HAMMOND, La. — A couple that police say tried to sell a child at a southeast Louisiana gas station appear headed for Texas.
Master Trooper Brooks David, a Louisiana State Police spokesman, says the blue Dodge minivan with Florida license plates was spotted in Lake Charles Friday afternoon but headed west on Interstate 10 before troopers could catch it.


If you were stopped on the road today, would you have all your papers in order? That's what cops in North Miami Beach checked today at a car insurance checkpoint that they set up.
Basically, it sounds like what it is: cops systematically asked drivers to show them their license, registration and insurance.
"... [The] police say they're doing this is to make sure those who are break the law don't potentially ruin the lives of those who are obeying it."
To break it down for you, if you get in an accident with someone who doesn't have a valid license or valid insurance YOU'RE the one that could get screwed, even if it's not your fault.
So, for the sake of other drivers -- and now, so that you don't get embarrassed during a random police checkpoint, carry the appropriate documentation at all times and make sure it's still timely! Also, kudos to North Miami Beach for doing something like this. There's no time like the present to have all your docs in a row.


text:
Posts Tagged 'EPMU'
Shawn shown the door
ACT candidate Shawn Tan has been sacked by his employer, the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union. (Previous posts here, here, here, here, and here.)
The EPMU says Tan had not sought permission to stand as required by the collective employment agreement under which he was employed, and that he used a work computer to send Act emails during work time.
Tan says he may take legal action. He can take a personal grievance on various grounds including discrimination on the basis of political opinion, or take his case to the Human rights Commission, but not both. My pick is that he will take a PG, in which case it is unlikely to be heard before the election, and even less likely to be determined by then.
Tan says:
"I would be prepared to go back if the conditions were right, for example if the EPMU could guarantee my safety, that I wouldn't go back and face barrage or ridicule or the disparity of treatment. They couldn't guarantee that and said I was asking too much. I was pretty disgusted by that actually."
The EPMU, on the other hand, says that:
"The decision is about his employment obligations, it's not about his political affiliations … he has employment obligations to the union and he has chosen not to abide by those. Added to that he has chosen to attack the union publicly."
I have to say that Tan's argument strikes me as quite novel and opens up a whole new dimension to the dispute. Is he arguing that he was constructively dismissed because his employer couldn't guarantee his safety? There are plenty of cases where constructive dismissal cases have been won on such grounds. My favourite concerned a meter reader being repeatedly sent back into an area where a pack of wild dogs roamed free biting meter readers. providing a safe workplace is a duty implied in the personal employment contract by common law.
But the EPMU is only too well aware of this. If they sacked Tan for his contractual breach before he resigned, then I'm not sure that his arguments would get him very far in court. I'd be inclined to think that would mostly be about Tan's breach of the employment agreement and whether he was discriminated against and whether his breach was sufficient cause for dismissal. (I could be wrong here, of course.)
The court of public opinion might be another matter.
Update : The Standard posts on the EPMU's story, outlined in a public statement, timeline, documentation (pdf 2.6MB) and letter of dismissal. (Hat-tip: Julie.)
Tags:EPMU
Posted in Employment relations, Politics | 1 Comment »
The freedom to belong
John Drinnan has placed the comments in his column in context. I mentioned them in an earlier thread. It's helpful to know the backstory.
Drinnan says the Tan "row" has for some journalists brought to a head the tensions of belonging to a party-affiliated union. They ask, "can I be a unionist and not be caught up as a third party in a party election campaign?"
Fair enough. But implicit in the suggestion that journalists will "face criticism they are in an organisation that is on the frontline backing one party" seemed to be the idea that they might be better to leave the union. It is difficult to divorce such a suggestion from the centuries of struggle for the right to have and to belong to unions.
One important point that has been overlooked in the current debate over Tan is that unions are inherently political organisations. Always have been and, as long as the distribution of wealth is determined within a system which is itself shaped by the struggle between capital and labour, always will be.
