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Modern Email Threat: Morse Code Used in Phishing Attacks
Microsoft has revealed that cybercriminals are changing tactics as fast as security and protection technologies do, with the latest tactic: The use of Morse code in phishing attacks.
In the blog post "Attackers use Morse code, other encryption methods in evasive phishing campaign," Microsoft 365 Defender Threat Intelligence Team said that a year-long investigation found a targeted, invoice-themed XLS.HTML phishing campaign in which the attackers changed obfuscation and encryption mechanisms every 37 days on average, showing high motivation and skill level in order to constantly evade detection and keep the malicious operation running.
The phishing campaign's primary goal, Microsoft 365 Defender Threat Intelligence Team said, is to harvest sensitive data such as usernames, passwords, IP addresses, and location – information that attackers can use as an initial entry point for later infiltration attempts.
In a phishing attack, attackers masquerade as a trusted entity and trick a victim into opening an email with a malicious attachment. In the phishing campaign observed for a year by Microsoft 365 Defender Threat Intelligence Team, the attackers initially sent out emails to targeted victims about a bogus regular financial-related business transaction, specifically sending a vendor payment advice.
According to Microsoft 365 Defender Threat Intelligence Team, the malicious email contains HTML file attachment with "xls" file name variations. An attachment with xls file name ordinarily means it's an Excel file. Opening this attachment, however, leads to a fake Microsoft Office 365 credentials dialog box, and lately to a legitimate Office 365 page.
Entering one's username and password into the fake Microsoft Office 365 credentials dialog box or legitimate Office 365 page leads to the activation of the attackers' phishing kit – harvesting the user's username, password, and other information about the user.
According to Microsoft 365 Defender Threat Intelligence Team, the malicious HTML attachment is divided into several segments, including the JavaScript files used to steal passwords, which are then encoded using various mechanisms. "Some of these code segments are not even present in the attachment itself," Microsoft 365 Defender Threat Intelligence Team said. "Instead, they reside in various open directories and are called by encoded scripts. In effect, the attachment is comparable to a jigsaw puzzle: on their own, the individual segments of the HMTL file may appear harmless at the code level and may thus slip past conventional security solutions. Only when these segments are put together and properly decoded does the malicious intent show."
Named after one of the inventors of the telegraph Samuel Morse, Morse Code is a code for translating letters to dots and dashes.
According to Microsoft 365 Defender Threat Intelligence Team, in place of the plaintext HTML code, the attackers used Morse code – dots and dashes – to hide the attack segments.
The use of Morse code in phishing attacks was first reported by u/speckz on Reddit last February. Lawrence Abrams of Bleeping Computer followed up the initial report of u/speckz. Abrams said Morse code was used by a threat actor to hide malicious URLs in their phishing campaign to bypass secure mail gateways and mail filters.
When viewing the HTML attachment in a text editor, Abrams said, instead of the plaintext HTML code, Morse code is placed instead with dots and dashes. For instance, the letter "a" is written in ".-" and the letter 'b' is written in "-…".
"The script then calls a decodeMorse() function to decode a Morse code string into a hexadecimal string," Abrams said. "This hexadecimal string is further decoded into JavaScript tags that are injected into the HTML page. These injected scripts combined with the HTML attachment contain the various resources necessary to render a fake Excel spreadsheet that states their sign-in timed out and prompts them to enter their password again. Once a user enters their password, the form will submit the password to a remote site where the attackers can collect the login credentials."
According to the Microsoft 365 Defender Threat Intelligence Team, Morse code was observed in the February ("Organization report/invoice") and May 2021 ("Payroll") waves. In the February phishing campaign, the Team said links to the JavaScript files were encoded using ASCII then in Morse code. In May, the Team added that the domain name of the phishing kit URL was encoded in Escape before the entire HTML code was encoded using Morse code.
The changing tactics and speed that cybercriminals use to update their obfuscation and encoding techniques in launching their phishing campaigns via Office 365 environment call for the following cybersecurity best practices:
Use Office 365 Group Policy or mail flow rules for Outlook to clean .htm or .html or other file types that aren't needed for business operation.
Enable Safe Attachments policies to check attachments to inbound email.
Turn on Safe Links protection for users with zero-hour auto purge to remove emails in case attackers weaponized a URL post-delivery.
Use multi-factor authentication (MFA).
Avoid password reuse between accounts.
Make consent phishing tactics as part of security or phishing awareness training.
Enable network protection to block connections to malicious domains and IP addresses.
To better protect your organization against modern threats and mitigate cyber risks, schedule a consultation with one of our cybersecurity experts today.
Here is How Email-Borne Threats Still Bypass Current Security System
Email-Borne Threats Still Bypass Current Security System, Study Shows
Despite the advancement in current email security systems, a new study reveals that these security systems still miss a significant number of email-borne threats.
In the 3rd quarter of 2018, Mimecastretested 80 million emails that were considered "safe" by current email security systems. The Mimecast study found that out of the 80 million emails deemed to be "safe", 42,350 emails were found to be impersonation attacks, 17,403 contained malicious software (malware) attachments, 16,581 emails contained dangerous file types and 205,363 malicious URLs were found.
Impersonation attacks refer to emails that attempt to impersonate a trusted individual or company in order to gain access to corporate finances or data.
Dangerous files, meanwhile, refer to files such as .jsp, .exe, .dll and .src – files that allow a program to run on a computer, exposing the computer to further cyber attacks. According to Mimecast, dangerous files bypassed current email security systems at an increased rate, showing a 25% increase from the last quarterly test.
How Prevalent Are Email-Borne Threats?
In the first half of 2018, over half-a-billion emails were analyzed by FireEye. It found that less than a third or 32% of email traffic was considered "clean" and delivered to an inbox. FireEye's analysis found that 1 in every 101 emails had malicious intent.
FireEye further found that majority or 90% of the blocked emails contained no malware – 81% of which considered as phishing attacks and 19% considered as impersonation attacks.
Cyber criminals see the advantages of leveraging emails as a means to wage cyber-attacks as emails continue to be the preferred form of communication worldwide despite the growth of other technologies such as social networking, instant messaging and chat. Email also maintains its dominance as it's an integral part of the overall internet experience. An email address is required if you want to use a social networking site or for your bank's online service.
According to The Radicati Group(PDF), over half of the world population uses email in 2018, with the number of worldwide email users expected to top 3.8 billion in 2018 and expected to grow to over 4.2 billion by the end of 2022.
The following trends in email-borne threats were observed by FireEye and The Radicati Group:
Blended Attacks
The most common form of email-borne threat is the blended attack – a form of attack that combines an email and web access to deliver a malware to an
organization's internal network. In blended attack, the email itself doesn't contain a malware. The email only facilitates the delivery of the malware as it contains a link that when clicked goes directly to a malicious website and from there the malware is downloaded, then infecting the
organization's internal network.
Impersonation Attacks Have Gone Mainstream
The cyber-attack called "business email compromise", also known as BEC or CEO fraud, is an example of an impersonation attack.
In impersonation or BEC attack, an attacker or attackers send a bogus email purportedly from the CEO to a targeted employee, typically one who has access to company finances. Through the bogus email, the attackers request the targeted employee to make an urgent money transfer, usually to a trusted vendor's new bank account.
Many profit and nonprofit organizations had been duped by BEC scammers in recent years. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), BEC scammers, between October 2013 and May 2018, defrauded different organizations worldwide of almost $12.5 million.
Email Attack Schedule
Malware-based attacks most likely occur during Mondays and Wednesdays. During Thursdays, malware-less attacks most likely happen. Impersonation attacks, meanwhile, most likely occur during Fridays.
One example of the malware-less email is the impersonation email, an email that spoofs domains or uses lookalike domains. Another example of a malware-less malicious email is the blended email, whereby the email contains a link to a malicious URL. An additional example of a malware-less malicious email is one that contains a dangerous file such as an .exe file.
One explanation why impersonation emails are sent during Fridays is that impersonation emails typically are bogus emails from an organization's CEO. During Fridays, especially late Friday afternoon, it's typically difficult to call or talk in person with the boss – a situation favored by scammers to buy time to trick a targeted employee.
How to Prevent Email Attacks?
Here are some security measures in order to block or detect email-borne threats:
In email-based attack, it only takes one click to infect your organization's internal network. And your weakest link for this particular type of cyber-attack is your staff. Staff training isn't just a one-shot deal. It needs to be continuous as well as effective.
It's particularly important to train executives and employees dealing with finances to be vigilant against email-borne threats as they're targeted by criminals, especially in BEC attacks. One way to train your organization's staff is by sending test emails to check their resilience against email-borne threats.
Use an Advanced Email Security Tools
Traditional email security tools only block emails that contain malware. An advanced email security tool, in addition to blocking emails laden with malware, blocks malicious emails containing spoofs domains, lookalike domains, emails containing malicious URLs and emails containing dangerous files.
Contact us today if you need assistance in protecting your organization's network from email-borne threats.
What is a BEC scam?
BEC scam artist ordered to pay back $2.5 million, lands hefty prison sentence
Major Accounting Firm Deloitte Admits It Suffered Cyber Attack
Deloitte, one of the world's "big four" accountancy firms, admitted that it suffered a cyber attack. The company, however, downplayed the cyber attack saying that "only very few clients were impacted" and "no disruption" to client businesses happened.
Deloitte's clients include 80% of the Fortune 500 companies and more than 6,000 private and middle market companies.
British news outlet The Guardian and cyber security journalist Brian Krebs have come out with a different take on Deloitte's cyber attack.
Sources told the British news outlet that an estimated 5 million emails have been accessed by the hackers in the Deloitte cyber attack. A source close to the Deloitte cyber attack investigation, meanwhile, told Krebs that the Deloitte hacking incident involved the compromise of all administrator accounts at the company as well as the company's entire internal email system.
"In addition to emails, the Guardian understands the hackers had potential access to usernames, passwords, IP addresses, architectural diagrams for businesses and health information," Nick Hopkins of The Guardian wrote. "Some emails had attachments with sensitive security and design details."
The Guardian reported that Deloitte discovered the hack in March of this year but the hackers may have had access to the company's systems since October or November 2016. This hacking period was confirmed by Krebs who said that the Deloitte hacking dates back to at least the fall of 2016.
"Deloitte has sought to downplay the incident, saying it impacted 'very few' clients," Brian Krebs wrote. "But according to a source close to the investigation, the breach dates back to at least the fall of 2016, and involves the compromise of all administrator accounts at the company as well as Deloitte's entire internal email system."
"As part of the review, Deloitte has been in contact with the very few clients impacted and notified governmental authorities and regulators," Deloitte said in a statement. "The review has enabled us to understand what information was at risk and what the hacker actually did, and demonstrated that no disruption has occurred to client businesses, to Deloitte's ability to continue to serve clients, or to consumers.
A source told Krebs that Deloitte "does not yet know precisely when the intrusion occurred, or for how long the hackers were inside of its systems."
Cause of the Cyber Attack
Sometime in October 2016, Deloitte may have sense that something was wrong as the company sent out an email to all its employees in the US calling for a mandatory password reset. The notice includes an advice to pick complex passwords and a warning that employees who fail to change their passwords or personal identification numbers (PINs) by Oct. 17, 2016 wouldn't be able to access email or other Deloitte applications.
According to The Guardian, Deloitte's global email server was compromised through an "administrator's account" – an account that has unrestricted access to all aspects of the email server. The administrator's account required only a single password and didn't have 2-step verification, sources of The Guardian said.
By relying only on a password – single factor authentication, Deloitte's email system became highly vulnerable to cyber attack.
Hackers nowadays find is easy to hack emails using only a single factor of authentication or a password due to the following reasons:
Many people are lazy enough to change the default password.
Many use the same password on more than one site.
Cyber criminals can steal your password if you download malicious software from the internet and if you click on malicious links in email messages.
Prior to the massive hack at Equifax where personal identifiable information like names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses of 143 million Americans, 100,000 Canadians and 400,000 UK residents were stolen, Equifax was a victim of an earlier hacking incident.
