Conventional advertising relies heavily on the video platform because of its powerful story-telling framework. Hence, it becomes a powerful way of engaging consumers digitally, owing to the emergence of the second screen behaviour.
People are now increasingly reaching out to their smartphones to keep abreast of trends. The number of handheld devices has also seen a sharp increase in households whether it is a smartphone, tablet, laptop or a kindle. While it may prove tricky to reach the right target audience, with our enhanced toolset we can identify our target audience with a great degree of accuracy for different social networking platforms.
Advertisers have experimented with various forms and are now returning to the video format in order to build stronger brand engagement by connecting with audiences anytime and anywhere.
The length of an ad can determine your viewers' interest. To generate the right amount of interest, ads meant for the desktop viewers should go with video content that lasts around 2 minutes whereas viewers on their cell phones may spend as long as 5 minutes watching an ad. It helps to keep it short and sweet because of the versatility – people might watch them on desktops or on their smartphones when they are on the move.
Getting into video advertising takes a lot of research and planning. Tuning the content according to existing campaigns or innovative ideas that are yet to be implemented will ensure that your video stands out. As a business, one needs to keep professionalism in mind irrespective of the genre of advertisement that is chosen. After all, you do not want to go viral for the wrong reasons, do we?! Ensuring your video is scripted well and executed at the same level of proficiency is mandatory. Do not shy away from proven categories such as humour and emotion, but do ensure you aren't trying too hard to fit it into your concept. Audiences are smart but they need to be approached in a manner that makes them feel good while also adding value to their lives.
In-stream video ads display content within a video player before, during or after a piece of video content. This is a great way to target niche audience segments already searching for video content to fulfil a need. Typically, 15 to 30second pre-roll video ads are used to display an advertisement before the main video begins. According to Google, these ads are most effective when focused on branding, as conversion rates are often lower than with other forms. Many in-stream ads can be skipped after five seconds, so convey your message quickly or make the introduction gripping enough for the audience to stay the full duration of your ad. Early call to actions and changing your TVC into a more digital-friendly adapt are successful tricks to adopt.
The value of branded video content is going to further increase dramatically, and this is largely due to the power of YouTube. The popular video publishing platform rakes in more than 4 billion views per day, making it the second most popular search engine in the world and the third most visited website. As traffic shifts away from traditional blog posts and towards YouTube channels and dedicated video blogs, a larger number of marketers will need to create content specific to the platform.
Branded video content is created with the intention of engaging users, providing value and presenting a direct and compelling call to action. Branded videos can range from interviews and behind-the-scenes footage to dramatic shorts and product promotions. In response to the rising demand for video content, brands have begun to turn their focus toward creating fresh content, and the best part is they don't always have to start from scratch but can repurpose some of the existing content through a simple video conversion. Digital Marketers with basic editing knowledge and an eye for capturing moments are the need of the hour and are predicted to be the evangelists of the branded video content revolution.
While off-site videos on YouTube and other publishing platforms are valuable, video content is migrating to homepages in the form of background videos and replacing the textual format of describing product or service. While the success of this feature is largely dependent on internet connectivity, brands such asAirBnb and Culture Machines have embraced this video form on their websites to truly showcase a story on who they are.
As many social media marketers and avid users have recognized, animated GIFs and short videos became pervasive over the course of 2015. If you look at Twitter in particular, the majority of its best-performing content involves some kind of visual element. This gravitation toward visual posts is based on human preferences. With social media users averaging with an attention span of 8.25 seconds, most of them are averse to reading a detailed article or post when they have the option of a GIF or bite-sized animation that tells the same story in a shorter timeframe. Boomerang, Vine videos are also growing in popularity due to their ability to truncate content in short durations as our ad banners that are capturing attention through the usage of GIFs in them.
Known as real-time storytelling or live-stream social, these video platforms enable users to watch content live through a smartphone. While Periscope and Meerkat started the revolution of this new form of video content capturing, Facebook Live has been making waves through the ability to promote, create, save and innovative with the videos that are created. All of them offer the perfect blend of social media and video that progressive digital marketers have been looking for and has gained massive acceptance by brands in order to capture sneak peeks, product presentations, celebrity takeovers, live chats, behind-the-scenes footage, contests, and more.
Though email marketing is still very much alive and effective, its power has waned in recent times due to the power of social media and mobile marketing techniques. Email marketing has evolved however to provide solutions with lesser text and direct video integrations that encourage recipients to interact with their brands. The key to successfully using video in email depends on the quality of the video and its length. Anything longer than three or four minutes tends to be overlooked.
Visual marketing is on the rise and video content seems to be satiating a need like no other. With the mobile advertising industry growing rapidly and rich media being lapped up by advertisers and marketers alike, the industry is ready for a MindShift in the way consumers are engaged and excited.
The article is written by Zafar Rais, CEO, MindShift Interactive.
Digital marketing campaigns we came across this week!


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The Law Office Of Joshua S. Guillory View Entire Blog
Attorney Joshua S. Guillory Criminal Defense Blog
There are many potential ways for someone involved with the preparing and filing of income taxes to run afoul of the law. When tax preparers intentionally prepare false tax documents, there is often little sympathy to be had from federal prosecutors. This was apparently the case for a Slidell man who owned and operated a tax preparation service. He now faces criminal law penalties after pleading guilty to several federal charges.
The man testified before a grand jury in March and said that he had not prepared a tax return in 2012 for anyone other than himself; this ultimately turned out not to be true. The more sensational charges, however, resulted from the man's false preparation of nearly 500 tax returns between 2008 and 2010.
The man admitted to inflating the amount of withholding of his clients -- to the tune of more than $2.2 million. He also admitted that he failed to report the income of fees he received for tax preparation, meaning he failed to pay more than $160,000 in federal taxes during that time.
The man now faces up to 11 years in federal prison, plus three years of supervised release after his prison term is up. It isn't clear why the man pleaded guilty to the charges; people in similar situations might choose to plead not guilty and fight the charges as best they can. In either case, someone accused of white collar crimes can often benefit from consulting with an experienced Louisiana criminal defense attorney.
blog/2013/12/ex-tax-preparer-looking-at-long-prison-stint-after-guilty-pleas.shtml
Contact The Law Office Of Joshua S. Guillory

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


About 6 miles north of San Simeon, along Hwy 1. You park in the two designated parking lots along the highway. The more southern parking lot has two distinct viewing areas.
11/13/2011 12:01 I love this place. I\\\\\\\'m so happy there are people to look after them.
we have been there in Dec, this year I will be viewing the seals in Sept.
thank you to all who look after them.
06/26/2010 01:26 Really cool diversion. Went in December and saw hundreds of baby elephant seals.
10/22/2009 19:23 I drive the coast next month also can not wait- Sensational last time!


Tonight We Have Action, Thrill and Full Of Suspense Package For You Here At Ferozshah Kotla International Cricket Stadium, New Delhi. This is The 26th Cricket t20 Match Of Indian Premier League 2015 Which is Goin To Be Played Between Delhi Daredevils Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Both Teams are looking in Very Good Position. Delhi Daredevil was Performing Very Good From The Begging of Indian Premier League 2015 Season But Royal Challengers Bangalore Was a little Bit Behind From Good Performance Now Royal Challengers Bangalore Appeared With a Very Hard Work They Showed The Peoples That How To Win a Game and Now They Are In This Posyion To Play The Playoffs Matches Of Indian Premier League 2015. In The Very Last match Royal Challengers Batting Clicked and The Peoples Saw a Team That Was Playing. In The Last Match Chirs Gayle Made 20, Virat kholi and Ab De Villiers Remain Not Out With 64 and 47 Runs respectively. IN This Match they Defeated Rjasthan Royal The Top Team Of The Tournament. Royal Challengers Bangalore is Playing in The Captaincy of Virat Kholi The Right Hand of MS Dhoni. He is a Good Batsman Fighting His Team in a good Way. IN The Last Match He Impressed His Fans With The Great Captaincy. He Consumed All The Talent of Boys In a Very Genius Way and Given A Very Good Result To Royal Challengers Bangalore fans.
Lets Talk About The Squad Prediction: Cricket is a By Chance Game. Both Teams are Playing and Planing Very hard and In The Position Ti defeat any Team any Time any Where and Both Teams Has Won Their Previous Matches So As Per Our Prediction that Both Team Will Play This Match With The Winning Combination Of Their last Match.
In The Last Match All Of The Key Players Performed Very Well Specially Captain Virat Kholi Who Made 64 Runs, Ab De Villiers Wo Conceded 47 Runs These Both Were Reamain Not Out, Chris Gayle Was Scored only 20 Runs In This Match. Leading Wicket Taker Mitchel Starc Taken 3 Wickets. So The conclusion is That Key Players Will Play a Healthy Role in Tonight's Game.
Delhi Daredevils has a very Good Combination Of Players That is The Main Reason of Their Win Ratio is So High In This Indian Premier League 2015. Delhi Has a Very Strong Captain JP Duminy He is an Good All Rounder and a Match Winner South African player So This Match is Basically Between South African and a Indian Captain that Who will Dare To win. IN Other Key Players List Delhi Daredevils has a List Of talent Like: De Kock, Manoj Tiwary, Mohammad Shami and Kedar Jadhav.
Last 2 match. Win both team home ground.
Sunday repeat this. DD & KKR.


