text:
Dev update 1
QCX-mini Dev update 4
Dev Update 28-Sep-2020
This article is about solving the problem with microphonics.
Microphonics in the QCX-mini
It became apparent during testing that the QCX-mini prototype was highly microphonic. Pressing the rotary encoder shaft was the most noisy operation. But pressing the other buttons also generated pops and even turning the rotary encoder during tuning, generated audible clicks. After initially investigating electrical reasons such as grounding and PCB layout, I determined that none of that was a problem; the problem is the microphonic nature of the QSD capacitors C43-C46 (and to a lesser extent, others); it was easy to prove just by tapping the board with a ceramic screwdriver; the exact capacitors could be found by tapping various capacitors with the screwdriver until the loudest pop was found, C43-C46 being very readily apparent.
The problem arises because high-K dielectrics used in high density capacitors, type MLCC (Multi-Layer-Ceramic-Capacitors). MLCC capacitors can provide high capacitance in a small volume and at very low cost. However, the high-K dielectric is a piezo-electric material. Vibrations generate a small voltage, in effect, the capacitor behaves as a microphone. This is a very good paper on the topic:
https://sh.kemet.com/Lists/TechnicalArticles/Attachments/62/2007%20CARTS%20-%20Reduced%20Microphonics%20and%20Sound%20Emissions.pdf
There are many other interesting references around the internet.
C43-C46 are sited close to the PCB mounting pillar of the Controls PCB. They are also in the most sensitive part of the circuit, where any piezo-electrically generated voltage is added to the signal path when the signal is at its smallest level, and is subsequently amplified by up to around 100dB.
The QCX and QCX+ radios have no problems with microphonic components. This is despite the use of high capacitance MLCC. An investigation shows that the MLCC used are actually none other then standard 0603-sized SMD MLCC capacitors, with wires soldered on, and dipped in a blob of yellow stuff then the value printed on the outside. The photographs below show the 0.47uF capacitor used in the QCX+ kit as the QSD sampling capacitors C43-C46 for example.
So why does this 0603-sized capacitor cause a problem in the QCX-mini, but not in the QCX+? The reason is that in the QCX+ it is suspended above the board on wires, as a through-hole component. In the QCX-mini, the capacitor (0603 MLCC) is soldered rigidly onto the PCB itself, being SMD, and all the vibrations present in the PCB are applied to the capacitor effectively. It also appears to me, during my experiments with scratching the surface of capacitors with my ceramic screwdriver that the encapsulated 0603 SMD capacitor that is presented as a through-hole capacitor is much less sensitive than a bare SMD capacitor. The yellow stuff must be acting to damp vibrations reaching the tiny 0603 SMD capacitor inside.
I asked the QRP Labs discussion group for advice on this issue and there was a very interesting discussion, see this topic:
https://groups.io/g/QRPLabs/topic/advice_wanted_qcx_mini/77059114
Possible solutions can be categorized as:
Damping the vibrations
Use of different types of capacitor e.g. NP0, film, tantalum
Use of through-hole capacitors to replace the sensitive SMD ones
Damping the mechanical vibrations could at the most primitive end, sticking a blob of blu-tac (putty) over the offending capacitors; more advanced solutions could include rubber fittings between the controls PCB and the main PCB, conformal coatings to the main PCB, rubber O-ring, moving mechanical pillars, etc. A sub-category could be designated for some suggestions to re-orientate the capacitors in a different plane e.g. on their end tombstone style, or sitting up on their side. All of these ideas suffer from two major problems:
a) They would be expensive to implement (rubber fittings, conformal coatings), or non-manufacturable (SMD components in non-standard orientations);
b) Damping may provide some dB of improvement but it was my intuition damping would not come close to removing the quite serious pops; much more than a few dB is required.
NP0 capacitors have a Class-I dielectric which is low-K and has very low piezo-electric effect. However they also have lower density. A 0.47uF capacitor as an NP0 is available from Digikey but the size is SMD 2022 and the cost is $1.83 per capacitor even in volumes of 1000. This capacitor is therefore large and prohibitively expensive. Various types of film capacitor could solve the problem, they are still very expensive compared to MLCC and also larger; one correspondent raised concerns about reliability (un-encapsulated film capacitors can crack as they age).
Replacing the sensitive SMD capacitors with through-hole variants seems a good option, provided enough physical space can be found to accommodate them. The through-hole capacitors contain the same SMD MLCC Class-II dielectric high-K capacitor inside but experience with the QCX and QCX+ shows that they do not generate microphonics when encapsulated in the yellow blob, and when they are not bonded rigidly to the PCB but suspended on wires instead.
Google about this problem! It is very interesting - the electronics industry and particularly audio electronics, have gone to a lot of effort to solve this problem with various types of exotic SMD capacitors, including film capacitors and SMD MLCC on more flexible mounting structures which don't transfer the vibration so effectively. We do have the luxury here that this QCX-mini is a kit, to be assembled by the constructor, we do not HAVE to use SMD for everything!
So the only questions are then, which SMD capacitors need to be replaced with through-hole and how can the board assembly be modified to make sufficient space for them?
Replacing the QSD capacitors C43-46
I tried some of the lab techs' play-doh (blu-tac not being anywhere to be found) and did not notice any improvement from this form of damping.
I removed the four 0.47uF capacitors C43-46 and soldered on through-hole capacitors. Immediately there was a substantial reduction in the amount of pop, but the pops were still readily audible. I next replaced the 0.47uF capacitor C11 and the 0.1uF capacitor C12 in the phase shift section of the circuit (IC6/7) and noted further improvement.
But this "improvement" and "further improvement" all seemed rather unscientific, I decided I needed a more quantitative way to measure improvement.
The more scientific approach
My first idea was to feed the audio into my PC and use the Argo spectrum analysis program, with which I am familiar, to measure the pops. This method did work, by pressing the rotary encoder shaft, then stopping Argo, and hovering the mouse cursor over the "pop" then reading off the dB level. But it still felt rather imprecise as it depends exactly where the cursor is placed etc.
What I really wanted was a way to chart the signal amplitude vs time, in the CW filter bandwidth.
The QCX itself comes to the rescue! It has a built-in single-bucket DSP (Goertzel algorithm) which is a 250Hz filter bucket centered on 750Hz. This is used to provide a numeric amplitude of the filtered audio to the CW decoder algorithm, and is also used in the QCX's built-in alignment tools, when peaking the BPF and aligning the unwanted sideband cancellation circuits. The QCX has a CAT serial port too, and so it was a very trivial modification to temporarily add a few lines of code to dump the Goertzel algorithm result to the CAT port once every 4 milliseconds (250 times per second). Then I can copy and paste from a terminal emulator to a spreadsheet and do averages, logarithms, charts, whatever I like!
I use an Arduino as USB to Serial converter running a very simple sketch see below.
SoftwareSerial mySerial(10, 8); // RX, TX
// Open serial communications and wait for port to open:
while (!Serial) {
; // wait for serial port to connect. Needed for native USB port only
Serial.println("Monitoring serial!");
// set the data rate for the SoftwareSerial port
void loop() { // run over and over
if (mySerial.available()) {
c = mySerial.read();
Serial.write(c);
if (Serial.available()) {
mySerial.write(Serial.read());
The Arduino IDE has a built-in Serial Monitor so this is a very easy way for me to get serial data out of a project and I do this often when I need to log some data from my projects. Actually it's usually the ONLY thing i use my original first edition Arduino Uno for!
Below are photographs of my experimental setup. The QCX-mini is suspended on four 25mm nylon spacers. I installed a specially assembled Controls PCB which contains just one button and the rotary encoder, whose connections are not soldered to anything. I merely want to use it to generate the mechanical shock that will be transferred to the main PCB and cause the microphony. A short cable (cut from an old pair of earphones) connects the 3.5mm stereo CAT port output jack to the Arduino, which is connected by a USB cable to the PC. The Altoids tin contains a QRP Labs Dummy Load.
NOTE that the gain potentiometer is not installed, it is replaced by two 3.3K resistors, these set a fixed mid-range gain so that I know all measurements are done at the same audio gain level. I don't really care what the level is because I will be looking for relative improvements; I just want to make sure that the audio gain level is at a constant setting throughout the experiments.
Dummy load noise
First it's important to have a reference noise level. This plot shows approx 9.5 seconds of recording the noise with the QCX-mini connected to a dummy load. The average noise floor level is at -37.6dBu.
Antenna noise
Next I wanted to know the level of noise when the QCX-mini is connected to the antenna. This was done in a quiet part of the 20m band during the daytime (early afternoon). I switched off the computer and everything else in the lab because I know that my computer increases the noise floor on 20m band. Since my computer was switched off I couldn't use the Arduino method to record the levels :-) So I used QCX menu 9.3 which displays an average of 64 measurements on audio channel 1 (from the output of the QCX audio amp, IC10b), updating approximately 4x per second. I video'd 10 seconds of the action on my phone, then replayed it at 4x slower speed and typed the measurements in to the spreadsheet.
