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Senate gives initial OK to property tax rate elections in cities, counties
The Texas Senate endorsed a bill allowing for property tax rate elections if revenues would exceed 4 percent of what what was taken in the year before. The House is slated to take up that matter and nearly three dozen other property tax and appraisal bills.
by Brandon Formby and Jim Malewitz July 24, 2017 Updated: July 26, 2017
State Sen. Van Taylor, R-Plano, holds 434 comments sent to him by constituents regarding large property tax increases during a Select Committee on Government Reform hearing on Saturday, July 22, 2017. Credit: Bob Daemmrich for the Texas Tribune
Texans could soon have more direct control over the property tax rates that cities, counties and special purpose districts set as legislation that stalled during the state Legislature's regular session is taken up by both chambers this week.
The Senate in a 19-12 vote on Monday gave preliminary approval to a bill requiring larger cities, counties and taxing districts to have an election if the amount of property tax revenues they collect on existing property and buildings exceeds 4 percent of the amount they took in the year before. Smaller government entities — those that collect less than $20 million in property and sales tax a year — will have to hold an election if revenue collections exceed an 8 percent increase. (Update, July 26: The bill passed the Senate on third reading and now heads to the House.)
State Sen. Paul Bettencourt said his controversial Senate Bill 1 is key to "slowing down" rising property tax bills.
"The public knows if there's a case that's made from elected officials that they should spend more of their hard-earned money, they will vote for it," the Houston Republican said Monday night.
Sen. Dawn Buckingham, R-Lakeway, successfully amended the bill to allow residents in smaller taxing units that collect less than $20 million in revenues — such as tiny towns or special purpose districts — to lower the property tax collection increase that triggers an automatic election from 8 percent to 4 percent. Texans in such small taxing units would vote to lower that threshold in May.
Bettencourt is optimistic that the Senate and House will agree on how to handle property tax rate elections during the special session. Their inability to do so during the regular session partially prompted Gov. Greg Abbott to call lawmakers back to work this summer.
"What I hope to have happen is a real negotiation," Bettencourt told The Texas Tribune last week.
During the regular session, a proposed automatic tax rate election provision never made it out of the House Ways and Means Committee that State Rep. Dennis Bonnen chairs. Things could play out differently during the special session. Bonnen, R-Angleton, included an automatic election provision in his companion legislation, House Bill 4. He said a heightened focus on property taxes during the special session could prompt more of his colleagues to back such an election requirement.
"I think it's going to be a little harder to sit back and not support something," Bonnen said.
But not everyone shares his optimism. State Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, said Monday that he doesn't think Texas House Speaker Joe Straus wants an automatic election provision to pass even though such a measure is in the House companion bill. HB 4 is among nearly three dozen property tax and appraisal bills that will be considered in that chamber's Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday.
"I don't think Straus wants to pass any of them," Stickland said Monday. "My plan is to keep pushing so we know who is responsible for their death."
Tea Party-aligned lawmakers and officials, including Stickland, have repeatedly criticized the Republican speaker for how he runs the lower chamber. But Straus spokesman Jason Embry said property tax legislation is a priority for the speaker.
Embry also said the House attempted to lower property taxes in the regular session by putting less of a financial burden on school districts. The lower chamber passed House Bill 21, which sought to increase state education funding by $1.5 billion. The bill died after the Senate lowered that amount and tacked on an amendment that would have would subsidized private school tuition and homeschooling for kids with disabilities.
"School districts collect more than half of the property taxes paid in Texas, and the House is the only body that has acted to address the most significant driver of higher property taxes," Embry said.
Meanwhile, critics of Bettencourt's election requirement say it will hamstring local governments' ability to respond to residents' demands for services like police and fire personnel, street repairs and timely trash collection. They also point to it as another example of state officials trying to micromanage local governments.
Bill Longley, legislative counsel for the Texas Municipal League, said this weekend at a Senate committee hearing that the legislation would harm local governments' bottom line while failing to offer Texans substantial savings.
"Taxpayers will not see meaningful relief," he said. "We're talking about a very small portion of the city tax bill."
He also said the biggest driver of property tax increases are from school districts and not cities or counties. Several city and county officials say that lawmakers are using the city and county property tax issue as a way to distract from their practice of spending fewer state dollars on education, which prompts school districts to raise their property tax rates to make up the difference.
"The state's own budget is based on the largest portion of property taxes — school property taxes — increasing," Longley said.
Bonnen's version triggers a vote when increased revenues exceed 5 percent. But Bettencourt isn't sweating that slight 1-point difference between the two versions. Both lawmakers also opted to separate property tax rate elections and overhauling the property appraisal process in legislation during the special session. They said having more bills to address property taxes increases the chances of legislation passing during the special session.
"It's just important to have a few vehicles that can be used as necessary because you don't have time to start the whole process again," Bettencourt said.
Bonnen said his proposed overhaul of the appraisal and assessment process will make it clear to Texans which government entities are causing tax bills to increase. Bonnen said some local officials don't lower tax rates to offset property value increases and then blame higher individual tax bills on those rising property values.
"You still have a local elected official making a choice that makes you pay more," he said.
Bettencourt's Senate Bills 93 and 96 have provisions that also seek to make it more clear to landowners what tax rates different entities charge and what could trigger an automatic election. Those have yet to make it out of the Senate Select Committee on Government Reform.
That committee, which Bettencourt chairs, heard hours of testimony on property tax legislation Saturday. Bettencourt kicked off the hearing by rolling through a PowerPoint presentation purporting to show soaring property taxes across Texas, citing statistics that some experts have called fuzzy math that takes statistical comparisons out of context.
Sen. Van Taylor, R-Plano, said his office had received 434 pages of letters from constituents complaining about property taxes, with some saying they were in danger of losing their homes due to rising taxes. Taylor grew emotional as he read excerpts from the letters.
"The purpose of government is to protect our God-given rights, it's not to tax us out of our homes," Taylor said.
Some current and former local officials said they supported Bettencourt's property tax legislation, SB 1. Ron Wright, tax assessor-collector in Tarrant County, said it would offer relief and more transparency to taxpayers. And he dismissed criticism from those who call the bill an assault on local control, citing the ability of citizens to vote on tax increases.
"When they talk about local control, they're talking about government control," Wright said of the bill's critics.
Andy Duehren, Emma Platoff and Shannon Najmabadi contributed to this report.
Disclosure: The Texas Municipal League has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.


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Home > Posts tagged "virginia tech hokies"
Tag: virginia tech hokies
No. 20 WVU downs Virginia Tech
by Shanna Rose - May 8, 2019 May 8, 2019 0114
BLACKSBURG, Va.--The 20th-ranked West Virginia University baseball team started a five-game roadtrip with a 7-2 victory over Virginia Tech on Wednesday night. The Mountaineers (29-17) scored seven runs on six hits while the Hokies (25-25) scored two runs on five hits. Nick Snyder tossed 6.1 innings, surrendering two runs on five hits. He
WVU-Virginia Tech opener at FedExField moved
by Shanna Rose - March 31, 2017 0162
MORGANTOWN, W.Va.--West Virginia University and Virginia Tech have announced that their season-opening football game at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, has been moved to Sunday, Sept. 3 at 7:30 p.m. and will be televised nationally by ABC. The longtime rivals will battle for the Black Diamond Trophy for the first time in
West Virginia finishes season AP #18; looking ahead to 2017
by Ashley O'Brien - January 13, 2017 092
Football season is unfortunately at its end, with Clemson winning it all at the last second Monday night. With the playoff championship over, the final AP rankings came out Tuesday. Your West Virginia Mountaineers finished out the season with a #18 spot in the AP poll. After going 10-3 for the
No. 19 WVU routs Virginia Tech
by Shanna Rose - December 30, 2015 December 30, 2015 0131
BLACKSBURG, Va.-- Jevon Carter scored 18 points as No. 19 West Virginia defeated non-conference rival Virginia Tech 88-63 on Wednesday afternoon. Carter made his first eight shots from the field and the Mountaineers never trailed the entire afternoon. "He played well," head coach Bob Huggins said. "He sprained his ankle and wanted
No. 19 WVU squares off against rival Virginia Tech
MORGANTOWN, W.Va.-- After an eight-day hiatus, No. 19 West Virginia is back in action on Wednesday afternoon as the Mountaineers take on nonconference rivals Virginia Tech at a sold-out Cassell Coliseum. The Mountaineers and the Hokies are meeting for the 79th time in series play, which began in 1921. WVU (10-1) won eight
West Virginia Mountaineers at Virginia Tech Preview
MORGANTOWN, W.Va.--The West Virginia Mountaineers will travel to English Field to take on the Virginia Tech Hokies at 5:30 p.m on Tuesday. This will be the 86th meeting between the two teams. The Mountaineers (24-22, 6-12 Big 12) are looking to snap a five-game losing skid, capped by a weekend sweep by TCU. Virginia
No. 17 West Virginia pummels Virginia Tech
Juwan Staten and Gary Browne led the No. 17 Mountaineers past Virginia Tech 82-51 in the Black Diamond Challenge in front of a sold out Coliseum on Tuesday afternoon. With the win, the Mountaineers were able to avenge last season's disappointing loss. "Our whole thing is attitude and effort," said head coach Bob

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Q: Difference between Random Forest and MART I just wonder what is the difference between Random Forests and MART (Multiple additive regression trees)?
I have read a few articles, e.g.:

[1]  L. Breiman. Random Forests. Machine Learning 45 (1): 5–32, 2001.
  [2]  J.H. Friedman. Greedy function approximation: A gradient boosting machine. Technical Report, IMS Reitz Lecture, Stanford, 1999; see also Annals of Statistics, 2001.