Create appealing drinks garnishes with a Halloween jelly preparation and a little imagination!
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Soak gelatin leaves in cold water for 10 min to soften them. Heat up 50 ml of water.
Strain gelatin leaves and incorporate them to hot water. Stir and let stand for 2 min. Add syrup and lemon juice. Stir. Pour mix into silicone mould. Place in the fridge for at least 3 hours before unmoulding. Unmould gently and enjoy!


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Economic Factors in Selecting an Approach to Confiscation Claims in Cuba
George Plinio Montalván
Notes 1 2
"Explicit legal treatment of the rights of former owners not only strengthens the credibility of a country's commitment to the rights of private property, but also prevents the legal confusion over ownership that could arise if the issue were left to be settle later in courts. However, redress should be provided to former owners in a way that does not slow the privatization process: compensation should not take the form of giving the original owners the rights to the property itself, but rather the right to compensation by the state. New owners cannot get on with running businesses if they face the possibility of claims for restitution by former owners."
— Stanley Fisher, "Privatization in Eastern European Transformation," in The Emergence of Market Economies in Eastern Europe, Christopher Clague and Gordon C. Rausser, eds. (1992), p 230-231.
Economic stabilization, law and order, food, medicines, the establishment of workable institutions and organizations for policy implementation, the establishment of clear, secure and marketable property rights, national reconciliation and social peace will be critical to Cuba's reconstruction and transition to a truly open economic and political system, and for that country to rejoin the international financial community.
While there is almost general agreement on the need to privatize state-owned enterprises and attract foreign investment to Cuba as rapidly as possible, there must first be a determination regarding the issue of property rights. Changes in property rights must be entrusted to institutions that themselves neither exercise property rights nor enforce them. Moreover, unless clear and transparent "rules of the game" are set and implemented, the amount and quality of investment taking place will be less than what is needed to put Cuba on a sustainable and high growth rate.
Privatization has proceeded at a disappointingly slow pace in some Eastern Europe countries, in part due to delays in resolving the property rights issue. Travieso-Díaz has pointed out that based on the widely differing experiences in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland,
"whatever process is followed . . . must provide an unequivocal adjudication of property rights so that no legal obstacles to the privatization of enterprises are interposed by the existence of unresolved property claims against them." 3
In this paper we explore some basic issues. We do not intend to be exhaustive, but only illustrative of the complexity of the issues. We hope we can learn from the experiences of former socialist countries, so as to increase our understanding of these issues and avoid recommending policies that would lead to costly mistakes.
Following this introduction, we present rough estimates of the breadth and depth of property confiscations in Cuba and the complications created by the foreign investment since 1990 and by the cooperativization of agricultural state enterprises in 1993. The next section includes a presentation of the Eastern European, Nicaraguan and Chilean experiences and some of their lessons for Cuba. Also some considerations will be made regarding restitution. This is followed by presents an overall appraisal of the potential package of measures that might be adopted and will conclude with some specific recommendations to tackle compensations for property confiscations and tort claims.
IDEAS CONCERNING THE MAGNITUDE OF THE PROPERTY RIGHTS ISSUE
A. U.S. Claims
The casus belli for the U.S. embargo on Cuba was the nationalization or confiscation of property owned by U.S. citizens and corporations in 1960. Following enactment by Congress of the Cuban Claims Act of 1964, the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission (FCSC) adjudicated close to 9,000 claims by U.S. citizens and firms, and certified awards in 5,911 cases totalling approximately $1.8 billion, of which $1.6 billion were corporate claims (see Table 1). The FCSC ruled that simple interest of 6 percent per annum should be charged from the date of the actual loss to the date of settlement, bringing the total value of U.S. claims to approximately US$5.5 billion at the end of 1994. 4
From our examination of several of these claims, at least some of the FCSC's awards are open to question. In the early 1970's, the Internal Revenue Service established a program under which taxpayers were entitled to deduct from their income taxes losses sustained from confiscations by the government of Cuba. If claims awarded were inflated to a value of twice the actual loss, at a marginal tax rate of 52 percent the tax benefit would roughly compensate entirely for the loss.
As a matter of interest, official U.S. Government statistics place the total value of U.S. investment in Cuba at US$956 million. 5 While this figure may represent book value of investment, the significant discrepancy between this figure and the total of corporate awards serves to highlight the need for careful review of the FCSC's awards.
B. Claims by Cuban Nationals
Alonso and Lago 6 estimated the value of claims by Cuban expatriates to be approximately US$6.9 billion at 1957 values which, according to their calculations, was equivalent to US$20.02 billion in mid1993. This does not include damages from human rights violations for which they indicate there is no data. They do, however, state that "compensation for these human rights claims should be paid."
The IRS program mentioned in the preceding section was extended specifically to Cuban nationals at the time of confiscation losses and were now U.S. taxpayers. Unfortunately the authors have not been able to obtain any information regarding the total amount accepted by the IRS as loss deductions.
In 1994, a group of Cuban-Americans sent a document to Secretary of State Warren Christopher requesting that the Department's Office of International Claims and Investment Disputes (OICAID) take up their claims even though they were not U.S. citizens at the time of confiscation. In doing so, they cited precedents such as the Bernstein case (210 F.2d 375, 1954) and the "Second Italian Claims Program." 7 This was reflected in the initial provisions of the "Helms-Burton" bill considered by Congress in 1995.
C. Other Claims
Spain is the other country whose citizens sustained losses due to confiscation after January 1959, and Alonso and Lago indicate that the value of Spanish claims was US$350 million. A compensation agreement was reached between the two governments, al-
though the government of Cuba has not been able to comply with the agreed amortization schedule.
D. Foreign Investment 1990 to Present— Implications re Property Rights
According to the Cuban Chamber of Commerce, as of July 1994 there were 146 joint ventures operating in four main sectors: industry, tourism, mining/oil and telecommunications. Several of these companies, however, have two or more separate joint ventures in Cuba. Carlos Lage declared that as of November 1994, there were 105 joint ventures with different companies. Most of the joint ventures are with Canadian, Mexican and European companies, particularly Spanish, French and Italian. Also, there were approximately 400 companies with representatives and/or offices in Cuba, among them Bayer, Castrol, Hoechst, Pegaso, Sandoz and Total as of November 1994.
All investment in Cuba is in the form of joint ventures with the Cuban government or with a Cuban state company. The Cuban side contributes the fixed assets and the foreign partner the working capital, the technical expertise and access to external markets. Sometimes the foreign partner merely supplies management. According to Lage the estimated accumulated foreign investment at the end of 1994 would have reached US$1,500 million.
In mid-June 1994, during a state visit to Cuba by former Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, the most important individual agreement for the purchase of 49 percent of EmtelCuba by Grupo Domos was announced, for a total of US$1.5 billion. This amount includes a direct payment of about US$500 million for its share in the company, US$200 million in the form of a swap of Cuba's outstanding debt with Mexico, and the remaining US$800 million to be invested over a 7-year period, with the Cuban government contributing half that amount. As part of the deal, EmtelCuba received a 55-year monopoly concession on local and long-distance service as well as data and image transmission. Officials of Grupo Domos indicated that the contract had been structured such that it would be ". . . viable financially, politically and legally."
E. The Cooperativization of State Farms— Implications re Property Rights
In 1993 most of state-owned farms were transformed into basic units for cooperative production (UBPC) (Decree-Law No. 142 of September 15, 1993). UBPC can lease land and animals from the state for an indefinite period of time and retain part of their profits for reinvestment purposes. UBPCs organize themselves and select their own leadership. UBPC start the demise of state and collective farms, can lay off inefficient workers and cut back excess personnel. According to preliminary figures, with the establishment of the UBPC, the state sector's share of total agriculture felt from 75 percent to 34 percent while its share of cultivated land felt from 80 percent to 25 percent.
This is a striking and significant change in land tenancy in Cuba, because the UBPC are de facto "owners" of the farms. These "stakeholders" have existing ownership rights, in the sense of being able to exercise control over assets effectively. Moreover, it is likely that these stakeholders will take both economic and political action to defend their rights. Unless these stakeholders are somehow appeased, bribed or disenfranchised, the privatization of UBPC's cannot proceed or there will be "pseudo-privatization" (the transfer or "give-away" of public assets to private owners without an exchange of financial resources, skills and technological expertise).
SOME CRITERIA FOR AN APPROACH TO CONFISCATION CLAIMS
Obviously, the property rights issue is primarily a political issue, not a technical or economic one. In the final analysis, any solution should have the support of the majority of the Cuban people in order for the solutions to be enforceable, the outcome peaceful and also to encourage the proper and speedy reconstruction of the Cuban economy.
Privatization of state property and attraction of foreign investment are central tasks in the transition from socialist economies to market economies. It is now widely accepted that the transformation from a socialist economy to a market economy and the urgently needed improvements in enterprise efficiency are unlikely to occur without extensive and fastprivatization. In a socialist state, no one has the incentive to "mind the shop" of public property. Hence, privatization must be accomplished in a speedy and comprehensive manner based on the principle that "any productive activity that the government can do, the private sector can do as well or better."
Swift creation of a legal framework that defines property rights clearly facilitates public understanding of privatization, stimulates broad-based ownership, prevents abuse of power, and speeds up privatization and foreign investment. Ronald Coase (1960) and Olivier Williamson (1985) argued that once property rights are well-defined, individuals have very strong incentives and face reduced risks to work for efficient outcomes, but these outcomes will be independent of the allocation of those property rights.
Privatization improves allocative and productive efficiency based on individual freedoms and on private rights. Privatization has had, in general, eight objectives:
swift transfer of property and management from the public sector to private individuals to increase the economic and political power of the private sector and reduce the economic and political power and the size of the state;
to eradicate fiscal financing of state enterprises (soft budget and loans constraints will be replaced with hard budget and loans constraints);
promote the building and operating of competitive structures and environments whenever possible;
to improve the quality of public services (i.e., telecommunications, electricity, railways, highways, and ports), that are required for the modernization process of the economy;
maximize income proceeds;
select the "right" buyers;
safeguard employment; and
obtain investment
Some of these goals are not necessarily independent of each other nor mutually compatible.
A. Other Experiences
From the very inception of transition policies, the clear delineation of private property rights and the fast reestablishment of private property from the inherited all-but-exclusive state ownership have been core tenets in the political debates of how best to forge ahead.
A sociopolitical consensus on restituting property that was earlier confiscated, as one notable wrong to be righted, first emerged in Czechoslovakia after the "velvet revolution" as early as October, 1990. Generally speaking, the Eastern European and Baltic countries, as well as Nicaragua, made a strong commitment to undo injustices of the past. The privatization programs of these countries address the issue of restitution of property based on their specific economic, political and social conditions, setting different time limits for claims and offering different remedies according to their reality (restitution, compensation or other). In some countries the relevant legislative work is still incomplete. As indicated in Tables 2 and 3, restitution is now on the policy and privatization agenda in these countries, at least for some classes of assets and is being resolved in different ways in each country. Certainly, the measures embraced are anything but uniform.
In Russia and in other successor states of the Soviet Union (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakstan, Kyrgystan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan) the possibility of doing justice after 75 years was considered unfeasible because of difficulties in identifying rightful former owners or their rightful heirs and, hence, the issue of restitution of or compensation for property (except in Kyrgystan) was thus never formally placed on the agenda. 8
At the start it is necessary to decide how far back a country should redress injustice and what types of grievances should be considered. Evidently, violations of personal rights and freedoms in general and unjust and illegal confiscations of property in particular did not start with the communist takeover and did not necessarily end after the communist governments were established. Arbitrary and capricious violations of basic rights and freedoms, confiscations of different types of property, pensions and the fruits of labor have been a endless practice during the communist governments. Some of the people whose properties were confiscated received at least partial compensation. Some properties were obtained initially through misconduct or wrongdoing. Some of the properties were abandoned or the owners were out of the countries with no intention of returning. There were title and tax disputes at the time of the confiscations. Another critical issue is defining citizenship for the purpose of restitution laws. Most countries have defined that only those individuals who were citizens of the country and who had lived there permanently when the law came into effect are eligible for restitution, especially for agricultural and forestry lands. Also, most countries do not espouse claims against foreign governments brought by persons who were not their own citizens at the time of the confiscation.
The new commitment to democratic values and respect for the rule of law in Nicaragua and in the Eastern European and Baltic countries argues in favor of restitution or compensation for moral and ethical reasons. But, it has been argued that restitution or compensation also belong to the fundamentals, not only as a matter of justice, but also as a technical precondition for individual, collective and social stability, domestic capital formation and the influx of foreign capital. However, there are numerous legal, moral, economic, and technical objections that seriously call into question its feasibility.
Secure, clear and marketable property rights are key to the private sector's ability to respond to the changing economic environment. Privatization sales cannot start as long as the ownership of a given asset is under dispute. Few people are willing to invest, given the threat that the assets might be claimed by a former owner. The greater the risks they perceive, the less they will be willing to bid for the assets. What makes matters worse is that some of those willing to invest may lack access to credit, since the absence of a title makes it impossible for banks and other financial intermediaries to accept the assets as collateral.
Also, demarcated and unambiguous adjudication of property rights and an environment conductive to enforce them in law are a necessary prelude to the establishment of a market economy and for attracting foreign investment. However, the settlement of property rights is an issue of political economy (or normative economics) par excellence rather than exclusively a technical one.
While restitution may be justified on moral and ethical grounds, it implicitly favors people who used to posses physical assets over those who used to possess financial assets, rights, valid contracts or human capital and it is quite complicated to implement. Especially problematic in this context has been the question of agricultural land ownership. Yet rapid progress is urgent, for without it there will be no stimulus to increase output generation from the farm sector. Similar issues arise in connection with nonagricultural land and housing.