By struggle I don't mean the sort of class struggle that my grandfather experienced. But the northern EMA's recent ads contesting law changes to ensure employers contribute to their employees' kiwisaver savings serve as a perfect example of how the interests of employers and employees are not identical, and that both groups continue to pursue their interests through political forums as well as industrial ones.
A very good case can be made for exempting unions from the prohibitions on discrimination on political grounds. As well as their "industrial" work, they promote their members' interests through the political process. Reflecting their inherently political nature, unions played the major role in forming the Labour Party in the first place, and some continue to maintain links.
Because some union officials see themselves as "fighting the good fight", problems will arise such as those that Drinnan outlines, where an organiser likened the union to "a religion". Chris Trotter started his post on the EPMU's response to Tan with, "unions … have an atrocious record as employers."
I recounted in a comment to Chris's post that as a trade union official I once went out with my colleagues because we'd been lied to by our management. When I was introduced to Ken Douglas on the street a few days later as one of those who took this industrial action, I was promptly denounced as a "wanker."
It's all about being in the "vanguard of the proletariat", I guess.
Yes, as Drinnan writes, the union does belong to its members, not the staff. Some union staff functionaries have trouble understanding this. They mean well, but they have lost touch with what unions are really about. They been sucked into the political system, and they start to believe the puff about how wonderful they are, just like many of the managers with whom they have to deal.
To come back to the issue Drinnan raises, Herald journalists are working for a large capitalist organisation that has never failed to take the side of capital in any showdown with labour. They can strive for objectivity, but they don't get to decide policy.
I can't see how being a member of a Labour-affiliated union need have any bearing on the "professionalism" with which journos work, even in an election campaign. Unions are large organisations, and it is widely recognised that their members hold a range of political views. I'd like to know who is "pillorying" journos for their union membership. It's wrong-headed and anti-democratic.
Journalists forgo their right to collectively deal with their employer at their peril. But yes, a media column can ask that question without it being part of a right-wing conspiracy.
Tags:EPMU, media bias
Posted in Politics | 5 Comments »
Herald attack on EPMU goes all out
The Tabloid on Sunday is tragic. It can only be a deliberate attempt to sink the EPMU and the Labour Party. From this morning's unbelievably biased piece on Shawn Tan's employment dispute with his employer:
"He also claims if he was standing for the Labour party, he would still have his job."
This is factually incorrect, and the Herald must surely know that. Tan has not lost his job. He has been suspended while his empoyer investigates a breach of his collective employment agreement.
But this is not the first time the Herald has distorted the truth in its pursuit of the EPMU. Thursday's editorial was a masterclass in presenting unfounded supposition as fact.
The Herald's antipathy to the union takes a sinster edge in John Drinnan's Thursday column:
"But [the employment dispute, which Drinnan terms a "row"] illustrates what Little acknowledges is a tension between the EPMU – working actively for re-election of Labour – and journalist members who are required to be independent but are pilloried for belonging to a Labour-affiliated union.
"The EPMU insists that journalist membership fees are kept separate from calculations contributing to its affiliation payments to Labour and is changing rules for other members to define whether their membership is counted in contributions to Labour and the Greens.
"But as the election season ramps up, journalists have to face criticism they are in an organisation that is on the frontline backing one party."
Arrant nonsense. The biggest irony is that this attack on the journalists' freedom to join a union of their own chosing comes from an employer which purports to be defending Tan's right to stand for Parliament (whatever the operational consequences for his employer and regardless of the contractual provisions of his employment).
Why the Herald's dogged attacks on the EPMU? Well, are newspaper employers the world over currently trying to reduce their wage bills? Has the Herald been consistently attacking Labour and its allies over the past year?
I'm thinking that there's enough obvious lying and carelessness with the facts here for a complaint to the Press Council.
Tags:ACT Party, EPMU
Posted in Employment relations, Politics | 5 Comments »
Are you Shawn about that, Herald?
