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Birthdays in Film & TV on May 29
Birthdays Calendar
HighlightsEventsBirthdaysDeathsWeddings & Divorces
Weddings & Divorces
1894 Beatrice Lillie, Canadian comedian and actress (Around World in 80 Days), born in Toronto, Ontario (d. 1989)
Bob Hope (1903-2003)
English-born American actor, comedian and entertainer, born in London
1905 Johannes "Jan" Teulings, Dutch actor (Lentelied, The Three Wishes), born in Hilversum, Netherlands (d. 1989)
1905 Sebastian Shaw, British actor, director, playwright and poet (High Season, Ace of Spades, Caste), born in Holt, England (d. 1994)
1912 Iris Adrian, American actress (Blue Hawaii, Bluebeard), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 1994)
1914 Stacy Keach, Sr., American actor (Pretty Woman; The Parallax View), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2003)
1918 Herb Shriner, American humorist and TV host (Herb Shriner Show), born in Toledo, Ohio (d. 1970)
1918 Isabel Dean, English actress (Five Days One Summer Virgin Island, Ransom), born in Aldridge, Staffordshire (d. 1997)
1920 Clifton James, American actor (Live and Let Die, Silver Streak), born in Spokane, Washington (d. 2017)
1926 Charles Denner, French actor (The Bride Wore Black, The Man Who Loved Women), born in Tarnów, Poland (d. 1995)
1926 Katie Boyle [Lady Sander Saunders], Italian born British actress and broadcaster (Eurovision), born in Florence, Italy (d. 2018)
1934 Nanette Newman, English writer and actress (Endless Game, Of Human Bondage), born in Northampton, England
1936 Arlene McQuade, American actress (Rosalie-Goldbergs), born in NYC, New York
1937 Hibari Misora [Kazue Katō], Japanese pop singer ("Kawa no nagare no yō ni" - Like the Flow of the River), and actress born in Yokohama, Japan (d. 1988)
1941 Bob Simon, American TV correspondent (CBS, 60 Minutes), born in the Bronx, New York (d. 2015)
1942 Kevin Conway, American actor (Flash Point, Cage of Angels), born in NYC, New York
1944 Helmut Berger [Steinberger], Austrian film actor (Ludwig; Ash Wednesday; The Damned; Dorian Gray), born in Bad Ischl, Austria
1946 Robin Johnson, American actress (Times Square: Baby, It's You), born in Brooklyn, New York
1947 Anthony Geary, American actor (Luke/Bill-General Hospital), born in Coalville, Utah
1948 Michael Berkeley, English composer, broadcaster and House of Lords member (Jayne Eyre opera), born in London, England
1948 Nick Mancuso, Italian-Canadian actor, born in Mammola, Italy
1953 Big Daddy Graham [Edward Gudonis], American comedian, writer, actor, recording artist, and radio personality, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 2021)
Danny Elfman (69 years old)
1953 American singer-songwriter (Oingo Boingo - "Weird Science"), and Emmy and Grammy Award-winning composer (The Simspons Theme; Good Will Hunting; Tim Burton films), born in Los Angeles, California
1953 Karla DeVito, American stage and screen actress and singer, born in Mokena, Illionis
1954 Pankaj Kapoor, Indian actor (Ek Doctor Ki Maut, Raakh), born in Ludhiana, Punjab
1956 LaToya Jackson, American singer ("If You Feel the Funk"), and model, born in Gary, Indiana
Annette Bening (64 years old)
1958 American actress (Grifters, Bugsy, American Beauty), born in Topeka, Kansas
1959 Juliano Mer-Khamis, Israeli actor, director, filmmaker and political activist, born in Nazareth, Israel (d. 2011)
1959 Rupert Everett, British actor (Another Country, My Best Friend's Wedding), born in Burnham Deepdale, England
1960 Adrian Paul, English actor (Dance to Win, Highlander), born in London, England
1961 David Palmer, British drummer (ABC - The Lexicon Of Love), born in Chesterfield, England
1962 Perry Fenwick, English actor, born in Canning Town, London
1963 Lisa Whelchel, American actress (Blair-Facts of Life), born in Fort Worth, Texas
1963 Tracey E. Bregman, actress (Lauren-Bold & Beautiful, Days of Our Life), born in Munich. Germany
1969 Anthony Azizi, American actor (Idris-Lost, Eagle Eye), born in NYC, New York
Laverne Cox (50 years old)
1972 American actress (Orange Is the New Black, Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word) and LGBT advocate, born in Mobile, Alabama
1974 Myf Warhurst, Australian radio presenter on Triple J and TV personality on Spicks and Specks
Melanie Brown (47 years old)
1975 English pop singer "Scary Spice" (Spice Girls), and television personality (America's Got Talent; X-FActor), born in Leeds, England
1975 Shoshanna Lonstein, American fashion designer and ex-girlfriend of Jerry Seinfeld, born in NYC, New York
1976 Jerry Hairston Jr., American baseball infielder/outfielder, broadcaster (Baltimore Orioles), born in Des Moines, Iowa
1976 Yūsuke Iseya, Japanese model and actor
1977 Danny Gerard, American actor (Alan Silver-Brooklyn Bridge), born in Mt Vernon, New York
1978 Adam Rickitt, English actor (Coronation Street), born in Crewe, England
1979 Brian Kendrick, American pro wrestler (WWE cruiserweight tag team champion), born in Fairfax, Virginia
1982 Ana Beatriz Barros, Brazilian model (Sports Illustrated), born in Itabira, Brazil
1982 Joanne Borgella, American plus-sized model and singer, born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2014)
1983 Richard Jackson, American actor (Ryan Meyers-Saved by the Bell), born in Redlands, California
1986 Dylan Postl, American professional wrestler (Hornswaggle), born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin
1986 Jaslene Gonzalez, Puerto Rican-American fashion model
1987 Alessandra Toreson, American actress, born in Palo Alto, California
1989 Riley Keough, American actress and model, grand daughter of Elvis Presley, born in Santa Monica, California
1991 Kristen Alderson, American actress (One Life to Live), born in Huntington Valley, Pennsylvania
Birthdays in Film & TV
Famous Film Stars
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1 winner gets an $8,000 trip and more!