On May 15 of this year, the Counsel for TALX Corporation – a wholly owned subsidiary of Equifax – informed the Attorney General of New Hampshire about a hacking incident that harvested W-2 tax forms of the employees of the corporate clients of TALX. According to the Counsel for TALX, hackers gained access to the website of TALX and harvested W-2 tax forms of customers by successfully answering personal questions used to reset "PlNs" or passwords to access the website.
"Because the accesses generally appear legitimate (e.g., successful use of login credentials), TALX cannot confirm forensically exactly which accounts were, in fact, accessed without authorization, although TALX believes that only a small percentage of these potentially affected accounts were actually affected," the Counsel for TALX said.
"It's pretty unbelievable that a company like Equifax would only protect such sensitive data with just a PIN," Avivah Litan, a fraud analyst with Gartner, told Krebs, in reaction to the TALX-Equifax data breach. "That's so 1990s."
What is a 2-Step Verification
Many companies like Google, Facebook and Apple have adopted the 2-step verification, also known as two-factor authentication.
The 2-step verification is one of the security measures to help keep bad guys out. An example of the 2-step verification is that of Gmail where you'll be asked to enter your password as usual. In addition to the password, you'll be asked for something else. A code will be sent to your smartphone via text, voice call or mobile app. You can sign in using this code. You can also sign in using a USB security key – a small device that connects to your computer.
Can the 2-step verification totally keep the bad guys away? The two-factor authentication offers more protection than logging into an email account without it. This added layer of security can stop certain group of hackers. It can't, however, stop other sophisticated cyber attacks.
The USB security key is considered as more secure compared to the code sent via smartphone. There's, however, the danger of this device being lost or stolen. Cyber criminals, in the past, have infected mobile devices to steal 2-step verification security codes.
Your organization's entire internal email system could be full of sensitive information. Protecting your company's email system goes beyond a password – single factor authentication. Email security also goes beyond the two-factor authentication.
Contact us today if you need further protection for your organization's internal email system.
Canadian University Loses $11.8 Million to BEC Scammers
An Edmonton, Alberta-based university publicly acknowledged that it was a victim of a recent cyber attack.
According to the Alberta-based university, a series of bogus emails tricked university staff into changing the electronic banking information for one of the university's major supplier. This resulted in the money transfer worth $11.8 million to a bank account that the university staff believed belonged to the supplier.
The university traced over $11.4 million of the money to bank accounts in Canada and Hong Kong. According to the university, the traced bank accounts have been frozen and the university is working with its legal counsel in Montreal and Hong Kong to pursue civil action to recover the money. The remaining balance of these accounts is, however, unknown at this time.
"There is never a good time for something like this to happen but as our students come back to start the new academic year, we want to assure them and the community that our IT systems were not compromised during this incident," the university spokesperson said.
The incident that occurred at the Alberta-based university is an example of the cyber attack called business email compromise (BEC).
What is a Business Email Compromise (BEC)
BEC is a cyber attack that targets organizations that have regular dealings with foreign suppliers and regularly perform wire transfer payments.
According to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), from October 2013 to December 2016, a total of 40,203 BEC incidents were reported worldwide, with the total financial loss amounting to $5.3 billion. The IC3 said that the scam has been reported in 131 countries, with victims ranging from non-profit organizations to small businesses and large corporations. These businesses offer a variety of goods and services, signifying that no specific sector is targeted more than another. Tech giants Google and Facebook succumbed to BEC scams.
"Ransomware has been drawing much of the attention in the security world lately," Cisco 2017 Midyear Cybersecurity Report (PDF) said. "However, a threat that's not nearly as high-profile is raking in far more for its creators than ransomware: Business email compromise, or BEC."
According to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, some of the organizations affected by BEC reported being a victim of ransomware attack before the BEC incident.
How BEC Works
BEC is an elaborate deception scheme.
First, attackers study the organization they want to target.
Attackers spend weeks and even months to study the organization's suppliers, billing systems, top executive or CEO's writing style and his or her travel schedule.
Tools Used:
Attackers get the above-mentioned information from public online resources such as social media accounts and by using malicious software that's capable of infiltrating the organization's networks, gain access to passwords, financial account information and email threads relating to billing and invoices.
Second, attackers establish a relationship with a target employee.
When the time is right, for instance, when the CEO isn't in his or her office, BEC scammers contact a specific employee – bookkeeper, accountant, controller or chief financial officer – in an organization who's responsible for directly transferring money to suppliers.
Attackers exploit the target employee through email spoofing, phishing email and telephone calls.
In email spoofing, cyber criminals impersonate an authority in the company, for instance, the CEO. For example, criminals may spoof the real email address of a CEO from "[email protected]" to "[email protected] xyz_corporation.com".
A spoofing tool is also used by the attackers to direct email replies to a different account that the attackers control. At this stage, the target employee is tricked into thinking that he or she is corresponding with the organization's CEO.
Phishing Email
Phishing attack also uses email spoofing. Unlike spoofing though that simply establishes a relationship with the target employee, phishing email tricks the target employee to reveal sensitive information like account details or financial data. In phishing email, the target employee, for example, is made to believe that a series of bogus emails that asks sensitive information are from a trusted partner like a supplier of the organization.
To further trick the target employee that he or she is dealing with authority figures, attackers may call the target employee to further establish trust. According to the FBI, BEC scams are carried out by transnational criminal organizations that employ not just hackers but also linguists and lawyers.
Third, attackers send instructions for money transfer.
For this third stage, attackers further deceive the target employee, for instance, by convincing the employee that the supplier has a new bank account number and instruct the employee to send payment to this new account. Attackers may also send a bogus email from a CEO to release the money to the new bank account.
Fourth, money sent is drained to different accounts.
In this fourth stage, money is sent to "money mules" in different parts of the world. Some of these accounts are difficult to trace. If the scam isn't uncovered in time, it may be hard to recover the money.
How to Prevent BEC Scams
Here are some of the ways to prevent BEC scams:
1. Verify the authenticity of the money transfer request.
"The best way to avoid being exploited is to verify the authenticity of requests to send money by walking into the CEO's office or speaking to him or her directly on the phone," said FBI Special Agent Martin Licciardo.
Also, confirm the money transfer request by calling the supplier with the previously known company numbers, not the one provided in the email request. In the case of the Alberta-based university, based on the preliminary assessment of the university's internal audit group, the BEC scammers were able to succeed in deceiving the university staff as "controls around the process of changing vendor banking information were inadequate".
2. Use an email intrusion detection system.
This automated system can flag emails with extensions that are similar to your organization's email. For example, an intrusion detection system for legitimate email of xyz-corporation.com can flag bogus emails from xyz_corporation.com.
You have a backdoor to your business, and it's Email
Email is the most widely used form of business communication today. It's inexpensive and fast. This form of communication, however, exposes businesses to cyber criminals.
Malicious cyber criminals consider the email as businesses' backdoor – a vulnerable feature of a computer system that calls for exploitation. Failing to protect your business emails is like fortifying your house with the latest alarm systems and then leaving your backdoor wide open.
Symantec in its 2016 Internet Security Threat Report estimated that nearly 190 billion emails were in circulation each day in 2015 alone, with an average of 42 emails sent and received by each business user every day – a growing number of users reading their emails on their mobile devices.
Symantec reported that in 2015, email spam rate increased by 53%; phishing rate at one in 1,846 emails; and malware rate in one in 220 emails. "For cybercriminals who want to reach the largest number of people electronically, email is still the favored way to do it," Symantec said.
3 Ways Cyber Criminals Exploit the Vulnerabilities of Emails
Cyber criminals exploit the vulnerabilities of emails in a number of ways. Here are 3 ways cyber criminals exploit emails:
1. Business Email Compromise (BEC) Scams
The cyber threat called business email compromise (BEC) relies on the oldest trick of con artists: deception. In BEC, con artists zero in employees who have access to company's finances, deceiving them into making wire transfers to bank accounts thought to belong to business partners – when in fact, the money ends up in the accounts of cyber criminals.
BEC is one form of phishing – a form of identity theft that tricks people to reveal their Social Security numbers, bank account numbers and other valuable details – by making an email looks like it came from a legitimate source such as a bank, a partner company or government agency.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported that since 2013, organized crime groups, employing the business email compromise scam, have targeted small and large organizations and companies in every U.S. state and more than 100 countries around the world. According to the FBI, since January 2015, there has been a 1,300 percent increase in BEC, with losses now totaling over $3 billion.
Tech giants such as Google and Facebook are not spared by BEC scammers. In March 2017, the FBI arrested Evaldas Rimasauskas for scamming multinational internet companies of over $100 million via email compromise scheme. While the FBI didn't name the companies, a Fortune investigation revealed that the multinational internet companies referred by the FBI as victims of Rimasauskas were tech giants Google and Facebook. In the Rimasauskas case, Google and Facebook thought they were communicating via email with a legitimate staff of Quanta – supplier of the tech giants' computer servers.
Business Email Compromise (BEC) Scams Prevention
BEC scams can be prevented in the following manner:
Be wary of emails requesting for wire transfer. Carefully examine all email requests for transfer of funds to find out if the requests are out of the ordinary.
Verify the authenticity of the wire transfer requests by walking into the CEO's office or by talking to him or her on the phone.
Confirm requests for transfers of funds by using phone verification as part of a two-factor authentication. In this verification process, use previously known numbers, not the numbers provided in the email request.
Phishing Scams Prevention
Here are some of the ways to prevent phishing scams in general:
Be cautious if someone contacts your company online and requests for detailed business information.
Keep in mind that no financial institution will email you and ask you for sensitive information such as PIN and account numbers as the financial institution already has that information.
2. Malware Spread
Email is one of the oldest ways to spread malware – short for "malicious software" – software designed to damage or infiltrate computers without the users' consent. In May 2000, the malware called "ILOVEYOU" infiltrated millions of computers. The ILOVEYOU malware comes in a form of an email from someone the receiver know, with a subject "ILOVEYOU" and the body of the message reads "kindly check the attached LOVELETTER coming from me."
An enormous number of people – probably out of the universal need to be loved – opened the ILOVEYOU email and downloaded the attached file. Once run, the malware overwrites all computer files and then send an identical email to all the contacts of a victim's Outlook address book. As a result of the ILOVEYOU malware, a number of mail systems worldwide were overloaded causing a meltdown of electronic communication among businesses and governments.
Malware Spread Prevention
Here are some of the ways to combat the spread of malware sent via emails:
Don't open emails or attachments or click links from unknown or untrusted sources.
Don't open email attachments that end in .vbs, .bat, .exe, .com.
If a person you know sends you an attachment that looks suspicious, contact the person first to verify what the attachment is all about.
3. Denial of Service (DoS) Attack
A denial-of-service (DoS) attack is an attempt by cyber criminals to prevent legitimate users from accessing online services like email. Spam email messages can be used by attackers to prevent your customers from emailing your company.
Email accounts, whether supplied by a paid service or free services such as Yahoo or Gmail, are assigned a specific quota. This quota limits the number of emails that your business account can receive at a given period of time. When attackers bombard your business account with too many or large email messages, this can consume your quota and prevents your company from receiving legitimate messages.
DoS Attack Prevention
To prevent DoS attack.
Reduce spam messages by following good security practices for distributing your company's email address. Exercise caution when releasing your company's email address online, in-person or on paper. Spammers can easily collect any email address posted on a website.
Use filters or spam tagging.
Disable the automatic downloading of graphics in HTML mail.
When you have questions, connect with us and get the answers you need.