The Herald's attack on the EPMU over its handling of Shawn Tan's contractual breach is instructive in the construction of propaganda.
After a fair summary of the facts as they stand, the Herald enters the realm of the right-wing blogger, always ready to paint its opponent with the worst possible spin, and then build on that as if on fact:
"That version of events avoids, as it must, any hint of the suspension being politically motivated. It falls a long way short of traversing this whole episode, however. It is reasonable to ask how the EPMU would have responded to a staff member who had agreed to stand for the Labour Party but had not told the union of his candidacy. Certainly, there would be no talk of suspension. Any breach of the collective agreement would be quickly and conveniently overlooked."
It is a reasonable question to ask, and the Herald may indeed be correct in its suspicion that things might have been different had a Labour supporter breached the collective employment agreement in this way.
But it cannot say, "Certainly, there would be no talk of suspension." (Emphasis added.) Especially if, as the EPMU alleges, Tan was reminded of this contractual obligation, the EPMU would be foolish to ignore it, regardless of the political affinity of the offender. Sets a precedent, you see.
Classic stuff. Make some unfounded assumptions for which you have no proof, and then you're away. Later, more unfounded assertions:
"Mr Tan's case suggests, in fact, that any fostering of candidacy is extremely selective. Indeed, the contractual condition requiring permission to stand in elections could be seen as enabling a scrutiny of candidate suitability as much as it allows the union to juggle workloads while a person is campaigning."
Actually, it does not "in fact" suggest anything of the sort. The Herald seems to have missed the original report that states, "Earlier this year an employee's request to stand for the Labour Party in local government was turned down." That's what is widely regarded as a "fact", Mr/Ms Herald editorial writer, not your easy assumption made for the purpose of a cheap slur.
The people of Auckland deserve better than right-wing blogger invective dressed up as considered comment. The Herald is by far the largest circulation daily in NZ after all.
Tags:EPMU, NZ Herald
Memo to EPMU: What to do
Julie asked in a comment earlier this morning what I would suggest the EPMU do.
Well, I think that they have got back on the right track after a few (apparent) stumbles. At the end of the day this is an employment dispute, whatever else the likes of Idiot Savant and Whale Oil think.
Stick to the employment issues, EPMU.
Issue a final warning.
And sue Hide over the ridiculous allegations of racism.
The key employment issues seem to me to be:
Does Tan's action in not seeking the employer's agreement to his standing for public office, as required by the collective employment agreement under which he is employed, constitute grounds for dismissal or a lesser disciplinary measure?
Do his subsequent media comments constitute grounds for disciplinary action?
Did the EPMU discriminate against Tan on the grounds of his political opinion? (This is a claim that Tan has made in the news media, but it is unclear whether he intends to proceed with it. I suspect not, although he could lodge it for the publicity and quietly withdraw it after the election.)
My view is that dismissal on the basis of Tan's breach of contract (in not seeking prior consent) might well be found to be justified in court, but I wouldn't bet on it. Especially if the comments that Tan claims were made by his supervisor were made and he could then reasonably argue that he was put off applying. I myself would go for a final written warning. (Note that previous warnings are not required before moving to a final written warning, as some people think. It depends on the seriousness of the action.)
I'm not sure that the court would take into account the subsequent media comments in determining the justification for a dismissal at this stage. They would certainly take them into account in deciding whether to reinstate; there's plenty of case law on that.
As I don't have all the facts, and those in the public arena are confusing, it's hard to say whether Tan would be successful in an action based on breach of the Human Rights Act or the similar anti-discrimination provisions in the Employment Relations Act. I suspect not, because (1) the union never got to deliberate on whether it would consent to his candidacy (2) it has declined employees wanting to stand for left parties in the past. The latter would make it very difficult for Tan to show that he's been treated differently.