Some countries, such as Germany and Bulgaria, use extensive in-kind restitution as an integral part of their privatization programs. Others such as Hungary have chosen a moderate financial compensation over a direct return of physical assets in order that restitutions, which have become a transformation trap or long detour in Germany, do not muddle and delay the transformation of these societies into market entities in general and the privatization process in particular.
In Germany, where large parts of all land and buildings are subject to restitution claims, the issue of restitution has tended to obscure fundamental property rights, slow the process of privatization and give disincentives to potential investors. As a result, the Treuhandanstalt, the German privatization agency, was authorized to use financial compensation instead of in-kind restitution when it deemed this solution to be indicated by overriding public interest. In Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania there is a clear danger that restitution questions will further delay privatization and foreign investment. In Hungary, where the government decided to compensate rather than to restitute, the problem has been solved by offering compensation in the form of property vouchers that can only be used for certain purposes such as buying stocks or acquiring land, apartments, or commercial properties.
In general, most of the Eastern European and Baltic countries have favored less extensive restitution or financial compensation than Germany or Bulgaria.
In Chile, the military government reduced the total number of enterprises under state control from 529 in 1973 to 47 in 1983. It began through the restitution of the seized enterprises to their original owners. The process was conducted quite rapidly; by the end of 1974, 202 had already been returned, and by 1978 only 2 had not been returned. Likewise, the government decided to regularized the situation of seized farms, to terminate the agrarian reform program, under which approximately 52 percent of agricultural land had been expropriated, and to privatize the legally expropriated land under state ownership. This process was practically completed by 1979. Of the expropriated land, 30 percent had been returned to the original owners; 44 percent allotted or sold to private owners, mainly individual families and cooperatives; and 18 percent transferred to nonprofit institutions. Of the land returned, the former owners had to renounce any legal action they may have been entitled to against the state. The shares of some enterprises were also used as payment to settle legal actions taken against the state by former farm owners who used when their land was expropriated in the agrarian land reform of the early 1970's.
In Nicaragua, about 200,000 petitions regarding the violation of property rights encompassing about 1.7 million hectares of a total of 5.7 million hectares of cultivated land and for a substantial number of houses and urban lots were presented to the Attorney General between 1990 and 1993. The agrarian reform affected about 36 percent of the total land of the country. The lack of clear ownership has encouraged land invasions and violent confrontations that have been met with a weak response from law enforcement agencies. It can take the government up to 90 days to carry out evictions, by which time the intruders have caused severe damage to property. The uncertainty created by these unresolved property conflicts and resulting climate of violence arguably constitutes the single most important obstacle to increased private investment and productivity in agriculture, and in turn negatively affects the rest of the economy. The Nicaraguan government devised a compensation scheme based on cadastral value for those whose property was unjustly expropriated or confiscated but who cannot recover the property. Transfers based on the agrarian reform laws have in general been considered legal. The compensation will be in bonds with a 20-year maturity at an annual interest rate of 3 percent (indexed to the US dollar exchange rate) that can either be kept to maturity or used to buy public assets. In general, the cadastre value of the property is less, and sometimes substantially less, than their market value.
In most countries budget deficits appear to determine the lack of feasibility of direct, prompt, adequate and effective cash or other monetary compensation. The only feasible compensation is a present good-faith gesture, together with future rights and obligations that stimulate the economic growth of the country and create future ability to pay. In some countries the government has limited restitution by imposing a strict deadline for filing claims and by restricting the amount of restitution.
In Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary the restitution claims numbered in millions, most of which have not been settled. In Nicaragua the restitution/ compensation issue has polarized society, created frictions between the Nicaraguan and the US governments, divided the Sandinistas and "it is the core issue holding this country back." 9 These difficulties have raised the political stakes for governments and caused logjams in administration and in the courts. Also, the expectation of engineering quick changes in property rights were frustrated in a matter of a few months.
Lawmakers in these countries have also learned that there is no way to regulate the entire process simply by passing one or two legislative acts. Indeed, implementations problems always led to modifications to the basic principles. In short, a comprehensive and just codification of restitution procedures and legal institutions for orderly adjudications of conflicting claims proved to be a daunting task, even in the relatively more developed countries of Eastern Europe and the Baltic countries. There have been many complex and dynamic changes, refinements and amendments. In some countries restitutions and compensations, or even privatizations, were formally suspended because of underlying tensions. The changes that have occurred over the past six years taken together have fallen short even of "the most realistic expectations."
It has been this potential problem that has been slowing down the process of privatization notably in Germany. Radical policy measures were adopted in early 1991 that sought to replace the right to restitution with a right to compensation, guaranteed by the German government, in cases where the contested property could be put into productive use by a potential buyer making a commitment to invest in the asset that was the object of contention.
B. Implementation Problems: Some Lessons for Cuba
One of the fundamental implementation problems that arises with restitution can be summarized as follows. Even if the former rightful owners or their rightful heirs can be clearly identified, which is usually a very complex and demanding task, where justice lies is by no means self-evident if, after so many years, restitution of property requires an immediate declaration that all confiscations are declared null and void. This creates dislocation and pain from the revocation of the usufruct of property that was entrusted to others, or of clear property rights that were acquired by others according to existing law. At least in some countries, there have been significant investments by management and/or workers who had some authority over the usufruct of assets. Moreover, the essence of the confiscated property rights can no longer be separated from presently existing property rights, however inadequately they may have been defined and monitored under central planning. Thus resorting to restitution generates enormous difficulties.
One of the greatest problems facing any but the narrowest form of restitutio in integrum — for example, the return of confiscated paintings or sculptures now in museums or book manuscripts or collections in libraries to original owners— is that the legal professionals and infrastructure in the transformation economies, already inadequate at the inception of the process, is likely to get hopelessly entangled in an endless tide of grievances, claims and litigation for years to come. Forging ahead with divestment in the absence of clear titles will likely embroil the divestment agency with crippling long-term claims and litigation.
C. Physical Assets and Human Capital
"In general, favoring people who used to own real estate over those who used to own financial assets or human capital should be avoided."
Gerd Schwartz, "Privatization in Eastern European Countries," in Transition to Market, Vito Tanzi, ed., (Washington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund, 1993) p.
We take the position that claims against the Cuban state should not be limited to property claims, but should include all manner of torts— involuntary or uncompensated work, unjust imprisonment, loss of life or limb, loss of loved ones, physical or psychological abuse and harassment by agents of the state, discontinuance of pension payments, etc. 10 The people of Cuba, especially those currently residing in that country, have suffered incalculable losses. We see no legal, moral or ethical basis for assigning priority to settling
claims against physical property over those claiming civil damages such as those suggested above.
According to Section 503(b) of Title V of the International Claims Settlement Act of 1949, 11 claims of U.S. nationals were allowed "for disability or death resulting from actions taken by or under the authority of the government of Cuba…" This included pecuniary losses and damages (e.g., loss of support, medical and funeral expenses, or other expenses. 12
In at least one case, that of Jenny M. Fuller, et. al. (Decision CU-6199), the FCSC made an award based on what it considered to be wrongful death, because it felt that Cuban authorities had discriminated against two U.S. citizens in executing them although they had admitted guilt to armed uprising. Loss of pension benefits were also allowed by the FCSC.
D. Restitution: A Long Detour or a Transformation Trap?
"Wherever a country has adopted property restitution legislation, several consequences quickly resulted: 1) a dramatic economic decline; 2) an increase in the number of property disputes between former owners and -or their heirsand the property possessors; 3) the abandonment of property maintenance caused by tri al delays; 4) a decline in the flow of foreign investment toward areas where property disputes might affect their business; and 5) an increase in tensions between the local and exile communities."
Juan C. Consuegra-Barquín, "Cuba's Residential Property Ownership Dilemma: A Human Rights Issue Under International Law," in Rutgers Law Review, Winter 1994, 923.
In the case of Cuba, various arguments have been advanced in favor of the return of confiscated property to former owners. 13 These arguments fall into the following categories:
Property rights were protected against confiscation by the Cuban Constitution of 1940; they should therefore be returned to their rightful owners.
Since the government of Cuba does not have (and will not soon have) the means to compensate promptly, adequately and fairly, restitution is the best (only) workable
Restitution is the best way to implement rapid privatization and encourage recapitalization of the economy; there would be output and employment-related
In the case of corporate claims, former owners have the managerial talent necessary for rapid development of the
Other formerly socialist countries (Eastern Europe, Nicaragua) have implemented restitution policies.
Fortunately, most Cuban expatriate groups have recognized that restitution of dwellings or residential property is not advisable. The discussion can then be restricted to non-residential property.
First, restitution would not be accomplished quickly, and thus there would be legal encumbrances on a significant amount of non-residential property. Lawyers representing claimants are being disingenuous in arguing that restitution could be accomplished quickly. 14 In the 35 years that have transpired since the confiscations, there have been significant transformations of the assets, property markers have been removed, records (including mortgages and other liens on properties claimed) have been lost, witnesses have passed away, etc. Ruling out restitution simply means that any litigation would be limited to challenges concerning the validity and quantification of the value of losses, and the compensation, if any. By ruling out restitution, a future government of Cuba could proceed immediately to privatize all small and medium-size businesses that do not require a significant regulatory framework, corporatize large enterprises and take steps to improve their financial footing prior to privatization. 15
As pointed out by Gerd Schwartz in a recent book published by the IMF containing lessons from the privatization process in Eastern Europe,
"Generous restitution programs are likely to result in a flood of claims that will strain administrative capacities and impede the clarification of property rights. Direct financial compensation will add further adverse pressure on state budgets." 16
The issue of modifications to property making restitution impractical is not trivial. 17 As a result of modifications, some former owners would receive nothing while others could receive more than they lost. In the case of small business owners (there were 855 corporate awards totaling US$123.3 million), the likelihood of physical disappearance and/or substantial modification is extremely high.
Secondly, restitution would lock the country back into the pre-1959 pattern of distribution of wealth and production structure; it would not be supported by the majority of the people of Cuba. If we were to take only the fifteen largest U.S. claims (totaling US$1.2 billion, which is equivalent to 67 percent of total U.S. claims), we would find that U.S. nationals owned:
90 percent of all electricity generated on the island (Cuban Electric Co.)
The entire telephone system (ITT)
Most of the mining industry (Moa Bay Mining Co. & Nicaro Nickel )
Significant tracts of some of the best land in Cuba (between 1.5 and 2 million acres) 18
Returning these properties, ipso facto, to U.S. ownership, even if it were feasible to do so, would be tantamount to insisting that nationalistic feelings in Cuba due to foreign ownership of the country's principal assets never had a basis in fact. Moreover, it would tend to lock the country back into a sugar-dominated structure of production, precisely at a time when an unintended benefit of Cuba's economic collapse is having the opportunity to diversify away from this declining industry. In the case of public utilities, the value of a concession to provide electric power or telephone service to a country of 11 million is significantly greater than for a country of 6.5 million, which Cuba was in 1959. 19 We consider that Cuba must have a very competitive, dynamic and exportoriented economy at the time of NAFTA and the WTO and such monopolistic concessions would be incompatible with this objective.
Thirdly, the output and employment benefits that have been estimated by some researchers 20 are based largely on unrealistically positive assumptions regarding its feasibility and insufficient consideration of the benefits of alternatives to restitution.
E. Privatization and Compensation
Large enterprises can be privatized by two modes: (i) the free distribution of assets to the public at large and (ii) following a case-by case commercial approach with four main variants: (a) sale of a controlling percentage of share to a private company; (b) initial public offering of shares on a stock exchange, either domestic or international; (c) employee or management buyout; and (d) liquidation of the enterprise and sale of its assets. In the free distribution of assets, while managers are liberated from government supervision, they are not put under the control of the new owners. Effective controls can be imposed gradually, no matter how fast the formal rights are distributed. Under the second mode, when a state enterprise is sold to new owners, corporate governance is immediately established, the necessary adjustments begin to follow and additional financing is often forthcoming. However, the mode proceeds case by case, it take a long time to privatize a majority of state firms. Therefore the dilemma is to choose between a wide and shallow privatization or a deep and narrow one.
As pointed out above, to be fair to all parties any consideration of compensation for property loss in Cuba must be matched by arrangements to compensate for tort claims.
One essential question to be answered is whether attempting to arrange some form of non-cash compensation for tort claims will be more conducive to reconciliation than adopting a no-compensation policy. For example, in Romania it was felt that like many of its citizens, the country was suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, for which it had to undergo a difficult process of critical self-examination, healing, and reconstruction. Under a victim compensation law, more than 100,000 Rumanians have claimed compensation which, aside from cash, has been granted in the form of benefits such as free public transportation and preservation of job seniority. 21
A commitment to compensate those whose assets were earlier confiscated is easier. It encompasses a tabula rasa approach, that is, mandates forging restitution and limiting to compensation the claims of economic agents whose property had earlier been confiscated. Swift economic progress in this environment is a distinctive possibility. Of course, compensation presents some complexities too. It could put pressure on current or future government budgets and assessing the property of claims would still have to be tackled. Ascertaining values of confiscated property is a hazardous undertaking under the best of circumstances. This is even true when the object of assessment is being narrowed down to real estate, plant and equipment. Some of them have changed to such an extent in the intervening years that fair compensation is fundamentally an impractical choice, some of them are in a physically dilapidated shape, and it is unfair to ignore many other assets such as goodwill, technologies, contracts, rights, licenses and patents, financial instruments, market position and human capital. Aside from generating much work for accounting firms and lawyers, at the great expense, in the end, to the taxpayer in the countries in transformation, such cumbersome, costly evaluations are in any case rather meaningless in the disorderly, highly inflationary and increasingly competitive environment of the countries going through the transformation. There is also the problem of the introduction of modern tax systems and accounting procedures.