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Q: Throwing exception outside of Flux/Mono reactive pipeline In my spring JMS listener onMessage method, I am using a reactive pipeline as as below where I receive a JMS message from a queue and transform that to a different format and publishing to another topic. Without the reactive flow, in the case of failure in output publishing, I can throw a runtimeexception for the same message to redeliver from the queue. But by using the below flow of reactive approach, I cannot find a way to throw an exception outside. Can you please help on what should be the approach here for throwing the exception outside to get the message redelivered
    public void onMessage(Message message) {
      Mono.just(message)
     .doOnNext(LoggingUtil::logMessage)
     .flatMapIterable(messageTransformer::transformToTriggerEvents)
     .doOnNext(LoggingUtil::logTriggerEvent)
     .doOnNext(triggerEventPublisher::publish)
     .subscribe();
    }

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Linda Shenton Matchett: Talkshow Thursday: Meet Norma Gail!
Linda: Welcome to my blog, Norma Gail. I'm thrilled to introduce you to my followers. I greatly enjoyed your book, Land of My Dreams. Congratulations on publishing your first novel. Where did you find your inspiration for the story?
Norma Gail: I have wanted to be a published author since I was a child and read Little Women. Jo March was my hero. Life, a nursing career, kids, all got in the way, but I always said, "Someday." When I broke my foot and spent 8 weeks in a wheelchair, my boredom led me to start working on a story idea that had been churning in my brain for a couple of years. Once I had it down on paper, I got the courage to attend a writer's conference and see if I had what it took. I learned a lot and a little over a year later, following my second conference, I had a contract.
Norma Gail: Much of the research for Land of My Dreams was done prior to ever sitting down to write. It involved a trip to Scotland for our 30th wedding anniversary. My most interesting research story involves a work in progress. I love history, if it's family history, I love it more. My great grandfather and great uncle were murdered on their ranch in southwestern New Mexico in 1918. The killers were never brought to justice and I took that very personally. I attended nursing school with the great granddaughter of one of the men involved. We had to agree to disagree and ended up working together for 7 years.
Years later, I began researching on the internet and came across cousins who were sisters, also searching. Our mothers met once. Our grandmothers were sisters, but the families lost touch over the years. They came for a visit with another sister and their mom. I rented a Suburban and we went off for a week to see what we could dig up in libraries, newspapers, and the scene of the crime. We are a little closer to the answers, but in the process, I have reunited the descendants of my great grandparent's eight children who had lost touch with each other. We now communicate regularly, share photographs and some of us have met. I continue to be the principle researcher. I have even talked on the phone to the great grandson of one of the murderers who has many questions of his own. We plan to get together soon and discuss our shared tragedy. He now owns a portion of my great grandfather's ranch. It is a story begging to be told.
Norma Gail: Absolutely a pantster! I plot when I get stuck, but I have to just write and get the story on paper before I can begin to make it flow coherently. I've tried plotting first. I find it tedious and boring.
Norma Gail: I have two. The first is when Bonny Bryant, an American college professor, teaching in Scotland, goes fly-fishing with Kieran MacDonell, a bagpipe playing, kilt-wearing, Highland games athlete in Scotland. He is a full-time sheep farmer and part-time math professor. My husband played a huge part in writing the scene, and I love the electricity between Bonny and Kieran and the fun they end up having over an event that parallels a true-life fishing experience of my husband.
The second would have to be when Kieran takes Bonny to Urquhart Castle, the castle on the shores of Loch Ness. The experience of a very special rainbow is taken from an experience my husband and I had on top of that very castle on our trip to Scotland. For that reason, it holds a very special place in my heart.
Norma Gail: I am completing the sequel to Land of My Dreams. The tentative title is Within Golden Bands. The characters, one in particular, had their own ideas about how to behave and totally messed with my plans for the story, however, it is shaping up as a pretty exciting romantic suspense. I am loving returning to my beloved characters who have become my dear friends!
LM: Now that you've published your first book, what advice can you offer for fledgling writers?
Norma Gail: Don't think because you made good grades in school and have always loved writing that you know everything and can write a bestseller on your own. Take time to learn your craft. Attend writing conferences early and often. Take the advice you're given from critiques, good or bad, and never, never give up!
Norma Gail: Teaching the Bible. I recently had to give up the Bible study I led for 13 ½ years, for health reasons. I miss it terribly. My real passion is teaching the Old Testament, especially Genesis, because so many Christians tend to be ignorant of the power of those books. I love Deuteronomy and Leviticus, and helping women develop a biblical worldview. My other passion is family history research. I can get totally carried away with either.
Norma Gail: I love romantic fiction, but my favorite Christian author is Michael Phillips. He is not known for romance or light, easy reads. He is known for beautifully woven stories that have deep and powerful Christian lessons. My goal is to write stories that entertain, but also move the reader to examine their lives and relationship to Jesus through the experiences of the characters and grow through their reading. I like fiction with spiritual depth, yet great, heartrending romance.
LM: Thank you so much for visiting today! Readers you can find Norma Gail's book Land of My Dreams on Amazon.
Thank you for hosting me today, Linda! I really enjoyed your questions!
Enjoyed the interview. I really enjoyed Land of My Dreams.
Thank you, Ann! I appreciate you taking the time to stop by and leave a comment.


