Ideally suited for Toilet Extract Systems, where an automatic change-over is available should a fan failure occur, to ensure continued operation.
The units can be roof mounted, or in the normal ceiling or service void for the duct mounted range.
A full range of electrical control panels are available to complete the product range.
The units are manufactured from galvanised steel for the internally mounted units and aluminium or steel for the roof mounted range.
The roof mounted range discharge into an integral plenum, to minimise noise and airflow disturbance.
Insulation: Class O Insulation can be fitted.


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text:
Home Comics Gail Simone Signs on for Dynamite's Death-Defying 'Devil
Gail Simone Signs on for Dynamite's Death-Defying 'Devil
Dynamite has announced an exciting new series beginning this August with fan-favorite writer Gail Simone (Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman, Domino) and artist Walter Geovani (Red Sonja, Clean Room)—The Death-Defying 'Devil!
The nearly 80-year-old legendary superhero makes his epic comeback in a new mini-series this summer with colorist Adriano Augusto (Red Sonja/Tarzan, KISS: Blood & Stardust) and letterer Simon Bowland (Red Sonja, The Boys) rounding out the team.
The series is inspired by Rod Serling, Bronze Age horror/mystery anthologies, and modern street-level heroics and has the 'Devil beaten and bloodied in a yard behind a rundown apartment building. The tenants take him in and we soon learn that each has their own troubles while a strange force threatens the entire building. Now the 'Devil begins a mission to help solve the problems, even if there is a traitor among them.
Covers for the new series include art by Riccardo Federici (Aquaman, Dark Nights Metal: Dark Knights Rising), Tyler Kirkham (Deathstroke, Green Lantern, Teen Titans), Ben Oliver (American Carnage), Lucio Parillo (Vampirella, Red Sonja), and In-Hyuk Lee (Black Order, Spider-Geddon). There is also a Project Superpowers throwback with a special incentive "Carve Out" cover featuring Alex Ross' rendering.
"I have been fascinated by the Death-Defying 'Devil since I first saw him on the cover of Jim Steranko's History of Comics. I had no idea who he was, but something about him looked menacing and compelling," said Simone. "Later, I got to read more of the stories and they feel like a precursor to the modern street-level heroes we have today. The guy throws razor boomerangs, how cool is that? And I love working with Walter, he's one of my most trusted artists. He can draw anything, but superheroes are his favorite and he's never gotten to draw them!"
Geovani added, "This is my very first superhero comic! Working with Gail is always a pleasure and an honor to me. The story is fantastic and she created interesting characters that I'm loving drawing."
"The Death-Defying 'Devil is the only person who has ever made that metal-spiked belt really work. Usually it's just someone at a punk show in a suburban basement, scratching the hell out of their bass," said editor Kevin Ketner. "So I am really looking forward to getting a lot deeper into this character and defying a little death with Gail and Walter."
The Death-Defying 'Devil #1 will be available for preorder in comic shops this June. Release date is set for August. The issue can also be found digitally on ComiXology, Kindle, iBooks, Google Play, Dynamite Digital, ComicsPlus, and more.
Ben Oliver
in-hyuk lee
lucio parillo
ricardo federici
The Death-Defying 'Devil
tyler kirkham
Walter Geovani
Previous articleLego Stranger Things Heads Into the Upside Down
Next articleNew trailer and series description released for The CW's BATWOMAN
Nick 05/16/2019 3:13 pm At 3:13 pm
George 05/17/2019 2:17 pm At 2:17 pm
I guess they can't call him Daredevil (the character's name in the Golden Age) for obvious reasons — i.e., Marvel's lawyers. I wonder if the Little Wise Guys will show up? (ha)
$3.99? I'll stick with the Lev Gleason Daredevil comics of the '40s and '50s, which I can read for free at Comic Book Plus.
King & Walta's VISION is the comic you need to read...
HBO Max serves up new episodes of LOONEY TUNES CARTOONS
The McDuffie Award Finalists for 2020 announced

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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The Best Blues-Rock Albums Of The 1960s
by Reverend Keith A. Gordon
Reverend Keith A. Gordon is known as the "Reverend of Rock 'n' Roll. He has 40+ years experience as a blues journalist, rock critic, and is the author of over 10 books about music.
Little did the bluesmen of the 1940s and '50s realize that the records they were making would be heard as far as halfway across the world, inspiring a generation of teenage musicians in England, and across Europe as well as the U.S. Beginning in the early 1960s, music from artists like Muddy Waters, Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Boy Williamson, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, and others could be found in the record collections of the young soul rebels who would invent the sub-genre of rock 'n' roll that would become known as blues-rock. These are the albums that have helped define the blues-rock sound during the 1960s.
Big Brother and the Holding Company: 'Cheap Thrills' (1968)
Legacy Recordings
The sophomore album from this San Francisco band featuring the blustery vocals of Janis Joplin, a Texas-born tornado with blues in her blood who delivered a performance as emotionally powerful as anything you'd hear during the decade. Led by the hit single "Piece of My Heart" and including a powerful cover of Big Mama Thornton's "Ball and Chain, Cheap Thrills would introduce the world to the charms of Janis. Big Brother was a mediocre band at best and would struggle when Joplin left shortly after the release of Cheap Thrills to pursue a solo career.
Canned Heat: 'Boogie With Canned Heat' (1968)
Inspired by the boogie beat of John Lee Hooker's recordings of the 1940s and '50s, Canned Heat's sophomore album defined the band's trademark boogie-rock sound with a set of mostly original material. Yielding a Top Ten hit in "On The Road Again," Boogie With Canned Heat also featured the Albert King-styled rocker "Amphetamine Annie" and the country blues tune "Whiskey Headed Woman," based on a song by Delta bluesman Tommy McClennan. Canned Heat would have other hits, and continued to slog their way through the festival circuit well into the 2000s.
Cream: 'Disraeli Gears' (1967)
Working with producer Felix Pappalardi, later of Mountain, Cream's second album not only defined the power trio aesthetic, but it also took blues into an entirely different realm altogether. Featuring Eric Clapton's blistering fretwork and the explosive, heavy rhythms of bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker, songs like "Strange Brew," "Sunshine Of Your Love," and "Tales of Brave Ulysses" mixed blues and psychedelic rock to devastating effect. Disraeli Gears would help launch the late-1960s blues-rock explosion, resulting in bands like Rory Gallagher's Taste, Gary Moore's Skid Row, and Leslie West's Mountain, among many others.
Fleetwood Mac: 'Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac' (1968)
Blue Horizon Records
When Bluesbreakers alumni Peter Green left John Mayall's employ, he joined bandmates, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood, along with guitarist Jeremy Spencer, to form Fleetwood Mac (also known, early on, as Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac). The British band's self-titled debut album would become an unlikely hit in the U.K., it's inspired mix of blues covers of songs from Elmore James "Shake Your Moneymaker"), Robert Johnson "Hellhound On My Trail"), and Howlin' Wolf ("No Place To Go") balanced by Green's maturing songwriting and considerable six-string skills.
Jeff Beck Band: 'Truth' (1968)
Less than a year after his departure from British blues-rock legends the Yardbirds, guitarist Jeff Beck formed the Jeff Beck Band with vocalist Rod Stewart and bassist Ron Wood, later joined by drummer Mick Waller. The four young men recorded this explosive debut album, Truth mixing the amplified blues of artists like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf with hard-rocking guitar and heavy, bombastic rhythms. Performances like the old Yardbirds gem "Shapes of Things," and Willie Dixon's "You Shook Me" and "I Ain't Superstitious" would drive Truth to best-seller status in the U.S. and set the template for much of the blues-rock (and heavy metal) to follow.
Jimi Hendrix Experience: 'Are Your Experienced?' (1967)
The stunning debut by the Jimi Hendrix Experience blew so many minds because nobody had ever heard anything quite like it. The album's soulful vocals; dazzling guitar pyrotechnics; solid, heavy rhythms; and brilliant original songs like "Foxy Lady," "Purple Haze," "Hey Joe," and "Fire" blended blues, jazz, soul, and psychedelic rock unlike anybody before or since. Although British and American releases included different songs – a situation since corrected by CD reissues of Are You Experienced? – one thing was certain on both sides of the pond...Jimi Hendrix was an artist of exceptional vision and ability.
John Mayall's Bluesbreakers: 'Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton' (1966)
One of, if not the most influential blues-rock album in the genre, Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton made a star of guitarist Clapton and cemented John Mayall's reputation as one of the forefathers of the British blues scene. With a smattering of Mayall's original songs and rockin' covers of music from Willie Dixon ("All Your Love"), Freddie King ("Hideaway"), and Moses Allison ("Parchman Farm"), Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton brought the blues to a Beatles-crazed England and opened the floodgates to a tidal wave of blues-rock bands.
Johnny Winter: 'Johnny Winter' (1969)
By 1969, blues-rock music was already giving up ground to the popularity of psychedelic and hard rock in England, setting the stage for the proto-metal of bands like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. In the states, however, interest in the blues was rekindled by the fiery fretwork found on Texas guitarist Johnny Winter's self-titled debut album. Leading a classic power-trio line-up, Winter offered up blustery houserockin' blue covers like Sonny Boy Williamson's "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" alongside smooth blues like B.B. King's "Be Careful With A Fool." Original material like "Leland Mississippi Blues" and "I'm Yours And I'm Hers" offered a perfect showcase for Winter's roaring guitar.
Led Zeppelin: 'Led Zeppelin' (1969)
Originally known as the "New Yardbirds," Led Zeppelin took the blueprint written by Cream and pushed it further towards the hard rock end of the spectrum. First, however, Jimmy Page's blues roots would be displayed on the band's self-titled debut, which reinterpreted the blues in a heavy metal vein with songs like "Dazed and Confused" and "Good Times Bad Times," as well as a pair of Willie Dixon songs, "You Shook Me" and "I Can't Quit You Baby." Zeppelin's plundering of the blues tradition, fueled by Page's ripping fretwork, Robert Plant's bluesy wail, and the dynamic rhythm section of bassist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham, would make them the biggest band in the world during the early 1970s.
Paul Butterfield Blues Band: 'Paul Butterfield Blues Band' (1965)
The self-titled debut effort from Paul Butterfield Blues Band would turn the blues world in America on its head, much as Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton would a year later in England. A multi-racial band comprised of Chicago blues veterans, Paul Butterfield's gruff-n-tumble vocals and raging harp would be complimented by guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop, and supported by a stellar rhythm section in bassist Jerome Arnold and drummer Sam Lay, both from Howlin' Wolf's band. The album's mix of original material, including friend-of-the-band Nick Gravenites' "Born In Chicago" and the collaborative "Thank You Mr. Poobah" sit comfortably alongside covers of songs from Willie Dixon, Little Walter, Elmore James, and Muddy Waters.
12 Best Blues Albums for Music Fans New to the Genre
Chicago Blues: The Best Songs of the Genre
Peter Green, Blues Guitarist
10 Blues Albums Heavy Metal Fans Might Like
When the Blues Blossomed, Despite Disco: the 1970s
You're Not a True Rory Gallagher Fan Without Hearing These Recordings
6 Bands That Brought the Blues to Rock
Johnny Winter's True To The Blues Box Set Review
Where Are They Now? The Original Woodstock Performers
9 Great Tabs for Learning the Blues
Masters of their Domain: Great Modern Blues Artists
Top 10 Rock Tribute Albums
Six of the Best, Overlooked Blues-Rock Guitarists
The Famous Mississippi Delta Blues
How 4 Huge Rock Bands Picked Their Band Names
How the Animals Led the British Music Invasion


ET is a great game for the Atari 2600 VCS.
If you go to the Nevada desert you may get one of these for free. Folk law has it that Atari buried millions of copies there during the early 80's video game crash.