I was able to average the measurements and convert them back to the dBu scale used above. The average antenna noise sat at -20dBu.
In all further measurements below, I have scaled the vertical axis as dB relative to the 20m band noise, set at 0dB.
Experiment 1: Base case, unmodified QCX-mini prototype
For the first experiment I put back all the SMD capacitors I had replaced (see above) so that I could start again from the beginning, in an orderly and (somewhat) more scientific way. So this first graph is obtained with effectively an unmodified QCX-mini prototype.
The rotary encoder shaft button was pressed as gently as possible, 10 times (only 9 of these are shown in the graph below, to keep everything on a standard equal 10 second measurement interval).
In the chart you can see one pop when the button is pressed, and another when it is released. Nasty stuff! The worst peak is 45dB over the dummy load noise floor! Which is around 27dB over the band noise.
This is a zoomed in chart, to examine one of those button presses; actually the 5th one; I have zoomed in to show the interval 6.4 to 6.7 seconds:
It can be seen that the impulse shock of the button press is very short. The nature of the recording method is to provide the amplitude of the sound in a 250Hz bucket centered on 750Hz, so the updates are provided once every 4 milliseconds. It would have been nice to have finer resolution, since the true peak intensity will always fall between two buckets on either side, which will be lower than the peak. Because of this, I felt justified in my measurements in taking the WORST case spike of the 10 button presses (20 pops, considering one pop occurs on pressing the button and another on releasing it).
It should also be noted that even taking the worst of 10 presses doesn't exactly reproduce the precise same measurement every time; for example I performed the base case measurement three times and obtained three figures +44.8dB, +46.2dB and +45.1dB (dB relative to the dummy load noise floor). In cases where i measured more than once, I am taking the average.
Yes I know this is all a bit approximate but that's fine, I am not trying to start a whole multi-week research project here, just somewhat methodically identify the effectiveness of remedies.
It will also be interesting to state each measurement relative to the band noise (-20dBu). Accordingly we can say that in the base case, the amplitude of the pops is +28dB relative to the 20m band noise (average of three measurement runs).
To summarise:
Record the 250 samples per second for 10 seconds, during which I press the rotary shaft encoder button gently, 10 times
Take the worst of the 20 pops, measured in dBu, and calculate the dB relative to the 20m band noise measurement
In cases where more than one measurement run was performed, average them
Experiment 2: Damping with "putty"
I wish I knew where my blu-tac is, but I don't. Nevertheless the most senior of the junior lab techs most certainly did know where her play-doh was, and so I used that as a convenient substitute. (CLICK PHOTO BELOW for a larger version).
I was actually quite pleasantly surprised that despite my negative expectations, there was actually a measurable improvement!
The measurement is +23dB, which is 4dB better than the base case.
Experiment 3: Pressure point damping
In this experiment I applied very firm pressure with a screwdriver right next to the base of the plastic pillar that attaches the Controls PCB, and also at various other points around the main PCB.
The most improvement I got compared to the base case (unmodified QCX-mini) was about 2dB improvement. Unspectacular...
Experiment 4: Damping using silicone pads
In this experiment I took two silicon pads, of the type used to electrically insulate the IRF510 MOSFETs from the heatsink in the QRP Labs 10W Linear and 50W QCX PA kits. After the surprising success with the play-doh I really thought I might see this silicone pad having some beneficial effect on the situation, damping the vibration reaching the main board. But: no joy, there was absolutely no benefit as far as I could measure.
Experiment 5: Replacing C43, C44, C45 and C46 (the QSD capacitors)
Capacitors C43-C46 were replaced with through-hole capacitors from the QCX+ kit (one QCX+ kit having already been raided, to provide enough parts to build the second QCX-mini prototype).
Refer to the circuit diagram section below, which shows the audio stages of the QCX-mini, starting at the left with the quadrature sampling detector, with the signal flowing through to the earphone output at the right. The capacitors which are replaced in experiments 5 to 10 below, are circled in red (Click the image for a larger version).
This provided the most spectacular improvement to date. The measurement is +10dB relative to the 20m band noise.
But the pop is still noticeable. So the hunt has to continue. "The hunt" proceeded by turning the PCB over to expose the underside where most of the resistors and capacitors are, and scratching each capacitor with my ceramic screwdriver blade while listening to how much noise that made in the headphones, to try to identify the next most important capacitor.
Experiment 6: also replace C11 (0.47uF in phase shift circuit)
C11 was identified as the next most important capacitor and replaced with a through-hole capacitor.
There was slight improvement, the measurement is now +9dB relative to the 20m band noise.
Experiment 7: also replace C12 (0.1uF in the phase shift circuit)
C12 was identified next and replaced. The measurement improved to -2dB, a major improvement, and the pops are now below the -20dBu level of the band noise for the first time! But still detectable (on dummy load).
Experiment 8: also replace C22 (1uF)
C22 (1uF) is a DC-blocking capacitor at the input to the final audio amp. It's found to be microphonic by my "scratchy" test with the ceramic screwdriver. Replacing it with the through-hole component produced a further decrease in pop level, to -3dB peak.
Experiment 9: also replaced C21 (1uF)
C21, the other coupling capacitor in the audio chain, that feeds the gain control, was also found to be microphonic. Replacing it produced a further small improvement.
Experiment 10: also replacing C9 (47nF)
C9 is one more capacitor in the audio phase shift network and was also noticeably microphonic. The peak is still -3dB but when you look at the graph below it's very difficult to determine where the button presses are. Audibly with headphones it's also very difficult.
Conclusion and next steps...
The experimental method is no doubt not perfect, with several approximations - but I think good enough to be able to quantitatively track the progress of the improvements as different remedies were tested. Summary of experimental results:
Experiment Pop noise
(dB over 20m
band noise) Comments
1. Base case (unmod QCX-mini) +28
2. Play-doh on the QSD capacitors +23 unexpected improvement of 5dB relative to base case!
3. Pressure applied with screwdriver +25 Minor improvement
4. Silicone pads either side of pillar +27 NO improvement
5. Replaced four QSD capacitors +10 Big improvement! Greatly reduces the pops
6. also replace C11 (0.47uF) +9
7. also replace C12 (0.1uF) -2
8. also replace C22 (1uF) -3
9. also replace C21 (1uF) -3 Small improvement in peaks, lower averages
10. also replace C9 (47nF) -3 Same peak but lower averages and hard to hear/see pops
Replacing these 9 capacitors with their through-hole counterparts apparently is the solution to the microphony problems. The microphony was reduced by an estimated 31dB by these changes.
Even on the dummy load, it is now totally impossible to hear any audible "pop" from pressing the normal push-buttons, and turning the rotary encoder doesn't generate any clicking; the largest pop was always when pressing the shaft of the rotary encoder.
I think it is still just about be possible to hear a microphonic pop when pressing the shaft encoder button but it's hard to know whether this is coming from the headphones, or from the actual mechanical click of the knob being pressed on the bench in front of me - this is even when using passive sound insulating headphones (Heil Pro-Set 3) and the volume set to mid-way, which is a quite loud setting, and with the dummy load used (which has a noise level 18dB below that of the 20m antenna).
There ARE more capacitors which show microphonic behaviour when scratched with the ceramic screwdriver blade but they are much weaker than these 9 replaced here. Really C43/44/45/46, and C11 and C12 make the most difference. I don't think it is necessary to replace any more than these 9. It should be a good solution to the microphony problem. One has to stop somewhere, replacing all the SMD capacitors with through-hole equivalents would be overkill and probably there isn't enough room. In particular, C10 (10nF), C14/16/18 (1nF) and C19/C20 (2.2nF) all show some low levels of microphony but these are much smaller values; for good measure I can use NP0 capacitors at these locations without terrible expense.
This photograph above (click for larger version) shows 8 of the capacitors which are on the underside of the PCB (which is upside-down in the photo); the 9th capacitor is on the other side. So the task now, is to try to move things around to make space for these 9 through-hole components, which take up much more room than the 0603 SMD components they are replacing.
This is the before (blue) and after (red) situation, 10 button presses during a 10 second interval. Note that the 10 button presses don't line up at the same time, of course... in fact in the button presses can't even be seen on the red (after capacitor replacement) line.
Now the PCB redesign work...