I knew the Height Barrier wasn't there, but for CR West Kilbride Ardrossan 1 and Ardrossan 2 there are now big "No Overnight Parking Signs" at the entrance which google maps doesn't show.
This isn't meant to be a pros/cons validity argie bargie, I'm just stating what's there now. What the signs don't have is any ref to a TRO or Council notice etc. they're just that - Large (looks like the council put them in concrete) signs.
The little stickie on the back of the sign said 1) they had no monetary value (?) and 2) had a date of Feb 2016 on them. So they were either made then or planted recently.
We only parked up for another dog walk and a bite to eat.


text:
C.P. Taylor
C.P. Taylor was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1929 and was the author of more than 70 plays. Married and father of four children, he spent his last 20 years in Northumberland, in Newcastle-on-Tyne. There he wrote many plays for young audiences and was closely associated with the Live Theatre Company for which he wrote And a Nightingale Sang (1977). About his writing, Taylor said, "[My] main themes are the conflicts between man's ideals and his limitations. Every play is about particular people, particular periods, particular incidents. The universal comes from a close and accurate study of the particular." His longtime friend Max Roberts, artistic director of the Live Theatre Company, wrote of him: "Whatever the subject matter, all the plays he wrote contained a basic 'truth' or something he unearthed that was 'real,' however small or seemingly inconsequential. Add to this an enormous 'worry' about the human race, a gifted instinct to make sense of the absurdities, cruelty and humor of its people, a total inability to write anything shallow or transparent, and you have a very special playwright … he left behind him not only a fantastically diverse canon of work but a constant reminder of what was possible in the past and a stimulus for achievement in the future." In 1981, C.P. Taylor died suddenly at the age of 52.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: generate all combination Given buckets of unique numbers, how do we generate all combinations where you choosing a number from each bucket only once.
For example, if given {1,12,3} and {4,22,6} the answer is:
1/4  12/22 3/6
1/4  12/6  3/22
1/22 12/4  3/6
1/22 12/6  3/4
1/6  12/4  3/22
1/6  12/22 3/4
Of course, we don't just want 2 buckets, but n buckets.
And each bucket can contain any amount of numbers; the numbers are unique across buckets.
Any algorithm in c# would be appreciated.
I would expect the result to be something like: List<List<int[]>>
Thanks!

A: Take a look at this:
C# Permutation of an array of arraylists?
And this:
Fast permutation -> number -> permutation mapping algorithms


Personal injury attorney sues Port Townsend for retired reporter | GSJones Law Group, P.S.
GSJones Law Group personal injury attorney Chalmers Johnson sues Port Townsend, the police department and the officer who injured his client, a retired newspaper reporter.
Port Townsend police officer threw retired reporter Stephen Patch to the sidewalk and ground his face in the concrete in December 2014. Mr. Patch ended the encounter face down in a pool of his own blood with a broken wrist. The officer was responding to a report from a third party in which Mr. Patch was the alleged victim in an argument with his disabled son. The officer, who can be heard on the police dash-cam recording, explained to Mr. Patch's outraged son at the scene that he was only trying to protect Mr. Patch from injuring himself. He changed his justification for the attack when he later wrote a report that stated Mr. Patch, a slight 64-year-old man, was threatening the police officers.
"Once he had broken [Patch's] wrist and smashed his face into the concrete, Officer Fudally, still lying on top of the injured man, used one hand to grab [Patch] by the head and force [his] face into the concrete walkway and into the pool of [Patch's] blood," the lawsuit alleges. Mr. Patch's treatment cost $60,000.
In response to a letter to the City, Port Townsend's insurer turned down the claim, insisting that the officer had done nothing wrong. Chalmers Johnson sued in Jefferson County's Superior Court, which is seated in Port Townsend, but the City, the Department, and the officer opted to exercise their right to remove the case to Federal Court in Tacoma, avoiding the potential for a local trial with jurors exclusively from Jefferson County. It still remains to be seen whether Mr. Patch receives compensation and justice in this case.
A case may be removed from State Court to Federal Court when a case involves a federal claim. Practicing in Federal Court requires a separate license. In addition, the procedures in Federal Court are often more complicated than the State Courts. Chalmers Johnson has been admitted to the federal bar for the Western District of Washington and the Federal Appellate Court. He is one of a small percentage of attorneys to be admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. Thus, he is comfortable pursuing cases under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. He litigated civil rights cases in the Federal Courts for many years.
Mr. Patch worked for several Washington newspapers, including the Port Townsend Leader.
This entry was posted in Blog posts and tagged Chalmers Johnson, personal injury. Bookmark the permalink.


The ancient flatbread was baked by Natufians, hunter gatherers who lived in the Levant from 12,500 to 9,500 BC.
July 17 (UPI) -- Archaeologists have recovered the charred remains of a piece of flatbread baked by hunter-gatherers 14,400 years ago, at least 4,000 years before the advent of agriculture.
Several samples of ancient bread were recovered from the hearth at an archaeological dig site in northeastern Jordan. When researchers analyzed the remains, they identified the wild ancestors of several domesticated grains, including barley, einkorn and oat.
"The remains are very similar to unleavened flatbreads identified at several Neolithic and Roman sites in Europe and Turkey," Amaia Arranz Otaegui, an archaeologist at the University of Copenhagen, said in a news release. "So we now know that bread-like products were produced long before the development of farming. The next step is to evaluate if the production and consumption of bread influenced the emergence of plant cultivation and domestication at all."
"Natufian hunter-gatherers are of particular interest to us because they lived through a transitional period when people became more sedentary and their diet began to change," said Copenhagen archaeologist Tobias Richter. "Flint sickle blades as well as ground stone tools found at Natufian sites in the Levant have long led archaeologists to suspect that people had begun to exploit plants in a different and perhaps more effective way."
Lara Gonzalez Carratero, an archaeologist and PhD candidate at University College London, used electronic microscopy to characterize the flatbread's composition. She and her research partners also established new criteria for identifying ancient cereal-based products like bread and porridge.
Researchers recounted their discovery and analysis of the ancient flatbread in the journal PNAS.
"Bread involves labor intensive processing which includes dehusking, grinding of cereals and kneading and baking," said archaeologist Dorian Fuller. "That it was produced before farming methods suggests it was seen as special, and the desire to make more of this special food probably contributed to the decision to begin to cultivate cereals. All of this relies on new methodological developments that allow us to identify the remains of bread from very small charred fragments using high magnification."


