for nice things such as more weapons and research.
Luckily, if funds are short, selling alien tech on the black market is possible to keep things going.
Is UFO Enemy Unknown worth playing today?
Considering UFO Enemy Unknown is from 1994, it really does play great today still.
For veterans of the game it will be a huge nostalgia trip.
For new players, once you get past the aged graphics you'll find a deep and addictive game that will be on your top 10 list of the greatest strategy games ever.
Go and get it as it costs peanuts to buy now and get ready to lose days to this classic game.
Up Next: Looking for adventure in the distant future? Check out our review of Dune for the PC.
If you're a fan of turn based strategy games then this is for you. Excellent strategy game that holds up well even today. This is the original and still one the best strategy games out there and its cheap as chips on Steam so worth a purchase.
Running out of time units right next to a Chrysallid. SAVAGE!


text:
TRI-VALLEY DEFENDS HIRING, RETENTION OF WALES IN ANSWER TO CHILD SEX ABUSE COMPLAINT
GRAHAMSVILLE - In response to a lawsuit filed in late February under the Child Victims Act of New York State, the Tri-Valley Central School District has adamantly defended its hiring, supervision and retention of Donald Wales, the former teacher who allegedly sexually abused dozens of students in the district from 1972 through 1984.
While on criminal probation after sodomizing a student in Warwick during 1971, Wales in 1972 applied for a position at Tri-Valley. He received a written offer of employment in July 1972, according to the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs in the suit are Jeffrey Cloonan and Sean Boyle, whose attorneys filed the suit under New York State's Child Victims Act (CVA) that took effect in August 2019.
As reported exclusively by The SullivanTimes in February, the suit alleges that: "It is believed that Wales sexually abused or had improper contact with dozens of boys who were students at Tri-Valley Elementary School."
During the 1980s, at least five of those boys settled their lawsuits with the district and Wales, according to the latest suit.
Wales told Then SullivanTimes that the settlement involved about three cases.
State Supreme Court Justice Michael L. Mackey is presiding over the case filed in Sullivan County. It is the second lawsuit filed against Tri-Valley Central School District and Wales under the CVA in as many years. The first case was filed by Mark Dolgas in 2019, also in State Supreme Court/ Sullivan.
Cloonan and Boyle allege that Wales, then an elementary school teacher, sexually abused them multiple times between 1979 and 1984 - at sites that included Wales' home, at Grossinger's and parked in a car at the Rondout Reservoir after first grooming them while in school.
The school district's April 5 answer to the complaint said:
"Plaintiffs' claims are barred to the extent that the District acted with reasonable care and followed appropriate procedures at all relevant times, including without limitation in hiring, supervising and/or retaining any employee alleged to have committed or engaged in any wrongdoing of any type, lacked the required notice of any alleged wrongdoing, did not act with deliberate indifference, and otherwise took appropriate, prompt and/or effective action in responding to any alleged complaints of any employee wrongdoing."
But, according to the current lawsuit, Wales was arrested in 1971 for sodomizing a student of Kings Elementary School and was charged with sexual misconduct. In November 1971, he was sentenced to three years probation- but was ultimately released from probation after seven months.
In an attempt to dismiss the 2021 case, Tri-Valley stated in its answer: "If Plaintiffs were caused to suffer any damages as alleged in the Complaint, then said damages were not caused by the culpable conduct on the part of the District or its agents, servants or employees, but rather they were caused solely by the culpable conduct of Defendant Donald Wales, Plaintiffs and/or third parties over whom the District has no control or legal responsibility."
Wales, 85, who lives in Florida, told The SullivanTimes on February 25:
"The Cloonans were very good friends of mine. He (Cloonan's father) was my golf partner. We played at least once a week and I had many dinners with them. Jeff was in my class in 4th grade. And I never touched him at all, sexually. And Sean Boyle, I do not know who he is."
Wales confirmed that he did remember "the name" Mark Dolgas. "I remember the name...I don't remember the person," Wales said of Dolgas.
Hugh D. Sandler, a partner with New York City law firm Krantz & Berman LLP who is representing Cloonan and Boyle, told The SullivanTimes in February:
"This lawsuit, like Mr. Dolgas's, was brought in the hope of obtaining some level of justice for the allegations of horrifying sexual abuse that these men suffered when they were elementary school students. As alleged in the complaints, we hope to assist these brave men in holding the Tri-Valley Schools accountable for their ongoing failures which allowed for their abuse by Tri-Valley's employee, Donald Wales."
The suit alleges that even after parents of Tri-Valley Elementary School students complained to school officials in May 1984 that Wales had sexually abused at least two Tri-Valley Elementary School students, they did nothing.
According to the suit: "...even armed with that express declaration, no school personnel (i) reported the abuse to any state or local authority, (ii) prevented Wales in any way from continuing to have direct access to students while the complaints were being investigated, or (iii) informed any school board members or the police of these credible complaints of criminal misconduct by a teacher. 70. Instead, these school personnel - including then-Principal Thomas Arielly - gave Wales the 'heads up' that, because people in the community were talking about these complaints, board members may find out about it."
The Child Victims Act- which initially gave victims of child sex abuse of any age one year to seek justice in New York courts for abuse that occurred decades ago - was later extended until August 2021 because of Covid-19.
The CVA has resulted in hundreds of lawsuits in New York State courts, including clergy affiliated with multiple dioceses and the Boy Scouts of America (including incidents going back decades at Ten Mile River Scout Camp in Narrowsburg) - as well as other institutions and individuals.
Editor's Note: Below are excerpts from the District's answer to the complaint. In addition, since the publication of our story in February, some former students and staff took to social media to talk about their interactions with Wales.


