This despite the fact that Cantonese is the mother tongue of around 90% of the population of Hong Kong.
In MSM, the first character is the possessive / adjectival / relativizing suffix, the second is the adverbial suffix, and the third is a particle for marking verbal complements. In Cantonese and in MSM, these three characters also have other pronunciations (in MSM), meanings, and functions. In written MSM, 的 is the most frequent character (4.09% of total occurrences), 地 has rank 21 (0.501%), and 得 is ranked 39th (0.326%).
The differences between Cantonese and Mandarin are not merely phonological, but also have to do with virtually all other aspects of language: grammar, syntax, morphology, lexicon, idiomatic usage, and so forth.
Yuen Chan's article is long and covers a lot of ground, including the politics of the problem. In this post, however, I want to focus on a few issues that are usually overlooked both by proponents and opponents of Cantonese in these heated debates.
One is the near universal assumption that Cantonese is "just a dialect". What are the nuances and implications of that little word "just"? I personally do not at all believe that Cantonese is "just a dialect". I consider it to be a full-blown language, one that is spoken by tens of millions of people, not just in China. Although I do not think that a type of speech must have a written form to be considered a legitimate language, Cantonese certainly can be and has been written, as the studies of Robert S. Bauer and Donald Snow have shown clearly.
Another issue that bothers me in these debates is the strange assumption that the famous dictum of "My hand writes my mouth" (wǒ shǒu xiě wǒ kǒu 我手写我口) justifies Mandarin as the medium of instruction. I should think that exactly the opposite would be the case. If the vast majority of children in Hong Kong speak Cantonese at home and on the street, are watching movies and television in Cantonese, are listening to popular songs in Cantonese, playing games in Cantonese, and so forth, then wouldn't it cause less of a cognitive strain on them to have Cantonese as the medium of instruction rather than Mandarin, which is a very different language in all of the respects that I mentioned above?
I strongly disagree with one of the advocates of Mandarin as the medium of instruction for Hong Kong who asserts, "Cantonese is at the end of the day a dialect, we can't just write a dialect, so we have to adjust it internally, have to make it standard, switch some phrases and even sentences." Cantonese can be written and, "at the end of the day", I think that it is every bit as much of a language as MSM, which, after all, was codified in the 20th century by a committee, and particularly a single individual, the linguist Y. R. Chao (see here [4th ¶] and here).
That's interesting – most of my HK friends and family who have kids have all been trying to get their children into schools that have EMI, with an eye towards a trilingual curriculum. But it's definitely true that there's not much emphasis on Cantonese – they're mostly concerned with the scholastic reputation of the school, and want their kids to have native fluency in English, then Mandarin, then Cantonese, in that order.
I definitely appreciated having Cantonese as my base when learning how to write as I didn't have too much trouble learning the difference between 的,地,and 得!
Mandarinization is proceeding at a fairly rapid pace in the PRC, and the end goal is easy to see: a population in which MSM is the L1 language of every person – or at the minimum a fluent L2. Politics have a lot to do with it, as does the belief that monolingualism is more practical and efficient, as then there is no need to translate between regional languages. But the stigma against 'local speech' isn't new; there has always been a 'prestige' tongue in China – usually the tongue of the capitol. As late as the mid-Qing Dynasty, however, it was Nanjing Mandarin. Beijing Mandarin only overtook it in the late Qing, followed by MSM which, as is known, is not exactly Beijing Mandarin but rather a constructed language based on Beijing phonology. Northeast China, it is said, are better speakers of MSM than Beijingers.
Regardless, I think the preservation of local tongues has less to do with whether it is a dialect/language, than whether the PRC is under political pressure to preserve it. Tibetan, for example, receives a lot of preservation efforts, due to international accusations of 'cultural genocide' by the PRC government, which leads to the government mandating certain protocols for Tibetan to keep up an image. Cantonese, however, has no equivalent cause behind it. Besides Hong Kong, its homeland of Guangdong is increasingly Mandarinized both by migration and by practicality. Once Guangdong goes, HK is sure to follow, despite its position as a stronghold of Cantonese preservation.
The rest of the local languages/dialects in the PRC are in even poorer shape with regards to rallying support for preservation. A few of them are preserved simply by virtue of falling beneath the radar – eg rural areas with minimal interactions with the rest of the country. But major cities in all the PRC provinces are becoming L1/L2 Mandarin speaking, and the effort is as deliberate as it is expedient – the availability of teachers, government mandates on TV programming, and migrants from other dialect/language areas whose only shared language with the locals and each other is MSM. Without a concerted effort to preserve them, it isn't just Cantonese that is heading to a quick exit, but all dialects/languages that aren't MSM.