Any attempt to ask a new Cuban government to compensate former rightful owners in cash or cash equivalent out of general revenues must be considered dangerous, given the already exceedingly weak fiscal base of the economy. Perhaps a commitment in principle to compensate former rightful owners from the proceeds of the sale of capital assets, including the transfer of shares in state firms to be privatized if so desired, or providing future rights and preferences would go a long way to see justice done without disrupting the transformation process.
There are two U.S. laws related to compensation for U.S. claims that are critical to Cuba's reconstruction. One bans aid to countries that confiscated property owned by U.S. citizens without equitable compensation and the other requires the U.S. to vote against aid by multilateral lending institutions to such countries. Hence, U.S. laws require resolution of U.S. citizens' confiscation claims before foreign aid can resume.
Bilateral negotiations are desirable to resolve U.S. claims. We would argue that by the act of filing claims before the FCSC, U.S. citizens and corporations formally requested the U.S. government to demand compensation, and the U.S. government did so by first placing and then maintaining an embargo on trade with Cuba.
Furthermore, the U.S. government paid at least partial compensation to claimants through the tax system. As mentioned in preceding sections of this paper, in the early 1970's, the Internal Revenue Service implemented a program allowing individual and corporate taxpayers (i.e., including Cuban expatriates who were taxpayers and suffered losses) to take federal income tax deductions for losses of property confiscated by the government of Cuba (see Appendix). Those who filed tax returns claiming deductions for losses also transferred their claims to the U.S. government. Groups of Cuban-Americans have also formally requested the Secretary of State to take up their cases.
Therefore, all U.S. claimants (citizen and non-citizen taxpayers) made their claims subject to international negotiation and, if the doctrine of espousal is invoked (as it should be), must abide by the settlement made by the U.S. government. Rather than negotiating with each claimant, the government of Cuba should indicate its readiness to negotiate this matter bilaterally with the U.S. government.
The purpose of massive privatization is to provide Cuba a realistic change for a fresh start as a market economy and representative democracy because Cuba faces a solvency problem and not a liquidity problem. Only interest payments on foreign loans could swallow about half of Cuba's export earnings. All compensation claims for confiscations of property and other torts must be reduced or postponed, and emergency and development economic assistance must be provided expeditiously in order that comprehensive and difficult transformation reforms are implemented and have time to take hold.
An analogy to U.S. bankruptcy proceedings is pertinent here. When an enterprise works its way through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States, three things normally happen. First, creditors are forced to refrain of pressing their claims. This breathing space, or financial standstill, provides the debtor the chance to get back on its feet. Second, the debtor may be allowed to borrow fresh funds on a privileged basis to replenish its working capital and the new creditors have higher priority than the old ones. Third, the old creditors are usually compelled to cut a deal with the debtor, in which they cancel or restructure part of the debt or convert part of it to equity, to allow the debtor to emerge from bankruptcy with an opportunity for continued operations. This is the type of scenario that will have to take place in relation to Cuba's serious financial obligations if the country is to get back on its feet.
However, an important issue to be considered is the negative impact a no-compensation policy might have on the government's credibility in reestablishing private property rights. It is also felt that future investment will be discouraged unless there is some form of official recognition of past losses, for which special consideration might be given during the process of privatization.
In a previous paper, we suggested the corporatization of certain large military bases in Cuba and their conversion to free trade zones, with labor being provided by the deactivated military. In a NAFTA and WTO world, free trade zones may be less attractive possibilities. Nevertheless, as an example of one possible means of compensation, a scheme might be built into the corporatization of military bases, converting them into poles for industrial development, and compensating with shares in these corporations.
In this regard, the government of Cuba could negotiate the earlier termination of U.S. rights to Guantánamo Bay, with its airport, port, structures and other facilities covering 117 Km2 and occupying one of the three best Cuban ports, establish the Guantánamo Development Corporation, and use shares or profits from that corporation to compensate the government of the United States for U.S. claims.
Obviously, there is no reasonable way for a future government of Cuba to justify compensating the U.S. and not its own citizens. Compensation of Cuban and other claimants who did not receive tax benefits from the U.S. could take the form of issuance of shares or discount coupons to be used to purchase shares in selected corporations.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The government of Cuba should take the following steps:
Reaffirm at the outset that all non-residential property in Cuba belongs to the state.
Declare its recognition that confiscations of properties that took place after January 1, 1959 were illegal, except properties initially obtained through misconduct or wrongdoing, and its intention to negotiate settlement of the claims.
Declare its willingness to enter into negotiations with the Government of the United States for direct bilateral settlement of the debt owed for properties of U.S. citizens confiscated after January 1, 1959. This debt includes (a) claims presented to the U.S. Foreign Claims Settlement Commission and found to merit awards, and (b) assets claimed as losses to the Internal Revenue Service by U.S. citizens and former Cuban nationals.
Lifting of the U.S. embargo is a necessary though not sufficient condition for Cuba to have the ability to service its obligations, apply for debt rescheduling and debt relief, and have access to fresh credit. In our view, as a result of the combination of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, only a transition government of Cuba, committed to holding free and fair elections, will be able to negotiate the issue of U.S. claims with the government of the United States in order to resolve this matter.
Since the lifting of the U.S. embargo is a priority, Cuba must indicate its agreement to enter into formal bilateral (government-to-government) good faith negotiations regarding U.S. claims, but the embargo must be lifted prior to concluding the negotiations.
Some have indicated disingenuously that lifting the embargo prior to settling all claims would "compromise the entire U.S. Cuba claims issue" and that the United States "would lose any leverage it may otherwise have had with regard to the prompt resolution of the U.S. Cuba claims matter." 22 This argument seems to us absurd, since Cuba's development hopes and ability to compensate are inextricably tied to its relations with the United States. The challenge for both the U.S. and Cuba will be to build a relationship based on mutual respect and trust.
Establish the Guantánamo Development Corporation (GDC), as a Cuban corporation, on the property to be vacated by the U.S. Naval Base on the basis of an agreement as part of Point (3), as an industrial development zone. The government of Cuba would retain a minimum of 25 percent of its shares, the remainder to be distributed by the government of the United States as further compensation for losses sustained by its citizens and former Cuban nationals who claimed losses to the Internal Revenue Service. Suitable agreement should be reached to safeguard the value of the GDC's shares in order for compensation to be meaningful.
Establish a semi-autonomous agency such as the CACUCOCO 23 to examine all other claims not included in Point (4) above, and to make a determination regarding the amount of the loss in each
Select major military bases with good infrastructure (especially port access) and establish one other industrial development corporations modelled after the GDC. Shares in these corporations would be used to compensate claims awarded by the CACUCOCO.
Implement a privatization program for the non-residential properties specified in Point 1 above, providing for swift distribution of small and medium state enterprises and giving priority to Cuban resi 24 Privatization should be carried out with absolute transparency and without any suspicion of impropriety. This will provide robust political foundations to the economic transformation.
Adopt a modern foreign investment law, join the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and invite and sign agreements with the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and other similar European organizations to begin financing and insuring investments in order to reduce the country risk of investing in Cuba should also sign the International Convention for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSD) and enter negotiations with the aim of securing bilateral investment agreements to avoid double taxation in order that foreign investors can receive credit for the taxes they pay in Cuba from taxes payable in their country of origin.
This paper is based on a previous paper by the authors, "Transition in Cuba: A Comprehensive Stabilization Proposal and Some Key Issues," in George P. Montalván (ed.), Cuba In Transition, Volume 3 (Washington, D.C.: ASCE, 1994), pp. 11-72. ↩
The views expressed herein are those of the authors and in no way represent the official views of the Inter-American Development Bank. ↩
Matías Travieso-Díaz and Stephan M. Bleisteiner, "Some Lessons for Cuba from the Legal Changes in Eastern Europe," April 1993, p. 19. ↩
See FCSC Decision CU-0249, American Cast Iron Pipe Company, for the FCSC ruling of simple interest at 6 percent per annum. ↩
Survey of Current Business, August 1961, Table 3, p. 22, 23. ↩
José F. Alonso and Armando M. Lago, "A First Approximation of the Foreign Assistance Requirements of a Democratic Cuba," in George P. Montalván (ed.), Cuba In Transition, Vol. 3, op. cit., pp. 202-204. ↩
See Alberto Díaz-Masvidal, "Scope, Nature and Implications of Contract Assignments on Cuban Natural Resources," in George P. Montalván (ed.), Cuba In Transition, Volume 3, pp. 55-60. ↩
A Land Fund covering up to 25 percent of arable land is to be created, for redistribution of land or compensation for nationalization in past decades. Criteria for eligibility are still under discussion (European Bank, Transition Report 1995, p. 33-64). ↩
An unidentified diplomat in Nicaragua, quoted in "Americans' land claims unsettling for Nicaragua," The Washington Post, December 21, 1994, p. A-28. ↩
To use some well-known examples, poet Jorge Valls could make a claim for damages resulting from 22 years of unjust imprisonment; the mother of student leader Pedro Luis Boitel could likewise claim damages resulting from the wrongful death of her son while unjustly incarcerated; human rights activist and poet María Elena Cruz Varela could bring suit against the government for assault and unjust incarceration. Well-documented examples of state-sponsored mistreatment and torture are detailed in Charles J. Brown and Armando M. Lago, The Politics of Psychiatry in Revolutionary Cuba (New Jersey: Transaction Press, 1991). It is interesting to note that Article 26 of the 1976 Cuban Constitution provides that "any person suffering damages or loss income or value unduly caused by public officials or government agents during the performance of their duties has the right to claim and obtain the corresponding reparation or indemnification as provided by law." ↩
Title V was added by Public Law 88-666 (78 Stat. 1110), approved October 16, 1964. ↩
Edward D. Re, "The Foreign Claims Settlement Commission and the Cuban Claims Program," in The International Lawyer, Vol. 1, No. 1 (October 1966). ↩
An interesting paper in support of restitution is Robert E. Freer, Jr., "The Significance of Restitution in the Economic Recovery of Cuba," paper prepared for the Cuban American National Foundation's Blue Ribbon Committee on the Economic Reconstruction of Cuba, May 25, 1993. The author indicates that he represents certified claimants who seek the return of their property. The National Association of Sugar Mill Owners of Cuba (Asociación Nacional de Hacendados de Cuba, Inc.) is also very active in this regard. A.R.M. Ritter, while acknowledging that it has "only a limited role to play," does not rule out restitution; see "Financial Aspects of Normalizing Cuba's International Relations: The Debt and Compensation Issues," Cuba In Transition, Florida International University, 1993. ↩
Freer recognizes that a process of restitution "will, to some degree, inhibit the rapid privatization of property. Forcing claims into the courts could well cause a lengthy lag between the claim and the actual vindication of title." Freer, op. cit., p. 12. ↩
"In general, accumulated experience suggest that while small firms in the manufacturing sector can be sold early on and rapidly, the divesture of large monopolies, banks, insurance companies and public utilities that wield monopoly power is substantially more complicated. In particular, in most cases, it is desirable to define a clear regulatory framework before firms are put in the block." (Edwards, 1995, p. 175). ↩
Gerd Schwartz, "Privatization in Eastern European Countries," in Transition to Market, Vito Tanzi, ed., (Washington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund, 1993) p. 244. ↩
See Jorge A. Sanguinetty, "Some Issues About Expropriation Claims In Cuba," ASCE Newsletter, Spring Issue, May 1993, p. 10, 11. ↩
North American Sugar Industries alone owned a tract of land of approximately 42 miles by 30 miles (3,300 square kilometers) and three sugar mills, including two of Cuba's largest. ↩
In June 1994, Grupo Domos, a Mexican enterprise, purchased 49% of EmtelCuba for US$1.5 billion. See Ted Bardacke, "Mexican firm breaks new ground in Cuban telecom field," Development Business, July 31, 1994. Compare that figure, which represents half of a broken-down telephone system, to the FCSC award of US$130.7 million in the ITT case for the entire telephone system of Cuba in 1960, which functioned adequately. ↩
See, for example, José F. Alonso, "An Economic Exercise in Restitution," July 8, 1994, mimeo. ↩
See Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry, Psychiatry Under Tyranny: An Assessment of the Political Abuse of Romanian Psychiatry During the Ceausescu Years, Amsterdam, 1992, p. 14. ↩
Ralph J. Galliano, "The Resolution of U.S. Cuba Claims: Toward a Democratic, Free Market, Post-Castro Cuba," Washington, D.C., the Selous Foundation, May 20, 1993, p. 5, 6. ↩
Cámara Cubana de Compensación Constitucional. See Emilio Cueto, "La Cacucoco: Fantasía en MI Sostenido," La Crónica (Mexico, D.F.), 15 September 1994, p. 11-12. ↩
See Castañeda and Montalván, op. cit., pp. 68-70. ↩
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Critics want Orange County to cancel demolition plans for Tinker Field
Updated: 6:07 PM EST Feb 5, 2014
Critics of a plan to demolish historic Tinker Field want the county to step up to the plate and stop it.
Critics of a plan to demolish historic Tinker Field want the county to step up to the plate and stop it."We are neglecting the probably push down of one of Orlando's most significant historic sites, Tinker Field," said Doug Head, County Watch spokesman.A member of County Watch criticized the Orlando Historic Preservation board Wednesday for not being the lead in an effort to preserve the old ball field.Tinker Field is 100 years old this year, but last week Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer announced that the Citrus Bowl overhaul is so big that the field, which was the home to major league teams during spring training, will have to be torn down.One county commissioner wants to try to save at least some of it."We don't have that many old buildings that are old historical sites here," said Orange County Commissioner Pete Clark. "I think deserves the opportunity to at least preserve a piece of it, with the historic significance of it."Dyer said officials have just started their discussion on possible options for the field.County commissioners, the officials paying for the bowl expansion, will discuss plans to demolish Tinker Field next week.
"We are neglecting the probably push down of one of Orlando's most significant historic sites, Tinker Field," said Doug Head, County Watch spokesman.
City officials put decisions on future of Tinker Field on hold
A member of County Watch criticized the Orlando Historic Preservation board Wednesday for not being the lead in an effort to preserve the old ball field.
Tinker Field is 100 years old this year, but last week Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer announced that the Citrus Bowl overhaul is so big that the field, which was the home to major league teams during spring training, will have to be torn down.
One county commissioner wants to try to save at least some of it.
"We don't have that many old buildings that are old historical sites here," said Orange County Commissioner Pete Clark. "I think [this] deserves the opportunity to at least preserve a piece of it, with the historic significance of it."
Dyer said officials have just started their discussion on possible options for the field.
County commissioners, the officials paying for the bowl expansion, will discuss plans to demolish Tinker Field next week.


