To achieve a high-efficiency silicon nanowire (SiNW) solar cell, surface passivation technique is very important because a SiNW array has a large surface area. We successfully prepared by atomic layer deposition (ALD) high-quality aluminum oxide (Al2O3) film for passivation on the whole surface of the SiNW arrays. The minority carrier lifetime of the Al2O3-depositedSiNW arrays with bulk silicon substrate was improved to 27 μs at the optimum annealing condition. To remove the effect of bulk silicon, the effective diffusion length of minority carriers in the SiNW array was estimated by simple equations and a device simulator. As a result, it was revealed that the effective diffusion length in the SiNW arrays increased from 3.25 to 13.5 μm by depositing Al2O3 and post-annealing at 400°C. This improvement of the diffusion length is very important for application to solar cells, and Al2O3 deposited by ALD is a promising passivation material for a structure with high aspect ratio such as SiNW arrays.
Silicon nanowire (SiNW) enables us to tune the bandgap by the quantum size effect  and effective photo-absorption owing to strong optical confinement effect [2–4]. It is possible to apply SiNW to all-silicon tandem solar cells to utilize the broadband solar spectrum at low cost. When a crystalline silicon (1.12 eV) bottom cell is combined with a top cell with SiNW (1.74 eV) , all-silicon tandem solar cells have the possibility to overcome the Shockley-Queisser limit . Moreover, it is expected that SiNW solar cells have higher photocurrent than crystalline silicon solar cell with the same thickness as the SiNW length owing to the higher absorption coefficient derived from optical confinement . SiNW has been prepared by several top-down or bottom-up methods [7–13]. Over the past few years, many researchers have applied SiNWs to solar cells [14–19] for the purpose of optical confinement. We have proposed a SiNW solar cell with a heterojunction structure as shown in Figure 1. When SiNW arrays are applied to such a solar cell, it is significantly important to reduce the surface recombination velocity of the SiNW surface by using passivation films since the large surface area of SiNWs enhances minority carrier recombination at the surface. However, there are a few reports about the passivation of silicon nanowires to reduce surface recombination velocities, which determine the performance of solar cells. Dan et al. have reported the passivation effect of a thin layer of amorphous silicon on a single-crystalline silicon nanowire prepared by the Au-catalyzed vapor–liquid-solid (VLS) process . They showed that the surface recombination velocity was reduced by amorphous silicon by nearly 2 orders of magnitude. Demichel et al. have demonstrated that surface recombination velocities as low as 20 cm/s were measured for SiNWs prepared by the same process and efficiently passivated by a thermal oxidation . Although these results are based on SiNWs prepared by the VLS process, considering application to solar cells, metal-assisted chemical etching is more promising [11, 18, 22–25] since vertical SiNW arrays can be prepared in a large area under no vacuum. However, there is no report on the deposition of passivation films and their passivation effect on SiNW arrays prepared by the MAE process. Moreover, no result has ever been reported on minority carrier lifetime in vertical SiNW arrays to estimate passivation effect. Minority carrier lifetime is the dominant factor affecting the characteristics of solar cells. Therefore, it is important to measure minority carrier lifetime to analyze the characteristics of solar cells. In our previous work, we successfully fabricated 30-nm-diameter SiNW arrays by metal-assisted chemical etching using silica nanoparticles (MACES) . It is well known that aluminum oxide (Al2O3) deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) [26–29] and hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) [29, 30] show an excellent surface passivation effect on crystalline silicon. In this study, we investigated the deposition of a-Si:H by PECVD and Al2O3by ALD around SiNW arrays and measured the minority carrier lifetime in SiNW arrays by the microwave photo-conductivity decay (μ-PCD) method. However, the measured minority carrier lifetime was influenced by the supporting crystalline silicon substrate underneath the SiNWs. We carried out numerical simulations using PC1D (University of NSW) [31–33] simulation software to extract the minority carrier lifetime in the SiNW array layer, assuming that the SiNW layer is a homogeneous single-phase material with a minority carrier lifetime. Based on the simulation results, we proposed a simple equation to extract the minority carrier lifetime in the SiNW layer from measured minority lifetime.
The SiNW solar cell structure that we have proposed.
Si wafers (p-type, (100), 2 to 10 Ω cm) were used for the fabrication of SiNW arrays. The surfaces of the Si wafers were hydrophilic by modifying with an amino group. The hydrophilic Si wafers were immersed in a solution in which 30-nmsilica nanoparticles modified with a carboxyl group were dispersed at 2°C for 1 h. This process formed a dispersed silica nanoparticle layer on the Si wafer. Subsequently, a 20-nm-thick silver film was deposited on the wafers with silica nanoparticles using a DC sputtering system. After removing the silica nanoparticles by ultrasonication in deionized water, Si wafers with a nano-patterned silver film were obtained. The wafer was chemically etched using 4.8 M HF and 0.15M H2O2 at room temperature to form SiNW arrays. The remaining silver film on the bottom of the SiNW arrays was removed by HNO3 wet etching. Finally, the oxide layer existing on the surface of the SiNW array was removed with a HF solution. Details of the SiNW array fabrication process are shown elsewhere . After the fabrication of SiNW arrays, intrinsic amorphous silicon was deposited by PECVD under the same condition as the heterojunction crystalline silicon solar cell in which the fabrication temperature is 210°C and the operating pressure is 0.3 Torr. After the deposition, the SiNW array was annealed in a forming gas at 200°C, which is the best annealing temperature for the surface passivation of our a-Si:H. On the other hand, Al2O3 was also deposited using Al(CH3)3 and H2O alternately at 200°C by an ALD system. After the deposition, the SiNW arrays were annealed in a forming gas at 400°C. These nanostructures of the prepared SiNW arrays were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) with JEOL JSM-7001F (JEOL, Tokyo, Japan). The structure of the interface between SiNW and Al2O3 was observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with HITACHI H-9000NAR (HITACHI, Tokyo, Japan) and high-angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) with HITACHI HD-2700. Minority carrier lifetime was measured by the μ-PCD method with KOBELCO LTE-1510EP (KOBELCO, Tokyo Japan).
To investigate the carrier lifetime in a SiNW region (τSiNW), one-dimensional numerical simulations were carried out using PC1D. The electrical transport was calculated by solving Poisson equations and carrier continuity equations. In the simulations, we employed a simple structure in which a homogeneous single-phase material with a small carrier lifetime is stacked on a crystalline silicon substrate with a large carrier lifetime as shown in Figure 2. The homogeneous single-phase material is equivalent to the SiNW region. We calculated the effective minority carrier lifetime in the structure (τwhole) as a function of the minority carrier lifetime in the equivalent SiNW region (τSiNW) to investigate the relationship between τwhole and τSiNW. τwhole corresponds to the measured effective lifetime (τeff). Electrical parameters used in our simulations are summarized in Table 1. The absorption coefficient of a SiNW was used with the same value as crystalline silicon because it has not been confirmed by an experiment yet. The wavelength of an incident light was 904 nm, which is the same as the wavelength of the laser used in μ-PCD measurement. Moreover, Shockley-Read-Hall recombination, Auger recombination, and band-to-band recombination were taken into account, and the surface recombination was neglected for simplification.
The schematic diagram of the calculation model.
The decay curve of SiNW arrays fabricated by MACES was successfully obtained from μ-PCD measurement, as shown in Figure 3a. From Figure 3b, we confirmed that the decay curve consisted of two components, which were fast-decay and slow-decay components. At present, the origin of the second slow-decay component is not clear. A possible explanation is that the slow decay originates from minority carrier trapping effect at the defect states on the surface of the SiNW arrays. As a result of fitting to exponential attenuation function, the τeff of the SiNW arrays on the Si wafers is found to be 1.6 μs. This low τeff reflects the large surface recombination velocity at the surface of the SiNW arrays because we used high-quality crystalline silicon wafer as starting materials. To improve τeff, passivation films were deposited on the SiNW arrays. In the case of the a-Si:H passivation film, τeff was not improved since only a small part of the SiNW arrays was covered with the a-Si:H film. The a-Si:H thin film was deposited only on top of the SiNW array owing to the high density of SiNWs as shown in Figure 4. This reason can be explained according to the studies of Matsuda et al., in which they reported about the deposition of a-Si:Hon trench structure by PECVD [34, 35]. The concentration of precursors related with a silane gas decreased as their position on the SiNW moved farther from the plasma region, suggesting that the precursors could not reach the bottom of the SiNWs. That is why the a-Si:H thin film was deposited only on top of the SiNW array. In fact, the interspace between our fabricated SiNWs could not be embedded owing to the very narrow gap at around 20 nm. On the other hand, in the case of SiNW arrays covered with the as-deposited Al2O3 film, the τeff increased to 5 μs. That is because the surface of the SiNW arrays was successfully covered with Al2O3. In Figure 5a, the cross-sectional SEM images of the SiNW array before and after the deposition of an Al2O3 passivation film are shown. After the deposition of Al2O3, the dark contrast owing to the gap between SiNWs disappeared, suggesting that the Al2O3 film macroscopically covered SiNWs. Figure 5b,c shows the EDS mappings of aluminum and silicon, respectively. White and black signals show a maximum and minimum value, respectively. Note that the signal of aluminum was detected on the bottom of SiNWs after Al2O3 deposition, although the signal was not detected before the deposition. However, the Al intensity around the bottom was weaker than the one at the top. From a SEM image, the shape of SiNWs around the top is needle-like and the gap between SiNWs is about several hundred nanometers, although the gap around the bottom is about several ten nanometers (not shown). Therefore, the intensity of Al is higher around the top. These results also suggest that the Al2O3 film macroscopically covered SiNWs from the top to the bottom. To investigate the microscopic structure of the interface between a SiNW and Al2O3, TEM and HAADF-STEM observations were carried out. Figure 6a,b shows a schematic diagram on how to fabricate the sample for HAADF observation and a HAADF image of the SiNW cut into a round slice at the bottom of the SiNW, respectively. The contrast of a HAADF image is proportional to the square of the atomic number and becomes brighter with increasing atomic number. The contrast between the SiNW and Al2O3 is very clear in the figure. It should be noted that there is no gap at the interface. In Figure 6c, the uniform thickness of Al2O3 can be seen and is about 30 nm, which is enough for the passivation of crystalline silicon solar cells . The uniform deposition on the SiNW arrays is due to the excellent surface coverage of ALD techniques. From these results, the Al2O3 film deposited by the ALD method was able to cover the SiNW arrays up to the bottom. Since the fine interface between a SiNW and Al2O3 was formed and dangling bonds on the surface were modified by oxygen, the minority carrier lifetime in the SiNW arrays was improved.
Transient response of excess carrier density in a SiNW array on bulk silicon. (a) Linear scale. (b) Logarithmic scale.
Cross-sectional SEM image of an a-Si:H thin film deposited on a SiNW array.
SEM image and EDS mapping of SiNW without and with Al 2 O 3 . (a) Cross-sectional SEM image of SiNWs without and with Al2O3. EDS mappings of (b) Al and (c) Si corresponding to the SiNWs shown in (a), respectively.
HAADF-STEM and TEM images of the SiNW with Al 2 O 3 . (a) The procedure on how to measure the HAADF-STEM image. (b) Cross-sectional HAADF-STEM image of a SiNW cut into a round slice at the bottom of the SiNW array. (c) Cross-sectional TEM image of the interface between the SiNW and Al2O3.
For further improvement of carrier lifetime, annealing of the SiNW arrays embedded in Al2O3 was carried out. It was reported that negative fixed charge density at the interface of Al2O3/p-type c-Si increased from 1.3 × 1011 to 2.45 × 1012 cm−2 by annealing at 400°C . This increase of fixed charge density increases electric field at the Al2O3/SiNW interface. The electric field effectively repels minority carrier from the interface, resulting in the increase of minority carrier lifetime in the SiNW arrays. However, if a SiNW has perfect cylindrical symmetry, and Al2O3 with negative fixed charge is deposited on the surface uniformly, the electric field in the SiNW will be cancelled due to the symmetry of the electric field. Since in this case the effect of field effect passivation cannot be obtained, the effective lifetime will not be improved by annealing. To confirm the hypothesis, we tried to anneal the SiNW arrays with Al2O3 at 400°C. As a result, our SiNW samples also showed improvement of effective minority carrier lifetime, as well as a flat c-Si substrate passivated by Al2O3 layers, after annealing at 400°C. The τeff was found to be 27 μs. From this result, we conclude that since the prepared SiNWs do not have a perfect cylindrical symmetry, the effect of field effect passivation can be successfully obtained. Since negative charge density in the Al2O3 was increased by annealing at 400°C, the effective lifetime was also improved.
Although τeff of the SiNW arrays on the Si wafers were successfully obtained, we cannot consider these lifetimes as the lifetime of the SiNW region (τSiNW) due to the influence of the Si wafers. Therefore, we tried to extract τSiNW from τeff using PC1D simulation. PC1D simulations revealed that τeff was significantly influenced by the Si wafers. The calculated τwhole which is equivalent to the measured τeff is 20 times higher than τSiNW, as shown in Figure 7. These simulations clearly indicate that the measured τeff is completely different from τSiNW.
The calculated carrier lifetime. Carrier lifetime in only a SiNW as a function of the carrier lifetime in the whole region by calculation based on Equation 5 and PC1D.
Figure 7 shows the lifetime of the SiNW arrays which was calculated from the Equation 5 as a function of the lifetime in the whole region when d, W, and τBulk are 10 μm, 190 μm, and 1 ms, respectively. For confirmation of validation of this calculation, the τSiNW obtained by Equation 5 was compared to the simulation results of PC1D in Figure 7. We confirmed that the τSiNW using PC1D is in good agreement with the calculation based on Equation 5, and it was revealed that the τSiNW can be extracted by a simple equation such as Equation 5.
Each value was substituted in Equation 8, and effective diffusion length was estimated at 3.25 μm without any passivation films (Figure 8), suggesting that minority carriers around the bottom of the SiNW arrays rapidly recombine, and that is why a very low carrier lifetime of 1.6 μs was obtained. In the case of Al2O3 deposited onto SiNW arrays, the diffusion length was estimated to be 5.76 μm, suggesting that passivation effect was not enough to collect minority carriers since there are defects still remaining. After annealing, the effective diffusion length improved to about 13.5 μm. In a heterojunction structure, a depletion region was formed between p-type amorphous Si layer and n-type SiNW. Photogenerated carriers in a SiNW diffuse into the electric region as diffusion current, reach the depletion region, and are collected as photocurrent. If the effective diffusion length is longer than the SiNW length, photogenerated carriers at the bottom region can be also collected as photocurrent. Since 13.5 μm is longer than the length, it is expected that most of the photogenerated carriers can be collected. Therefore, Al2O3 deposited by ALD is a promising passivation material for a structure with high aspect ratio such as p-type SiNW arrays. Moreover, it is effective to use a fixed charge in the passivation of SiNW arrays with dangling bonds.
Lifetime and diffusion length in SiNW pre-ALD, as-deposited, and post-annealing.
We successfully prepared SiNW arrays embedded in Al2O3 by using the MACES technique and the subsequent ALD deposition. HAADF-STEM clearly indicates that the SiNW was completely covered with Al2O3. This ALD-Al2O3 passivation film reduced surface recombination velocity at the surface of SiNW. The as-deposited Al2O3 increased minority carrier lifetime in the sample from 1.6 to 5 μs. Moreover, the lifetime improved up to 27 μs after annealing. These results indicate that ALD-Al2O3 is beneficial for the passivation of SiNW surfaces. In addition, we analyzed lifetime data in details to estimate minority carrier diffusion length of the SiNW region. According to the data analysis, we finally derived a simple analytical equation to extract the lifetime of the SiNW region from measured effective lifetime of the samples. Using the equation, it was found that the effective diffusion length of minority carriers in the SiNW array increased from 3.25 to 13.5 μm by depositing Al2O3 and post-annealing at 400°C. This improvement of the diffusion length is very important for application to solar cells. The larger diffusion length leads to better carrier collection in solar cells, and improvement of short-circuit current can be expected.
This work was supported in part by JST, PRESTO, and the Nissan Foundation for Promotion of Science.
SK, YK, YW, and SM carried out the experiment and calculations. AY supervised the work and finalized the manuscript. YO, YN, and MH gave the final approval of the version of the manuscript to be published. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.