For most individuals and their families there are two kinds of bankruptcy. They are known as: Chapter 7 – Liquidation and Chapter 13 – Adjustment of Debts of an Individual with Regular Income. But, some individual family farmers or fishermen may file a Chapter 12 – Adjustment of Debts Of Family Farmer or Fisherman With Regular Annual Income.
In a bankruptcy case under chapter 7, you file a petition asking the court to discharge your debts. The basic idea in a chapter 7 bankruptcy is to wipe out (discharge) your debts in exchange for your giving up some of you property that is sold at auction to pay some of your creditors. However, the bankruptcy law allows you to protect some of your property and prevent its sale. These are called "exempt" property which the law allows you to keep. The purpose of allowing a debtor to keep some, if not all of their property, is to allow them to have the assets necessary to run their homes and businesses and to carry on daily living. In many cases, all of your property will be exempt. But property which is not exempt is sold, with the money distributed to creditors. If you want to keep property like a home or a car and are behind on the mortgage or car loan payments, a chapter 7 case may not be right for you. That is because chapter 7 bankruptcy does protect property that was given as collateral for a debt, such as a home mortgage or a car loan. Creditor can foreclose on your home or repossess cars whose debt was eliminated in a Chapter 7 case. There are exceptions to this rule, please talk to a qualified attorney, before you decide to file a Chapter 7 case. If you are having difficulty paying a car or home loan and wish to keep them, and if you are employed or have income, then you may be able to file a chapter 13 case.
Are not employed or do not have enough income to pay for your necessary household expenses and pay your creditors.
Are being sued or if your paycheck, bank accounts, or income tax refunds are being garnished.
Are facing foreclosure, do not wish to keep the property, but need time to move.
In a chapter 13 case you can save your home or your car by making payments over time to bring those accounts current. In a chapter 13, a debtor prepares a repayment "Plan". This Plan tells the court and your creditors how you will re-pay your creditors with payments from your income. The Plan math must "add up". Your monthly budget must show that your bankruptcy plan payments will bring your secured debts accounts current, pay the expenses of bankruptcy and pay some of your other debts over three to five years. The most important thing about a chapter 13 case is that it will allow you to keep your home and car and other valuable property. Property that was not "exempt" and would have been auctioned off in a Chapter 7 case, to pay your creditors is protected. It is not required to be sold. You may propose a plan where you sell property and pay that money into the Plan, but that is up to you. A chapter 13 Plan must pay the same amount to your creditors that they would have been paid if you had filed a chapter 7 case. But, so long as you can pay your secured and other debts from your income, chapter 13 is probably right for you.
You will need to have enough income during your chapter 13 case to pay for your necessary household expenses and to keep up with the required payments as they come due.
Bankruptcy is a legal proceeding in the United States Bankruptcy Court system that helps people who are having difficulty paying their debts get a "fresh start". The purpose of Bankruptcy is to give to the honest, but unfortunate debtor a new opportunity in life and a clear field for future effort, unhampered by the pressure and discouragement of preexisting debt.
A Chapter 7 case is what most people think of when they think of bankruptcy; the debtor files a Chapter 7 case and in 3 or 4 months their debt is eliminated. This is referred to as a "discharge". In exchange for this quick discharge, a bankruptcy Trustee will sell the debtor's "non-exempt" assets and distribute those funds (less the Trustee's fee) to creditors. The Trustee doesn't take and sell everything a debtor owns, Bankruptcy law recognizes that a debtor will need certain important assets to get a fresh start in life, including their home, car, furniture, clothing, personal items and retirement savings and other assets. The law permits the debtor to protect or to "exempt" the debtor's most important assets. In most cases, these allowed "exemptions" permit the debtor to keep everything they own and nothing is sold. It's important to remember, in a Chapter 7 case, the debtor keeps his income, but there is always the possibility that he or she may have to turn over property to the Trustee for the benefit of their creditors. An attorney helps the debtor determine when this is a risk.
A Chapter 13 case is a repayment plan. It is usually used by people who are employed, but who have fallen behind in their mortgage or car payments and want a chance to become current on those debts and prevent foreclosure or repossession and it is used by people whose wages are being garnished to pay a debt and they don't have enough to live on. Debtors with a regular income may propose a plan to repay some or all of their debt under the protection of the Court. This plan, is usually a five year plan, but can be shorter in some cases.
Chapter 13 is also for debtors who wanted to file a Chapter 7 liquidation, but have learned that if they file a Chapter y case, a Trustee will sell some of their assets. Sometimes the debtor does not want to lose those assets. These debtors may choose to file a Chapter 13 case, the debtor keeps all of his or her assets, even those "non-exempt" assets that they cannot protect, but they must pay through their plan, the value of the assets that would have been sold by the Trustee, if they had filed a Chapter 7 case.
Chapter 13 also allows the debtor to modify the terms of some of their loan obligation, to reduce the amount of the debt, lowering the interest rate, shorten or lengthen the repayment term or reduce a monthly payment.
At the end of both cases, debtor will receive an Order of Discharge. This order prevents any creditor from attempting to collect any debts that arose before the bankruptcy case was filed. Any creditor that violates this discharge and attempts to collect a debt provided for in his or her plan may be brought before the bankruptcy Court, who may order the creditor to return payments and or pay a substantial penalty. It is this Discharge Order that gives the debtor the fresh start they deserve.
Bankruptcy cases have their own court. It's called the United States Bankruptcy Court. A bankruptcy debt relief program helps debtors who are having difficulty paying their debts. A person, a corporation or other legal entity that is having difficulty paying its debts may declare bankruptcy by filing a Petition with the United States Bankruptcy. At that moment, the debtor receives the Court's immediate protection from creditors.
Article I, Section 8, of the United States Constitution authorizes Bankruptcy. Congress enacts the bankruptcy laws and rules. Congress enacted the "Bankruptcy Code" in 1978 and the Code has been amended several times since then. It is the law that governs all bankruptcy cases. Bankruptcy Courts have their own rules; the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure (often called the "Bankruptcy Rules" regulate how the debtor's case is managed in the court. There are 90 bankruptcy Courts in the United States. Each state has at least one bankruptcy Court, but most states have several courts. Michigan has two Bankruptcy Courts, and those Courts operate in eight locations; Detroit, Flint, Bay City, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Kalamazoo, Traverse City and Marquette.
A bankruptcy case starts with the filing of a Petition. The moment that that Petition is filed, the Bankruptcy law automatically and immediately imposes an order directing all creditors from taking any further collection actions against the debtor's property and against the debtor and all co-debtors, individually. If a creditor demands payment, garnishes accounts or paychecks or repossesses property after the case is filed, may be sanctioned by the Court. The "Automatic Stay" goes into effect immediately, even when the creditor has no idea that a bankruptcy was even filed. The Automatic Stay is the Court's powerful protection from creditors.
After the case is filed, the Court will appoint a Trustee to help the Court administer the case. The Trustee's job is to determine whether the debtor has any income or assets that can be used to pay creditors all or part of the debt. Depending upon the Chapter of the case that is filed, the Trustee has the power to sell property, lease property or receive a portion of the debtor's paycheck or other income to pay debts. Under the Bankruptcy Code, some of the debtor's assets and income is "exempt", meaning the Trustee may not take it or use it to pay creditors. In some cases, all the debtor's assets are exempt, and in other cases, the Trustee is able to sell some property. It is the debtor's Bankruptcy Attorney to evaluate the debtor's income and assets and to advise the debtor whether the debtor's assets can be sold or how much of the debtor's income from employment will belong to the Trustee.
After the 341 hearing, if there are no complications, the debtor may not have to return to Court at all. In a chapter 7 case, in the absence of any objections of creditor's or the Trustee, the debtor can expect a discharge of his or her debts within about 3 months from filing. In a Chapter 13 case, the debtor will propose a repayment plan to the Court. A Chapter 13 repayment plan may pay debts over three to five years. A plan can be shorter than three years if it pays all creditors 100% of their debts.
Chapter 7, called a "Liquidation". In this chapter, a trustee takes over the debtor's assets. Some of these assets are protected ("exempt"), but if they are not exempt, the Trustee reduces them to cash, and pays the money to creditors. In many cases, all the debtor's assets are exempt and the Trustee sells nothing at all. The debtor normally receives a discharge just a few months after the petition is filed. The debtor must pass a "means test" to determine whether they qualify to file a chapter 7. If a debtor makes too much income from employment, or has the ability to pay a portion of the debts from their wages, a debtor may not be eligible for chapter 7 relief.
Chapter 9, entitled Adjustment of Debts of a Municipality. Only cities and towns, as well as villages, counties, taxing districts, municipal utilities, and school districts may file a Chapter 9 case.
Chapter 11, entitled Reorganization, ordinarily is used by large businesses or individuals with unusually large amounts of debt.
Chapter 12, entitled Adjustment of Debts of a Family Farmer or Fisherman with Regular Annual Income, provides debt relief to family farmers and fishermen with regular income..
Chapter 13, entitled Adjustment of Debts of an Individual with Regular Income. An individual debtor who has a regular source of income proposes a "plan" to repay creditors over time – usually three to five years. . Chapter 13 is often better for a debtor than a chapter 7 because it enables the debtor to keep a valuable asset, such as a house, which would have been sold if the debtor filed a Chapter 7 case. The debtor must complete all payments required under the plan before the discharge is received.
Chapter 15, entitled Ancillary and Other Cross-Border Cases. It is used to manage a bankruptcy of a debtor with income, assets or business in several countries.


text:
package slack

import (
	"testing"
)

func newConfigGood() (config *SlackConfig, err error) {
	config, err = newSlackConfig("testing/slack_good.json")
	return
}

func TestNewSlackConfig(t *testing.T) {
	// arrange, act
	conf, err := newConfigGood()

	// assert
	if err != nil {
		t.Log("could not load slack config file")
		t.Log(err.Error())
		t.Fail()
	}

	if conf == nil {
		t.Log("conf is nil")
	}

	if conf.WebhookUrl == "" {
		t.Log("conf.WebhookUrl is empty")
	}

	if conf.WebhookUrl != "http://test" {
		t.Log("WebhookUrl was not the expected value: " + conf.WebhookUrl)
		t.Fail()
	}

	if conf.BotUsername != "GoShipit" {
		t.Log("BotUsername exptected to be <GoShipit>. Actual <" +
			conf.BotUsername + ">.")
		t.Fail()
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
namespace mock_mmio {
std::random_device MockDevice::rd;

// Definitions for the MOCK_MMIO-mode declarations in |mmio.h|.
extern "C" {
// dummy
mmio_region_t mmio_region_from_addr(uintptr_t address) {
  return (mmio_region_t){};
}

uint8_t mmio_region_read8(mmio_region_t base, ptrdiff_t offset) {
  auto *dev = static_cast<MockDevice *>(base.mock);
  return dev->Read8(offset);
}

uint32_t mmio_region_read32(mmio_region_t base, ptrdiff_t offset) {
  auto *dev = static_cast<MockDevice *>(base.mock);
  return dev->Read32(offset);
}

void mmio_region_write8(mmio_region_t base, ptrdiff_t offset, uint8_t value) {
  auto *dev = static_cast<MockDevice *>(base.mock);
  dev->Write8(offset, value);
}

void mmio_region_write8_shadowed(mmio_region_t base, ptrdiff_t offset,
                                 uint8_t value) {
  auto *dev = static_cast<MockDevice *>(base.mock);
  dev->Write8(offset, value);
  dev->Write8(offset, value);
}

void mmio_region_write32(mmio_region_t base, ptrdiff_t offset, uint32_t value) {
  auto *dev = static_cast<MockDevice *>(base.mock);
  dev->Write32(offset, value);
}

void mmio_region_write32_shadowed(mmio_region_t base, ptrdiff_t offset,
                                  uint32_t value) {
  auto *dev = static_cast<MockDevice *>(base.mock);
  dev->Write32(offset, value);
  dev->Write32(offset, value);
}
}  // extern "C"
}  // namespace mock_mmio


To continue to attract and retain a qualified and talented workforce, Norfolk Southern established a corporate Diversity Council over a decade ago, engaging employees across the network to implement diversity initiatives and serve as ambassadors. However, in a company with operations in 22 states, NS decided to localize its diversity and inclusion efforts for greater impact.
To empower employees to initiate diversity and inclusion efforts at the local level, NS created local Diversity & Inclusion councils in all nine operating divisions and the Atlanta and Norfolk offices.
Create local Diversity & Inclusion councils – Each council includes a diverse mix of employees who represent a variety of departments and locations in the corresponding division. This localized approach enables more employees to take an active role in identifying, developing, and implementing processes and initiatives that will foster diversity and inclusion. Council members are dedicated to spreading diversity and inclusion awareness throughout the company at the local level.
Educate at the local level – The Diversity & Inclusion councils educate employees to increase engagement beyond core diversity and inclusion training offerings. They use safety meetings to promote diversity and inclusion in the field, host events to celebrate heritage months (Diwali and Lunar New Year), and have regular meetings to discuss unique challenges in their local areas. The councils also participate in additional training and in community events to support diversity and inclusion in their local areas.
By creating local Diversity & Inclusion councils in every division and office, we can support specific diversity and inclusion efforts in every part of our company and promote an inclusive work environment.
I am confident that with the input and participation of NS employees, this targeted approach will have a lasting impact on all personally and professionally.