... and a few more.
And I understood the basics.

Random Forest and MART can be both used for either regression or
  classification. Random Forest is based on bagging, randomization and
  voting. While the output of MART is rather a weighted sum of ensamble
  of boosted regression trees.

Therefore, I have a basic idea what the difference is.
However, it would help me a lot, if somebody more experienced could wrap it up.
And one more particular question: If I do a regression using Random Forest, what kind of tree is used? Is it an ensemble of regression trees? Or if it depends on me, which tree I would choose? Or is it a special kind of tree, specific for Random Forests?

A: First question
When you consider the prediction error through bias-variance decomposition you face the well-know compromise between how well you fit on average (bias) and how stable is you prediction model (variance).
One can improve the error by decreasing the variance or by increasing the bias. Either way you choose, you might loose at the other hand. However, one can hope that overall you improve your prediction error.
Random Forests use trees which usually overfit. The trees used in RF are fully-grown (no pruning). The bias is small since they capture locally the whole details. However fully-grown trees have few prediction power, due to high variance. Variance is high because the trees depends too much on any piece of data. One observation added/removed can give a totally different tree.
Bagging (many averaged trees on bootstrap samples) have the nice result that it creates smoother surfaces (the RF is still a piece-wise model, but the regions produced by averaging are much smaller). The surfaces resulted from averaging are smoother, more stable and thus have less variance. One can link this averaging with Central Limit Theorem where one can note how variance decrease.
A final note on RF is that the averaging works well when the trees resulted are independent. And Breiman et all. realized that by choosing randomly some of the input features will increase the independence between the trees, and have the nice effect that the variance decrease more.
Boosting works the other way, regarding bias-variance decomposition. Boosting starts with a weak-model which have low variance and high bias. The same trees used in boosting are not grown to many nodes, only to a small limit. Sometimes works fine even with decision stumps, which are the simplest form of a tree.
So, boosting starts with a low-variance tree with high bias (learners are weak  because they do not capture well the structure of the data) and works gradually to improve bias. MART (I usually prefer the modern name of Gradient Boosting Trees) improve bias by "walking" on the error surface in the direction given by gradients. They usually loose in variance, on this way, but, again, one can hope that the loose in variance is well-compensated by gain in bias term.
As a conclusion these two families (bagging and boosting) are not at all the same. They start their search for the best compromise from opposite ends and works in opposite directions.
Second question
Random Forests uses CART trees, if you want to do it by the book. However were reported very small differences if one uses different trees (like C4.5) with various splitting criteria. As a matter of fact the Weka's implementation of RF uses C4.5 (the name is J4.8 in Weka library). The reason is probably the computation time, caused by smaller trees produced.

A: We can understand them from the training data.
Random forest is to learn different trees based on partial training data, where the training data sets are drawn from the raw data set and  the attribute at each split is on random. It encourages the diversity of samples.
The MART or generally boosting usually train a single tree over the entire training set while with different adaptive loss functions.
The loss function matters.

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Tours feature highlights of the Mill's history and observations of it's structure and machinery. Frequently, there are demonstrations showing corn being ground into meal.
An Archeologist demonstrates Native American tools to a scout group.
The beautiful natural setting attracts many couples for this special event.
Families and friends gather for picnics and reunions in the relaxing atmosphere of the park.
Gospel, country and bluegrass groups perform for special events.


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Pets In Weddings Guide. Tips & Tricks For a Successful Dog Of Honor.
Over the years we have collected some value tips and tricks to make sure your Dog of Honor shines on your wedding day! We have also reached out to some expert "Wedding Dog Sitters" for their advice.


A dermatologist also will ask what medicines you take, what allergies you have, and whether you have been dieting. It is important to give the dermatologist accurate information. Like a murder mystery, the slightest can solve the case. Women may be asked about their periods, pregnancies, and menopause.


Josh Price could not seem to catch a break at a scorching hot Oulton Park, after being plagued by bad luck all weekend.
Josh Price could not seem to catch a break at a scorching hot Oulton Park, after being plagued by bad luck and being in the wrong place at the wrong time in the Renault Clio Cup Championship.
Josh Price hit the ground running at the start of a red hot weekend at Oulton Park, banking in the 6th fastest lap in qualifying after only his 4th lap.
As he was half way through his 5th lap, his delta split time was 0.3s up on his previous best as he approached the Knickerbrook chicane. The driver infront clipped the inside tyre barrier, diverting it into Price's path - leaving him no chance to avoid it.The resulting damage meant he could no longer participate in the session, causing lengthy repairs post race aswell as causing him to not get a second quick lap in. This result was that he would start from 6th and 11th respectively in Rounds 7 and 8 for the races.
Race one (Round 7) saw Price initially lose ground on the opening lap, but regained 6th position back by lap 5. In a close battle for 5th position, the places swapped and changed as Price was in contention for the Graduate class victory. After half distance, Price was dropped down to 9th in all the commotion around the notoriously difficult circuit to overtake on. This is where he would finish at the flag after some robust moves from rival drivers knocked him back too finish out of position.
Price made a blistering start too round 8, vaulting himself into 9th position as once again a train of cars would emerge all fighting for position between 5th and 14th position. Price was all over the back of his main Graduate Cup rival as the race heated up, the driver at the head of the train was driving very defensively, slowing the chasing pack behind him. Ultimately this would be the undoing of a potential strong result for Price, as he was knocked down to 15th place on the 9th lap due to contact in the train of cars.
Price managed to regain a position for 15th at the chequered flag, to finish a trying weekend that never gave the BMR backed Team Pyro driver a stroke of luck.
Josh Price is now 8th overall in the Championship standings, maintaining his 2nd position overall in the Graduate Cup standings, as the series heads to Croft in North Yorkshire in just a fortnights time.


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Mortgage Fraud/
Real Estate Investment Scheme Yields 5 Year Prison Sentence
Allison Tussey — March 18, 2013 — Leave a comment
Aboulmalik Negedu, 50, formerly of Stratford, Connecticut, was sentenced to serve five years in prison for stealing more than $120,000 from friends and others who pooled their money expecting to invest in real estate.
The defendant was sentenced in Bridgeport Superior Court where he was convicted after a trial of two counts of Larceny in the First Degree and one count of Larceny in the Second Degree.
The Honorable Eddie Rodriguez sentenced Negedu to a total effective sentence of 20 years incarceration, suspended after 5 years served, and 5 years of probation. In addition, Negedu was ordered to pay $131,000 in restitution.
Negedu was convicted of embezzling more than $120,000 between July 2005 and December 2006 through unauthorized withdrawals and transfers from the bank accounts of Like Minds Investment Group LLC. Like Minds was formed by 11 individuals and Negedu to pool their money to invest in real estate. Negedu was given access to the Like Minds bank accounts as its president and withdrew the funds to pay his own expenses.
The case was prosecuted by the Statewide Prosecution Bureau of the Office of the Chief State's Attorney following the referral of a complaint initially made to the State of Connecticut Department of Banking.
In Mortgage Fraud	Connecticut, Investment Scams
Allison Tussey
3 Charged with Straw Buyer...
Gilroy Woman Charged in...


> Up, changes are minor compared to last release. Should be fast to review guys.
> Please VOTE for the release of Apache XBean-4.5.
> The issue contained in this version is the string<->char conversion (https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/XBEAN-290).


Straight A Training is based in Surrey, providing specialist training in Management, Business, Hospitality and Facilities Management. We have been providing apprenticeship training and support in partnership with employers for 17 years, are a grade two OFSTED rated provider and hold Matrix accreditation.
We cover London, the South East, South West and the Midlands primarily. We do have a small number of partner employers who are based in the Greater Manchester area.
We provide a bespoke all inclusive service which is specifically tailored to your needs. We have a team of expert tutors who all hold appropriate occupational qualifications, as well as relevant teaching awards.


I'm a dreamer and creator. It all started because I wanted to share my healthy recipes with friends and family. Now I'm a full-time food blogger and food photographer, the latter of which has become a passion.