The Elks National Foundation helps students who need financial assistance to fulfill their dreams of attending college. Most valuable student scholars are outstanding students who are at or near the top of their classes, active in their schools and communities, and recognized as leaders by their peers. 500 scholarships will be awarded, ranging from $4,000 to $50,000. Applicants will be judged on scholarship, leadership and financial need.
For details and to download an application, visit www.elks.org/enf/scholars and see Ms. Dwoyer in the school counseling office.


What is next for eGovernment?
This year the Estonian EU Presidency is putting eGovernment at the forefront of discussions leading up to a Tallinn Declaration. Estonia is ranked number 1 in the EU and has emerged as a global leader in eGovernment operations.
Across the rest of the EU, online public and government services are also becoming increasingly accessible. Since the Malmö declaration in 2009, many progress has been made. According to the EU eGovernment Report 2016, 81% of the public services are now available online.
However the report also showed that the growth is uneven and a number of EU countries are still lagging behind. Therefore, the European Commission launched a new eGovernment Action Plan for 2016-2020. In addition to access of citizens to information, there is also an increased focus on the value of re-use of information with the recently launched a consultation on the Public Sector Information (PSI) Directive.
- What can be expected from the Tallinn Declaration and the Estonian Presidency in boosting eGovernment operations?
- What are the opportunities and challenges for the public sector and the EU citizens?
- What is the role of application program interface (APIs) in opening up government data and spurring data innovation?
- What will be the role of the upcoming Public Sector Information (PSI) Directive review?


