text:
#include "board.h"

/*****************************************************************************
 * Private types/enumerations/variables
 ****************************************************************************/

/* Enable the following definition to build this example for interrupt mode */
#define INTERRUPTMODE

/* I2C master handle and memory for ROM API */
static I2C_HANDLE_T *i2cHandleMaster;

/* Use a buffer size larger than the expected return value of
   i2c_get_mem_size() for the static I2C handle type */
static uint32_t i2cMasterHandleMEM[0x20];

/* 1Mbps I2C bit-rate */
#define I2C_BITRATE             (100000)

/** 7-bit and 10-bit I2C addresses */
#define I2C_ADDR_7BIT     (0x48)
#define I2C_ADDR_10BIT    (0x2CA)

#if defined(INTERRUPTMODE)
static volatile int intErrCode;
#endif

/* SysTick rate in Hz */
#define TICKRATE_HZ (10)

/* Current state for LED control via I2C cases */
static volatile int state;

/*****************************************************************************
 * Public types/enumerations/variables
 ****************************************************************************/

/*****************************************************************************
 * Private functions
 ****************************************************************************/

/* Initializes pin muxing for I2C interface - note that SystemInit() may
   already setup your pin muxing at system startup */
static void Init_I2C_PinMux(void)
{
#if defined(BOARD_NXP_LPCXPRESSO_54000)
	/* Connect the I2C_SDA and I2C_SCL signals to port pins(P0.23, P0.24) */
	//FIXME - The IOCON_FASTI2C_EN should not be set
	Chip_IOCON_PinMuxSet(LPC_IOCON, 0, 23, IOCON_FASTI2C_EN | IOCON_MODE_PULLUP | IOCON_FUNC1);
	Chip_IOCON_PinMuxSet(LPC_IOCON, 0, 24, IOCON_FASTI2C_EN | IOCON_MODE_PULLUP | IOCON_FUNC1);

#if (I2C_BITRATE > 400000)
	/* Enable Fast Mode Plus for I2C pins */
	Chip_IOCON_PinMuxSet(LPC_IOCON, 0, 23, IOCON_OPENDRAIN_EN | IOCON_FASTI2C_EN | IOCON_MODE_PULLUP | IOCON_FUNC1);
	Chip_IOCON_PinMuxSet(LPC_IOCON, 0, 24, IOCON_OPENDRAIN_EN | IOCON_FASTI2C_EN | IOCON_MODE_PULLUP | IOCON_FUNC1);
#endif
#else
	/* Configure your own I2C pin muxing here if needed */
#warning No I2C pin muxing defined
#endif
}

/* Turn on LED to indicate an error */
static void errorI2C(void)
{
	Board_LED_Set(0, true);
	while (1) {}
}

/* Setup I2C handle and parameters */
static void setupI2CMaster()
{
	/* Enable I2C clock and reset I2C peripheral - the boot ROM does not
	   do this */
	Chip_I2C_Init(LPC_I2C0);

	/* Perform a sanity check on the storage allocation */
	if (LPC_I2CD_API->i2c_get_mem_size() > sizeof(i2cMasterHandleMEM)) {
		/* Example only: this should never happen and probably isn't needed for
		   most I2C code. */
		errorI2C();
	}

	/* Setup the I2C handle */
	i2cHandleMaster = LPC_I2CD_API->i2c_setup(LPC_I2C0_BASE, i2cMasterHandleMEM);
	if (i2cHandleMaster == NULL) {
		errorI2C();
	}

	/* Set I2C bitrate */
	if (LPC_I2CD_API->i2c_set_bitrate(i2cHandleMaster, Chip_Clock_GetSystemClockRate(),
									  I2C_BITRATE) != LPC_OK) {
		errorI2C();
	}
}

#if defined(INTERRUPTMODE)
/* I2C interrupt callback, called on completion of I2C operation when in
   interrupt mode. Called in interrupt context. */
static void cbI2CComplete(uint32_t err_code, uint32_t n)
{
	intErrCode = (int) err_code;
}

#endif

/* Master transmit in polling or interrupt mode */
static void sendI2CMaster(uint16_t AddressI2C, bool ledStateOut, bool address10Bit)
{
	uint8_t SendData[10];
	I2C_PARAM_T param;
	I2C_RESULT_T result;
	ErrorCode_t error_code;
	int index = 0;

	/* Setup I2C send for address/send, send desired LED state, then stop */
	if (address10Bit) {
		/* 10-bit addressing - 4 MSBs of slave address in first byte of
		   transmit buffer */
		SendData[index++] = (uint8_t) (((AddressI2C >> 7) & 0x06) | 0xF0);
		SendData[index++] = (uint8_t) (AddressI2C & 0x0FF);
	}
	else {
		/* 7-bit address */
		SendData[index++] = (uint8_t) AddressI2C;
	}
	SendData[index++] = (uint8_t) ledStateOut;

	/* Setup I2C paameters for number of bytes with stop - appears as follows on bus:
	   Start - address7 or address10upper - ack
	   (10 bits addressing only) address10lower - ack
	   value 1 - ack
	   value 2 - ack - stop */
	param.num_bytes_send    = index;
	param.buffer_ptr_send   = &SendData[0];
	param.num_bytes_rec     = 0;
	param.stop_flag         = 1;
#if defined(INTERRUPTMODE)
	param.func_pt           = cbI2CComplete;
#endif

	/* Set timeout (much) greater than the transfer length */
	LPC_I2CD_API->i2c_set_timeout(i2cHandleMaster, 100000);

	/* Do master write transfer */
#if defined(INTERRUPTMODE)
	intErrCode = -1;

	/* Function is non-blocking, returned error should be LPC_OK, but isn't checked here */
	error_code = LPC_I2CD_API->i2c_master_transmit_intr(i2cHandleMaster, &param, &result);

	/* Sleep until transfer is complete, but allow IRQ to wake system
	   to handle I2C IRQ */
	while (intErrCode == -1) {
		__WFI();
	}

	/* Cast saved error code from callback */
	error_code = (ErrorCode_t) intErrCode;

#else
	error_code = LPC_I2CD_API->i2c_master_transmit_poll(i2cHandleMaster, &param, &result);
#endif

	/* Completed without erors? */
	if (error_code != LPC_OK) {
		/* Likely cause is NAK */
		DEBUGOUT("i2c_master_transmit error code : %x\r\b", error_code);
		errorI2C();
	}

	/* Note results are only valid when there are no errors */
}

/* Master receive in polling or interrupt mode */
static void readI2CMaster(uint16_t AddressI2C, bool *ledStateIn, bool address10Bit)
{
	uint8_t recvData[10];
	I2C_PARAM_T param;
	I2C_RESULT_T result;
	ErrorCode_t error_code;
	int index = 0;

	/* Setup I2C receive for address/read, read desired LED state, then stop */
	if (address10Bit) {
		/* 10-bit addressing - 4 MSBs of slave address in first byte of
		   transmit buffer */
		recvData[index++] = (uint8_t) (((AddressI2C >> 7) & 0x06) | 0xF0);
		recvData[index++] = (uint8_t) (AddressI2C & 0x0FF);
	}
	else {
		/* 7-bit address */
		recvData[index++] = (uint8_t) AddressI2C;
	}

	/* Setup I2C paameters for number of bytes with stop - appears as follows on bus:
	   Start - address7 or address10upper - ack
	   (10 bits addressing only) address10lower - ack
	   value 1 (read) - ack
	   value 2 read) - ack - stop */
	param.num_bytes_send    = 0;
	param.num_bytes_rec     = 1;
	param.buffer_ptr_rec    = &recvData[0];
	param.stop_flag         = 1;
#if defined(INTERRUPTMODE)
	param.func_pt           = cbI2CComplete;
#endif

	/* Set timeout (much) greater than the transfer length */
	LPC_I2CD_API->i2c_set_timeout(i2cHandleMaster, 100000);

	/* Do master read transfer */
#if defined(INTERRUPTMODE)
	intErrCode = -1;

	/* Function is non-blocking, returned error should be LPC_OK, but isn't checked here */
	error_code = LPC_I2CD_API->i2c_master_receive_intr(i2cHandleMaster, &param, &result);

	/* Sleep until transfer is complete, but allow IRQ to wake system
	   to handle I2C IRQ */
	while (intErrCode == -1) {
		__WFI();
	}

	/* Cast saved error code from callback */
	error_code = (ErrorCode_t) intErrCode;

#else
	error_code = LPC_I2CD_API->i2c_master_receive_poll(i2cHandleMaster, &param, &result);
#endif

	/* Completed without erors? */
	if (error_code != LPC_OK) {
		/* Likely cause is NAK */
		DEBUGOUT("i2c_master_receive error code : %x\r\b", error_code);
		errorI2C();
	}

	/* Note results are only valid when there are no errors */
	*ledStateIn = (bool) recvData[1];
}

#if 0	/* Function not used in this example, provided for reference */
/* Master transmit/receive in polling or interrupt mode */
static void SendReadI2CMaster(uint16_t AddressI2C, bool ledStateOut, bool *ledStateIn, bool address10Bit)
{
	uint8_t recvData[10], sendData[10];
	I2C_PARAM_T param;
	I2C_RESULT_T result;
	ErrorCode_t error_code;
	int sindex = 0, rindex = 0;

	/* Setup I2C send for address/send, send desired LED state, then stop */
	/* Setup I2C receive for address/read, read desired LED state, then stop */
	if (address10Bit) {
		/* 10-bit addressing - 4 MSBs of slave address in first byte of
		   transmit buffer */
		sendData[sindex] = (uint8_t) (((AddressI2C >> 7) & 0x06) | 0xF0);
		recvData[rindex++] = sendData[sindex++];
		sendData[sindex] = (uint8_t) (AddressI2C & 0x0FF);
		recvData[rindex++] = sendData[sindex++];
	}
	else {
		/* 7-bit address */
		sendData[sindex] = (uint8_t) AddressI2C  | 0x01;
		recvData[rindex++] = sendData[sindex++];
	}
	sendData[sindex++] = (uint8_t) ledStateOut;