text:
Romania and the EU Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP)
Romania is an active participant in the political dialogue inside the EU and plays an important role in the CDSP. As an EU member state, Romania is currently contributing to the drafting of the EU Positions, Statements and demarches and is fully applying them. Romania is observing the international sanctions regime and the restrictive measures imposed by the EU, the UN and OSCE. Romania is also participating in the meetings of all working groups and structures of the Council dealing with CDSP.
In the current security environment, characterized by changes in the nature and complexity of threats, the EU member states, including Romania, are using this specific tool of intergovernmental action in order to achieve an active EU presence at the global level.
At the foundation of EU actions in this field lies the European Security Strategy, adopted in December 2003, whose implementation status was the object of a Report, in December 2008, aimed at updating the Strategy in view of the current threats and risks and of the ambitions assumed, with more and more effectiveness, by the EU as a global player in promoting security and stability around the world.
Romania's contribution to the development of European civilian and military capabilities
Romania is an active member of several key structures within CDSP, such as the Satellite Centre of the EU (EUSC), located in Torrejon (Spain), the Security Studies Institute of the EU (ISS), located in Paris, and the Brussels-based European Defence Agency (EDA).
For en effective action of the EU in the CDSP field, Member States agreed upon the necessity to build new civilian and military capabilities, dedicated to this purpose. The European Defence Agency (EDA) has a central role in developing military capacities, as well as regarding the containment of fragmentation at the EU level in this strategic field of action, by developing cooperation programmes, further implemented by the Member States under the EDA "umbrella". Depending on its interests and needs in the military equipment field, Romania also gets involved in programmes meant to develop last generation capabilities in order to add more value to these efforts. The Capability Development Plan is the main support element in the defence planning process of the Member States, creating the premises for a more effective response to the crisis situations that the EU will have to tackle in the future.
Regarding its military contribution, Romania confirmed its participation in two EU Battlegroups (EUBG). The Romanian contributions have been included in the HELBROC BG, formed by Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus and in a second Battlegroup, ITROT, with Italy and Turkey.
On the civilian side, Romania is currently among the main contributors (with both personnel and equipment) to the EU civilian crisis management operations. In July 2013, 56 Romanian seconded experts and other 55 contracted personnel were taking part in CSDP missions.
© Copyright 2008 MAE. Toate drepturile rezervate.


Emmy-winning cinematographer and big-water kayaker Scott Lindgren's new film Burning Time is a bold new Outside-sponsored production that's been in the making for two years. In it, Lindgren (of Tsangpo-expedition fame: see Outside's July 2002 cover story "Liquid Thunder") scours the globe with kayaking's best athletes, seeking out some of the most radical whitewater challenges ever captured on film. Burning Time features epic footage of renowned paddlers like Tsangpo-expedition member Steve Fisher, and pro boaters Andrew Holcomb, Rusty Sage, John Grace, and Shannon Carroll.
Enter here to win a new Pyranha h:3 kayak!
In addition to great paddling scenes, look forward to a wave surfing session in New Brunswick with World Freestyle Champion Jay Kincaid, and join Miles Daisher for an adrenaline-crazed demonstration of "skyaking." Then, venture to Alaska, Argentina, British Columbia, and Elko Nevada's Ruby Mountains with SLP's first-ever segment on helicopter skiing, featuring Andrew Sheppard, Eric Hjorleifson, and X-Games gold medalists Zach and Reggie Crist.
For the film's big finish, watch kayaker Jason Hale set himself on fire and fly over the edge of a 40-foot waterfall.
Burning Time is available on DVD at www.slproductions.tv.


text:
Tag: diversification
How can charities expand and diversify their income?
Guest Blog – Written by Stefan Lipa Consultancy
Ensuring a healthy income stream is a key function for any charity that wishes to achieve its aims. All too often, charities facing a cash crisis have allowed old income streams to fall away or haven't considered all options for new ones.
Diversifying income streams does require a deal of work, but relying on a few, dwindling sources of money is not a sustainable plan. Diversifying can make all the difference to your charity's survival and will empower it to achieve, or even expand, its stated goals.
Step one: Refreshing current income streams
At Stefan Lipa Consultancy the first thing we do when we're invited to carry out a fundraising audit for a charity is to review what they're already doing, to make sure it's up to date and efficient. Our principle is that our clients shouldn't have to reinvent the wheel, so we look at all possibilities to realise the potential within their current range of activities.
Quite often, clients may have a number of income streams which they developed a while ago but they just assume it continues and they don't maintain it. Clients say "Yes, we already do that," but the people or organisations at the other end of the donation get forgotten and drop away and so the income decays over time. This should be the starting point.
A case in point is a parish church we support; 20 years ago they had a push to sign up members who would contribute regularly. But over years they hadn't updated their campaign or added new people, so the number of donors was down to single figures and income was dropping off. The church council thought there was no more potential from that method of funding and assumed that the decline was just the way of the world, but all it took was a fresh effort to expand that income again.
Step two: new sources
Once we've optimised existing income streams we look at identifying new sources. These can come in a variety of shapes including:
Grant-making organisations
Social media crowdfunding
When we start work with a charity, they often say "Oh, we don't know anyone we can ask for a donation," but when we drill down into the issue, we usually find many more connections or potential donors than they realise they had.
Sometimes we suggest to clients something they've overlooked which may be as basic as applying for Gift Aid. This is a scheme whereby registered charities can reclaim from HMRC 25p on every £1 donated by a UK taxpayer. It effectively allows you to boost your income from donations by 25%.
All registered charities are entitled to join the scheme but you do have to register; some of our clients haven't done this because they think it's too much hassle.
There are strict rules about what you can and can't claim for, but they're explained on the HMRC website and it's certainly worth investigating as a new income source. And you can go back four years to claim in arrears.
External fundraising advice
If you have a professional problem you may go to a solicitor or an accountant for advice and they will usually come up with suggestions, often simple ones, which you had never considered.
All too often, struggling charities are simply reacting to events and can get into a bit of a bind and it doesn't occur to them that a fundraising consultant can also widen their vision.
Bringing in an external consultant will introduce fresh ideas, and that's as true for fundraising consultants as it is for any other professional. We bring an external objectivity to focus on the problem and come up with new answers for expanding and diversifying income.
Stefan Lipa Consultancy helps charities to diversify their income
Stefan Lipa Consultancy helps charities to achieve their fundraising goals. We work in areas including heritage, religion, education, youth, culture, museums, the theatre, music, health and community services.
We offer bespoke, impartial and honest advice with consultancy and management services for capital campaigns and revenue fundraising.
We work on projects with targets from £100k to millions of pounds, mainly in Hampshire, the Midlands and the South of England, providing accurate, impartial and frank assessments, every step of the way.
Contact Stefan Lipa Consultancy or ring us on 01256 698090 to arrange a meeting for discussing your particular circumstances and the services we offer. This meeting is completely free of charge, with no obligation on either side.
Celebrating Charity 25 years of ups and downs in fundraising
The Benefits of Fundraising Qualifications
Tea & Cake
UK Fundraising Professional Sian Newton on the Value of Earning a Fundraising Certification
New leadership at Gifted Fundraising Consultants


text:
Q: How can I push consecutive same elements into subarrays? For example,
input = ['a','b','b','b','a','a','b','c','c']
output = ['a',['b','b','b'],['a','a'],'b',['c','c']]
Here, if there are more than one same elements then those are put into sub-array.
Can you please help me out?

A: This solution uses a sneaky trick to prevent having to check if a list element is either a single element or an Array already. By doing [*list[-1]] we make sure to always end up with an Array, regardless of whether the last element in the list we are building was a single element (e.g., 'a') or an Array already (e.g., ['b','b']). Then, we check if the first element of that Array (could be any element, they are all the same) is equal to the element of input we are currently processing. If so, we append it to the created Array. Otherwise, we just append it to list since it is different from the previous element.
input = ['a','b','b','b','a','a','b','c','c']

output = input.reduce([]) do |list, e|
  last = [*list[-1]]
  if last[0] == e
    list[-1] = last << e
  else
    list << e
  end
  list
end

p output
# ["a", ["b", "b", "b"], ["a", "a"], "b", ["c", "c"]]

Alternatively, with checking specifically for the type of the element it would be something like this:
output = input.reduce([]) do |list, e|
  last = list.last
  if last.is_a? Array and last.include? e
    last << e
  elsif last == e
    list[-1] = [last, e]
  else
    list << e
  end
  list
end

This was tested on Ruby 2.0, but it should run fine on 1.8.7 as well.

A: Ruby 1.9+ has Enumerable#chunk, which will almost do what you want:
input.
  chunk {|e| e }.
  map(&:last).
  map {|e| if e.size == 1 then e.first else e end }

For older versions of Ruby, Enumerable#chunk is available in Marc-André Lafortunes backports gem. Just add
require 'backports/1.9.2/enumerable/chunk'

on top.

