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HPH189 : Is an electric car the perfect accompaniment for a low energy home? – with Robert Llewellyn from Fully Charged
September 1, 2017 by Robin Goldberg Leave a Comment
Actor and TV presenter Robert Llewellyn shares his insights about the future of electric cars and energy production.
Image source: www.fullychargedshow.co.uk
Interview with Robert Llewellyn
Robert Llewellyn is an actor and TV presenter, perhaps best known for his role as Kryten on Red Dwarf. His Internet project Fully Charged discusses electric vehicles and renewable energy and is expanding beyond its origins on YouTube.
From petrol-head to EV enthusiast
Robert confesses that he once loved cars with big petrol engines. He experienced his first ride in a Prius back in 2001, but it took time to reconsider what he was interested in and, by default, promoting. He got his first electric vehicle (EV) in 2009.
He acknowledges there have been teething problems along the way – the lack of a charging infrastructure initially didn't help – and comments that well-funded propaganda from the fossil fuel industry has attempted to hold back development.
However, Robert describes the current global car market as being at its peak in terms of the internal combustion engine, and says the wider transition to electric vehicles is finally gathering pace. Eventually, as with asbestos, tobacco, catalytic converters and leaded petrol, the corporations will change. For now, Renault, Nissan and Tesla are leading the way.
Electric vehicles are part of a bigger revolution
By thinking of an electric car as a battery and computer on wheels, Robert can see even bigger change ahead in the form of vehicle automation. Having experienced the fully autonomous Nissan Leaf, Robert says "When you go in it, you go 'alright, fair enough. This stuff works.'" The car performed way better than any driver Robert has ever seen. He expects total adoption of automation by the trucking industry within five years.
"They won't sell models, they'll sell mobility"
To be a success, electric cars will need to completely change the ownership model. It's not just oil consumption that is unsustainable. Regardless of whether there's enough lithium to supply batteries at the rate the car market is growing, there isn't enough steel, rubber or plastic to make enough cars. As 90% of cars on the road are not in use 90% of the time, selling a service (as opposed to a car) is the direction manufacturers will have to take.
With a self-driving car you could use it as much as you do now without owning it or having it parked outside your house. You wouldn't even need to charge it, Robert says. "It will be charged when it turns up at your house because it will have charged itself." Getting a charging point at your house is still worthwhile though, as he adds, "It's very obvious that it's not going to happen overnight." It's likely to be at least 10 years and possibly 20 before we see a significant change in car ownership.
The existing energy production system has hidden costs
When making the TV series 'How Do They Do It?', Robert learnt that oil refineries use so much electricity they have to have their own power stations! One in Pembrokeshire uses the same amount of electricity in a year as Coventry and Leicester. Thus, reducing oil refining would enable the greater electricity consumption needed for more electric cars.
This typifies the 'invisible' costs of established technology. Petrol stations are considered a normal part of everyday life, therefore the costs aren't thought about. Yet Robert points out the energy required to supply petrol stations is "catastrophically colossal".
Energy companies are starting to embrace change
Financial savings are motivating change in the energy industry. Robert gives the example of solar plants. As with coal and nuclear, initial installation is hugely expensive, but once up and running, solar is much cheaper. No fuel costs, no waste management, no storage and no transportation mean massive savings.
In the case of Pacific Edison, the huge American power company who use coal, nuclear and gas plants to generate electricity, "peak management issues" were overloading the grid. They found the cheapest solution was batteries, and this was in fact Tesla's first multi-megawatt sized grid battery backup.
Renewable energy production is growing globally
It's encouraging to see the adoption of renewable technologies "at breakneck pace" around the world. Robert points to China where the rate of solar panel and wind turbine installations is "mindboggling". The UK is gradually producing more renewable energy too: it is actually the biggest offshore wind generating country in the world, taking advantage of the fact that 40% of all the wind in Europe is around the British Isles.
You can run your house off your car and vice versa
Robert says he doesn't actually see himself as very 'green' and even admits to having an Aga! However, he has made gradual changes. He only has electric cars now, and in his house he has improved the insulation, added solar panels, very good windows and a battery on the wall. As a result, his electricity bill has dropped by about 85%.
This form of domestic energy production and storage represent a big threat to the status quo, which he calls massively inefficient: "We have to subsidise all of the fossil fuel plants to a colossal amount of money to keep them running." Robert's house is typical of how current technology can be much more efficient, and he describes how some offices in the UK use similar systems and save hundreds of thousands of pounds a year without using any grid electricity.
Tesla Powerwall Battery
Image source: www.inhabitat.com
Local energy production and storage would be more efficient
The big UK energy companies are actually in favour of producing, owning and selling electricity locally as it would save a lot of money. The price of electricity fluctuates from getting paid to use it, to being fantastically expensive. At peak times it is imported at a higher cost than we ever pay for it, by many thousands of percent.
Robert counters recent claims we'd need ten times more electricity if we moved to local production and storage. More intelligent and regular use would avoid the sudden peaks and troughs that are currently so costly and inefficient.
Volume new builds aren't designed to be energy efficient
Robert doesn't hold back about the standard of new houses, which he says are "designed and built by morons!" He laments their individual gas boilers, traditional pitched roofs that don't face south and lack of solar panels.
Robert cites studies showing you can build an efficient house at the cheapest possible cost where the house produces ALL the energy it needs, emphasising, "the people who live in that house will have free heating and lighting for the life of the building."
Lower energy homes could make a huge difference
By using systems like the ones Robert has, with solar panels, batteries for storage and electric cars, a house can place about 70% less demand on the grid. While this means very little by itself, application on a much larger scale could have a huge environmental impact. A million houses set up in that way would mean closing down two fossil fuel burning power plants.
Visit the website of Fully Charged
Follow Robert Llewellyn on Twitter
Download a transcript of the interview with Robert Llewellyn
Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: air quality, autonomous vehicle, eco homes, electric cars, electric vehicles, electricity, energy, energy efficiency, energy efficient homes, energy storage, fossil fuels, Fully Charged, home, homes, house, houses, insulation, oil refineries, petrol, renewable energy, Robert Llewellyn, self-driving car, solar panels, wind turbines
What Houses Would the Victorians be Building Today?
One of the funny things about my exploration into what houses we should be building in the 21st Century is that I hear the same messages crop up time and again. This is actually good for me, as someone who's learning about energy efficiency and sustainable design, because it reinforces the wisdom.
If I only had one message to pass onto a newcomer to self building, it would be 'to minimise the amount of energy your house will need before even thinking about generating energy.'
While this has been a message I've heard repeated in various guises from my early podcasts up until now, do I really understand how far you can take this concept? Probably not.
This is where our podcast episode with Jonathan Hines from Architype is fascinating. I've always thought of minimising energy losses as taking a fabric first approach (really good insulation, airtightness, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, etc.) but what I didn't understand is that this means the design, too. The endless possibilities of the building's form, for example, will each impact on the energy use. So design decisions can have major repercussions. This is why an emphasis on simplicity should lead to a more energy efficient building. This doesn't mean boring but something that is elegantly simple (as Architype like to say). It's a process of refinement.
That's where I want to consider older houses for a moment. I have always been drawn to period properties in preference to modern houses but have not yet fully appreciated why. Perhaps I've hit on part of the answer in my conversation with Jonathan. He mentioned last year's RIBA Future Homes Commission study:
"It reported some very interesting findings, that people liked the idea of a modern house but they tended not to buy them because what they saw in them was of poor architectural quality. So the things they like in a house are light airy spaces, high ceilings, you know, good sized windows. Now they see those in a Georgian or Victorian house and they don't see those in the new houses that they look at. So they'll buy an old house, albeit it's cool and draughty and it's going to cost a fortune to heat because the architectural qualities there overweigh those sort of practical things. My belief is that if we can combine the practical things of energy efficiency and lower running costs with good architectural quality then we are on to a winner."
This is really interesting if we consider what was going on around the time of the Georgian (1714 – 1830) and Victorian (1837 – 1901) eras. It was the years of British Empire and also the big changes set in motion by the Industrial Revolution. Energy was not an issue. The world's wealth was brought back to London and this was reflected in the grandeur of the architecture.
In today's world things are very different. Our population is increasing at the same time as we're squandering our fossil fuel reserves. A lot of materials are finite. Would the Victorians follow the same path now as they did back then? I would argue that it wouldn't even cross their minds. They'd be looking to what would be the most sense now for the situation we face.
It does seem to me that there are always people with the right answers out there. We just need to find them and listen to what they have to say! That said, I really urge you to check out my interview with Jonathan.
Filed Under: Ben's Blog Tagged With: architecture, British Empire, eco-minimalism, energy efficiency, energy efficient homes, fossil fuels, Future Homes Commission, Georgian, houses, Industrial Revolution, Victorian
7 Enemies of Energy Efficient Homes
May 7, 2013 by Ben 2 Comments
Do you wonder why others aren't focussed on getting themselves into an energy efficient home?
What factors undermine the logical drive for energy efficiency?
At this time it's crucial that we do not make the wrong decisions when it comes to building or retrofitting houses.
Whilst on holiday I happened to bump into some people who worked in the shale gas industry. They were very pleasant but, as with the bloke down the pub who I discovered had voted UKIP the other day, there was a slight tension when I started asking more in-depth questions. To be honest they allayed many of my fears, but perhaps armed with more knowledge myself I could have dug deeper.
Anyway, one aspect that became very apparent from the conversations was that they did not see themselves as having any responsibility in making sure that the energy they extracted goes as far as it possibly can. I know this probably isn't part of their job description but for some reason I found it unsettling.
It got me thinking as to some of the factors that might be slowing down the roll out of energy efficient homes.
1. Cheap energy
Although energy efficiency makes sense, it's amazing how quickly it can fall down the list of priorities when cheap energy is plentiful. When I initially started my research, I was unaware of the energy crisis of the 1970s and the subsequent drive for better housing in the 1980s. Unfortunately, despite many solutions being exhibited at trade shows such as Homeworld, none of the energy efficient designs made it into the mainstream.
In our current predicament of depleting fossil fuel reserves it would seem very unlikely that the cost of energy could go down, but if the extraction of shale gas leads to another 'oil rush' then it could happen. The worst case scenario would be if subsidies were given to these companies in a desperate bid to keep the energy coming rather than address the efficiency of our building stock.
2. Fossil Fuel Industries
Companies that make a living from the extraction of coal, gas, oil, etc., are ultimately going to be out of business on this planet. It may take 500 years, 200 years or happen much sooner than we all imagine, but these finite resources will eventually run out (and we also know some of them can't be used anyway without triggering the final disastrous consequences of climate change). For a very lucrative business, they will not take this lying down. As experts in locating and extracting resources, with considerable funding behind them, don't expect them to wind down their activities, even if that might be what's best.
3. Weak Legislation
Governments, more than ever, have a big role to play in driving up the standards of our homes. Clearly this can't happen overnight but with an over-arching goal and an incremental approach, at least things will be moving in the right direction.
Of course, this is often easier said than done. In the UK, the Code for Sustainable Homes was such regulation, with the long term plan to make all homes zero carbon by 2016. Unfortunately it's falling on some rocky ground as its box ticking approach seems to favour bolt-on gadgets over fabric efficiency. This is where the government's contemplating scrapping it and clinging onto the positive spin of 'cutting the red tape to get the UK building again'. Simplification of systems is a good thing but I personally believe getting rid of targets and moving deadlines is not a good solution. Of course, the Code needs an overhaul though!
4. The Difficulty of Retrofitting
While simple measures (such as installing loft insulation) can help our homes perform better, more radical retrofits are invasive. Whether insulating externally or internally there is likely to be loss of features, which can be hard for some homeowners to accept. Plus the more airtight the building becomes, the more important it is to have a clear ventilation strategy. With no straightforward solutions it's easy to favour new build or consider retrofitting the property at a later date when better approaches might be available.
5. Homeowners!
For some homeowners it will be a lack of finances that stops them from upgrading to something more efficient. For others it could be the thought of living for the day – who cares about the right or sensible thing to do when they can have their dream kitchen! House appearance may also play a part in the psyche, deterring some individuals who imagine energy efficient homes only to be rather ugly boxes.
6. Downsizing
For those who live in a reasonable size of house and are feeling the pinch, the most immediate way to reduce running costs is to move into a smaller house. This helps the individual but doesn't address the overall problem of rising utility bills. It could also lead to a period where a lot of larger houses become vacant or are only partially heated during the colder months.
7. Different standards of energy efficient home
What classes as an energy efficient home to one person might be laughable to another. As with labels such as 'eco' or 'sustainable' or 'low energy' homes, it's all about quantifying what these things are before they become the buzzword of the day. That's one reason that an as-built standard such a Passivhaus makes life much simpler: you can immediately tell whether a house hits the mark.
What do you think is slowing down progress to energy efficient homes? Is there anything you'd like to add to the list?
Filed Under: Ben's Blog Tagged With: downsizing, eco homes, energy efficient homes, fossil fuels, fracking, passivhaus, Passivhaus Standard, retrofitting, shale gas, sustainability, The Code for Sustainable Homes
HPH012 : Should You Invest in Renewable Energy? – with Dr Derek Taylor from Altechnica
January 2, 2013 by Ben Leave a Comment
Dr Derek Taylor from Altechnica weighs up the pros and cons of various renewable energy sources and shares his thoughts on whether you should be generating at home. He also talks about his role in creating one of the UK's most energy-efficient homes.
Interview with Dr Derek Taylor
Dr Taylor trained at the Architectural Association but got interested in renewable energy and low energy building design in 1972. From then he started to pursue more of a renewables orientated career and did a masters in designing wind turbines and renewables, and came to the Open University. He is particularly interested in bringing together renewable energy and architecture to try and make it much more effective.
There are still Fossil Fuels Available But CO2 Emissions are the Problem
A lot of people believe we have reached peak oil and that we are now at the point of depletion. There's still a lot of coal in the ground and a fair amount of gas available but their CO2 emissions are a big concern for climate change. It's clear we need to make a step change. The scientists say we need to cut CO2 emissions by 80% in the next few decades.
UK's Best Renewable Energy Source is Wind
In terms of renewable energy Dr Taylor believes wind energy and offshore wind energy offers the most promise to the UK. He explains that 40% of the potential wind energy resource in Europe is actually in the UK. That figure is looking at land based resources, with even more potential offshore.
Phenomenal Increase in Wind Power
Dr Taylor has recently been updating the wind energy section of the Open University renewable energy course. He noted that in the year 2000 there was about 30,000 MW of wind energy globally whereas in 2010, there was 38,000 MW installed in just one year. Now globally there is over 200 GW. Dr Taylor is impressed with the progress. The UK currently has the largest offshore wind farm in the world, which is off the coast of Thanet (installed by Swedish company Vattenfall), and they're currently building a third offshore wind farm in the Thames Estuary, called the London Array, which will produce a fair proportion of London's electricity needs.
Floating Wind Energy Technology Has a Huge Potential
Tapping into floating wind energy technology, the wind energy resources in UK waters would be equivalent to the Gulf Oil reserves but every year.
Renewable Energy Solutions Fit into Different Scales
Generally there are three types of solution: building scale, an intermediate scale – which Dr Taylor calls neighbourhood or community scale – and large scale.
Solar Makes The Most Sense For Buildings
In terms of buildings, solar energy often makes the most sense for electricity generation, hot water and also for reducing space heating loads. In the summertime it can be used for cooling.
The temperature of the ground below a certain depth is constant throughout the year, so this provides another ambient source of energy.
Wind Energy Isn't Normally a Good Solution for Urban Areas
The usability of renewables depends on the location as to whether they will perform effectively. Wind energy can make sense but in most cases it doesn't in urban areas. Wind energy technology usually starts to make sense at community scale upwards, for example, a medium scale turbine might be appropriate for a village or a town. Costs can then be spread amongst householders.
Former Watermill Sites Could Have Potential for Hydro Power
The best sites for hydro tend to be in mountainous areas, but Dr Taylor suggests that former watermill sites could be good places to generate. It's important to note that when watermills were in use there was less water extraction so there was more water running through the system. Dr Taylor did a renewable energy study for Merton Council which found that a short stretch (19km) of the River Wandle once had about 90 watermills in operation.
Biofuels Make Most Sense When it's a Waste Product
Growing energy fuels is very difficult to justify when you haven't got much land. A forested area can obviously provide wood as a fuel. Dr Taylor believes the situation with biofuels probably makes sense if you can use it as waste, such as food waste and oil waste. You can then process that with biology to produce gases and fuels. In Denmark there are community digesters where manure, food waste and sewage combine to produce methane – the process mimics a cow's stomach and produces gas that can run small power stations.
Tidal Barrages Expensive to Build and Maintain
The main problem with tidal energy is that it's been exploited using tidal barrages, like a big dam across an estuary. These are very expensive to build and can impact on the rich eco systems. In France, there is an example of a successful barrage called La Rance.
Tidal Stream Technology Shows Promise
Essentially they are underwater wind turbines which capture the currents as they flow around the coasts. One of the big advantages is that because water is 800 times denser than air for a given size of rotor diameter you get a lot more power out compared to wind turbines because air is very low density. This means much smaller devices can give more power output. The downside is that these devices are situated in difficult locations and have to be able to cope with the water reliably. They're still in the early stages of development.
Devices Built to Harness Wave Energy Have to Survive The Stormiest Seas
Dr Taylor reckons that wave energy is an even more difficult one to achieve. The energy resources from the waves are substantial but you have to build devices which can survive 24/7 in the most stormy seas.
Failures Important to Progressing the Technologies
Very few of the wave energy projects actually go through the iterative stages that are needed to develop a technology. Lots of funding goes into building one device and that fails and there's no money to carry on. Those failures are vital to progressing the technology.
We Can Use Fossil Fuel Reserves Much More Effectively
While fossil fuels might still be available, Dr Taylor believes that the price will be the main constraint to using them. He stresses how in other countries they're actually much further on with many aspects of design, performance of houses and also the use of wind energy.
Combined Heat and Power Makes Use of Waste Heat
One approach for district heating is to use the waste heat from power stations to heat houses. Dr Taylor calculated that if you add up all the energy being lost from the cooling towers around Britain, it amounts to more energy than is used to heat all the houses in Britain. Currently this energy is just allowed to go into the atmosphere or into the sea at coastal locations. In Denmark 65% of houses are heated this way or from large scale boilers. To achieve this heat mains are laid under roads or gardens and each house is then connected up. Part of the difficulty is that electricity networks are privatised and they would rather do what they've always done.
Heat Stores Play an Important Part
Dr Taylor explains that Battersea Power Station was a combined heat and power station when it was operating. There was a pipe under the Thames which provided heat for 4000 houses in Pimlico. They've subsequently re-installed a small combined heat and power station at Pimlico which delivers the same thing. Part of that scale of development enables very large heat stores to be built in, so that heat can be stored when you're generating electricity for use later. Heat from other sources such as solar or wind energy can also be used to charge up the heat stores.
Nuclear Energy is Expensive and Funding Must Be Offset to Look After The Waste
In France about 80% of their electricity comes from nuclear, but this doesn't mean its future is clear. Not only is it expensive but disposing of nuclear waste is still a big problem. How much money will be needed in the future to look after nuclear waste from the past? There are also discussions about what's going to be the most useful type of fuel after uranium.
Low Energy Buildings Fall into Two Strands
Historically there are two strands of developing low energy buildings. One is known as the super insulated approach that tends to be a lightweight construction with lots of insulation. The other approach is known as passive solar, which is reliant on lots of solar orientation, lots of glazing and high thermal mass. The solar gains are trapped in the thermal mass so that it acts like a storage heater.
Super Passive Solar
In the UK passive solar hasn't worked well in the spring or autumn times when there tends to be quite high cloud cover. There is also not much benefit in the winter time whereas super insulation then works well. So a super passive solar approach combines the two so you have a high level of thermal mass but it's inside a super insulated envelope. Dr Taylor worked on a house in Herefordshire which might be one of the UK's most energy efficient homes.
Super Passive Solar Goes a Step Further Than Passivhaus
Dr Taylor really likes the Passivhaus standard although he finds it unfortunate that they chose the name Passivhaus as it's easily confused with passive solar. It is really an ultra super insulation approach. The Passivhaus design system doesn't really take into account the thermal gains from thermal mass, so you can't get that extra point further of actually optimising the design to get to zero space heating, although a lot of Passivhaus buildings are getting pretty close to that.
With New Builds, Push the Envelope as far as You Can
For new buildings Dr Taylor thinks you have to push the building's envelope as far as you can because it's much more difficult to upgrade. If you can design as much insulation as possible and get to Passivhaus standards then it will be well worth doing and shouldn't cost you a great deal more on top of the building.
If You Have The Money, a Passivhaus Retrofit Can be a Good Investment
Upgrading an existing building to Passivhaus is not a cheap option. However it's probably better using that money to go into the building's fabric rather than getting an expensive new kitchen!
Internal Insulation Must be Done Correctly or You Risk Damaging the Building
External insulation is a much easier solution but risks affecting the aesthetics. The problem with internally insulating walls is that there will be a reduction of floor area. Also, with solid walls, for instance, prior to that wall being internally insulated, it's been kept warm by the space heating of the house but once the insulation is between it and the heating then it's obviously a cold object and it's a cold surface. So, unless the internal insulation is done correctly, if any vapour gets into that structure it will hit the cold wall and condense. This can cause rotting problems.
Combined Heat and Power Could Buy us Some Time to Retrofit
Dr Taylor refers back to how we might reduce the CO2 emissions from buildings. Investing in combined heat and power, and district heating would enable the existing buildings to start to use heating which is actually low carbon. It would also buy some time to upgrade the performance of the existing housing stock.
We Only Have One Chance to Make our Homes Energy Efficient
In order to reach 80% reductions in CO2 Dr Taylor believes that we must go beyond a little cavity wall insulation. He thinks we only get one shot at this and it should be done properly. The challenge will be funding it. If there were a scheme where everyone was connected to a heat network then there's a potential revenue stream for the sale of that heat to people which could be used to fund insulation of buildings down the road.
Incremental Improvements Should Have a Long Term Plan
Try and have a plan or a strategy so you're not going to foreclose on the options. Do the thinking upfront so that improvements compliment each other. If you have a loft that can be insulated then certainly the more upgrades you can do to that the better.
Dr Derek Taylor's company
Altechnica
Download a transcript of the interview with Dr Derek Taylor.
Goals for House Planning Help in 2013
Ben Adam-Smith outlines his objectives for making House Planning Help an even better resource. This includes:
Getting more detail into each podcast episode
Creating more videos for the House Planning Help YouTube channel
Hand-picking more industry experts as guest bloggers
Hosting Google+ Hangouts to debate key issues
Regen Media Wants to Help Your Business
Regen Media produces the House Planning Help Podcast. Ben Adam-Smith explains how if you are in the UK and you need video or audio for your business, then Regen Media wants to help you. It is very important to have a presence on multiple platforms in the age of the Internet so that your company can be heard above the noise! Regen Media can create media that will do this and market your business in a much more dynamic way than advertising. Contact us today to find out more.
Ask Your Questions or Share Your Feedback
Email feedback@houseplanninghelp.com
Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: Altechnica, Architectural Association, Battersea Power Station, biofuels, carbon dioxide, climate change, combined heat and power, district heating, Dr Derek Taylor, energy efficiency, energy efficient homes, floating wind energy technology, fossil fuels, heat pumps, heat stores, hydro power, insulation, internal wall insulation, La Rance, London Array, nuclear energy, nuclear power, Passive House, passive solar, Passivhaus Standard, renewable energy, renewables, retrofit, solar power, super insulation, super passive solar, thermal mass, tidal barrages, tidal power, tidal stream technology, watermills, wave energy, wind energy