text:
All the Devils Are Here
ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE: THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF THE FINANCIAL CRISIS
By Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera
You can follow all the steps to catastrophe. There was a steady rise in the price of real estate, leading to a bubble. Many mortgages were taken out by people who couldn't pay them, on properties that had been overvalued. These mortgages were junk, but were bundled together with other debts and "securitized" (a way of trading the cash flow from the debt). This had the effect of camouflaging the risk, which was further disguised by delinquent rating agencies who graded the resulting debt as investment grade. Compounding things, as collapse became all the more apparent, the risk of default was insured against, several times over. When real estate prices began to fall, so did the dominoes.
Why did it happen? Wall Street is always looking for the latest fool-proof way to get rich quick. Regulations had helped protect the finance industry from itself for decades, but the regulatory system had been stripped by reforms brought in by both Republicans and Democrats. Once there was no longer any adult oversight, it became a mad dash for cash, with grossly unbalanced incentives. Win, and you won big. Lose and you cashed out, walking away and leaving the government with the bill.
We see this double-whammy of disabled regulation and perverse incentivization triggered several times in All the Devils Are Here, a workmanlike account of the mortgage crisis. We might think of these as moments of financial original sins. The first was the growth of the secondary mortgage market through the development of mortgage-backed securities. This led to a fundamental, and dangerous, disconnection because once a lender had sold a mortgage further down the security food chain that lender no longer had any stake in whether the mortgage was ever going to be paid off. Mortgage risk became hidden, leading one mortgage director to describe mortgages as the new "neutron bomb of financial products." The end result was a situation where
no one in the chain, from broker to subprime originator to Wall Street, cared that the loans they were making and selling were likely to go bad. In truth, they were all taking on huge risks in granting these terrible loans. But they were all making too much money to see it. Everyone assumed that someone else would be left holding the bag.
A second original sin (to strain the metaphor) occurred when the ratings agencies abandoned the subscriber model of revenue to one where they charged the issuers of securities. This made good business sense but came with an obvious conflict of interest: the rating agencies being paid by the same people whose securities they were rating. Not surprisingly, indeed predictably, the ratings agencies became the great enablers of the disaster to come.
Notoriously, after the music stopped no one went to jail. This is the other half of the incentive problem. Not only was irresponsible risk rewarded, but improvidence was not punished. One might question the authors' comment that Wall Street was "making too much money to see" the risk. That may have been the case, but it might also have been that the risk was seen but discounted. There was a sense of security, perversely reinforced by slapdash regulation. As one former Bush administration official puts it, "Bad regulation is much worse than no regulation because you create conditional expectations of safety." Then there was the power of free market ideology, which attributed to markets a power of omniscience and ultimate efficiency. By definition, the market could not be wrong.
As things went to pot the incentives also inverted, as many players, big and small, began betting against the system (or for the system to fail). This is the story told in The Big Short, among other accounts. It is also the area of murkiest legality, as Wall Street was knowingly involved in selling products that it knew were worthless and that it was actively betting against. Some people became very rich off of the big short. Others . . . became very rich. Meanwhile, the men at the top made out like bankers. Stan O'Neal, CEO of Merrill Lynch, walked away with $161 million in retirement benefits and Merrill stock "feeling at once embittered, embarrassed, and frustrated." He blamed others, naturally. Angelo Mozilo, CEO of Countrywide Financial and dubbed by TIME magazine one of the "25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis," and by Condé Nast Portfolio ranked second on a list of "Worst American CEOs of All Time" received over $400 million in total compensation during the period leading up the collapse. He later settled with the SEC for a $67.5 million fine, $20 million of which was paid by Countrywide as part of an indemnification agreement.
As McLean and Nocera point out, the chances of criminal prosecution were always slim: "Much of what took place during the crisis was immoral, unjust, craven, delusional behaviour — but it wasn't criminal." And even if it were, the expense and difficulty of bringing a case against any of the big names was prohibitive. The banks were too big to fail, their officers too big (or at least too well insulated) to jail. And so in the wake of the crisis little changed. To some extent, the crisis itself had been business as usual. It will happen again.
Review first published online April 10, 2016. For some other takes on the mortgage crisis, see my reviews of John Lanchester's I.O.U. and Charles Ferguson's Predator Nation.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
US probing Deutsche Bank's work for Malaysia's 1MDB — report
The Wall Street Journal says prosecutors are examining the role of executive Tan Boon-Kee
11 July 2019 - 11:05 Rama Venkat
Signage is displayed outside the Deutsche Bank AG headquarters at 60 Wall Street in New York, U.S., on Monday, July 8, 2019. Picture: MICHAEL NAGLE / BLOOMBERG
Bengaluru — The US justice department is investigating whether Deutsche Bank violated foreign corruption or anti-money-laundering laws in its work for state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the Wall Street Journal said on Wednesday.
The news comes after the bank announced plans to scrap its global equities unit, cut some fixed-income operations and slash 18,000 jobs globally in a €7.4bn ($8.34bn) restructuring programme.
Deutsche Bank's work for 1MDB included helping to raise $1.2bn in 2014 as concerns about the fund's management and financials had begun to circulate, the newspaper said, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.
Prosecutors are mainly looking into the role of Tan Boon-Kee, a colleague of a former Goldman Sachs executive, Tim Leissner, who worked with him on 1MDB-related business, the paper said.
She left Goldman to become Asia-Pacific head of banking for financial institutions clients at Deutsche Bank, where she was involved with further 1MDB dealings, it added.
In an e-mailed statement, Deutsche Bank said it had fully co-operated with all regulatory and law enforcement agencies that made inquiries about the fund.
"As stated in asset forfeiture complaints filed by the US Department of Justice, 1MDB made 'material misrepresentations and omissions to Deutsche Bank officials' in connection with 1MDB's transactions with the bank," the bank told Reuters.
"This is consistent with the bank's own findings in this matter," it added.
A US justice department civil asset-forfeiture complaint repeatedly describes Deutsche Bank as being misled by 1MDB officers, the Wall Street Journal said.
Tan left Deutsche Bank in 2018 after the bank discovered communications between her and Jho Low, the Malaysian financier the justice department has described as the central player in the 1MDB scandal, it added.
A spokesperson for insurance company FWD Group, Tan's current employer, said Tan declined to comment when contacted by the Wall Street Journal.
The department and FWD did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase asked to detail dealings with 1MDB
US Department of Justice officials also travelled to Kuala Lumpur to speak to senior bankers and other people with close links to Malaysia's state ...
THE LEX COLUMN: Sewing's stitch in time to save Deutsche Bank
German banking group's new CEO takes a tough decision to shed its investment banking arm
Deutsche Bank staff react to 18,000 global job cuts
Employees from trading hubs in Australia and across Asia and Europe to the US tell how they were laid off
Twelve men arrested in Bangladesh in connection ...
World / Asia
Athens shaken by 5.1 earthquake, but few injuries ...
World / Europe
Deaths reported after huge explosion at gas plant ...
UK MPs want next leader to urgently decide on ...
JOHN GAPPER: Banks and the absence of any bond with employees
Exit of Deutsche Bank's investment bank chief marks end of era
Companies / Financial Services
Deutsche Bank begins radical overhaul with 18,000 job cuts
Overhaul of Deutsche Bank to cost up to €5bn and 20,000 jobs
Up to 20,000 jobs at risk at Deutsche Bank, CEO Christian Sewing says


text:
Средний размер оплаты труда (также средняя зарплата) — макроэкономический показатель, вычисляемый как среднее арифметическое значение заработных плат определённой группы работающего населения. В частности, Средний национальный доход (то есть средний размер оплаты труда по стране) вычисляется как сумма зарплат всего работающего населения, делённая на количество работающего населения. Это не то же самое, что и валовой внутренний продукт (ВВП), потому что в ВВП включены все категории населения и цены всех товаров и услуг.

Средний размер оплаты труда совсем не обязательно является зарплатой «среднего» работника, так как в нём учитываются как очень высокие зарплаты, так и очень низкие, которые не имеют отношения к «среднему» работнику.

Медиана

Вместо среднего арифметического нередко используется медианная величина. Медиана менее чувствительна к статистическим выбросам.

Средний размер оплаты труда по годам

См. также
 Минимальный размер оплаты труда
 Максимальный размер оплаты труда
 Безусловный базовый доход
 Доход на душу населения
 Покупательная способность

Комментарии

Примечания

Трудовое право
Экономические показатели
Средний размер оплаты труда
Заработная плата

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Afternoon Tea: A History
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
Afternoon tea has been a part of British life since the early 19th century, filtering down from the aristocracy to be enjoyed by nearly everyone. It's been served at the Hotel Café Royal for decades, most recently in the sumptuous Oscar Wilde Lounge. These days most of us don't break out the good china and the cucumber sandwiches every day at 5 o'clock, but we still aspire to spend an hour or two with some cream cakes and a pot of tea if we possibly can.
We've looked into its history to see where this delightful meal comes from, and how it's evolved over the years into the joyous celebration it is today.
From Ancient China to Victorian England
Tea itself has been around for thousands of years, first prescribed as a medicinal drink in ancient China, later becoming a fashionable everyday drink during the Tang dynasty. Portuguese traders brought it to Europe in the 16th century, finally introducing the British to their greatest love.
It was a few hundred years later in the 1840s when afternoon tea was created, or so the story goes. Anna Maria Russell, the Duchess of Bedford and close friend to Queen Victoria, bemoaned the ever-increasing gap between luncheon and dinner, and longed for something to keep her going in between. During a visit to the Duke of Rutland at Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire, Anna Maria finally listened to the wisdom of her stomach and ordered a tray of tea, bread and butter, and cake as a light afternoon snack.
Her moment of genius was so ideally satisfying that she invited her friends to join her on other afternoons for light refreshments, and thus, afternoon tea was born.
Afternoon tea at Hotel Café Royal is served in the historic Oscar Wilde Lounge, named in honour of the rooms most famous patron.
The golden age of afternoon tea
By the end of the century, afternoon tea had become a daily ritual for the upper classes, though it had spread in various forms through much of the rest of society too. In the more privileged households the ladies would dress for the occasion whether at home or out in public, and the selection of goodies on the tea tray become equally elaborate. Pastries, scones, clotted cream, delicate cakes, and the ubiquitous thinly sliced cucumber sandwiches.
The late 19th and early 20th century marked the high point of afternoon tea's splendour, with all the most fashionable people going to the most fashionable hotels to enjoy the most sophisticated fair. Hotel Café Royal was very much at the centre of this vibrant culture, attracting the likes of Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas, Virginia Woolf, DH Lawrence, and Noel Coward.
Though the exuberance of the 20s and 30s was brought to a swift end, afternoon tea endured as a special celebration of enjoyment and delight, and is now more popular than ever.
How to do afternoon tea
Many people have attempted to dictate the 'proper' way to take your tea, but really the only rule is to enjoy yourself. Firstly, it's always a good idea to dress up a bit when going out for afternoon tea, just to add to the sense of occasion and to suit your chosen hotel or restaurant.
Feel free to spread your scone with jam and then dollop cream on top, or spread it with cream and put the jam on top – either way is perfectly acceptable. Sandwiches are usually fine to eat with your hands if they're properly made, but a fork may be necessary for certain cakes and pastries. Just go for whatever works best.
When it comes to tea, loose leaf is always better for the taste. Flavoured or delicate teas like Earl Grey or Darjeeling are best without milk, while most other black teas are fine with. The often-debated question of milk in first or last was originally seen as a social divider, as pouring hot tea directly into a cheaper, low quality cup would often crack it. These days this problem no longer exists, so you're free to put the milk in first or afterwards according to your own tastes.
Finally, no one will be impressed if you extend your little finger while drinking your tea. No one's quite sure where this odd practice comes from, but it's an afternoon tea etiquette faux pas.
Au Depart, the recently reborn Parisian luxury trunk maker is taking the show on the road.
Craftmanship, Places to Visit, Shopping, Technology
Hotel Café Royal's Guide to Soho
Culture, Dining, Drinks, Places to Visit
The Best of the West End 2020
Culture, Places to Visit