In respect of that last issue, various right-wing bloggers have put a great deal of weight on remarks purported to have been made by Tan's supervisor, presumably the "lead organiser" in the four person call centre. I doubt whether a court/tribunal would put the same weight on those remarks, given that it was up to the union's executive to make the final decision.
Final points. Whale Oil states that the collective agreement between the EPMU and its staff breaches the Bill of Rights and the Human Rights Act. I think he's talking through a hole in his head.
Also, Idiot Savant is free to campaign to change the law to mandate employers granting large amounts of unpaid leave to any and however many of their staff that want to stand for public office. Fine. Is ACT supporting him on this? Of course not. Hence, I suspect, the ridiculous allegations of racism.
Posted in Employment relations, Politics | 15 Comments »
Shawn the pawn
Seems yesterday's mediation attempt in the Shawn Tan case didn't resolve matters. Given that ACT seemed to be wringing all it could out of the affair, this is hardly surprising. I mean, just look at the cast.
Shawn Tan, whose comments to date reveal a lack of maturity and love of the limelight.
Rodney Hide, putting on a great show of outraged indignation for the uncritical press. He was probably just in the neighbourhood to pose for the cameras, I guess. Look what Granny prints with a straight face:
"They made a prejudiced decision because they thought that because he was Asian, because he was Chinese, he would do the meek and mild thing and not stand up for himself."
No evidence. No plausiblility even. Does he really think that the EPMU hires people because they're "meek and mild"? They're a union FFS! My experience of recent immigrants from China is that they are a varied group, of course, but just as assertive on the whole as any other group in NZ society. Does Hide's outburst reveal more about his own prejudices than anything else? Still, Rodney, never mind the weirdness, it's the publicity that counts, eh?
Max Whitehead, of the Whitehead Group (looks like there's only him in the group, though) who seems to sport an oversized ego and unrealistic assessment of his own "professionalism." Max, professional employment advocates don't say things like this when there are in the middle of the mediation process:
"Max Whitehead, Mr Tan's advocate, argued that he should be free to do what he liked in his spare time and it was shocking his role with the EPMU had become a political issue."
Whitehead is virulently opposed to workers' rights and seems to have a view of employment relations that borders on the paranoid. For example, employers who train their staff later discover "that far from creating a major asset for their business they have created a major competitor." Also, "it is common knowledge among workers that many small to medium business fail to comply with the employment laws. This has opened the legal floodgates to employees disgruntled with their working conditions or pay." And so on.
For Max, it's employers good and workers bad… unless, of course, the employer is a union.
So, by Tan's account:
"… the EPMU bosses "skirted around" the issue of whether his new role put him at odds with its core beliefs, choosing to focus on other employment issues."
No kidding. In an employment issues mediation meeting the union representatives wanted to talk about employment issues.
Come on Granny, you can do better than this! Hide didn't go "into bat for sacked union worker" and you know it. Tan's not even sacked yet, idiots. An honest headline would be, "Hide milks affair for all it's worth with weird racial outburst."
Shawn Tan & the EPMU
Note: I have responded to Idiot Savant's attack and provided further comment on the employment issues in separate posts.
NZ's largest private sector union, the Engineering, Printing & Manufacturing Union, has suspended an employee after he was placed on ACT's party list (hat-tip Redbaiter). The EPMU says that Shawn Tan did not seek permission to stand as a candidate, and this is required by the collective agreement under which he is employed along with the Union's rules.
Idiot Savant says, it's just not on. I'm not quite so sure.
Certainly, unions' role in regulating employers' ill-treatment of workers and promoting workers' rights does not exempt them from the very standards they seek to enforce. Discrimination on the basis of political belief is unlawful.
The Human Rights Act 1993 prohibits discrimination on the grounds of "political opinion, which includes the lack of a particular political opinion or any political opinion", except "in relation to employment of a political nature." The latter is spelt out and the EPMU is not covered.