The words of Solomon on the topic of child discipline bring uneasiness to 21st century readers, with Christians even growing a bit squeamish with talk of "striking with a rod." Despite what on the surface appears to be a barbaric approach to disciplining a child, the proverb is actually given in the child's best interest. An understanding of context helps make this point clear.
If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.' Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
Note carefully the situation under consideration. First, the parents of the alleged rebel were not allowed to carry out this penalty on their own. Though their society was patriarchal, the father was required to bring his son to a court of law. Second, this law did not apply to young children or even troublesome teenagers. The one ultimately punished for this crime had a record of offenses: stubbornness, rebellion, gluttony, and drunkenness. Finally, it was only after a son was found guilty by impartial judges that his rebellion was removed from the camp through stoning.
It should also be noted that parents were put on trial when they made a charge against their son. The law stated that this charge could only be brought against a son who was disciplined by his parents. In other words, parents derelict in their duty of discipline could not rightfully bring charges against a son who became a rebel. Parental duty involved disciplining a son in his youth so that he could learn the ways of righteousness; thus, the proverb of Solomon: "Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die." Far from advocating abusive behavior, Solomon admonished parents to maintain a firm hand in youth so that such a charge of rebellion would never be made against their child. Under Old Testament law, they literally were saving their child from death.
The Old Testament law reached its ultimate fulfillment and conclusion in Jesus Christ. Since God's people today comprise a spiritual nation rather than a physical one as did ancient Israel, they are not required to carry out capital punishments. Still, God maintains insistence that modern parents bring up their children by the same standard as given to their ancient counterparts; namely, they are to teach children to abhor rebellion. Therefore, discipline is fundamental to help a child develop a respect for parents that will ultimately transcend into a respect for God.
Western culture has placed Christian parents in a difficult situation. With negativity associated with corporal punishment, parents are often timid in teaching children through physical discipline. As well, parents have sometimes allowed children to become the authorities within the household. Rather than parents instructing children, some households operate in reverse with children "ruling the roost." Perhaps, though, the biggest detriment to discipline in the West is simply the lack of family cohesiveness. Busy parental schedules simply do not allocate the necessary time to provide the necessary discipline needed for children to become godly adults.
Though challenges prevail, modern parents can discipline effectively. This involves learning to use methods appropriate to the situation. More importantly, it is learning to use discipline appropriate for the child. Even children within the same family will respond to discipline in different ways; thus, parents must learn what works most effectively for the child by spending time with the child. When a "one size fits all" method is discarded and replaced with a well-structured specific plan for each child, good discipline will follow.
Though the old laws of Deuteronomy no longer bear authority, they still contain principles which speak loudly and boldly across the generations. Like those of old, modern parents are piloting young souls that have a destiny in either Heaven or Hell. The guidance given in youth will go a long way in determining the destination. Parents who lovingly discipline their children by godly principles may very well save a soul from eternal death by providing the godly template for righteous living. What greater gift could a parent provide for a child?


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Ben Howland Playing Quotations
Ben Howland Quotes about:
All Ben Howland Quotes
Playing Quotes from:
All Playing Quotes
Billy Donovan
Geno Auriemma
Ben Howland
Kim Clijsters
Lindsay Davenport
Ron Gardenhire
Beat Quotes
What a great feeling, to still be playing and to beat an outstanding team like Memphis. I'm really proud of the defense we played today. The defense was just incredible.
Basketball Quotes
We're playing our best basketball of the year by far.
We're playing our best basketball of the season by far right now. We're improving, we're getting better.
There are a lot of games yet to be played. It's going to be a great year. The thing that's good about the Pac-10 is anyone can beat anybody on any given night. And Oregon is playing solid basketball.
Complete Quotes
He's a complete player. He is going to be an excellent pro and he could be playing for the Sonics right now just as much as for the Huskies.
He's a great player. He'll be playing in the NBA whenever he leaves college.
He's playing the best basketball of his career. Without him, we would not be here.
He's playing the best basketball of his career right now.
College Quotes
He can score from 3, he can score off the bounce, he can score in the post, he rebounds his own shot as well as anybody. He poses a lot of problems. There's only a handful of people that are playing the game in college that would ever be talked about in that same light.
Our team is definitely playing its best basketball right now. If you look over the course of the last eight games, we've really been playing great defensive team basketball.
Affected Quotes
This team never, ever gets affected ... they just battle back. We're playing our best basketball of the year by far right now.
Both Quotes
We were the tentative ones in the first half. I think we did a better job of playing way more aggressively at both ends of the floor in the second half.
Everybody Quotes
Everybody is contributing to this program, even the guys that aren't playing or don't get to play as much.
Defense Quotes
Our defense is what kept us in the game. I thought Oregon played very good defense as well. Somehow we hung around because we were playing good defense, playing every possession really tough.
They take great pride in representing. But they have more pride than anything in playing for each other.
Chance Quotes
This is what they've worked so hard for, to get a chance to continue to play. We've got our work really cut out for us in playing one of the top teams in the country in Gonzaga.
It was brutal. I was uncomfortable just standing there . . . And the kid is playing like you can't believe, just the fundamentals.
Four Quotes
It means something. These kids are playing for themselves. But we're also playing for the program. They represent those four letters. It's a very special fraternity.
Five Quotes
It's that magic third year. That's the plan. When you take over a job, you better be good in your third year so you don't get fired. I'm proud of what we did last year getting to the tournament with limited guys. We had four guys on the perimeter playing down the stretch. Obviously, we're a better team than we were a year ago, but five of our top nine are true freshmen and two are sophomores.
They both are premier players that have grown through a lot of adversity already. Both of them got a lot of experience last year and playing over the summer.
Arizona Quotes
Arizona has played the toughest schedule by far in our conference, playing some of the top teams in the country. (Olson) had done a good job of what works best.
Freshmen Quotes
The last three games, we've essentially been playing all freshmen and sophomores.
Criteria Quotes
I'm excited about a No. 2 seed. It was well-deserved. Our guys have worked very, very hard. One of the criteria that is used is how are you playing at the end of the season.
Guys Quotes
These guys are playing like they're on a mission.
You want to be playing your best basketball at the end of the season. But not only are we playing good, we're getting better. This is truly a team.
The last seven, eight games, Ryan is playing the best basketball of his career.


I was down last week and got 5 days of great wind. We found that Salvo Day Use Area was quite a bit better than the Canadian Hole in a SW. Lots of 4.8 sailing last week. That is, if you choose to sail sound side. Have fun!
salvo day use area is LOADED with weeds. The Hole is the better and has plenty of wind. and you can walk your stuff over the dune and sail in the ocean as well. forecast looks great for end of this week. hatteras rocks in the summer..always has!
Sailed both locations last week. Weed fins manditory in both locations, but we did get better wind in Salvo, at least last week.
Sorry I live in N.J.
Summer is awesome, you'll love it! No wetsuits required, all of the restaurants are open with reasonable hours instead of closing at 7, and of course, there's lots of wind. Expect to sail mostly from mid afternoon until sunset if you're looking for stronger wind, anywhere between Canadian Hole and Nag's Head.
3) More likelihood of thunderstorms further north Nag's Head, Rodanthe, etc.
Depends where you're staying. South has been well covered above. If you're in the Nags Head area, Windmill Point or Jockey's Ridge are the soundside launches. No weeds at WP. BtBill can advise on current ocean conditions. Plenty of restaurants and things to do on that part of the Banks and on Roanoke Island.