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Hamilton doesn't see limit in his abilities if he 'works harder'
Published on 27 May 2020 13:49
By: Fergal Walsh
Lewis Hamilton says he doesn't think there is a limit to his abilities if he continues to work 'harder than before'.
In 2019, the Briton picked up his sixth world drivers' championship, moving into a clear second place behind Michael Schumacher on the all-time championship tally list.
Hamilton has dominated the sport in the turbo-hybrid era that began in 2014, taking 51% of all race wins in that time and securing five titles in the last six years.
MORE: Hamilton and Vettel would make Mercedes a 'super team' - Ecclestone
MORE: Hamilton: Social media distracting people from the natural world
The 35-year-old is currently out of contract at the end of the 2020 season, but is expected to stay at Mercedes, affirming that winning championships is still his main objective.
"My primary goal is to win world championships, to work well with the team and to come with a more fierce, energised, fitter, more impactful performance as an athlete and a driver," he said.
"But then you get caught up in the other stuff that comes along, there's media, sponsor appearances, these kind of things. So you get caught up in what I imagine is like a washing machine or a wave.
"The wave falls and you get in a tumble. You don't know what's up, what's down at some stages through the year."
MORE: Hamilton not thinking about other drivers during lockdown
Hamilton says that experience helps get through the whirlwind of travelling the world and competing in F1. But despite being in F1 for 14 years, he says that he feels younger than ever.
"There's no substitute for experience and that's a real positive for me," he said. "I feel super young right now, I feel like I'm in my 20s still.
"More so mentally, I'm still the kid I was when I was younger. I just have knowledge and experience that I can add to the talent I had as a kid. If I add that and work even harder, there's not really a massive limit to where I can go with this."
F1 News Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
essaouira311
Lewis is a phenomenal driver.
After six titles, he still has the potential to improve.
Perhaps the most complete driver after MSC.
May 29 2020 - 13:11
Hamilton: Mugello felt like 'three races on one day' en route to 90th F1 win
Hamilton 'really happy' Vettel has decided to stay in F1