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Saints Defeat Raiders 38-17
Jerry Knaak
Team Historian
Marcel Reece had a career game against the Saints. Photo by Tony Gonzales.
The New Orleans Saints defeated the Oakland Raiders 38-17 in 2012 NFL Regular Season Week 11 action, presented by USAA.
The Raiders got the ball to start the game but were unable to score on their opening drive. The Saints marched 80 yards as QB Drew Brees connected with TE Jimmy Graham on a 1-yard TD pass. The extra point was good and the Saints took a 7-0 lead with 7:53 left in the first quarter. The Raiders went three-and-out on their second possession. The Saints started at their 26 after a P Shane Lechler punt and a fair catch.
The Raiders held the Saints to a three-and-out. The Saints were called for kick catch interference on the punt return. The Raiders started at the 48. A couple of plays later, S Malcolm Jenkins picked off a QB Carson Palmer pass and raced 55 yards for a touchdown. The extra point gave the Saints a 14-0 lead with 4:06 left in the 1st quarter.
The Saints killed the Raiders next drive with an interception in the end zone by S Roman Harper. After an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Saints, New Orleans started at the 10.
The Raiders forced a punt. The Silver and Black took over at the 19 after a 40-yard punt and a penalty on the Raiders. The Raiders cut the Saints lead to 14-7 when Palmer hit TE Brandon Myers for a 1-yard TD and K Sebastian Janikowski added the extra point.
The Saints started at the 10 after a penalty wiped out the return on the ensuing kickoff. New Orleans increased their lead to 21-7 when Bress connected with WR Lance Moore for a 38-yard TD pass.
The Raiders were unable to score inside of 2:00 left in the first half of a game for the first time this season and the Saints took a 21-7 lead into the locker room at halftime.
RB Travaris Cadet returned the opening kickoff 75 yards and RB Mark Ingram ran it in from 27 yards for a touchdown, which gave the Saints a 28-7 lead. Ingram was called for taunting which was enforced on the kickoff.
Rookie RB Jeremy Stewart returned the ensuing kickoff to the Raiders 34. K Sebastian Janikowski's 40-yard FG cut the Saints lead to 28-10 with 10:22 left in the 3rd quarter.
The Raiders held the Saints to a 3-and-out and CB Phillip Adams called for and made a fair catch at the Raiders 26 after a 50-yard punt. The Saints returned the favor with a 3-and-out of their own and Lechler came on to punt. Lechler's punt went out of bounds at the Saints 42.
The Saints took advantage as Brees connected with Moore for a 15-yard TD pass. The extra point was good and the saints led 35-10 with 3:26 left in the 3rd quarter.
The Raiders drove to the New Orleans 40 before the Saints stuffed Reece on 4th and 1 and took over on downs. The Saints settled for a 47-yard K Garrett Hartley field goal, which gave them a 38-10 lead with 10:28 left in the 4th quarter.
CB Coye Francies returned the ensuing kickoff to the 20. The Raiders drove to the Saints 44 before Palmer overthrew WR Denarius Moore on 4th and 5. The Saints took over on downs. The Raiders forced a Morstead punt which was downed at the 7. Palmer capped the 93-yard drive with a 3-yard TD pass to rookie WR Juron Criner (his 1st career TD catch). The extra point was good and the Saints led 38-17 with 4:00 to go.
Graham recovered Janikowski's onside kick attempt at the 50. Chase Daniel entered the game at quarterback. The Saints ran out the clock and secured the victory.
The Raiders fall to 3-7 on the season and travel to Cincinnati next week to take on the Bengals.
Raiders announce preseason opponents
The Raiders' 2019 preseason schedule features a nationally-televised ESPN contest against the Arizona Cardinals and games against the Los Angeles Rams, Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks.
Kaufman Propels 1997 Raiders Past Broncos
Twenty-one years ago, running back Napoleon Kaufman etched his name in the Raiders record books with a performance for the ages.
Cover 2: A closer look at the Raiders' unofficial depth chart
Eddie Paskal and Kyle Martin of Raiders.com share their takeaways from the team's unofficial depth chart.
From Plunkett To Woodson, A Look At All The Raiders Who Won The Heisman Trophy
After the passing of former Oakland Raiders running back/tight end, and Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon, here's a look at every Raider who's taken home the prestigious award.
Raiders Release Statement On The Passing Of Billy Cannon
The Oakland Raiders released a statement on the passing of running back/tight end Billy Cannon.
Raiders Sign First-Round Pick Tackle Kolton Miller
The Oakland Raiders have signed first-round draft pick tackle Kolton Miller, the club announced Friday.
Defensive End Khalil Mack Has High School Jersey Retired
Oakland Raiders defensive end Khalil Mack was honored at his alma mater Thursday.
Eddy Piñeiro Talks Range, Unique Journey To The NFL
Eddy Piñeiro's road to the NFL has been an interesting one to say the least. He talked with Raiders.com about just that.
Raiders Sign Guard Cameron Hunt
The Oakland Raiders have signed free agent G Cameron Hunt, the club announced Thursday.
Four Raiders Selected To Rick Gosselin's All-Time Special Teams Unit
The Silver and Black have a rich history of playmakers, and that includes the guys on special teams.
After Decorated College Career, Brandon Parker Still Just Scratching The Surface
As dominant as he was at North Carolina A&T, Brandon Parker's college head coach thinks his best days are still ahead of him.
Raiders Sign Fifth-Round Pick DT Maurice Hurst
The Oakland Raiders have signed fifth-round draft pick DT Maurice Hurst, the club announced Wednesday.


text:
Fetish Photography and Skateboarding
Linnea Stephan
Portraits by Sye Williams
Mike Carroll has been selecting progressive visions to represent Girl Skateboards since 1993.
I'm not old or wise enough to tell you much about early 90s subcultures, but Girl's latest collaborator Ian Reid will show you all you need to know. A veteran voyeur of 90s Brooklyn subculture, Reid is a skateboarder and cameraman extraordinaire.
Reid recently connected with the team at Girl, and Carroll specifically, to produce a series of tees, decks, and accessories inspired by Reid's fetish photography. In an interview with Girl, Ian spoke on the photo subjects saying, "I was always involved in subcultures. Remember when skateboarding was a subculture? (Laughs) When I wrote graffiti it was a subculture. When I dressed a certain way it was a subculture…all I did was document it and those involved in it…think about the first time you saw a kid fly down some stairs or grind a big rail on a skateboard that is far more shocking to most people I think than some of the things I photograph."
"Girl/Chocolate videos have been strictly focused on the progression of skateboarding mixed with great cinematography and creative skits. Always brilliant and ahead of the curve. My videos were more about life off of the board; the times with my friends, who just so happen to be some people's favorite skateboarders. I always prefer a candid approach to things… I wanted it to just be very natural looking and normal, like a regular day. Always fun or maybe sad and stressful, but that's life. Especially with skateboarding. Ups and downs, fuck yes's and hell no's…"
Ian Reid x Mike Carroll for The Girl Skateboard Company launches alongside the photo and video exhibition. If you haven't seen Sex, Hood, Skate & Videotape, Reid's 2005 video, then you should really do your homework and get to the gallery.
"A Days Work" runs from October 27th – December 4, 2016 at These Days LA. The collection is available in skate shops worldwide on October 31st. Keep Halloween weird.