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Mobilfilmizle – eBook Database
[PDF] Pocket Net Browser
Author: Dheeraj Mehrotra
Publisher: Firewall Media
Pocket Net Browser
by Dheeraj Mehrotra, release date 2003, Pocket Net Browser Books available in PDF, EPUB, Mobi Format. Download Pocket Net Browser books,
[PDF] The Music Of William Schuman Vincent Persichetti And Peter Mennin
Author: Walter Simmons
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Category : Music
The Music Of William Schuman Vincent Persichetti And Peter Mennin
by Walter Simmons, release date 2017-03-09, The Music Of William Schuman Vincent Persichetti And Peter Mennin Books available in PDF, EPUB, Mobi Format. Download The Music Of William Schuman Vincent Persichetti And Peter Mennin books, William Schuman, Vincent Persichetti, and Peter Mennin were three of the most significant American composers of the 20th century, yet their music has largely disappeared from view since their respective deaths. Because they each spent the majority of their careers working at the Juilliard School and Lincoln Center, their music is often viewed as "interchangeable." In The Music of William Schuman, Vincent Persichetti, and Peter Mennin: Voices of Stone and Steel, Walter Simmons provides a thorough examination of the lives and work of these artists, clarifying their considerable individuality both as composers and as human beings. The book begins with a comprehensive introduction summarizing the conventional view of the history of American music, while noting the marginalization of traditionalist composers—those who preferred to work with the musical forms and developmental principles on which the body of Western classical music is based. In the chapters that follow, each composer is presented through a brief overview and a biographical essay, followed by a general description of his style. Extensively researched and including detailed discussions and insights, the sections include lists of the composer's "most representative, fully realized works" and then provide systematic overviews of most or all of their compositions, giving the reader a general understanding of the artist and his work. The overviews contain a description of each composition, information concerning first performance and first recording, excerpts from reviews as well as Simmons' own critical assessment of each, and a statement of its place within the composer's output as a whole. A selected bibliography and essential discography follows at the end of each chapter.
[PDF] Primitive Music
Author: Richard Wallaschek
Category : Dance
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[PDF] Tele Improvisation Intercultural Interaction In The Online Global Music Jam Session
Author: Roger Mills
Tele Improvisation Intercultural Interaction In The Online Global Music Jam Session
by Roger Mills, release date 2019-01-04, Tele Improvisation Intercultural Interaction In The Online Global Music Jam Session Books available in PDF, EPUB, Mobi Format. Download Tele Improvisation Intercultural Interaction In The Online Global Music Jam Session books, This research monograph explores the rapidly expanding field of networked music making and the ways in which musicians of different cultures improvise together online. It draws on extensive research to uncover the creative and cognitive approaches that geographically dispersed musicians develop to interact in displaced tele-improvisatory collaboration. It presents a multimodal analysis of three tele-improvisatory performances that examine how cross-cultural musician's express and perceive intentionality in these interactions, as well as their experiences of distributed agency and tele-presence. Tele-Improvisation: Intercultural Interaction in the Online Global Music Jam Session will provide essential reading for musician's, postgraduate students, researchers and educators, working in the areas of telematic performance, musicology, music cognition, intercultural communication, distance collaboration and learning, digital humanities, Computer Supported Cooperative Work and HCI.
[PDF] The Monthly Musical Record
The Monthly Musical Record
by , release date 1895, The Monthly Musical Record Books available in PDF, EPUB, Mobi Format. Download The Monthly Musical Record books,
[PDF] Mathematics And Computation In Music
Author: Timour Klouche
Mathematics And Computation In Music
by Timour Klouche, release date 2010-07-19, Mathematics And Computation In Music Books available in PDF, EPUB, Mobi Format. Download Mathematics And Computation In Music books, This volume comprises a selection of papers presented at the first International C- ference on Mathematics and Computation in Music – mcm2007. The conference took place at the Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung PK – National Institute for Music Research in Berlin during May 18–20, 2007 and was jointly organized by the National Institute for Music Research Berlin and the Society of Mathematics and Computation in Music. The papers were selected for the conference by the program committee and classfied into talks and posters. All papers underwent further selection, revision and elaboration for this book publication. The articles cover a research field which is heterogeneous with respect to content, scientific language and methodology. On one hand, this reflects the heterogeneity and richness of the musical subject domain itself. On the other hand, it exemplifies a t- sion which has been explicitly intended by both the organizers and the founders of the society, namely to support the integration of mathematical and computational - proaches to music theory, composition, analysis and performance. The subdivision into three parts reflects the original structure of the program. These parts are opened by invited papers and followed by talks and posters.
[PDF] The Musical Times And Singing Class Circular
The Musical Times And Singing Class Circular
by , release date 1892, The Musical Times And Singing Class Circular Books available in PDF, EPUB, Mobi Format. Download The Musical Times And Singing Class Circular books,
[PDF] The Musical Times
by , release date 1891, The Musical Times Books available in PDF, EPUB, Mobi Format. Download The Musical Times books,
[PDF] Music For Children With Hearing Loss
Author: Lyn Schraer-Joiner
Music For Children With Hearing Loss
by Lyn Schraer-Joiner, release date 2014-07-02, Music For Children With Hearing Loss Books available in PDF, EPUB, Mobi Format. Download Music For Children With Hearing Loss books, Written by an expert in the field who is both a teacher and a teacher-educator, this book is an in-depth and practical resource for educators and parents who wish to introduce music to children with hearing loss. Author Lyn Schraer-Joiner makes a compelling case for offering music education to children with hearing loss before presenting a series of important and up-to-date teaching strategies meant to inform their educational experience, including preparations for the classroom, communication strategies for parents and teaching staff, and tips on more specific or technical matters such as conducting musical audiograms. These resources provide a solid background for hands-on instructional materials such as music lessons, supplemental activities, educational resources, discussion points, and journal samples for the classroom and home. Schraer-Joiner goes to great lengths to offer detailed, purposeful suggestions for specific classroom settings such as general music, choral ensemble, and instrumental ensemble as well as a set of recommended listening lessons that take this potential variety of settings into account. Furthermore, Schraer-Joiner provides suggestions for incorporating music into everyday activities and also presents an overview of recent research which reinforces the benefits of music upon social and emotional development as well as speech and language development. Each chapter concludes with a section entitled "For Your Consideration" which features review questions, ideas, and instructional activities that teachers and parents can accomplish with deaf and hard of hearing children. The book's "Kids Only" online component provides deaf and hard-of-hearing children with descriptions of the many opportunities available to them in the arts, inspirational case studies and stories, as well as important ideas and topics for deaf and hard-of-hearing children to consider discussing with the teachers, family members, and healthcare professionals that they work with. The message of this book is a powerful one particularly in this day and age. As hearing aid and cochlear implant technologies improve and become increasingly widespread, all teachers--especially music teachers--should expect to see more deaf and hard-of-hearing children in their classrooms. Awareness and preparation are not only vital in aiding these children in the classroom, but are in fact required of teachers by federal law. This book is a comprehensive resource for teachers and parents who wish to gain a better understanding of the emerging field of music education for students with hearing loss.
[PDF] The Incredibly Indispensable Web Directory
Author: Clive Zietman
Publisher: Kogan Page Publishers
Category : Internet
The Incredibly Indispensable Web Directory
by Clive Zietman, release date 2003, The Incredibly Indispensable Web Directory Books available in PDF, EPUB, Mobi Format. Download The Incredibly Indispensable Web Directory books, The fourth edition of this Web directory is updated and extended to include 10,000 entries. Incredibly Indispensible Web Directory is designed to save hours of searching on the Internet and help individuals to go straight to their desired site, without using search engines. It lists and categorises sites from art galleries to zoos.
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text:
Tent city campers have moved to David Shebib's residence in Saanich (Sam Seera's property), after leaving Goldstream campground Oct. 2. (Travis Paterson/News staff)
Absent Saanich mayoral candidate subject of all-candidates forum
David Shebib missed the third straight all-candidates' forum, but nonetheless generated attention
Oct. 3, 2018 5:00 p.m.
David Shebib, the Saanich mayoral candidate, who invited 20 homeless people to stay on a rural property Tuesday, was a subject of conversation during Saanich's third all-candidates' forum, despite his absence.
"My understanding from the Saanich News today is that David Shebib was trying to solve that problem himself, by inviting 20 campers to come to his property," said Rob Wickson, to gentle laughter from the audience, as the candidates addressed a question about homelessness. He added that the complexity of the issue goes beyond a 30-second soundbite and that any solution needs to involve the homeless themselves.
Shebib — who is running for Saanich mayor against Wickson, as well as incumbent Richard Atwell, and Coun. Fred Haynes — could not respond, because he has yet to attend any of the three all-candidates forums so far. He also skipped a forum exclusively for the mayoral candidates organized by the University of Victoria Tuesday afternoon.
RELATED: 'They had nowhere else to go,' mayoral candidate hosting tent city campers
But Shebib, who has a checkered political past, injected himself into the public discourse about homelessness Tuesday, when he invited the remaining 20 to 25 homeless campers evicted from Goldstream Provincial Park to stay at 5090 West Saanich Rd., a rural property in Saanich.
Most of the group has been together since the tent city at Regina Park and wanted to stay together. They moved in Tuesday afternoon and set up camp next to the house, with the stated intention to remain at the location until Oct. 20.
RELATED: Owner wants tent city campers off West Saanich property
But this move has a hitch. While Shebib operated a business on that property, he is neither owner nor tenant, said Sam Seera, who co-owns the property with Gurpal Aujla.
While many attending Tuesday's forum at Claremont Secondary school were likely unaware of Shebib's ownership status, his move nonetheless gave the general subject of homelessness and the municipality's response an added currency.
Several of the 18 candidates for councillor — all of them non-incumbent — openly criticized the timing of Saanich's decision to accept help from the provincial government to build supportive housing in exchange for municipal-owned land.
RELATED: Saanich offers land for housing for the homeless
Ned Taylor said he was disappointed that the municipality did not accept this exchange until two weeks ago.
"This issue has spiralled out of control," he said, adding Saanich should have been more pro-active. Rebecca Mersereau agreed. "A more compassionate response is also a more cost-effective response," she said.
"I hate to say this, but I'm on running on a platform, to accept millions of dollars in free supportive housing, when offered from the provincial government, and I will lobby for more," said Teale Phelps Bondaroff, who accused the current council of dithering and failing the tent city residents.
Atwell, who had previously taken credit for securing the supportive housing, for his part attacked council for failing to support his initiative consider the former Emily Carr library as a potential housing site for occupants of the Regina Park tent city.
RELATED: Saanich mayor pitches former Emily Carr library as housing site
"It's a viable site," said Atwell. "Unfortunately, the council has chosen to spend $2 million on a very minor renovation because we have three staff members in the hallways," he said. "That decision should be re-visited. It's a poor decision."
Coun. Fred Haynes acknowledged the complexity of the issue, adding that the homeless are active participants. Municipal, provincial and regional governments have committed $90 million dollars towards the issue, he added. He also broadly defended council's record.
"You elected this council to take care, and we are taking care," he said.
wolfgang.depner@saanichnews.com
Six UBC employees allege discrimination based on disability, pregnancy
Feds beef up bill to prevent foreign interference in Canadian elections