Located on Upper St John Street is Wiltell Lodge. Separated from the former Brewery Company building by a drive way, Wiltell Lodge was constructed in 1907 and formed part of the Brewery site.
The two storey brick building features arched windows with keystone, gables and stone finials. After the brewery ceased trading, the subsequent company takeover formed the Birmingham Chemical Company who had the slogan 'Quality Will Tell'. The former brewery site became known as 'Wiltell Works' and hence where Wiltell Lodge acquired its name.


Kigali, 15 October 2018 – Today, the Minister of State Amb. Olivier Nduhungirehe officiated the handover ceremony between the outgoing Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and East African Community, Claude Nikobisanzwe, and the incoming Permanent Secretary, Urujeni Bakuramutsa.
In his remarks, Minister of State Nduhungirehe thanked the outgoing PS Nikobisanzwe for his role and contribution in helping the Ministry achieve its assignments. He also welcomed the new PS Bakuramutsa and promised her full support and collaboration.
Ambassador-designate Nikobisanzwe expressed his gratitude towards H.E. President Kagame for appointing him as Rwandan Envoy in Mozambique. He also thanked the leadership and the staff of the Ministry for their support and cooperation during his tenure.
The new PS, Urujeni Bakuramutsa also expressed her heartfelt gratitude to the President for his trust in appointing her and pledged to give her contribution and make effort to carry out the assigned position in the best possible way.
Before her appointment, Urujeni Bakuramutsa was serving as Deputy Permanent Representative in the Permanent Mission of Rwanda to the United Nations.
A Cabinet Meeting held on 14 September 2018 and chaired by President Kagame appointed the outgoing PS Claude Nikobisanzwe as the first Rwandan High Commissioner to Mozambique.