A: I was under the impression that, this problem can be solved using slice_before. But couldn't figured out. Finally  Robert Klemme has guided me in the proper direction. Hope you guys would also like it.
input = ['a','b','b','b','a','a','b','c','c']
prev = nil
input.slice_before { |e| (e != prev).tap { prev = e } }.
      map { |elem| elem.size == 1 ? elem.first : elem }
# => ["a", ["b", "b", "b"], ["a", "a"], "b", ["c", "c"]]


Wanting To Find Personal Injury Lawyers in College Station Texas?
Individuals have accidental injuries frequently - and will have to live with the results because of these actions which were for the most part unintentional and unplanned. Personal Injury Lawyers in College Station Texas state that a number of the different kinds of accidents consists of collisions with many other trucks, a physical injury at your workplace, and trip and fall personal injuries at the retail store for starters.
When you're injured from an incident and looking at past due doctor bills, rehabilitation, the loss of work, plus a long-term convalescence, it is a problem. Seeking out the help of Personal Injury Lawyers in College Station Texas to look after the possible legal details of an injury claim will help.
After you have chosen to seek the advice of Personal Injury Lawyers in College Station Texas, what can you depend on them to undertake for you?
Evaluate the information regarding your accident!
Carry out an extensive analysis of the injury place!
Confer with probable specialist observers!
Manage insurance carrier talks - or prepare for a court case!
The professional effort of Personal Injury Lawyers in College Station Texas can help you throughout the injury claim process so you can collect equitable payment with regards to your injury. Watson Law Firm in College Station Texas is comprised of proficient arbitrators with personal injury lawsuits.
What exactly are some of the factors I should go with Watson Law Firm to become my Personal Injury Lawyers in College Station Texas?
Expertise and education with regards to injury claims lawsuits!
Dependable and caring legal representation for every single individual!
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Any time you're facing the issues regarding healing from accidental injuries acquired because of someone else's neglectfulness, a good choice you can make may be to seek the counsel of Personal Injury Lawyers in College Station Texas with Watson Law Firm!
Need To Locate Personal Injury Lawyers in College Station Texas?
Watson Law Firm Is The Recommended Selection!


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Kylian Mbappé angered by Olivier Giroud's comments about a lack of service
L'Équipe report that Olivier Giroud's comments following France's 3-0 victory over Bulgaria angered Kylian Mbappé, to the point that the young Frenchman wanted to give a press conference to make a statement.
Giroud scored twice in the encounter, once when Kylian Mbappé was substituted off, and the PSG attacker felt offended by the Chelsea man's statement post-match that he feels that sometimes he was not being passed to, without naming anyone explicitly.
Giroud went on to thank and congratulate Benjamin Pavard and Wissam Ben Yedder for their assists. Mbappé wanted to appear in a press conference today in order to respond to Giroud and what was said in the press thereafter.
Didier Deschamps rejected his request, telling Mbappé instead to focus his energies on Tuesday's EURO 2020 opener for France vs Germany. Giroud went into damage control in Clairefontaine yesterday, speaking to Mbappé, who was still not fully satisfied by the exchange.
Canal Plus boss: "I am not certain that French football will be on Canal + next season."
Antoine Griezmann on if the 2021 squad is better than the 2018 one: "On paper, yes."