China seems to be following the pattern of language unification that has already happened in the larger countries of Europe, and I don't see the situation of Cantonese as being very different from that of Occitan or Low German in the 19th century.
The language/dialect debate always fascinates me because I don't quite understand what facts the distinction is intended to capture. Just recently I asked an in-law visiting from Mexico about Nahuatl. When I called it a language, she made a face and corrected me saying it's a dialect, with a tone of voice indicating that she considers the distinction very important. I was tempted to press the issue to figure out exactly what she meant by that, but I didn't want to seem argumentative.
Makes me glad I've already had a polyglot education. :) Learned Taiwan style Mandarin when small, started learning English at 10, with a smattering of Spanish, then moved to Texas for more English and Spanish, before eventually moving to SF for Cantonese. However, my family had always spoken Cantonese on occasion. So it's not unfamiliar to me.
@Guy: In this context, "It's a dialect" means "It's not Spanish," or specifically, "Indios speak it."
Yuen Chan discussed the issue in more details in her article which I think is a fantastic read. But I would like to highlight a point she brought up: the link between "my hand writes my mouth" and the New Cultural Movement (Chan refers to it as the "May Fourth movement of 1919", which seems slightly incorrect: when "May Fourth Movement" is used in a broader sense to describe the New Cultural Movement, you usually don't specify "of 1919". But alas, I digress) or 新文學運動. Up to the end of the New Culture Movement, only classical Chinese (古文) is considered "formal" written Chinese. The modern standard Chinese (not MSM) was born out of the effort to unify or connect written Chinese with vernacular/colloquial Chinese, hence the slogans like "my hand writes my mouth"(我手寫我口), "言文一體". And that leads us to an interesting question: what does "my hand writes my mouth" mean exactly? Reform the literature from the ground up so it conforms to modern vernacular culture (largely northern urban Chinese culture in that context), or adopt an essentially foreign spoken language (Putonghua) so you can adopt its written form (modern standard Chinese)?
But then one may ask, how big exactly is the gap between standard written Chinese and Cantonese? And what are the relations between colloquial Cantonese, formal Cantonese, Putonghua, modern standard Chinese (written), classical Chinese, etc.? My thought on this is, even if one considers "formal Cantonese" to be different from modern standard Chinese and has to choose the latter as THE standard written form out of political and cultural necessities, nothing is stopping Cantonese speakers to read whatever is written out loud, in Cantonese. Yuen Chan's article has more on this, especially in conversation with Professor Tse Shek-kam. I can imagine the argument of "same language code" being valid for some other Chinese dialects/languages in which the "differing literary and colloquial readings" (文白異讀) are so universal that teaching formal Chinese (however you define that) in native tongue might turn out to be more complicated than just using Putonghua as the instructional language. But for Cantonese, I don't think that's the case.
Another interesting point about "My hand writes my mouth" but is slightly off-topic in this discussion: the line in its original source (as given in the blog post) actually has very different meaning. Its use as a slogan among PMI proponents probably is a legacy of the 1910s when champions of written vernacular Chinese adopted the phase in their campaign.
For comparison, the characters are pronounced in Korean as follows: 的 적 jeok, 地 지 ji, 得 득 deuk. In Japanese, 的 てき teki , 地 じ/ち ji/chi , 得 とく toku.
"It's just a dialect" is just a dogwhistle for "it's spoken by people I consider below me." It's the linguistic equivalent of American racists using terms like "thug" when they mean "black" but don't want to sound overtly racist about it.
I am not a language expert. But here is my own litmus test: please find a book, or an article, that is written in pure Cantonese. You can also try to write one.
Being a native Cantonese speaker, I find myself read and write Chinese easier in the "standard", or MSM form. In casual writing like email or instant message, I do mix in Cantonese to emphasize or make fun.
There… are Cantonese novels though? They've been discussed by Dr. Mair on this very website numerous times.
Also, Donald Snow's "Cantonese as written language : the growth of a written Chinese vernacular" is worth skim-reading if you're at a university that has/can get a copy.
Thanks @Ron for mentioning this book 男人唔可以窮.
But it wasn't the first in that genre — self-narrative style story/novel using colloquial Cantonese. There was a novel from a popular Hong Kong radio drama broadcasted in late-eighties called 小男人週記 (online version here). It was basically the script of the entire series of the radio drama.
Ironically (but not surprisingly), the preface from the author was written in standard Chinese.
And just to illustrate my point, if you would "translate" the preface into Cantonese, how different could it be?