(1) Grand Prize - (1) Nominee Grand Prize: A 3-day/2-night trip for Nominee Grand Prize winner and one (1) travel companion to Los Angeles, CA to attend the Disney Aladdin Premiere ("Premiere") on DATE. Trip includes round-trip economy class air transportation from a major airport nearest Nominee Grand Prize winner's home (in Sponsor's sole discretion), two (2) night hotel accommodations [one (1) standard room, based on double occupancy]; ground transportation from/to airport and hotel and from/to hotel to Premiere, and two (2) tickets to the Premiere. The maximum ARV of the Nominee Grand Prize is: $8,000. One (1) Nominator Grand Prize: A Sponsor-specified jewelry item from the Enchanted Disney Collection.


Going by what I've been hearing, the majority of you think want to add Gift Aid, IF YOU KNEW WHAT IT WAS. And that's where I step in. Hiya.
So here we go – Tax 101 by Zoe Dubs. In short, Gift Aid allows charities to reclaim tax from your donation. It also allows some tax payers like you or me to claim tax back on any donations you've made.
If you, the donor, say YES to Gift Aid – then the charity can reclaim the tax that they paid on the donation. You are literally increasing your donation by a quarter – just by saying yes!
Gift Aid is worth nearly £1 Billion to charities and their donors – good fact from HMRC there.
This is a UK specific thing – charities can only reclaim tax on donations from individuals who pay UK income tax – that's why a lot of the Gift Aid questions will ask whether you to confirm that you're a UK taxpayer.
And it's not just charities getting tax relief either.
Therefore, if you're a higher rate tax payer and you donate say £10 – this is actually worth £12.50 to the charity when they reclaim Gift Aid. So you can claim 20% of £12.50 as tax relief when you file your tax return.
To make it easier, a lot of charity sites like JustGiving keep a record of your donations so you can print that out and attach it to your tax return.
So there you go…. Tax 101 – it's not that bad is it?!
Have you been saying YES to Gift Aid? What are your favourite charities to donate to?
What other Money Monday questions have you got for me?
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This middle age thing is tough. I'm always hot. But I'm not alone. I have chatted with people on the East Coast, in Denver, in Mexico, in Arizona and Nevada this past week. They all talked about the heat. It is hell out there beyond these mountains. Heck, it is unusually hot here—80s in Crested Butte and flirting with 90 in Gunnison? Crazy. But here it is also beautiful and while it is sweaty, we aren't blasting air conditioning 24/7 and perspiring as soon as one leaves the front door. While certainly toasty, we are the chosen ones in the great American heat fest.
I love my brother…and that's one reason I will likely hold my nose and vote for Hillary Clinton. It's not because she inspires me. You see I was at a family reunion last week and in what turned into a somewhat loud political discussion, my brother said he was supporting Donald Trump. As much as I resent Clinton's molting from a young, thoughtful idealist who I think wanted to make the country better into a neo-con war supporter who capitalized on her name and became ultra-rich as a result (and that has to taint one's view of the world and someone's core principles), she is more stable than a cartoon character who is profiting through the Republican Party nomination process to get as much attention as humanly possible to feed an ego of gargantuan dimensions.
I honestly like how he tapped into the correct sentiment that the government is broken and the middle class is getting the shaft. But he defines racist. He is mean. He makes fun of disabled people. He can't seem to focus. He wants to bully people in general, the press in particular, and anyone who opposes his ideas. He doesn't want to study or learn and sitting in the nation's highest office requires studying, thought, analysis and learning.
So his general advantage of being able to hit on a real problem and voice the concern doesn't cancel out his major detriments. The idea of him representing this country is appalling and I think the collective conscience of this country will reject voting for a dimwitted racist con artist. I hope.
So I will continue to love my brother but I have a moral obligation to cancel out his vote. While I do so with little enthusiasm, I will vote for Hillary and you might think about that as well instead of bragging that you voted for Gabby Clapsyaddle of the Pooch Party so you didn't have to vote for Donald or Hillary. I swear the Clintons are paying Donald to do what he is doing. Why else…?
Kudos to the firefighters that have dealt and are dealing with the small wildfire up Cement Creek. It looked pretty impressive Sunday and is still smoldering. Wildfire has always been the major concern at this end of the valley. If a fire gets out of control in a dry summer, there isn't much wiggle room up here. Fire is a natural part of our environment so it isn't shocking to see but we all need to be prepared and careful. The long range forecast calls for continued dry conditions so be aware of campfires, fireworks, cigarette butts, engines backfiring and anything else that could inadvertently start a fire that turns into a catastrophe. This Cement Creek incident is a warning shot. Let's take notice. And thanks again to those who respond in the heat of the moment.
Congrats go out to a couple of recent moves. The $10 million from Great Outdoors Colorado to help protect the Trampe property in the county is great. It is a big step in helping to preserve a giant block of working agriculture in Gunnison County. It is a big honor to get that sort of money from the state and confirms the work of other organizations helping to get that land protected.