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Q: Gradle build tools 1.5.0 excludes .so files I'm working with a library that depends on a shared object file ex. libName.so and in the past I've simply packaged the libName.so file with my jar that I've distributed. Now by updating the gradle version from 1.3.1 to 1.5.0,
classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:1.5.0' // 1.3.1 -> 1.5.0

these .so files in my library are no longer added to the app's .apk file that my library in the app depends on. For the library (ex. a jar), it doesn't seem to matter whether the .so files are in the assets, libs, or jniLibs folder.
Extracting the apk generated with my dependency referenced:
ex.
dependencies {
    compile fileTree(include: ['*.jar'], dir: 'libs')
    compile 'com.x:library_with_folder_containing_so_files:version'
}

Before (Gradle 1.3.1)

After (Gradle 1.5.0)

It seems that if you have files that aren't shared objects, they won't be removed when the APK is generated. Was wondering if v1.5.0 has a new policy I can't seem to find or if I'm doing something wrong.

A: To fix this problem don't load native libraries from the assets folder. Instead if you add your libraries to another folder called lib with the same folder structure, gradle builds will not remove the native libraries.
Ex. new jar file structure
lib
    - armeabi
        - libLibraryName.so
    - x86
        - libLibraryName.so
    - mips
        - libLibraryName.so

Should your native libraries be packaged in your jar file this way you should also be able to call System.loadLibrary("LibraryName").

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Every week brings job lists, emails, documents, and new projects. How much of this is completely different from the work you have done before? Odds are, not much. A number of our tasks are variants on something. Do not reinvent the wheel every time you start something new. Use templates–as starting point for work standardized files with formatting and text. Once you save another version of the template, simply add, eliminate, or change any info for that exceptional document, and you'll have the new job.
Templates work everywhere: in word processors, spreadsheets, project management programs, survey platforms, and email. Here's how to use templates and to generate documents from a template–so it's possible to get your common tasks quicker. Templates take the time to construct, and it's easy to wonder if they are worth the investment. The short answer: absolutely. Editing a template requires far less time than formatting some thing. It's the difference between copying and pasting some text, or retyping it.
That's not the only benefit: Using a template means you're less inclined to leave out crucial information, also. For example, if you want to send freelance authors a contributor agreement, modifying a standard contract template (instead of composing a new contract each time) guarantees you won't depart out the crucial clause about possessing the material as soon as you've paid for this.
Templates also guarantee consistency. You send clients or investors regular job updates. Using a template, you understand the update will have the exact same formatting, layout, and standard arrangement.
First, templates must be comprehensive. So err on the side of adding too rather than too little, it is easier to delete info than add it .
Some tools will automatically fill in these factors for you (more on this in a bit). But if you need to fill in the information by yourself, include some text that's easy and obvious to search for so you can find.


text:
Йоганн (Юхан) Петер Фальк (, 20 січня 1732-12 квітня 1774) — шведський мандрівник та натураліст (в першу чергу ботанік), дослідник природи Росії, один з «апостолів Ліннея».

Біографія
Народився у Швеції () у 1732 році (у деяких джерелах вказані інші роки народження Фалька - 1725, 1727 та 1733 роки).

У 1751 році Фальк поступив в Уппсальський університет, де вивчав ботаніку під керівництвом Карла Ліннея. За дорученням Ліннея Фальк став наставником його синові - Карлу Ліннею молодшому. Закінчив курс в Уппсальському університеті зі ступенем доктора медицини.

У 1760 році Лінней планував відправити Фалька у датську експедицію разом із іншим своїм учнем, Пером Форссколем, однак кандидатура Фалька датчанами не була затверджена.

Завдяки рекомендації Ліннея він був прийнятий у Російську Імператорську Академію наук і мистецтв та призначений на посаду управителя (директора) Аптекарського городу (1765).

Фальк - один з «апостолів Ліннея», як називають учнів великого шведського натураліста Карла Ліннея (1707-1778), які брали участь в експедиціях у різних частинах світу, діючи за планами і виконуючи завдання свого вчителя, надсилали йому насіння рослин, а також гербарні та зоологічні зразки. У 1768 році він брав участь в Академічній експедиції (1768-1774), спорядженій академією у Східну Росію, під керівництвом Георгі. Протягом шести років Фальк зібрав багато матеріалів, що стосуються, головним чином, флори приуральских степів та побуту киргизів.

Під час подорожей по Росії Фальк пристрастився до опіуму.

Навесні 1774 під час перебування у Казані під час нападу депресії він застрелився.

Цінні наукові матеріали, що залишилися після Фалька, були зібрані Й. Георгі та Лаксманом і видані при Академії наук німецькою мовою, з малюнками та картами (1785—1786).

Наукові праці
 Beyträge zur topographischen Kenntniss des Russischen Reichs. St. Petersburg: gedruckt bey der Kayserl. Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1785—1786. Томи 1—3.

Рослини, названі на честь Фалька
  (родина Березкові)

Примітки

Посилання
 Коротка біографія
 Dissertation von Johan Peter Falck (4 MB; PDF-Datei)
 Биография , Biologija

Джерела
 Полное собрание учёных путешествий по России проф. Крашенинникова, Лепёхина и Фалька. — СПб., 1818—1825.

Ботаніки
Автори ботанічних таксонів
Науковці-самогубці
Самогубці, які застрелилися