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Ganga Mira
Geneviève De Coux was born in 1947 in Namur, Belgium during her parents' holidays. The family lived in the Belgian Congo, where her grandparents owned a coffee plantation. Her father Antoine De Coux was a magistrate and her mother Cornélia du Marais was a painter, writer and poet.
Geneviève and her brother Christian enjoyed an idyllic childhood until 1960, the year of the Congo's independence. The family had to forgo everything and emigrated to Belgium. Their paradise was lost.
Geneviève found herself in Brussels, at the "Institut de la Vierge Fidèle", a prestigious Catholic school. This radical change of scenery stoked the fire of her ontological search and she found refuge in art. She sketched a lot and parallel to her studies, furthered her education in art and interior design. Holidays were often spent at her mother's windmill in Sintra, Portugal.
At 18, she enrolled in Art History and Archaeology at the "Université Libre de Bruxelles". These years were marked by the radical change that traditional ideologies undergo, and which would eventually lead to the 1968 Revolution. On the eve of her third year exams, while studying her philosophy paper, she stumbled upon a saying of Socrates which hit her straight in the heart: "Know thyself"!
Realising that this was precisely what she had always been looking for, she instantly dropped her studies and set out for India by road in search of a living Socrates or Buddha.
On reaching the Himalayan foot-hills, she led a meditative and ascetic life by the Ganges in Rishikesh, waiting to meet her master. The locals soon began to call her Mira like the princess who relinquished all for the love of Krishna.
At the end of 1968, in circumstances well worthy of Indian mythology, she met a man with whom she had an awakening experience. He left the following day without Mira knowing anything about him, neither his name nor his address. The one certainty was that finally she had found her master. To give herself the best chance of seeing him again, she decided to live at the exact spot of their meeting.
For eight months she waited for him and meditated under a little tree on the banks of the Ganga river. People started to consider her as a saint. One day, her master, H.W.L.Poonja, a disciple of Ramana Maharishi, came back for her. She became his disciple and wife and started to travel with him.
In 1971, H.W.L Poonja was invited to give Satsang in Europe and Mira accompanied him. Their daughter Mukti was born in 1972 and the little family went on traveling the world. Mira's mother and brother, renamed Durga and Satish, also became Shri Poonja's disciples.
After a stay in Venezuela, Mira moved to Brussels in 1981 to ensure her daughter's education was provided for. It was a challenging time, interspersed with holidays to Portugal to visit her mother and trips to India to see her master with whom she kept a very close correspondence.
In 1990, H.W.L Poonja, also called Papaji, settled permanently in Lucknow where he gave Satsang every day until he passed away in 1997. His ever growing reputation attracted seekers from every corner of the world.
In 1998, Mira was invited to give satsang, which she continues giving to this day all over the world. She decided to call herself Ganga after the name of the river on whose banks she lived with her master.
In 2004 Ganga Mira moved to Portugal together with her mother Durga, who passed away in 2012. She lives near the wild ocean of the Algarve with her daughter Mukti and her grand-children, Arun and Satya, and gives satsang four times a week.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Santana da Ponte Pensa este un oraș în São Paulo (SP), Brazilia.