The near-field response of optically excited nanoparticle structure buried within thin dielectric layer is theoretically and numerically studied. Nanostructure is modeled as a finite-size periodic array of dipole-like gold nanoparticles, the size of the structure is assumed to be much smaller than the wavelength of the external electromagnetic wave. The layer with the particles is located on a dielectric substrate which is irradiated by an external monochromatic optical wave under condition of total internal reflection. For the determination of the field in the system we make use of the Green's function formalism and the dipole approximation. The dyadic Green's function of a three layer system is used in the unretarded approximation. In order to investigate plasmon resonance response of the nanoparticle structure we calculated the average dipole moment magnitude of the particles as a function of light wavelength for different parameters characterizing the layer environment and the structure. It has been found that the dielectric constant of layer containing the particle structure can strongly effect the resonance shifts in the system. This influence is depended on the external field polarization and inter-particle distances in the structure.


Julius Agwu's wife has reacted to reports making the round in the media about the comedian's current health status. The comedian, who survived a brain surgery last year, was hospitalized in London last weekend from stress of organizing his annual comedy show, Crack ya Ribs, which he was eventually unable to attend.
In an Instagram post shared today, Ibiere Agwu confirmed that her husband was indeed admitted to the hospital due to stress-related issues. The mother of two used the opportunity to thank fans, friends and colleagues for the outpouring of love and support.
''THANK YOU ALL!!! On behalf of my husband Julius Agwu, my children Zahra and Zadok and the entire Reel Laif Entertainment family, I say a big THANK YOU to all that have wished us well; prayed for us and shown concern during the past 96 hours. We thank God for his faithfulness and his restoration power.
Let me also use this medium to diffuse the fears created by some media outlets that had good intentions but used old pictures from Julius' May 2015 craniotomy, and many people mistook it for his current situation. The pictures displayed on social media in the past 72 hours are old pictures and do not correctly represent his current situation.
Julius was admitted due to stress-related issues that necessitated proper rest and rehabilitation. As many of you may already know, he had several shows lined up in the UK during the Nothing hill Carnivals. By the grace of GOD Julius is doing well and receiving adequate care.
As you continue to keep him in your prayers, it is our sincere prayer that God will do for you what no man do! Ephesians 6v8.


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Rigid Core products are harder and dent and scratch proof even more so than the durable WPC category. WPC, Vinyl, and Rigid Core products are all great affordable options for every lifestyle. Kids, pets, elderly, or even light commercial? Consider these in place of sheet vinyl or laminates (besides the waterproof durable RevWood of course!) Most styles can be floated over imperfect subfloors and are great options if you want to do your floors yourself. If you want professionals to do it (recommended) – we are here to help!
A waterproof floor with beautiful hardwood looks but without the maintenance of hardwood. Syncore X by Eagle Creek Floors captures old-world craftsmanship in its comprehensive selection of high-quality flooring products. Made to satisfy a wide range of budget and décor options, an Eagle Creek floor delivers aesthetic beauty and long-lasting value, providing fashion and function to homes everywhere. Syncore X floors have a 20 mil wear layer, attached foam pad for a convenient design and installation. Choose some Syncore X samples for us to bring to your home if you're shopping for a basement, kitchen, bathroom or even your whole house. It's durability and design will impress you! We have a few designs with the popular bevel that gives your floor an even more realistic wood impression.
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COREtec Plus represents the next revolution in luxury vinyl flooring. COREtec Plus is a great alternative to glue down LVT, solid locking LVT, or laminate flooring. The patent-pending* construction of COREtec Plus features our innovative COREtec core structure, which is an extruded core made from recycled wood and bamboo dust, limestone, and virgin PVC. Since COREtec Plus is 100% waterproof, COREtec Plus floors can be installed in wet areas and will never swell when exposed to water. COREtec Plus is inert and dimensionally stable; it will not expand or contract under normal conditions. Further, COREtec Plus never needs expansion strips in large rooms. Each COREtec Plus plank has an attached cork underlayment for a quieter, warmer vinyl floor that is naturally resistant to odor-causing mold and mildew.
Transcend SureSet or Click options combine bold designs with easy installation and you get SureSet. With its unique installation system, Sureset is a snap to install – as easy as a sticky note – thanks to repositionable, pre-applied adhesive backing. Change your mind? Change your design!
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The quick-click, secure-locking, easy installation will pique your interest. The child and pet friendly, waterproof performance will seal the deal. Warm, comfortable and quiet, Transcend Click is luxury flooring at its best.
Armstrong's Altena and Luxe luxury vinyl products reflect the look of real hardwood, ceramic, and stone in a durable, affordable luxury vinyl material. Come check out our Alterna display in our store to see which pattern tile will look great in your space!


text:
Supporting Higher Education in London
About HE in London
Home / News & Resources / News / AccessHE launch Year 12 and 13 Higher Education Advice Series
AccessHE launch Year 12 and 13 Higher Education Advice Series
Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and the restrictions of lockdown, many young people have missed opportunities to learn from their teachers and higher education outreach staff, therefore most importantly missing out on firsthand experiences of further and higher education. Adapting successfully to online learning was not a reality for all students, as research by The Sutton Trust and The Edge Foundation has shown that those most disadvantaged have had the most barriers to online learning.
With students now back in school there is the opportunity to fill the knowledge gap but be mindful of health and safety restrictions. Furthermore, there is the opportunity to not only continue to support remote learning at home, but also blended classroom delivery as requested by Uni Connect Outreach Hub network of teachers and careers leads.
This autumn AccessHE are pioneering a series of interactive live events, streamed directly into London classrooms. These sessions are designed to help current year 13s and 12s catch up with the HE admissions process and will:
Meet Gatsby Benchmark 7 from the comfort of your classroom
Allow live interactions with external speakers without safeguarding concerns
Provide impartial advice and information for all students considering pathways through higher education in a COVID-secure environment
The sessions will be co-delivered by the AccessHE student advocates , who are student ambassadors from Middlesex University, University of Westminister, Royal Veterinary College, London Metropolitan University, Queen Mary University of London, Urdang Academy, London School of Economics and University of East London.
The student advocates will not only be able to answer questions on topics such as personal statements and how to navigate university choice, but will also be able to represent to prospective students experiences of how universities are currently managing the COVID-19 pandemic. This collaborative effort demonstrates continued support by London higher education providers for schools and young people.
London Higher
COVID 19 news and resources
About London Higher
Vision, Mission and Status
London Higher Members
London Higher Board
London HE
© Copyright London Higher 2021. Company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales. no. 05731255. Registered Charity no. 1114873