text:
Q: Transfer part of array to CUDA memory Suppose I have a dynamically allocated array of size N * M on host, which I use as a matrix (i.e. as 2D array). Now, i divide M into two parts, cpuM and gpuM. I wish to transfer part of that array to GPU, which is (pitched) array of N * gpuM. How do I do that?
So far I have:
cudaMemcpy3DParms cpy = { 0 };
cpy.srcPtr = make_cudaPitchedPtr(h_mat, M * sizeof(TYPE), gpuM, N);
cpy.dstPtr = d_mat;
cpy.extent = make_cudaExtent(gpuM * sizeof(TYPE), N, 1);
cpy.kind = cudaMemcpyHostToDevice;
cudaCheckError(cudaMemcpy3D(&cpy));

However, this doesn't work. I don't know where to specify number of elements to skip in M dimension (cpuM), which I obviously need.
So, what is the way to copy only part of array to GPU?

A: I was close. What I nedded can be done with srcPos and/or dstPos which take a cudaPos structure which contains any desired offsets. Like:
cudaMemcpy3DParms cpy = { 0 };
cpy.srcPtr = make_cudaPitchedPtr(h_mat, M * sizeof(TYPE), M, N);
cpy.srcPos = make_cudaPos(cpuM * sizeof(TYPE), 0, 0);
cpy.dstPtr = d_mat;
cpy.extent = make_cudaExtent(gpuM * sizeof(TYPE), N, 1);
cpy.kind = cudaMemcpyHostToDevice;
cudaCheckError(cudaMemcpy3D(&cpy));

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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text:
Students Lead Walkout
Senior Caleb Tillis speaks out at the walkout on March 27.
Gabby Abowitz, Photography Editor
On March 27, over a hundred students walked out of class following a video released over spring break on social media that recorded three Parkway Central students making racist remarks, which led to the student lead walkout.
Even though the incident happened off school property, it was posted on social media and the video has spread like wildfire, being reposted by kids who are hurt and disgusted by the videos.
The morning back from break, Principal Tim McCarthy made an announcement to the school on the PA. He explains that the video was viewed by a significant number of students causing Central students and members of the community to "justifiably feel offended, outraged, hurt, and for some, targeted," McCarthy said.
The walkout first started in the location of the administrative building because many students felt that what they knew about the punishment for the students in the video using racist language was not severe enough. Adults that attended the walkout included McCarthy, Superintendent Keith Marty, multiple police officers, and even parents who wanted to have their say in their children's safety.
Sophomore Deja Campbell was one of the main participants at the walkout, and explained her feelings of being unsafe in her environment.
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Campbell also believes the school should not ignore what has happened.
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Dan Kelty, Spanish teacher, is frustrated that racism continues to exist in our diverse community.
"Maybe something new has to be done to address this situation because we can no longer rely on old laws to address this new phenomenon. We have to have a new set of boundaries now and I think this is a perfect example of that," Kelty said.
McCarthy experienced many challenges in this situation, including balancing district policies with student needs.
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Sophomore Adrienne Reed was an vocal advocate at the school walkout and in meetings with representatives from the Parkway School board. Her focus is to make equality a priority in the schools.
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Gabby Abowitz,
Corral Newspaper
DECADE RECAP 2010-2019
New Beginnings: Field Hockey and New Teachers
School Discipline: Gray Area
Center Spread
FACING THE REALITIES OF HIGH SCHOOL
The Price of Pain
Parkway's new ALT Project gives freshmen Chromebooks
Summer proves dangerous for teen drivers

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text:
Activision: Wipeout 3
When Activision needed an opening video game cinematic for Wipeout 3, they came to Gasket early in the process for creative and script ideas. We wrote and storyboarded a fast-paced storyline for this installment of the game series, featuring some new faces and game-play features—like third-person view and brand new obstacle courses.
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Kinect tutorial
At the time of release, Kinect was a new feature and Activision wanted to promote its in-game functionality. We leveraged the cinematic elements, integrating the humor and storytelling Wipeout 3 is known for.


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text:
Living on the Mountaintop
Jordan is the baby of the family. Although he prefers to be called the youngest, he is resigned to the fact that he will always be "the baby.
A few years back he started Tae Kwon Do. Of course, his goal was to earn the coveted black belt. The school we joined had a program. Faithful, consistent, hardworking students could expect to achieve black belt status in around three years. We figured, three years...how hard can it be? Well. the three-year mark came and went. The other students who were in Jordan's class became black belts, and Jordan was still trudging along. The death of his grandfather, sickness of his grandmother, the work (travel) schedules of his parents and his own mission trip travels delayed him significantly.
Add to that a huge hurdle. Black belt testing (always) takes place on Saturdays.
The Sabbath hurdle is for another post, but let's just say, by God's grace, we made it over. The make-up test date was set, and the final preparations for testing were falling into place.
While Jordan was on the mat practicing, one of the instructors said to me very matter-of-factly, "Jordan's new uniform and black belt are right there." as he pointed to a corner in the office. The instructor continued, "He just needs to take the test."
Did you catch it?
Even though he had to work very hard and demonstrate that he had mastered the techniques. Ultimately, there was an expectation and anticipation that he would pass the test! The prize was ready and waiting for him. With permission, two weeks before the test, I took a peek and a picture. This was no generic reward. Not just any old belt from the storeroom closet. This was Jordan Spivey's black belt uniform and black belt. It was there waiting for him. Name monogrammed in both English and Korean, It was ready. He just needed to pass the test.
Of course, there was some nervousness. Would he be able to perform the Poomsae without error? Would he be able to break the boards using hands and feet? Would self-defense movements go as planned? With all of these uncertainties and concerns, one thing was sure.
The intention was for Jordan to pass the test.
The intention was for Jordan to reap the reward.
They were preparing him to pass.
They were preparing him to succeed.
The obvious connection is that Jesus has already prepared heaven, and all we need to do is pass the test, but THAT short changes and undermines GREAT GRACE.
In Jordan's situation, he had to do the work and pass the test.
But that is not the case for us because…..wait for it….Jesus does the work!
Jordan got his new uniform AFTER he passed the test. We, on the other hand, put on Christ's robe BEFORE the test and…..(are you shouting yet?!) because we are wearing His righteousness. Because He is living in us. We pass!
That's what I'm talkin' about!!
Jesus prepares our reward
Jesus give us a robe of righteousness
We wear his righteousness
He fights (and wins) for us
He passes the test
We get the reward
And it's not a black belt. It's a crown!
It's All in Your Head


text:
Olivier-Charles-Camille-Emmanuel de Rougé dit  le « vicomte de Rougé », né le  à Paris et mort le  au château de Bois-Dauphin à Précigné dans la Sarthe, est un égyptologue et philologue français, membre de la famille de Rougé.