The new Met Rec District board has quickly fulfilled one of its campaign promises. The board on Monday awarded $19,000 to two recreation projects in the valley. The town of Crested Butte will get about $13,500 to go toward the new bike park. Down-valley, the Met Rec district awarded about $5,400 for improvements to the Rodeo Grounds for a new gate used to release cattle into the arena. The Junior Ropers submitted this grant. Nice job on their part!
The Crested Butte council has stepped up and will now officially consider a ban on some single-use plastic bags in town. It appears organizers have taken a step back after hearing concerns from the local businesses and will work with the town staff to come up with a regulation that bans carryout bags but allows other types of plastic bags and some paper bags. Every indication is that once in place, the bag ban is workable and people adjust if they have opportunity to go with the flow. The council wants to go with this flow and will delve into details of a proposed ban probably next month. Is it a "feel good" ordinance? Probably to some extent, but it's okay to feel good, even in this heat.
Coming back from the beach this week, I think one of the biggest things that is obvious after being away is the water. The tap water on Hilton Head tastes like it has sat in a kiddie pool for a few weeks. Upon my return to Denver, that water tasted good in comparison and normally that isn't very good. So when we got home and took a long drink out of the faucet, it was heaven. I sort of get the bottled water thing in Hilton Head and most other places. But for tourists coming to this valley, save some money and karma and forgo the cases of Arrowhead and instead turn on the tap and enjoy a piece of the fortune that comes with visiting this place. Our water is real and you will enjoy it as part of your experience. It's hot out there so enjoy some real water.


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Our Country Friends
It's March 2020 and a calamity is unfolding. A group of friends and friends-of-friends gathers in a country house to wait out the pandemic. Over the next six months new friendships and romances will take hold, while old betrayals will emerge, forcing each character to reevaulate whom they love and what matters most. The unlikely cast of characters include: a Russian-born novelist; his Russian-born psychiatrist wife; their precocious child obsessed with K-pop; a struggling Indian American writer; a wildly successful Korean American app developer; a global dandy with three passports; a young flame-thrower of an essayist, originally from the Carolinas; and a movie star, The Actor, whose arrival upsets the equilibrium of this chosen family.
Author Forename Gary
Author Surname Shteyngart
Gary / Shteyngart - £8.99 GBP

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The senior BJP leader Yashwanth Sinha, 80, accuses fellow BJP Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for doing the worst of things economically in the best of times for India, for making a mess of the finance minister's portfolio, which he himself had handled during Vajpayee government in 1998-2002. He was finance minister twice and so knows what he says. Hence his statement: For quarter after quarter, the growth rate of the economy has been declining until it reached the low of 5.7 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal, the lowest in three years. What he is telling Modi plainly but indirectly is that he is running a government with his Yes-men or 'chumchas' for the benefit of those in government only and not for the good and development of the general public.
He is now supported by other BJP stalwarts like Subramanian Swami, Bihar BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha and also Congress former Finance Minister P.Chidambaram, another expert. Knowledgeable persons in the RSS also reportedly are not on the same page with Modi on many issues. If only two other BJP leaders spoke up in support of Yashwanth, it was because the senior Yashwanth himself made bold to speak out first in national interest, also because there is written and unwritten orders in the party that no one should speak in public against the official party line. So everyone in the party is fear-stricken to speak, for fear of losing their jobs. Yashwanth said it to a question that some one who wanted to express his opinion was forbidden to do so. There is no freedom of expression in the party and in that sense the BJP Sarkar has killed Indian democracy. What appears is a suspended animation of it.
The visual and print media in the country are free in name sake only. Actually they are all on a leash like watch dogs to go so far and no further. Recall the raids on the NDTV and the absence of outspoken TV anchors like Burkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai, Arnab Goswami etc. Yashwanth's critique speaks volumes for his honesty, courage and love for the country. It gave courage to a few of his suffocated colleagues to speak up. All critiques are aimed directly at Jaitely who deserves it richly. Yashwanth makes it clear, Jaitely got his portfolio not because of his competence but because of his readiness to be a "Yes-man" to the PM.
All criticisms are apparently aimed directly at Jaitley, but indirectly at Modi himself and his dictatorial one-man rule. After all public decorum and decency requires not to embarrass the Chief Executive of the country publicly and bluntly. What Yashwanth said is plain enough to make Modi and every body in the country, especially the media to understand that time is running out to do their duty, if they are really interested in the good of the nation.
What are the chances that Modi would take the critique in the right sense and decide to do the needed course correction at least in this late hour? Prospects are not bright. Why? Already when Modi was CM of Gujarat, the then PM Vajpayee had told him publicly that he was not doing his Raj Dharma. But Modi didn't care to listen. The next balanced person in the BJP Advani also had described Modi's style of functioning as 'Event Management', that is, fooling the public with an avalanche of publicity and show.
Also none of these made any impact on Modi because now Modi has much more power and control of the vast network of social media under his control to do his bidding. Besides his frequent direct access through "Man ki Baat" through National media to indoctrinate a credulous public that he alone is going to be their saviour and of the nation, as Hitler did for Germany.
So it will all depend on how many more in the BJP will take the risk of speaking up truth to power in the national interest first, which will eventually empower opposition parties to get united and speak up forcefully for course correction second, which eventually will prompt the national media, visual and print, to lead a campaign to create a storm of pubic opinion for drastic change in the mind of Modi third, failing which to give wings to create a tsunami in the minds of the general public fourth, to finally produce a better leader in the next general election if Modi still fails to come up to national expectations.