However, the EPMU have not started disciplinary procedures because of Tan's political beliefs. (Idiot Savant says "give him his job back", but he hasn't lost it yet.) The EPMU probably knew about Tan's political beliefs before his placement on ACT's list, but continued to employ him without prejudice it would seem.
They are concerned about his standing for office without permission, and that is a completely different matter. It would be possible, but unlikely, to stand for political office without any political beliefs whatsoever. Say for a dare.
Standing for office implies taking time off work. The EPMU want to be able as an employer to balance workloads. There is a contractual condition to ask for permission to stand as a candidate for this reason. Why didn't Tan do this?
[Update: some reflections from Steve Pierson at The Standard.]
Posted in Employment relations | 30 Comments »
Industrial unrest: Chicken Little?
Today's SST includes a warning from Engineers Union Secretary Andrew Little of industrial action over wages claims: "I think that's without doubt. The scale of it I couldn't predict, but I'm detecting among our members a real determination and good on them."
Coincidentally, Statistics NZ released the latest statistics on industrial action (lockouts included) last Tuesday: "Twenty-nine work stoppages ended in the December 2007 year… This compares with 42 stoppages for the December 2006 year. Stoppages in the December 2007 year involved 3,980 employees, and losses of 11,035 person-days of work and $1.9 million in wages and salaries. In comparison, the 42 stoppages in the December 2006 year involved 10,079 employees, and losses of 27,983 person-days of work and an estimated $5.2 million in wages and salaries."
Why the gap between Little's warning and reality? Why, over the 7 1/2 years that the Employment Relations Act 2000 has been in force — during which we've seen an unprecedented tightening of the labour market — has there been so little industrial disruption? Since 2000, stoppages have ranged between 53 and 29 annually, well down from the peak of 567 in 1977.
After all, remember the doomsayers on the right, led by Prebble predicting unionist "jackboots" in our workplaces? Remember the desperate attempts of Wayne Mapp, National's hapless IR spokesperson, to seize any hint of increased industrial action to prove that the sky was falling on our heads?
It seems that, with wage increases at or around the rate of inflation, NZ workers have been happy enough at work (the lower paid excepted). In a tight labour market, unhappy workers or those looking to improve their pay and conditions, have been able to switch jobs relatively easily.
There is very real pressure on the lower paid, on whom the price rises on household necessities impact greatest. But they were left without union representation in the first months of the Employment Contracts Act, and with 90% or so still left to their own devices, there's not much likelihood of industrial action there. (Matt McCarten's Unite aside.)
We are entering a new era for the ERA; it has never been tested on rough roads before. My pick is that industrial disputation will increase, and may very well surpass the 53 stoppages recorded in 2005. But the sky won't fall on our heads. Andrew Little might finish up looking like Chicken Little.
Tags:Employment Relations Act, EPMU
Posted in Employment relations | 3 Comments »

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Halloweek Reading to SEIZE THE NIGHT!
Enjoying a great treat is not just for kids on Halloween. Indulge yourself this week and read SEIZE THE NIGHT: NEW TALES OF VAMPIRIC TERROR, the new "stellar anthology of tales" (Publishers Weekly Starred Review), sure to quench your thirst for a Horrific Halloween read! Conjuring reactions such as "Going back to the heydays of Bram Stoker's Dracula and Stephen King's Salem's Lot" and "For anyone who likes tales of the creepy sort like Stephen King's short stories in Everything's Eventual or Nightmares & Dreamscapes," how can one resist?
The dusk is upon you, and your fright-filled journey to the shadows of the hereafter is about to begin with SEIZE THE NIGHT—old-school vampire fiction at its finest.
Anyone who knows me knows about my undying love for vampires in almost any form; sparkly emo is probably one of the only version of vampire I just cannot stand. So when I had the opportunity to review a copy of Christopher Golden's latest literary project I was thrilled. I even did a little dance when I got my digital ARC from NetGalley. After seeing exactly who was included in this anthology of short stories I was absolutely salivating to sink my teeth into the behemoth that is Seize the Night.