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Federal Commissioner of Taxation v. Turner.
Olney J
Judgment date: Judgment handed down 19 March 1984.
Olney J.
This is a taxation prosecution pursuant to Pt. VII of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (the Act). As contemplated by sec. 237 of the Act the plaintiff Commissioner proceeded in accordance with the usual practice and procedure of this Court in civil cases by issuing a writ with a statement of claim endorsed.
The short facts as pleaded by the plaintiff are as follows. At all material times the defendant carried on the business of a specialist medical practitioner in West Perth and was by reason of his residence in Australia and the amount of his total income required to furnish to the plaintiff a return of his income for the year ending 30 June 1978. On 12 April 1979 the defendant furnished to the plaintiff a return made and signed by him which return disclosed that for the year ending 30 June 1978 the defendant had sustained a loss in terms of taxable income in the amount of $11,578. An amended return for the same period made and signed by the defendant was later lodged with the plaintiff on 26 November 1979 and this disclosed a taxable income of $56,383. On 6 March 1980 a further amended return for the same year made and signed by the defendant was lodged with the plaintiff and on this occasion the return disclosed a taxable income of $59,056. The plaintiff says that the return of income furnished on 12 April 1979 was incorrect. The foregoing facts were not pleaded to by the defendant and are deemed to be admitted (Rules of the Supreme Court O. 20 r. 14).
The plaintiff further pleaded that the return furnished on 12 April 1979 was false in a particular in that it claimed a loss for taxation purposes of $11,578 and disclosed no taxable income for the relevant year whereas in fact the defendant's taxable income was not less than
ATC 4163
$59,056 or, alternatively, $56,383. This claim is denied by the defendant but he admits that the return was incorrect in a particular in that it claimed the loss pleaded and disclosed no taxable income for the year, whereas the defendant's taxable income for that year was in the sum of or about $59,056. The effect of the defendant's pleading is that he admits the return was incorrect but denies that it was false.
In addition to the facts I have outlined, the plaintiff pleaded other matters touching upon the defendant's knowledge and intention at the time of furnishing the return but for reasons which will appear it is not necessary to refer further to them.
The plaintiff pleads in the alternative that the defendant is guilty of an offence of knowingly and wilfully understating his income and is liable to the penalties provided by sec. 230 of the Act and that the defendant is guilty of an offence of making or alternatively delivering a return which is false in a particular and is liable to the penalties provided by sec. 227 of the Act. The prayer for relief claims that the defendant be convicted of each of the alleged offences and that penalties as provided in those sections be imposed.
By his defence the defendant pleaded facts which if proved would have provided him with a defence to the claimed offence against sec. 227 but at the commencement of the trial his counsel conceded certain other facts which he admitted effectively disposed of that defence.
By virtue of sec. 164 of the Act a return purporting to be signed by or on behalf of a person is deemed to have been duly made by him or with his authority unless the contrary is proved. Although the alleged offence against sec. 227 is pleaded in the alternative to the extent that it is said the defendant made, or alternatively, delivered a return which is false in a particular, the facts as pleaded, and deemed to be proved there being no evidence to the contrary, obviously established that the defendant made the return and in those circumstances I do not need to consider the question of whether or not he delivered it.
The defendant having conceded that there was no basis in the defence originally pleaded, counsel for the plaintiff moved for judgment on the pleadings for conviction under sec. 227. This immediately raised the question of whether for the purpose of sec. 227 a return which is admitted to be ``incorrect'' in a particular is ``false'' in that particular. Clearly, if the answer to this question is in the affirmative, the plaintiff's motion for judgment must succeed.
After hearing argument I ruled that for the purpose of sec. 227 a return that is incorrect in a particular is to that extent false. Accordingly, I acceded to the plaintiff's motion for judgment and convicted the defendant of the offence of making a return that is false in a particular. The plaintiff thereupon elected not to proceed further with the prosecution insofar as it related to the claim under sec. 230. At the time of ruling on the construction of sec. 227 I did not give reasons but indicated that I would, in due course, commit my reasons to writing which I now do.
I do not think it does any injustice to the competing arguments put by counsel to say that they can be summarised as follows. For the plaintiff it is said that in the context of sec. 227 the words ``incorrect'' and ``false'' are synonymous whereas for the defendant it is said that ``false'' in this context must carry with it some degree of animus. It is suggested that perhaps it was not necessary to put the matter as high as that specified in sec. 230, but at least some degree of intention, even as much as may be implied by a failure to take reasonable care, needs to be shown to convict under sec. 227.
As a matter of ordinary English usage the word ``false'' is capable, depending upon its context, of meaning either erroneous or deceitful and for this reason I turn to the context in which the word appears in the statute. A comparison of sec. 227 with sec. 229 and 230 suggests that when Parliament has intended to proscribe deceitful conduct it has used the words ``knowingly'' and ``wilfully'' which tends to suggest that in sec. 227 ``false'' should be given some other meaning, namely its more common meaning of erroneous or incorrect. The matter is, however, put beyond doubt when the full text of sec. 227 is considered. By subsec. (2) it is provided that it shall be a defence in any prosecution under the section of a person not previously convicted of an offence against the Act or against any Commonwealth or State law relating to income tax if the defendant proves that the return to which the prosecution relates was prepared or made by the taxpayer personally and that the false return was made through ignorance or inadvertence. On the argument advanced for the defendant a return
that is incorrect in a particular through ignorance or inadvertence would never be false and so the occasion for the provisions of subsec. (2) to operate would never occur. That proposition has only to be stated to demonstrate that it is not valid. In my opinion a proper construction of sec. 227 both in the context of similar sections in the same Act and as a separate statement of the law relating to a particular subject matter leads to the conclusion that the word ``false'' is used to mean incorrect or erroneous and accordingly on the facts deemed to be admitted on the pleadings the plaintiff was entitled to a judgment of conviction of the offence of making a return that was false in a particular.
Having convicted the defendant of an offence against sec. 227 I proceeded to consider matters relevant to the question of penalty. The penalty prescribed in sec. 227 is not less than $4 or more than $200 (which I shall call a fine) and, in addition, the Court may order the offender to pay to the Commissioner a sum not exceeding double the amount of tax that would have been avoided if the return had been accepted as correct.
For the plaintiff it was said that had the return of 12 April 1979 been accepted as correct the taxpayer would have been under no liability for tax as against a liability of $29,593.50 (if the taxable income is taken as $59,052) or $27,911.77 (if the taxable income is taken as $56,383). The plaintiff seeks the maximum fine and in addition an order that the defendant pay the plaintiff a sum of either $59,187 or $55,823.54.
In support of a detailed plea in mitigation counsel for the defendant called both the defendant and his accountant to give evidence. It is appropriate, therefore, that I should outline the facts and circumstances that resulted in the defendant making the false return.
In about June or July 1977 the defendant was very concerned about his liability for provisional tax and having expressed to a professional colleague his view that he was not handling his affairs very well the colleague recommended that he should make contact with one C.T. Moll who was said to be a good financial adviser and who the defendant knew to have been consulted by other doctors including one with whom he shared rooms. The defendant first met Moll in his office in West Perth in about July 1977 and discussed his problems. In the end Moll suggested how he could help. It appears that Moll put forward the idea that one of his companies Medical Accounting and Nursing Services Pty. Ltd. should take over the running of the defendant's rooms including the employment of staff and the paying of his accounts and for this service and also for engaging in trading in diamonds, antiques and bric-a-brac, the defendant would pay Moll a fee. Moll indicated that the trading business would at first run at a loss but later it would become profitable. The trading business would be financed by money borrowed from one of Moll's companies, the intention being that the profits from the trading would in due course be applied in repayment of the capital and interest thereon. This plan commended itself to the defendant. Moll took over the management of his rooms as suggested for which the defendant paid monthly fees as debited by Moll from time to time. In about November 1977 the defendant apparently decided to proceed with the idea of trading in diamonds and antiques for the purpose of incurring losses to reduce his liability for income tax and as a preliminary to this process he signed a number of promissory notes to a total face value of $75,000 which he was told and understood would be discounted in order to provide $60,000 for Moll to enter upon the trading venture on his behalf. The defendant did not at any stage handle any of the money so raised. After a year the promissory notes were ``rolled over'', that is to say the defendant signed further notes to a total sum of $90,000 in order to redeem the original notes of $75,000 and add an additional $15,000 for interest. It appears that the same process was followed in the next year as well.
When the defendant first saw Moll his most pressing concern was his anticipated liability of about $50,000 for income and provisional tax for the year ended 30 June 1977 which would be due for payment on 31 March 1978. On or about 22 March 1978 the defendant lodged with the plaintiff an application for variation of provisional tax in which he estimated his gross income from all sources for the then current financial year to be $163,000 against which he claimed as a deduction a single item representing expenses likely to be incurred in earning income from sources other than salary and wages. The deduction claimed was $141,000 leaving an estimated taxable income for the year of $22,000. The defendant says that he signed this application on the advice of Moll
and that the figures inserted were provided by Moll.
The defendant's income tax return for the year ending 30 June 1978 was due to be lodged with the plaintiff on 31 August 1978 but was not lodged until 12 April 1979. As has already been said, this return shows a net loss for income tax purposes of $11,578. The main features of the return are a net profit of $51,907 from the defendant's medical practice (after deducting as expenses, inter alia, administration and nursing fees of $33,493, discount charges of $15,000 and management fees of $20,000), a loss of $7,086 from property and a loss of $55,682 on trading. The trading account which formed part of the return showed:
Sales                                42,142
Less cost of sales                   37,824
Gross profit                          4,318
Less expenses and charges,
management fees - Mobit
(W.A.) Pty. Ltd.                   60,000
Net loss                            $55,682
On 4 July 1979 the defendant attended to give evidence before an authorised officer pursuant to a notice issued by the Deputy Commissioner under sec. 264 of the Act. On that occasion when asked about the $60,000 deduction on the trading account he first answered that it was to finance the trading but on being prompted by his solicitor amended his reply to the effect that it represented a fee paid for management services. He acknowledged that Mobit (W.A.) Pty. Ltd. was understood by him to be one of Moll's companies.
The amended income tax return lodged on 26 November 1979 was accompanied by a statement showing a number of adjustments that had been made to the previous return. The major item of adjustment was the sum of $60,000 that had previously been claimed as management fees paid to Mobit (W.A.) Pty. Ltd. which the defendant said was ``incorrectly described and claimed''. The effect of these adjustments was to produce taxable income of $56,383. Accompanying the amended return was a statutory declaration made by the defendant in which he declared, inter alia, that at no time did he regard the borrowed amount of $60,000 as anything other than the money necessary to commence trading and to provide funds for the purchase of diamonds and antiques by Moll.
The second amended return lodged on 6 March 1980 gave effect to a number of additional but relatively minor adjustments mainly in relation to expenses previously claimed as deductions against income.
The defendant was closely cross-examined upon his understanding as to the contents of the original return which he signed in April 1979. For the most part he adopted the stance that it had been prepared by his accountants who were in possession of or had access through their connection with Moll to all relevant information and he relied upon them to produce a correct return. I found his replies under cross-examination, particularly in relation to the signing of the return, to be evasive and I was left unconvinced that he was entirely an innocent victim of errors committed by others. The following extracts from the transcript illustrate this point:
``Do you remember signing the tax return? - Yes.
You signed on each page? - Yes. I am always requested to do that.
Are you saying you just do not look at what is on the pages you sign? - I certainly do now.
Well, did you in 1978? - Well, obviously I missed that.
When you signed your return? - Well, obviously I missed that.
Well, firstly in 1978 did you look at what you were signing? - I looked at the page, but whether I...
You looked at the page and you noticed it was not blank, I assume? - Mm.
You could see there was something on it and you would look to see what was on it, wouldn't you? - I would certainly think so.
You would know at the same time you were signing a certificate that it was true and correct in every detail? - Yes.
So if you looked at that page headed `Trading Account' you would see `Less expenses and charges, management fees, Mobit, $60,000'? - Yes.
You would have seen that, would you not? - Well, I saw it. I obviously did not understand it...
Maybe you did not understand it, but you would see it was gross profit less expenses, producing a net loss of $55,000, would you not? - If you say so.
It is not my evidence I am seeking, the answer is not if I would say so, but that would have been the case, would it not? That necessarily would be the case. Is that not so? - As I say, I cannot remember.
Let us tackle it from another point of view. Moll had told you that for the first few years this trading - or for the first year, anyway - would be conducted at a loss and then when your income stabilised you could trade profitably. Is that right? - That is correct.
So you were expecting a contrived loss, or a loss of some sort? I am sorry, I withdraw the `contrived'? - I was expecting a loss.
You would be interested to see how that was done? - I did see that there was a loss.
You would be interested to see there was a loss? - Yes.
And you would be interested to see how it was done? - As I said, I thought it was done through the 15 per cent - or the interest on that money. I did not realise the full amount was being deducted.''
(Transcript pp. 82-83.)
``... Then the only expense [on the trading account] is management fees, Mobit (W.A.), $60,000. You must have been aware of that when you signed it? - No, I do not think I was aware of it.
You had not paid Mobit any other money, had you? The only sum of $60,000 paid was the $60,000 you got for discounting bills? - And the interest on that.
But you could see the interest was not in that $60,000, would you not? - Yes.
In fact, the $15,000, if you go back a few pages to the profit and loss for the year ended 30th June 1978 income, expenses, starting off with professional fees...? - Yes.
Your interest is charged there, is it not, or the discount charge is $15,000 - the seventh item down? - Yes.
Discount charges, $15,000? - What is that?
Do you have the document headed `Profit & Loss Account for the Year Ended 30th June 1978' starting `Income professional fees'? - Yes, I said I can see that there.
Look under expenses. The seventh item down is for discount charges of $15,000? - Yes, I can see that there.
You were aware of that at the time too, were you not? You signed it? - I signed it, yes.
And you were aware that you were claiming the discount charges at the time? - Yes, I am saying that I did not realise that this was part of it, so obviously I was not aware of that page, or of the significance of it, anyway.
Again I put it to you, you did not really care, did you, as long as you got your tax deduction? You were happy to accept whatever Mr. Moll, whoever, put there? - I would not say I did not care but I was happy to accept...
You were happy to accept it? - Yes.''
In determining the penalty to be imposed under sec. 227 of the Act it is irrelevant whether or not the defendant knowingly or wilfully made a misstatement in his return and I make no finding or comment on that question. Parliament has chosen to differentiate between the relative seriousness of the offences created respectively by sec. 227 and 230 by providing a significantly lower range of fine in sec. 227 where the elements of knowledge and wilfulness are not required but so far as the Court's power to order an additional penalty is concerned no distinction is made between the two offences. It is obvious, however, that by fixing the limit of the additional penalty at a sum not exceeding double the tax avoided the legislature has contemplated that some discretion be exercised on the part of the Court, but no other guidelines are provided. It seems to me that by introducing the element of the additional penalty Parliament has clearly intended that it should operate as a deterrent both to the offending taxpayer and to the community at large and that it will be an exceptional, and indeed a rare, case in which no additional penalty is imposed. On the other hand in accordance with established principles of sentencing, the maximum penalty will be reserved for the most serious breaches of the law.
The defendant's association with Moll had one objective and that was to reduce the amount of income tax to be paid by the defendant on his earnings. In pursuit of this objective the defendant signed and lodged the return of 12 April 1979 which was but one of several steps he took with the same end in view. The key to the whole scheme was understood by the defendant to be the making of a loss on trading but it was to be a loss that would not involve him in any financial outlay. It must have been apparent to him when the time came to sign his income tax return that the loss resulted from the debiting as management fees an amount he well knew had been borrowed for capital purposes. The defendant has failed to convince me that he did not then appreciate the difference between a management expense and a capital expense but whether he did or not he was happy to accept whatever Moll or the accountants may have put in his return so long as it achieved the stated objective of saving him tax. In my opinion the facts of the case establish that this is a case towards the upper end of the range and accordingly a substantial penalty is warranted.
I have not adverted to the other items of claimed expenditure which were no longer claimed in the two amended returns. Even if they had not been claimed in the April 1979 return the claimed loss on trading would have had the effect of producing an overall loss for income tax purposes and for this reason the amount of tax that would have been avoided is the same if the only false particular had been the $60,000 claimed for management fees.
The subsequent filing of amended returns after the Taxation Department had entered upon an investigation of the defendant's affairs does not, in my view, either excuse the breach or mitigate the seriousness of the offence. Subsequent events seem to indicate that Moll misled the defendant as to his real intentions with regard to the alleged trading activities and whilst this may have had unfortunate results for the defendant the fact still remains that at the time this offence was committed the return did not even reflect what the defendant says was his understanding of the position with regard to the borrowed capital. Having considered carefully all of the facts of the case and being mindful that the primary objective of the defendant was to pay less tax without incurring any real expenditure on his own part it is my opinion that the appropriate penalty to be imposed is a fine of $150 and in addition I order that the defendant pay to the plaintiff a sum of $37,000. The latter sum represents approximately two thirds of the lesser of the two alternative maximum penalties claimed by the plaintiff.
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