text:
Islam and Politics ( 7 Jun 2012, NewAgeIslam.Com)
Dealing with the Devil's Excrement
By Praveen Swami <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
With its rapidly reducing dependence on Middle Eastern oil, the U.S. has little reason to stay on in the region — a looming problem for India
In coming years, India will become ever more dependent on oil from an ever more troubled region.
"Ten years from now", the man who founded OPEC told a young graduate student during a 1976 interview, "twenty years from now, you will see: oil will bring us ruin". India's strategic community ought to reflect on those words: little-noticed but seismic shifts in oil geopolitics mean the country is staring at a strategic challenge of a magnitude it is utterly unprepared for.
From a peak of more than five billion barrels in 2005, the United States' crude oil and refined products imports fell to 4.14 billion barrels last year [See Table 1]. Imports from Saudi Arabia and the volatile Persian Gulf have been in slow but steady decline for years. In 2011, over 23 per cent of all U.S. crude oil and refined products came from Canada — over twice as much as from Saudi Arabia, six times as much as Iraq and 20 times as much as Libya. If a $7-billion pipeline linking Canada's oilfields to refiners in the U.S. passes environmental hurdles, the country could even end up being a net exporter of oil.
In time, the U.S. might draw back from the Middle East on this receding tide of oil — a nightmare for India and other growing Asian powers. Ever since 1947, the U.S. has used guns and cash to impose order across the Middle East. Now, India could be left needing evermore oil from a region that is ever-less stable. India, like China, has watched helplessly as Western-led policies in the Middle East have led oil-producing Iraq and Libya into quasi-anarchy. Iran's nuclear programme could, conceivably, spark-off murderous regional confrontation.
Emerging, oil-thirsty Asia, the United States Energy Information Administration has estimated, will be consuming some 33.6 million barrels per day [mpd] of oil by 2025 — more than double its demand at the turn of the century. It won't be able to get it, though, without order in the Middle East. For India, there is another peril. Indian policies on Pakistan have long rested on the assumption that the U.S. would push its troublesome ally away from the brink. The reason the U.S. locked itself into an alliance with Pakistan in the first place, though, was to protect the Persian Gulf and Saudi Arabia — and the future, could care less about regional security.
THE UNSTABLE PETRO-STATE
OPEC's founder, Juan Peréz Alfonzo, had warned of oil's exceptionally toxic political properties back in 1976: "we are drowning", he famously said, "in the Devil's Excrement". The petro-states on which growing economies like India rely to fuel their search for prosperity, he had realised, simply cannot be stable. In the mid-1970s, when Mr. Alfonzo had made his dark prophecy about ruin to scholar Terry Lynn Karl, the corrosive character of the Devil's Excrement was little understood. Instead, it appeared to have made the ruler of every petro-state a Midas. The Shah of Iran promised his people a "great civilisation"; Carlos Andrés Pérez, Venezuela's President, imagined a future where "Americans will be driving cars built by our workers in our modern factories".
In a seminal 1999 article, since fleshed out by other economists, Dr. Karl explained why the souring of the dream could not just be attributed to mismanagement or corruption. Instead of building infrastructure and industries, she noted, the cash available drove petro-states' rulers to establish patronage networks that ensured the survival of their regimes. There were no incentives to engage in economic reforms, and easy cash killed entrepreneurship. In time, generous handouts led entire "polities to develop an addiction to petrodollars".
Few took oil-pessimists seriously — in spite of the clear warning signs that emerged from the 1979 revolution in Iran. From the outside, Libya's economy grew at six per cent in 2007, winning it applause from the World Bank. Bahrain has a per-capita income not dissimilar to New Zealand. Egypt grew at 4.7 per cent in 2007. Bahrain and Libya built their future by pumping the seemingly exhaustible pool of cash from the ground beneath their feet. Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen exported their own inexhaustible pool of low-wage workers to the petro-states.
But the growth rates masked a less happy reality: the apparent prosperity didn't drive industrialisation or generate productive jobs. Half the population in the arc of nations running from Nigeria to Pakistan is less than 25 years old, but unemployment is at record levels.
THE PETRO PARADOX
There's a simple reason why the world's economy is powered by such a politically toxic fuel. Bizarre as it might sound at a time when petrol costs Indians well over Rs.70 a litre, the Devil's Excrement is relatively cheap [See Table 2]. From 1946 to 1973, the price of crude in the U.S. stood at just over $20 per barrel, measured at 2012 prices. In the wake of OPEC's efforts to ramp up oil prices, and the Iranian revolution, it surged to over $100. Then, the data show, oil prices again hovered around the pre-1973 historical average until 2001, when 9/11 ushered in a new era of war. But even now, crude oil is cheaper in real terms than in 1980.
Even more important is this: incomes in the U.S., the world's largest consumer of oil, have risen faster than oil prices. In 1929, an average American would have had to pay 1.49 per cent of her or his annual income of $84.90 to buy a barrel of crude oil, which then sold for $1.27. Fifty years later, in the wake of the Iranian revolution, oil prices soared to $31.61. But the annual earning of the average American had risen even more sharply, to $7,956. That meant that a barrel of oil would cost them just 0.39 per cent of their earnings — a quarter of what it did in 1929. In 2008, oil prices soared to $96.91. The average American earned $35,931 that year, which means a barrel of oil would cost them 0.26 per cent of their earnings. Now, consumers in the world's great economies are paying more than ever for oil — but those who sell it aren't prospering, either. Barring Norway, the world's largest oil exporters are now poorer, relative to the world's great economies, than they were five decades ago. "The conclusion must be," the commentator Amir Taheri wrote in 2006, "that those who buy oil get rich and those who sell it do not."
BIG OIL AND GREAT POWER
For geostrategic experts, though, it has long been clear that cheap oil comes at a high price. Ever since 1947, the U.S. purchased stability in the Middle East by funding client regimes, and setting up a string of bases stretching from the Persian Gulf to Turkey. In the next six years, though, U.S. defence spending will decline by as much as $477 billion — a consequence of wrenching economic pressures which also means there may be less to spend on propping up pliant governments. Given the country's declining interest in Middle East oil, there will also be less and less reason to do so.
There is no doubt the U.S. will remain the most significant military force on the planet for decades: its military spending accounts for 43 per cent of global military expenditure, against China's estimated 7.3 per cent and Russia's 3.6 per cent. The U.S. has 11 aircraft carriers to the rest of the world's eight — and its air power is a generation ahead of the competition. However, the cuts will mean U.S. resources will be more narrowly focused: targeting potential Chinese expansion in the Pacific, and using intelligence-led operations to contain terrorism-related threats. The days of grand expeditionary warfare in the Middle East are at an end.
India can't say it wasn't warned: for years now, the U.S. has been doing so. In his 2006 State of the Union address, President George W. Bush set America on a new course towards oil independence. "America is addicted to oil," he warned. He vowed to "make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past." Few paid attention, because past Presidents like Jimmy Carter had said much the same thing, to little avail — but the figures show it is now happening.
"Persian oil," as Franklin D. Roosevelt said to a British diplomat in 1944, "is yours. We share the oil of Iraq and Kuwait. As for Saudi Arabian oil, it's ours." To that end, the West propped up tyrannies — giving birth to a host of political obscenities.
India, China and the other Asian powers whose future prosperity depends on access to the Devil's Excrement are the future inheritors of the disorder western withdrawal will leave behind. They must begin to together prepare for the fallout, or together pay the price.
Source: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article3501895.ece
URL: http://www.newageislam.com/islam-and-politics/praveen-swami/dealing-with-the-devils-excrement/d/7566


text:
Home »	Articles » Album Reviews
Julie Sassoon: Land Of Shadows
By BRUCE LINDSAY
Land Of Shadows, the second album from British pianist Julie Sassoon, is a striking work. A mix of the simple and complex, gentle and strident, dark and light, it's powerful and affecting.
After studying in the UK Sassoon moved to Germany in 2009. Recorded live in Cologne, Dessau and the Neue Synagoge Berlin during April 2012, this music explores Sassoon's German-Jewish roots. Clearly, this exploration is an extremely personal one but Sassoon's music has a universality that invites everyone to enter and share in experiencing her often quite remarkable compositions. A DVD accompanies the album, giving an insight into the pianist's intensely focussed performance style.
The first impression given by Land Of Shadows is one of a controlled, delicate, musicianship. "Just So" has a sparse, restrained, beauty that Sassoon maintains throughout its length—an approach that creates a hypnotic appeal as well as some ultimately unresolved tension.
Sassoon returns to this delicacy on more than one occasion—the opening of "Forty-Four" is a particularly beautiful example from what is the album's loveliest tune—but there are other sides to the emotions revealed on Land Of Shadows. "What The Church Bells Saw (Part 2)" begins with a simple and repetitive three note pattern but an expectation of further restraint is soon confronted with a more aggressive approach from Sassoon. She adds counter rhythms, building the tension more rapidly than before, then resolving it for just a short time before building it up again—ultimately, to an almost unbearable level. There's a genuine sense of storytelling about this composition, a feeling of a drama unfolding before the eyes of those bells. But exactly what that drama is remains a mystery to the final note.
"Forty-Four" offers the first appearance of Sassoon's voice. Her wordless vocal has an ethereal quality, floating over the notes of the piano and adding a fresh layer of harmony. It sounds spontaneous, emerging from her response to the music. While the spontaneous vocals which arise from some pianists detract from their music, even overwhelm it, Sassoon's voice gives it more breadth, a greater dynamic and—on "Land Of Shadows"—a sense of disquiet. A beautiful if at times unsettling instrument.
"New Life" closes the album. At almost 20 minutes in length, it's an impressive performance in its scope and inventiveness—composed when she was pregnant with her daughter. Indeed, Land Of Shadows is an impressive album from start to finish.
Track Listing: Just So; What The Church Bells Saw (Part 2); Forty-Four; Land Of Shadows; Shifting; New Life.
Personnel: Julie Sassoon: piano, voice.
Title: Land Of Shadows | Year Released: 2013 | Record Label: Jazzwerkstatt Berlin-brandenburg E.v.
About Julie Sassoon
Julie Sassoon CD/LP/Track Review Bruce Lindsay Jazzwerkstatt Berlin-brandenburg E.v. Germany Berlin Land Of Shadows
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HomeNewsScience BlogWhat does the gig economy mean for you?
How does £130 in driving fines result in a young man taking his own life?
That question lingers long after the credits roll on the BBC drama 'Killed by my debt', which tells the harrowing true story of Jerome Rogers, a 19-year-old courier, who tragically took his own life after debts stemming from two outstanding motoring offences spiralled beyond his control – from £65 each, to more than a thousand pounds within a matter of months.
A combination of unfortunate and all too common circumstances – flexible, insecure employment, working class background, age and unique health factors, prevented him from clearing the debts and ultimately led to his untimely death.
These factors not only made him ripe for exploitation in today's society, but were also enabled by the very economic structure that now underpins it, the gig-economy. If at this point, you're thinking, 'the what?' you are not alone. 'Gig-economy' is a phrase commonly used in society, but little understood by many.
To bring some clarity to the subject, ScienceBlog talks to Dr Alex Wood, a sociologist and researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute, who focuses on the changing nature of employment relations and labour markets, to breakdown everything you need to know about the 'gig-economy' and how it could affect you in the future.
What is the gig-economy and how does it work?
The gig-economy is the way in which people are now finding work in non-standard ways. So, instead of working for a traditional employer, they access paid-work through online platforms which enable workers to be hired to do a specific task, or gig. For example, driving jobs like Uber and delivery tasks such as Deliveroo. But also traditional freelance tasks, like website and graphic design.
It's important to understand that the system of work comes with no frills. Zero-hour contracts and no benefits like holiday pay, sick pay or even a minimum wage.
How has it affected employment?
People are basically working in a much more flexible way. They can be juggling multiple-tasks any given time, and all hours of the day. There is no fixed way of working – the days of the 9-5 are long over for many workers.
On the one hand, this can be a positive set-up if you have control of the work you do, and are able to choose for yourself who you work for, what tasks you perform and when you do them. But to be in this privileged position your skills have to be in high demand, and the reality is that a lot of people are competing for these roles.
When you don't have this control it can lead to employment instability and insecurity.
People have to work to survive, and if you don't know where your next hour of work is coming from it can make it impossible to budget and plan for everyday life such as childcare, social life and holidays. Which can lead to people becoming really isolated.
It's important to understand that the system of 'gig' work comes with no frills. Zero-hour contracts and no benefits like holiday pay, sick pay or even a minimum wage.
How can this instability affect people's lives?
In these circumstances workers become desperate and feel they have to work whenever an employer wants them to. They relinquish all control which can be incredible stressful, mentally and physically. Control is key.
Often in the press the gig-economy is discussed positively as something mutually beneficial to employers and workers. But in reality it is a trade-off. The reasons why each side wants flexibility are very different.
If the employee is in control, the employer is not, and they are in a position where they have to match labour supply to customer demand. But, for the worker, it is about survival and trying to make a living – as we have seen horrifically reflected in the case of Jerome Rogers.
People competing for less in-demand skilled roles can unfortunately be taken advantage of. Unlike more skilled roles, where there is a much smaller pool of people who can perform them, there are a lot more people that want and can do the job. That means these workers do not have alternative opportunities, so if a client or platform makes unreasonable demands or wants them to work anti-social hours, they have no other choice but to do it. People need to work to survive, so they have to work whenever they are asked to.
We need to rethink our understanding of workers' rights and employment law. The purpose of the law is to protect people in a vulnerable position, if it is not doing that anymore we need to change the law to make sure that these people are protected.
Most workers who are part of the gig-economy are also not part of a trade union, so they don't have the protections that come from having a collective voice, which makes them much more vulnerable.
If workers have skills that are in demand then it can be positive for them, because they can pick and choose who they work for and when. But, in most areas there is a lack of high quality jobs and there are no good quality alternatives available.
For employers however, the benefits are much more obvious. Employing people by task allows a business to reduce labour costs and avoid paying for services that were once expected such as pensions.
Can people make the gig-economy work for them against the odds?
Collective organisation is really important, for example being a part of a trade union.
It is interesting that just last week, Deliveroo workers in London and across Europe went on strike to protest changes to their pay. Even though protections did not exist for these workers when the gig-economy structure launched, they are working collectively to put them in place. Workers who are in a vulnerable position should be able to come together and protect themselves.
They operate on similar gig-economy style platforms to Uber and Deliveroo, which perform direct tasks, only these people work remotely from anywhere in the world, supporting digital labour, such as transcription and editing. Even these workers are coming together to create collective organisation.
What can be done to regulate the system and make it fairer?
Trade unions should also be able to represent them. Often these platforms claim that workers cannot have a trade union because technically they are a business working for a client, not a direct employee.
There needs to be a recognition that if people are in a dependent situation they are automatically more vulnerable, and should have labour protections. For example, a minimum wage, sick pay and holiday pay. Things that were considered a right in traditional jobs should also be a right in the gig economy.