Also you can contact Authentic Strength and Fitness for question about your purchase, how to use a product etc. Using the form below to submit your questions or anything else you would like to bring to our attention to Authentic Strength and Fitness and recieve a speedy responce. Please allow our team up to 24 hours to respond.
If you are having trouble with a download, please be sure you have checked your "Downloads" folder on your computer.


text:
package snap

import (
	"os/exec"

	"github.com/intelsdi-x/snap/mgmt/rest/client"
	"github.com/intelsdi-x/swan/pkg/conf"
	"github.com/intelsdi-x/swan/pkg/utils/err_collection"
	"github.com/pkg/errors"
)

const (
	// CaffeInferenceCollector is a name of the snap plugin binary
	CaffeInferenceCollector = "snap-plugin-collector-caffe-inference"
	// DockerCollector is name of snap plugin binary.
	DockerCollector = "snap-plugin-collector-docker"
	// MutilateCollector is name of snap plugin binary.
	MutilateCollector string = "snap-plugin-collector-mutilate"
	// RDTCollector is Snap RDT Metric collector
	RDTCollector = "snap-plugin-collector-rdt"
	// SPECjbbCollector is name of snap plugin binary used to collect metrics from SPECjbb output file.
	SPECjbbCollector string = "snap-plugin-collector-specjbb"
	// USECollector is name of snap plugin binary for the Utilization Saturation and Errors (USE) Method.
	USECollector string = "snap-plugin-collector-use"

	// CassandraPublisher is name of snap plugin binary.
	CassandraPublisher = "snap-plugin-publisher-cassandra"

	// InfluxDBPublisher is name of snap plugin binary.
	InfluxDBPublisher = "snap-plugin-publisher-influxdb"

	// FilePublisher is Snap testing file publisher
	FilePublisher = "snap-plugin-publisher-file"
	// SessionPublisher is name of snap plugin binary.
	SessionPublisher = "snap-plugin-publisher-session-test"
)

var (
	// SnapteldAddress represents snap daemon address flag.
	SnapteldAddress = conf.NewStringFlag("snapteld_address", "Snapteld address in `http://%s:%s` format", "http://127.0.0.1:8181")
)

// DefaultPluginLoaderConfig returns default config for PluginLoader.
func DefaultPluginLoaderConfig() PluginLoaderConfig {
	return PluginLoaderConfig{
		SnapteldAddress: SnapteldAddress.Value(),
	}
}

// PluginLoaderConfig contains configuration for PluginLoader.
type PluginLoaderConfig struct {
	SnapteldAddress string
}

// PluginLoader is used to simplify Snap plugin loading.
type PluginLoader struct {
	pluginsClient *Plugins
	config        PluginLoaderConfig
}

// NewDefaultPluginLoader returns PluginLoader with DefaultPluginLoaderConfig.
// Returns error when could not connect to Snap.
func NewDefaultPluginLoader() (*PluginLoader, error) {
	return NewPluginLoader(DefaultPluginLoaderConfig())
}

// NewPluginLoader constructs PluginLoader with given config.
// Returns error when could not connect to Snap.
func NewPluginLoader(config PluginLoaderConfig) (*PluginLoader, error) {
	snapClient, err := client.New(config.SnapteldAddress, "v1", true)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	plugins := NewPlugins(snapClient)

	return &PluginLoader{
		pluginsClient: plugins,
		config:        config,
	}, nil
}

// LoadPlugins loads plugins given as input parameter.
func LoadPlugins(plugins ...string) error {
	pluginLoader, err := NewDefaultPluginLoader()
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	return pluginLoader.Load(plugins...)
}

// Load loads supplied plugin names from plugin path and returns slice of
// encountered errors.
func (l PluginLoader) Load(plugins ...string) error {
	var errors errcollection.ErrorCollection
	for _, plugin := range plugins {
		err := l.load(plugin)
		errors.Add(err)
	}
	return errors.GetErrIfAny()
}