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846. Song of Granite: Smaointe
Posted by ancroiait on June 21, 2018
Posted in: Éire, Ceol, Conradh na Gaeilge, Education, Gaeilge, History, Ireland, Irish.	Tagged: Comhaltas, Comhaltas LA, Conradh na Gaeilge, Gaeltacht, Joe Heaney, Lá, Song of Granite.
Memory & Archives Aibreán 21, 2018 ag an Huntington i bPasadena, California.
Bhí orm caint faoi mo smaointe ar an scannán Song of Granite as Béarla. Seo'd iad na nótaí a bhreac mé síos roimh chaint faoi. Béarla ag teacht. GML.
Thoughts & notes about the film: time, place, identity, sean-nós, Irish, Seosamh etc.
Mícheál Ó Confhaola dochreidthe maith mar Joe Heaney!
Gaeltacht & Suffering
I asked what I should talk about and the themes of memory, place, and identity were mentioned. In a great hurry, I jotted down what I could before rushing off to a Celtic retreat where there were music, dance, and language workshops. Here are those rough thoughts.
The film Song of Granite brought back memories. I felt ancient. Because I understood. Because it was familiar. I saw it in a cinema in Santa Monica. In the darkness, I heard the words of the most moving song and the tears fell. There were no subtitles. What astounded me was that when I looked around was that other people were crying too even though they didn't understand the words.
l often hear people describing Irish an ancient language and I cringe. It is ancient and we should be proud of that. But that is often said to dismiss it as if it has no relevance to the modern world. Song of Granite made me feel ancient. The film felt like it must have been about a time long before I was born. Still, for a time, I lived this life.
Back in 1973, in the middle of winter, I spent three months as an 11-year-old on a Gael-Linn scholarship. Going from Mullingar in the center of Ireland to Leitir Móir back in 1973 was like stepping into the history books. I landed in one of the most westerly regions of The Gaeltacht (the Irish-speaking region).
When Song of Granite showed the young boy walking across the rocks in a long shot, I knew how he felt. I had walked landscapes like this. I had seen women in clothes that should only have been in the history books but I saw them with my own eyes. It shouldn't have been. I'm not old enough. I saw old women by the bridge to Leitir Mealláin dressed in black with big hoods around their heads. The memory stayed with me because the brakes had failed on the bus and we went past the church to where the women were before stopping. They seemed like they were from an older time.
Back then, I would bring a sod of turf for the fireplace when I went to school in Leitir Móir. Something that never happened in Mullingar. There were no fireplaces in classrooms and students were not required to bring a sod of turf in with them. The schoolhouse in Leitir Móir was full of life and mischief back then. The local children pestered me with questions because they wanted to know about my world because I was from a different world. When I went home, I was part of two worlds.
I am part of this world of Song of Granite. Part of me then and part of me now. There is a lot of parting going on. In the cinema, part of me felt connected on a deep level and part of me resented being made to feel so old. It messed up my sense of time and place. Joe Heaney had a lot of parting going on in his life too. It is the way of the west: to emigrate. It is the way of Ireland now. His roots were deep but he kept on moving: a walking, singing contradiction.
Song of Granite starts in the Gaeltacht, an Irish-Speaking region. Even in this example I give you of what it is, there is treachery. It suggests that no one else in Ireland speaks Ireland except in the most remote places. We were told that is what it is and we repeat that definition, that limitation of who we can be.
The Gaeltacht still needs to be understood and protected even as we realize it should never have been used to separate people by language. It is a form of Apartheid, often by very well-meaning people. Others are just more comfortable that Irish speakers are kept away in the west and don't offend their ears in civilized parts of the country.
Some scenes in Song of Granite reminded me of a dark short film about boys drowning: An t-Ádh directed by Colm Bairéad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgBPdWI8suA It is 21 minutes long if you wait for the song during the credits. And you should. It's a lament. Bertie O Domhnaill sings the song at the end. Amhrán Maoinis. We have much to lament. Songs where the people in the song know they are going to die pack a punch. Even more so, if they tell their wishes in a matter of fact manner. An t-Ádh is a reworking of a classic tale by Pádraic O Conaire. Children playing on bare broken concrete in an abandoned school reminded me of clips I had seen of reservations for indigenous peoples here in the US. The boys in the short film have the most beautiful, musical Irish. It's their language and it is alive. Very little else around them is.
They are in the designated area called the Gaeltacht. It exists to protect them and their language. This is how the Gaeltacht is explained. Part of it is real and well-meaning. You have to wonder, though; why does the place where the children play look so abandoned? Why do they play on deserted land, on broken concrete? People will claim it is all for good and there is some truth to that but it reminded me of the message of the movie Song of the Sea where Granny keeps telling the children that they must deal with suffering because it is for their own good and she reminds them, "I know what's best for you!" The government has often failed to do the right thing for the language and the people of the Gaeltacht.
We should not forget the desire to drive the Irish "to hell or to Connaught.' Our enemies wanted to kill our people and our language by sending people there. We should not be guilty of doing the same thing while saying we have good intentions in doing so. Our ancestors were driven to the harshest land to separate them from the richer people. To divide and conquer. When I arrived there as an 11-year-old, I saw children dying to escape from their restricted zone. They wanted a better life. We can have that. The definition of a Gaeltacht is changing. We are creating our own Irish-speaking spaces by overcoming shame. It is happening.
ARCHIVE: The Gaeltacht region is remote. Beautiful but remote. Some say there is not one Gaeltacht; there are many. I say the whole country is a Gaeltacht that has a muffle of shame. The separation to protect the language is not working. We must protect the people who have been cast aside or deprived. Ensure they have employment with the language. We must record the words and cadences of Gaeltacht speakers. Record audiobooks to ensure the music of the language is not lost. The locals get jobs and we get audiobooks so as to pass it on to future generations. Universities must do this. Archive it. Make it public. Sell it to those who can afford it. Give it away to the rest. It is urgent to do this.
3. IDENTITY and SHAME
It can be difficult to understand why people would not respect their own beautiful language but in that game of deception that is imperialism, those to be conquered are defined as in need of civilization to justify barbaric actions. To accept the false narrative is to become part of the process of killing off a culture and a language. It is not right to call this post-colonial inheritance because the colonial mentality has been planted in our heads. It is still there. It is a colony in our heads. It is difficult to shake free of the sense of shame that was passed down from generation to generation.
We try to make the whole country a Gaeltacht again. Online, it's easy enough. Sometimes not. In 2016 I signed up for a course with Trinity College online to learn about the history of the 1916 rebellion. I posted some comments in Irish. This wasn't allowed, I was informed, as some people couldn't understand them. I suggested I translate them to English and post both versions thinking people would appreciate this. It wasn't allowed. It turns out the course was run from England and the person who had to monitor comments probably was worried that I might be a terrorist saying awful things in another language. There is irony in the fact that I did a course on the 1916 fight for freedom hosted by an Irish university where English only was allowed.
In the north of the country, it can be much worse. When I started driving, I had stickers on my car that said: Scrios bóithre Chonamara an carr seo (Connemara roads wrecked this car) and Fág an Bealach (Clear the way). Because of that, I would never dare to drive across the border. The stickers would mark me as a probable terrorist to soldiers at the border and in the north. That's how they saw us. How some still see us.
Lately, Queen's University Belfast was in the news for not allowing signs in Irish on their campus. When these things happen we learn it is not just that we are not allowed to use our language in many places, but that people see it as threatening, offensive, and unworthy. That shames us.
As we try to use our language in everyday life, we are banned or prevented from using it again and again. We feel ashamed to speak in case we might start trouble when they have to tell us we are not allowed to speak. All this was not only allowed but is still VERY much alive. Our politicians do not speak Irish in government. They should.
We cannot be separated anymore. Irish words come flooding in my head to try to explain was I feel about the Gaeltacht: Uaigneas, Lom, Tréigthe, Caite Amach, Tost. Loneliness, Bare, Abandoned, Thrown out, Silence. There's a lot of silence in Song of Granite. Silence between the notes, between the words, between the elements of the story. Gaps in the history of who we are. We know something is wrong with that. Irish speakers need to be accepted and part of Ireland. Our signs should not have Irish bent over in italics. We are not less and we should not be cowed. We need the same opportunities and Internet access as anywhere else. We need respect for our language from the politicians down. Speaking it.
I recently went home to my Father's funeral. At the removal of remains (not a very poetic description), a nun who had taught me asked me if I was still using music in my life. Did I have a job in the area of music? I told her, in sight of my father's open coffin, that I was involved with Irish now. Her eyes opened with shock and she said, with genuine horror: You haven't gone all Gaelic on us, have you? These are the people who educated us. These are the attitudes they hold. Not all. But enough to do major damage. Most students are led to believe Irish is something you have to study but it's really worthless. They teach disrespect and resentment. Not all, but enough to do major damage. We must change this. It is a mindset. It is shame.
Seosamh Ó hÉanaí
15 Oct 1919 Carna, Connemara – 1 May 1984 Seattle Washington. He went from Ireland to England, Scotland and the US (including New York & Seattle).
He recorded hundreds of songs. His repertoire: over 500 songs. He starting singing at 5 and singing in public at 20.
1949: Worked on building sites in London & recorded for Topic & Gael-Linn. He was married for 6 years. His wife died of TB.
1959: RTÉ & BBC recorded him.
1965: He went to Newport folk Festival, moved to US, settled in New York. He taught at Wesleyan University in Middleton, Connecticut.
1982 – 1984 Artist-in-Residence at the Universiy of Washington in Seattle.
1984: The Joe Heaney Collection of the University of Washington Ethnomusicology Archives
There is an annual festival in Carna: Féile Chomórtha Joe Éinniú
Tuilleadh eolais faoi:
Bio: 2007 Liam Mac Con Iomaire. Nár fhágha mé bás choíche
Doc: 1996 Michael Davitt: Sing The Dark Away
2011: Sean Williams & Lillis O Laoire Bright Star of the West: Joe Heaney, Irish Song-Man.
2017 Song of Granite, Pat Collins
Críochnaigh mé le caint faoi Chomhaltas agus Conradh na Gaeilge i gCathair na nAingeal. Bhí suim ag bean faoi leith sa cheangail le ceol na ndúchasach i SAM. Mór an trua nach raibh níos mó ama agam leo ach mór an onóir bheith ann.
Eolas faoin sean-nós anseo agus anseo.
Eolas faoin nGaeilge anseo.
Amhráin sa scannáin anseo
Cuid acu anseo.
← 845. Fuath & Déistin in Éirinn
847. Cén Fáth? →