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I have been working on InsideIIM.com for just about 2 years now in full-time capacity. In June 2012, I quit my job to devote all my time to building this platform. We have had our share of joys and struggles and a lot of confusion too! But, almost all our interaction with users has been through stories, comments on the site or via email.
Lately, I have felt that we need to interact with our users in person. While it is great to interact online, we believe that opening the floor to interactions in the real world could be very interesting too. We also want to use the open house to introduce you to people who have had interesting careers , entrepreneurs, writers etc. You will also meet me (on most occasions), members of the InsideIIM team and we can talk.
Who can attend the open house?
Anyone. Absolutely anyone can attend the open house as long as you register with us in advance. You can be a MBA aspirant, current MBA student, an alumnus, an industry professional, a professor, a writer, an entrepreneur, a musician, a sportsman etc.
You set the agenda. There could be a small introduction of our guest (if any) and then the interaction starts. Any questions, queries etc.
The first Open House took place in Bombay in June. We are now doing an Open House in Bangalore on 2nd Nov just before CAT 2014. Please register for it below.


JOHANNESBURG (AP) — One inauguration has been planned for months, with a global spotlight and a Washington setting. The other was announced just hours ahead of time and took place outside the country after weeks of chaos.
Barrow was sworn Thursday afternoon in Gambia's embassy in neighboring Senegal after a political standoff with longtime leader Yahya Jammeh, who refused to step aside after losing December elections. Smiling, Barrow addressed a few dozen diplomats in a crowded embassy room as hundreds watched the inauguration on a large screen outside.
There was still no word from Jammeh on Thursday, the day his mandate expired, even as a West African regional force gathered on Gambia's borders in a muscular sign of international pressure on him to step down.
Confusion has reigned. Barrow has been in Senegal for days because of concerns for his safety, and he did not even return to Gambia this week to mourn his small son, who was killed in a dog attack.
It was still not clear what would happen after Barrow's inauguration or how he would return to Gambia. It also is not clear what might happen to the court challenge to the elections lodged by Jammeh's party.
Above all, what will Jammeh do next?
Trump's inauguration on Friday will be dictated by decades of tradition and encrusted with what Trump calls "the biggest celebrities in the world."
There's a parade of more than 8,000 people down Pennsylvania Avenue, a brief oath and a speech. A whirlwind of formal balls will follow. Even the high-kicking Radio City Rockettes are planned. But it's not clear if Trump's inauguration will draw anything near the 1.8 million people who attended Barack Obama's first inaugural.
If there's a note of chaos as the day moves forward, it will be the protests expected by those Americans still furious at Trump's election win.
One thing is certain: While Hillary Clinton is expected to sit on the inaugural platform alongside husband and former president Bill Clinton, it's highly unlikely that Gambia's Jammeh will suddenly emerge and attend Barrow's slapdash ceremony.


Love these two activities. I have never seen them before, but I believe my students will really be engaged wirh them. Thanks so much for all you shared during Wooly Week, and again, for sharing these two videos.
Love both of these ideas. Your explanations and class demonstrations on video are very helpful. We are reading Esperanza now and I needed some new ideas! Thank you.
Quip-Lash would be an awesome way to get a "flood of input" of 1st person preterite. Thanks so much!
Quip-Lash would be an awesome way to give a "flood of input" of 1st person preterite. Thanks so much!
I am going to use both this week! I had an idea so that I don't have to go around and check each board for correctness before groups rotate: the game makers could put random numbers on the back of each sentence card, then make an answer key on a sheet of paper that they hide under the game board. Then when kids have finished matching they could pull out the answer sheet and check their own work.