I loved a good 75% of the short stories in this collection, which was fantastic, because often times I find myself losing interest in anthologies due to only liking 1-2 of the stories. Golden did a brilliant job of combining so many diverse authors and their diverse take on breathing new terror into the very populated vampire genre.
I'm ashamed to admit I've yet to read Lindqvist's Let the Right One In; however, based off of the delightfully uneasy story I read here, I am definitely moving his other work much higher on my TBR list.
As a huge fan of her Women of the Otherworld series, I was delighted to find that she had a short included. I was absolutely charmed by her pathogen outbreak driven take on the vampire mythos. She definitely presented a side to vampirism I can say I am rapidly finding to be one of my favorites.
Holy freak cats, how have I lived without knowing who Braunbeck is? I had such a knee-jerk, unthinking reaction to this story that I had to turn around and reread it almost immediately to try and come to a consensus with my feelings.
My first introduction to Seanan's work was through her alter ego Mira Grant, and the Newsflesh series. Ever since I tumbled headfirst into her highly imaginative mindscape I have loved losing myself in her worlds; even when they terrify me with their insanely believable premises. I was not disappointed with this short, and it's devastating fireflies.
All in all, this was a delightfully horrifying, and unique, collection of vampire stories I'm eager to add to my personal library for future rereadings.
Christopher Golden is the #1 New York Times bestselling and Bram Stoker Award-winning author of such novels as Snowblind, Tin Men,Of Saints and Shadows, and The Boys Are Back in Town. His novel with Mike Mignola, Baltimore; or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire, was the launching pad for the Eisner Award-nominated comic book series Baltimore. As an editor, he has compiled the short story anthologies The New Dead, The Monster's Corner, and Dark Duets, among others, and has also written and co-written numerous comic books, video games, and screenplays. Golden was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. His original novels have been published in more than fourteen languages in countries around the world. Please visit him at christophergolden.com.


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Hi There, new here in this forum with a specific question for a Publisher Catalog.
I have a Catalog page connected with my excel file, everything is OK and working fine, fields, images, etc. But in my excel file I have some columns that are hyperlinks, for some reason when I complete the merge process I can get the fields but they are not a clickable links. So I need to copy and paste in my browser and that is not the idea.
2. Have a box / picture / shape etc that represents the hyperlink instead of the whole URL and be clickable also.


text:
Our alumnus Charlie Berry, who had been with Globe from Years 7 to 13, just finished his first year studying Geography at the University of Birmingham. He found out about his passion for Geography during his GCSEs:
"I've always had a passion in terms of humanities and a lot of this was because of the teachers. A level teachers were amazing. Every lesson we were talking about current events, every time it would be a different opinion that we could express. At that time, I started to enjoy the way that I could start seeing the world a bit differently. These were great lessons and great discussions, which showed me the holistic nature of the subject which involves economics, biology and psychology as well."
He chose Birmingham through the university's residential in the summer of Year 12: "I saw the advert in the Sixth Form area and decided to apply. Through that scheme, the impact I made, the connections I made, and they offered me an unconditional offer. I am very pleased that I will be working as a student ambassador this summer and help the next generation at the residential."
Charlie also won a bursary from Ark Schools, which is worth £9,000 for 3 years of his university education. "I had a chance to win £3,000 bursary for every year during the university to help with my academic needs and getting involved with societies." Charlie has a very exciting activity lined up for September: He will climb Kilimanjaro!
"They say that most people get a degree and what you do in-between those 3 years defines you. So I thought that I am going to choose something big. Having graduated from Kilimanjaro, that is also meaningful for me. I thought I go to Kilimanjaro, which relates to Globe and then I can go all the way to the top. As a Geographer, I really want to explore the world – I want to climb mountains, do scuba diving, and more."