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The economic return on a fungicide application is usually greater when fungicide use is based on the presence of a foliar disease. Fungicides applied from tasseling to early silking tend to have the best possibility for economic return.
The exact yield response to a fungicide treatment cannot be predicted with certainty considering all the different types of crop stress and crop genetics. Your results will be much more consistent when fungicide use is based on the presence of a foliar disease.
In most cases, fungicide applications should be applied at or soon after tasseling. University of Illinois research showed that fungicide applications during the mid-vegetative growth stages (V5-V6) did not significantly reduce foliar disease severity or increase yields when compared with either untreated controls or applications made between VT and R1.1 Fungicides applied from VT to early R1 tend to have the best possibility for economic return.
Begin scouting fields for foliar disease symptoms just before tasseling and continue through the grain filling stages of growth. Since the majority of the plant's energy supply to fill the ear comes from the ear leaf and above, examine the ear leaf and leaves above and below the ear at several locations throughout a field. If disease is present on a majority (> 50%) of the leaves at R1, a fungicide application would protect yield potential. If disease is present at later growth stages up to R4 (dough), a fungicide application may be necessary based on if environmental conditions continue to be conducive to disease progression.
The Corn Disease Working Group (CDWG) developed ratings for how well fungicides control major corn diseases in the United States. The CDWG deter31;mined the efficacy ratings for each fungi31;cide by field-testing the materials over multiple years and locations. Visit www.extension.iastate.edu for a copy of this table.