I have this little voice in my head that likes to slam me for the missteps I make.
My voice might be a little bit on the cruel side, but I think that some version of that voice exists inside all of us. It chides us for our missteps.
In small doses, that little voice can be a powerful moral compass. It can be a very strong guide that tells us which decisions are right and which decisions are wrong.
But when you're trying to improve yourself and adopt stronger standards for yourself, that voice can turn on you hard. It goes from being a great moral compass to being a giant guilt-tripping machine of pure negativity that makes you feel like a loser.
The problem, of course, is that when you begin to feel negative about yourself, it becomes really easy to retreat from your positive standards and initiatives. You fold in on yourself, returning to old habits and old practices that seem safe and reliable and your progress in improving yourself grinds to a halt and even regresses.
This type of cycle is a danger with any kind of self-improvement, whether it's financial or health-related or mindset-related or exercise-related or anything else. You set strong standards for yourself, which is good, but then your negative internal voice is unleashed and it criticizes you hard for simple mis-steps, which eventually leads you to abandon your progress and retreat to safer rules and standards, which puts you right back where you started.
After all, no one wants to feel bad about themselves. No one wants an internal voice that's a constant critic.
Further compounding the problem is that there are often contradictory internal rules that we have that guide us in different directions over the same decision.
Let's say I'm standing in one of my favorite stores – if you want a specific visual, let's say the Quill and Nib in Des Moines, Iowa. I'm holding some item that I want in my hand; let's say a big fat Rhodia notebook. It's something I know I will use in the near future, but not something I strictly need. I could buy a cheaper notebook, absolutely.
So, I have the voice inside of me telling me to buy it and listing the reasons why I should – the great paper, the long-term reliability of the notebook – and then that same voice is telling me reasons not to buy it – the cost, mostly. I have different internal "rules" pushing me in different directions, and I honestly can't please them both at once.
Either way seems like a mis-step, and it can feel really frustrating and really disheartening. When you're working hard to improve yourself and your situation, you often wind up in those no-win situations and if you have a strong internal voice that you use to guide yourself, that voice turns on you, no matter what.
That can be devastating to one's self esteem. It can also cause you to walk away from self-improvement plans entirely.
Here's the thing, though. You really, really want to be able to trust that inner voice. The benefits of a strong inner voice that guides you well through difficult choices is tremendous. The trick is figuring out how to make that voice quiet down sometimes and how to handle real dilemmas.
This is how I've come to handle it.
First of all, I try to be aware of situations that are going to put my own internal rules into conflict. This often happens for me when I'm considering buying a product that I don't strictly need but that I know I'm going to use, or when I'm considering meal options that will please both me and my family, or when I'm choosing between multiple social options, among many others.
Those types of situations call my internal "rules" into conflict with each other, and when that happens, that voice pipes up. I'm glad I have that voice to tell me when I'm about to make a bad choice, but when I'm in a conflicted choice, that voice is going to pop up no matter what I choose.
Simply by recognizing that I'm going to have to softly violate one of my internal rules because there's no other real option, I can cause that voice to quiet down. If I know I'm going to a store to buy a specific item and I know the choice might be tough, I think about that a little bit first so that I'm not going to beat myself up over that choice.
Second, I mentally walk through such scenarios, both before and after. This is a constant trick that I use for making better choices in life: I visualize them in advance. This is one of the most common things I do when I'm driving somewhere or waiting at a doctor's office or waiting for my kids to finish soccer practice.
It's simple. I just think about situations that I've been in recently or situations that I know are coming up where the choice is going to be tough and there's going to be a conflict in terms of those rules I use to operate my day to day life. I try to figure out the "best" thing to do and why exactly I'm making that choice.
I find that thinking through such scenarios usually sets this kind of "mental precedent" where, if I follow through with that, my internal criticism stays nice and quiet because I've clearly already figured out the best choice, even if it goes against one of my internal rules.
Third, I try to prioritize which rules are more important and which rules are less important. For example, if I have money left in my "free spending" budget, then I'm going to prioritize buying the best "bang for the buck" hobby item rather than the cheapest one, but if I've spent most or all of my hobby money, then my "be frugal and don't spend" rule will kick in. Or if I'm eating by myself or just with my family at a normal meal, healthy eating rules are dominant, but I put them aside for the occasional "special occasion" meal with others.
These "rules exceptions" are things I consciously think about when I have the chance. I find that consciously thinking about such things "trains" that voice to abide by more sensible rules and exceptions that handle the realities of my life better so that it's not shouting at me for "breaking" rules all the time. In other words, it begins to learn that there are sometimes clear exceptions to the rules and that's okay. Thus, the number of situations where I'm in a genuine conflict gets smaller and smaller over time, and thus my internal voice is less and less aggressive.
I find that this is the best of the strategies for handling unexpected situations where conflicts arise, because having good sound internal rules for handling almost everything on instinct makes decisions easy and keeps that internal critic at bay.
But what do I do if I'm still besieged by that internal critic? I keep a gratitude journal and a "good moves" journal. Each day, I spend a little bit of time reflecting on what I'm grateful for in my life and the best moves I made that day. I think about the multitude of good choices I've made and then, on top of that, the gratitude I have for all of the good things that my consistent good choices have built for me.
I have a great relationship with my wife and a great relationship with my kids. I have a job that I love. I have a lot of friends whose companionship I value. I have a steadily rising profile in my community, which means that there are more and more people I know when I walk around my town and can greet and talk to. I have an unquenchable curiosity about the world and I know how to constantly feed it and grow as a person.
All of those things are things I'm very grateful for, but I also recognize that they're built on the back of a lot of good choices over the years. Yes, I mess up some choices, but I make a lot of great choices, too. Reflecting on the things I've done right today shows me some of those immediate good choices, and reflecting on the things I'm grateful for shows me some of the long-term benefits of a long history of good choices.
That process usually quiets that voice of internal criticism pretty directly. Yes, I've made missteps, but I've made a lot of good steps, too, and those reflections are the evidence of those good choices.
Together, these tools keep me from beating myself up excessively over missteps and little mistakes. Yes, I make mistakes, and yes, I criticize myself over them, but these strategies keep that criticism from boiling over into self-loathing and regression into bad habits.
Instead, these tools keep that internal voice where it should be: as a great guide to good behaviors that reflect my values and lead to the long term goals I have in life. It's a voice that preaches frugality and lifelong learning and personal growth and good personal choices without beating me up when I'm not perfect. Instead, it guides me to where I should be on that journey.
Work with your internal critic. Don't let it be cruel to you. Instead, train it to be a useful guide. It will help you make great spending decisions, great personal decisions, great time use decisions, and so much more.


text:
Guide To Shopping
Shopping is said to be one of UK population's favourite pastimes, and with so many shops to choose from these days, it's no surprise that more and more people are taking up this hobby.
But whether you're a shopaholic or you only hit the shops when you really have to, there are plenty of different types of shops to choose from that sell anything and everything you may need.
Shops in the UK range from jewellery stores, for examples see our jewellers in Leeds, Leamington spa page, to electronic goods shops where you can pick up all kinds of electronic equipment for the home, and health shops, for examples see our health shops in Milton Keynes, to bookshops, where you can get academic, fiction, non-fiction, and audio books.
As well as these types of shops there are also video and DVD stores, music shops, musical instrument shops, craft shops, and game stores, to name but a few.
The majority of people usually head to a city or town centre to do their shopping in the high street or local shopping centre. However, these days there is a growing number of retail parks emerging on the outskirts of towns and cities, which have large chain stores, such as electrical goods shops, clothes shops, computer stores, and home furnishing stores.
Whether you decide to go for city centre shopping, retail park shopping, or you just head to the local shops near where you live, you can find the shops you are looking for by using City Visitor's shopping section.


Department of Medical Genetics, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical sciences, Tehran, Iran & Urogenital Stem Cell Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Background: Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) (MIM 209850) are a group of distinct neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by impaired social interactions and communication abilities and abnormal repetitive activities. Many genetic variants have been shown to be associated with ASD. Channelopathies are among putative culprits in the pathogenesis of many neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism. The calcium channel, voltage-dependent, L type, alpha 1C subunit gene (CACNA1C) encodes an alpha-1 subunit of a voltage-dependent calcium channel. Genetic variants within this gene have been associated with psychiatric disorders including Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Our aim was to determine whether the SNPs rs1006737, rs4765905, and rs4765913 were associated with ASD in an Iranian population.
Methods: In the present case-control study we investigated the associations of rs1006737, rs4765905, and rs4765913 polymorphisms within CACNA1C and the risk of ASD in a population of 529 Iranian ASD patients and 480 age, gender, and ethnicity-matched healthy subjects.
Results: None of these SNPs were associated with ASD risk in the assessed population. Although previous studies have shown an association between these polymorphisms and psychiatric disorders and an association between rs4765905 and ASD, we did not replicate those results in our study.
Conclusions: Our data indicate that these CACNA1C variants are not involved in the pathogenesis of ASD in the Iranian population.
Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder, CACNA1C, Channelopathy, polymorphism.