No one is keen to change Modi instantly, as he has proved himself to be a man of both words and action compared to many PMs India had. No doubt it is thanks to Modi that India today has a better and brighter image internationally among the nations of the world. He should therefore be helped to change and become an acceptable leader to all sections of the country before he becomes too bad for the country. This we believe is what all well-meaning people in the country wish and pray for. Yes we should also pray and storm the heavens for this happen as early as possible. james kottoor, editor ccv.
I shall be failing in my national duty if I did not speak up even now against the mess the finance minister has made of the economy. I am also convinced that what I am going to say reflects the sentiments of a large number of people in the BJP and elsewhere who are not speaking up out of fear.
One may recall that in similar circumstances Atal Bihari Vajpayee had refused to appoint Jaswant Singh and Pramod Mahajan, two of his closest colleagues in the party, to his cabinet in 1998. His indispensability was established further when the prime minister rewarded him not only by giving him the finance ministry including the department of disinvestment, but also the ministries of defence and corporate affairs. Four ministries in one go out of which he still retains three.
I have handled the ministry of finance and know how much hard work there is in that ministry alone. Finance Ministry, in the best of times, calls for the undivided attention of its boss if the job has to be properly done. In challenging times it becomes more than a 24/7 job. Naturally, even a superman like Jaitley could not do justice to the task.
Jaitley was, to begin with, a lucky finance minister, luckier than any in the post-liberalisation era. Depressed global crude oil prices placed at his disposal lakhs of crores of rupees. This unprecedented bonanza was waiting to be used imaginatively. The legacy problems like stalled projects and bank NPAs were no doubt there and should have been managed better like the crude oil bonanza. But the oil bonanza has been wasted and the legacy problems have not only been allowed to persist, they have become worse.
So, what is the picture of the Indian economy today? Private investment has shrunk as never before in two decades, industrial production has all but collapsed, agriculture is in distress, construction industry, a big employer of the workforce, is in the doldrums, the rest of the service sector is also in the slow lane, exports have dwindled, sector after sector of the economy is in distress, demonetisation has proved to be an unmitigated economic disaster, a badly conceived and poorly implemented GST has played havoc with businesses and sunk many of them and countless millions have lost their jobs with hardly any new opportunities coming the way of the new entrants to the labour market. For quarter after quarter, the growth rate of the economy has been declining until it reached the low of 5.7 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal, the lowest in three years. The spokespersons of the government say that demonetisation is not responsible for this deceleration. They are right. The deceleration had started much earlier. Demonetisation only added fuel to fire.
And please note that the methodology for calculation of the GDP was changed by the present government in 2015 as a result of which the growth rate recorded earlier increased statistically by over 200 basis points on an annual basis. So, according to the old method of calculation, the growth rate of 5.7 per cent is actually 3.7 per cent or less.
Even the SBI, the largest public sector bank of the country, has stated with unusual frankness that the slowdown is not transient or "technical", it is here to stay and the slowdown in demand has only aggravated the situation. It has openly contradicted what the BJP President said just a few days ago that the slowdown in the last quarter was on account of "technical" reasons and will be corrected soon. According to the SBI chairman, the telecom sector is the latest entrant to the long list of stressed sectors.
The reasons for this decline are not far to seek nor have they appeared suddenly. They have been allowed to accumulate over time to cause the present crisis. It was not difficult to anticipate them and take counter measures to deal with them. But that called for devoting time to the task, serious application of mind, understanding of the issues and then working out a game plan to tackle them. It was perhaps too much to expect from a person who was carrying the heavy burden of so many extra responsibilities. The results are there for all of us to see.
The prime minister is worried. A meeting convened by the prime minister with the finance minister and his officials appears to have been postponed indefinitely. The finance minister has promised a package to revive growth. We are all waiting with bated breath for this package. It has not come so far. The only new thing is the reconstituted Economic Advisory Council of the prime minister. Like the five Pandavas they are expected to win the new Mahabharat war for us.
The performance of the monsoon this year has not been flattering. This will further intensify rural distress. The farmers have received "massive" loan waivers from some state governments varying from one paise to a few rupees in some cases. Forty leading companies of the country are already facing bankruptcy proceedings. Many more are likely to follow suit. The SME sector is suffering from an unprecedented existential crisis. The input tax credit demand under the GST is a whopping Rs 65,000 crore against a collection of Rs 95,000 crore.
The government has asked the income tax department to chase those who have made large claims. Cash flow problems have already arisen for many companies specially in the SME sector. But this is the style of functioning of the finance ministry now. We protested against raid raj when we were in opposition. Today it has become the order of the day. Post demonetisation, the income tax department has been charged with the responsibility of investigating lakhs of cases involving the fate of millions of people. The Enforcement Directorate and the CBI also have their plates full. Instilling fear in the minds of the people is the name of the new game.
Economies are destroyed more easily than they are built. It took almost four years of painstaking and hard work in the late nineties and early 2000 to revive a sagging economy we had inherited in 1998. Nobody has a magic wand to revive the economy overnight. Steps taken now will take their own time to produce results. So, a revival by the time of the next Lok Sabha election appears highly unlikely. A hard landing appears inevitable. Bluff and bluster is fine for the hustings, it evaporates in the face of reality.