Santana da Ponte Pensa
Municipii din São Paulo

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Hi! I'm Cami(like the shirt). I called my website Cocoapuffcharm because that's what I call my pieces of writing. My favorite short story by me is probably Grape Juice and favorite poem is probably Seaweed. The Seaweed series is a series of poems and stories about Seaweed the dolphin and his adventures with Samantha Coily, his dolphin trainer. One really good part of the series is Seaweed:Dolphin on the Escape. So enough about my Cocoapuffcharms, lets talk me. I am in 5th grade in the U.S.A. and I have a black Shih Tzu and I like iCarly and Kid Nation.


text:
Q: J2SE and Java DB Greetings,
My Java experience is limited, but I have a fair enough understanding of it. With that in mind, I am attempting to write a mobile application with a self-contained database -- Java DB -- for the purpose of maintaining my fitness log.
Netbeans is my preferred IDE, and it is currently of the latest stable version and Java DB is installed -- indeed the database is ready and waiting -- but I simply cannot figure out how to attach a Java DB to a J2SE project.
Searching for tutorials and what not online lead me to Java Desktop Applications w/ a self-contained database, and when I attempt to port the import statements to a J2SE project, I receive nothing but import errors -- even with adding the Java DB jar files to the project library.
Any assistance or point in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. Also, I am not deadset on the use of Java DB, and so if another portable database is preferable, then I am open to suggestions.
Thank you

A: J2SE is very different to J2ME. J2ME contains a cut down VM and does not have many of the features (e.g. generics, iterators, collections, reflection, finalization, thread groups, JNI ) that you would normally find in J2SE.
J2ME is not the platform to use for logging lots of information and trying to display it in informative graphs. A typical MIDlet can store around 2MB of information, although this varies between devices and is not a definitive number.
J2ME was designed for devices with little memory, so it has a small max heap size. This means that you would most likely run out of memory trying to display over a months worth of detailed fitness information.
There are a limited number of J2ME graphing APIs and because of the limitations of the platform, none of them can display graphs in a manner you'd expect in J2SE.
As another person mentioned J2ME uses a RecordStore to persist information. It can only store byte arrays which normally means you start writing your own very light serialisation framework for storing objects. Where every object you want to serialize implements a toByerArray() and fromByteArray(byte []) interface. However you can use other frameworks which will serialize objects for you.

A: http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/J2SE/Desktop/javadb/

A: If you're thinking of writing your app to run on the MIDP platform, you'll be sorely disappointed because JavaDB won't work on MIDP. J2SE != MIDP by any stretch.

A: Don't know if this is still needed .... as an alternative to JavaDB you can use the Midlet Record store. Here are some readings

*

*basics

http://developers.sun.com/mobility/midp/articles/databaserms/
http://java.sun.com/javame/reference/apis/jsr118/javax/microedition/rms/RecordStore.html
http://developers.sun.com/mobility/midp/articles/persist/

*

*applications

http://www.roseindia.net/j2me/record-store.shtml
http://www.roseindia.net/j2me/read-write-midlet.shtml