text:
Accountability, Operations & Customer Service
Accountability Officers
Integrity Commissioner Publications
Integrity Commissioner Reports
Investigation Reports to Local Boards
Investigation reports to local boards (restricted definition) are filed directly with the boards and are public documents. From time to time, the Integrity Commissioner publishes anonymized versions of report findings to raise awareness about the Code of Conduct.
Report Regarding the Conduct of a Member of the Administrative Penalty Tribunal (October 21, 2019)
Report Regarding the Conduct of a Member of the Administrative Penalty Tribunal
There were no investigation reports filed this year.
Report Regarding the Conduct of a Member of an Arena Board of Management (November 10, 2016)
Report Regarding the Conduct of a Member of an Arena Board of Management
A formal complaint was made by a (now former) member (the "Complainant") of an Arena (the "Arena") Board of Management (the "Board") alleging that the Board Chair (the "Respondent") contravened Article VIII (Improper Use of Influence) of the Code of Conduct for Members of Local Boards (Restricted Definition) ("Code of Conduct" or the "Code"). The complaint alleged generally that the Respondent had a "conflict of interest" and specifically that she improperly used the influence of her position on the Arena Board to establish an in-house adult women's hockey program to advance her personal interest in women's hockey.
The Commissioner conducted an investigation, reviewing documents and interviewing the Arena Manager. The Commissioner found that the Respondent's conduct did not contravene the Code of Conduct. First, the Commissioner found that the Respondent's conduct, in supporting an Arena program, was not a private interest, but rather was consistent with the Respondent's role as a board member. In addition, the Commissioner found that a personal affinity for a particular type of sport (in this case, support for women's hockey) is a characteristic that is intrinsic to a person and not capable of attracting concern under the Code of Conduct. Further, the Commissioner provided some guidance to Board members that the wish to participate in a program offered by the Arena is clearly an interest of general application, meaning that it affects the Respondent as a local resident and does not constitute a private advantage under Article VIII of the Code, a not uncommon occurrence for members of the City's arena boards.
The Commissioner also used her discretion to provide the Report to the Board because the issue of the Respondent's possible "conflict of interest" was discussed by the Board and because the report could assist Board members with understanding their obligations under the Code of Conduct.
Report Regarding the Conduct of a Former Member of a BIA Board (May 24, 2016)
Report Regarding the Conduct of a Former Member of a Business Improvement Area Board of Management
A former coordinator (the "Complainant") for the board of management (the "Board") of a Business Improvement Area (the "BIA") filed a formal complaint about a member of the Board (the "Respondent"), alleging a contravention of Articles XII (Conduct Respecting Staff) and XIV (Discreditable Conduct) of the Code of Conduct for Members of Local Boards (Restricted Definition) (the "Code of Conduct" or the "Code"). The complaint alleged that the Respondent's conduct contravened the Code when two emails were sent to the Complainant, other Board members, and a Board contractor, accusing the Complainant of not properly carrying out duties as a then-staff member of the Board and engaging in threats.
The Commissioner found that the emails did not injure staff's professional or ethical reputation and thus did not find a contravention of Article XII. The Commissioner found that by threatening the Complainant, the Respondent contravened Article XIV's prohibition against abuse, bullying and intimidation.
Report Regarding the Conduct of a Former Member of a BIA Board and a Member of Council (August 10, 2015)
Report Regarding the Conduct of a Former Member of the Board of Management of a Business Improvement Area and a Member of Council
Two candidates in the municipal election filed complaints about the conduct of a member (the "Respondent") of the board of management (the "Board") of a Business Improvement Area ("BIA") and a Member of Council who was running for re-election (the "Councillor") alleging that it was wrong and contrary to the Code of Conduct for Members of Local Boards (Restricted Definition) (the "Board Members' Code of Conduct" or the "Code") for the Respondent to endorse the Councillor using the Respondent's BIA Board member title. The complaints were also concerned that the endorsement contravened the Board's obligations under the City's BIA bylaw.
This report reviews the role of BIA Boards and analyzes whether either the Respondent or the Councillor improperly used their influence in contravention of the Board Members' Code of Conduct and the Code of Conduct for Members of Council, respectively.
The Commissioner found that the Board, as an entity, cannot contravene the Board Members' Code of Conduct. The Commissioner also found that by giving the endorsement, the Respondent contravened the Code, but that the Councillor did not improperly use any influence because the endorsement was freely given.
Because the Board sanctioned the Respondent by removing the Respondent from its committees and website, the Commissioner reviewed a local board's authority to impose sanctions on its members for alleged breaches of the Board Members' Code of Conduct. The Commissioner's view is that a board can take steps to stop ongoing breaches of the Code, but should not take further action to impose personal consequences on a member without an investigation and findings by the Commissioner. In this case, the Board overstepped its authority.
The Commissioner reported to the Board, but did not recommend any penalty because the Respondent was no longer a Board member, and because in this case, the Respondent had taken measures to prevent the contravention and the contravention was made through inadvertence or an error of judgement made in good faith.
Investigation Reports to Council
Policy Reports to Council