	/* Setup parameters for transfer */
	param.num_bytes_send    = sindex;
	param.num_bytes_rec     = rindex;
	param.buffer_ptr_send   = &sendData[0];
	param.buffer_ptr_rec    = &recvData[0];
	param.stop_flag         = 1;
#if defined(INTERRUPTMODE)
	param.func_pt           = cbI2CComplete;
#endif

	/* Set timeout (much) greater than the transfer length */
	LPC_I2CD_API->i2c_set_timeout(i2cHandleMaster, 100000);

	/* Do master read transfer */
#if defined(INTERRUPTMODE)
	intErrCode = -1;

	/* Function is non-blocking, returned error should be LPC_OK, but isn't checked here */
	error_code = LPC_I2CD_API->i2c_master_receive_intr(i2cHandleMaster, &param, &result);

	/* Sleep until transfer is complete, but allow IRQ to wake system
	   to handle I2C IRQ */
	while (intErrCode == -1) {
		__WFI();
	}

	/* Cast saved error code from callback */
	error_code = (ErrorCode_t) intErrCode;

#else
	error_code = LPC_I2CD_API->i2c_master_tx_rx_poll(i2cHandleMaster, &param, &result);
#endif

	/* Completed without erors? */
	if (error_code != LPC_OK) {
		/* Likely cause is NAK */
		DEBUGOUT("i2c_master_tx_rx error code : %x\r\b", error_code);
		errorI2C();
	}

	/* Note results are only valid when there are no errors */
	*ledStateIn = (bool) recvData[1];
}

#endif

/*****************************************************************************
 * Public functions
 ****************************************************************************/

#if defined(INTERRUPTMODE)
/**
 * @brief	I2C interrupt handler
 * @return	Nothing
 */
void I2C0_IRQHandler(void)
{
	/* Call I2C ISR function in ROM with the I2C handle */
	LPC_I2CD_API->i2c_isr_handler(i2cHandleMaster);
}

#endif

/**
 * @brief	Handle interrupt from SysTick timer
 * @return	Nothing
 */
void SysTick_Handler(void)
{
	static int ticks = 0;

	ticks++;
	if (ticks > TICKRATE_HZ) {
		ticks = 0;
		state = 1 - state;
	}
}

/**
 * @brief	Main routine for I2C example
 * @return	Function should not exit
 */
int main(void)
{
	bool ledState = false;
	int lastState = -1;

	/* Generic Initialization */
	SystemCoreClockUpdate();
	Board_Init();

	Board_LED_Set(0, false);

	/* Setup I2C pin muxing */
	Init_I2C_PinMux();

	/* Allocate I2C handle, setup I2C rate, and initialize I2C
	   clocking */
	setupI2CMaster();

#if defined(INTERRUPTMODE)
	/* Enable the interrupt for the I2C */
	NVIC_EnableIRQ(I2C0_IRQn);
#endif

	/* Enable SysTick Timer */
	SysTick_Config(SystemCoreClock / TICKRATE_HZ);

	/* Toggle LED on other board via I2C */
	while (1) {
		/* Sleep until a state change occurs in SysTick */
		while (lastState == state) {
			__WFI();
		}

		/* Handle states */
		switch (state) {
		case 0:
			/* Set LED state on other board */
			sendI2CMaster(I2C_ADDR_7BIT, ledState, false);
			break;

		case 1:
		default:
			/* Get LED state on other board */
			readI2CMaster(I2C_ADDR_7BIT, &ledState, false);
			break;
		}

		lastState = state;

		/* Match this board's LED to other boards state */
		Board_LED_Set(0, ledState);
	}
	return 0;
}


Acer's dual-screen Iconia laptop is bold, for sure -- eschewing a physical keyboard for another display -- but its LCD panels are also mighty glossy. If you've got a light in the vicinity above you, there's gonna be glare -- we saw it on stage, and we just saw it now in person. That said, the screen is clear and the touch functionality is pretty clever (five fingers open up a widget where you can scroll through other touch-friendly apps). The keyboard, on the other hand, is pretty hard to use -- even the rep admitted there's a learning curve. You can't rest your fingers down without hitting something, of course. We managed to browse to Engadget, but it took several tries. Check out the photos below!
Update: Now with video! It's after the break.


text:
From My Death Bed I Was Healed
We have had national impact in Samoa, like this Article by Ilia L. Likou, 19 April 2016, Samoan Observer
Leilua Ai has a story to tell.
The 76-year-old mother and grandmother from Satuimalufilufi is counting every day as a blessing after she was able to walk again, thanking God for her miracle. The elderly mother received her miracle during a service she attended in American Samoa where Evangelist Joseph Lee was preaching and from there she lives to tell her story.
"I was working at my plantation one day when I felt a strange pain in one of my legs," she said, "The very next day, I went to the hospital and an operation was carried out to get rid of the lump. They also gave me some pills to take." But it was temporary relief.
"I was lying, dying on my bed for four weeks without food or water," she recalls.
"I asked my husband that I wanted to go to American Samoa to see our family doctor but he refused because of my condition. I still begged him that we need to go – then we went to American Samoa."
Mrs. Ai said that she remembered vividly how her dying body was taken inside the plane with crutches to help. "I was on my wheelchair unable to move or walk … when we were about (with her daughter) to enter inside the chapel, I felt something flowing into me from my head to my toes like an electric fire.
Then I heard Evangelist, Joseph Lee calling from the altar that 'there's fire in the house… there's someone with a fire, in the Mighty Name of Jesus, stand up and walk again.' I didn't understand that I was the one that Joseph called.
"All I could feel was that my body was electrifying and I shook horribly…I tried to stand up and surprisingly I did, the pain left me that fast…I jumped up and down as if I wasn't on my bed for the last four to five weeks.
"That healing power touched me, I stood and walked unassisted from where I was sitting at the back of the crowd to the front…and I danced in His presence. "My leg was strengthened and it kept gaining strength, making it possible for me to stand and walk alone."
Leilua said people who had known about her condition could only marvel at the transformation that had taken place and her strength as she walked unaided back home. "Inside the chapel after the service, I grabbed my crutches with my own two hands and walked home freely," she said.
"The healing made me weep…. Jesus healed me instantly…. and I am healed by the Grace of God."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
European Championships Lisbon - Event
Home » Event » European Championships Lisbon » Judo results
European Championships Lisbon
Date: 16 Apr 2021 - 18 Apr 2021
Place: Lisbon, Portugal
Type: European Championships
Comparable competitions:
Select... European Championships Prague (2020) European Games Minsk (2019) European Championships Tel Aviv (2018) European Championships Warsaw (2017) European Championships Kazan (2016) European Games Baku (2015) European Championships Montpellier (2014) European Championships Budapest (2013) European Championships Chelyabinsk (2012) European Championships Istanbul (2011) European Championships Vienna (2010) European Championships Tbilisi (2009) European Championships Lisbon (2008) European Championships Belgrade (2007) European Championships Tampere (2006) European Championships Rotterdam (2005) European Championships Bucharest (2004) European Championships Düsseldorf (2003) European Championships Maribor (2002) European Championships Paris (2001) European Championships Wroclaw (2000) European Championships Bratislava (1999) European Championships Oviedo (1998) European Championships Oostende (1997) European Championships The Hague (1996) European Championships Birmingham (1995) European Championships Gdansk (1994) European Championships Athens (1993) European Championships Paris (1992) European Championships Prague (1991) European Championships Frankfurt (1990) European Championships Helsinki (1989) European Championships Pamplona (1988) European Championships Paris (1987) European Championships Belgrade (1986) European Championships women London (1986) European Championships Hamar (1985) European Championships women Landskrona (1985) European Championships Liege (1984) European Championships women Pirmasens (1984) European Championships Paris (1983) European Championships women Genoa (1983) European Championships women Oslo (1982) European Championships Rostock (1982) European Championships women Madrid (1981) European Championships Debrecen (1981) European Championships Vienna (1980) European Championships women Udine (1980) European Championships Brussels (1979) European Championships women Kerkrade (1979) European Championships Helsinki (1978) European Championships women Cologne (1978) European Championships Ludwigshafen (1977) European Championships women Arlon (1977) European Championships women Vienna (1976) European Championships Kiev (1976) European Championships women Munich (1975) European Championships Lyon (1975) European Championships London (1974) European Championships Madrid (1973) European Championships Voorburg (1972) European Championships Göteborg (1971) European Championships Berlin (1970) European Championships Oostende (1969) European Championships Lausanne (1968) European Championships Rome (1967) European Championships Luxembourg (1966) European Championships Madrid (1965) European Championships Amateurs Madrid (1965) European Championships Amateurs Berlin (1964) European Championships Berlin (1964) European Championships Genève (1963) European Championships Amateurs Genève (1963) European Championships Amateurs Essen (1962) European Championships Essen (1962) European Championships Milano (1961) European Championships Amsterdam (1960) European Championships Vienna (1959) European Championships Barcelona (1958) European Championships Rotterdam (1957) European Championships Paris (1955) European Championships Brussels (1954) European Championships London (1953) European Championships Paris (1952) European Championships Paris (1951) European Championships Dresden (1934)
Judo news
Budapest will host the Judo World Championships in June
Budapest will host the Judo World Championships in 2021 which will be a qualifier for the Tokyo Olympic Games and held from 6-13 June. The IJF now confirmed the championships in the Hungarian capital. Read more
Ylenia Scapin: The Judo Day of my Life
Italian coach Ylenia Scapin won two Olympic medals in her career. Bronze in Atlanta in 1996 U72kg and bronze in Sydney in 2000 U70kg. After the Olympic Games she competed U63kg but switched back to U70kg in 2007. Scapin is still influential as a coach and helped Alice Bellandi to the Junior World title. She was coached herself by European, World and Olympic medallist Felice Mariani. We go back in time with Ylenia and wondered about one, now familiar, question … "If you could live one day from your competitive judo life again, exactly as it happened, with no changes. Read more
Grand Slam Tel Aviv 2021
Majlinda Kelmendi
(Kosovo)
Grand Slam Düsseldorf 2020