He had to raise £3,000 to climb Kilimanjaro, which he admits was scary at the beginning. But Ark Bursary was helpful, as he used it to develop and implement a fundraising plan. He is now preparing mentally and physically for the climb.
Charlie says that he still keeps in touch with his friends and teachers at Globe, where he claims to have found his confidence. "To be selected as a deputy head boy, to be chosen to represent the school in various projects certainly raised my confidence. At Year 10 I did a TFL project, at Year 12 we had a cabinet office project- these helped us to develop different skills, like interpersonal and communications skills. Now I quite like public speaking and giving presentations."
"Over my 7 years, Globe always made sure that they installed the confidence in us that we can get what we want. This has been there all the way from the mission statement down to teachers' teaching. I became more independent from the Sixth Form. I was given so many opportunities to develop all of my skills, and also just to have fun."
We wish the best of luck to Charlie on his climb on Kilimanjaro and his studies at Birmingham.


Salesforce will host a day in the College of Computing Building commons.
Robert Nowak, a professor at the University of Wisconsin - Madison will be on campus for a ML@GT seminar.
Zena Howard, Principal and Managing Director of the North Carolina practice of global architecture and design firm Perkins+Will, will present a lecture titled "Culture in Architecture: An Expression of Values"
The softball team hosts Kennesaw State.
This training helps students develop support and ally skills for the LGBTQIA community.


text:
Q: Doubt in a question based on resolution of forces to find resultant ( topic 'Forces acting at a point')
See the text in red box.
I have no problem while finding out the components of all 3 forces along OL but in the red box they are finding the components of 3 forces  perpendicular to OL but i wonder what angles would be the 3 forces would be making the perpendicular to OL.

I want to know the angles otherwise i could have remembered it as by taking sin instead of cos.

A: There is no component of $P$ acting along $OL$ in the vertical direction.
The component of $P$ acting along $OM$ in the vertical direction is $P\sin C$ since if you extend $OL$ in the left direction, then the angle between the extended part of $OL$ and $OM$ is $C$. The angle between $OM$ and the upward perpendicular to $OL$ is $90-C$.
The angle between $ON$ and the downward perpendicular to $OL$ is $90-B$. Hence the angle between the extended part of $OL$ in the left direction and $ON$ is $B$. Therefore, the component of $P$ acting along $ON$ is $-P\sin B$. It is negative because it is acting down and the other forces are acting up.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


I cleaned up that Home One, but haven't given it the same treatment as the others yet, and then I scaled it up to 3.8km length, screwing up my own work!
The side hangers end up being large enough for a similarly scaled Lambda so I might clean up the larger image again.
How big do you think Home One should be Mechace? I'm still sort of conflicted, but always assumed Home One wasn't just any old MC80 like it seems to be now.
Legends ships, yes I'd love too, but getting decent side views is tough, escpecially ones that don't turn into blurry messes once rescaled, these are all at 1p=1m or M100 from the old Star Wars Deckplan Alliance scale.
I haven't found any decent source images of the side of the Maruader, I have looked.
I'd have to check my starwars essential guide book, the black and white one DID have line art for one of the mon cal ships if you still need it, not sure I'd be able to get the book and scanner to cooperate but any material is better than no material right?
Currently working on a scaled 3.8km version of Home One, as you can imagine the cleanup, shading and panel lining on something 3800 pixels long is taking awhile.
Added 3.8km MC-100 Home One and unnamed Cruiser class ship drawn my General Anowi that I'm envisioning as a Corellian built Cruiser.
Intellectually I can understand the power the Mon Cal ships offer, but I find it difficult to actually *like* the designs...they look like scabrous root vegetables to me. Also, it's odd that they share a common weak point with the Star Destroyer...and exposed bridge.
In defence of Mon Cal ships they are not purpose built warships but converted merchant ships.
Personnally I don't like the exposed nature of any of the ship bridges, the entire bridge tower on Star Destroyers is a waste of structure, get rid of it completely.