Offshore driller Odfjell Drilling will employ more than 200 personnel in Norway as two new semi-submersibles join the company's fleet this year.
Odfjell said on Wednesday that the new workers would consist of operational personnel, engineers, and administrative support personnel to support its growing North Sea activities.
To remind, the Deepsea Nordkapp was delivered to Odfjell on January 7 while the driller entered into a management agreement with CIMC Raffles for the Beacon Atlantic on March 19.
The two new 6th generation semi-submersibles will be mobilized for drilling operations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf later this year.
According to the company, the Deepsea Nordkapp is in transit from Samsung in Korea to the North Sea and is expected to arrive at CCB, Ågotnes around April 8 for a three-week yard stay before starting operations for Aker BP in the second quarter of 2019.
Aker BP awarded Odfjell a two-year firm drilling contract for the rig back in late April 2018. Aker BP also has 1+1 year optional periods for the rig.
It is worth noting that Polish oil company PGNiG signed an agreement with Aker BP on March 26 for the lease of the Deepsea Norkapp for the drilling on the Shrek prospect in the Norwegian Sea.
PGNiG plans to start drilling the Shrek well between September 1 and November 30, 2019, following the completion of the drilling of production wells at Aker BP-operated Skogul and Ærfugl fields.
The Beacon Atlantic is currently at CIMC Raffles yard in Yantai, China completing final commissioning and sea trials. The unit is planned to leave the yard in early June and arrive in Norway three months later. Drilling operations for Neptune Energy Norway will begin in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The estimated duration of the firm program for six wells is 400 days. Neptune will have options to extend the contract for up to 10 more wells.
Following these mobilizations, Odfjell Drilling will operate five semi-submersibles offshore Norway in 2019. Apart from these two, the company will operate the Deepsea Bergen, Deepsea Atlantic, and Deepsea Stavanger.
The company also has the Deepsea Aberdeen in operation on the UKCS plus platform drilling on 14 installations in Norway and the UK.
Posted on March 27, 2019 with tags beacon atlantic, Deepsea Nordkapp, Norway, Odfjell Drilling.