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A prestigious member-owned country club on the North Shore of Massachusetts has an 18-hole golf course located on a tidally influenced waterway that is experiencing coastal erosion. The owners wanted to determine the extent of shoreline erosion abutting the golf course. Meridian Associates conducted wetland delineation services along with both a traditional land survey and an aerial LiDAR survey.
Mapped wetland areas captured coastal and inland wetland resource areas such as salt marsh, coastal bank, land subject to coastal storm flowage, rocky intertidal shore, coastal beach, tidal flats, riverfront area, bordering vegetated wetlands, and the abutting land subject to flooding. The challenges of the project were to get a complete survey of the tidal zone from the low water mark to 50 feet seaward of the shoreline. Using the aerial LiDAR survey data, a complete 3D point cloud was created and then used to display contours. LiDAR data was collected over two days compared to a week or more effort required using traditional survey. Data was collected from an altitude of 50 meters and a speed of 20 kilometers per hour. Meridian used the 3D point cloud data to create a record conditions plan that depicts the delineated wetland resource areas and the eroded coastline in need of remediation.


text:
PATRICK COMERFORD: an online journal on Anglicanism, theology, spirituality, history, architecture, travel, poetry, beach walks ... and more
Meet me in Lichfield
Limerick Cathedrals and Churches
Visiting Synagogues
Plassey House, the former
country villa at the heart of
the University of Limerick
Plassey House at the University of Limerick takes its name from a victory by Clive of India (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
Patrick Comerford
On Friday afternoon, thanks to the generosity of a writer friend, two of us had lunch in the East Room at Plassey House on the campus of the University of Limerick, at a window looking out onto grass lawns, and the 'Living Bridge' over the Rover Shannon, that links the south bank of the campus in Co Limerick with campus on the north bank of the River Shannon in Co Clare.
Plassey House, at the heart of the campus, provides a focal point for the surrounding area, and is an elegant example of a Georgian villa style country house. It was first built around 1770 and was rebuilt in the 1870s in the Italianate style.
Plassey is on the edges of Limerick City, about 5 km upstream on the River Shannon from the city centre, near the suburbs of Castletroy and Monaleen. The University of Limerick has its main campus here, and Plassey House, once a country house, now serves as the university's administrative centre.
The name of both Plassey House and the former Plassey Estate, beside the village of Quin in Co Clare, were inspired by a famous victory by Sir Robert Clive (1725-1774), Lord Clive ('Clive of India').
The Battle of Plassey or Palasi was fought in Bengal on 23 June 1757, and led to the British conquest of India. A combined French and Indian force had captured Calcutta in 1756, but Clive defeated this force a year later near the village of Palasi, 120 km north of Calcutta. Palasi was the residence of the Nawab of Bengal and he used it as his operation base, and Clive's victory secured the commercial rights to India for the British East India Company.
Clive subsequently gave the name Palasi to the Plassey Estate he acquired beside the village of Quin in Co Clare. When Clive of India was given a title in 1762, it was an Irish peerage with the title of Baron Clive of Plassey, Co Clare, which did not entitle him to a seat in the House of Lords in London.
When Parliament began investigating Clive's wealth, he completed suicide by cutting his throat in his London townhouse in Berkeley Square. His title and estates passed to his son, Edward Clive (1754-1839), who later became Earl of Powis. Clive's estate in Co Clare was inherited by his descendants, but were sold in the early 1840s by Edward Clive (1785-1848), 2nd Earl of Powis.
The Russell family acquired Plassey House near Limerick and also owned the nearby Plassey Mills. They extended Plassey House around 1875, when the work was designed by the Limerick-born architect William Fogerty, although some sources say the house was designed by Sir Charles Lanyon (1813-1889).
Plassey House was first built by the Maunsell family in 1790 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
Plassey House in Limerick was first built in 1790 by Thomas Maunsell. The Maunsell family were originally from Buckinghamshire. They settled in Co Waterford, in the early 16th century and received lands in counties Galway and Limerick in the 17th century.
Richard Maunsell settled in Limerick in the 18th century and was MP for the city in 1741-1761. His eldest son, Thomas Mansell, MP for Kilmallock, married Dorothea Waller of Castle Waller and they had four sons: Richard Maunsell, who died in America; Thomas Maunsell, who built Plassey House; Robert Maunsell, of Bank Place, Limerick; and the Very Revd George Maunsell, Dean of Leighlin.
Robert Maunsell had a distinguished career in India and when he returned to Ireland in 1789, he founded Maunsell's Bank with his brother Thomas and Sir Matthew Blakiston.
Thomas Maunsell built his house in an area originally known as Ballykilty, and he named his new home Plassey House to emphasise his kinship with the Clive family.
Plassey House was inherited by Thomas Maunsell's daughter Elizabeth, who married her first cousin, Major Robert Hedges Eyre Maunsell, the son of Dean George Maunsell of Leighlin.
Inside Plassey House … it was rebuilt by Russell family in the 1870s (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
From the 1830s to 1850s, Reuben Harvey was living in Plassey House as a tenant of the trustees of Mrs Hedges Maunsell. By 1868, it was the home of Richard Russell. The Maunsell and Russell families were related by marriage and Richard Hedges Russell established the Russell Mills in the 1820s.
By the 1860s, the Russells employed over 2,000 people in Limerick city and owned a large fleet of sailing boats and steamships. The family was hit by tragedy when the brothers Richard and Francis Russell died on the same day, 29 August 1871, in strange circumstances.
Plassey House was the home of John Norris Russell in the 1870s. Later, it was the home of the Bailey family (1905-1932), before it was acquired in 1933 by Patrick Keating from Co Clare, who had made his fortune in China and lost it again in the economic upheavals of the day.
When Patrick Keating died in 1961, the estate was bought by the Rehabilitation Institute of Ireland, and then in 1970 by the new National Institute for Higher Education. Thomond College of Education, Limerick, was also located on the same campus and was later dissolved and integrated into the university.
Moves to establish the University of Limerick can be traced back to 1845, when the Mayor of Limerick led a delegation to London to argue the case for Limerick as the location for one of the proposed Queen's Colleges. However, Cork and Galway were chosen instead.
The Limerick University Project Committee was launched in the 1960s. The government responded by announcing the establishment of an institute of higher education in Limerick. It was claimed that this would be 'better than a university.'
People in Limerick were not impressed, even when the project was described as 'Ireland's MIT,' and the demand for a traditional university persisted for many years.
Other sites had been proposed for the campus, including the vacant Mungret College near the cement factory, an adjacent site near the Raheen industrial estate, and an old military camp at Knockalisheen. Plassey House and 240 hectares of prime agricultural land were bought for £70,000, providing a unique riverbank campus, with wooded rolling lands and islands.
A 20-year plan for a university of 8,000 students was drawn up, with a commitment to quality through architecture of the highest standing and an environment where teaching and scholarship of excellence would be planned and implemented.
Plassey House has been at heart of the University of Limerick since the 1970s (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
A pilot group of 100 students was enrolled in the old house on the campus site at Plassey House in 1972, and the project attracted funding from the World Bank and the European Investment Bank.
The University of Limerick was established by legislation in 1989, becoming the first new university in the history of the State. By the time it celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1997, the University of Limerick had made its mark nationally.
Plassey House is a detached L-plan multiple-bay two-storey country house, first built around 1770, and rebuilt in the 1870s. The house was redesigned in the Florentine palazzo style by the Limerick-born architect William Fogerty (1833-1878), who practised in Limerick, London, New York and Dublin.
Fogerty was born in 1833 or 1834, the second son of John Fogerty of Limerick, and a younger brother of the architect Joseph Fogerty. He began practising as an architect in Limerick with his father in the 1850s, and was working from 97 George's Street, Limerick, in 1861-1863.
His other works in Limerick include the Protestant Orphan Society Hall, the apse in the former Holy Trinity Church, Catherine Street, the Tait Memorial Clock in Baker Place, Adare Methodist Church, Adare Courthouse, and the Goold Cross in Athea.
He moved to Dublin in 1863 or 1864, and he was working from offices at 23 Harcourt Street, Dublin, when he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland (FRIAI) in 1863 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1868.
After a tour of Italy with Thomas Henry Longfield, he moved in 1870 or 1871 to London, where his brother was already practising as an architect. There he practised from 8 Buckingham Street, The Strand.
From London, Fogerty emigrated to New York in 1872-1873, but he had returned to returning to Ireland by 1875, and he was President of the Association of Architects of Ireland in 1876-1877.
https://www.patrickcomerford.com/2018/11/a-high-cross-in-athea-recalls-kind.html He announced in the Irish Builder on 1 March 1875 that he had resumed practice at 23 Harcourt Street. His works in Dublin include the Scots Presbyterian Church in Abbey Street.
He continued to practise from 23 Harcourt Street until his untimely death from smallpox at the age of 44 on 22 May 1878, having been 'in excellent health up to the period of the fatal attack.' He was buried in the graveyard at Saint Munchin's Church, Limerick. He was survived by a young son, John Frederick Fogerty, who also became an architect.
The portico at Plassey House has Corinthian style columns supporting an entablature with render cornice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
The main part of Plassey House is a three-bay front block with a pedimented shallow breakfront that has a single-storey portico. This portico has Corinthian style columns supporting an entablature with render cornice. The square-headed opening has a glazed overlight over half-glazed, double-leaf timber panelled doors with flanking sidelights. Inside, there is ornate cornicing to interior.
There is a recessed, two-bay, three-storey block to the west with a two-bay, two-storey extension, and there are recent extensions to the rear.
The square-headed openings on the ground floor have two-over-two pane timber sliding sash windows with flanking Corinthian style pilasters and render sills. There are square-headed openings on the first floor with two-over-two pane timber sliding sash windows, render entablatures, sills and continuous sills course. Those on the west block have pedimented architraves.
The rendered walls have quoins and plinth courses. The house has hipped slate roofs with a bracketed eaves course and rendered chimneystacks.
The fountain in front of the house is said to have been excavated from the ruins of Pompeii in 1763.
Today Plassey House is at the centre of the University of Limerick, housing the offices of the President and his immediate staff, and hosting important meetings and events. Plassey House also houses some of the university's visual art collections, including the National Self Portrait Collection of Ireland and the Irish American Cultural Institute's O'Malley Collection, which includes paintings by Mainie Jellett, Evie Hone, Paul Henry and Jack B Yeats.
The stairs at Plassey House … once home of the Maunsell and Russell families (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
Posted by Patrick Comerford at 18:30 No comments:
Labels: Architecture, Limerick, Local History, River Shannon, University of Limerick
Praying in Advent with USPG
and Lichfield Cathedral
(5): 5 December 2018
The High Leigh Conference Centre in Hertfordshire … the venue earlier this year for the USPG Conference, 'All Things Are Possible' (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
Throughout the season of Advent this year, I am spending a short time of prayer and reflection each morning, using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), and the Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar for 2018 being used in Lichfield Cathedral.
USPG, founded in 1701, is an Anglican mission agency supporting churches around the world in their mission to bring fullness of life to the communities they serve.
USPG is the Anglican mission agency that partners churches and communities worldwide in God's mission to enliven faith, strengthen relationships, unlock potential, and champion justice.
Under the title Pray with the World Church, the current USPG prayer diary (7 October 2018 to 16 February 2019), offers prayers and reflections from the Anglican Communion.
We are in the middle of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, and the USPG Prayer Diary begins this week with an extract from a speech given at this year's USPG Conference, 'All Things Are Possible,' in High Leigh by Jessica Richards, co-ordinator for Campaigns and Advocacy in the Church of South India.
The USPG Prayer Diary:
Wednesday 5 December 2018:
Give thanks for the efforts of the Church of South India to end the abuse of girls from all cultures and backgrounds.
The Choir Stalls in Lichfield Cathedral after Choral Evensong (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
Lichfield Cathedral Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar:
Lichfield Cathedral's Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar for 2018 suggests you light your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray. It suggests setting aside five to 15 minutes each day.
Buy or use a special candle to light each day as you read and pray through the suggestions on the calendar. Each week there is a suggestion to 'eat simply' – try going without so many calories or too much rich food, just have enough. There is a suggestion to donate to a charity working with the homeless. There is encouragement to pray through what you see and notice going on around you in people, the media and nature.
The calendar is for not only for those who use the Cathedral website and for the Cathedral community. It is also for anyone who wants to share in the daily devotional exercise. The calendar suggests lighting your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray.
Today's suggested reading is Matthew 25: 29-37.
The reflection for today suggests:
As you receive and hear appeals for charity, act on your generous instincts. Pray for a charity working with the homeless. Give them a gift.
Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland):
Isaiah 25: 6-10a; Psalm 23; Matthew 15: 29-37.
Collect:
Almighty God,
Give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light
now in the time of this mortal life
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Post Communion Prayer:
God our deliverer,
Awaken our hearts
to prepare the way for the advent of your Son,
that, with minds purified by the grace of his coming,
we may serve you faithfully all our days;
Yesterday's reflection.
Continued tomorrow.
Labels: Advent 2018, Lichfield, Lichfield Cathedral, Mission, Prayer, USPG, USPG High Leigh 2018
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'Highly Commended' in the 'Blog' category in the communications awards at the General Synod of the Church of Ireland, 2013; Runner-up, 2010; Winner, 2009; Runner-up, 2008
Plassey House, the former country villa at the hea...
Praying in Advent with USPG and Lichfield Cathedra...