Biographie

Famille

Membre de la famille de Rougé, il est le fils d'Augustin Charles Camille de Rougé dit « le comte de Rougé » et d'Adélaïde Charlotte Colombe de La Porte de Riantz. Marié à Valentine de Ganay, fille d'Anthelme de Ganay et petite-nièce de Jacques Marquet de Montbreton de Norvins, il est le père du peintre Robert de Rougé.

Égyptologue

Il succède à Jean-François Champollion à la chaire d'égyptologie, restée six années vacantes à la suite du décès du découvreur des hiéroglyphes et à celui de son auxiliaire Nestor L'Hôte et, alors que Charles Lenormant prend la direction du Cabinet des médailles, c'est Jean-Jacques Ampère qui suggère le nom d'Emmanuel de Rougé pour cette succession. Dès lors le vicomte de Rougé va poursuivre l'œuvre commencée par Champollion et en premier lieu, s'attacher à réattribuer à Champollion la paternité de travaux et découvertes mises à mal par Ippolito Rosellini et Francesco Salvolini, rendant ainsi hommage à Champollion.

Conservateur des Antiquités égyptienne au musée du Louvre, à partir d' jusqu'en , Emmanuel de Rougé, visite l'Égypte, missionné pour déchiffrer les textes hiéroglyphiques. Il est accompagné de son fils Jacques (1841-1923) et du vicomte Aymard de Banville, photographe amateur. Ils utilisent les premiers la photographie en archéologie, et la technique avancée de Banville permet de restituer une image dont la netteté est largement supérieure aux autres travaux de l'époque. Leurs clichés sont édités en 1865 par Samson, et l'album est un des plus importants documents d'archéologie égyptienne.

Il fut conservateur du musée égyptien du musée du Louvre (1849), conseiller d'État (1854) et professeur d'archéologie égyptienne au Collège de France (1864). Il est l'auteur de plusieurs livres sur l'Égypte antique et son histoire.

Membre de l'Œuvre des Écoles d'Orient

Le  il assiste à la fondation de l'Œuvre des Écoles d'Orient, connue actuellement sous le nom de L'Œuvre d'Orient ; il est membre de son premier Conseil général du .

Il est le dernier sénateur du Second Empire nommé par l'empereur , avant la défaite de Sedan qui empêcha la promulgation.

Honneurs et distinctions

Il est membre de l'ordre de la Légion d'honneur, membre de l'Académie des inscriptions (1853).

Des bustes le représentant sont exposés au Louvre et au musée du Caire en Égypte.

Citation
« Le canard des hiéroglyphes est une bête singulièrement venimeuse. Dès qu'il vous a mordu, on en a pour la vie ! »

Distinctions

  (12 aout 1868)

Principales publications
 Examen de l'ouvrage du chevalier Bunsen, la place de l'Égypte dans l'humanité, Articles publiées dans les Annales de philosophie chrétienne (années 1846-1847)
 Mémoire sur l'inscription du tombeau d'Ahmès, chef des nautoniers (1851)
 Le Poème de Pentaour (1861)
 Rituel funéraire des anciens égyptiens (1861-1863)
 Recherches sur les monuments qu'on peut attribuer aux six premières dynasties de Manéthon (1865)
Mémoire sur les attaques dirigées contre l'Égypte par les Peuples de la Méditerranée, vers le XIVe siècle avant notre ère (1867), dont des extraits furent publiés dans le volume 16 de la Revue archéologique en 1867
Chrestomathie égyptienne, ou Choix de textes égyptiens transcrits, traduits et accompagnés d'un commentaire perpétuel et précédés d'un abrégé grammatical (1867-1876)
 Inscriptions hiéroglyphiques copiées en Égypte pendant la mission scientifique de M. le Vte Emmanuel de Rougé, publiées par M. le Vte Jacques de Rougé (4 volumes, 1877-1879)
 Œuvres diverses (6 volumes, 1907-1918) Texte en ligne 1 3 5 6

Notes et références

Annexes

Articles connexes
 Peuples de la mer

Bibliographie
 Henri Wallon, « Notice historique sur la vie et les travaux de M. le vicomte Emmanuel de Rougé, membre de l'Académie », Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 1877, Volume 21, Numéro 4, .

Liens externes

Index égyptologique
Égyptologue français
Membre de l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres
Professeur au Collège de France
Emmanuel
Personnalité bretonne du XIXe siècle
Naissance en avril 1811
Naissance à Paris
Décès en décembre 1872
Conservateur au musée du Louvre
Sénateur du Second Empire
Décès à 61 ans
Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur
Conseiller d'État français

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
CyberAlert -- 09/09/1997 -- Mother Teresa Trumped Again; CNN's Clinton FOB Says No to Scandal
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By Brent Baker
the Steven P.J. Wood Senior Fellow and Vice President for Research and Publications
Mother Teresa Trumped Again; CNN's Clinton FOB Says No to Scandal
Correction: The September 8 CyberAlert reported that of the Sunday morning talk shows only NBC's Meet the Press "brought anyone on to discuss Mother Teresa's legacy" and that "Fox News Sunday proved the most substantive, running lengthy segments on the Middle East and fundraising after a short opening talk with Brit Hume about Diana."
In fact, Fox News Sunday was even more substantive. It also ran a segment on Mother Teresa. Between the opening three minutes with Hume on Diana and the interview of Benjamin Netanyahu, host Tony Snow spent six minutes talking with Bishop Richard Curlin. That means FNS allocated twice as much time to Mother Teresa as Diana, unlike Meet the Press on which Tim Russert spent four times as much time on Diana as Mother Teresa -- 33 vs. eight minutes.
Still more on Diana than Mother Teresa, but guess which one gets criticized? All the networks highlighted Paula Jones' lawyers.
Rick Kaplan, Friend of Bill turned CNN President, ordered CNN reporters to lessen the use of the word "scandal" in Clinton stories.
1) Nine nights after her death and the third night after her funeral, Diana received more network time Monday night than did Mother Teresa just four days after she passed away. Monday also brought some passing references to Mother Teresa's abortion position as well as more criticism. Here's a rundown of the Monday, September 8 broadcast network evening shows.
ABC's World News Tonight led with two stories on the withdrawal request from the lawyers representing Paula Jones. ABC gave Diana the least time of the three networks, just three minutes, and later aired a 2:35 story on Mother Teresa.
NBC Nightly News led with the Haiti ferry accident, then went to Diana, spending five minutes on the crash investigation and the feud between Prince Charles and the Queen on funeral plans. NBC next aired a piece on David Bloom on how lawyers for Paula Jones had asked to be removed as her counsel.
A four minute "In Depth" explored Charles Spencer's background and why he is so angry at the tabloid press. The story noted that he served as a commentator during NBC's coverage of his sister's wedding and later spent time as a London correspondent for Today.
For the next to last story of the night NBC got around to Mother Teresa. In a 2:20 story, reporter George Lewis made a brief mention of her pro-life stand: "In announcing that Hillary Clinton would attend the funeral, a White House spokesman called her the natural choice to represent the United States. But Mother Teresa did not like the fact that Mrs. Clinton favors abortion rights."
Total time for Diana: nine minutes. For Mother Teresa, just over two.
Monday morning Today also raised Mother Teresa's abortion stand, but also provided time for a guest to relay the same criticism passed along by Peter Jennings last Friday (See the September 8 CyberAlert.)
MRC news analyst Geoffrey Dickens caught this exchange between Today co-host Matt Lauer and Ken Woodward, Newsweek's religion editor:
Lauer: "You talk about her being tough. The stories go that if she wanted something from someone, for example money to help her mission, she was very difficult to say no to."
Woodward: "Oh she was. And I mean she spoke at a Washington what do they call these things, these presidential prayer breakfasts. And she spoke truth to power, which is what Old Testament prophets did. She said any country that allows abortion the way that this country does commits violence and she said this to a President and a First Lady whose one consistent principle was choice."
Lauer: "And many people were critical of that. Other critics kind of chimed in because of the fact that she would take money and sometimes it appeared she had tunnel vision. She would help the individual in front of her without stopping and to look back at the larger picture that surrounded her in a particular country."
The CBS Evening News led with Haiti, then spent five minutes on Diana-related issues followed by 2:20 on Mother Teresa.
Dan Rather reported the withdrawal requests by attorneys for Paula Jones. Unlike both ABC and NBC, Rather failed to mention the news that Clinton's attorneys offered to pay Jones $700,000, which could be interpreted as an admission of some culpability. Instead, Rather emphasized White House denials:
"The lawyers for Paula Jones apparently wanted her to settle the case without necessarily a guaranteed presidential apology. President Clinton's lawyers repeated today that the President has no need to apologize because, he says, the charges are not true."
With Diana starting to quiet down CBS found time to return to an old tabloid story, giving two minutes to an update on the JonBenet Ramsey case.
(At the end of the last CyberAlert I wondered how much time the networks would allocate to Mother Teresa's funeral. Monday night both Peter Jennings and Dan Rather promised that their networks would provide live coverage of Saturday's funeral in India -- that will be around midnight Friday night/Saturday morning ET I think.
2) New CNN President Rick Kaplan's affinity for President Clinton may already be altering CNN coverage. The September 14 Washington Whispers section of U.S. News & World Report relayed that Kaplan "wasted little time cracking the whip" in his new post. U.S. News elaborated:
"When the former ABC executive held forth at his first early morning board meeting in Atlanta, insiders say, he delivered a scathing assessment of that morning's news program. While many credit him with 'energizing' the news operation, Kaplan raised a few eyebrows by telling CNN staffers to limit their use of the word scandal in reporting on Clinton's campaign fundraising woes."
U.S. News added: "A longtime Clinton friend, Kaplan has stayed in the Lincoln Bedroom. CNN had no comment."
Let's compare this latest development to Kaplan's earlier assurances. As noted in the August 7 CyberAlert, in the August 6 USA Today Peter Johnson relayed that Kaplan "sees no conflict between being a friend of the President's and running the country's top-rated cable news operation. 'I have 28 years of making news judgments behind me,' Kaplan said. 'And I'm not the first news executive to know a President.' He said he'd make news calls about Clinton coverage as a journalist, not a friend. 'If your job is to report, you report. Your business is your business.'"
Looks like Kaplan's business may be helping his political buddy out of a jam.
For more on Kaplan's ties to Clinton, see the August 7 CyberAlert or the August 1997 MediaWatch Revolving Door article. Go to: http://www.mediaresearch.org/archive/mediawatch/archive1997.asp
-- Brent Baker
Publication: BiasAlerts
Division: News Analysis Division
Tags: teresa, mother, clinton
Filter BiasAlerts by Date Range