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Peter Singer and the Gospel of Death
by Bill MuehlenbergPosted on Oct 14, 1996 Jul 18, 2014
Peter Singer is considered by many to be Australia's leading ethicist. He is well known as an animal rights crusader. However, he holds some very cavalier views about humans. He is pro-abortion, pro-infanticide and pro-euthanasia.
Unfortunately Prof. Singer influences many through his twenty books, his lecturing and widespread media exposure. He is a Professor of Philosophy and Deputy Director of the Centre for Human Bioethics at Monash University. Now he plans to run for the Federal Senate as a Green candidate. Given his poor view of human life, it is worth letting people know just what he has said on some of these issues. The following quotes show that Singer's moral philosophy leaves a lot to be desired.
Singer first gained fame as an advocate of animal rights. His 1975 Animal Liberation became a Bible for the movement. In this book he argued that attempting to morally distinguish animals from humans ("speciesism") is as wrong as racism or sexism. In 1979 he wrote: "If the fetus does not have the same claim to life as a person, it appears that the newborn baby does not either, and the life of a newborn baby is of less value than the life of a pig, a dog, or a chimpanzee … In thinking about this matter we should put aside feelings based on the small, helpless and – sometimes – cute appearance of human infants … If we can put aside these emotionally moving but strictly irrelevant aspects of the killing of a baby we can see that the grounds for not killing persons do not apply to newborn infants." (Practical Ethics, pp. 122-124.)
He hasn't mellowed over the years. In 1983 Singer wrote an article in Pediatrics in which he said the following: "Species membership in Homo-sapiens is not morally relevant. If we compare a dog or a pig to a severely defective infant, we often find the non-human to have superior capacities."
In "A Declaration on Great Apes" Singer and others said: "We demand the extension of the community of equals to include all great apes: human beings, chimpanzees, gorillas and orang-utans." They demanded that the great apes have these rights: "The right to life, the protection of liberty, and the prohibition of torture." (Peter Singer and Paola Cavalieri, eds., The Great Ape Project: Equality Beyond Humanity, p. 4.) Would that babies and other expendables have such rights.
Indeed, animals always seem to take priority for Singer. In his 1993 How Are We To Live?, he mentions a couple who went to India and were appalled by the suffering and "desperate condition" of animals there. Singer praised this couple for their "courageous decision" to move to India to try to ease the suffering of the animals (p. 221). No mention is made of trying to alleviate the human misery that abounds in India.
This preference for animal life over human continues throughout his writings. In 1994 he wrote these words: "the argument for not eating fish is much stronger than the arguments against abortion". (Rethinking Life and Death, p. 209)
He continues to argue that unborn babies are not persons: "Human babies are not born self-aware, or capable of grasping that they exist over time. They are not persons. Hence their lives would seem to be no more worthy of protection than the life of a fetus." (Ibid., p. 210)
And consider this incredible passage. He describes how he was barred from speaking at a bio-ethics conference in Germany in 1989. Singer expresses astonishment at this. He moans about the out-dated views which the Germans still cling to. (Ibid., pp. 201,202) He cannot seem to comprehend that somehow his own views on matters of life and death bear a chilling similarity to those of the Nazis during the 30s and 40s. Never mind the millions killed by the Nazi eugenicists. Never mind that such anti-life views may still cause many Germans to shudder.
As recently as July he reaffirmed these views in an interview: "You cannot always say that the life of a human is more valuable than that of a non-human. . . . A baby born with huge brain damage has no capacity for life on a meaningful level of consciousness whereas an animal such as a chimpanzee does." (Montage, July 1995, p.14)
And in the September 16 issue of The Spectator he again argues for infanticide, stating that we need to determine whether new-born babies should be allowed to continue living: "we should have a ceremony a month after birth, at which the infant is admitted to the community." (p.22)
Such barbaric anti-life views are the inevitable result of one who has rejected the source of all life, the Creator God. Singer's atheism drives him to a position that many in Nazi Germany would have been quite comfortable with. It is essential that before the next Federal election, Christians take time to study the writings of Singer and let his views be known to the wider community. Buy some of his books, read them carefully, and write letters to newspapers, write to the Greens, write to your Pastor, notify your friends.
The culture that led to the rise of the Nazis in Germany was not unlike our own. A well-educated, highly cultured and civilised society allowed Hitler and his ideas to come to power. Why? In large part because the Church was indifferent, unconcerned, unaware or apathetic. It was also silent. We too are asleep at the wheel. And those who are aware of what is going on are often unwilling to speak out. If Singer gets elected, and his ideas become law, we will only have ourselves to blame.
The time to act is now. I conclude with the words of Martin Niemoller, a German theologian and Holocaust survivor: "In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."
The Vital Imperative of Protecting Life
America, Australia and Abortion
Without Killing My Son, I Would Not Have Succeeded…
Corona, Crisis, and Health Care
A Review of 'I Kid You Not'. By Lyle Shelton.
The Sad, Swift Road To Destruction
Yes Virginia, There Is A Pro-Death Scrooge
The Haters and Bigots Are Still After Folau
Biblical Anthropology: A Reader's Guide
Will Our Pets Be With Us In Heaven?
Mind, Matter, Consciousness and the Brain – Part Two
Our Naming and Shaming Corona Pharisees
Vaccinations, Coercion, and Big Brother
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We Love the Planet, But We Hate People
Posted in Bioethics, Ethics, People, The Greens
Prev A review of Fatherless America: Confronting Our Most Urgent Social Problem. By David Blankenhorn.
Next Hold the Line on Drugs
3 Replies to "Peter Singer and the Gospel of Death"
wayne pelling says:
What really strikes me about Singer is that I believe that he is the son of Holocaust survivors, and it if this is the case then it shows how short his memory is; how morally bankrupt he has become; and how alienated he must be from fellow Jews, not to mention from God.
I have stated here in a previous post, that I think he is also a friend of my brother's – one is also known by the company they keep!!
Wayne Pelling
Olivia Kelly says:
Man, this is really neat. You should put it more on Facebook, or do u have that already? Anyways, I 'm a Christian and strongly support your efforts to expose this loony. Some say pedophiles are the way they are coz they are "wired" wrongly, but this dude is worse!! Words are very powerful, and if used consistently, like he has, it can turn/move a nation….kinda like what Hitler did (wouldn't be surprised if they're somehow related). Keep up the good work, Bill!!
Olivia Kelly
gary burns says:
"Ethicist Peter Singer honoured" – Well it shows that the people why give these awards don't have a moral compass and should get under the same rock this over educated moron capable of printing this garbage came from. And in the September 16 issue of The Spectator he again argues for infanticide, stating that we need to determine whether new-born babies should be allowed to continue living: "we should have a ceremony a month after birth, at which the infant is admitted to the community." (p.22) think he would be a good export as we don't need his input, and honouring such people got to make you wonder what the award givers agenda really is.
Gary Burns


Azad Institute of Engineering & Technology, Lucknow (AIET) was established in the year 1998 and it is a self-financing institution. Azad Educational Society, Lucknow is run this institute. Azad Educational Society was established and registered in September 1991 under the Societies Registration Act 1860. All offered courses is approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), New Delhi and college is affiliated to Uttar Pradesh Technical University (UPTU), Lucknow. It offered the engineering program in several disciplines. It also offers PG courses in Computer Applications (MCA) and Business Administration (MBA).
Azad Institute of Engineering & Technology, Lucknow (AIET) is prominent in the northern part of India, because it has been accredited by National Board of Accreditation (NBA) for its high standards of education.
To take the admission in BE / B Tech / UG / Undergraduate courses candidate passed the 12th from a recognized Board with Physics and Mathematics ,Chemistry as compulsory subjects.
Admission is done on the basis of a Combined Entrance Exam, (SEE-UPTU), conducted by Uttar Pradesh Technical University, Lucknow.
MBA: Candidates must have done Graduation in any discipline.
MCA: Students must have done Graduation with Mathematics at 10+2 standard.
MBA/MCA: Admissions are conducted through UPMCAT. Management quota is 15%.


text:
Clinton for Prison? Ex-DNI Ratcliffe Says 'Enough Evidence' to Indict 'Multiple People' - Report
By Randy DeSoto, The Western Journal February 14, 2022 at 7:05pm
TOPSHOT - US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton makes a concession speech after being defeated by Republican president-elect Donald Trump in New York on November 9, 2016. (Photo by JEWEL SAMAD / AFP) (JEWEL SAMAD/AFP via Getty Images)
"Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!" the poet once proclaimed, and it certainly appears to be the case with Democrat Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.
Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, who previously served as a federal prosecutor, told special counsel John Durham he believed he had passed on "enough evidence" to support the indictments of "multiple people" in relation to the origins of the Russia probe that targeted former President Donald Trump, Fox News reported Monday.
The outlet said that "sources pointed to one key piece of declassified intelligence revealing that intelligence community officials within the CIA forwarded an investigative referral on Hillary Clinton purportedly approving 'a plan concerning U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server.'"
You'll recall one of the top issues shaping the race between Clinton and Trump was her failure to turn over tens of thousands of work emails, as required by law, when she left office as secretary of state in 2013.
Further, Clinton had conducted her work correspondence on a private, unsecured server, meaning highly sensitive information was open to hacking.
At first, the Democrat assured reporters that the deleted emails on her server were personal in nature, regarding yoga and such, and contained no classified material.
Then we learned the emails were work-related and some of them were classified.
Clinton next insisted none of the emails was classified at the time they were sent or marked that way.
These statements also proved to be false.
Do you believe Hillary Clinton committed criminal conduct?
Yes: 99% (105 Votes)
Then-FBI Director James Comey announced in July 2016 his agency would not be making a criminal referral because it could not establish Clinton's intent to mishandle classified information.
Comey pointed out that it is also a crime, regardless of intent, to mishandle such material in a "grossly negligent way," but nonetheless he gave Clinton a pass.
The former secretary of state wasn't going to jail, but the whole affair left many voters with questions about Clinton's integrity.
According to a Friday court filing by Durham, the Clinton campaign hatched a plot to infiltrate computer servers at Trump Tower and later the White House in order to establish an "inference" and "narrative" linking Trump to Russia, Fox News reported.
Here, in four tweets, are all 13 pages of John Durham's new finding that is getting a lot of attention: pic.twitter.com/BUArrsbhGp
— Byron York (@ByronYork) February 13, 2022
That information was then passed on to the FBI by Perkins Coie law firm attorney Michael Sussmann, according to Durham.
"The Special Counsel's Office has identified no support for these allegations" of wrongdoing by Trump, Durham noted in the court filing.
A tech executive brought in to conduct the server infiltration "indicated that he was seeking to please certain 'VIPs,' referring to individuals at Law Firm-1 and the Clinton campaign."
Was one of these VIPs Hillary Clinton?
She tweeted at least twice in support of the false narratives in late October 2016 as she tried to smear Trump just days before the election.
"Computer scientists have apparently uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank," Clinton wrote.
Computer scientists have apparently uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank. pic.twitter.com/8f8n9xMzUU
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 1, 2016
Then-Clinton campaign senior policy adviser Jake Sullivan — now President Joe Biden's national security advisor — elaborated on that in a statement that the candidate included in her tweet.
"This could be the most direct link yet between Donald Trump and Moscow," Sullivan said. "Computer scientists have uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank."
He added that the "secret hotline may be the key to unlocking the mystery of Trump's ties to Russia."
"This line of communication may help explain Trump's bizarre adoration of Vladimir Putin and endorsement of so many pro-Kremlin positions throughout this campaign," Sullivan said. "It raises even more troubling questions in light of Russia's masterminding of hacking efforts that are clearly intended to hurt Hillary Clinton's campaign."
He concluded, "We can only assume federal authorities will now explore this direct connection between Trump and Russia as part of their existing probe into Russia's meddling in our elections."
It's time for Trump to answer serious questions about his ties to Russia. https://t.co/D8oSmyVAR4 pic.twitter.com/07dRyEmPjX
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 31, 2016
So Clinton and Sullivan were active participants in plugging the fake "Russia, Russia, Russia" narrative that cast a shadow over the first two years of Trump's presidency but was ultimately debunked by special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
In November, Kash Patel — a former federal prosecutor who also served as senior counsel for the House Intelligence Committee under former committee chairman and GOP Rep. Devin Nunes — suggested that Sullivan could be the next to be indicted by Durham.
Patel recounted to Fox News that he deposed Sullivan as part of the committee's investigation.
"He testified under oath to Congress that he had no idea what the Perkins Coie lawyer Sussmann was saying, yet the Durham indictment shows communications between Jake Sullivan, the current national security advisor, and Michael Sussmann about the Russiagate hoax," he said.
"So either he lied to Congress or he's lying in the indictment."
High level non political sources telling me that the Durham investigation has a lot of names being looked at…"two names to keep an eye on…Jake Sullivan and…… Colin Kahl….. both being looked at very closely…both of em nose deep."
— Adam Housley (@adamhousley) February 14, 2022
Former Perkins Coie attorney Marc Elias, who worked for the 2016 Clinton campaign, might be another person Durham is investigating.
Durham's Sussmann indictment last fall said an unnamed Clinton campaign lawyer (reportedly Elias) exchanged emails in mid-September 2016 with the candidate's campaign manager, its communications director and Sullivan explaining that Sussmann had shared the Russian bank allegations with a reporter.
The Friday filing by Durham further revealed that Sussmann and a tech executive met in 2016 and communicated with another law partner, who was serving as general counsel to the Clinton campaign, about the plot against Trump.
Sources told Fox News that lawyer was Elias.
Durham has indicted three people so far in his probe: Sussmann, former FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith and Democratic operative Igor Danchenko.
Who will be next? Could it be Sullivan, Elias or perhaps even Clinton herself?
2016 Election, Campaign, crime, Democrats, Donald Trump, Espionage, Fox News, Hillary Clinton, investigation, Justice, politics, Russia, Scandal
Randy DeSoto, The Western Journal
A London utility worker was killed on Friday working underneath a public urinal that can be lowered beneath the sidewalk during the day.
By Carson Choate, Western Journal January 29, 2023
Former President Donald Trump made a surprise visit to a local eatery while on the campaign trail - and helped spark something awesome.
@EllasDeporte / Twitter Screen Shot
14-Year-Old Soccer Player Dies Suddenly at Home Day After Training with Teammates
Estrella Martín Rasco, a 14-year-old Spanish soccer player, has died, with no word revealed about the cause of her death.
Several Iranian military and infrastructure sites have been targeted in an orchestrated wave of attacks from the air.
By Richard Moorhead, Western Journal January 29, 2023
A daughter's troubled history of social media posts included one in which she "abdicated" the throne of the United Kingdom.