New Delhi has been abuzz with talk of a big fiscal spending package of maybe Rs 40,000 crore to `kick-start' the economy, which has slowed for five quarters in a row. Adding to the excitement has been the virulent castigation of economic policies (especially demonetisation and the red tape accompanying GST) by former BJP finance minister Yashwant Sinha. He warns that the economy is spiralling downwards to a hard landing.
While the economy faces serious problems, these cannot be remedied by a fiscal spending spree.Finance minister Arun Jaitley must ignore panicky notions that a crash spending package can remedy structural problems that need deep reforms. Export stagnation for three years, a banking system bur dened with huge bad debts, and high real interest rates have dragged down the economy . None of these can be rectified by a spending spree.
Nobody should mistake Yashwant Sinha's criticisms as a call for a fiscal boost. He was always a fiscal hawk, convinced (quite rightly) that the longterm gains of prudence vastly outweighed the short-term gains of a spending spree. He worries about the inspector raj that is returning with GST paperwork and a huge expansion of income tax investigations. His warnings have a core of truth: GST paperwork is monstrously tough for small companies, and the notion that our notoriously corrupt income tax can become the standard-bearers of tax honesty is bound to evoke laughter. Yet both GST and improved tax compliance are essential long-term goals, despite short-term costs.
India already has a consolidated Centre-State fiscal deficit of 6-7% of GDP , the highest by far of any major economy . Many countries have gone bust with a lower fiscal deficit, and India survives only because it has a high savings rate. Deficits need to be reduced, not expanded.
Indeed, steady reduction of the fiscal deficit in recent years has improved India's credibility greatly , reduced the rate at which it can borrow abroad, and attracted foreign investment. Why throw away these gains for the tiny benefits, if any, of a spending spree?
The Central fiscal deficit was supposed to be reduced to 3% of GDP by 2008, but that goal has been postponed by a full decade. Jaitley had earlier promised to cut the fiscal deficit to 3% this year but ultimately opted for 3.2%, presenting the additional 0.2% as a fiscal boost to accelerate the economy .That failed, and this should surprise nobody . Even for an efficient economy , an additional 0.2% of investment will increase GDP by just 0.05%, too small to even measure accurately. Meanwhile it has negative consequences like reduced foreign confidence in India, higher dollar outflows, and higher dollar borrowing rates. The same problems will afflict another fiscal boost of Rs 40,000 crore. Too many people see a spending spree as a quick Keynesian way of producing rapid growth. Keynes advocated a fiscal boost when a recession struck, causing a sudden shrinkage of demand. Conversely, he advocated a budget surplus during a boom.This leaning against the current stage of the business cycle is called contra-cyclical fiscal policy.
But Rathin Roy of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy says research has failed to uncover any business cycle in India. So, contracyclical policy in India is conceptually dubious or groundless. It is far better to stick to prudent longterm fiscal goals than attempt to fine-tune fiscal deficits on the erroneous notion that economic ups and downs can so easily be manipulated.
In theory, spending a quick Rs 40,000 crore extra on infrastructure sounds attractive. In practice infrastructure projects have faced multiple delays and problems leading to bankrupt builders and bad debts of lakhs of crores. Experience shows that the government takes a long time to spend additional public funds productively . Infrastructure spending needs to rise steadily , not as a short-term stimulus.
The economy has been hit by short-term shocks imposed by demonetisation and the launch of GST.But the shocks will gradually fade away , resulting in a bounce-back of growth in 2018. There is no evidence of a coming hard landing, as predicted by Yashwant Sinha.
Nor will 8% growth return sustainably without major reforms. The right way to accelerate growth is to relentlessly increase productivity . This implies reforms that ease business hassles, greatly improve all government services, and instill confidence.Export stagnation must be checked by an aggressive exchange rate policy , lower interest rates, and trade facilitation. Massive bad debts of banks must be tackled. This means a long hard slog, not a quickie fiscal boost.
Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha has lashed out at the Narendra Modi government a number of times and on a number of issues. However, he is not the only BJP leader to have sung a different tune from that of the party and the Modi government.
He was particularly unforgiving on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and claimed that the economy was heading towards a "hard landing".
Yashwant Sinha, 84, has been a vociferous critic of the Modi government ever since he was not included in the union cabinet after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He took on the party by commenting that all those who are above the age of 75 were declared brain dead on May 26, 2014 (the day the Modi government was sworn in).
Besides the age criterion, the former bureaucrat-turned-politician has been speaking against the decisions which are considered the biggest achievements of the Modi government – such as demonetisation, GST, GDP and the abolition of the Planning Commission.
Yashwant Sinha, father of Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, has also taken a stand opposite to that of the party by favouring a dialogue with the separatists and the Hurriyat in trouble-torn Kashmir.
Just like Yashwant Sinha, actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha has been a constant and vocal critic of the Modi government's decisions. In the latest episode, he is the only senior BJP leader to have come out in defence of Yashwant Sinha.
The Patna Sahib MP endorsed Yashwant Sinha's views and said the former finance minister was a true statesman and that his comments were in the interest of both the party and the nation.
Shatrughan Sinha also urged Modi to appear before the press and answer real questions.
Even in the past, the actor-politician has embarrassed the BJP leadership by praising and hobnobbing with leaders of BJP's rival parties such as RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar [when his JD(U) was part of the previous Mahagathbandhan government in the state].
Shatrughan has been airing views against the party's official stand. He had gone to the extent of congratulating both Lalu and Nitish for defeating the BJP.
The cricketer-turned-politician was suspended in December 2015 after he launched a personal attack on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. He alleged financial irregularities in Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) during Jaitley's tenure as its chief.