text:
Part of HuffPost Science. ©2021 Verizon Media. All rights reserved.
10/05/2013 09:06 am ET Updated Oct 05, 2013
Virgin Galactic, NBC To Launch 'Space Race' Reality TV Show
LiveScience LiveScience
Soon, you can watch people compete for a chance to launch into space from the comfort of your own living room.
A new reality TV show picked up by NBC called "Space Race" will follow along as space fans compete to win a free ride on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo. The winner of the competition will get a chance to fly aboard the commercial spaceship. Veteran reality TV show producer Mark Burnett of One Three Media will serve as executive producer.
"Virgin Galactic's mission is to democratize space, eventually making commercial space travel affordable and accessible to all," British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, said in a statement. "'Space Race' allows us to extend this opportunity of a lifetime to as many people as possible right at the start of our commercial service — through direct experience and television viewing. All of us at Virgin Galactic and our partner Aabar Investments are delighted to be collaborating with NBC and Mark, who is a true pioneer and creative force in television programming" [See photos of a SpaceShipTwo rocket-powered test flight]
Burnett's other credits have included the long-lasting "Survivor" and "The Apprentice" reality-forma competition shows.
Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo is a private suborbital space plane designed to carry two pilots and six passengers on round-trip flights into space. Passenger flights are expected to begin in 2014 and can be bought at a price of about $250,000 per ticket, but the lucky winner of "Space Race" won't need to pay a dime for their flight into space.
During a spaceflight, SpaceShipTwo will be carried to an altitude of about 50,000 feet (15,000 meters) by a mothership carrier plane called WhiteKnightTwo. Once released, the spaceship's rocket engine kicks in, launching it into suborbital space.
Virgin Galactic passengers on SpaceShipTwo will briefly feel weightlessness during the flight, although they will not complete a full orbit of Earth. Officials with Virgin Galactic have said that the spaceflyers will get the chance to look down on Earth against the backdrop of black space.
"For the past 10 years I have relentlessly pursued my dream of using a TV show to give an everyday person the chance to experience the black sky of space and look down upon mother Earth," Burnett said in a statement. "Last year I spent time in New Mexico at the state of the art facility [Spaceport America] and last week spent time in the Mojave Desert with Sir Richard and his impressive team."
"We got to see the spaceship up close and hear of Sir Richard's incredible vision of how Virgin Galactic is the future of private space travel," Burnett added. "I am thrilled to be part of a series that will give the everyday person a chance to see space and that NBC has come on board too so that viewers at home will have a first class seat."
SpaceShipTwo reached a maximum altitude of 65,000 feet (19,800 m) during its second powered test flight in September. The spaceship was built by the aerospace firm Scaled Composites, which also built its predecessor SpaceShipOne — the first private spacecraft to fly humans to space and back twice in a week in 2004 to win the $10 million Ansari X Prize contest.
Follow Miriam Kramer @mirikramer and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on SPACE.com.
Now Boarding: The Top 10 Private Spaceships
SpaceShipTwo's Intense Rocket Ride - Tail View and Cockpit Recording | Video
How Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Passenger Space Plane Works (Infographic)
Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Private Spacecraft
Space Program Spaceflight Space Science Richard Branson
Helping to pave the road for the future of commercial spaceflight, Boeing is hard at work on the research and development of a new space capsule aimed at flying people to the International Space Station.


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text:
Q: MongoDB geospatial query with find() I have some documents with a "loc" field that looks like this:
mongos> db.foo.findOne()
{
    // ... some other stuff
    "loc" : {
            "type" : "Point",
            "coordinates" : [
                    -83.362342,
                    26.687779
            ]
    }
}

It's indexed like so:
mongos> db.foo.getIndices()
[
    // ... some other stuff
    {
            "v" : 1,
            "key" : {
                    "loc" : "2dsphere"
            },
            "name" : "loc_2dsphere",
            "ns" : "amitest.foo",
            "2dsphereIndexVersion" : 2
    },
]

According to the docs I should be able to query it like the following, but I get the error shown:
mongos> db.foo.find(
  {loc :
    {$near:
      {$geometry:
        {type: "Point",
         coordinates: [-83.362342, 26.687779]
        },
       $maxDistance: 100
      }
    }
  }
).limit(5)

error: { "$err" : "use geoNear command rather than $near query", "code" : 13501 }

I can successfully query the field using runCommand(), but that's not ideal because I can't combine it with other criteria:
mongos> db.runCommand(
  {geoNear : "foo",
   near : {type : "Point",
           coordinates : [-83.362342, 26.687779]
          },
   spherical : true,
   maxDistance : 10,
   limit : 5
  }
)

I've got MongoDB 2.6.0, on a hash-sharded collection with 8 shards.

A: In the geospatial index documentation, it states that: "For sharded collections, queries using $near are not supported. You can instead use either the geoNear command or the $geoNear aggregation stage."
There is a bug related to this, https://jira.mongodb.org/browse/SERVER-926, which is marked as closed and targets a future release of MongoDB, 1.7.2, which will enable the $near operator to be used with sharded collections. However, note, there is a big but which is that near queries will be routed to all shards via mongos, which is likely to be very inefficient. This is because sharding is not supported on a geo column in general, see the related and still open bug https://jira.mongodb.org/browse/SERVER-1982
This, in turn, is related to to the fact that MongoDB uses geohashing to convert two dimensional geographical objects to something that can be both indexed using a B-tree and something that could, in theory, be used as a shard key. It is a difficult problem to fix, as with geohash indexes, objects very close together, can end up with hash values very far apart, and so it is difficult to design something that is both appropriate to use as a shard key, but also supports efficient geospatial querying such as $near. See the limitations section in the Wikipedia geohash article for more on potential issues with geohashing.


a motorised gate entrance may be opened fully using one code, or activate the pedestrian opening using another, and switching on the house alarm using a third.
The same memory module used on the D10 industrial sliding gate motor, may also be used on the SMARTGUARDair, allowing all the settings and codes to be backed up and restored in seconds.
The CENTURION SMARTGUARDair keypad also boasts a 'downcounter' allowing selected codes to have a limited number of uses. This is ideal for granting single occasion access, for example to an armed response company, with the code automatically deleting itself after use.
There are 15 separate channels, each of which can be paired with a CENTURION code-hopping receiver which means that up to 15 different devices can be activated using the SMARTGUARDair wireless keypad. Such functionality caters for many different scenarios for example, a motorised gate entrance may be opened fully using one code, activate the pedestrian opening using another, and switching on the house alarm using a third.
The SMARTGUARDair is a wireless model making it easy to install. It operates off two AA Alkaline batteries (included) which provide up to two years of battery life with up to 300 operations per day! It is compatible with CENTURION's ultra-secure code-hopping receivers, including those onboard in many of our new operator controllers.