1. No Boys Cross Country practice today but there will be the rest of the week.
2. There will be a HOSA officer meeting this Wednesday after school until 5pm. The new committee choir members are invited to attend.
3. SENIORS: Don't forget that trash bag sales end tomorrow. Please return your order and money to the office in the morning.
4. Tuesday is Lasso Drugs Day! Dress as a cowboy or cowgirl (cowboy hats are allowed).


In it you will find the main steps you need to follow before and during the purchase of your home as well as many useful tips to help you complete your real estate transaction in a satisfactory manner. For the steps of a sale, check the Seller's Guide.
This guide is meant to serve as a quick reference guide, but it does not replace the advice of a real estate or mortgage broker or agency. Its content applies exclusively to the purchase of residential property. It includes some information about properties held in divided and undivided co-ownership, but this content is not comprehensive.


text:
Clifton's Gates of Hell
Series of storm drains connected to a dark urban legend.
OwlsFlight
abandonednj (Atlas Obscura User)
From the outside, the Gates of Hell, located behind the old Black Prince Distillery in Clifton, New Jersey, look like any other collection of drains. But once you climb inside you'll see that the drains,—the home of the devil according to an old urban legend—are covered with satanic graffiti and murals from generations of those who have dared to enter.
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The Gates of Hell drain stands out from others nearby because it is square in shape and dry, while all others drains in the area typically have streams of water flowing from them. A ladder allows visitors to climb inside the drain, actually a series of connecting drains. Reportedly, the drains go on for hundreds of feet underground, layered seven times just like the circles of hell, and are filled with the remains of satanic sacrifices—bones and decaying carcasses, crosses, and more.
According to the legend, there is a room deep underground that can only be entered by those possessed with the powers to lift giant axes that weigh thousands of pounds and block the doors. The room is filled with a glowing human skull that is the last sign before you encounter the devil himself. Other, slightly more plausible legends, tell of people drowning in the drains, while trying to explore them and the rooms underground being used as meeting places for devil worshippers and members of the KKK.
Park at the Pathmark on the corner of Paulison Avenue and Clifton Avenue From there, walk down Clifton Avenue toward the railroad tracks and then turn left on Fornelius Avenue. Past the second building, there is a path that leads up to the tracks. Cross the tracks and proceed down the embankment. You will see two sunken concrete areas each surrounded by fencing. An active drainage pipe flows into the one on the right. Two pipes open into the one on the left. The inactive one, on the right as you face them, is the Gates. Safety Notes: There used to be a ladder that would take you down into the sunken concrete area, but it is gone now. It is a short drop in but requires some scrambling or lifting to get out. Also, the areas over which water flows are smooth and coated with slippery residue. Tread carefully.
Atlas Obscura Experiences
intriguing environssubterranean sites
Nicholas Jackson
Surreal New Jersey: Gates of Hell: http://www.surrealnewjersey.com/gates_of_hell.htm
Weird New Jersey: The Gates of Hell: http://www.weirdnj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=81&Itemid=28
Clifton, New Jersey, 07013
Bloomfield, New Jersey
Holsten's Brookdale Confectionery
This old-fashioned candy shop, ice cream parlor, and diner served as the setting for one of TV's most controversial series finales.
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Edison's cast-in-place concrete houses were a massive failure, but way ahead of their time.
Rutherford, New Jersey
Iviswold Castle
Originally built in 1869, this castle is currently part of Felician University's campus.
Added by sjmcconagly
Victor Victori's Multiplism Statues
Seven golden statues rise into the sky from sculptor Victor Victori's New Jersey front lawn.
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Avshalom Cave
This amazing ancient cave was kept secret for seven years to protect it from the public.
Muraglione, Italy
Pertosa Caves
Ride a boat through this magnificent underground world, which now doubles as a theater.
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Cave of Zeus
This Turkish cave boasts some rather bizarre associations with the King of Mount Olympus.
Sudwala Caves
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1. A free screening of Wayne's World on a gigantic screen provided by Rooftop Films, in the middle of summer, underneath that handful of New York stars.
2. A FREE performance from YEllowDogs at 7:30 who sound really cool and were hand-picked by the musical geniuses over at FreeWilliamsburg.
4. The chance to win a briefcase full of Wayne's World themed items courtesy of Film Biz Recycling (sign up with an L mag staffer in a sea foam green tee).
5. A giant game of Yahtzee over at the Southwest Airlines tent, winners get free miles to travel around the country (but hopefully just Vegas).
6. Epix will be giving away iPad2's and seat cushions over at their tent.
7. Cold Sixpoint beer. In CANS. For $4.
8. FREE Vitamin Water samples. As if! (no, they're really free).
9. FREE Pop Chips samples. Because we're keepin' it real.
10. Fiat will be on site showing off their awesome cars for you to horse around in.
11. Food for sale form Pizza Moto, Coolhaus, The V Spot, and newcomer Mexicue!
12. Everyone who comes to the SummerScreen info table (located at the entrance on N12th) can show their checkin on FourSquare and get a FREE subscription to Brooklyn Magazine.
13. Summer. In New York. If you blow chunks and she comes back, she's yours. But if you spew and she bolts, then it was never meant to be.


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I'd love it if you made a travel size, maybe something in a tube I can easily carry around in my purse or pocket.
It's in the works, Vickie.
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1. Put it on your teeth to keep lipstick from getting on them.
2. Use it as a natural mascara.
4. Use it after you get a tattoo.
5. Use it to oil wash your face.


Mata, T.M., Martins, A.A., Caetano, N.S. "Microalgae for biodiesel production and other applications: A review" Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, (2010), 14(1), 217-232.
Caetano, N.S., Silva, V.F.M., Melo, A.C., Martins, A.A., "Spent coffee grounds for biodiesel production and other applications" Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, (2014), 16(7), 1423–1430.
Mata, T.M., Mendes, A.M., Caetano, N.S., Martins, A.A. "Sustainability and economic evaluation of microalgae grown in brewery wastewater" Bioresource Technology, (2014), 168, 151-158.
Mata, T.M., Sousa, I.R.B.G., Vieira, S.S., aetano, N.S. "Biodiesel Production from Corn Oil via Enzymatic Catalysis with Ethanol" Energy Fuels, (2012), 26 (5), 3034–3041.
Mata, T.M., Melo, A.C., Simões, M., Caetano, N.S. "Parametric study of a brewery effluent treatment by microalgae Scenedesmus obliquus" Bioresource Technology, (2012), 107, 151–158.


text:
Q: zlib - Zero compression rate for gzip I have the following C++ code which uses zlib to compress a memory
buffer into a gzip encoded stream:
void compress(const std::vector<char>& src)
{
    static constexpr int DEFAULT_WINDOW_BITS = 15;
    static constexpr int GZIP_WINDOW_BITS = DEFAULT_WINDOW_BITS + 16;
    static constexpr int GZIP_MEM_LEVEL = 8;

    z_stream stream;

    const auto srcData = reinterpret_cast<unsigned char*>(const_cast<char*>(src.data()));

    stream.zalloc = Z_NULL;
    stream.zfree = Z_NULL;
    stream.opaque = Z_NULL;
    stream.next_in = srcData;
    stream.avail_in = src.size();

    auto result = deflateInit2(&stream,
                               Z_DEFAULT_COMPRESSION,
                               Z_DEFLATED,
                               GZIP_WINDOW_BITS,
                               GZIP_MEM_LEVEL,
                               Z_DEFAULT_STRATEGY);

    if (result == Z_OK)
    {
        std::vector<char> dest(deflateBound(&stream, stream.avail_in));
        const auto destData = reinterpret_cast<unsigned char*>(dest.data());

        stream.next_out = destData;
        stream.avail_out = dest.size();

        result = deflate(&stream, Z_FINISH);

        if (result == Z_STREAM_END)
        {
            std::cout << "Original: " << src.size() << "; compressed: " << dest.size() << std::endl;
        }
        else
        {
            std::cerr << "Error when compressing: code " << std::to_string(result);
        }

        result = deflateEnd(&stream);

        if (result != Z_OK)
        {
            std::cerr << "Error: Cannot destroy deflate stream: code " << std::to_string(result) << std::endl;
        }
    }
    else
    {
        std::cerr << "Error: Cannot initialize deflate stream: code " << std::to_string(result) << std::endl;
    }
}

While the function finishes successfully, I'm getting no compression
at all. In fact, for a 3MB file consisting of just the character 'a'
repeated multiple times, I get the following:
Original: 3205841; compressed: 3206843

Am I doing something wrong?
(Notice that this is a simplified version of the original code; in practice, I'd be using RAII and exceptions for resource and error handling).

A: The comments on the question are the answers, so just to record them here for posterity ...
dest.size() does not, and cannot be changed by deflate(). All you get from dest.size() is the size of your output buffer before compression. You need to look at something that comes back from the deflate() call in order to determine the size of the compressed result. That can be either dest.size() - strm.avail_out, or strm.total_out.
Doing the compression in a single call means that you need to fit both the input and output buffer sizes in an unsigned, which is usually 32 bits. So you are limited to compressing about 4 GB of data. If you might need to do more, then you would need a loop, calling deflate() for smaller chunks. Possibly much smaller chunks, measured in 10's or 100's of Kbytes. That is the usual way to use deflate(), since it takes much less memory and keeps your routine from being a resource hog in that regard.
deflateBound() is specifically for the purpose of supporting the use of a single deflate() call. It provides an upper bound on the possible compressed size, which can be a smidge larger than the input data. That is the case when the input data is incompressible, e.g. already compressed or random.

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