My thanks to Carmella Turner in Conneticut, Ellyn Miller in Pasadena, CA, Nancy Rodee in Fallbrook, CA, and Father Catallo in New York, for sending me piles of information. Also my thanks to Catholic Treasures for encouraging me to go on with this report, since this is the first report I have ever done against a supposed approval of the Church. Knowing that Father John O'Connor and Father William Most see the same problems has helped a great deal.
One of my personal devotions is to "The Divine Mercy" according to the visions and messages of Blessed Faustina as promoted by the Association of Marian Helpers, Stockbridge, MA 01263 (800) 462-7426, and so I would like to dedicate this writing to God's Divine Mercy for which I need a great deal. The devotion to the Mercy of God has evolved over many years and many approved apparitions of the Sacred Heart, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Way of Divine Love, and the Twin Hearts of Jesus and Mary in the Miraculous Metal.
I believe this new thing, "The Kingdom of the Divine Will" makes obsolete all these other devotions; and so, in order to protect them, I must take a hard look at the promotion of Luisa Piccarreta. Of course the promoters of "Divine Will" will say this is not true, but if you are living in the Divine Will, you cannot sin; and if you cannot sin, you do not need mercy, for mercy is given to sinners who do not deserve it.
Luisa Piccarreta was born in 1865 and died in 1947 at the age of 82. She lived her entire life in Corato, Italy near Bari. She received a first grade education only which was not uncommon in Italy in the 19th Century. Most poor people were taught the basics at home. She wrote in her diary that from the age of 13 she received visions of Christ and attacks of the devil which lasted until she was 16. At the age of 17 she began to have mysterious physical ailments which doctors could not diagnosis. This illness (which could not be explained by any doctor) confined her to her bed by the age of 22 and kept her bedridden for the rest of her life. This illness also kept her from holding down an food other than the Eucharist. The only real illness she had was pneumonia at age 82 from which she died within 15 days. She remained in a sitting position most of her life, even sleeping sitting up. When she died they were not able to straiten out her body and so they made a special coffin to bury her in a sitting position.
She seems to have always had the approval of the local bishops who gave her 5 different confessors over 60 years. They even allowed Mass to be said in her room. With the approval of her confessors she wrote down all the messages given to her from her apparitions. She wrote for 36 years and produced 36 volumes of books. These books have been called "The Book of Heaven" although the actual title was "The Kingdom of the Fiat in the Midst of Creatures - Book of Heaven - The Call to the Creature to Return to the Order, the Place, and the Purpose for which it was Created by God."
One of her confessors was Fr. Annihale di Francia, who was recently beatified by Pope John Paul II. Father di Francia seems to have believed in her and her writings, as we will show in the chapter on the Nihil Obstat. At least two local bishops since her death (including the present bishop) have put great pressure on Rome to approve her writings and to investigate her for Canonization. The entire meaning of her life can be summed up in the writings, which we will discuss in the chapter called, "The Basic Message".
There are many claims regarding the supernatural, but all of these have come from her own writings, and not from observation or investigation. Her writings claim invisible stigmata, mystical marriage, visions of the crucifixion, and the infusion of the Divine Will. The only three things that could be called supernatural by observation, is the lack of food for over 60 years, the lack of bed sores after so many years in bed, and the state of ecstasy. It is not the purpose of this report to cast doubt on her saintliness; however, it must be pointed out that none of these things can prove the supernatural. Satan can produce an ecstasy and so can a hypnotist. Satan or a friend can bring her food when no one is around. Satan or a friend can move her enough to keep from having bed sores. There are no claimed miracles in her lifetime. In order for her to be canonized their must be at least two miracles by her intercession. So far, in the hundreds of reports and books that we have, no one is even claiming a miracle. As we have stated in our book, "Apparitions and Mystics - True or False", never in the history of the world (Old Testament, New Testament, and the two thousands years since), has God ever given a message to the world without signing it. God's signature is an irrefutable miracle.
Thirty-four of the 36 Volumes were taken by the Vatican from Luisa and placed on the Index in 1938. Volume 35 was overlooked or hidden by someone, because the Church never obtained it. Volume 36 was written by Luisa after the other books were placed on the Index of Forbidden books. Prior to 1938, the sisters of the Divine Zeal, founded by Father Di Francia, had made translations of Volumes 1 though 19, which were translated into English and Spanish. These translated volumes were given the Nihil Obstat by Father Di Francia, a very pro-supporter of Luisa.
It seems strange that a priest, who is called blessed, would give a Nihil Obstat to 19 volumes that (at the time) were on the index by Rome. It can only be assumed that he did not know that, but someone at the home of Luisa would have had to know, especially Luisa, herself. An Imprimatur was also granted to these 19 volumes by Archbishop Joseph Leo, seemingly also while they were on the Index of forbidden books.
According to "Signs and Wonders for Our Times", Jesus promised Luisa that no one would ever find any doctrinal error in her writings. (Forth Quarter - 1996). Of course "Signs and Wonders" is not a very reliable source, since they also promote Marvin Kucera, Vassula, and "Poem of the Man-God". Regarding doctrinal error, we will show in the next chapter that everything about the messages is contrary to the Doctrine of the Catholic Faith, but the fact is that the local bishop did give the translated volumes an Imprimatur, and he seems to approve the mystic. This, along with the fact of Father Di Francia being in favor of the writings, would give pause to anyone writing against them. However, at the end of the 15th Century a 13 year old girl made a pact with the devil and received such power that she was taken as a saint for the rest of her life. St. Magdalen of the Cross fooled her confessor, her bishop, Cardinals in the Vatican, and even saints like St. Theresa of Avila. She performed miracles, had ecstasies, levitation's, made prophecies, had the stigmata, and was able to live without food for years at a time. Exorcism saved her soul at the last year of her life. Father Gino of this Century fooled not only one of the greatest priests of our time, but he fooled seminarians, nuns, and priests of his own monastery. A bishop from the Vatican used to go to confession to him. He reportedly had the stigmata, ecstasies, and great power over the nuns at San Vittorino. In the end he was removed from all facilities as a priest.
So, although an Imprimatur is the law of the Church for any publication on a private revelation, it is no absolute guarantee that everything is from God. In the case of the promotion of Luisa, we also have the problem of Cardinal Bernadin Ruiz giving an Imprimatur to a 1992 edition of Luisa Piccarreta, when Canon Law 1832 absolutely forbids a bishop from giving an Imprimatur to people outside of his jurisdiction. An Imprimatur can only come from the bishop of the author, or the publisher; and in the case of private revelation, only if the bishop of the mystic has given approval. But then again, Cardinal Bernadine Ruiz also gave an Imprimatur to the Marian Movement of Priests 1995 edition.
In one of the banner headlines of "Letters of Gold" it states that the "Vatican Approves The Writings of Luisa Piccarreta". This is not true and even the writer retracted it later.
The Vatican allowing the cause to be opened for Luisa is no more than a fact finding procedure. The Sacred Congregation for the Causes of the Saints in the Vatican will allow the supporters of the person to gather information in favor of Beatification. In this case the Bishop of her home town and the center in Jacksonville, Florida.
The Vatican will appoint what used to be called, The Devil's Advocate", who will try to prove that the person was not a saint. The man who was the "Devil's Advocate" for Josefa Menendez was a Cardinal who later became Pope Pius XII.
The information we have gathered here will be sent to the Vatican to be filed as being opposed to (at least) the writings of Luisa Piccarreta, if not the person, herself.
Without any miracles or other proof of the supernatural, we are left with only one thing to test, the message itself. The messages were hand-written in Italian, but volumes 1 through 19 were translated into English a long time ago. In 1996 copies of 20 through 34 were made in the Vatican and are being translated now. All we have to go by is the English translations, and we have no reason to assume that there is anything wrong with the translations. An outline of the messages is given by Thomas M. Fahy on three long videos and in the book, "The Kingdom of the Divine Will" by the Jacksonville, Florida Center. There is also a book called, "When the Divine Will Reigns in Souls - Book of Heaven - A Selection of Passages.
1: When God created the world and Adam and Eve He infused into them His own Divine Will so that they had no will of their own except for the test they would have. This was God's first Fiat.
2: At the end of the first 2000 year period of history God destroyed all the world with water and started over.
3: At the end of the second 2000 year period God sent his Son into the world with the Fiat of Redemption. This was God's second Fiat. This Fiat brought with it Sanctifying Grace and the Sacraments. To prepare us for the third Fiat, Christ taught us the Lord's Prayer, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven".
4: Mary was the first person since Adam and Eve to be infused with the Divine Will. This happened to Her shortly after Her conception when She was taken up to Heaven and asked if She would accept giving up Her will for the Divine Will.
5. Living in the Divine Will makes you greater than any saint that ever lived, even St. Joseph.
6: Luisa Piccarreta is the first person to live in the Divine Will since the Virgin Mary. By the definition of number 5, this makes Luisa the greatest saint in the history of the world, not counting Mary.
7: Luisa's mission is to bring in the third Fiat. In the third 2000 year period of history, God wants to inaugurate the third Fiat, The Kingdom of the Divine Will. The third Fiat started with Luisa.
8: You can live in the Divine Will now simply by asking for it. The formula is A: Ask for it, B: Begin to live in it, C: Study the teachings of Luisa. By asking for it one should intend to renounce his human will permanently in favor of the Divine Will.
These ritualistic prayers are New Age and I quote"
"To begin: start the day with this prayer, in the morning rise, kiss the floor in an act of humility, remain on your knees facing east. Christ is the Rising Sun, which we see the dawning of the Kingdom of the Divine Will, then with arms crossed over the chest, recite: … I put asunder the life of my free will. … form in me the disposition to execute an actual act in unison with the Divine Will.
"Through out the day … say as above 'Come Divine Will brush in my brushing etc."
9: After the chastisement of the world in which a large part of the world will die, all the rest of the world will live in the Divine Will. This will be the Kingdom of the Divine Will.
We have checked this outline with the actual writings of Luisa and this seems to be an accurate assessment.
"My daughter, in order for a soul to be able to forget herself, everything she does or has to do must be done as if I wanted to do it in her. If one prays, she should say, 'it is Jesus who wants to pray, and I pray together with Him.' If she works, 'It is Jesus who wants to work, it is Jesus who wants to eat, who wants to sleep, who wants to get up, who wants to enjoy Himself.' And it should be like that for the rest of her life, excluding errors."
:Jesus: "If you only knew how much I enjoy these (Luisa's) writings. They cost me more than creation and redemption. [More than dying on a Cross?] Here are all the values of my will in my kingdom of my will amidst the creatures, the good they will bring, they will confirm the Kingdom of Divine Will on earth as in heaven."
Jesus: "I want my priests to promote these writings … Not doing this, their crime will be no less than if a prophet had hidden my redemption, the cause of so much good. So to stifle my divine will, the result of ultimate sanctification, or to hold it in suspension, a good so great. Is this not a crime?"
Jesus; " … there are no special paths, nor doors, nor keys to my Will. A soul has but to desire it and all is done. My Will assumes all the work, gives the soul what she lacks, and makes her expand into all the limitless boundaries of my Will. With virtues it is just the opposite. How many efforts are needed, how many battles, how many long paths … and when it seems that some virtue smiles on a soul, a somewhat violent passion, a temptation, a frustration or and unexpected encounter casts the soul backwards, back to the starting point, where she must start anew at the beginning of the road."
What is the Divine Will?
God created by willing it. God, in His Will, is infinite. As God is Pure Act (Actus Purus) there is no transition from potency to act, but one single successionless act of willing. What God wills happens as He wills it. Everything external to God is from His Will.
Therefore, in God, willing is not just wanting but doing. A second aspect of God's Will is in the fact that God is all love. Christ proceeds from the Intellect of the Father, and the love of the Father and the Son wills the Holy Ghost. Therefore, the Divine Will always and continuously and infinitely spirates the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is the love, the action, the power of the Divine Will.
If we have an infusion of the Divine Will so that we do not have our own will, whatsoever we will happens as we will it. We also produce the Holy Spirit by willing. Cute trick!
Angels and the Divine Will?
Since in God, Willing is Acting, if angels had the Divine Will they could do all the above just as Luisa claims we will be able to do when we have the Divine Will.
And since "no creature can, as Principal Cause (causa principalis) this is, form its own power, create something out of nothing" (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma - page 86), angels cannot have Divine Will.
Adam and Eve and the Divine Will?
For the same reason as above Adam and Eve were not infused in the Divine Will. Adam and Eve had free will. They were created with natural and supernatural knowledge, endowed with sanctifying grace, freed from suffering and death, and had preternatural power.
Adam and Eve were created without original sin, but not without free will. No creation has ever had infusion of the Divine Will except the human will of Christ. When Adam and Eve sinned they lost sanctifying grace, freedom from suffering, freedom from death, and there preternatural power.
"God created man to His own image. To the image of God He created him. Male and female He created them." This does not mean we are like God, as the devil tried to convince Eve. It means that like God we have free will, and like God we can never die. Being immortal and free to choose is what makes us like God.
Without free will we cannot love, for love must be free to be love. If we give up our free will as happens in cases of demonic possession, we can no longer love. God could have created us in His Will, but if He did that we could not choose Him. We would be forced to love Him, and this would not be love.
Mary and the Divine Will?
Was Mary the first person since Adam to have the Divine Will? We already know that Adam did not have the Divine Will. Mary is called the second Eve because like Eve She was created without original sin. Unlike Ever she was not given preternatural power. Unlike Eve, she was not free from suffering and death.
Yes! Mary is the greatest of all God's creations. But in the wisdom of God, He created her subject to the same sufferings and bodily death as fallen man, so that She would be like Christ, who also was subject to suffering and bodily death.
If Mary was infused with the Divine Will in the way the Human Nature of Christ was, she would not have been asked by the angel if she was willing to become the Mother of God. Even in this greatest of all human gifts by God, Her free will was not taken away.
Mary never sinned because She was filled with Sanctifying Grace and was free from the concupiscence of sin. This does not mean that She could not have sinned. She was free to sin because if She was not, Her love would not have been free.
Luisa and the Divine Will?
Since only Christ was infused in the Divine Will, why should we believe that Luisa was infused in the Divine Will. We have already established that Adam, Eve, and Mary were not infused in the Divine Will; therefore, if we were to say that Luisa was, we would be placing her above Adam, Eve, and Mary.