// load loads selected plugin from plugin path.
func (l PluginLoader) load(plugin string) error {
	pluginName, pluginType, err := GetPluginNameAndType(plugin)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	isPluginLoaded, err := l.pluginsClient.IsLoaded(pluginType, pluginName)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	if isPluginLoaded {
		return nil
	}

	pluginPath, err := exec.LookPath(plugin)
	if err != nil {
		return errors.Wrapf(err, "cannot find snap plugin %s in $PATH", plugin)
	}

	return l.pluginsClient.LoadPlugin(pluginPath)
}


Whenever I see a Corsair flying at certain angles from a distance, the Inverted gull wing really makes me think this aircraft looks like a bird. I wanted to convey this feeling in a photograph but knew I had to get the angle correct. So I patiently waited for the right moment and when the aspect was right captured what I think is a great view on this World War Two aircraft. The Corsair was a carrier-capable fighter aircraft that saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. When the Corsair first flew in 1939 it was the first American aircraft to exceed 400mph in level flight. Operated by the US Navy the type was also operated by a number of other countries including Great Britain and New Zealand. Nicknamed "Whistling Death" by the Japanese, the Corsair helped gain air superiority by the Allies in the Pacific. This example was license built by Goodyear and is a 2000hp Pratt & Whitney radial engine. It is the last airworthy example of over 400 operated by the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF).


DNA replication is the mechanism by which a cell copies its genetic code prior to dividing into two daughter cells. DNA replication must produce two identical and independent copies of the parental DNA molecule(s). However, replication of circular DNA results in two topologically linked DNA circles. In this case, cell survival relies on removing this topological obstruction. It has been shown experimentally that recombinases XerC and XerD can unlink the chromosomal links. We model recombination as a band surgery, and use the tangle method of Ernst and Sumners (1990) and other topological methods to show definitively that there is a unique shortest pathway of unlinking by Xer recombination that strictly reduces the complexity of the links at every step. We also compute the mechanism of action of the enzymes at each step along this pathway and provide a 3D interpretation of the results.
This is joint work with Koya Shimokawa, Kai Ishihara, Ian Grainge and David Sherratt.


text:
businessReal Estate
Verizon working on plans for the next phase of its $1 billion Irving project
Hidden Ridge project in Las Colinas will include offices, retail and more
Offices, retail and a small park are included in the next phase of the Hidden Ridge development in Irving.(Contributed | Gensler / Gensler)
8:55 AM on Dec 9, 2019 CST
After selling the first phase of its Hidden Ridge development, Verizon Corp. is pushing ahead with plans to build the next section of the more than $1 billion mixed-use project in Irving.
Verizon and Dallas developer KDC sold the just-completed 1.1 million-square-foot Pioneer Natural Resources buildings in Hidden Ridge to a partnership of domestic and international investors. The energy company headquarters campus fetched more than $584 million in the sale.
At the same time Verizon was wrapping up the Pioneer campus sale, the telecom company was working with Irving city officials to start the next phase of Hidden Ridge. Planned since 2015, the more than 100-acre Las Colinas development is across the street from Verizon's regional office campus, which dates to the early 1990s.
Pioneer Natural Resources' new Irving headquarters sells for $584 million
By Paul O'Donnell
Along with Pioneer's headquarters, Hidden Ridge is designed to include an additional 1.5 million square feet of offices for corporate tenants, a 200-room full-service hotel, more than 1,000 residential units, 80,000-square-feet for restaurant and retail space, a two-acre park and a new DART commuter rail station.
Verizon just received approvals from Irving's planning and zoning commission for six more office, retail and garage buildings on an 8.5-acre site at Hidden Ridge and Green Park drives.
"We are proposing a new development," Clayton Strolle of the engineering firm Pacheco Koch, which represents Verizon, told city planners at their last meeting. "It goes in part with this whole Hidden Ridge development. It's starting to come forward and make its way into the construction process."
The new buildings would include more than 490,000 square feet of office space and 30,000 square feet of retail.
Strolle described the next phase of Hidden Ridge as "a nice walkable overall development with a couple office buildings on the corner with some other amenities in the middle. The plan is to increase the density on the site and ask for a few setbacks for some of the retail that's going out front."
Hidden Ridge is being built on the site of the original Carpenter family ranch, which was expanded to become the Las Colinas development. Verizon bought the property from the Carpenter family in 1997.
The first phase of Hidden Ridge was the 1.1 million-square-foot Pioneer Natural Resources headquarters, which just sold.(Duda Paine Architects)
Steve Brown, Real Estate Editor. Steve covers commercial and residential real estate in Dallas-Fort Worth.
stevebrown@dallasnews.com @SteveBrownDMN
Who wore what at the inauguration? Lots of purple, pearls and American designers
Dallas co-working firm aligns with major North Texas office building owner
Dallas led U.S. in 2020 commercial property deals
Get D-FW real estate news
Get the latest real estate news from Steve Brown and the business staff at The Dallas Morning News.