text:
Ganesh Aarti Sung By Sanjay Dutt Will Be A Hit, Says Omung Kumar
Actor Sanjay Dutt is recording a Ganesh aarti for his Bollywood comeback film "Bhoomi". The film's director Omung Kumar says he is confident it will be a hit.
Talking about how the idea came into being, Omung said here on Monday: "Basically it is for a scene in the film where Sanjay is performing a Ganesh aarti. It is an opening scene of the film and the same opening you see in the trailer as well. So when the idea came up that we should record, we all immediately said 'yes'.
"It isn't about singing... Even if Sanjay just recites it passionately, that's enough. His voice echoes in your mind. I believe people will play this aarti for many years to come. It is going to be a big hit."
Sanjay, when asked about the song, said: "If you have seen the trailer, it starts with 'Jai Ganesh'. It is also a very important part in the film. We all sat down and decided that we should make a song which depicts this main part of the film.
"The training is going on, right now I am learning how to sing the song. I am not a singer... The song has to be sung very beautifully, so I am trying my best to sound better. I am a bit nervous, but let's see."
The actor is happy to "sing a great song for 'Bappa'".
"We celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi at my house... We worship him a lot, so I feel lucky that I have the chance to sing this song for him."
The actor also spoke about not being nervous about his comeback film.
"I am not nervous at all because we have worked very hard for the film and we all have put our blood and soul into it. So we will receive our rightful result."
"Bhoomi" is touted as a revenge drama centred on the relationship between a father and a daughter. Actress Aditi Rao Hydari essays Sanjay's daughter in the film.
The film is releasing on September 22.
triple talaq shabana...
asghar farhadi cruzs film...


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text:
Q: updateExistingPivot() not working I'm trying to update a pivot table like this:
public function updatePermission($id, $permissionId)
{
    $permissionValue = Input::get('value');
    $user = User::find($id);

    $perms = ['value' => $permissionValue];
    $user->permissions()->updateExistingPivot($permissionId, $perms);
}

This pivot has been previously created with:
public function attachPermission($id)
{
    $permissionId = Input::get('id');
    $permissionValue = Input::get('value');
    $user = User::find($id);

    if (!$user->permissions->contains($permissionId)) {

        $user->attachPermissionById($permissionId);
        $perms = ['value' => $permissionValue];
        $user->permissions()->updateExistingPivot($permissionId, $perms);

    } else {

        return Response::json(array('error' => 'Permission ' . $permissionId . ' is alreay set for user ' . $user->id));

    }

    return Response::json(array('role' => User::with(['roles.permissions', 'permissions', 'students'])->find($user->id)));
}

When the updatePermission() method is hit, it passes fine, but it doesn't update the pivot table with the new value. What am I doing wrong here?

A: I won't tell you why it doesn't work, but I suggest you do this:
public function attachPermission($id)
{
    $permissionId = Input::get('id');
    $value = Input::get('value');
    $user = User::find($id);

    $sync = $user->permissions()->sync([$permissionId => compact('value')], false);

    return (in_array($permissionId, $sync['updated']))
       ? Response::json(...) // permission updated
       : Response::json(...); // permission added
}

It will add or update new permission for you.


text:
Justin Trudeau's Brain Freezes When Recalling Why He Cracked Down on Peaceful Protestors
Justin Trudeau's Brain Freezes When Recalling Why He Cracked Down on Peaceful Protestors
What kind of noises was he making. [System Reboot?]
Woman: Do you remember what you were referring to when you start talking about "You shouldn't need more tools?"
Trudeau: *Long Pause* — I mean that whole question around legality or illegality of the protest. They didn't have a permit to protest — not, not certainly as long as they had. They were illegally parked.
The opinions expressed by contributors and/or content partners are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Red Voice Media. Contact us for guidelines on submitting your own commentary. Red Voice Media would like to make a point of clarification on why we do not refer to any shot related to COVID-19 as a "vaccine." According to the CDC, the definition of a vaccine necessitates that said vaccine have a lasting effect of at least one year in preventing the contraction of the virus or disease it's intended to fight. Because all of the COVID-19 shots thus far available have barely offered six months of protection, and even then not absolute, Red Voice Media has made the decision hereafter to no longer refer to the Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson substances as vaccinations.
DRHutchins
Truckers were illegally parked because Trudeau refused to hear their grievance. That doesn't justify freeing their bank accounts. Trudeau showed his hand as a dictator.


The compositions contained on this disc, like many of Barbara Monk Feldman's (b. 1953) works, have a strong connection to specific locations, and take their inspiration from landscapes the composer has known and experienced - not as literal depictions in sound, but as abstracted impressions of the colors, textures, and atmospheres evoked by these special places.
The Chaco Wilderness (2005) and String Quartet No. 1 (2004) both take their inspiration from the high deserts of northern New Mexico, where she lived from 2000 to 2012. Specifically these compositions reference the area around Chaco Canyon in the northwest part of the state, the site of abandoned ancient Native American settlements perched at the bottom of the rugged cliffs of this harsh but beautiful landscape. In program notes for the quartet, the composer has compared these cliffs to a "gravitational sculpture," addressing the close ties her music has both to nature and the visual arts. Like Georgia O'Keeffe's work, the music takes its inspiration from nature, but from this initial impulse reaches out towards abstraction. As in O'Keeffe where natural subjects are highly stylized, in Monk Feldman's work the melodic figures, while beautiful and expressive, are the starting point for more intensive exploration of instrumental color, texture, and registral shapes and contours.