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Macular degeneration is a degenerative disease of the retinaThe retina is the receptor of light at the back of the eye. It fulfils the same function as the film in a film camera or the image sensor in a digital camera. The retina translates the images into electrical signals that are sent via the optic nerve to the visual cortex in the brain, where it is interpreted as the images we see. See Info on Eyes – Anatomy., which affects the macula. The macula is the small central part of the retina, which is responsible for sharp visual acuity in the center of the visual field. This condition is the most prevalent after the age of 60 years. Early or juvenile onset macular degeneration is a less common.
This is the most common form. It is also known as atrophic, non-exudative or drusenoid macular degeneration. This type accounts for 90% of macular degenerations. It is characterized by the build-up of drusen (small yellow lipofuchsin deposits) beneath the retina within the macular area. As a result, the overlying layer of photoreceptor cells within the macular area starts to atrophy, or die, as the cells break down.
It is also known as choroidal neovascularisation, subretinal neovascularisation, exudative form, or disciform degeneration. Wet AMD accounts for ten percent of patients with AMD. It is characterized by abnormal blood vessel growth beneath the macula, within a potential space between the retina and a thin layer of tissue called the choroid. The choroid is the main source of oxygen supply to the retinal photoreceptors, and it is the only blood supply for the macula. New, fragile blood vessels develop which may leak fluid and bleed, which may lead to a deterioration of the choroid and retina.
Blurring of vision with particular difficulty discerning details, both up close as well as at distance.
Blind spots, resulting in dark or empty areas within the centre of the field of vision.
Distortion of lines and shapes.
Unaffected peripheral, as well as night vision.
The Amsler grid test (which is used to locate and verify the extent and severity of sight loss – these areas of visual loss are called scotomas).
Colour tests (which can help to determine the functional status of your cone photoreceptor cells).
A dark adaptation test (which will measure how well your eyes adjust to different lighting conditions).
A fluorescein angiogram (which allows inner eye structures to be visualised). A non-toxic dye is injected into a blood vessel in the patient's arm. The dye is then carried through the bloodstream, including the blood vessels of the eyes. Serial photos or video-angiography of the macula and retina are then taken in quick succession, which is used to identify new blood vessel growth as well as leakage from blood vessels within the eye. New blood vessel growth is a feature of wet age-related macular degeneration, which is explained in detail in the section below describing the different forms of macular degeneration.
An indocyanine green angiogram (ICG), which is very similar to a fluorescein angiogram. This test differs in that it enables the ophthalmologist to obtain images from the choroidal vasculature, which lies beneath the retina. The choroid may often not be fully visible by means of a fluorescein angiogram.
'Blue Peak' autofluorescence. This examination is done by means of illuminating the retina with a very special blue laser. It enables the ophthalmologist to visualize pathology within the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE).
An Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). This ultra-modern test utilizes the properties of light, bouncing back from the retina when projected onto it. It is a non-invasive test which provides visual information on the various structures within the eye, and can be used as a standalone test, or in conjunction with a fluorescein angiogram, ICG or autofluorescence test.
Avoid intense, bright sunlight. Good quality sunglasses, hats and visors can help people to protect their eyes from the sun. It is postulated that ultra-violet light plays a central role in the development of macular degeneration.
Cigarette smoking has been linked in some studies to an increased risk for the development of AMD. It is recommended that persons stop smoking to decrease their chance of developing AMD.
If the diagnosis of dry AMD is established, it is of utmost importance to avoid progression to wet AMD. A simple way to monitor your vision is by using an Amsler grid. During a consultation with us, the use of this tool will be explained in detail, and the symptoms of progression will be discussed to allow the patient to seek help at an early stage of development of wet AMD. It is possible to prevent, or at least significantly retard, progression from dry to wet AMD with current technology.
Most people with macular degeneration only lose their central vision, but do retain some peripheral vision. Each case differs. However, many will be classified as 'legally blind'.
There is currently no effective treatment for dry AMD. There is no evidence that laser treatment is of any value for people with these conditions.
This mainly entails the use of low vision aids. These may be divided into optical and non-optical aids.
The white cane is probably the most visible aid, and some people with macular degeneration find it a useful navigational aid when their vision loss progresses beyond a certain stage. The cane is a form of non-optical aid; that is, it does not have an actual effect on your eyes, although it may help you 'see' or cope with vision loss. Other non-optical aids include guide dogs, audiotapes, and large print books.
There are also electronic aids. These include closed-circuit televisions (CCTV), reading machines, and talking computers. An increasing number of computer programmes are addressing the needs of the visually impaired, making it possible to easily enlarge type on the screen or provide an audio or Braille version to go with what is shown on the screen.