He argued with Jaitley in Parliament over the issue, provoked him and even called him "napunsak" (impotent) on social media. However, later he claimed that his Twitter account had been hacked.
Senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani has also expressed displeasure over the functioning of the Modi government. However, he has been subtle in censuring the BJP-led NDA government.
Advani was against the elevation of Modi as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections . He had opposed it by skipping the BJP's Parliamentary Board meeting on September 13, 2013 and resigning from all posts of the party.
Advani, who was Modi's mentor at one point in time, mellowed down after the BJP came to power. But on a couple of occasions, he certainly has disapproved of the Modi government's decisions.
In an interview to an English daily in June 2015, he created ripples by commenting that he didn't have the confidence to believe the Emergency would not happen again. The statement was construed by opposition parties as the "first indictment of Modi's politics".
In December 2016, during the Winter session of Parliament, he expressed his displeasure with the Modi government and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan over constant disruption of the House for three weeks.
Advani reportedly said he would speak publicly that the speaker was not running the House and that both sides (treasury and opposition benches) were a party to that.
Very much like Advani, senior party leader Murli Manohar Joshi too was against the projection of Modi as BJP's face for the 2014 general elections. However, he was not as vocal as Advani.
Instead of making them cabinet ministers, the BJP created a new cell Margdarshak Mandal and put Advani and Joshi, besides former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in it.
Joshi, an MP from Kanpur, too has publicly attacked the Modi government. On one occasion, he censured Modi's flagship Namami Gange project to clean the Ganga. He questioned the manner in which the cleaning of the Ganga had been undertaken and said it would ensure that the river "does not get cleaned even in the next 50 years".
Two days after the BJP's humiliating defeat in the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections, Joshi, along with Advani, former Union minister Arun Shourie and RSS ideologue KN Govindacharya had lashed out at Team Modi. After meeting at Joshi's residence in the national capital, the leaders issued a statement, criticising the decision-making process in the party.
The stinging statement warned Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah not to shrug off their responsibility after the "disastrous showing" in Bihar. They ascribed the cause for the defeat to the manner in which the party had been "emasculated".
Demanding a review of the election rout, the veterans warned that this style of functioning had destroyed the consensual character of the party. "This review must not be done by the very persons who have managed and who have been responsible for the campaign in Bihar", the statement added.
What confounds political observers is that despite having uneasy relations with the top brass in the BJP now, Advani and Joshi make themselves available in all party programmes, for instance when Ram Nath Kovind was filing his nomination for the presidential election.
Journalist-turned-politician Arun Shourie keeps attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi. At times, his diatribes have proved worse than those of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who had called Modi a "coward" and "psychopath".
In an interview last year, he alleged that the prime minister possesses the three personality traits that make the "dark triad" – narcissism, Machiavellian and remorselessness. Shourie accused Modi of running a "one-man presidential" government and expressed fears that over the next three years, there would be "a more systematic attempt to curb civil liberties" and an increase in "decentralised intimidation" besides "choking" of "inconvenient voices".
In the case of both Yashwant Sinha and Shourie, the BJP has debunked their charges, saying they were rants of frustrated leaders.
Like Yashwant Sinha, Subramanian Swamy too keeps targeting Arun Jaitley. Close on the heels of Yashwant Sinha's criticism of GST, he also flayed the new tax regime.
Swamy said GST should not have been implemented in a hurry. He alleged that the involvement of private companies in the GST Network (GSTN) was leading to harassment.
A few days ago, the Rajya Sabha MP had sought to put the Modi government in the dock for failing to take necessary steps to revive the slow economic growth.
Swamy, who is also known as a maverick politician, has been warning the Modi government on Non-Performing Assets of public banks and of an imminent banking crisis.
In the past, Swamy has directly attacked the then RBI governor Raghuram Rajan and the chief economic adviser to the government Arvind Subramanian. He also targeted Jaitley.
When Jaitley was on a visit to China last year, Swamy mocked him in a tweet. He said the BJP should direct the ministers to wear traditional and modernised Indian clothes while abroad. "In coat and tie, they look like waiters," he posted.
The inclusion of Raj Kumar Singh, the bureaucrat-turned-politician, in the Modi cabinet in the September 3 reshuffle of council of ministers had surprised political observers.
About two years ago, the first-time MP from Arrah in Bihar had levelled grave charges against the BJP leadership ahead of the state polls. He alleged that party tickets were being sold to criminals. This had immensely embarrassed the BJP and given the Opposition a handle to attack it.
It was Singh, then an IAS officer serving in Bihar, who had arrested Advani from Samastipur and halted his rath yatra to Ayodhya. Later, he went to become the union home secretary during the UPA regime.
However, as luck would have it, Singh is now the Union Minister of State (independent charge) for Power and New and Renewable Energy.
While RK Singh has become a minister and may not speak against the government, the BJP still faces the threat of being targeted by the others such as Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha. Except Azad, it has not taken any action against the others. Perhaps, the leaders are testing the party leadership's patience.


Give your child the look they want for Halloween with one of our Tin Man costumes. We have a variety of styles and sizes of Wizard of Oz Tin Man costumes including toddler and teen sizes. These kids Tin Man costumes are perfect for school plays or for a shiny addition to any Wizard of Oz group.