Baseball recently saw the greatest closer to ever play put a cap on his storied career. Mariano Rivera sealed his legacy as baseball's top relief pitcher with one and a third perfect innings over the Tampa Bay Rays during the New York Yankees' last home game of the 2013 season. Long-time teammates Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte made the walk out to the mound to pull Rivera from the game, who despite his best efforts, couldn't help but show emotion. His heartwarming smile quickly turned to tears as he was embraced by teammates and overcome by the ovation from the crowd. After tipping his cap and acknowledging the fans who had cheered for him since his debut in 1995, he took his place on the bench and looked on as the Yankees finished their final home game of 2013.
Rivera's story could have been a fairy tale. Born in 1969 in Panama City, Panama, he grew up in a poor fishing village. Following a brief stint in Panama as a starting pitcher Rivera signed with the New York Yankees in 1990. Over the next five years, Rivera dominated the minor leagues despite surgery to his pitching arm. However, once called up to the majors, Rivera struggled to settle into a role as a starting pitcher. He found his true calling in 1996 as a set-up man before ascending to the closer's role the following season. Since then, he has redefined what it means to be a dominant closer.
As a major league closer, Mariano Rivera has an incomparable resume. When Rivera began his reign, Lee Smith was the career leader in saves, with 473; Rivera's 652 saves have since made Smith's numbers look almost pedestrian. He has thrown the final strike in four World Series, twice as many as any other pitcher. His 42 post-season saves and 11 World Series saves far surpass the next best marks of 18 and 6, respectively. His 2.21 career ERA (earned run average) is good for thirteenth of all-time, and his 1.00 WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) ranks third all-time. He's pitched to a 0.70 post-season earned run average and set the bar for clutch post-season performances, having earned World Series MVP honours in 1999 and ALCS MVP honours in 2003.
Rivera undoubtedly changed the game of baseball. Never before had the sport seen a pitcher so absolutely dominant and unforgiving with just one pitch—his cutter tormented the American League's best hitters for nearly two decades. However, what was more impressive than his signature pitch was his ability to instill fear in opposing lineups. Rivera's entrance music, "Enter Sandman" by Metallica, was all it took to signal to everyone in the stadium that the game was over. Despite the ease with which Rivera mowed down his opposition, he never showed a hint of the ego, nor the braggadocio, associated with the fiery closers of this generation; Rivera would simply walk over to his catcher and thank the backstop. It was the same automatic routine 652 times. His great achievements and reserved personality on the mound have earned him respect from players, coaches, and sportswriters alike.
In addition to this, the Sandman's presence in baseball changed the salary structure for relief pitchers. Rivera was awarded a $7.25 million salary following arbitration in 2000, the highest figure given to a player irrespective of position at the time. It is because of his landmark deal that relief pitchers now have the clout within an organization to be able to demand salaries that are comparable to those of starting pitchers.
Rivera is universally recognized as simply the best there has ever been. That recognition was evident as the Yankees played their final games in opposing teams' stadiums for the 2013 season. Those visits saw Rivera receive gifts from opposing teams ranging from donations to his charity to prized game memorabilia. The most memorable was the Minnesota Twins' rocking chair built from broken bats that his pitches had shattered in hitters' hands. The splintered bats serve as a timeless reminder of the futility faced by opposing hitters, managers, and fans alike as Rivera was called upon to carry the Yankees to victory. After 19 years, five World Series, and one legendary career, Mariano Rivera has given more to baseball than could possibly be given to him in return.


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8.3 Where the Publisher is also a Golf Club (Supplier of Tee times) but does not provide Tee Times inventory for sale on iseekgolf's own website, each and every week then the Commission rate payable to iseekgolf for Tee times sales made through the Publishing Widget on the Publisher own website or Mobile App or through the Publishing Widget installed on a website or App belonging to an entity that is related to the Publisher is agreed to be 5% of the advertised price.
8.4 Its acknowledged that iseekgolf may vary the commission rate payable by or too the Publisher on thirty days' notice.
9.1 Either party may terminate this agreement by giving one (1) months' notice in writing to the other party. On expiry of termination of notice, this agreement shall terminate and any reference to Tee Times dealing with the Publisher will be removed from iseekgolf.com.
• they have no claim for compensation or otherwise from iseekgolf if the agreement is terminated under this clause 9.
• All bookings made up to and including the date of termination (i.e. expiry of the notice period), will be honored.


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Cathy Heller Jones working with Musarc at Extra City, Antwerp, 2015. Photo: Yiannis Katsaris
Cathy Heller Jones acted as Musarc's director of music from 2008 – 2020. Born in New York City, Cathy gained her BMus degree at Boston University, followed by postgraduate singing studies at the Guildhall School of Music and the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh.
Her professional work combines conducting, singing, teaching and producing. Her singing career has taken her all over the world, much of it with the ensemble London Voices. She has toured with Steve Reich in the UK, with Kaija Saariaho in London and New York, and sung in the Paris premiere of John Adams' opera El Niño, directed by Peter Sellars. She worked with John Adams in concert productions of El Niño and Nixon in China both in Europe and the UK, and has recorded the complete vocal/choral works of Leonard Bernstein with Simon Rattle and Kent Nagano. She toured China in centenary performances of Britten's War Requiem and Peter Grimes, and can be heard on the soundtrack of scores of films and choral recordings, working with composers John Williams, Howard Shore, Alexandre Desplat and Paul McCartney. Cathy is the Director of Music at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in London, and teaches singing at St. Albans High School for Girls where she also conducts the Chamber Choir. She recently stepped down as Music Director of the Hertfordshire County Youth Choir, a post she held for 20 years.
Cathy Heller Jones: On Repetition. Workshop Programme, 1 Feb—1 Mar 2022
Do Disturb. Musarc at Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 21–23 April 2017


Last night was another long, long night in Azeroth. In three and a half hours I got to chat with guildies, run some heroics with 'em, and nab enough Emblems of Triumph to get a new helmet.
I first ran a Culling of Stratholme random with a PUG, but we screwed up and forgot to bring Arthas in the last part. Going back to get him got us all killed. Fun! I also missed out on the Bronze Drake again, but this time it was on a fair greed roll, so I have no complaints.
Later a guildie and I, along with a friend of his, ran three more heroics; Oculus, Hall of Stone and Nexus. The first two were relatively uneventful but the Nexus run had problems. First, our tank (my guildie) and a hunter (my guildie's friend) got disconnected. My guildie got back on quick but his buddy was off for a while. We also had a relatively inexperienced lvl 80 priest for a healer who did fairly good, but we overdrew at one point and I died. Our warlock actually rezzed me with a Gnomish Army Knife. Our hunter got back on eventually, but by that time we had four-manned about half of the dungeon.
In the end, I got my helmet and we said so long for the night. It was a very successful night, and I had a good time.


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Footpath ground
A field of Longcroft Farm
Footpath Ground (Parcel 1101) was a field of Longcroft Farm. It was so-named because it was part of a continuous footpath from Yeovil to Yeovil Marsh and eventually to Ilchester by ancient footpaths and lanes. It started at Kingston with Red Lion Lane, continued along Roping Path to Mudford Road. It then crossed the road and entered a large field called Green Cross. As it continued across Green Cross, the footpath became known as Hillon Path and is referred to in the Terrier of 1589.
In 1816 Longcroft Farm, including Footpath Ground, was let to Henry Guppy, known as Harry. However, in April 1816, Harry was being held as a 'Prisoner for Debt' in the King's Bench Prison, Surrey, awaiting his case to be heard at the Guildhall, Westminster during the following month.
The 1846 Tithe Apportionment recorded that Footpath Ground was owned by Lord of Kingston Manor, William Jones Prowse, who had inherited huge land holdings in the area. The farm, at this time, was let to James Tucker. Footpath Ground was described as pasture for grazing livestock and measured 5a 1r 3p.
During the 1860s, a Mr Sawtell was the tenant farmer. During the 1870s Robert Chard farmed Longcroft Farm, and during this period the farm was afflicted with a foot & mouth disease outbreak. In June 1879, Chard was declared a bankrupt. The next tenant farmer was William Hardy. By January 1908 Hardy had died and was followed, certainly between 1910 and 1921, by Herbert James Pearce.
During the early 1920s Longcroft Farm went through a series of auction sales and sales by private treaty. Footpath Ground (Parcel 1101) was sold off separately from the farm.
Footpath Ground (Parcel 1101) was bounded on the south by Combe Street Lane, to the west by Great Nobles Nap (Parcel 1100), to the north by Summerleaze (Parcel 1114), Smoke Acre Orchard (Parcel 1113) and Coppice (1) (Parcel 1102) that had been carved out of its north-eastern corner. To the east it was bounded by West Leaze (Parcel 1103).
Today, the southern edge is occupied by modern housing of Combe Street Lane.
Each farm has (or will have) its own page - click here.
Each Parcel of land has (or will have) its own page - click here.
This page last updated 11 October 2021