You can create your business to help make the most of both equally. Even though virtually any enterprise is working under important cuts, at least one issue that attacks these people first is usually to avoid throwing away. For everybody who is trying to wide open some sort of business organization, listed here are several components of recommendation that you might pursue.
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text:
Q: Micro service architecture in Angular I have 4 angular apps, let say A,B,C and D. Each apps are independent to each other and having their own node_modules.
I want to create an app which should have navigation for A,B,C and D, lets say this app as Shell app. Shell app should be independent of other apps, it should have its own node_modules. It should have header and footer and content section. In content section, micro apps should load. Once micro app gets loaded in content section, it's navigation should work as it is; it was working while running as individual app.
I am trying to achieve here micro-service architecture but I am not sure what should be my approach to achieve this in Angular.
Can anyone please guide or help.

A: Micro services in not the correct term for frontend side.
Take a look at micro frontend architecture:

Micro frontends follow the same principle as microservices on the backend. Each application lives independently and has a well defined objective.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Good health is a gift we give ourselves and our loved ones. You can't pour from an empty cup.
My Juice Plus+ virtual franchise is a global network marketing business engaged in selling Juice Plus+ whole food nutritional products and the Tower Garden by Juice Plus+, a vertical aeroponic gardening system.
After many years of being a successful real estate agent, running that gauntlet with energy from the Juice Plus+ products, I decided to look for a new business. That business needed to fulfill a list of criteria including giving me more free time. Owning a Juice Plus+ virtual franchise was the answer.
What is Juice Plus+? It is whole food based nutrition, from the blended juice powder concentrates of 30 different fruits, vegetables and grains. We all want to eat right and maintain a healthier lifestyle; however, that's often a challenge. Juice Plus+ helps bridge the gap between what we should and what we do eat every day.
More than 30 clinical research studies have showcased the benefits of adding Juice Plus+ to your diet. If you'd like to learn more, let's chat!


Oh! What is going in this kitchen of hers? Pancakes! Waffles! Scrambled eggs! And a Jamaican Giraffe?
Our Deluxe Boxed-Set Edition of Hey A.J., It's Saturday! is a great gift! We've gone the extra mile to provide an embossed UV package with a magnetic hinged lid and a pink satin puller ribbon. Inside you will find a Hardback version of " Hey A.J. It's Bedtime" with a surprise color cloth cover in yellow, pink, purple or blue underneath. With everything perfectly sealed in a dust jacket that has gloss lamination and aqueous varnishing, this is the perfect gift for any occasion – whether it's bedtime or party time!


text:
Q: Where am I going wrong, analyse the existence and uniqueness of $y'=y^\frac{1}{2}$ $y(0)=0$ I ended up with the solution $y=\frac{x^2}{4}+xc+c^2$, and using the fact that $y(0)=0$ this simplifies to $y=\frac{x^2}{4}$.  So a solution exists and it is unique.
Also, I was trying to apply existence uniqueness theorems to the problem but had no success. Using Picard's theorem was inconclusive because if $f(x,y)=y^{1/2}$ then $\frac{df}{dy}$=$\frac{1}{2y^{1/2}}$, and this is not continous on any rectangle centred on $(0,0)$


text:
Q: How do I get VS2015 to rightly reject use of a class prefix in the class declaration? I recently copy and pasted a C++ member function from my cpp file into the header and forgot to remove the prefix. So, in the cpp file, I had something like:
int MyClass::Return42() const { return 42; }

and, in my header:
class MyClass {
public:
    int MyClass::Return42() const;
};

Now I'm sure I've done that before and had the compiler complain bitterly that it was not allowed, requiring the removal of the class prefix in the header. In fact g++ 5.4.0 complains about it under Linux regardless of which ISO standard I target (11 through 17), using a single file (though -fpermissive will turn this into a warning rather than an error):
#include <iostream>

class MyClass {
public:
    int MyClass::Return42() const;
};

int MyClass::Return42() const { return 42; }

int main() {
    MyClass x;
    std::cout << x.Return42() << '\n';
}

But I find that my brand new install of VsPro15 appears to allow that.
How do I get Visual Studio to reject this invalid code, given I'd like my code to be portable across different platforms?

I am aware of the suggested solutions involving /permissive- and /Ze.
For the first, even with VS2k15 Update 3, entering /permissive- into the Project properties | C/C++ | Command Line | Aditional Options field, results in:

2>cl : Command line warning D9002: ignoring unknown option '/permissive-'

For the second, I see:

2>cl : Command line warning D9035: option 'Ze' has been deprecated and will be removed in a future release

but it compiles the errant code anyway.
So I don't believe that either is a viable solution.

A: As far as I know, you will not be able no make VS2015 warn about this.
This document states that you need the /permissive- switch in order to get this specific warning. It also states that it should be included in VS2015. Maybe this is a compiler bug?
In VS2017 however, you are able to use the /permissive- switch, to make the compiler more standard conform (this is also a hint, that it is not standard conform, but I cannot find the right place in the standrad -- maybe someone can fill it in), see here.
With this you get the foillowing warning:
error C4596: 'Return42': illegal qualified name in member declaration

The warning you want can also be triggered using /we4596 to only enable this warning instead of all coming from a more standard conform compiler.
When I understand the documentation correctly, in VS2015 you can use the /Ze switch (in contrast to /permissive-), however, when I used the compiler-explorer correctly, this still does not warn, see here. The /Ze switch is also discussed in this SO question.
EDIT:
I found this where it says that Warning C4596 is introduced in the compiler version 19.00.24215.1. Compiler explorer currently features an older compiler (i.e. 19.00.24210), so this might be a reason for it not working.