text:
Tag Archives: Law Commission
February 21, 2014 Thomas Beagle	2 Comments
Text of the Tech Liberty submission to the Justice and Electoral Select Committee concerning the Harmful Digital Communications Bill. (Or download PDF of original version with footnotes.)
We believe that this Bill is based on false premises about the nature of freedom of expression and the differences between digital and non-digital speech. We see the Bill as being a well-meaning but misguided threat to the civil liberties of New Zealanders. We fear that the Bill will be ineffective in too many cases where it might be needed most, while being too effective in the cases which are most problematic to civil liberties.
We support the establishment of an agency to assist those harmed by harmful communications and believe that this will go a long way to resolving the types of situations that can be resolved.
We believe that the court proceedings are unfair and unlikely to be of much use. We support the discretion and guidelines given to the court in making a judgement, but believe that the procedures of the court need to better take into account the requirements for a fair trial.
The safe harbour provisions for online content hosts are unreasonable. While online content hosts do need protection from liability, the suggested mechanism amounts to a way that any person can get material taken down that they don't like for any trivial reason. This section needs to be completely rethought in the context of overseas experiences to ensure that freedom of expression is properly protected.
The new offence of causing harm is poorly conceived and criminalises many communications that are of value to society. If not removed in its entirety, defences and an overriding Bill of Rights veto should be added.
We have also made comments on the changes to the Harassment and Crimes Acts.
Continue reading Submission: Harmful Digital Communications Bill →
censorshipDigital Harmsdue processHDCInternetLaw Commissionsubmissiontakedown
Anti cyber-bullying proposal marches on
April 4, 2013 Thomas Beagle
A cabinet paper (PDF) shows that the Government has accepted most of the Law Commission's proposals to control and punish cyber-bullying and other 'digital harms'. This includes:
Clarification of existing laws such as the Harassment Act to explicitly say that they apply to modern communications technology.
Establishment of an agency (probably NetSafe) that will provide non-coercive mediation of online issues.
More encouragement of anti-bullying measures in schools.
New criminal offences for "using a communications device with the intention to cause harm" and "incitement to suicide".
Establishment of a new regime with wide ranging censorship powers for controlling online speech, including new tighter standards for what speech is acceptable online.
One significant change is that the paper rejects the establishment of a separate Communications Tribunal (staffed by District Court judges with specialist knowledge in this area) in favour of passing it to the District Court as a whole. This would seem a step backwards in many ways as we question whether the average District Court judge is up to the task of understanding the technology involved.
Read our response to the Law Commission's original proposals: What's Wrong with the Communications (New Media) Bill and can it be fixed?
Many of these problems remain in the current proposal.
From a civil liberties point of view, the most serious concerns are around the idea that online speech should be held to a different and significantly higher standard than offline speech, a position we strongly object to. There is also a concern around why harming someone via online communication is seen as so much worse than other forms – it would make more sense to us to concentrate on the extent of the harm caused, not the means by which it was delivered.
From a purely practical point of view, when we consider the wide-ranging use of anonymity and foreign services on the internet, combined with the speed at which many situations blow up online, we still question how much good these proposals will be able to do.
Other Reactions
Our page listing reactions to the initial report.
No Right Turn reports that the proposal is the return of the offence of criminal libel:
Back in the dark ages, when spousal rape was legal and homosexuality was a crime, there was a criminal offence in this country of "criminal libel". Publishing material "designed to insult any person or likely to injure his reputation by exposing him to hatred, contempt and ridicule" wasn't just a matter for defamation lawyers; it was a crime punishable by two years imprisonment. The law was clearly incompatible with the Bill of Rights Act (not to mention with modern ideas about defamation being a tort), and so it was repealed in 1992. Now Judith Collins wants to bring it back – but only on the internet.
Lawyer Steven Price points out some of the hurdles you'll have to get over to actually use the new new censorship regime and then questions the wisdom of handing over decision making around some complex technical and Bill of Rights issues to the next District Court judge off the bench.
Blogger David Farrar generally favours the proposal but questions the communications principles.
InternetNZ points out that the proposal has some worrying flaws.
Do New Zealanders want web-based email services to be subject to take-down orders? Do people understand that such orders, as outlined in the Cabinet paper, could be based on lower legal standards than is the case today – and could be imposed on people without them being part of the Court's proceedings?
Vikram Kumar worries that the proposals will cause collateral damage to the NZ internet.
NZ Herald editorial in favour.
Digital HarmsInternetLaw Commission
Useful links re the Law Commission's Digital Harms report
September 10, 2012 Thomas Beagle	2 Comments
A summary of articles and other information about the Law Commissions Harmful Digital Communications report (PDF) and the associated Communications (New Media) Bill (PDF).
Please send any updates or other useful links and we'll incorporate them. Last updated: 10/9/2012.
Tech Liberty
What's wrong with the Communications (New Media) Bill and can it be fixed?
Law Commission – Harmful Digital Communications
Powers of the Proposed Communications Tribunal
Lawyer Steven Price
Defending the Law Commission
Critiquing the Law Commission
Defending the Law Commission again
Lawyer John Edwards
Worried about Hell Pizza? Help is on the way – the Law Commission's New Media Bill
Stephen Bell at Computerworld
Red flags raised over 'Cyber-bullying Bill'
Mike O'Donnell from Trademe at Stuff
Wild west web's showdown
David Farrar at Kiwiblog
The cyber-bullying law
Chris Barton at NZ Herald
Cyber-bullying law a blunder
Interview with lawyer John Edwards and Thomas Beagle from Tech Liberty
Richard Boock at Stuff
Freedom of speech comes at a cost
Netsafe
Negotiation is the new black – the "Approved Agency"
Trolls provide motivation for greater regulation
Workshops on the Communications Bill are worth attending
InternetNZ
Public workshop to narrow lens on Cyberbullying Bill
Police Minister Judith Collins
Cyber-bullying must stop, says Collins
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September 2, 2012 Thomas Beagle	10 Comments
The Law Commission's proposed Communications (New Media) Bill (PDF) is the result of their report on Harmful Digital Communications. They are proposing:
The creation of a new criminal offence that targets digital communications which are "grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character and which cause harm". Harm is said to include physical fear, humiliation, mental and emotional distress.
The establishment of an Agency (i.e. Netsafe) that will be able to assist and advise people suffering from unpleasant digital communications.
The establishment of a Communications Tribunal that will be able to respond to complaints and provide "speedy, efficient and cheap access to remedies such as takeown orders and cease & desist notices."
Amendments to the Harassment Act, Human Rights Act, Privacy Act and Crimes Act to ensure that the provisions of these laws can be applied to digital communications.
New requirements for NZ schools to work harder at stopping bullying of all kinds.
While sympathetic to the aims, we have some serious questions about the law and the thinking that lies behind it. This article discusses some of the problems that we see, talks about ways to resolve them and asks whether the problems are too great for some parts to be worth pursuing. We have arranged our arguments thematically and finish with our conclusions and recommendations.
Continue reading What's wrong with the Communications (New Media) Bill and can it be fixed? →
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August 20, 2012 Thomas Beagle	2 Comments
The Law Commission has proposed the creation of a Communications Tribunal that will be able to respond to complaints about internet speech and provide "speedy, efficient and cheap access to remedies such as takeown orders and cease & desist notices." The Tribunal would be made up of one of a number of selected District Court judges, with the optional assistance of a technical expert where required.
We were curious to see how what powers the proposed Bill would give the Communications Tribunal and how that would compare to the other tribunals mentioned in the report.
A future article will discuss the types of complaints that the Tribunal will deal with and the principles they are to use when doing so.
What powers would this Communications Tribunal have?
Once a complaint has been made and accepted by the Tribunal, they have certain investigatory powers:
require any person to provide any document, information or things
require any person (including the defendant) to give evidence.
Once the Tribunal has made the decision ("…with as little formality and technicality, and as speedily as is permitted…") it can order one or more of the following:
remove any material from any online media
forbid anyone from republishing or encouraging others to republish the same or similar material
demand a correction, an apology or the right of reply
publicly identify the author of a particular communication.
If the demand to produce/give evidence or any of these orders are disobeyed it would be punishable by up to 3 months jail and/or a $5000 fine.
Compared to other tribunals
In the Ministerial Briefing, they compare the Communications Tribunal to other tribunals such as the Tenancy Tribunal, Human Rights Review Tribunal and the Disputes Tribunal.
Firstly, we note that there is a major difference between the Tenancy and Dispute Tribunals (where the tribunal is arbitrating an existing agreement between two parties) and the Communications and Human Rights Review Tribunals where there is no pre-existing agreement between the people involved. This means that we think the Human Rights Review Tribunal is a better subject for comparison.
Secondly, disobeying any orders from the other tribunals does not result in a jail sentence but rather fines of between $1500 and $5000. The ability to back its decisions with a threatened 3 month jail sentence is is a major difference in the powers of the Communications Tribunal.
Thirdly, the laws for the other tribunals are much more detailed as to how they are to perform their work. There are procedures, clarifications of who can appear and when, oath-taking, rights of appearance and notification, etc, etc. The proposed Bill is either unfinished or the Law Commission really does seem to want hearings to be a quick and dirty affair, something that may not be appropriate when talking about issues that have important Bill of Rights implications.
Fourthly, the other tribunals do have some powers to order evidence and testimony – but legally privileged information is protected and the Human Rights Review Tribunal is subject to the Evidence Act.
Is there any defence/appeal?
There is no requirement for the defendant to be heard or to have a chance to put their case forward. (Lawyer John Edwards counters this by saying that the Tribunal's requirement to comply with the principles of natural justice would require that affected parties be given an opportunity to be heard.)
The complainant can appeal a decision to an Appeal Tribunal (made up of two District Court judges).
The defendant has no opportunity to appeal any decision, nor do other possible targets of an order (the ISP, webhost or 'any other person').
The Communications Tribunal would have very broad powers over internet content. Breaching one of their orders will result in a serious fine of up to $5000 or jail time of up to three months. This contrasts with the report stating that it would be "protective, rather than punitive" and would "not have powers to impose criminal sanctions". If you refuse to follow the orders (possibly because you believe they are unfair, breach your freedom of expression, or because it's technically impossible) you'll find that punitive criminal sanctions quickly follow.
The Law Commission repeatedly mentions that the Tribunal should be "speedy" and "efficient" with "little formality". The proposed Bill is very light on detail when it comes to the nitty gritty of running a Tribunal – presumably with the thought that this would just slow them down. They seem to be of the view that the Tribunal must react in "internet time" without quite realising that a result in days or even hours probably won't be good enough to avoid harm to the complainant.
The cases coming before the Tribunal are not always going to be easy, with internet flamewars and inter-clique battles typically leading to bad behaviour from all of the parties that will need to be unpicked properly to make a fair decision.