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/ Society, Culture, and Scholarship
/ Deborah Samson
Deborah Samson
war heroine
Birthplace: Plympton, Massachusetts
The oldest of at least seven children, Samson learned responsibility at an early age. Her father abandoned the family when she was five. A few years later Samson became an indentured servant, taking care of several boys. As the Revolutionary War got underway, she was infuriated by British action and questioned why she was not allowed to fight for her country. She worked as a school teacher in Middleboro, Massachusetts, for most of the war. But, in 1782 Samson dressed as a man and enlisted in the 4th Massachusetts Regiment as ?Robert Shurtliff.? Although General Cornwallis had already surrendered at Yorktown, there was still fighting in New York. Shurtliff soon earned a reputation as an outstanding soldier. At Tarrytown, New York, Shurtliff was wounded in the head and thigh. Later, while being treated for the head wound, she concealed the musket ball in her leg for fear of being discovered. She unsuccessfully tried to remove the ball herself, and her leg never healed properly. Later, Shurtliff contracted fever and fell unconscious. The examining doctor did learn her secret, but did not tell anyone for some time. However, in 1783, the doctor did tell a general at Fort Knox and she was honorably discharged. After the war, she married Benjamin Gannett. The couple had three children and was often in dire straits financially. Samson's friend, Paul Revere, persuaded the Massachusetts government to give her back pay and interest, a total of 37 pounds. This was inadequate, and Samson went on the lecture circuit, discussing her wartime experiences. Later, she received a pension of $4 a month. She died at the age of 67, and is the official heroine of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Died: 1827
A History of Women in the U.S. Military


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Tax Cuts Create Long-Term Uncertainty
While the proposed extension of tax cuts improves certainty in the near term, the long-term uncertainty remains high with the rising deficit. Additionally, the temporary tax extension will become a political football in 2012. See the following post from The Capital Spectator.
The House of Representatives passed the tax-cut extension bill last night and sent it over to the White House for President Obama to sign it into law. The legislation prevents the Bush tax cuts from expiring on December 31, offering what some say is a stimulus for the economy at a critical point in the recovery.
"This legislation is good for growth, good for jobs, good for working and middle class families, and good for businesses looking to invest and expand their work force," Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says via AP. Why, then, is there so much opposition? "There probably is nobody on this floor who likes this bill," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md, complains. "The judgment is, is it better than doing nothing? Some of the business groups believe it will help. I hope they're right."
This much, at least, is clear. Tax cuts are sure to be front and center in the 2012 presidential race, courtesy of kicking the extension two years down the road. Another deadline looms. Presumably the economy will be in better shape by then. Meanwhile, there's debate about the value of extending tax cuts for 24 months vs. making them permanent. Some critics complain about the uncertainty that surrounds a short-term temporary extension.
"Taxpayers now know that their taxes will once again become a political football in 2012," writes Scott Hodge, president of the Tax Foundation "Stability is one of the guiding principles of sound tax policy, but lawmakers have traded some near-term certainty for further long-term unpredictability. Taxpayers will not know how to plan their affairs beyond 2012."
At least the uncertainty has been banished for two years, runs counter argument. Is that enough? As many supporters of the bill rationalize, it's better than letting the tax cuts expire. The incoming Republican speaker of the House, John Boehner, advises in a new statement:
With nearly one in 10 Americans out of work, acting to ensure no American's taxes go up on January 1st was critically important. Failing to stop all the tax hikes would have destroyed more jobs and deepened the uncertainty in our economy. Stopping all the tax hikes is a good first step in our efforts to reduce the uncertainty family-owned small businesses are facing, but much more needs to be done, including cutting spending, permanently eliminating the threat of job-killing tax hikes, and repealing the job-killing health care law. These are critical priorities the new majority has pledged to act on in the next Congress, and I hope President Obama will listen to the American people and work with us to stop Washington's job-killing policies.
The challenge of cutting spending and maintaining the tax cuts promises isn't going to be easy. Some pols worry that the tax cut legislation only makes the job of pursuing fiscal rectitude that much more difficult. And there's a range of policy implications to ponder as well. Time's Curious Capitalist blog provocatively asks: Will the Tax Deal Kill Social Security?
At the center of it all is the question of how much boost the economy will receive in exchange for elevating the government's debt. Indeed, extending tax cuts is easy; curtailing spending is something else.
Extending the tax cuts is no free lunch in the long run, as the Congressional Budget Office has warned all this year. Then again, no one expects a lame-duck session of Congress to tackle such issues.
"Republicans are talking a lot about certainty," Matthew Mitchell, a research fellow and tax policy expert at George Mason University, says via The New York Times. "But even if they had won some sort of a victory where they got the current tax rates written in stone, spending is on such an unsustainable path in terms of entitlements, it really isn't certain at all."
But for now it's all about politics."The fact that President Obama has moved toward recognizing that a pro-growth economic policy has direct ties to the level of taxation…is a positive sign," Rep. David Dreier (R., Calif.), a member of the House GOP leadership, tells The Wall Street Journal. "I believe that moves him in the direction of being a better president."
It remains to be seen if the voters will agree in two years.
This post has been republished from James Picerno's blog, The Capital Spectator.
Posted by: The Capital Spectator @ 5:57 AM