Background information on the development of the PSA. What background research was done? What was the creative strategy?
GMA News TV's equity is "True Service" for Filipinos across the country. It is with this thrust that GMA News TV decided to create public service oriented activities that would cater to the needs of the Filipino public. There are over 2.2 million recorded OFWs in 2012, therefore, there was a market for families who would want to communicate with their loved ones abroad. GMA News TV decided to honor and show gratitude to Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) and their families currently in the Philippines. Thus the concept for "Call for All" was formed.
Substantial considerations on target audience, media outlets, timing. Who was the target audience? What media outlets were used? When was the PSA launched?
Our target audience for the event was families of OFWs in the National Capital Region (NCR). The percentage of OFWs from NCR comprises 12.5% of the total number of Filipino OFWs, a wide audience to communicate the free public service to.
The first run of "Call for All" brought GMA News TV to two venues. The first one was in Barangay Galas, Quezon City, which research tabbed as one of the communities with the biggest number of families of OFWs. These families were then able to communicate with their loved ones all throughout the day.
The second venue of "Call for All" was the Philippines Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) building in Quezon City. The POEA is a government agency that promotes and monitors overseas employment of the country's labor expatriates .With over 10,000 applicants daily at the POEA applying for jobs abroad, there was a captured audience for GMA News TV's "Call for All" service. Therefore it was a mutual fit for "Call for All" to strengthen POEA's service by enabling applicants to call their families or loved ones abroad while they were in the midst of applying for work overseas.
Sponsor Information. What were incentives for sponsors?
Our sponsors were given exposure on free television within GMA News TV and on-ground in the event venues. Within the event proper, our sponsors provided cellphones for the callers to use, as well as the prepaid cards which would provide them minutes to call domestic or international.
On TV, GMA News TV sponsors were part of the different plugs promoting the event. Invite plugs to the event as well as post-event plugs which recapped all the activities of "Call for All" had logos of the sponsors. Not only that, each sponsor also had a solo plug which gave viewers helpful and practical tips about calling abroad which featured the brand. These plugs brought brands closer to their target audiences, as they were seen as being the gateway to reaching loved ones across the world.
GMA News TV created booths for each of the sponsors which enabled them to give event goers a different experience of their brand through games, and sampling of their products. Their presence on-ground also strengthened their affinity with families of OFWs as it helped those who could not afford to call abroad or locally be given a chance to reach their families across the world.
Aside from the venues of "Call for All", various posters, flyers and tarps featured all the sponsors' logos, were seen within the general vicinity of the area.
Impact. What was the audience reach? What correlations were visible?
Call for All" was able to provide free calls to a total of 534 callers in two days. In those two days, callers communicated with their loved ones in over 51 countries, amongst them countries from Asia, Europe, America and the Middle East.
Based on statistics of calls made abroad, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and USA were three of the top countries with the most number of callers, communicating the strong number of OFWs in the Middle East and USA.
Aside from international calls, there were also a high number of domestic callers, which indicated that numerous people in Metro Manila also had families they were communicating with in different provinces across the country.
Effect. Data on social behavioral changes due to the PSA.
There was a 119% increase in attendance of the 2nd leg of "Call for All" compared to the first leg of the event. This shows us that with on-air promotions of GMA News TV coupled with the location of the events, there was an uptick in interest and participation for "Call for All".
GMA News TV was also able to impact the participants of the event, as GMA News TV and its various shows were seen as partners of OFWs and their families. With booths, fun games and program episodes to both entertain and inform the registrants waiting for their turn to talk to their families, GMA News TV was able to spread awareness of its thrust for "True Service" for Filipinos across the world.


What is the Triflow Original System?
The Triflow is the world's first system that delivers hot and cold water as well as filtered water through a dedicated waterway in the same spout, a system that ensures that there is no cross-contamination.
This patented, point of use water treatment system delivers the freshest, highest quality drinking water straight from the tap and thereby eliminates the need for bottled water.


Ah the '70s! I remember collecting the original Star Wars toys. They were good, they were very good, but Hasbro's new line is so much better. And they are cheap too. £15 gets you a meaty little monster in the form of the terrifying part lizard/part praying mantis that is known as the acklay.
It's jointed appendages allow it to be articulated more than anyone really needs it to be and there are a few other features that show that Hasbro are really putting a lot of thought into the new generation of Star Wars figures and playsets.
The acklay can suffer battle damage, thanks to its removable guts (yuck!). There is a panel in the figures chest which can be removed, and out spills its innards. It also has snapping claws and mouth so that it can grab and devour any enemy that gets in its way.
It really does look the business, and it is certainly one toy that should be on every Star Wars fans "wants" list.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Up Lighting Newcastle is a technique used in lighting design to enhance the atmosphere of any given space. It involves placing lighting fixtures on the ground and focusing them upward. This method of lighting is one of the best ways to dress up your Wedding or Event. It can add color to a neutral surface, such as a wall or column. Another function of Up-Lighting is to highlight any inherent architectural features of the room such as columns and alcoves.
By carefully selecting the placement and focus of our lighting fixtures, we can brighten most rooms and give it an inviting glow, welcoming your guests inside. If you want your event to radiate elegance and sophistication, Up-Lighting is the way to go.
See our gallery below or facebook for more examples of our Up-Lighting from various venues across Newcastle and The Hunter Valley.