BRB Roofing is an award-winning metal roofing company based in Muskogee, Oklahoma. The company opened up for business in 1975 when the founder of BRB, Benny Briggs first learned about a system of roof building that was being called, "The Standing Seam." This might not carry much meaning to your or I, but this technology allowed for continuous metal panels that use both male and female components to put together in a way that creates an incredibly durable, weather-tight and leak proof shield against the weather. This technology made it possible to install a high-quality roof without the use of screws to hold the actual building materials together. Thus, water, snow and the other unfriendly Oklahoma weather elements had no point of entry.
1) Website Design – In order to create a world-class web design we sat down with our team of web-developers and asked ourselves what they best way would be to capture and incorporate the company's rich history into a new website design. We wanted the new site to look and feel familiar to the existing customers, yet we wanted it to clearly explain BRB's value proposition to new and potential customers. The new site had to look great visually, yet had to be HTML-based and search engine friendly. The end result has allowed BRB to climb to the top of search engine results while creating a look that their entire team is proud of.
2) Internet Optimization – Nearly every business that we have ever worked with has wanted to get to the top of Google search results, yet Google has standards that they hold clients to. Essentially, you can't "trick" Google or "game" Google. Google wants to offers its users the most accurate and SPAM FREE search results possible, and thus they reward companies that follow their rules. What are their rules. Essentially Google ranks websites based upon 3 major criteria: A) The amount of original and high quality content that can be found on a website. B) The amount of high quality websites that link back to a website. C) The website's compliance to their XML, HTML site-mapping system and their overall website layout preferences. When working with BRB we helped them to make their entire site search engine and customer friendly.
3) Professional Photography – It is absolutely important that every image / photo a company uses to market themselves is of the highest quality possible. However, when you are starting and growing a business you don't want to just get stuck marinating about the perfect photo to use either. This is where we come in. We sat down with the BRB team to discuss the images that we felt would best share their story and then we worked with our team of photographers to create images that could turn this vision into reality. The results…the photos turned out wonderfully.
4) Professional Videography – Building a successful website today absolutely requires incorporating the use of professional videography services. Nearly all research continues to show the same statistics time and time again. Essentially people spend exponentially more time on a website that has video. Because you are human, I'm sure that this is not shocking or new information to you. However, when working with BRB or any other company we must all keep in mind that the best videos for marketing need incorporate a mountain of customer testimonials when possible. When working with companies like BRB that have a rich history of success, this is much less difficult than when working with startups that don't actually have satisfied customers yet. With BRB we focused on filming interviews with their satisfied clients so that prospect clients would be aware of high levels of customer service and metal roofing that they continue to provide and have provided for over 35 years.


NOTE to registered applicants: Registration: If you want to register on Sunday 19th, please come at 1230pm and register before 1pm (although the front desk will have one of our staff there at all times in the afternoon for any latecomers). Alternatively you can register on the Monday 20th from 9am until 0930am.
We are very happy to announce that our world famous Klezmer summer school is back again for 2018.
With more faculty being announced very soon.
Sunday 19th August: 1pm-6pm This is a welcome day for registration, lectures and concerts with the other schools of Yiddish and Yiddish Song. Formal teaching starts Monday.
Andreas Schmitges is a professional klezmer musician on the guitar and mandolin, a band leader, dance leader, author, festival organizer and Yiddish activist. He holds a degree in Jazz Guitar from the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz (University for Music and Dance), Cologne. Andreas has taught at workshops on Yiddish musical culture all over the world. He is fluent in Yiddish and as an artist is particularly interested in the interplay of Yiddish language, music and dance, and their relationships to other cultures.
Andreas tours regularly with his ensembles Voices of Ashkenaz & Klezmer Alliance and teaches Yiddish dance and his primary instruments, guitar and mandolin at festivals and workshops such as KlezKamp, KlezKanada, Yiddish Summer Weimar, KlezFest, Klezmer Festival Stockholm, at the Maison de la Culture Yiddish (Paris) and many others. He is the artistic director of Jewish/Yiddish festivals in Halle and Gelsenkirchen and currently serves as the curator of Yiddish Summer Weimar.
He was the producer for both the theatre piece Bobe Mayses and the dance piece Gilgul, two artistic projects of Yiddish Summer 2016. In that year he also initiated and co-organized the first ever conference on historically informed performance practice of Yiddish music (YHIP).
He has had the honor of taking the stage with stars of the international klezmer and Yiddish scene such as Alan Bern, Deborah Strauss, Shura Lipovski, the late Pesakh Fiszman, Frank London, and Efim Chorny.
Diana Matut, PhD, is the Lilli- and Michael Sommerfreund guest professor for Jewish Music at the College for Jewish Studies in Heidelberg. In 1999 she earned her Diploma in Hebrew and Jewish Studies at Oxford University, followed by an MA in Yiddish Studies at SOAS, London. The same year brought her to New York, where she took part in the Advanced Seminar for Yiddish Studies at JTS – taught in Yiddish. She regularly teaches and lectures at universities in Germany and abroad, including Rom, Genova, Olomouc, Wrocław, Graz, and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Sayumi was born in Japan and has lived in Berlin since 1987. She is a freelance graphic designer. Following her studies at the Hochschule der Kunste Berlin (today UdK) she worked as a freelance artist in diverse performances, sound and site installations.
She first learned Yiddish dance in 1989 with Michael Alpert and Brave Old World. She has also studied with Zev Feldman, Sue Foy, Erik Bendix, Steven Weintraub and Andreas Schmitges, among others. She has led workshops in Yiddish dance in Japan at Osaka University and for the Japanese-Jewish Friendship and Study Society in Kobe.
She has led workshops in Yiddish dance and Dance ball at the Yiddish Dance Mini-Workshop in the Festival Week during the Yiddish Summer Weimar (since 2013), Shtetl Neukölln Berlin (since 2015) and Yiddish Academy Tokyo (since 2014).
In addition to Yiddish dance, she also performs traditional Southern Italian dance, tarantella. Since 2006, she has been a member of the Berlin-based dance ensemble "TarantaScalza," directed by Margherita D'Amelio, with whom she frequently performs at festivals.
Josh "Socalled" Dolgin is a pianist, accordionist, producer, journalist, photographer, filmmaker, magician, cartoonist and puppet maker based in Montreal, Quebec. He has lectured and has led master classes in music festivals around the world, from Moscow to Paris, from London to LA, and from Krakow to San Francisco, and has performed on every continent. With 6 solo albums to his name, he has performed all over the world for more than 10 years, and his list of collaborators knows no generational, social, cultural nor religious boundaries. Aside from countless festivals and venues around the world, Socalled has performed at Carnegie Hall (twice!), the Olympia in Paris, the Apollo theatre in Harlem and the Arsht centre in Miami. In 2003, his collaborative album Hiphopkhasene with British violinist Sophie Solomon won a German Record Critics Award (Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik). Then, in 2005, he released an EP based on the Passover service, The Socalled Seder, which he produced in his apartment and sold through the mail in a world before the internet, with almost 1000 mail-orders! It was eventually officially released by Jewish hipster label JDub and hailed as one of the greatest new Jewish Music records.
His original Yiddish gangster puppet musical, "Isaac Babel's Odessa Stories", was presented at the Segal Center in Montreal in 2013: the cast recording will be released shortly. His work with cellist Matt Haimowitz, a re-working of Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, garnered another Juno award nomination. In December 2015, Socalled was presented with the "Adrienne Cooper Memorial Dreaming in Yiddish" award for his work disseminating and exploring Yiddish culture.
When he's not working in the studio, Socalled makes cookbooks, draws cartoons, edits video and practices Kurt Weill on the piano.
London based violinist Flora Curzon is best known for her musical versatility. Performing on both 'modern' and 'historical' violin set ups, she has performed internationally as an orchestral musician, chamber musician, solo artist, folk fiddler, improviser and singer, as well as with her own duo, Fran & Flora. Whilst her background is in classical music, her musical horizons are broad: she is well versed in many styles of folk music and improvisation and has a keen interest in working with musicians from other cultures and with different art forms as a performer, improviser/composer, recording artist and backing vocalist.
Her unique combination of interests and skills have sparked a fast growing and eclectic career: This year her string duo, Fran & Flora, described as 'fiercely passionate' by the BBCs Max Reinhardt, were selected by Late Junction as one of the BBC Introducing artists.
She has also collaborated with artists and ensembles including folk singer Sam Lee; tabla player Talvin Singh; historical performance ensembles Ex Cathedra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Music for Awhile; The Multi-Story Orchestra; composer Jocelyn Pook; virtuoso musician Tcha Limberger; ecclectic Eastern European bands Dunajska Kapelye, She'koyekh and The London Klezmer Quartet; Bengali/London fusion band Khiyo; stunning pop band Hejira; artist Meilyr Jones; actor/musician/researcher Vivi Lachs and her band Katshanes; storyteller Chris Salisbury; Baroque / folk group, The Twisted Twenty; chamber ensembles including The London Chamber Collective and The Keats Quartet; contemporary music groups Phaedra Ensemble, London Sinfonietta and the Brodsky Quartet; theatre companies including Deafinitely Theatre, Chai for All and MishMash Productions; and has played for dancing with Bricolage and the Ceilidh Liberation Front.
Flora also teaches privately and has lead workshops in ensemble playing and folk music for Jackdaws Music Trust, Crean Folk Camp, Theatre in the Fields and Klezfest.
Assistant Head of Faculty for Klezfest 2018: Susi Evans speaks of Klezfest's impact on her career.