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COVID-19 FAQs for Financial Institutions
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused widespread disruption to business operations across all industries. In the face of unprecedented uncertainty, financial institutions have a pivotal role in the urgent response to the crisis. There are also specific measures to take that can mitigate the impact of the crisis on financial institutions themselves.
Here are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions for financial institutions and specialty finance organizations, along with relevant resources to help businesses in their response to the pandemic and in planning for the future.
How does this impact CECL adoption?
The effects of COVID-19 could complicate how banks and other financial institutions comply with the current expected credit loss (CECL) accounting standard, given the impact on forecasting credit losses and underlying economic fundamentals, as well as partial relief offered under the CARES Act. For example, unemployment, which has risen significantly, is a driver of credit risk. Management should consider impacting factors just like any other significant estimate, which must be based on reasonable and supportable estimates and not on speculative information.
As a result of the financial reporting uncertainty, the CARES Act allows banks and other financial institutions to suspend applying CECL rules until December 31, 2020, or whenever the deferral is lifted, whichever comes first. The SEC also issued a public statement that applying the provisions of the CARES Act is in accordance with GAAP.
What is the impact to our supply chain?
As an "essential business," banks and other financial institutions are mandated to stay open, even with a limited worker presence. However, the COVID-19 outbreak has disrupted supply chains due to the forced closure of nonessential businesses and related workforce shortages. For banks and other financial institutions, this has caused a sharp increase in delays for supplies from vendors (including sanitizer, disinfectant and gloves that may be required to continue retail branch operations safely), and it has impacted the array of service providers that support banking operations. Some of these necessary vendors and service providers may also be in danger of financial default themselves due to business interruption and revenue losses.
Banks and other financial institutions should also bear in mind that when business survival is on the line, organizations tend to be less transparent and more focused on finding workarounds, which can result in an uptick of fraudulent activity that impacts the entire supply chain system. In the longer term, it's prudent to consider diversifying the supply chain where possible, which can help expand options during future periods of scarcity. While product cost is typically a determining factor in choosing a vendor or service provider, availability and stability take on greater importance when the usual supply chain has been disrupted. By optimizing current inventory and developing a more dynamic sourcing footprint, financial institutions can mitigate some key aspects of disruption to supply chains.
Should we be thinking about re-tooling our business strategy to capture new business opportunities?
Financial institutions have seen significant disruption as employees work from home, and even "late-adopter" customers have turned to mobile apps and online channels to conduct routine financial transactions. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced banks and other financial institutions to innovate in a very short period of time, and as a result, the 'new normal' may look very different to pre-crisis operations. The development or acquisition of proprietary fintech applications to support customer conversion and servicing will likely accelerate at an even faster rate.
The industry also stands to benefit financially as an administrator of loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a forgivable loan program included in the CARES Act, which significantly expands the types of organizations that are eligible for Small Business Administration (SBA) loans. To manage a backlog of applications, banks and other financial institutions are competing with other fintech entities to process these and additional small business loans.
It's clear that banks and other financial institutions have a lot to consider when it comes to new business opportunities in the long term. They will need to think creatively about value-add to appeal to customers, especially as the fintech industry continues to gain market share at their expense in managing consumers' financial transactions.
How can I prevent data loss while employees are working from home?
Many banks and other financial institutions have rapidly shifted their employees from an office-based work environment to a remote one. As a result, organizations have been forced to urgently review their security practices. When IT professionals set up a business' network, they implement numerous controls that are designed to prevent data leakage and loss. However, many popular platforms that enable remote work do not align easily with these controls. For example, while corporate controls might enforce a policy that prohibits the remote sharing of desktop files and USB connections, remote working tools may allow such actions. Moreover, employees who use their own devices for work instead of company-issued devices could unwittingly introduce malware to the network. This endangers the security of all network data, with particular concern regarding proprietary and sensitive information, especially related to revenues, costs, cash flow and new business opportunities.
Increasing the number of entry points to a network raises serious issues for data protection and increases the possibility of data loss. Security teams have also observed an increase in phishing attempts that could expose a network to ransomware. For this reason, employees should receive additional training for cybersecurity while working remotely. Not only could a company lose important data and be unable to retrieve it, but that data could also be shared improperly outside the organization or breached by a malicious third party, thereby exposing the business to potential violations of data privacy laws.
To mitigate data security and privacy risks, financial institutions and specialty finance organizations should use cloud computing for all files and require employees to connect using a cloud VPN. This provides secure access to the organization's network and shared files, and it encrypts all data. Two-factor authentication further strengthens these controls. Companies should also consider implementing specific data loss prevention (DLP) solutions, which give the network administrator control over the data that employees handle, and they should enforce policies around what data can be transferred and who can receive transfers. Advanced detection tools may also be deployed to prevent improper remote access. These technologies use machine learning to identify and respond to suspicious activities. Overall, network access for remote workers should be protected by numerous robust controls and barriers and actively monitored for any issues in real time.
How do I keep my workplace safe?
Banks and other financial institutions are deemed "essential businesses," meaning that branches are allowed to remain open during the COVID-19 pandemic. To minimize the risk of the virus' transmission, they have been encouraging customers to use drive-through facilities to conduct routine business transactions, and to make appointments to avoid crowds gathering in common branch areas such as lobbies.
Banks and other financial institutions should also refer to federal, state and local government requirements to inform social distancing and remote working protocols at branches. For example, San Francisco mandates that workers must work from home if they can do so, and only be 'on-site' if they are unable to perform their job functions from home.
Furthermore, social distancing best practices include maintaining at least six feet between people, regularly disinfecting high-touch areas and having a stock of hand sanitizer available to promote personal hygiene. Various shelter-in-place orders throughout some states also help to reduce foot traffic as citizens are required to stay indoors unless they have a justifiable reason or extenuating circumstances. For reference, a list of banks' COVID-19 response plans can be found on the American Bankers Association website.
What does IT need to do to prepare for remote working? What remote working issues should I anticipate?
Even as an "essential business" at the branch level, banks and other financial institutions have been forced to rapidly shift operations so that all non-essential employees work remotely, from HQ office workers to branch employees that can perform job functions independent of the facility. As a result, their IT departments are crucial to maintaining business continuity in the wake of these unexpected disruptions. IT should ensure that employees have the training to use collaboration, communication and conferencing technology—whether this is Microsoft Teams, Slack, Skype, Cisco Webex or another option.
For security, staff also need training on how to identify suspicious activity, such as phishing emails, and promptly report such activity to the IT department. This is especially critical for banks and other financial institutions that conduct transactions of a highly sensitive nature on a regular basis.
Cloud computing is another vital tool that facilitates remote working by providing secure access to the organization's network and shared files. Decision support systems in the cloud can also help employees be more productive. Using a cloud VPN can ensure that data is encrypted when employees access the cloud, and two-factor authentication strengthens that security. Employees should also be required to use company-issued devices for work purposes whenever possible, because personal devices may have unknown vulnerabilities or more lax privacy settings.
However, the widespread deployment of collaboration tools and cloud computing also increases demands on core network infrastructure. So, it's important to ensure the network architecture can support these demands and that IT has the necessary resources. The expansion of virtual teams also introduces more potential points of failure between end users and the network, and it creates more user support needs as well. Management can assist the IT department with employee training resources and change management initiatives to encourage the ongoing success of remote teams.
What tax strategies should I consider changing in light of the current environment?
In the short term, banks and other financial institutions should consider leveraging any tax strategies that can help offset costs and increase cash flow. These include provisions in the various stimulus bills like payroll tax credits and delays in payment due dates for both income and payroll taxes, AMT credits, net operating loss carrybacks and tax-deductible charitable contributions.
Outside of the existing stimulus bills and other response measures, financial institutions and specialty finance organizations should also consider measures to reduce their total tax liability that were already available prior to the start of the pandemic, such as state and federal Research and Development (R&D) tax credits that can offset the costs associated with, for example, developing fintech applications to service customers. Companies that operate internationally should also assess the tax relief options being offered in the countries in which they operate.
While there are many tax savings opportunities available, eligibility for some provisions is dependent on company size and other factors, and many benefits are mutually exclusive or have other tax implications that could affect an organization's total tax liability. Given the level of complexity in tax planning during this time, it is critical that banks and other financial institutions consult with tax professionals in order to maximize their savings and understand the long-term impacts of their tax strategies.
How is COVID-19 impacting deal flow?
Most management teams and investors are hitting the pause button on deal activity. The economic realities are changing fast, and so too are deal threats and opportunities. For banks and other financial institutions, COVID-19 has introduced significant risk and led to fewer lenders willing to facilitate deals. Furthermore, some borrowers are struggling to repay loans due to their own deteriorating financial situation, impacting the bottom line for potential deal targets. Valuations have also dipped as the market downturn has affected EBITDA and financial projections for sellers.
Parties in M&A deals—buyers, sellers and lenders—are currently assessing the situation and will be making decisions to proceed, adjust or discontinue deal processes based on critical factors including crisis management, performance outlook, valuation changes and COVID-19's lasting impact on the economy. Deal activity in certain in-demand sectors—such as technology, healthcare, and those facilitating essential services like distribution logistics—are likely to rebound sooner than other industries. Ultimately, and hopefully sooner rather than later, the path forward will become clearer and many sellers will resume sale processes. However, some will have to modify their approach or even take longer pauses as the uncertain outlook persists.
Our team is closely monitoring updates regarding the programs and relief efforts surround the COVID-19 pandemic. Please contact our Financial Institutions Group with questions. We are always here to help.
https://scheffelboyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/FAQ-FIG-BLOG-IMAGE.png 788 940 brett@bonniburns.com https://scheffelboyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ScheffelBoyle_WebLogo_Test2.png brett@bonniburns.com2020-06-10 08:13:502020-06-10 11:10:39COVID-19 FAQs for Financial Institutions
President Trump Signs Bill Offering Flexibility on PPP Loan Forgiveness Into... Main Street Lending Program Expansion


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