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As Dice Roll, So Do Ads
Monday, Sep. 13, 2021 12:00 am 4 min read
Rockabilly singer Jason D. Williams appears in Saracen ads with the theme of "Vegas, Arkansas style." (Saracen / Shutterstock)
Gary Heathcott thought he'd made his escape from Arkansas advertising.
"I was pretty much out of the game when Carlton Saffa called me up from Saracen in September 2020," Heathcott told Arkansas Business.
The 45-year advertising veteran had bought a home in Texas about the time he sold his ad business to CJRW in 2014, years before his lengthy and well-publicized legal battle with the prominent Little Rock firm.
A chance to represent the state's newest gambling palace, Saracen Casino Resort in Pine Bluff, was an offer the voluble Heathcott couldn't refuse.
"Carlton called and he dragged me back in, like Michael Corleone in 'The Godfather Part III,'" Heathcott said by phone last week. Saffa is an old Heathcott associate and chief market officer at Saracen, owned by the Quapaw Nation of Oklahoma.
"Gary is responsible for all our advertising," Saffa said, describing Heathcott as "the best ad buyer" in history. "He has a much better handle on all of it, especially the innovative stuff we're doing with Inuvo."
Inuvo, the Little Rock ad tech company founded by Acxiom's Charles Morgan, is using advanced artificial intelligence software to help Saracen target digital messaging, and the casino is its only gaming client, Heathcott said.
"We're married to them, and we're loving the work they're doing," he added. "We've learned new things every month, and that lets us fine-tune the messaging even more."
Casinos have long been expert at knowing their players, tracking their play with electronic guest cards and enticing them with comps, drinks, fine dining, entertainment and promotions like automobile giveaways. But the current media push, both traditional and online, reflects a gambling marketing revolution in Arkansas, which has had Las Vegas-style games only since 2019. "It's a whole new world," Heathcott said.
3 Casinos, Another Pending
Arkansas voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2018 to allow four casinos, including two at the state's existing racetracks, Oaklawn Park and Southland Park in Hot Springs and West Memphis, respectively. It also authorized two new casinos, one each in Jefferson and Pope counties.
The renamed Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort and Southland Casino Resort began offering table games on April 1, 2019. Saracen opened an outpost opposite its main casino construction site in Pine Bluff in October 2019, and had the grand opening of its 80,000-SF gaming hall last October, complete with 2,300 slot machines, 38 table games and the state's only live-dealer poker area.
Meanwhile, plans for the Pope County casino in Russellville remain in legal limbo. (See Supreme Court to Decide Who Builds Russellville Casino.)
Arkansas gamblers and out-of-state visitors have been flocking this summer to the three operational casinos. Oaklawn's casino revenue of $14.25 million in April was its second-highest monthly total ever, and Saracen set its own revenue record that same month at nearly $16 million. Southland, which perhaps surprisingly has by far the state's biggest casino handle, set a new monthly casino record in March, $30.3 million. Gross casino revenue in Arkansas topped $355 million last year despite COVID challenges, and should easily beat that total this year.
The crowds are seeing more these days at Oaklawn, Arkansas' biggest attraction. Oaklawn Vice President of Marketing Joan Botts provided an update.
"We opened our expanded casino last year, which also includes a new high limit area, and then our fine dining area, The Bugler," she said.
But the game changer is a 198-room luxury hotel, which opened in April with amenities like the Astral Spa, a fitness center and a multipurpose event center with four meeting rooms, an executive boardroom and a main ballroom that can hold 1,400 concertgoers. The expanded gaming center has 1,500 slot machines and 33 gaming tables. The finishing touch is an outdoor pool with cabanas and an event lawn.
"Before the hotel, our focus was really within the state, though we always pulled from outside during the live race meet," Botts said. "Now we are reaching out to cities like Memphis, Shreveport, Dallas, Tulsa and others, using every medium — TV, radio, print, digital, social, signage, influencers — to let the region know what we now offer at Oaklawn."
Saracen, by contrast, slowed its plans to open a grand hotel this year, facing high material costs and high interest rates on the money the tribe would have to borrow for the $100 million project, now expected to be completed next year.
So for now, Saracen is going for players within about an hour's drive, and Little Rock falls within that range. Heathcott is using "all the TV stations, 24 or 25 radio stations, ads on streamed programs, billboards, magazines, and a lot of promotional events."
Saffa himself does remote promotions, and Heathcott has roped in celebrities like country radio fixture Bob Robbins and rockabilly pianist and singer Jason D. Williams, who stars in a series of rollicking TV spots.
Oaklawn's longtime advertising agency of record is CJRW, which Heathcott sued in a $1.3 million breach-of-contract action in 2018 after the agency dismissed him, citing complaints of sexist remarks to colleagues and arrogant behavior with clients. Heathcott accused the agency of trying to shirk paying what he was owed for bringing in business. COVID slowed the case, but the parties settled the suit in July, agreeing never to discuss it.
Southland's Efforts
In West Memphis and beyond, Southland's marketing has focused on pandemic safety and best pandemic practices at the casino.
Other marketing efforts are similar to pre-pandemic promotions, including car giveaways every three weeks, according to Jeff Strang, senior director of marketing for Southland Casino Racing. "Although our current promotions are similar to pre-pandemic promotions, operationally we continue to be mindful of our Play It Safe programming," Strang said via email.
In Pine Bluff, Saracen's down-home campaign isn't all Ford truck giveaways and Jerry Lee Lewis tributes. The complex has what Saffa calls the best restaurant in the state, the Red Oak Steakhouse, and a foodie star in Todd Gold, the culinary director Saffa hired away from the University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College's Culinary Arts & Hospitality Management Institute. The steakhouse, Heathcott said, recently became the 38th U.S. restaurant authorized to prepare authentic Japanese Kobe beef.
Oaklawn, with its acclaimed Bugler, bows to nobody in the realm of fine food, and it presents itself as an exclusive escape. "Escape," in fact, is emblazoned on new magazine ads hailing Oaklawn as "the ultimate getaway."
"Oaklawn is here to provide an escape, and we do that by being Arkansas' only true casino resort — with a hotel and a spa and event center, the expanded casino, all our dining, and, of course, the live racing," said Botts. "It all starts there, with racing, because we're one of the top tracks in the country, and we feel that we're the perfect getaway for anyone."
Todd Gold, Gary Heathcott, Carlton Saffa, Charles Morgan, CJRW, Jason D. Williams, Bob Robbins, Inuvo, Joan Botts, Saracen Casino Resort, Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, Southland Casino and Racing, Red Oak Steakhouse, Quapaw Nation, COVID-19, The Bugler, Southland Casino Resort, Jeff Strang


A media event was held at Metro on Friday afternoon to celebrate two recent grants from the Federal Transit Administration: $25 million for the purchase of about 60 new compressed natural gas-powered buses and $9.6 million for a new Silver Line station at Patsaouras Plaza at Union Station.
The grant for the bus platform was the largest FTA Livability Grant Initiative in the nation. And the bus grant was fourth largest State of Good Repair grant. Both awards come on the heels of last year's $47.7 million State of Good Repair Grant from the FTA to help pay for the new Bus Division 13 building adjacent to Metro headquarters.
All good signs that Metro is staying competitive when competing for federal dollars.
FTA Deputy Administrator Therese McMillan and Los Angeles Mayor and Metro Board Chair Antonio Villaraigosa came together at the event and also called upon Congress to pass the American Jobs Act, which includes billions of dollars for infrastructure improvements across the U.S.
McMillan said that the Act would provide about $400 million to California transit agencies for bus repair and about $1 billion statewide for transportation projects. "There are too many people out there hurting for us to do nothing," she added.
The new bus division, the Silver Line station — as part of Metro's ExpressLanes project — and the new CNG buses are expected to create more than 5,000 jobs directly and indirectly, according to Metro's estimates.
The news release from the FTA is after the jump.
LOS ANGELES – People living and visiting the Los Angeles area will soon have improved transit options and reduced congestion thanks to $34.7 million from the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) 2011 Bus Livability and State of Good Repair competitive discretionary programs. FTA Deputy Administrator Therese McMillan was at Metro headquarters in Los Angeles today to make the announcement and to encourage Congress to support the transportation investments proposed under President Obama's American Jobs Act. She was joined by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Metro CEO Art Leahy and other officials.
The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the transportation proposals made under the President's American Jobs Act next week.
The transit grants announced today will help Metro purchase new energy-efficient compressed natural gas buses and construct a new Patsaouras Plaza Bus Station adjacent to Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, which will serve El Monte Busway passengers and other transit riders. The improved station will connect directly to Union Station, Los Angeles' main passenger rail station, and provide more convenient connections between other bus lines, light rail, Amtrak and Metrolink commuter rail.
The project is part of the Metro ExpressLanes Demonstration Program, a larger strategic effort to reduce traffic congestion along the I-10 and I-110 freeways in Los Angeles County. The demonstration program, a partnership between the U.S. Department of Transportation, Metro and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), is currently under construction and expected to generate 2,400 jobs, thanks in part to a $210 million federal grant awarded by the Department of Transportation four years ago.
The grants announced today are included among more than 300 competitive discretionary grants totaling nearly $930 million announced nationwide earlier this month by Secretary LaHood and FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff to rebuild and renovate America's transit infrastructure and plan for the future. FTA is providing more than $126 million for 41 projects in California. A complete list of successful project proposals can be found at http://fta.dot.gov/grants/13094.html.
FTA reviewed 839 project applications representing $4.9 billion in funding requests from transit providers across the country for the fiscal year 2011 competitive discretionary grant programs. Passing the American Jobs Act would help many more qualified projects to be funded, and create tens of thousands more jobs.
I saw that the Silver line will get signal precedence through downtown. Could using the new station, plus the western tail of the El Monte busway, plus the signal precedence be used to get LAX Flyaway buses into and out of downtown more rapidly?
The Flyaway works great except at the ends… going around LAX and stopping every block it becomes a tortoise. Also, from the end of the Harbor Busway into Union station, it drives at the mercy of rush hour.
Add in Silver line improvements at the downtown end, and the Green Line people mover to get people from curbside to a central station at the LAX end, and you'd have a fast ride….
How about BUILDING BUS SHELTERS FOR THE SILVER LINE IN DOWNTOWN???????? Half of the stations DO NOT HAVE BENCHES AND PASSENGERS NEED TO WAIT 60 MINUTES FOR A SILVER LINE BUS!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE FIX!
i is about time that mta gets help to make need inproment to it fleet and to union station and to the silver line.
every single bus stop in L.A.
should have at least one bench, In Sylmar on Roxford Street I got so sick of it, I spent my own bucks at Kmart and bought a 3 seater wood bench ( only $6.00 ) and chained it to the pole. Like 4 years ago, and its still there, and used by all.
How much as a taxpayer would you be willing to pay for bus shelters at every bus stop? Sales tax to 20%? Bus fares to $5.00 per ride? Anything is possible; it's just the matter of how much you'll be willing to pay. You need to start realizing that nothing is free in this world; everything costs money.
Unfortunately, the reality is that LACMTA has no money for this nor have the budget needed to maintain said bus shelters. You can build a bus shelter, but that's not the end of the cost. You need people to maintain the upkeep of said shelters from trash, cigarette butts, vandalism, sticky gum, soda splashes, changing light bulbs, safety from transients, etc. All of that costs money.
Imagine what the cost will be every year to do that throughout every single LACMTA bus stop? Who's going to pay for that?
You need to look past Metro on this one. Bus Benches are controlled by the city.