Under demonic possession Free Will is taken away, something God would never do. If Luisa had no Free Will, it would have to have come from the demonic. We are not saying this, because we do not believe she was without free will.
If she had Divine Will, she would have had Divine Power, since God's willing is God's action. Whatsoever God wills, happens. We know of nothing that happened in Luisa's live to prove any Divine Action, and in fact, nothing is claimed by the promoters.
Since God's Will spirates the Holy Ghost, it would stand to reason that Luisa could spirate the Holy Ghost. But this is absurd.
Mankind and the Divine Will?
Is it then possible that in the future God will infuse all of the rest of mankind in the Divine Will? If this were to happen as the messages of Luisa claim, then why are we on earth in the first place? We are here for a test of our love. To love, as we have stated, we must have Free Will. We must be free to choose good and evil. If this freedom is taken away, we might just as well be born in heaven right from the beginning.
St. Thomas makes several good points about the possibility of conforming one's will to that of God. Man is limited by one's lack of ability to recognize in all cases the divine will. In order to know the will of God, we must have the Divine Knowledge of God. But even then, suppose, St. Thomas explains, that we knew that God willed our own damnation absolutely. Could we then conform to the Will of God?
It is strange that Luisa never mentions the fact that the Human Nature of Christ, although totally man, with body, soul, and human intellect, was also totally God with Divine Intellect and Divine Will. Although there are recent theologians, like Von Balthasar, who like to make out Christ as ignorant of His Divine Intellect at times, this is not true. Christ had a human intellect that was never without the Divine Intellect. He had a human will that was never without the Divine Will. This is why Jesus is God, just as Christ is God. Jesus Christ had the Divine Will and therefore did not need to be redeemed. Mary, although freed from original and actual sin, needed the same redemption that you and I need.
Why then to we pray "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven"? In the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2822 - page 677) we are taught that keeping the commandments of God is God's Will for us. In heaven the angels and saints do not sin, and they are perfectly united in love with each other and with God. It is God's Will that we do the same on earth. But to love is impossible without grace, so we pray for that grace to do God's will. This has nothing to do with a Kingdom of the Divine Will.
We also pray "Thy Kingdom come … on earth as it is in Heaven" also. Catholic Doctrine teaches us that the Church is the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. It is a Kingdom because the King is in it. He is in every Tabernacle all over the world. It is a Kingdom on a journey to the Kingdom in the Heavens, but it is totally God's Kingdom nonetheless. By praying "Thy Kingdom come" we are longing for the day that we will join the Kingdom on earth with the Kingdom in Heaven. But this will happen on the last day when Christ does away with this earth. We are also praying that the Kingdom on earth will be as holy and as united as the Kingdom in the Sky. We are not praying for an earthly Kingdom of the Divine Will.
This would be the same as praying for an earthly return of Christ to live with us for a thousand years on earth. This is a heresy that goes all the way back to the time of Saint John, the Apostle, called Chiliadism. It is known today as Millenarism. The second coming of Christ is not to make an earthly Kingdom, but to end the earth forever, and to bring body and souls up to the sky, and thereby create the union of spiritual and physical that will be the final end of creation.
What then is meant by "A New Heaven and a New Earth"? This must be taken two ways, and both ways are correct. The first New Heaven and New Earth took place on the first Easter, when Christ rose from the dead. On that day He opened the Gates of Heaven to Humans for the first time, and so there was a New Heaven, with humans in it. And there was a new earth for two reasons. Christ is now in the world in all the Tabernacles, and Sanctifying Grace was in the world through the sacraments of the Church, His Kingdom on Earth.
But there will also come a second "New Heaven and New Earth" when Christ comes the second time. With the wave of his hand he will do away with this earth and the sky. We will all live body and souls in the Heavenly Kingdom for all eternity. This can be called New, in that it is a new thing, and it can be called heaven and earth in that both the spiritual and physical will be united in the same place.
One of the great devotions of the Twentieth Century, and a favorite of the Holy Father, is "The Divine Mercy" as presented to the world by Christ to Blessed Faustina. She wrote these messages in her diary in 1930 and died in 1938.
Luisa Piccarreta wrote her books between 1899 and 1938. It seems that both were writing at the same time.
To Faustina Christ was saying, "I am Love and Mercy itself. When a soul approaches Me with trust, I fill it with such an abundance of graces that it cannot contain them within itself, but radiates them to other souls."
To Luisa, at the same time, Christ was saying: "My daughter, whoever it totally in my Will is not subject to temptation, because the devil does not have the power to enter in my Will,"
If a soul is not subject to temptation, it does not sin. If it does not sin, it needs no Mercy. Christ is defeating and making obsolete the Divine Mercy at the same time that He is showing it to the world.
To Faustina Christ was saying, "Encourage souls to say the Chaplet which I have given you. Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death … Through the Chaplet you will obtain everything, if what you ask for is compatible with My will."
But to Luisa, at the same time in history, Christ was saying, "To the soul that … lives in my Will there is no death. … This is because the soul who does my Will is not subject to death, has no judgment, and her life is eternal."
Faustina wrote in her diary that the entire Divine Mercy devotion was centered in the Eucharist. "Oh what awesome mysteries take place during Mass! … One day we will know what God is doing for us in each Mass, and what sort of gift He is preparing in it for us. Only His divine love could permit that such a gift be provided for us … this fountain of life gushing forth with such sweetness and power. All the good that is in me is due to Holy Communion."
At the same time in history, Christ was saying to Luisa, "When souls live in this sanctity [the Divine Will] I will not need Priests to consecrate Me, not churches, nor tabernacles, nor Hosts, because these souls will be everything: Priests, tabernacles and Hosts; and my Love will be liberated. Every time a souls wishes to consecrate Me she will be able to do so, at any moment of the day or night, wherever the soul may be."
Since in the Kingdom of the Divine Will we will not need priests, tabernacles and Mass, why did Christ come to Faustina to show that the Divine Mercy is poured out in the Eucharist?
Could God contradict Himself at the same time in history? Both the Divine Mercy and the Divine Will cannot be true, since one contradicts the other. If you are to believe in the Divine Will, then you must hold that the Divine Mercy is false. For me, I will place my trust in the Divine Mercy of Christ as presented to Blessed Faustina, and will bet that Luisa is never made Blessed.
Why the Sacraments and priests?
The entire bible from the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden to the Heavenly Liturgy in Revelation and every chapter in between is about the Mass. The reason for the Church is the Mass. The reason for Bishops is the Mass. The reason for Christ dying on the Cross is the Mass. The main fountain of Sanctifying Grace is the Mass. The Mass is everything, and the second best is like a speck of dust compared to the sun.
In Luisa's diary she wrote, "I complained to Jesus that I couldn't even hear Holy Mass, and Jesus said, 'My daughter, aren't I the sacrifice? When I am sacrificed, the soul that lives with Me in my Will is sacrificed together with Me, not only in one Mass, but in all Masses, from the first to the last. Since she lives in my Will the soul is consecrated in all the Hosts. Never leave my Will and I will take you wherever you want … enter into my Will and you will immediately find what you seek, as many Masses as you wish, as many Communions as you wish, as much love as you wish. Nothing is lacking in my Will."
Jesus says to Luisa, "You also can form the host. The host is material and human. You also have a material body and a human will. This, your body and will, if you keep them upright, pure from the shadow of sin, are the accidents, the veils for being able to consecrate myself and live hidden in you. But this is not enough, that would be like a host without the consecration. From here there lacks my life. Therefore after you have prepared the host, you must die to your will. You must cook it well to make sure it will no longer be reborn and you must replace in all your being My Will and all My Life, which will form the PERFECT CONSECRATION. Then the human thought will no longer have life but the thought of my will and this will consecrate my wisdom in your mind. There will no longer be the life of the human will, the weaknesses, the inconstancy, because My Will will form the CONSECRATION OF THE DIVINE LIFE AND AS LIVING HOSTS, NOT DEAD, WHICH ARE THOSE HOSTS, NOT LACKING ME,. I WILL CONTINUE MY LIFE IN THEM. But this is not all, the consecrated hosts in the ciborium in the tabernacle, all is dead, mute. There is not a heartbeat that can respond to my great love. I, in the sacrament want to be nourished with my own food, that is that the soul will unite itself to me and I will perk up my ears to hear what I am doing to make it able to do it together with me and meanwhile it will repeat my own acts and give me it's food and it is only through these LIVING HOSTS will I find the compensation for the solitude, the fasting and for all I suffer in the tabernacle.
Jesus: "The sacraments … were instituted as a seed and a means to arrive at possession of My Will and to bring it back to Eden, back to Paradise on Earth."
And speaking of the Antichrist, where is he in these writings of Luisa? We know from Scripture that faith will grow cold and the Antichrist will come into the world to rule the world for 3-1/2 years. This must take place before the Second Coming of Christ. If the world lives in the Kingdom of the Divine Will after the chastisement, as is stated in the writings of Luisa, and everyone will live in the Divine Will, and no one will sin, where is the Antichrist?
Will we have the Divine Will in Heaven?
We have made the point that angels do not live in the Divine Will, Adam and Eve did not live in the Divine Will, Mary did not live in the Divine Will. And we will never live in the Divine Will on earth. But will we live in the Divine Will after we die and go to Heaven. No! Even then we will want nothing be God's will, but we will not have his Will. We will have vision and knowledge that will form our will to God's, but this is not the same as having God's Will.
"To this New Church of Light … The past has been canceled out. We now must have a New Heart for the New Church."
"Do always and everywhere only the Divine Will."
"… thus you will form the New Heart and the New Church."
"When the Divine Will of the Father, Son and The Holy Spirit is being accomplished by the creatures. From the perfect fulfillment of the divine will, the whole world is becoming renewed because there as it were --- The New Garden of Eden where He can dwell in relationship with His creatures."
It is interesting to note that not only Gobbi, but Necedah, Wisconsin, on their Web-site, are promoting the teaching of the Divine Will. [Taken off on 4/22/97] Since Von Balthasar started his ignorant Christ and his "all men saved" ideas, there seems to be a new spirit in the world that wants to do away with repentance and the sacraments.
The idea that God will take over our will and we will become a passive container of God's action is the old heresy of "Quietism". The proposed doctrine of total passivity in the face of divine action in the soul as taught by Molinos was condemned by the Church in 1717. You will find this hard to believe, but history has proved this out. When a soul is seeking to get out of its own free will, and have God take over its will, what usually happens is that it assumes that everything it does is God's Will. Even when it has illegal carnal desires, it can then act on them as if it was God's will and not blame itself. In the first years of these "quietist" practices this does not happen, but as time goes on it always happens.
This should not be confused with St. Teresa of Avila's Prayer of Quiet, for in this type of prayer there is no ritualistic formula. It just happens. If you try to make it happen, it will not. It is God's action in the soul, and there is no real way to prepare for it.
To paraphrase some of his remarks, he states that yes, we should conform our will to the will of God, but reason shows us that there is only one free thing in us, our free will. To make instant holiness, like instant coffee, and then be perfect is nonsense.
Regarding the statement in the newsletter, "Letters of Gold" Issue 14, "Our Lord said to Luisa that Blessed Hannibal was the first person since Our Lady to enter Heaven after having done the will of God on earth as in Heaven." Father William Most then asks about St. Joseph, St. Francis of Assisi, St. John of the Cross, St. Anthony of the desert who mortified themselves fully. Were they incapable of understanding, of complying? Why would God withhold this secret? He goes on to compare The Kingdom of the Divine Will with the heresy of "Quietism" and refutes many of the statements in "The Book of Heaven" using the Doctrine of the Church. All, who can, should read this.
In the Masonic Initiation, one contemplates a going within oneself until one reaches the center or altar - Divine Principle - were true self knowledge is un-obstructive conscious union of the human spirit with God. The self is obliterated, the personality is lost, merged in the impersonal and universal, the ego is merged into the Great All, and man realizes his own ultimate Divinity, and therefore lives and acts no longer as a separate individual with an independent will but in integration with the Divine Life and Will, whose instrument he becomes, whose purpose he serves."
If the Kingdom of the Divine Will is not Masonic, then it is demonic. For in the case of making a pact with the devil, or even without knowing it, succumbing to his rituals of initiation, one can become possessed. Study the true cases of possession and you will see that most did not know they were dealing with the demonic. They thought they were simply trying to improve their own lives. The key to the demonic, though, is wanting to be like God.
In the Kingdom of the Divine Will everything smells of the demonic rituals of possession. Wanting to rid ourselves of free will is demonic. Wanting to possess the Divine Will (rather than conform) is demonic. Wanting to be free of our own responsibility for sin is demonic. Even in the rituals of the Black Mass the words "Satan's Will" is actually said, "God's Will". But what god are we talking about? Can this be of God? It's not possible.
In over 104 true prophecies about the chastisement and the period of peace on earth, not one mentions any new type of Kingdom. In fact the peace will be short lived (from 25 to 50 years at most), and then will come the Antichrist. If we are about to enter the Kingdom of the Divine Will, all these Church approved 104 prophecies are wrong.
In the "City of God" by Ven. Mary Agreda, Our Lord revealed that He had to ask Mary for permission FROM HER FREE WILL, to suffer the passion.
To St. Catherine of Siena, God explained that he created man in His image, with memory, intellect, and will. "Therefore, unless all these faculties of the soul, memory, intellect and will are working together, we cannot freely accept His redeeming Sanctifying Grace that gives the Faith, Hope and Love of gaining eternal life, Our Kingdom Come.
And lest you think that God made an error in this private revelation, the Catechism states, "God willed that man should be left in the hand of his own counsel" (1730) "Man is rational and therefore like God, he is created with free will and is master over his acts."
Why then would Satan want us to think that in the Divine Will we would have no free will of our own? Because without free will there is no sin. Without free will there is also no love. He wins in both cases - no sin = no repentance, no love = no salvation.
"The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism --- especially the "intrinsically perverse" political form of a secular messianism. The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection. --- the Last Judgment after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world."
Thy Kingdom come - when the Church, the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, joins forever the Kingdom of Heaven in the sky. This will take place in the last day, the real Second Coming of Christ. He will appear in the clouds with all the Heavenly Hosts and divide the wheat from the chaff and then do away with the earth that all these demonic want to make into a new kind of Paradise.