A: look for C4596 int the following article:
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/vcblog/2016/11/16/permissive-switch/
//Use of qualified names in member declarations

struct A {
    void A::f() { } // error C4596: illegal qualified name in member declaration
                    // remove redundant 'A::' to fix
};

A: Warning Level documentation

/wennnn:   Treats the compiler warning that is specified by nnnn as an error.

So according to @p-i's comment above, for warning C4596, adding parameter /we4596 does the trick then.
<source>(5): error C4596: 'Return42': illegal qualified name in member declaration
Compiler returned: 2

While adding /w14596 only issues as warning, if you prefered.
<source>(5): warning C4596: 'Return42': illegal qualified name in member declaration
Compiler returned: 0

As @p-i comments below, this is for VS2017++ only.


I'm a US citizen and I'm filing for my immigrant wife to USCIS. Our issue is we're going to be sending out copies of 2 marriage certificates. My wife and I were married twice. The first time was considered void as my divorce to my ex wasn't completed. After succesfully divorcing my ex, my 2nd wife and I got married again.
Can you check if my letter is considered okay?
A letter that gets to the point but at the same time wouldn't reflect negatively to our case.
Included in this package are two (2) marriage certificates.
The explanation is that when I got married on >date< I wrongly believed that my divorce was completed. I have since then completed the divorce with my wife >first wife name<.
Any feedback would be welcome. Thank you in advance.
The officials are only concerned that you are legally married to your wife.
The first certificate, dated, < date>, is void because as of that date, the divorce to my first wife had not been completely finalized.
The second certificate dated, < date 2 > is legal proof of our marriage.


text:
Leioproctus douglasiellus är en biart som beskrevs av Michener 1965. Leioproctus douglasiellus ingår i släktet Leioproctus och familjen korttungebin. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Korttungebin
douglasiellus

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: t-test and computing p-values in R
There is a data set "Wine" from pack "candisc". The task is to compare "grignolino" and "barbera" in turms of their parameter AlcAsh with the use of t-test. What is the p-value? The answer is to be given with rounding to the fifth digit.

I took an attempt to solve the task, here is the code.
dat<-Wine[Wine$Cultivar == c('grignolino', 'barbera'), ]
tt<-t.test(AlcAsh~Cultivar, dat)
tt$p.value
[1] 0.01467608

The p-value was computed incorrectly.
  What the problem might be?

A: LOL lots of possibilities lets start with:
dat<-Wine[Wine$Cultivar %in% c('grignolino', 'barbera'), ]
tt<-t.test(AlcAsh~Cultivar, dat, var.equal = TRUE)
tt$p.value
[1] 0.03519209
tt<-t.test(AlcAsh~Cultivar, dat, var.equal = FALSE)
tt$p.value
[1] 0.02365085

or could be it's one-sided or ...