text:
"""MPF plugin which uses lights to represent Game functions. Typically in an
EM machine"""
# info_lights.py
# Mission Pinball Framework
# Written by Brian Madden & Gabe Knuth
# Released under the MIT License. (See license info at the end of this file.)

# Documentation and more info at http://missionpinball.com/mpf

import logging

class InfoLights(object):

    def __init__(self, machine):
        self.log = logging.getLogger('infolights')
        self.machine = machine

        try:
            self.config = self.machine.config['infolights']
        except KeyError:
            self.machine.log.debug('"infolights:" section not found in machine '
                                   'configuration, so the Info Lights plugin '
                                   'will not be used.')
            return

        self.flash = [
            {'color': 'ff', 'time': 1},
            {'color': '0', 'time': 1},
        ]

        # convert any light names we find to objects
        for k, v in self.config.iteritems():
            if 'light' in v:
                if v['light'] in self.machine.lights:
                    self.config[k]['light'] = self.machine.lights[v['light']]

        self.machine.events.add_handler('ball_started', self.ball_started)
        self.machine.events.add_handler('game_ended', self.game_ended)
        self.machine.events.add_handler('machineflow_Game_start',
                                        self.game_starting)
        self.machine.events.add_handler('player_add_success', self.player_added)
        self.machine.events.add_handler('tilt', self.tilt)
        self.machine.events.add_handler('match', self.match)

        self.game_ended()  # set the initial lights to the game ended state

    def reset_game_lights(self):
        self.log.debug("reset_game_lights")
        # turn off the game-specific lights (player, ball & match)
        for k, v in self.config.iteritems():
            if k.startswith('ball_'):
                v['light'].off()
            if k.startswith('player_'):
                v['light'].off()
            if k.startswith('match_'):
                v['light'].off()

    def ball_started(self):
        self.log.debug("ball_started")
        # turn off all the ball lights
        for k, v in self.config.iteritems():
            if k.startswith('ball_'):
                v['light'].off()

        # turn on this current ball's light
        ball_light = 'ball_' + str(self.machine.game.player.ball)
        if ball_light in self.config:
            self.config[ball_light]['light'].on()

        # turn off the tilt light
        if 'tilt' in self.config:
            self.config['tilt']['light'].off()

    def game_ended(self):
        self.log.debug("game_ended")
        self.reset_game_lights()

        # turn on game over
        if 'game_over' in self.config:
            self.machine.show_controller.run_script(
                lightname=self.config['game_over']['light'].name,
                script=self.flash,
                tps=2)

    def game_starting(self, **kwargs):
        self.log.debug("game_starting")
        self.reset_game_lights()

        # turn off game over
        if 'game_over' in self.config:
            self.machine.show_controller.stop_script(
                lightname=self.config['game_over']['light'].name)
            self.config['game_over']['light'].off()
            # todo is the above right? Should add hold=False to script?

    def player_added(self, player):
        self.log.debug("player_added. player=%s", player)
        player_str = 'player_' + str(player.number)
        self.log.debug("player_str: %s", player_str)
        if player_str in self.config:
            self.config[player_str]['light'].on()

    def tilt(self):
        self.log.debug("tilt")
        if 'tilt' in self.config:
            self.config['tilt']['light'].on()

    def match(self, match):
        self.log.debug("Match")
        match_str = 'match_' + str(match)
        if match_str in self.config:
            self.config[match_str]['light'].on()

plugin_class = InfoLights

# The MIT License (MIT)

# Copyright (c) 2013-2015 Brian Madden and Gabe Knuth

# Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
# of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
# in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
# to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
# copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
# furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

# The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
# all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
# IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
# FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
# AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
# LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
# OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
# THE SOFTWARE.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Caroline Reid Writes
"Language is the ultimate human tool." Eileen Myles
Writing in Paradise: Day 5
Day 5 of a Writing Retreat with Jan Cornall @ Daku, Fiji.
Fijian welcome
Juxtaposition, creating tension, action, graphing the emotional journey of characters, and structure. This was just some of the ground we covered on Day 5. Jan reminded us that all of these things - as well as graphs, flowcharts, index cards, postit notes – they are all just TOOLS to use in writing, exercises designed to get us thinking about our story. Then we put them aside and just write.
The other important task that we did, and spent some time in the afternoon developing further, was to write a short paragraph of the story/novel that we were working on. A back cover blurb, a PITCH. Getting a story down to a short pitch is an important thing to do. It gets to the heart of story, tells the reader who the main characters are and what happens in the story. It's important for the writer because it's an exercise in distillation. I liken it to looking the story from a bird's eye view where you can step out of the complicated business of the story and see it clearly. After writing a paragraph pitch, the challenge is to then distill it even further, into just one sentence.
So how did I fare? Well, the original story I had in mind was one which was quite surreal and it didn't really lend itself to a distillation; it wasn't quite ready to be reduced to a single sentence just yet. I sensed I had to leave it alone. However, the other story that was brewing was something I could get a handle on. Here's what I came up with:
" In a world where men and boys are being infected with a strange illness, Pocket is a single dad whose son, Timmy, is dying. At the Grieving River a mysterious woman unzips a portal to another world where there is no sickness. But the new world comes at a cost. And Pocket must decide whether to save his son or save himself.
Caroline Reid has written a fabulously dark tale of one man's response to grief."
I'll let you know when I'm done writing that story!
Kava ceremony
That afternoon we were lucky enough to visit a Fijian village where, in a hut with village elders, we participated in a traditional Fijian welcome, the Kava ceremony. Kava tastes to me a bit like muddy water but it was the solemnity, the joy and the sense of us being part of an historic ritual that was wondrous. We were given a tour of the village by Clarence, a man born in the village but raised in America with his father. He had returned to his mother's village to marry and have children. Softly spoken and very chilled out, Clarence explained to us that because we'd been officially welcomed, we were able to return to that village any time.
Cheeky boys
I loved the singing and the dancing, the cheeky boys, shy girls and strong women who seemed to be running the show. During the performance I felt a little like the intrusive Westerner enjoying the traditional ways of the 'natives'. But that's my problem. The Fijians are a warm and welcoming people. And we had less than two days left in this gorgeous country. It was going to be hard to go home.
Poem: a message home from all that place of getting
(c) Caroline Reid 2021
SIARAD at ADELAIDE FRINGE
3 SHOWS ONLY! Due to Covid Restrictions, tickets are limited so BOOK EARLY to avoid disappointment
Adelaide Poetry aged care am writing audio audiobook auslit auspoet australian poetry slam books dementia
ES-PRESS publishing first collection grant writing inspiration memory pod mixed media artist multi-form artist performance pod pod series poetry poetry and prose presenter publication reading red room poetry review SIARAD slam poetry spineless wonders spineless wonders audio spoken word swp teaching video video poem visual art journal workshop writers festival writing writing exercise writinginthetimeofcorona
Australian Poetry Slam
bettina kaiser art+design
Bunker Spoken Word
Cordite Poetry Review
Spineless Wonders
Spoken Word SA


Owner Portal - Gibson Portfolio Management, Inc.
You can securely and easily access your owner statements on-line.
To view your owner's statement, log into our state-of-the-art portal system with your your email address and password.
All on-line property information is security encrypted, password protected and safely transmitted.