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Postponement Piss Boiling
Joe January 19, 2022 January 19, 2022
I've decided after letting the dust settle to finally pen my thoughts on the football-less weekend we all watched unfold as Arsenal fans. As Arsenal fans we all know that we get treated differently to other fans. Liverpool and Tottenham enjoy media darling status from the british press and that has only been further highlighted this weekend. The postponement of the NLD caused so much piss boiling amongst other fans and so called "experts" it was embarrassing.
For example, a colleague who supports Liverpool laid into me for "my clubs actions" whilst avoiding my question about Liverpool's one BILLION to one, three "false positives". I asked whether he thought they were lying, he didn't answer. Tottenham fans up in arms about it despite doing exactly the same thing weeks ago. Special shout out too to Jamie O' Hara, whose Twitter meltdown was absolutely spectacular. The Tottenham statement showed you every you need to know about that establishment and how they operate. Classless, clueless and oh so bitter. But when you have to watch your rivals pick up trophy after trophy what do you expect?
But nobody could answer the most obvious and simple question: what did Arsenal do wrong? The answer of course is nothing. We did as (incredibly) Graeme Souness said, what every other team would do. Whatever you think of the rules, they are just that, the rules. The Premier League set them and now they have to die by them. The only party to blame here are the Premier League. And they have some big questions to answer from all sides about those rules.
Personally, every game should have been played, there are simply not enough justifiable reasons for me for a postponement. Teams have very well established and run U23s and U18s. Any Premier League club can fill team sheets with youngsters, strong team or not, it is a team. But the league set their stall out early and badly on this and they must fall on their sword or face dire consequences.
That's your lot for today, I'll be back on Friday after our semi-final second leg against Liverpool. As always, I'll see you there.
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"Suppose you sold a car and it was later used in a hit-and-run fatality. Would you be culpable? Suppose the person who used it didn�t have a driver�s license. Would that make you responsible? What if the person who bought your car actually committed the hit and run with another car, but had your old car parked in their backyard � and on top of that, they actually bought the car, not from you, but from a police officer you had sold it to several months earlier? Is there any way anyone could blame you for contributing to the hit and run?"
"There are more than 129,817 federally licensed firearms dealers in the United States, according to the latest [ATF] numbers (as of Aug. 1). Of those, 51,438 are retail gun stores, 7,356 are pawn shops and 61,562 are collectors, with the balance of the licenses belonging mostly to manufacturers and importers of firearms and destructive devices."
H/t to Mike Vanderboegh whose reaction is: What a country! We have more retail gun stores than we do grocery stores! Is that great, or what?!?
"To terminate the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, you would have to work slowly, by eroding the traditions and values that founded this great country."
"You would need to use news media to ignore positive uses of firearms, and only highlight tragedies of crime, exaggerate 'gun' violence, and misrepresent facts."
"You would need to dub scary looking firearms as 'assault weapons' simply for cosmetic differences and push for bans without any factual data for crime use."
How idiots negatively affect our cause; Embody (Kwikrnu) loses� again.
"We�ve seen a couple of open carry stories in the blagosphere in recent days, both of which embody embarrassing behavior on the part of supposed 'pro-gun' activists which are really little more than knuckleheads of the highest order."
"First up was the douche nozzle (DN) who paraded around a neighborhood in Oregon with what appeared to be a MP-5 suppressed slung across his back."
"A while ago, I wrote an article on basic rifles for the aspiring rifleman: (1) An air rifle or a .22 LR rifle. (2) A big-game rifle, not to actually shoot much, but for the lessons it teaches."
"Over the past few weeks I have been shopping around for a concealment garment for IDPA. I realize that this isn�t necessary and that most people have a variety of items in their wardrobe that would work just fine. I have a number of button down shirts that could easily serve as a concealment garment and plenty of long shirts that would do the trick as well."
"Last month's shootings in a Colorado movie theater sparked calls for tougher gun laws from former Gov. Jennifer Granholm and some MLive letter writers."
"Of course, not everyone agrees that certain guns should be illegal. After all, the U.S. Constitution ensures 'that every American citizen has a right to keep and bear arms,' Belding letter writer Darwyn Hassert noted."
H/t to Girl's Guide to Guns.
"According to KOMONews.com, around 9:15am Thursday, police received a call from a 76 year old employee at a real estate office in Everett, WA saying he was holding a burglar at gunpoint."
"While waiting for the police, a verbal altercation and then a scuffle ensued, which resulted in the suspect being shot once in the leg. The suspect then managed to escape."
"According to WISHTV.com, Wallace Turner, a homeowner Indianapolis, IN awoke to the sound of his back door being kicked down in the middle of the night."
"Turner grabbed a gun and went downstairs to investigate. Turner confronted the would be home invader in the living room, and that�s when Turner made a decision."
"He said, 'He wasn�t getting past me. My wife and daughter were behind me.'"
"'An employee at a New Jersey supermarket [Pathmark in Old Bridge] shot two coworkers and then killed himself inside the store early Friday morning,' wsj.com reports. 'The shooter, described by relatives as a former Marine who loved video games, left work around 3:30 a.m. and returned a half-hour later carrying an AK-47, multiple ammunition magazines and a handgun. [He] fired at least 16 shots before killing himself.' So, another workplace shooting . . ."
"The Republican National Convention took place in Florida, where the state�s so-called "Stand Your Ground" law has come under sharp criticism following the shooting of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin by self-appointed neighborhood watchman, George Zimmerman, earlier this year. The shooting incident has emboldened some supporters of Stand Your Ground. ..."
Clint Eastwood at RNC: Rambling geriatric or remarkable genius?
"'A man's got to know his limitations.'"
"The Republican 2012 party platform, adopted on Aug. 28 by GOP Convention delegates in Tampa, endorses national concealed carry reciprocity, gun owner privacy and �stand your ground� rights while opposing reinstatement of the assault weapons ban and restrictions on magazine capacities."
"While speeches by the Republican Party's stalwarts -- such as Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan, and movie superstar Clint Eastwood -- garnered most of the attention of the news media and political commentators, New Mexico's Gov. Susanna Martinez notified members of both political parties that she's another up-and-coming conservative force."
"On the last night of the Republican National Convention, we stopped by a security checkpoint where two videographers had been detained earlier in the week, asking Homeland Security police on what basis did they detain them."
"Rick Ector takes a back seat to no one in his advocacy for Second Amendment rights. His latest caper: staking out a Detroit gun buyback with some like-minded buddies across the street from St. Cecilia Catholic Church and offering to pay those who showed up more than the measly $25 to $100 being offered inside. They didn�t get many takers, though. That may have been due to the thin blue line of intimidation thrown up in the middle of the street by the cops . . ."
... "The Honorable Judge Sgueglia (don�t ask me to pronounce it� no, wait. The phonetic pronunciation � from the article � is 'SQUEEL-ee-uh'. Really.) Anyway, the judge was censured this week by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct. And they only took two years to come to this momentous conclusion. His offense(s): clearing his chamber in his chambers and some, um, paperwork irregularities."
"A South Los Angeles woman who had dropped her two children off at a police station later died after an encounter with officers in which one of them kicked her in the groin."
... "It�s arguably one of the most secure neighborhoods in America thanks to all of the police presence."
"When was the last time you heard about people getting shot near George W. Bush�s ranch in Texas where Texas residents enjoy one of the better right-to-carry laws in the nation and gun ownership is well above average?"


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American Truck Historical Society > About Us
Signing of the ATHS Charter, Dearborn Heights, MI. 1971. Zoe James Memorial Library.
Incorporated in 1971, the American Truck Historical Society was formed to preserve the history of trucks, the trucking industry, and its pioneers. Originally headquartered in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, ATHS was relocated to Birmingham, Alabama in 1977, and Mrs. Zoe James was hired to oversee the library, archives, and membership. Today, the Zoe James Memorial Library boasts a collection of more than 100,000 photographs, 35,000 pieces of sales literature, 45,000 books and periodicals, along with a vast collection of scale models and trucking memorabilia.
An annual convention has been held each year since 1972, with a public antique truck show added in 1980. This show has grown from humble beginnings to more than 1,000 trucks and trailers, of every make, shape, and size. People come from around the world to take part in the ATHS National Convention & Truck Show, the official kick-off event of the summer season.
ATHS is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, meaning every decision made is done so with the ATHS mission in mind.
Lead by a dedicated group of volunteers, representing various aspects of the industry, the ATHS Board of Directors sets policy and long-term goals for the Society.
Transparency plays a vital role in our core values. We provide our financial documentation to assure you we are good stewards of the funds entrusted to us by our members.
When it comes down to it, this Society is all about people. You may come for the trucks … but you'll stay for the people.
Children and grandchildren of ATHS members are encouraged to apply for an annual scholarship, to help offset the costs of higher education.
ATHS Staff
With a small staff, ATHS strives to do BIG things. Meet the men and women working hard to preserve history and offer value to our members.
If you have a question, concern, or suggestion, we want to hear from you.
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© 2020 ATHS. All rights reserved. We trucks.


Landscaping is a superb pastime enjoyed by a lot of. Of course, aesthetics are never ever the core motive behind any kind of industrial interior or exterior landscape design. Even corporate flowers, either in a bouquet or in a vase in a boardroom, says anything about the firm. This is often taken into account, but nevertheless the opportunity to generate a hugely impressive green region in the form of a garden is there. Right here are just four causes why.
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How about making the best attributes to stand out? You may perhaps feel about what is the ideal of the architectural feature present in your residence, and then make it stand out. You can repeat its shape or color, clear the space around it or surround it with plants or flowers that do not distract from your home's all-natural art or beauty.
Modern 3D design software and powerful computer systems let designers to create vibrant 3D worlds. Clientele can now stroll through the new creating, seeing a design from every single angle and even seeing how the design and style flows as a costumer moves by means of the building. It offers clients a viewpoint as opposed to anything they had just before, second only to truly walking via the completed project.
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