text:
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A leading producer of medical, dental and veterinary equipment, Midmark Corp., employs more than 980 in Versailles
Business | Aug 27, 2018
By Thomas Gnau
Midmark Corp., a Miami Twp.-based provider of medical, dental and veterinary equipment products, has launched a new corporate brand identity.
The company said the new brand and logo "capture the company's commitment to a better care experience and the growing value Midmark offers customers as they focus on improving clinical outcomes."
MORE: 'We're back,' declares the CEO of Huffy
The new brand identity includes a new website, logo, tagline. The unveiling of the brand "mirrors the transformation of Midmark from an equipment manufacturer into a clinical environmental design company that enables a better care experience for caregivers and patients in medical, dental and animal health industries," Midmark said in an announcement Monday.
"Care providers are always looking for new approaches, innovative technologies and proven solutions that can help enhance the patient and caregiver experience and improve the quality of care provided," John Baumann, Midmark president and chief executive, said in the company's statement. "At Midmark, improving the experience between the patient and caregiver is at the heart of everything we do."
MORE: So how's your 401(k)?
Midmark employs more than 1,850 people globally, with about 980 of them working in the Dayton-area and Versailles locations, the company told this news outlet in March.
The company has grown from 700 employees to more than 1,850 in the last decade, across 12 locations. In the last two-and a-half years, Midmark has hired about 200 people at the Dayton and Versailles locations.
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text:
humanitarian causes
Nelson & Eddy's baptism (USA)
On March 5, 2011, the twins Nelson & Eddy, five months, were baptized at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Las Vegas.
Drawing some 200 friends and family members – including Dion's fertility specialist, the doctors who delivered the twins, as well as the six oncologists who treated Angélil in 1999 during his bout with throat cancer – the Melkite Greek Catholic ceremony honoring the heritage of Angélil included songs and prayer chants. Outfitted in sweeping eggshell-white Baby Dior gowns, each delicately accented with lace, Eddy and Nelson "were perfect angels – they didn't cry once," says Dion's longtime rep Kim Jakwerth. Nelson and Eddy have no less than five godparents – among them, René Angélil's other sons Patrick and Jean-Pierre, Céline Dion's sister Linda, the twins' 10-year-old big brother René-Charles and Angelil's daughter Anne-Marie.
Following the ceremony, the family of five and their guests partied the afternoon away in the Garden of the Gods pool at Caesars Palace.
Celine Dion wore a creation by Oscar de la Renta.
+ 6 pictures
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text:
Is January Date Feasible For 2011 Elections?
The passion for credible polls, come 2011, has become so palpable that whenever it is being talked about, it whips up sentiments with such unimaginable intensity. Its echoes resonate across the length and breath of the country. The government itself is so serious that it has made it a recurring mantra. President Jonathan at every given opportunity reassures Nigerians, and indeed the international community that we can get it right this time by having a free, fair and credible election in 2011. And he made good his promise by putting the right foot forward in his appointment of an acclaimed man of integrity and renowned activist to umpire the 2011 elections. For the National Assembly, they legislated that from 2011, the nation's general election should take place in January instead of the previous April timing. They reasoned that this time will allow all litigations and elections petitions to be sorted out within 90 days before swearing-in on May 29, thereby curbing the scenario of having a prolonged court judgement that sometimes last two to three years into the tenure of those involved. Plausible as the new law seems, there are so many concerns that it brings to bare. A major one among these is the revelation by Prof. Atahiru Jega after their retreat in Oyo that the present voters' register is replete with massive inadequacies and demanded a compilation of a credible voters register putting the cost at about N74 billion which must be provided within weeks or salvage the existing one. According to an INEC Commissioner, having a credible voters register means having 80 per cent of the herculean task solved. Nigerians themselves are resolute in their demand for new voters register as it is seen as the only reliable foundation for the process.
Besides, there is the issue of the Amended Constitution which the National Assembly is saying does not need the President's assent because it has passed through two-third of the states thus an Act of Parliament, while Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) has gone to court praying it should not come to force until the president gives his assent. Every other logistics that can make credible polls achievable is tied to this Amended Constitution and January 2011 is barely four months away. Where do we go from here? The Tide on Sunday, this week sampled the views of some people on whether the January 2011 date is feasible. Excerpts:
Past. Caleb Ajagba, National Coordinator ITPI
A look at the level of preparedness of INEC and the political class would reveal that:
* Structures for a credible election are not yet in place – Review of voters is yet to be done and if this is not done a lot of people especially those who have just turned 18 years or not register earlier would be disenfranchised.
* Fund required by INEC to put all these structures in place is not released to them yet.
* Political parties are not ready. There is a lot of intra party crisis rocking most of the parties.
* Parties are yet to conduct primaries to select candidates who are to stand in an election that is barely 4 months or about 120 days away.
* Electorates don't even know those they are voting for. The implication of this is that electoral apathy is likely to persist if candidates aspiring to various offices are not known. When candidates are relatively unknown money politics is fuelled since candidates would resort to buying votes if they cannot reach the masses to canvass for votes.
* Manifesto of the parties are not available on the basis of which electoral promises would be made to the masses by the various parties to convince them to vote for their candidates.
A credible election is not just one where there is absence of ballot stuffing and hijacking of electoral materials or outright violence and intimidation of voters by political opponents and their paid agents.
Rigging and subversion of mandate of the people can and will occur when:
* Qualified electorates are disenfranchised due to lack of registration of qualified electorate.
* Where there is no verifiable list of registered voters on constituency basis
* Where there is little or no voter education or enlightenment
* Where there is no well coordinated and understood electoral promises based on clear-cut manifesto that can assist the electorates to make informed electoral decisions.
* Where there is poor delimitation of electoral constituencies, hidden polling stations and unavailability of voting materials on election days.
So my suggestion is that the elections should be postponed till April 2011 and all structures should be put in place. 2011 elections are so crucial to the survival of this nation that we cannot afford to toy with it due to shoddy preparations. It is better delayed to enable INEC put all structures in order if we want a credible election than a rush into it and thereafter be confronted by a tale of woes and unending litigations.
SP Lucky J. Yowika (Rtd)
To get the 2011 elections right is a task that must be done. It is not going to be a tea party, anyway. And the manner in which everyone is calling for a free, fair and credible polls suggest that the people want it free, and will do anything to assist the INEC get it right. Youth bodies, women groups and their male counterparts are daily coming out through paid and none paid publicities calling on the Federal Government to do all within its capacity to get an election outcome reminiscent of 1993 which have been adjudged the best so far done in Nigeria.
Skeptics however are of the opinion that INEC cannot conduct a free and fair polls with the short period of January 2011 given to it by the National Assembly through the recently electoral act. As a result they are putting forward the suggestion that the election be shifted to April, 2011 or thereabout. They have a point, no doubt, but forgot the fact that Nigeria is a system where the more time we have, the more we perform woefully.
Is our economy better because we have spent 50 years as independent? Has our administration performed better with time? Is there any way in which we as a people are doing better because as a nation we are ageing? Yes, I sincerely support the majority of Nigerians who are optimistic that INEC can churn out even a better election than in 1993, with good planning and the right logistics put in place within the limited time. The structure has now been put in place with the appointment of Prof. Jega as INEC boss, and his State Assistants. Majority of our critical populace have given kudos for the appointments and the people are united in their admission that Jega's unblemished reputation will help in no small measure in the attainment of the required results.
Professor Jega himself has not hidden the fact that he can get it right once his request of N74b, and necessary enabling environment to assist him perform is granted . He has gone ahead to fix time table for procurement of materials, preparation of an ideal voters register and the attainment of other logistics vital for the achievement of a credible polls come January 2011. So why doubt him? His impeccable and credible records as Asuu President and V/C of Bayero University, Kano etc lends credence to the fact that he is a man of his words.
The man is obsessed with putting in place a credible voters register which will be time tested and which will also form the backbone of future elections in Nigeria, insisting that even though a credible voter register is not a "sine qua non" to credible polls, getting a credible voter register is like getting almost 80 per cent of an election right. The way the National Assembly and the government is supporting Jega means nothing less than a credible elections come January 2011 will be achieved. The international communities are not left out in terms of promises of support. We need prayer outside these supports, this time around.
Chief Mike Nwielagi – State Chairman, Congress for Progressive Change
I believe strongly that what is worth doing is worth doing well. I see January time table as very tight. If you ask me, I will say a latitude be given Jega and his people to do a very good thing. We have been complaining about poor elections all this while, it behoves on the INEC now to find time for themselves in order to cover all areas effectively and conduct a free and fair election. There is no need for us to rush and then do a shabby thing. If you allow me, I will say they should beg for time.
Even though they are saying they can conduct the election in January, the January date is not sacrosanct. They can ask for time and then use political approach to it to ensure that the National Assembly makes an enabling law in such a way that the April date is being guided. This is because we have had enough of poor election in the country and the President himself has promised both here and abroad that we are going to get it right this time by conducting a free and fair elections. But beyond the President, there is the commission that is going to conduct the election, there is the security agency that has to be trained; there must be enough awareness for people to be able to know what they are supposed to do on that day. So that we can now boast of an election that is litigation free; it is a yardstick for free and fair election. No election is 100 per cent free. But one measure is that "what do people feel and say about it?" the observers, what do they say? And then the participants are there serious fall out of the election that would lead to dispute? So I think the April date is more feasible than the January date. But baring all these and the INEC comes out to say they are ready for January date then so be it. But they should not be stampeded in to doing it when they are not ready. It is not proper that we keep shifting election. If there is need for us to wait till April the commission should come out and tell us that they need time.
Engr. Kingsley Onyejekwe-MD, Kingchi Engineering Nigeria Ltd
I want to understand what INEC is saying. Is INEC saying that our voters' register is not comprehensive and therefore requires updating or is INEC saying that they do not have a realistic and credible voters' register or still is INEC saying that they are using biometric data gathering system to give us realistic and credible voters' register?
I strongly believe that things should be done properly. Democracy is a government of numerical determination and as such the process should start from knowing the actual population strength that are expected to produce the would-be leaders of this country. If Jega led INEC says they want to do it aright this time, we should support him. However, Iwu led INEC should be subjected to EFCC's quizzing to unravel the circumstances that must have led to this mess of voters' registers saga that is likely to cost the country seventy four billion naira as reported by some media.
Also doing this, will in turn serve as deterrent to the present INEC executive to do a good job.
Biometric data collection method of compiling voters' register is the best thing that can happen this time around for the following reasons.
* It will filter and reduce duplication of persons
* It will help in capturing true identity of voters
* It will assist in making sure that actual votes count
* It will reduce rigging to the bearest minimum
2011: What Roles For Youths?
Feelers from Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the body that supervises the conduct of elections in Nigeria, indicate that the 2011 general elections may start in January, a mere five months away. At present, the INEC boss has revealed the harsh reality on ground and possible solutions if the hype and hope for credible election are feasible. However, there seems to be a consensus on having a free, fair credible and manifestly peaceful election where every single vote will count. Having free, fair and credible elections is a function of many things and a peaceful atmosphere of paramount importance. Attaining this, to a large extent, has to do with the youths who form 60 per cent or more of the populace. In the past, they had been ready tools in the hands of some political gladiators who use them to hijack ballot boxes, thumb print voters cards and perform other electioneering vices.
The Tide On Sunday this week focuses its attention on the roles or the rights and responsibilities of the youths as we prepare to make a change in the political history of this country, and tell the world that we can get it right come 2011. And we came out with a finding that the youths as future leaders must take concrete steps to ensure credible polls in 2011 if they hope to find a future in Nigeria. Excerpts:
Comr. Marvin Yobana – National Vice President of Nigeria Youth Council and Rivers State Cordinator of Rebuild Nigeria Initiative.