Is your online marketing strategy as strong as it could be?
Google has said in the past that they do approximately two tweaks to their algorithm every day. The graph below represents the most noteworthy changes to Google's algorithm in the years since 2002. These are changes that Google either mentioned officially or that have had a significant impact on the Internet marketing community.
Though we have only seen 15 noteworthy changes for 2013, it is clear from the rising graph that Google has taken exponential action in its algorithm changes since 2011.
Since February 2011, in fact, Google has released 25 updates that affect its website content quality algorithm known as Panda. Other include website layout and the devaluation of generic product or service keywords in the domain name known as the "EMD" (Exact Match Domain) update. Examples of a domain that would have been devalued by the EMD update would be DaytonOhioPlumbing.com or iPhoneAccessories.net, in an effort to take away the "unfair advantage" of hits to a company whose name precisely matches the generic search term it answers.
In 2013, the Panda algorithm logic was merged with the main Google algorithm, so updates for the Panda algorithm have ceased. But Boostability estimates that changes that could amount to another 10 Panda updates in 2013 could bring the real number of major changes in 2013 to 25.
Google has been relentless during 2013 in its pursuit to squash link building in cases where the intent of the link builder is to manipulate Google's algorithm rather than add genuine value to users. Thus the advent of the new Google algorithm, Penguin, that the company applies separately from the main Google algorithm about once a quarter.
These updates may seem daunting, but they actually level the playing field and give web marketers the opportunity to step in and make their sites more competitive in the context of Google's new rules. Google's desire, of course, is to give search engine users great results, not the results that contain the highest level of spammy link profiles.
If your company has the resources to spend on truly advancing its website, the updates mean a significant thing: you can out position your competition by simply having a better website, which means offering better products and services, providing best value, and refining your website's user experience.
Gibby recommends online marketers cease all spammy link building practices immediately, and I agree. Marketers should focus on cleaning up their link profiles and should aim their efforts at creating compelling and textually rich content that includes images, video, and audio, and that fully explores what attracts new customers and keeps them coming back. "If you take care of your customers, they (and Google) will take care of you," he concludes.
In November 2013, Bronto Software published a study of 106 online retailers named "Responsive Design Provides the Perfect Fit". The study showed that for companies marketing through emails, when smartphone and mobile users clicked on the email link, only 4% of retailer websites rewarded the users' efforts with a mobile friendly or "responsive" website design. iPhone and Android users, however, received a responsive or adaptive design 69% and 68% of the time respectively.
What this likely means is that retailers are using different or separate URLs or locations for their mobile friendly sites rather than consolidating their efforts to a single website, Gibby said. An example of this practice might be mobile.example.com vs. www.example.com. This is a problem, as the same content is now located on more than one URL or location. How does Google (or even Bing) know which URL to show their searches?
For optimal success Google recommends "responsive web design." This phrase refers to website design that adjusts the layout or size of the website according to the screen or window size of whatever device or web browser is being used to view it. So whether your website users are using an iPhone, Android, tablet or desktop PC, the HTML code used to render the page is the same for every URL. This eliminates the need to host separate mobile sites at a different location than the main website. Essentially, the main website is the mobile website as well.
This does two things. First, it makes sure the user goes to a page optimized for their viewing needs regardless of their device. Secondly, having only one URL for each piece of content draws all search engine ranking value to one URL, making it stronger. If you haven't already, now is a great time to unite your mobile site and main site's content through a responsive web design, for both mobile marketing purposes and to strengthen your site's SEO.
The Google Places Stats and Facts page says that "20% of searches on Google are related to location." According to comScore, 56% of mobile phone users use their browser for local searches, raising the importance still further for small and local businesses to establish themselves online.
There are about 250,000 new claimed listings on Google a month (Mike Blumenthal's 2011 estimate), and the implications are tremendous. The need for your business to have Google & Bing optimized business listings is vital for your success in 2014. Internet marketing firms such as Boostabililty that are catering to small and local firms have seen tremendous growth. In the first week of 2013 Boostability reported 3,347 SEO accounts with local intent. On Nov 27 they had 6,229 accounts, amounting to a staggering 86% rate of growth in localized SEO business in 11 months.
As demand for pertinent local search results rises, so does supply. Getting your business on Google+ and Bing is not difficult. Whether you hire a third party or do it in house, you should optimize local search for all of your business locations in 2014. If you've already done this, look into improving your standing further by optimizing the profile, adding new images, coupons, and updating the hours of business. Freshening up your profiles in the coming year will produce a better return than ever before.
StatCounter's data, quoted in the Google study "Unlocking the HTML5 Opportunity: What's the Holdup," says that in May 2013, the number of users who have HTML 5 compatible environments overtook users with FLASH compatible environments.
HTML 5 is important as it allows for dynamic and interactive content like FLASH, but is compatible a across multiple devices, browsers, and screens. Soon, the need to have multiple technologies such as FLASH and Silverlight for your company's ads and creative on content will all merge into HTML 5, saving development cost and time to execution, Gibby says.
FLASH will still be compatible with regular desktop browsers, but HTML 5 content will soon be compatible with every browser on every device.
You'll notice from the graph we've provided that HTML 5 compatibility is continuing to grow in general. But is it growing among your website's user base? Start to track if, you haven't already, how much usage there is on devices and browsers that are compatible with HTML 5 vs. FLASH that use your website.
If the trend is positive for HTML 5 on your website then start to incentivize your in-house teams to learn HTML 5 if they have not done so already. What you pay for trainings and workshops will be an investment well spent.
If your target market's demographic includes white or Hispanic females aged 18 to 64, Pinterest is the place to be. (Nielsen.com, 2012 Social Media Report). At 27,223,000 unique U.S. visitors in 2011, Pinterest has experienced exponential growth. As of July 2013, Pinterest grew to 70 million subscribers with 50 million of those in the U.S. (Semiocast, July 2013). Twenty one million of these are believed to be "active" users by Semiocast, meaning that the accounts have been used at least once in the month the study was conducted and were not newly registered. The moral of the story is this: Pinterest users are active users. If the growth rate of Pinterest continues on this track, it may ultimately overtake Twitter in total number of user accounts.
Based on these trends is your online marketing ready for 2014? If not, you have a little more time. I extend my thanks to Bart Gibby for his contributions to this article. And I welcome your thoughts.


1. Earn BG-Bucks to save on your next purchase.
When you refer a friend or neighbor, they get a 10% discount when they purchase a BG-Mosquitaire, a BG-Mosquitaire CO2, or a 2+1 bundle. You earn 1000 BG Bucks good for $10 off your next purchase.
1. Register in "Rewards": Click on the "Rewards" (button at the right bottom corner), and the BG-Club panel opens. Click on "Join now" and register.
3. Earn BG-Bucks: After your neighbor has purchased a BG-Mosquitaire, a BG-Mosquitaire CO2, or a 2+1 bundle, you get 1000 BG-Bucks good for $10 off you next order. You will be informed about this via e-mail. You can also track the status of your BG-Bucks in the BG-Club panel.
4. Redeem BG-Bucks: In the BG-Club panel, you can redeem your BG-Bucks. A discount code for $10 is directly displayed and also sent to you via e-mail. You can redeem the $10 the during checkout process of your next order by entering the discount code shown on the reward page.
1. You will receive an e-mail offering you a discount 10% for ordering a BG-Mosquitaire, a BG-Mosquitaire CO2, or a 2+1 bundle. To use your discount follow the link in the email.
2. Get your discount code: The Biogents US Webshop will open, and the BG-Club panel will appear on the right side . Follow the instructions: Enter your e-mail address and press "Claim your gift". A discount code will be displayed. Use it directly to order. Additionally, the discount code will also be sent to you via e-mail.
2. Get your discount: Enter the discount code during the checkout process, press apply, and the discounted price will be shown.


One reason I like new anime season is I get to experience new and cool songs. Some of the best OP/EDs include Kokkoku's opening Flashback and A Place Further than the Universe's opening The Girls are Alright, but my favorite song this season is Darling in the Franxx's ED Torikago.
I just love how the vocals, the guitar, and the violin mix together in the song. It really reminds me of Yoko Shimamura's finer songs in the Kingdom Hearts series.
What're your favorite OPs and EDs this season?
Nyren's Corner: I'm Excited for Gundam Build Divers... Even if it isn't What I Asked For.
Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card - Episodes 5 & 6 - Double Impressions Spectacular!
Question of the Weeb: This is not the end!