This lack of process and protection for the rights of the defendant to a fair hearing (including the right to silence) will surely lead to bad decisions that fail to take into account the principles of natural justice.
Moreover, the Tribunal is dealing with a very serious matter, the right to freedom of expression as guaranteed by the NZ Bill of Rights. This is not some petty dispute over who pays for the repairs to a car or whether the oven was cleaned properly on vacating a flat. The level of formality and respect to the rights of the participants is very different between the Communications Tribunal and the more directly comparable Human Rights Review Tribunal.
We believe that, even before you consider the grounds for complaining to the Communications Tribunal and the principles it will follow to make decisions, there are some serious problems with the Tribunal as conceived by the Law Commission. The proposed remedies are too expansive, the penalties for disobeying too harsh and the unseemly haste that will go into making a decision is not appropriate.
This post has been corrected on 22/8/2012 to clarify that only the complainant, not the defendant, can appeal an order of the Tribunal.
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The Law Commission has released Harmful Digital Communications (PDF) – the rushed report into the "adequacy of current sanctions and remedies". According to the summary they are proposing:
The creation of a new criminal offence that targets digital communications which are "grossly offensive or of an indence, obscene or menacing character and which cause harm". Harm is said to include physical fear, humiliation, mental and emotional distress.
The establishment of a Communications Tribunal that will be able to respond to complaints and provide "speedy, efficient and cheap access to remedies such as takeown orders and cease & desist notices." It is also envisioned that Netsafe would take a larger role in being a first port of call for people seeking help.
The last two of these seem innocuous so our response will concentrate on the first two.
New "digital communications" offence
While it is undoubtedly true that the internet has allowed people to be nasty to each other on a wider scale than before, we are still not convinced that new laws are needed.
This is especially true when the Commission believes that the law should forbid offensive speech that has only got as far as causing someone "significant emotional distress", a rather low bar when adolescents or other excitable people are involved. (The Commission acknowledges that this goes beyond the current bounds of NZ criminal and civil law.)
We are also concerned when it is proposed to make something illegal on the internet that wouldn't be illegal if it was published in some other way. Does it really make sense that the same message might be legal on a billboard in the middle of Auckland but illegal if it was then posted to the Trademe Forums? As we say in our founding principles, "We believe that our civil liberties don't just disappear when using the internet."
It seems like that the new law will mainly be used as just another threat/weapon by people already engaged in internet battles.
All in all, we view this proposed new law with suspicion and fear that it will limit freedom of expression and cause more problems than it solves.
Establishment of a Communications Tribunal
It is always a concern when a new body with the power to censor is created, epecially when it is envisioned that it should be "speedy, efficient and cheap". When you realise that it's going to be tasked with censoring communications on the global internet, you have to wonder just what they were thinking.
Even reading the summary paper you get the feeling that the Law Commission doesn't think the Communications Tribunal is going to do much good, citing problems with identifying people and establishing jurisdiction overseas. Obviously it's only really going to have jurisdiction in New Zealand and this is just going to drive people's nastiness offshore.
Furthermore, the Tribunal will consist of one of a number of selected District Court judges, and they're going to have the power to order ISPs and web administrators to take down content. This can be significantly more difficult than it sounds and seems like a significant threat to freedom of expression, especially in those cases where the original author cannot be found therefore cannot defend themselves.
The Communications Tribunal seems to be a "at least we tried" measure, doomed to failure in all but a very narrow range of cases. We question whether it is worth doing at all.
We look forward to reading the full report and the proposed legislation and giving a fuller response when this is available.
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New Media submission opposes media regulation
March 13, 2012 Thomas Beagle
Tech Liberty made a submission to the Media Regulation review run by the Law Commission. The summary of our submission is as follows:
We recognise that "big media" still has a lot of influence in New Zealand but that this influence is declining as the internet gives people the ability to:
self-publish ("little media")
share and distribute self-published articles
publicly critique the work of big media.
This change can be seen in the way that online media such as blogs used to be very reactive to work published in newspapers and TV, but now newspapers and TV are increasingly picking up stories from blogs and other forms of social media.
Much of the rest of the review was about how the media should be regulated but we believe that the need for greater media regulation has not been established.
Defining news media
The review suggests that regulation could be a trade-off for official recognition of news media, and spends a lot of time discussing who would be included in the definition of "news media". We believe any definition would either be so broad as to be useless or so narrow that it would miss out many people and publications that arguably should be covered. This is especially true as journalism continues to develop and change in the internet age.
Special privileges for news media
The review suggests that we need a definition because some laws refer to the news media to bestow special privileges. Our preference is that these privileges should be extended to all citizens (e.g. replace the media "fair dealing" section in the Copyright Act with a more general "fair dealing/fair use" provision for all people) or should be available to all people when they are acting as a journalist.
Furthermore, any organisation that wish to include/exclude "news media" can make their own determinations as to who that is rather then relying on a government mandated definition.
External regulation
We do not believe that there is a need for an external regulator. Indeed, as the internet gives people the means to publicly criticise the output of big media, the need for a regulator is reduced compared to the days when only a very limited number of media companies could get their views out (due to limited airwaves or the need to own a printing press).
Current regulation is also generally quite ineffectual. The original message still goes out and then any correction is ignored as the issue is no longer "news". Regulation tends to be after the fact score-keeping at best.
Any publishing company or journalist who wishes to be taken seriously has the ability to form a group and create their own code of ethics and regulator. The Press Council is an example of this and we do not see why other media groups who wish to be taken seriously could not do the same.
Finally, if there was a regulator our view was that it should be in the form of an Ombudsman with the ability to make morally rather than legally binding decisions.
Malicious speech online
The second part of the review was about harmful speech online.
We agreed that malicious speech online can be a problem just as it is when face to face Furthermore, the nature of the internet means that the malicious speech can both spread further and remain available longer.
We believe that the law is limited in what it can do about people being nasty to each other, either online or in person. Even if current law could deal with these issues, the international nature of the internet and the inevitable jurisdiction issues would mean that only a small proportion of problems could be resolved.
That said, many of the more contentious issues will be conducted by people who know each other well and probably even live in the same area. The law should be able to deal with issues of harassment using existing laws (possibly with the tweaks identified by the Commission to ensure that online communications are definitely covered).
We reject the idea that speech online should be held to a higher standard than any other form of speech.
We do support the creation of a new crime of "malicious online impersonation" with the caveat that it must be very careful not to include obvious cases of parody and other forms of non-serious impersonation.
No ISP responsibility
We oppose any attempt to make ISPs responsible for taking down or blocking information either hosted on their network or available through it. This is because ISPs typically have no visibility or control over the material that their customers might store on servers hosted with the ISP. Typically an ISP will only have one option – passing the request on to the publisher or turning off the entire site. Closing down an entire site would seem a gross over-reaction to the content of one offending post or comment.
It does seem appropriate to us that an ISP might have a responsibility to pass on a takedown message to the site owner (similar to the copyright legislation) or, upon presentation of a suitable court order, reveal the identity of the site owner so that legal action can be taken.
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Kiwicon – The government is your friend
November 7, 2011 Thomas Beagle	11 Comments
The government is your friend and wants you to be happy.
This is the transcript of a speech given by Thomas Beagle at Kiwicon in Wellington on November 6th, 2011.
Continue reading Kiwicon – The government is your friend →
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commentary, conference, suppression
Internet Name Suppression Workshop
February 3, 2011 Thomas Beagle	5 Comments
InternetNZ hosted a workshop about name suppression in the digital age.
The following notes were made at the session. They give a general idea of what was discussed but should not be taken as definitive or complete.
Continue reading Internet Name Suppression Workshop →
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commentary, suppression
Government looking at further regulation of speech on the Internet
October 14, 2010 Thomas Beagle
Justice Minister Simon Power claims that "new media" on the Internet is a "wild west" that lacks professional or ethical standards. He says:
Issues I'm concerned about include how trials can be prejudiced by information posted on websites and seen by jurors, real-time online streaming of court cases, breaches of court suppression orders, and re-publication of a libel.
He has asked the Law Commission to review whether current regulations are good enough. This is the same Law Commission that believes that ISPs (Internet Service Providers) should have a responsibility to close down websites and shutdown webservers if they are hosting material that might be in breach of a suppression order.
The report will focus on whether the two existing industry bodies, the Broadcasting Standards Authority and Press Council, could be used to regulate "new media", and whether existing criminal and civil remedies and penalties are appropriate.
These is no mention in the press release of the freedom of expression guaranteed to New Zealanders in the Bill of Rights Act. Nor is there any recognition that many forms of old media such as leaflets, posters and books are also unregulated.
An issues paper is expected by December 2012.
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An investigation by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has focused on the social media giant since earlier this year, when evidence emerged that an app had been used to harvest the data of tens of millions of Facebook users worldwide.
"The ICO's investigation concluded that Facebook contravened the law by failing to safeguard people's information," it said, adding that the company had "failed to be transparent about how people's data was harvested by others".
Facebook has admitted that up to 87 million users may have had their data hijacked by British consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica, which was working for US President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.
"We are at a crossroads. Trust and confidence in the integrity of our democratic processes risk being disrupted because the average voter has little idea of what is going on behind the scenes," Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said in the statement.
In May, Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg apologised to the European Parliament for the "harm" caused by a huge breach of users' data and by a failure to crack down on fake news.
- Hefty compensation bill -The EU in May launched strict new data-protection laws allowing regulators to fine companies up to 20 million euros ($24 million) or four percent of annual global turnover.
"As we have said before, we should have done more to investigate claims about Cambridge Analytica and take action in 2015," Erin Egan, chief privacy officer at Facebook, said.
"We have been working closely with the ICO in their investigation of Cambridge Analytica, just as we have with authorities in the US and other countries. We're reviewing the report and will respond to the ICO soon."