Optical aids are devices that work to improve vision to some extent. These include Corning and NOIR glasses, the Fresnel prism, telescopes and magnifiers. With advancing technology, some of these devices are becoming increasingly sophisticated and offer new opportunities to people with retinal degenerations to maximize their available vision.
To determine which aids may be most useful, it is suggested to undergo a thorough low vision evaluation from a specialist in the field. One may also contact the RP Foundation of South Africa for more information on low vision services.
Orientation and mobility training may also be provided in addition to the use of low vision aids.
2. Treatment aimed at the prevention of further deterioration.
Laser photocoagulation: This may be beneficial to patients with wet AMD. A laser beaim is directed into the eye and focused the area of pathology within the macula. The abnormal blood vessels growing beneath the retina are destroyed with the laser, which then seals leaky areas. This treatment cannot restore vision already lost from AMD, so it is critical that it be applied as early as possible, before vision impairment has progressed due to wet AMD. A badly damaged macula will not benefit from laser treatment.
Intra-ocular injection of special medication. The latest addition to the ophthalmologist's armamentarium to treat sub-retinal neovascularization, is the injection of anti-VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) substances. It has been established that choroidal neovascularization occurs in response to a cascade of chemical mediators within the eye. A variety of new drugs have been developed in recent times to block the proliferation of abnormal blood vessels in the eye. Although still in it's infancy, this methodology holds great promise for the treatment of AMD.
The implantation of an intra-ocular Fresnel prism lens. In patients with stable forms of AMD and a functioning area in the para-macular region, the implantation of an intra-ocular lensAn intra-ocular lens is an artificial lens that is implanted into the eye to either correct severe refractive errors, or to replace an opacified natural lens (cataract) during a cataract procedure. See Cataract Centre - Intra-ocular Lens Options. with a built-in prism may be of benefit. In these eyes, the retinal image is directed away from the affected retina, onto an area of the macula that still functions. This may lead to displacement of the scotoma, and an improvement in visual acuity.
Surgical removal of choroidal neovascularization, subretinal blood and rotation of the retina. Various surgical techniques have been developed to remove subretinal pathology. Although some improvement and stabilization of lesions have been demonstrated, these interventions have proved not to be the first line of management, and are reserved for cases with special indication. The outcomes with these interventions were reserved in the past.
The implantation of electronic micro-chips and retinal stem cells. These are among the fields of ongoing research (please see below).
Through the efforts of the International RP movement, a number of highly qualified scientists are working full-time on macular degeneration and other diseases of retinal degeneration. With the financial support from various RP Foundations, clinical specialists and laboratory scientists are working at more than 40 medical and research institutions in the USA, Europe and South Africa, on more than 110 research projects related to retinal degeneration.
One working hypothesis is that a cause or contributing factor to macular degeneration involves the formation of chemicals in the body called free radicals. Free radicals are thought to result, in part, from exposure to sunlight and other forms of ultraviolet light. They cause cellular damage by taking electrons from molecules in healthy cells. This process, called oxidation, has been linked to a variety of health problems including heart disease and cancer. Substances called antioxidants may counteract the oxidation process; the body produces its own antioxidants, and these are helped by antioxidants that we ingest through food or vitamin supplements. Vitamins C, E and carotenoid, including beta-carotene, are examples of potent antioxidants. However, it is unknown which of these are helpful to AMD.
The work investigating a link between vitamins and macular degeneration is still in its preliminary stages. Recommendations regarding nutritional supplementation and light avoidance for patients with macular degeneration are expected to emerge from studies now in progress.
The transplantation of retinal cells has shown some encouraging results in animals studies, although it is important to emphasize that this is not a treatment modality available for use in humans. Retinal stem cell transplantation is still in it's preliminary stages of investigation in the laboratory. Before a procedure can be tested in humans, long-term beneficial effects must be proven and possible side effects must be determined. Such research may take several more years.
The good news is that studies so far have found that when photoreceptor cells are transplanted into the retinas of animals, some features of normal photoreceptors are either maintained or developed after transplantation. However, there is no conclusive evidence that retinal cell transplants or similar procedures in animals with a retinal degeneration, will result in long-term improved or restored vision in humans. Nevertheless, the research done so far has been promising enough for the American Foundation Fighting Blindness to expand a grant award programme aimed at scientists who are investigating several areas of basic science that could lead to new therapies that might repair or replace damaged retinal cells.