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Garcia's
add guacamole for 0.99 or sour cream for 0.49.
Espinaca Con Queso $4.99
jalapenos, melted cheese, onions, bell peppers and Spinach combined for a great dip
Poco Chimichangas $5.59
seven poco chimichangas served with jalapeno cream cheese.
Guacamole Dip $4.99
made with fresh tomatoes, onions, cilantro, jalapenos, garlic and avocados.
Ultimate Nachos $5.99
tortilla chips smothered with cheese, refried beans, enchilada sauce, jalapenos, tomatoes, black olives, sour cream and guacamole. add grilled sirloin or chicken for 1.99
Cheese Crisp $3.99
a traditional southwestern appetizer: a flour tortilla topped with cheese and baked until the cheese melts and the tortilla is crispy.
El Grande Fiesta Platter $7.99
flautas, poco chimichangas, espinaca con queso and a cheese Quesadilla. served with guacamole and jalapeno cream cheese.
Cheese Quesadilla $4.99
flour tortilla filled with melted cheese, seasoned onions, bell peppers and tomatoes.
Grilled Sirloin Or Chicken Quesadilla $6.99
cheese Quesadilla stuffed with seasoned onions, bell peppers, tomatoes and your choice of grilled sirloin steak or chicken breast.
Salads, Soup and Sandwiches
Steak or Chicken Fajita Salad $7.69
grilled sirloin or chicken breast on crisp greens in a tortilla shell with tomatoes, cheese, sauteed onions and peppers, sour cream, pico de gallo and guacamole.
Taco Salad $6.99
tortilla shell filled with crisp greens tossed in southwest dressing and topped with seasoned ground beef, charro beans, tortilla strips, cheeses, sour cream, tomatoes and black olives.
Chicken Tortilla Soup $2.29+
made fresh to order. grilled chicken breast, avocados, tomatoes, cilantro, tortilla strips and cheese served in a rich broth.
Soup and Salad $5.99
a bowl of chicken tortilla soup served with a house salad.
Sonoran Chicken Sandwich $6.49
grilled chicken breast, green chilies and melted jack cheese on a toasted bun. topped with red chili pesto and pico de gallo, served with charro beans.
Garcia's Cheeseburger $5.99
served with lettuce, tomato, red onion, and French fries.
Sizzling Fajitas
add a cup of tortilla soup for 1.29 our fajitas are served on a sizzling skillet with sauteed onions, bell peppers, guacamole, Monterey jack and cheddar cheese, pico de gallo, sour cream, Spanish rice, refried beans and warm flour tortillas.
Steak, Chicken or Combination $10.99
Ultimate $12.99
steak, chicken and shrimp
Roasted Vegetable Fajitas $8.99
Shrimp $11.99
Sonoran Originals
our signature original recipes from the desert southwest. add a cup of tortilla soup for 1.29 or a side of guacamole for 0.99
Pollo Fundido $8.99
chicken with sauteed onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, celery and spices, all rolled in a large flour tortilla and fried until crispy. topped with a layer of jalapeno cream cheese and melted cheddar. served with Spanish rice and refried beans.
Chile Relleno $8.99
mild green chilies stuffed with Monterey jack cheese, battered and fried. topped with green sauce. served with Spanish rice and refried beans.
Grilled Margarita Chicken Burro $7.49
margarita marinated charbroiled chicken breast and sauteed vegetables stuffed into a large flour tortilla and grilled until golden. served on a skillet over green sauce and garnished with pico de gallo, jalapeno cream cheese and green onions. accompanied by refried beans and Spanish rice.
Margarita Chicken Chimichanga $7.99
flour tortilla stuffed with margarita marinated grilled chicken breast and sauteed vegetables, fried and topped with espinaca con queso. served with Spanish rice and charro beans.
Tampico Stuffed Chicken $8.29
grilled marinated chicken breast stuffed with jalapeno cream cheese and topped with espinaca con queso. served with charro beans and Spanish rice.
Olivia's Sampler $9.49
a poco pollo fundido, two mini tacos, two flautas and two mini chimichangas. served with jalapeno cream cheese, guacamole and refried beans.
Carnitas Tamales $7.49
two handmade tamales stuffed with our slow cooked carnitas. topped with red sauce and served with Spanish rice and charro beans.
Shrimp Tacos $9.29
two flour tortillas filled with sauteed shrimp, shredded cabbage, tomatillo sauce, tomatoes and cheese. served with charro beans and rice.
Ultimate Fajita Burro $8.99
grilled chicken breast or sirloin with sauteed onions and peppers wrapped in a flour tortilla and covered with green sauce. served with sour cream, guacamole, charro beans and Spanish rice.
Tortilla Favorites
add a cup of tortilla soup for 1.29
Enchiladas $6.99+
served with choice of enchilada, green or cheese sauce; refried beans and Spanish rice.
Grande Fajita Enchiladas $8.99
three cheese or Spinach enchiladas topped with fajita steak or chicken breast.
Grande Burro $7.49
a flour tortilla toasted with your choice of chicken, ground beef or shredded beef and covered with enchilada or cheese sauce. served with refried beans and Spanish rice.
Chimichanga $7.99
a crispy flour tortilla stuffed with choice of chicken, ground beef or shredded beef and covered with enchilada, cheese or green Chile sauce and sour cream. served with refried beans and Spanish rice.
Flauta Platter $7.49
corn tortillas filled with shredded beef or chicken. topped with guacamole, sour cream, tomatoes, black olives and cheese. served with refried beans and Spanish rice.
Fajita Quesadilla $7.99
grilled flour tortilla with grilled chicken or sirloin sauteed onions, bell peppers, pico-de gallo, cream cheese and melted cheese. served with refried beans and Spanish rice.
Lite Chicken and Spinach Quesadillas $7.99
two grilled low-fat flour tortillas stuffed with charbroiled chicken breast. Spinach, jalapenos, low-fat cheese and non-fat cream cheese topped with pico de gallo. served with charro beans and toasted vegetables. only 14 grams of fat.
Lite Grilled Chicken Flautas $7.99
charbroiled chicken breast and tomatillo salsa with jalapenos, cilantro and onions rolled to three low-fat flour tortillas and grilled. topped with tomatillo and red salsas and low-fat sour cream. served with charro beans and roasted vegetables. only 8 grams of fat.
Uno $5.99
beef taco and bean tostada with Spanish rice and refried beans.
Dos $6.49
beef taco and cheese enchilada with Spanish rice and refried beans.
Tres $7.69
Spinach enchilada and chili relleno with Spanish rice and charro beans.
Cuatro $7.99
chicken burro two chicken, flautas with guacamole, tomatoes and cheese, served with charro beans.
Cinco $8.99
chicken burro, chicken enchilada, Spanish rice and refried beans.
Seis $8.99
beef burro and cheese enchilada, Spanish rice and refried beans.
Siete $8.99
cheese enchilada, beef chimichanga with sour cream, Spanish rice and refried beans.
Ocho $8.99
beef taco, chili telleno, cheese enchilada and charro beans.
Nueve $8.99
beef burro cheese enchilada, beef taco and Spanish rice.
Diez $8.99
camiras tamale, cheese enchilada, beef taco and charro beans.
El Magnifico Sampler $10.29
beef chimichanga, beef taco, cheese enchilada and chicken burro served with Spanish rice and refried beans.
all lunch entree items served with Spanish rice and refried beans. add a cup of tortilla soup for 1.29
a crispy flour tortilla filled with chicken, covered with jalapeno cream cheese and melted cheddar cheese.
Lunch Fajitas $6.99+
served sizzling with sauteed onions, peppers, guacamole, jack and cheddar cheese, pico de gallo, sour cream, Spanish rice, refried beans and warm flour tortillas.
Carnitas Tamale $5.99
a handmade tamale stuffed with our slow-cooked carnitas. topped with red sauce and served with charro beans and Spanish rice.
a crispy flour tortilla stuffed with either chicken, ground beef or shredded beef covered with enchilada, cheese or green sauce.
a flour tortilla loaded with your choice of chicken, ground beef or shredded beef covered with enchilada, cheese or green sauce. served with refried beans and Spanish rice.
shredded beef or chicken flautas topped with guacamole, tomatoes and cheese.
Chicken Quesadilla $5.99
a grilled flour tortilla filled with grilled chicken, jack, cheddar and jalapeno cream cheeses.
Garcia's Enchiladas $5.29+
grilled chicken breast and tomatillo salsa with jalapeno, cilantro and onions rolled in two low-fat flour tortillas and grilled. served with tomatillo and red salsas, low-fat sour cream, charro beans and roasted vegetables.
Lite Chicken and Spanish Quesadillas $6.99
two grilled low-fat flour tortillas stuffed with charbroiled chicken breast, Spinach, jalapenos, low-fat cheese and non-fat cream cheese topped with pico de gallo. served with charro beans and roasted vegetables.
Lunch Combinations
served Monday-Friday. 11am-4pm
Salad Combos $5.49
house dinner salad and your choice of one of the following. chicken tortilla soup chicken Quesadilla soft chicken taco Spinach enchilada
Acapulco $5.29
cheese enchilada, beef taco and refried beans.
Baja $5.79
beef and bean burro, cheese enchilada and Spanish rice
Cozumel $5.99
cheese enchilada, chili relleno and charro beans.
Durango $5.29
soft chicken taco, Spinach enchilada and Spanish rice.
Eldorado $5.99
beef taco, chicken burro and Spanish rice.
Fernando $6.99
beef chimichanga, cheese enchilada, Spanish rice and refried beans.
Guadalupe $7.49
beef taco, beef burro, cheese enchilada and Spanish rice
Menu for Garcia's provided by Allmenus.com


With the headquarter at Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, Huawei is a Chinese multinational networking and telecommunication equipment company. Being a largest China-based networking and telecommunications brand, this has established a great name among other brands. This leading telecom brand has not only made a good image among the UK people but whole around the world, there are large number of Huawei mobile phones lovers. Giving stiff competition to other major brands like Nokia, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson and others, the demands of this brand mobile phone is day by day increasing. These mobile phones are available in various categories like UMTS, GSM/GPRS and the CDMA series. Well-equipped with latest technology, Huawei phones are available in different range for all types of users. Regular features like FM stereo, audio-video players, display, camera and expandable memory are available in all latest handsets. Being available at affordable rates, these gadgets give you a chance to use a new technique phone at affordable rates. Latest handsets available with this brand are Huawei Blaze, Huawei Barcelona and Huawei U7510.


RightNow Technologies yesterday released RightNow CX for Twitter, harnessing the power of Twitter to deliver better customer experiences.
Now instead of simply broadcasting content to followers, Twitter users can instantly access customer support from their favorite brands directly via the social network.
"As more consumers use Twitter to voice their opinions, businesses have an opportunity to use this burgeoning channel as a way to deliver great experiences to customers. Rather than searching the Web to find support, CX for Twitter allows consumers to tweet a question or issue and receive immediate resolution," said Jason Mittelstaedt, chief marketing officer at RightNow.
With RightNow CX for Twitter, individuals can simply tweet a question or request to a specific brand using a hash tag based on the RightNow service syntax – #help_brandname. CX for Twitter connects to the RightNow knowledge base and automatically returns an answer. The entire customer and brand engagement happens automatically within Twitter.
Any organization using RightNow CX can enable the CX for Twitter service. RightNow CX for Twitter takes cloud monitoring capabilities a step further by enabling an automatic, contextually correct response from the brand to the consumer. The necessary toolkit to enable RightNow CX for Twitter – with business objectives, examples, design guidelines, and more – will be available in the RightNow Community in Q4 2011.