More than 900 earthquakes were recorded in Switzerland last year, according to the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. But only 25 of them had a magnitude at which tremors are registered by an average person.
Swiss watch exports broke the CHF21 billion ($21.2 billion) mark last year. This 6.3% increase is largely due to Asian markets and the watchmaking industry is optimistic the trend will continue despite uncertainty over the Chinese economy.
Support for a proposal to curb urban sprawl in Switzerland has dropped by 16% over the past month according to the latest opinion poll. Voters decide on the issue next weekend but the initiative seems doomed to fail at the ballot box.
Women in Switzerland earned CH657 ($659) less per month than their male colleagues with the same qualifications. The gender gap has narrowed only slightly over the past five years but researchers are puzzled over the reasons for the difference.
Applications for asylum in Switzerland dropped by 15% - the lowest level in 11 years. A total of 15,255 people, mainly from Syria, Eritrea and Afghanistan handed in a request last year, according a senior official in the justice ministry.
Tremors, watches and refugees Feb 2, 2019 - 17:00 Almost every article published by swissinfo.ch contains a percentage, an age, an amount of money or some other figure. Here's a round-up of the most interesting statistics to appear in the past week's stories. 900 More than 900 earthquakes were recorded in Switzerland last year, according to the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. But only 25 of them had a magnitude at which tremors are registered by an average person. 21,000,000,000 Swiss watch exports broke the CHF21 billion ($21.2 billion) mark last year. This 6.3% increase is largely due to Asian markets and the watchmaking industry is optimistic the trend will continue despite uncertainty over the Chinese economy. 16 Support for a proposal to curb urban sprawl in Switzerland has dropped by 16% over the past month according to the latest opinion poll. Voters decide on the issue next weekend but the initiative seems doomed to fail at the ballot box. 657 Women in Switzerland earned CH657 ($659) less per month than their male colleagues with the same qualifications. The gender gap has narrowed only slightly over the past five years but researchers are puzzled over the reasons for the difference. 15 Applications for asylum in Switzerland dropped by 15% - the lowest level in 11 years. A total of 15,255 people, mainly from Syria, Eritrea and Afghanistan handed in a request last year, according a senior official in the justice ministry.


Christie® today announced that its successful Mirage Series 3D DLP® projector line has expanded with the addition of six models to bring high performance 3D solutions to new markets. The new Christie Mirage M Series 3-chip DLP projectors offer complete compatibility with today's 3D standards to support growing demands for 3D displays – from home entertainment and video gaming, to museums, education and rental/staging.
To learn more about these exciting new projectors, read the full press release.