text:
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Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Left in the Canadian Elections
[From The Activist.]
Most people in the U.S., including most leftists, know next to nothing about Canadian politics. Because of this, Canada tends to be seen as some sort of social democratic paradise – a land of universal healthcare, multiculturalism, and benign stoners – instead of the complex and changing society it is in reality. In an effort to partially redress this unfortunate situation, The Activist caught up with Herman Rosenfeld, a member of the Socialist Project group and the Greater Toronto Workers' Assembly, in a wide ranging interview about Canada's recent elections and the prospects for the Left north of the border.
The Activist: Most people in the U.S., including most leftists, know next to nothing about Canadian politics. As briefly as possible, tell us about the broad contours of the Canadian electoral system and the constituencies of the main parties.
Herman Rosenfeld: Canada has a parliamentary system, different from the US system of separation of powers. Power is vested in the parliament, which has two houses: an elected House of Commons and an appointed Senate, which has fewer powers. Political parties field candidates across the electoral districts (called ridings), across the country. The voting is according to a similar "first past the post" system, as in the US and the UK, where the candidate with the most votes (a plurality) claims the seat. The party with the most seats out of the 308 total, gets to form a government. Each party has a leader, and the leader of the party with the most seats becomes the Prime Minister, appoints a cabinet and governs.
The PM has powers that combine those of a US president and a leader of the entire legislature. This system, based on the British Parliamentary tradition, requires parties to follow a rigid discipline and all sitting members of given parties vote similarly on issues. The principle is that each party had a specific platform and program, and their votes in parliament reflect their respective party agendas.
If a given party has an absolute majority of seats, they are said to have a majority government and can basically rule as they please – respecting the constitution and other laws – for 5 years. If they do not have a full majority, they are said to rule as a minority government, and carry out their agenda, always keeping in mind the possibility that they can be the subject of a non-confidence vote by the other parties. If they lose such a vote over a budget issue, the parliament can be dissolved and a general election called.
Technically, the head of state is the Queen of England, and her designate in Canada – the Governor-General (appointed by the PM) – asks the leader to form a government and calls elections. This is just vestigial.
Canada is a federal system, and the 10 provinces have a lot of power over key areas. The electoral system in the provinces mimic the federal practises.
The principal parties in Canada are:
The Conservative Party of Canada, whose principle supporters are the main wings of the Canadian capitalist class, those dependent on trade, resources and the principal elements in the financial sector. Their electoral strength has traditionally been in the west and oil-rich Alberta and the rural and suburban areas. In this recent election, they have made significant inroads in areas with large immigrant populations, particularly around social conservative issues. Of the two main traditional bourgeois parties, they are more like the American Republicans and include a significant social conservative element. The CPC is the product of a merger between a right-wing populist breakaway from the old Progressive Conservatives and what was the PCP. The PC's were positioned to the right of the Liberals. They are currently the majority party in Canada.
The Liberal Party of Canada has traditionally been the most successful ruling party in the 20th century in Canada. It vies with the CPC for the support of the capitalist class and tended to have stronger support among what used to be manufacturing interests, based in central Canada. It sponsored much of the welfare state reforms of the post-war period, but also applied many of the key elements of neoliberalism when enjoying majorities in later 20th and early 21st century. When successful, it posited itself as a Third Way party, opposing the harder conservatism of the CPC, and championing the traditions of the welfare state legacy, all the while cutting and privatizing key elements of that tradition. The Liberals like to style themselves as socially progressive, in contrast to the CPC, that has more of a socially conservative base. (But the Liberals also have a socially conservative wing that opposes abortion.) It fancies itself as the party of the centre and in Monday's election on the federal level – suffered a catastrophic defeat.
The New Democratic Party (NDP) is a social democratic party which had never held more than a small minority of seats on the federal level, but has been in power in a number of provinces. It is the successor to the original social democratic party – the CCF – that has roots in the 1930's. The NDP was formed as an alliance between middle-class social democratic reformers and the labour movement. It and the CCF developed elements of the welfare state – notably single payer Medicare – in provincial governments that they led, and pressured the Liberals to apply them on a federal level. It, like other social democratic parties around the world, adjusted its political approach with the advent of neoliberalism in the 1980's, and today is more like a party of moderate social reform, just left of the Liberals. It has important tensions as well as relations with the labour movement.