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Indian IT: Privileged, Protected and Pampered
By C.P. Chandrasekhar (Posted Sep 06, 2010)
India, Mexico, United StatesCommentary
India's IT industry does protest too much. Its latest peeve is that the US has decided to steeply hike, from $2300 to about $4300, the cost of a H-1B visa required for entry into the US of temporary skilled workers from abroad. The new Border Security Bill passed by the US Senate and signed into law by the President, which incorporates the relevant provisions, is in its view protectionist and discriminatory. It is seen as reflecting the political misuse of security concerns to appease local workers in the run-up to the Congressional elections in November by penalising foreign companies using legitimate means to deliver IT or IT-enabled services.
The industry is also peeved because Charles Schumer, one of the Senators who piloted the bill through Congress, referred to Indian IT outsourcing companies as "chop shops" — derogatory slang for sheds in which stolen cars are stripped of their parts for subsequent sale. The Senator has subsequently clarified that what he meant was that they were "body shops" and has apologised for his error. But, with the debate referring to the fact that the largest users of H-1B visa are IT "giants" such as Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Mahindra Satyam, the "body shop" label is also an indictment of an industry that sees itself as a technology leader and a symbol of India's post-reform success. It suggests that the Senator has not retracted his view that foreign, especially Indian, IT companies "outsource good, high-paying American technology jobs to lower wage, temporary immigrant workers from other countries."
But the Indian government too has come out in defence of its post-reform poster-child. India's Commerce Minister, Anand Sharma, has reportedly written to the US trade representative, Ron Kirk, protesting the new legislation, describing it as "inexplicable" and stating that it would have "an adverse impact on the competitiveness and commercial interests of Indian companies sending professionals to undertake projects locally for American customers in the US." An estimate, of uncertain reliability, doing the rounds is that the US move would increase visa costs for Indian companies by as much as $200 million.
To clarify, the bill while having an impact on the Indian IT industry is not directed solely at it. Its stated concern is to strengthen security along Mexico's border with the United States by hiring another 1000 border patrol agents and 500 immigration and customs officials, besides deploying additional drones to monitor the border. With this drive against illegal Mexican immigrants at the border estimated to cost around $600 million, the bill seeks to finance the cost of strengthening border security by hiking visa fees paid by companies employing more than 50 people in which more than half the work force consists of temporary migrants holding H-1B or L-1 visas.
It is obvious that the Bill is political in nature in that it seeks to appease two constituencies in the run-up to elections in November. One is a section of the local population in states like Arizona who feels that illegal immigration across the Southwest border has gone out of control. The other is American workers who having just come out of a recession are faced with inadequate employment recovery and see foreign workers as outcompeting them by underselling themselves. The Bill is also protectionist in intent, since foreign companies would be employing a high share of temporary skilled workers brought from abroad and therefore would be more affected by this particular levy. Interestingly, the bill was passed by unanimous consent and signed into law very quickly, pointing to the political consensus around the issue. What is surprising is that the Indian industry expected the US government, Democrat or Republican, to act differently. In fact President Obama is possibly more intent than many Republicans on bringing jobs he sees as diverted abroad or to foreigners back to Americans.
Part of the reason the industry refuses to recognise that it is prone to actions of this kind is possibly the fact that it has been pampered too much at home. More than 10 years after it was first granted special tax benefits, the industry, which sees itself as being in the forefront of an emerging knowledge economy, as having pioneered a global delivery model, and could perhaps boast that it has delivered the largest number of first-generation millionaires in the country, fights hard to keep those concessions. In doing so, it is not above board. It constantly demands that the government "keep off", arguing that its rise has been driven purely by private initiative, when actually implicit subsidies (tax concessions), liberal trading rules and infrastructural support from government agencies have been crucial in delivering large profits and driving market valuations. Nothing is more revealing than the fact that an Annexe on revenues foregone in the papers relating to Budget 2010-11 estimates that in 2008-09 the "effective tax rate" on 8166 firms identified as "Software Development Agencies" was 11.8 per cent and that on 6493 firms identified as "IT Enabled Services, BPO Service Providers" was 13.1 per cent. The effective tax rate is the ratio of total taxes paid [including surcharge and education cess but excluding Dividend Distribution Tax and Fringe Benefit Tax] to the total profits before taxes [PBT]. This compares with statutory tax rate of 33.99 per cent which should have applied if no concessions were being provided. Since input and capital costs are low in this service industry, and cheap skilled labour is its strength, profits do constitute a high share of per worker incomes. This concession is therefore a bonanza, which even today the industry zealously lobbies for.
The industry is also privileged relative to the IT hardware sector. While the early thrust of information technology policy in the country was to build a strong hardware industry, at least in the area of small computers where the domestic market was bound to be large in course of time, since the 1990s regulations on access to imports of hardware have been completely liberalised and duties have been slashed to extremely low levels to support software and services export units. In the event, the domestic hardware market has been swamped by foreign players importing complete knocked-down machines. Domestic demand is largely serviced by foreign brands, with a few stray domestic players accounting for a declining market share, while the domestic "industry", including players who started in hardware such as Wipro, are focused on the services export market.
Given these special privileges granted over a prolonged period, one question that has constantly been posed is whether there are adequate reasons to justify their provision. One ground on which it can be justified is, of course, the fact that the industry is an important foreign exchange earner. With manufacturing having failed to live up to the government's claims on what liberalisation would do to India's industrial competitiveness and export success, this is indeed a contribution that cannot be belittled. But that definitely does not warrant a set of tax concessions that make the effective tax rate less than half of the statutory rate and remain in place for as long as they have. Further, if a visa fee hike can be labelled a protectionist measure that violates trade rules, a tax concession of this kind can be attacked for amounting to an export subsidy that does the same.
The other ground on which prolonged and generous government support can be justified is that the industry is a technology leader and furthers India's push into high technology exports. This is an area where both evidence is thin and unanimity lacking. The industry argues that even though it is a services exporter, it has over the years moved up the value chain and into higher-margin, high-technology areas, rather than surviving on the legacy of cheap skilled labour that the Nehruvian import-substituting strategy has left behind. However, while all of the industry cannot be dismissed as a high-tech sweat-shop exporting cheap skills through actual (H-1B visa-based) or digital migration, there are a number of features of the industry that are disconcerting given its lifespan and the support it has garnered from government.
To start with, while the technology issue remains unresolved and the claims of high- or low-technology dominance unproven, it is true that there are very few software product markets where the Indian industry has found a foothold and even fewer proprietary products in which it commands significant market share. India is a service provider and matters in products only as a supplier of hired engineering support. Secondly, the industry has in recent times been characterised by a much faster growth of the BPO segment, which on no account can be considered a high technology area. Third, the US still accounts for around 60 per cent of the industry's exports and the UK for around 18 per cent, making the industry extremely vulnerable to developments in specific markets. And finally, as is evident from the current controversy over the visa fee hike, the industry is still significantly dependent on onsite delivery of services using cheap Indian staff rather than more expensive local workers, making it susceptible to changes of the recent kind in rules governing the movement of temporary workers.
Put these together and the weaknesses of an industry that has received privileged treatment for more than a decade seem to be one too many. Rather than using its lobbying strength to conceal these weaknesses so as to continue to be favoured, the industry could look inwards and address some of these problems. It obviously has the clout to still influence domestic government policy. But to believe it can pressurise the government of a foreign country which is its main market to ignore its own domestic compulsions is to be overcome by hubris. Maybe the problem is too much protection and pampering at home. Depending less on government support at home could possibly encourage the industry to adopt strategies to meet the rising competitive challenge abroad without having to pay workers less than the going wage.
C.P. Chandrasekhar is Professor at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning at Jawaharlal Nehru University. This article was first published by MacroScan on 31 August 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes.
About C.P. Chandrasekhar
C. P. Chandrasekhar is currently Professor at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has published widely in academic journals and is the co-author of Crisis as Conquest: Learning from East Asia (Orient Longman), The Market that Failed: Neo-Liberal Economic Reforms in India (Leftword Books) and Promoting ICT for Human Development: India (Elsevier).
Dialogue with Open Eyes
Europe in Crisis
Also by C.P. Chandrasekhar
A food crisis not of their making by C.P. Chandrasekhar, Jayati Ghosh September 22, 2022
Capital flight from emerging markets by C.P. Chandrasekhar, Jayati Ghosh July 27, 2022
Why are global wheat prices rising so much? by C.P. Chandrasekhar, Jayati Ghosh June 16, 2022
How emerging markets hurt poor countries by C.P. Chandrasekhar, Jayati Ghosh October 15, 2021


We need to be able to transfer our edited photos from an iPad to a desktop via a cable not wifi!!!
It sure would be nice to be able to look at the photos I shot on my new Olympus TG-5.
Why can't you realize Lightroom mobile needs wired connectivity?


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Illegal tobacco
hooks our kids
and breeds crime.
Oakville – On Friday, Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn stopped by Halton Regional Police's Oakville Division to meet with Crime Stoppers of Halton and learn more about its redesigned website. Thanks to a $14,800 Capital grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF), made in 2015, Crime Stoppers was able to upgrade the site to better serve residents of the region. Joining MPP Flynn at the event was Mark Emmanuel, the Chair of the Halton-Peel Grant Review Team.
"Social media plays an important role in our everyday lives and it is a powerful and effective tool in engaging with a wider public. This is critical when working to ensure the ongoing safety of our community, keeping residents informed quickly and efficiently. Crime Stoppers of Halton is a valued community organization and I am pleased they received this Trillium grant to redesign their website to better serve our community." – Kevin Flynn, MPP for Oakville
The new website (www.haltoncrimestoppers.ca) provides a more powerful platform to alert the public regarding crimes and safety concerns in the various communities throughout Halton Region, as well as flashing messages from social media accounts, including Twitter and Facebook. The site acknowledges various partners who provide support to Crime Stoppers of Halton and the local businesses and organizations that have contributed towards Crime Stoppers, helping it to promote ongoing efforts to combat crime.
"Crime Stoppers of Halton and our regional police services do outstanding work every day to help keep us safe. Our government understands the importance of their hard work and is supporting them so they have the tools they need to protect our communities. This grant will help make Halton Region an even safer place to live, work and play." - Eleanor McMahon, MPP for Burlington
The OTF grant enabled Crime Stoppers to build a vastly improved website that not only includes enhanced features to guarantee the security of tips but provides interactive technology to more effectively serve the diverse communities in Burlington, Oakville, Milton, Georgetown and Acton.
"Crime Stoppers of Halton plays an important role in keeping people safe. Their contributions to our community are significant. I am proud that with this support from our government, Crime Stoppers of Halton will continue to do this great work." – Indira Naidoo-Harris, MPP for Halton
The website can securely take anonymous tips from people via the internet and allows for two-way communication without revealing in any way the identity of individuals providing information on unsolved crimes to Crime Stoppers of Halton.
"Without the generous support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Crime Stoppers of Halton would not have been able to acquire the infrastructure to upgrade and enhance the website to this state-of-the-art point," said Doug Maybee, Chair of Crime Stoppers of Halton. "We are making use of modern technology and the grant from OTF has allowed us to move light-years from where we were when the program first began in 1988."
An agency of the Government of Ontario, the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is one of Canada's largest granting foundations. With a budget of over $136 million, OTF awards grants to some 1,000 projects every year to build healthy and vibrant Ontario communities. www.otf.ca
(From left): Crime Stoppers Board Member Wally Trapler, Crime Stoppers Police Coordinator Jodi Richmond, Crime Stoppers Volunteer Jordan Dryden, MPP Kevin Flynn, Chair of OTF's Halton-Peel Grant Review Team, Mark Emmanuel, Crime Stoppers Board Chair Doug Maybee, Crime Stoppers Board Member Bob Maich, Crime Stoppers Volunteer Kyle Thomas, Crime Stoppers Board Member Ron Van der Steen