But then the Nebulon Frigate is one giant weakness, why have the spine at all, just connect the engines to the forward wing!!
Much of the design theory shown in Star Wars is fatally flawed. Something came up about this in one of my classes some months ago. The prof, an adjunct, mentioned that he and some other instructors were having a bull session and pitched a collaborative class as an elective: The Failure of Star Wars Design Theory: A Critical Look At Engineering, Design, and Data in the Star Wars Movies. They almost got the green light, but the President shot it down in favor of a traditional cinema class. It would have been cool, we would have had three professors teaching it; an engineering, an architectural/graphic design, and an IT prof.


The IUCN Green List business plan includes a 'Fair Finance' initiative that will secure, by 2020, revenues to support all Green List operations and to bring new and additional resources to support participating conservation areas. An initial strategy map has identified a range of costs that need to be met, but also services that the IUCN Green List Community can potentially market to secure revenues and investment.
As part of its 'Fair Finance' strategy, The IUCN Green List programme is developing an ambitious collaboration with the Swiss-based PORINI Foundation to link the IUCN Green List Standard to new technologies for transparency, accountability and investment.
The world is becoming aware of 'crypto-governance' through increased media attention on Bitcoin, Ether and related cryptocurrencies.
What is less understood is the revolutionary technology that underpins is new world of decentralised financing: blockchain.
Blockchain is a computer-based system for independently verifying decisions and transactions through public, independent and transparent review and confirmation. This means that any deal or decision can be recorded sequentially, in perpetuity; clear and irrefutable, hence the term 'blockchain'.
In the sustainability world, the uptake of the new technology is slow but optimistic. For example, the UN World Food Programme recently trialled a verification system to ensure remote upland farmers actually received food supplies and cash through blockchain-registered transactions with suppliers.
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has invested in a blockchain start-up in South Africa which is using blockchain-based application to help support children's early development education needs.
For the IUCN Green List, this technology could help guarantee that protected and conserved areas achieve the IUCN Green List Standard on merit and through a secured process.
For example, the expert evaluators can prove that they visited a 'Green List' candidate site and met with all the important stakeholders, verified through a mobile phone code-match, and recorded on the blockchain. The assurance that all evidence was presented and discussed by evaluators and document signatures may be recorded on the blockchain.
Also, the final evaluation and 'Green List' decision can also be verified that it was made in a transparent and accountable process through a blockchain record.
However, such assurance comes with a cost. So here is the innovation: create a 'Green List Standard Token' (GLS Token) as a crypto-currency linked to the blockchain, in the same way that Bitcoin and Ether are generated and traded using blockchain platforms.
IUCN and PORINI Foundation's partners, including Accreditation Services International (ASI), Nature Seychelles, WWF Colombia, and Cryptovalley experts from Switzerland, are developing a trial programme that will introduce the GLS Token to an initial suite of new investors and traditional IUCN supporters.
The GLS Tokens will be used to secure Green List services, such as evaluation, accreditation and review. Purchase of GLS Tokens will allow IUCN to develop the mapping of the Green List process onto a blockchain system.
It will also allow investors to purchase or allocate GLS Tokens to countries and protected areas of their choice to help them achieve 'Green List' status, as well as trade GLS on the Ethereum market. IUCN can also allocate GLS Tokens to support protected area projects in more challenging economies and circumstances, enabling full participation in the Programme with minimal transaction costs and friction.
These GLS Tokens can then be transferred to new sites, traded or cashed, or used to secure other IUCN Green List services, or for later review and renewal of Green List status.
The IUCN GLS Token will be the first sustainability application for blockchain that links assurance and environmental governance to a cryptocurrency.
IUCN intends to trial the GLS Token in up to ten countries through to 2020. This programme initiative has the potential for a major breakthrough in the search for new finances for fair and effective conservation measures.
For more information, contact the IUCN Green List Operations Team.