Most of our sleeping bags are categorized by the general temperature range in which they will be used. Sleeping bag manufacturers generally label their bags with a degree rating, such as this one in the 20' -25' F range, and with the dropdown selector, you can choose one rated at 0' F. That means this bag should keep you warm at night down to that temperature, but be aware there are many variables involved that influence your comfort, including your metabolism; what you're wearing; the quality of your mattress pad; the size of your tent; and how many campers are in the tent with you. We suggest giving yourself a few degrees cushion in your bag selection, as you can always unzip the bag if you get too hot, but it can be hard to get warmer if you chose too high a rated bag. On the other hand, the lower the temp rating, the heavier the bag will be, so for backpacking put some thought into it so you are not needlessly carrying too much weight.
To maximize comfort and the warmth capacity of the bag, always rent a mattress pad as well. Don't try to save a few bucks and plan to just sleep directly on the tent floor - you'll be in for one miserable night. And the mattress pad can have as much to do with how warm you are as the bag. Another hint - if you have excess room lengthwise in your bag, stuff some of your clothes in the bottom to help keep your feet warm and reduce the amount of air inside the bag your body heat has to try to warm up. If you are interested in more precaution steps check out our article on Sleeping in the Wilderness.
The sleeping bags we rent are from well-known brands such as Kelty, Alps Mountaineering, Marmot, and Sierra Designs. Unless otherwise specified, they are 'Regular' length, which means it's designed for 6-footers and under. If you played some basketball as a forward, select the longer length model via the drop-down box. Note that the longer ones are only available in the 20-25' or warmer-weather ranges, not in the 0-10' range.


STFC v Yeovil Pic Dave Evans 6/4/2019.Ali Koiki cuts a dejected figure at the final whistle..
SWINDON Town have dropped themselves into a sticky position following Saturday's disappointing 1-1 draw against relegation-threatened Yeovil Town, admits defender Ali Koiki.
Koiki, who signed on loan from Premier League side Burnley in the January transfer window, has made 10 appearances since linking up at SN1 and proven himself to be manager Richie Wellens' first choice at left-back ahead of Matt Taylor and Ellis Iandolo.
The 19-year-old blamed a lacklustre second-half performance as the main reason why Town failed to record a third successive League Two victory.
And he admits Town's 'sticky situation' with regards to their play-off credentials hasn't been helped by lapses of concentration in the second half of Saturday's game.
He said: "You have one eye on the table, and one eye on the next game. We're trying to move forward and do what we can in every game – taking things game by game.
"It would be nice to push into the play-offs, but we've left ourselves in a sticky position.
"We had to get a foothold in the game in the second half, we let Yeovil back into the game and we weren't ruthless in both boxes.
"It's always a shame to lose points in the last minute.
Nine additions were made to Town's squad by boss Wellens in January, but Koiki claims settling into his new role has required little time due to the squad's close-knit nature.
A licence to push forward amid attacks has also benefitted the teenager, who says delivering crosses from the left wing is one of the strongest areas of his game.
He added: "The boys are all nice humble, it's been easy to settle. We're trying to move forward as a team.
"I'd say moving forward is one of my strengths, I try to do it as much as I can and pick the right moments. Primarily, my job is to defend.
"The team is set up well so we have that security when I move forward, and I trust my recovery runs to get back in if needs be.


Brookfield, Wisc.-based Fiserv [NASDAQ:FISV] is a Fortune 500 company with 24,000 employees and $5.7 billion in earnings last year. Its account and transaction processing systems power the Web sites for hundreds of financial institutions — mostly small community banks and credit unions. According to FedFis.com, Fiserv is by far the top bank core processor, with more than 37 percent of the market share.


Wednesday evening I was invited along to The Princes Room restaurant for a special evening of live music and canape tasting.
The restaurant is located within Chelmsford College in their Princes Road campus and is run by their catering students. It is open to the public during term time, Wednesday - Friday lunchtimes from 12-2 or Wednesday evenings at 7pm.
I've eaten there a couple of times for evening dinner and can't recommend it enough. The value for money is incredible. A three course dinner, made freshly from fresh and locally sourced produce for £13.95pp, you honestly cannot go wrong.
This particular evening the level 1 and 2 students were working with Tom Gore, a top chef from a London restaurant (The Brewery), to re-create a menu of canapes that is usually served at The Brewery.
The quality was no different to what it usually is. Attention to detail was on top form and the food tasted delicious. So much so, that I barely took any photos of the selection that was served to us. What I did manage to get were those that I took in the kitchen, the rest of the evening I was far too busy eating it.
The students did an amazing job and should all be very proud of themselves. As a customer there is no way you could tell that the food had been prepared and cooked by students, it really was fantastic.
The live music added a really nice touch to the evening and helped to create the perfect ambiance to the event. Great work to everyone involved in the evening, I had a great time.
WOW! So much yummy looking food! I bet you didn't have to eat for days afterwards!


Immediate income growth as seller refers all endo, all oral surgery, all perio, all implant placement and all but the simplest of Invisalign cases (did 7 last year). The practice does no advertising, but gets 10-20 new patients per month. The practice collected $663,445 in 2017 with a net income of $196,910 on four days per week with six days of hygiene coverage per week. Hygiene, exams and x-rays account for over 30% of the practice production. Excellent potential for a dentist that does endo, oral surgery and perio and is willing to market the practice. Seller will stay on at no charge to facilitate a smooth transition.


text:
Apple announces three new iPhones amid leaks
Technologies » Technologies. Main
Apple has unveiled three new models of iPhones to a negative reaction from the stock market, and hours after accidentally leaking them online itself.