text:
«Solen» (1624) () — шведський трищогловий галеон, який шведи характеризували середнім кораблем ().

Історія
Галеон був куплений в Нідерландах і перебудований у Алфсборгу на військовий корабель. Під командуванням Олександра Форатта в ході польсько-шведської війни брав участь у блокуванні Гданської затоки у складі ескадри адмірала. 28 листопада 1627 ескадра атакувала ескадру Речі Посполитої. У ході битви під Оливою «Solen» помилково прийняли за корабель віце-адмірала. 38-гарматний галеон атакували 8-гарматний флейт «Weisse Löwe», 32-гарматний галеон «König David» і 17-гарматний галеон «Meerman», який взяв його на абордаж. У бою загинув капітан Форатт. Через загрозу захоплення галеону його шкіпер кинувся до носової порохової камери. Частина польських і шведських моряків встигла перескочити на атакуючі кораблі. Від вибуху «Solen» негайно затонув, але 46 морякам вдалося врятуватись. У пропагандистському звіті Речі Посполитої писали, що під Гданськом о полудні «зайшло сонце».

Рештки «Solen» були віднайдені 20 жовтня 1969 при розбудові порту Гданська на глибині 16 м. Було вирішено виставити рештки корпусу в Національному музеї в Гданську. Було піднято 6000 предметів та 11 гармат — 8 шведських, 2 польські та 1 московську (1969). До 1975 підняли ще 9 гармат, камені баласті з корпусу, який перенесли в інше місце (1980). Корпус підняли на поверхню 1981. Підняті 20 гармат були відлиті між 1560 і 1620 рр.

Джерела
 Eugeniusz Koczorowski. Bitwa pod Oliwą. — Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo Morskie, 1976.

Військові кораблі Швеції (вітрильні)
Галеони
Корабельні аварії
Музейні кораблі

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Home Animals UPDATE: Legislature votes down funding for SCPD K-9 Unit facility
UPDATE: Legislature votes down funding for SCPD K-9 Unit facility
by TBR Staff - July 17, 2018
A look at SCPD's current K-9 Unit facility in Yaphank, which lawmakers are seeking funding to upgrade. Photo by Amanda Perelli
By Amanda Perelli
Republicans and Democrats in Suffolk County are having trouble getting on the same page.
Amid a greater fight over the issuance and ultimately failed vote on bond-seeking resolutions lumped together into an all or nothing proposal from the Democratic side in recent weeks, funding for several county initiatives is in a state of limbo, including for plans to upgrade Suffolk County Police Department's K-9 Unit facility in Yaphank. The bond was voted down as a stand-alone proposal at the July 17 legislature meeting.
"This is unfortunately again, where we run into politics," Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) said at a July 10 press conference at the facility. "The funding for the new K-9 state of the art facility here is being blocked again by members of the minority caucus."
The roof leaks in the current structure, the floor has holes in it, and the air conditioner and heating do not work properly, according to Bellone.
"I just wanted to note for the record once again that while I support the construction of this building I do still believe that we should be able to do the planning for this building in-house with [Department of Public Works] staff," said Minority Leader and Legislator Tom Cilmi (R-Bay Shore) prior to the vote at the July 17 Legislature meeting. "A number of us, both on the republican side and democrat side toured the facilities. It's clear that they need to be replaced, but we just believe that the planning for this can be done in-house. Operating funds rather than spending $150,000 of borrowed money to outside contractors to do this work."
Bellone and other county Democrats called for funding for a renovated, full-indoor kennel for training and to house these dogs when their handlers are away during the press conference.
Sue Hansen of RSVP, Legislator Monica Martinez, County Executive Steve Bellone, and Legislator Rob Calarco call for funding for SCPD's K-9 Unit facility in Yaphank at a July 10 press conference. Photo by Amanda Perelli
"The population of this county has grown over the years and as a result the size of our K-9 unit has grown over the years," said Legislator and Deputy Presiding Officer Rob Calarco (D-Patchogue). "We are housing far more dogs here now than we ever had, and we have to have appropriate facilities for these animals to be kept so that they can be in the top shape and top health, so they can do their job, which is important."
The SCPD K-9 Unit currently has 22 dogs. Nearly 12 years ago, a more than 20-year-old Sachem School District trailer was transported to Yaphank as a short-term SCPD K-9 Unit housing facility, and it is still in-use today, according to a press release from Bellone's office.
"When it came time to vote for the resolution and fund this new facility, they voted against it," Bellone said, referring to the legislature's Republican members. "So here it is, unbundled, a single, stand-alone bond. Earlier this year, we put that forward and they voted no."
The Minority Caucus wants the planning done in-house rather than borrowing to pay for the project, which, according to Bellone, would delay the project up to four years.
"We made it clear to police officials that we agree with building a new facility — that's not the problem here, but what the county executive is asking us for is to borrow $150,000 to pay an outside contractor to design a kennel," Cilmi said last week. "We spend $250 million in public works every year, and we believe that somebody from public works, working with our police department, should be able to engineer that building. They're in a donated shack basically right now, we don't need a Taj Mahal here."
Animal rights activist Sue Hansen attended the conference representing local animal welfare and rescue organization Responsible Solutions for Valued Pets. She said the organization has been working with Suffolk County Legislator Monica Martinez (D-Brentwood), who is chairwoman of the county's Public Safety Committee, on laws dealing with animals. Hansen said the organization is in favor of bonding to pay for the upgrades to the facility.
This post was updated July 17 to reflect the result of the vote on the matter at the July 17 Legislature meeting.
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone
Suffolk County Legislature
Suffolk County Police Department
Suffolk County Police Department K-9 Unit
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