The young people of this country account for more than 60 per cent of the population of Nigeria and as such their roles cannot be overlooked. They are the active participants in any electoral process because they are within the age of active lifestyle. They are the ones that are used for electoral thugery, violence and all that. So this chunk of the population of Nigeria should contribute meaningfully to the developmental process of this country; that includes the electoral process. Having said that, the National Youth Council of Nigeria which I happen to represent, is carrying out campaign against electoral violence and thuggery. What this campaign is all about is to dissuade our young people from being used by politicians to perpetrate these acts that are not healthy to our democracy. We engage the leaders of youth organisations at the local government, the ward, state , zonal and the national levels in enlightenment processes and train them through workshops. And they go back to their constituencies and also train them. So that they can understand the roles they are suppose to play in the electoral process. We did this in partnership with INEC though we have not got their support in terms of funding and the kind of materials we need to train this young people. But this has not detard us. Again, government institutions that are responsible for re-orientation and guiding the attitudes of Nigerians should do more than just a talk shop.
They should go into aggressive enlightenment campaigns in the grassroots. This will tell the voters not just the young people the role they are suppose to play. What they are suppose to know; their rights. When a man is armed with knowledge it becomes very difficult for you to sell any dummy to the person. But when he is not informed he can go astray and buy into any propaganda that is brought by any political group. So the young people need to be enlightened on the roles they need to play to ensure that the election is free and fair; enlighten on the roles they need to play so that they can effectively participate in the electorate process to make sure that their votes count and are being counted; enlighten them to participate actively in the electoral process either by contesting or exercising their franchise and enlighten them so that they cannot be used to perpetrate any acts of violence or rigging. The role of the youth is very very key to the success of democracy in this country.
Mr Sheriff B. Ara-Bornu – Public Affairs Analyst:
The history of Nigeria if it is written will bear the symbol of youth struggle at different stages of her development; the struggle and subsequent attainment of independence speaks volumes of youth's demonstration of passion, desperation and zeal.
The late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe in his student days using the Pan African platform deplored his potential for the struggle of our independence which culminated into the Zikist group; Chief Anthony Enahoro's boisterous motion for independence, Late Chief Margerate Ekpo, the indefatigable amazon was apt for women liberation; also the great Student Union leader Maiyegun who stood his ground against military rule to mention but a few happened in their youth days.
This veritable vehicle that drives the social economic/political development of any successful nation has been so condensed to the extend that their presence is no longer felt on any National discourse. Of course their absent or inactiveness has brought us to where we are resulting to unemployment, youths taking to kidnapping, lead sectarian violence and armed robbery. No wonder one of our politician recently said that the youth has nothing to offer or contribute in this present political dispensation.
This awaiting call has sounded and 2011 is pregnant. No more lukewarm attitude towards National issues. It is appalling to note that the current debate on whether president Goodluck Jonathan is qualify to contest 2011 election could not attract the attention of our youth body knowing full well that it is not constitutional. This detribalised and unsectarian segment of the Nation has been so quiet such that a very few usurpers calling themselves politicians has over heated the polity to its foundation. So is the case of Jos Massacre that has continued unabated despite efforts by some organizations, because no clear umpire like the youth body has pointed at those perpetrating this heinous task to stop it.
It is time the youth should wake up from their slumber and blaze the trail. The youth leaders should wake up to their responsibilities to serve and not be served or stop the noise and join the tribalist called politicians whose days and times are running out. Remember, should the youth sit and watch without taking position what is happening in Rwanda, Sudan, Somalia even Uganda and Zimbabwe awaits all and when the chips are down history will record them positively or negatively as it has done to our dear MADIBO of South Africa.
Nwiabu, Legborsi-Nuka Esq – Executive Director, Centre for Human Rights, Information and Leadership Development (CHILD)
We cannot be talking about credible election when we have a faulty electoral process. What Nigerians are looking forward to, is for the electoral reform to be perfected. Talking about the role of the youth, the constitute is clear on this. There is legal age for every nation. For Nigeria, it is a eighteen years and above. And so young people who were not up to eighteen years last time we had election should be twenty something now. They should be given the franchise to vote for whoever they want. And that will be obtainable under the same electoral process where we have voter's registration and review of old register. And civil education must also be very critical in the process. So if we talk about elections without civil education that is going to be a problem. Unfortunately and a serious one, less than one year to election there is no civic education going on any where; people don't know what their rights, they don't know what ward they may fall into and where their names fall. It is a whole lot of challenge that we have to deal with. For instance, right now you hear PDP calling for party registration. To me, the role the youth should play is possibly to become active voice in the whole process. Let young people add their voice to demand for credible election come 2011. If the voice of the youth must be heard loud enough then the youth themselves must be patriotic by staying away from being lured or bought over by politicians to vote for who they don't want. One of the ways we can get out of any electoral malpractice is to put the structure as envisaged by Justice Uwais commission to come to bear.
Godson E. J. Etokakpan – Director of Mobilisation, Integrity Leadership Club (ILC)
The Youths are Hungry for a change. This hunger is evident in the number of civil disturbances and violent protests in the form of kidnapping, robbery and other social vices being witnessed all over the nation.
The youths cannot wait endlessly for change. We should be able to rise and speak out. Other wise our future generations would be perpetually relegated to a life of abject poverty by wicked and uncaring leaders who are always weeping up ethnic and religious sentiments to keep the masses under servitude.
The youths have realized that talking about issues does not yield results. The language of violence has become their preferred medium of communication because it yields result. This is a dangerous trend. And unless the political class, who have made themselves lord and masters over the entire citizenry make a conscious effort to bring about a change come 2011, this nation will witness greater unrest than what has already been seen. This must not be allowed to happen.
The expectation of the youths from the next dispensation is high. Nigeria must return from the path of annihilation that the offspring of their founding fathers have forced her to walk on.
The action of such men has shown that they cannot be entrusted with the political leadership of this nation anymore. Clearly this change cannot wait endlessly. It has to commence immediately.
However, should the change be allowed to take place suddenly as it did in Ghana, the consequence will be disastrous. Knowing our affinity to ethnicity, another war will ensure and that mark the end of this nation. The youths cannot accept this type of irresponsibility.
Their expectation is to be integrated into the socio economic cum political decision making of this nation. They want to be given a chance to right the wrongs that have been done. It is an aberration for the child to call his father to order but our fathers have let us down. This country cannot be ruled any more as if it is someone's private property. Our country must have a leader with integrity and unquestionable character. He must be a true patriot and a statesman with a positive attitude and a corresponding track record for excellence. Youths are expectant that all of these shall take place in the next four years.
They are desirous to vote and make their vote count. They are tired of unemployment, lack of social amenities, infrastructural backwardness, and a corresponding degradation of values. They are tired of political assassination, insecurity, and social injustice.
2011: Should Jonathan Join The Race?
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as a way of striking political balance, made a gentleman arrangement by adopting the zoning policy of four years each between the north and south. It started by zoning the presidency to the South-West in order to assuage them for the loss of Abiola, who was the presumed winner of the annulled 1993 election. Former President Obasanjo won the PDP primaries and subsequently won the 1999 election and was installed the president of Nigeria. He was re-elected for a second tenure of four years in 2003. In 2007, the presidency shifted to the North by the same PDP in which case the late Umaru Musa Yar'Adua was declared the winner with Jonathan as his vice. Jonathan, at the demise of Yar'Adua took over to serve out their term. With another election at the threshold, some Northerners in PDP are spitting fire and promising hell and brimstone, should Jonathan flout the gentleman arrangement and run for the presidency come 2011. But his southern kinsmen see Yar'Adua's death as 'force majure' that is greater force has nullified any previous zoning arrangement therefore prodding him to run. The Tide on Sunday went to find out if Jonathan's 2011candidacy portends any danger signal to the polity. Excerpts:
O.C.J. Okocha (SAN)
Every Nigerian citizen who is qualified to run for the office of the president as stipulated in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is entitled to do so. And I cannot fathom any reason why it should portend a danger for the unity of the country. Now we are talking about Dr. Goodluck Jonathan who is indeed the sitting president, who ran on a joint ticket with the late President, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, and if Nigerians thought him fit to be elected as vice president then it also necessarily follows that they think him fit to be elected as president because the qualification for the president is the same as that of the vice president. Following the death of the president, may God rest his soul in peace, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has assumed office and being sworn in as such. The join-ticket which they had, entitled them to run for a second term after the first term of four years. So ostensibly he is presently serving out the first term of late President Yar'Adua. He should be allowed to run if he so chooses. And I am sure that most Nigerians would say, we are impressed or not impressed and they will vote for him accordingly. So I am at a loss to understand why any Nigerian should say he shouldn't. He is entitled to run and don't see why it should pose any threat to the unity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He is a Nigerian. Now that he is president, has his presidency caused disunity? Indeed, I am more in tune with the people who say that his presidency is uniting the country. Because the young man is saying the right thing, making the right moves and indeed steering us on the right path.
Comr. Marvin Yobana – National Vice President Nigeria Youth Council and Project Coordinator, Rebuild Nigeria Initiative.
The call for Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan not to involve himself in 2011 presidential bid is unconstitutional, unethical, uncivilized; and it is not in the practice of our democracy that any region or group or individual as long as the person is qualified to be voted for or to vote or participate in any electoral process to be zoned out. We have not had anytime in this country that the zoning formula had worked. Even in the PDP, there has been no PDP Congress for nomination or election of candidates that will represent the party that the North and South candidates did not aspire. It will not overheat the polity for the president to contest; he is cleared by law and allowed by the constitution to run. He is free to carry out his franchise as the citizen of this country. The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria allows every individual that is qualified to contest. And if we are talking about free and fair election there is no need of talking about region because it is the right of the electorate to decide who becomes the president and not some few individuals. So for you to say that it has been zoned is another way of saying the election has been rigged; that the electorate can not choose anybody from the South even if the best candidate comes from the South. It is an archaic thinking of some political gladiators that want to hold Nigeria hostage. Those persons have been given opportunity in the past to enshrine true democracy for Nigeria but they failed. When they were 30 years, 40 years old, they were not able to help Nigeria; is it now that they are 70 years old that they want to come and save Nigeria? I think it is a myopic thinking of some selfish and greedy politicians who don't have anything to offer to Nigeria. And at the same time I enjoin Nigerians to resist any attempt to cajole them to accept any barbaric arrangement that does not represent true federalism in the interest of the nation. As Nigerian youths and as a representative of the youths in this zone, we are going to challenge any such group or individual who think that they can bamboozle Nigerians to elect only those they feel that are supposed to run. It will not overheat the polity.
Mr. Azigaloate J. Baabel – Political Scientist.
The truth is that every citizen of Nigerian including Bro. Jonathan has a right to contest election into the highest office in Nigeria. It is the method of realizing this objective that may pose a danger to the nation or not. You must know that verbal threats including campaign of calumny are all methods employed to scare away potential heavy weights in any competition. Take away the presidential boyish smile and you have a Jonathan that can confront situations that stands to mar his political ambitions.
Referring to threats by the Northern elders, as far as I am concerned these are designed to scare Jonathan. Whether he stays scared is another matter when and if he finally decides to run for the Presidential election. One thing is certain, most of his Southern brothers are not insisting that he should run for the election from the depth of their heart. These are people who are easily swayed by selfish interest and monetary inducements. Jonathan must beware of them. He is a Nigerian President and shall remain so if he chooses to contest for the 2011 Presidency and wins.
From his days at the University of Port Harcourt he has read and probably attested to the fact that the sound of Africa seems lost in the echoes of sit-tight heads of state and government. So far, nature has entrusted it to him as a factor to reckon with in Nigeria he should be more concerned with leaving a legacy – the type bequeathed by Nelson Mandela who knew when to quit the stage as the ovation was loudest. He should consider the necessary reforms needed to move us into an honestly transparent and credible election where people of integrity and with the desire for a better Nigeria will offer themselves for service. Screening and re-screening by fire should naturally eliminate those whose only contributions to national growth is in the areas of grabbing and personalizing the common wealth.