Summer is moving quickly. It feels like only a moment has passed since school ended and summer vacation began. I've been working on a project of sorts, which has made free time feel scarce. While I'm going to keep it under wraps a little while longer, I'm excited to share the details with you soon!
In the quiet, everyday moments, I remember to enjoy these summer days. I savor time on the deck watching the vegetable and herb garden grow (perhaps too much , as they have quickly escaped the confines of their planters). I remind myself to turn off the background noise in my life (television and cell phone) to bring my thoughts back down to earth.
And, of course, I bake.
I made this pie a couple of weeks ago, and am finally getting a chance to share it with you. With strawberries and rhubarb in full season, and a holiday around the corner, the timing still feels right. This pie takes full advantage of late spring and early summer's offerings.
I prefer a pie with a bit more bite, so the recipe below results in a pie with a tarter flavor. However, if your tooth is a bit sweeter, add another 1/4 cup of sugar to bring the sweetness to your liking. With a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, this pie will be sure to please.
This Strawberry Rhubarb Pie celebrates the seasonal produce of June. Two pints of strawberries and a handful of rhubarb stalks come together in this brightly flavored pastry. With cornstarch to thicken, the pie and its juices set up nicely. Serve with a large spoonful of whipped cream or scoop of ice cream to share.
In a large mixing bowl, gently stir together the sliced strawberries, rhubarb, sugars, vanilla, and cornstarch until evenly coated. Set aside.
Form the pie dough into a disk and divide it into a 60/40 ratio (if using a store-bought crust, do not worry about this step). On a lightly floured surface, roll out the larger section of dough into a 14-inch round circle. Carefully transfer it to a 9-inch pie pan and trim the excess pie dough to create a 1-inch overhang. Fill the pie crust with the strawberry-rhubarb mixture.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the smaller section of pie dough. Using a pizza cutter and a ruler, cut out wide strips of dough. Layer the strips over the top of the pie in a decorative fashion and trim so they are even with the edge of the pie pan. Using your fingers, pinch the bottom and top layers together in a pattern of your choice.
Using a pastry brush, brush the top of the pie crust with egg wash and sprinkle raw sugar over the pie. Bake the pie for 15 minutes at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Then, lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). If necessary, cover the edges of the pie crust with aluminum foil to prevent further browning. Bake an additional 50-65 minutes, or until the lattice and crust are evenly browned.
For perfect slices, cool for at least 3-5 hours (or overnight). Serve with whipped cream or ice cream, if desired.


Rasta smoking ganja during Bob Marley 70th birthday celebtations in Jamaic earlier this month.
Marijuana, weed, ganja, doesn't matter what you call it the legalization of grass has been a hot topic for decades. Peter Tosh infamously petitioned for its legislation in his song "Legalize It". Finally, marijuana legalization in the Caribbean has occurred! Albeit in only small amounts, yesterday Jamaica became the first Caribbean country to legalize herb.
Jamaica voted Tuesday night to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, leading the region in softening penalties for pot possession and signaling an easing of decades of tension between the government and the Caribbean island's Rastafari community. The law could pave the way for a regulated medical cannabis industry; however, legislators stressed that the law would "not create a free-for-all in the growing, transporting, dealing or exporting of ganja," according to the Guardian.
Advocates of marijuana decriminalization celebrated the move as a victory for the country, where marijuana's cultural roots run deep. "[The law] eliminates an unnecessary source of friction between police and citizens, and ensures that our young people are not gratuitously shackled with criminal records," said the country's minister of national security Peter Bunting, according to Sky News. He said the law "begins to correct decades of criminalizing tens of thousands of Jamaicans, mostly poor young black males, for possession of a little 'spliff'.
Jamaica joins a growing number of countries around the world, including in Latin America, that have recognized the crackdown on marijuana has failed to stifle the illegal consumption and trade of the drug. Argentina, Colombia and Mexico have all decriminalized the possession of small amounts of pot. Guatemala has proposed legalizing the drug, as Chile and Costa Rica consider allowing medical marijuana use.
Jamaica, the birthplace of Bob Marley and Rastafari, a religion whose followers regard marijuana use as sacred, has long been known for its marijuana culture. Jamaica is thought to be the biggest Caribbean supplier of marijuana to the U.S., according to the BBC. Cannabis is widely grown in Jamaica and has a reputation for potency. The Rastafari community can now use cannabis for religious purposes freely for the first time in the country's history.
The drug was first criminalized in Jamaica in the early 20th century under Spanish colonial rule. The country gained independence in 1962, but such laws endured. The Jamaican government agreed to treat marijuana as a harmful drug when it signed the United Nations Convention on Narcotic Drugs in 1964. Lawmakers funneled millions of dollars into eradicating marijuana plantations throughout the country, money that some have said could have been better spent on social development, according to the North American Congress on Latin America.
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