The updated model of the flagship iPhone X has been named the iPhone XS and will retail for the same price of $999 - but a budget and a luxury version of the smartphone were announced too.The UK price is expected to be in line with the dollar price as Apple has typically retailed its phones for the exact same amount in sterling as it has in dollars.Replacing the iPhone 8, the iPhone XR will be available for $749, while the basic rate iPhone XS Max will set consumers back $1099.Apple became the first trillion-dollar company in history, propelled in its fortunes since the launch of the iPhone in 2007 - but after 11 years of growth, global demand for new smartphones is plateauing.
Apple has launched three new iPhones in a subdued event in California
The UK price for iPhones is set to be in line with the dollar price
Market analysts believe that Apple is going to chase continued growth by getting its customers to pay for ever-more expensive phones."There's no real game changer on the table," Hal Eddins, the chief economist at Apple shareholder Capital Investment Counsel, told Reuters. "It's a matter of getting people to keep moving up."Certainly the prices of its recent phone releases suggest a rapid rise in the cost of Apple devices::: iPhone 7 - $499
:: iPhone 8 - $599
:: iPhone XR - $749
:: iPhone XS - $999
:: iPhone XS Max - $1099
Regardless of the phones, the real star of Apple's launch event on Wednesday evening was the Apple Watch Series 4, which, despite being a relative squib on its release, has begun to corner the market as a health wearable.To this end, Apple announced that it had received approval from the US medical regulator, the Food and Drug Administration, to provide electrocardiograms, also known as ECGs, through their watches.Jeff Williams, Apple's chief operating officer, says it is the first FDA approval of its kind. The features will be available to customers later on during the year, and Apple hopes they will be available globally.Sky's technology correspondent Rowland Manthorpe described it as Apple, little by little, coming to control the entirety of the human body.
Despite the upgrade to the previous generation of Apple's iPhone X range, the market reaction to the announcement was at best subdued - Apple's shares were down at -1.31% in trading immediately after the event.
Find it pretty hard to care about the #AppleEvent, but this ECG thing is potentially extremely important. Heart disease is a giant killer and real time ECG data could genuinely help that - although I'll wait to see the data sharing protocols before I get too excited— Rowland Manthorpe (@rowlsmanthorpe) September 12, 2018
Back when Steve Jobs was Apple's chief executive, his keynotes often concluded with him walking off stage before turning back and beginning "One more thing..." before announcing a new product line or business experiment.In 1998, Mr Jobs announced that the company had become profitable again during his keynote. The company's shares rocketed to just under $1.50 each by the end of that year.Two decades later, Apple shares are worth over $220 each (an increase of over 14,000%) but the Apple Watch announcement doesn't quite seem like the "one more thing..." needed to see that success replicated over the next 20 years.Sky News technology correspondent Rowland Manthorpe writes:Today we learned that the next Apple Watch will be able to detect falls and track the heart's rhythm and electrical activity with sensors built into the back and crown.Heart disease is a giant killer. Real time electrocardiogram data could genuinely help the millions of sufferers of irregular, rapid or slow heartbeats, especially when it's allied to AI interpretation.Millions of ageing baby boomers just booked their (very expensive) Christmas present.Of course, it's all very well to track people - as we've learnt this year, that promise is only as good as the protections on the data. And here we are starting to see something we've been waiting a long time for: the competitive advantage of privacy.
The next iPhone will be on the wrist and in the ears
LIVE: New iPhones revealed at Apple launch
As it happened: iPhones revealed at Apple launch
Apple set to unveil three new iPhones at California event
Apple expected to unveil three new iPhones - including gold and larger screen versions
Apple store in Amsterdam evacuated and three staff treated over damaged iPad fumes
Who are you going to trust with your heart data? Google, with its giant advertising network? Or Apple, which boasts its belief that "privacy is a human right" (as long as you can afford its products)?Apple's events are pompous, neurotically controlled celebrations of capitalist extraction, but it's hard to deny their importance. Once again, many millions will feel their impact.
» Apple set to unveil three new iPhones
» Apple shares peak as iPhone X goes on sale in UK
» Profits boost for Apple as iPhone X hits stores
» Apple iPhone 8 dummy leaked; will be announced this fall but hit store shelves later
» iPhone 7 on sale in 28 countries
» Apple's new iPhone SE looks a bit old


The NumberSense Mathematics Programme provides an innovative approach to teaching mathematics in the early years. The programme provides comprehensive curriculum coverage. Popular in classrooms, the programme has been adopted by a wide range of teachers and schools across the country, as well as a variety of organisations who incorporate the programme materials in their social responsibility outreach activities. The 2018 NumberSense Mathematics Programme User Group Conference will be a gathering of NumberSense Programme users (teachers, parents and others) sharing experiences, networking and learning about product developments. The conference, hosted in an inspiring setting, will support users to maximise the potential of the NumberSense Mathematics Programme in their work.
Do you teach mathematics in the primary school? You are invited!
An exciting feature of the conference is a Pre-Conference session from 9 am to midday on the morning of 25 May. During this session we will be conducting mathematics demonstration lessons to convey the methodology of the NumberSense Mathematics Programme. In particular, we will conduct a Grade 3 and Grade 5 mathematics lesson which will illustrate the classroom management approach used in the implementation of the NumberSense Mathematics Programme.
The NumberSense Mathematics Programme is well aligned with the South African mathematics curriculum, and is currently used in a large number of schools across the province, and throughout South Africa.
We would like to extend an invitation to teachers teaching mathematics in the early grades, as well as other interested parties, to attend this Pre-Conference session at no charge. Please inform us of your intention to attend by emailing conference@NumberSense.co.za – before Tuesday, 22 May 2018.


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