Engr. Kingsley Onyejekwe – MD, Kingchi Nigeria Ltd.
It has been observed that the unity of Nigeria was once threatened by tribalism in our body polity. We cannot afford to allow the ugly trend of this to come into our political arena. Zoning brings about tribal sentiments and gradual dilution of national unity. It should be condemned and never to be visited. Apostles of zoning are politically myopic and nationally unacceptable. As a result they are hiding under a zone to cheaply occupy a seat that is not meant for them.
The president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is a child of divine project who emerged from the erstwhile political arrangement of zoning. His emergence speaks volume against agitation of zoning formula. It is high time we start learning from this divine intervention. All we need now is to produce a leader that is generally accepted and willing to serve the nation without tribal sentiment. The global political philosophy is geared towards producing quality leaders with impeccable character. Leaders that will bring about world peace. Leaders with vision based on strong content of character. Leaders that value education and knowledge and leaders that cherish the essence of humanity.
I therefore urge all Nigerians to speak against zoning and forge a common front of electing Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as our president in the forthcoming presidential election irrespective of one's political party affiliation.
Wellington A.T. – Public Affairs Analyst
Aside Jonathan's political history and favour from God, let us admit that late Yar'Adua and Jonathan's few years of leadership has not failed this nation. If Jonathan decides to run in 2011, I do not see it as Jonathan but as a continuation of Yar'Adua and Jonathan's joint ticket. Jonathan is only continuing what has been set to roll and bring it to accomplishment. Let us for once give way for credible leadership. If I may ask, if Yar'Adua was alive, will anyone stop Jonathan from being his vice for a second tenure? This is a leadership this nation will always remember. If the Northern elders insist on their protest, who will they present? Is it Babangida that ruled for years within which he institutionalized corruption, mismanagement and looting of the treasury? Or Atiku who has personality problem and was unable to work together as a team player to move the nation forward? Or is it Buhari who became president through coup d'tat? Who, Who, if I may continue to ask? Jonathan is a blessing to all of us. My advice is that Jonathan should concentrate on key projects like power supply and ensure free and fair election etc. to move the nation forward.
FG's Reversal On Eagles:What Implication On Nigeria?
It all began with the abysmal performance of the Super Eagles which culminated to their early ouster in the group stages at the on-going 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. A performance that fell short of the expectations of the government and people of Nigeria. The federal government quickly announced the withdrawal of the country from all international football competitons with immediate effect so as to restructure football administration and form a solid foundation for future successes of Nigerian teams.
The poor results in recent times had been source of sadness and shame to most Nigerians who see football as their main source of happiness and unity since successive administrations in the country had put nothing on ground to give them succour in terms of the provision of basic essential amenities. FIFA, sole organizer of Football world wide reacted swiftly by giving Nigerian government up to 5.00pm Monday, July 5, to reverse its decision or face a clampdown. That threat threw many Nigerians into sorrow with many saying the two-year withdrawal and subsequent ban is good enough to serve Nigeria a lesson. But those on the other divide felt it will further throw the country into football wilderness. The federal government initially stuck to its guns, then the confussion as to what becomes of Nigerian football set in. One thing or the other happened in a jiffy and the Nigerian government beat the FIFA deadline announcing the lifting of the ban. However while some hieved a sigh of relief some consider the federal government's decision reversal as weakness. The Tide on Sunday sampled the views of some Nigerians on the political, Economic and social implications of the restoration to the status quo of Nigerian football.
Mr. Idowu Lawanson – Public Affairs Analyst
Thank God, the federal government saw reason and lifted the two-year ban on Nigeria's participation in international football competitions. The ban which would have earned us a ban from FIFA would have had far-reaching implications than we can imagine for Nigeria.
Sportswise, we would have lost a lot. Nigeria would not have been able to take part in all CAF and FIFA organised football competitions while the FIFA ban lasts. That means we would have been automatically out of the African cup of nations for 2012, 2013 and the world cup of 2014 taking place in Brazil. All our Youth teams, U-17, U-20 and Women teams of all cadres that had qualified for or will take part in various football competitons would have been thrown out. No Nigerian referee would have officiated in any FIFA organised competition, and even if we decide, we are re-organising our football administration and teams, we cannot get friendly matches to play with any other country affiliated to FIFA. Any country that plays against a country serving a ban gets banned automatically. That is how powerful FIFA is.
Economically, all the grants in form of dollars which we receive from FIA for development of football will be stopped. No Nigerian player playing presently in the local league will be able to move to any club abroad to play football and all coaching programs, clinics, training courses, etc organised for coaches, referees, football administrators, medical personnel and even journalists by FIFA would have excluded Nigeria. A lot of Nigerian Youths who are planning footballing careers abroad as a means of economic emancipation for themselves and their families would have had their dreams shattered.
Of course, the political leverage which Nigeria gets by a Nigerian (Amos Adamu) being a member of the CAF/FIFA executive committee would have been lost. We would not have had any say in World Football as long as the ban lasts. Hosting of any football competition at all levels with all its attendant benefits would have been lost.
Thank God once again that the Federal Government lifted the ban before the sledge hammer of FIFA fall on us.
Mr. Barisi Legbara Wifa, Public Relations Officer, Rivers State Sports Council
The issue relating to the reversal of the ban by the federal government; looking at the background of why he took that decision as a leader, you don't sit down and look at a long lasting decay in the system and you don't react. He has sent the correct message to them in the glass house that it is not business as usual. If they had private funding that would have meant something that government cannot control them. But if government is the one funding everything she must demand accountability. And that accountability is to say, perform. The lackluster performance of the Super Eagles was why he took that decision. A lot more things has happened and we have closed our eyes in the past. The President said that time has passed; this is his own tenure. And as a leader, he has every burden on his shoulders to take decisions that will be in the best interest of this country particularly when tax payers' money is involved. Some of the areas that were affected by the decision include the female football which is a department of the glass house, the age-grade championships. So if he did not reverse it, the women will not go out for other tournaments because it is also supervised by this same persons. His decision was let us close our doors for two years and look inwards and reprepare for the next events that are coming. That again touched on CAF; which means that we shall not be part of the nation's cup not just FIFA organised tournaments. So its reversal was just to say, "look, I am sending a signal that it will never be business as usual". So if they are going out for future tournaments, they must also understand that the President must be able to take a valid decision on why he is spending tax – payers money. Some on-lookers may see this reversal as a little bit of playing politics along the line of international football federation in order not to get the other people affected by the ban. Because if he says "No, no, no", and FIFA now says 'I ban you', Nigeria will be affected in all departments of football not just the Super Eagles category. But we cannot also look at it exclusively from that angle without saying that there must be justification for spending this huge money on them. Look at the state of the roads today. People are crying foul about the roads. NUPENG is already making case for the condition of the roads. And so people should begin to know that other sectors of the economy are demanding for this same money that is now being spent without getting satisfaction. So the demands are huge and the decision must not always favour everybody.
Barr. Igbikiberebima T.
The decision of the Federal Government to withdraw the Senior National Football team, the Super Eagles, from participation in football tournaments organised by FIFA in the next two years is bound to be controversial.
This is, however, to be expected given the fact that the performances or some would prefer non-performance of the team, the football federation and the sports ministry have never been free from controversies.
Unexpectedly, the President made a U-turn and rescinded his earlier decision. What this means politically is that Mr. President did not make proper consultations before making the pronouncement. It also shows the President is weak. I say so because FIFA as an international organisation cannot defeat a sovereign state like Nigeria as FIFA is not bound by public international law. FIFA, regardless of its super national character and popularity is no more than a mere association of football federations. States like Israel, North Korea and Iran had continuously disregarded UN resolutions and nothing has happened to them. Economically, one cannot say what Nigeria stands to benefit from FIFA organised competitions if not a total waste. The tax payers money the country would have used to better the lives of the ordinary Nigerians, is being wasted in the name of participation. Nigerians should think.
Mr. Mene Teeh – Public Affairs Commentator
Every well meaning Nigerian will appreciate the decision by President Jonathan to rescind his earlier ban on our football so as not to fall to FIFA's ban. We also have to recognise the fact that Nigeria is under performing in almost all organised football competitions the world over, be it in men, women or even age grade tournaments in which it normally holds sway in time past. Nigeria has abundance of talents in sports and football in general, and normally always referred to as second only to Brazil as highest football talents exporter to Europe and other continents.
Our football is only being bedeviled by mal-administration, misappropriation and misuse of funds, high handedness and breach of statutes and sometimes secrecy. A ban would have done more harm than good to our football thus the need to hail the federal government's reversal of its earlier stand. Nigeria failed to turn up for the 1996 Nations Cup held in South Africa and was further banned by CAF, when we were defending champion and fifth in the world rating having won in Tunisia and did well in USA 1994. Let me tell you that the break in continuity at that time is what has put our football in the present state of quashiokor and we ourselves now know that any other break will signal the final burial of our football. With a good administration in place we can still build, giving ourselves a moment of truth, where we will spend a two to four years of developmental programmes. We can't develop our sports nay football in isolation. We must compete with others. If our people can't run football, let us swallow our pride for the four years to hire foreign technocrats to show us the way, afterall we have them in all our systems that are working. We can't afford to lose the following because of a self-inflicted ban. Nigeria will not have played in even CAF organised competitions by local clubs while frustrated Nigerian Players will look for countries in which they can change nationality in order to play international football. Nigeria would have been suspended from FIFA Goal Project 2; will not be eligible to host the 2012 nations cup which it has been placed on standby should Gabon and Equatorial Guinea fail to meet up. Our Professional players looking for transfer to some countries will not find it difficult. The inactivity of our players in international competitions will reduce our FIFA's seeding to an all-time low which will be hard to make up when we are finally unbanned.
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NY Democrats Back Weed Legalization and Biden for 2020: Poll
Published March 6, 2019 • Updated on March 6, 2019 at 6:31 pm
More than half of New York Democrats say they prefer a presidential nominee who is more progressive, NBC 4 New York/Marist poll reveals
However, 78 percent of the surveyed say they would be happy with Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee, the poll says
Nearly, 57 percent of New Yorkers support the legalization of recreational marijuana in the state, according to the poll
More than half of New York Democrats say they prefer a presidential nominee who is more progressive than moderate, with the majority of New Yorkers not backing a hometown candidate for president in 2020, an exclusive new NBC 4 New York/Marist poll reveals.
The poll also shows a majority preference for legalizing marijuana in the state, a likely hot-button topic this year.
Some 62 percent of Democrats in New York say they favor a nominee who is more progressive, while 32 percent indicated they prefer a nominee who is moderate.
Yet according to the poll, Joe Biden is actually the most acceptable candidate (78 percent) to New York Democrats, following by Bernie Sanders (61 percent) and Elizabeth Warren (51 percent).
Beyond them, 45 percent of New York Democrats would be satisfied if Kirsten Gillibrand received her party's nod, but 40 percent would not. Some 65 percent of New York Democrats would be unhappy if Bill de Blasio were the 2020 presidential nominee, the poll reveals.
"Despite a preference for a more progressive nominee, a Biden candidacy is tops for New York Democrats," Lee M. Miringoff, Director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, said in a statment. "But, the biggest surprise is that none of the New Yorkers in the mix is benefiting from a home field advantage, especially New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio."
Separately, the poll found that nearly 57 percent of New Yorkers support the legalization of recreational marijuana in the state.
This issue is a partisan one, given that 65 percent of Democrats and 58 percent of independents support legalization of recreational marijuana, and 60 percent of Republicans do not. By gender, 63 percent of men surveyed support the measure, versus 51 percent of women.
Younger residents support the measure more than older ones; 72 percent of those under 45 back the idea, versus just 44 percent support among those ages 45 and up.
The survey of 981 adults was conducted Feb. 25 through March 4 by The Marist Poll. Adults 18 years of age and older residing in New York were contacted on landline or mobile numbers. Telephone numbers were selected at random.
New YorkNew York CityNBCJoe BidenGovernor