Bloc Quebecois, (BQ) is a provincially-based Quebec party, whose platform is mildly social democratic and is basically oriented towards enhancing the prospects of Quebec sovereignty through advocating for Quebec's interests on the federal level. It suffered a huge defeat in Monday's election and its very survival is in question.
TA: What does the Conservative victory tell us about the state of Canadian politics? Many progressives here in the U.S. seem to view Canada as some sort of social democratic paradise, but this election seems to be a consolidation of an unmistakable shift in recent years away from the previously hegemonic center-left toward the right.
HR: If you look at Canada as a whole, the population is fairly evenly divided between the broad right and the broad centre-left, although the overall voting this time had about 60% supporting the Liberals, NDP, Greens and Bloc, with about 40% or so voting for the CPC. The Conservatives took advantage of the first past the post electoral system and the competition between the Liberals and NDP.
Aside from this, the fact is that the CPC vote did go up this time and although it went up marginally across the country, they concentrated on key electoral districts and constituencies and crafted a majority out of it. This included appeals to socially conservative themes in some areas, a moderate posture on social issues in others, and always, a defence of low taxes, free trade and the maintenance of a 'friendly' business climate.
The key is that none of the other parties be they the middle-of-the-road Liberals, or the NDP, argued against the power of corporations, free trade or the reliance on private markets for job creation. From the hard right to the so-called centre-left, all accept the limits of neoliberalism and the fiscal orthodoxy, with minor (but important) differences. As such, it is disappointing, but not all that surprising, that the Conservatives could win this election. It says nothing about any real shift in the general political opinions of most Canadians, but reflects much of what was really there before.
What appears as a move from the centre-left to the centre-right in public opinion, is really a reflection of peoples' adjustments to the constraints of neoliberalism and the fact that this era makes even the more socially just and fair social programs dependent on the ability of highly competitive markets to generate profits. Canadians remain, on the whole, supportive of social programs and especially public medicare, but the there is no political force on the left that argues for a challenge to the dominance of neoliberal structures and practises. The Conservatives thus appear to many to be the guardians of economic success and rationality.
TA: What types of policies can we expect from a Conservative majority government with Stephen Harper as PM, who by all accounts seems to be a fairly cretinous fellow, to pursue?
HR: Cretinous yes, but stupid no. The new government will move towards an austerity agenda geared to making working people and the poor pay for the costs of the bank and auto bailouts, as well as the mild stimulus. They will seek to reduce the size of the federal government's regulatory capacity and the federal civil service; cut transfer payments to the provinces for social spending (or eliminate regulatory conditions that make these programs universal); move towards private sector versions of programs; increase deregulation of trade and communication, corporate tax cuts; gutting of environmental regulation ending efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions; huge supports for oil and gas; increasing military spending ; massive prison spending and a draconian law-and-order agenda.
Unlike in the US, Harper is very careful to legitimate these horrible policies, both with his social conservative base – not large in Canada and regionally concentrated – and with other constituencies.
TA: Many U.S. progressives have been celebrating the second place showing of the New Democratic Party, becoming the Official Opposition party for the first time in history. What shifts within the Canadian electorate enabled them to achieve this success? Is the NDP's surge sustainable over the long run or not?
HR: Most of the new NDP parliamentarians are from Quebec. While NDP seats went from 34 to 102 overall, in Quebec, they went from 1 to 58. Across Canada, the popular vote did go up from 18% to 30%. Most of the difference (but not all) came from Quebec.
In general, the NDP did extraordinarily well in displacing the Liberals as the opposition. The showing across the country was better than before. But I think our friends in the US should keep in mind the following points:
The huge success in Quebec is very tenuous and could be temporary. Former BQ voters seemed to have deserted their former party en mass, hoping that NDP leader Jack Layton's "Orange Crush" (orange is the colour of the NDP) will do three things: represent their interests as Quebecois in Ottawa; argue for progressive social and economic policies as the Bloc did; and become a fighter against the Harper government and agenda. They seemed to have rejected the BQ because it was a one trick pony and as such could not represent them properly. As well, they liked Layton and persona he used in the campaign. None of this is the stuff of permanent transformation, as the NDP has little infrastructure in Quebec. We'll see where this goes.
Without the surge in Quebec, we can't reasonably describe what happened as a major electoral shift. What we can see is a move of some centrist voters away from the Liberals and closer to the NDP in various places. That would partly account for the Liberals' woes. The Liberal leader had little credibility and a number of voters see Layton as the only one standing up to Harper. The NDP did make some gains in Toronto. Also, there is a rather firm base of trade union activists, voters and generally a progressive community that regularly votes for the NDP. The socialist left (small that it is), for the most part, votes for the NDP, in the absence of any genuine left party. This is hardly the stuff of a radical shift.
The NDP itself hardly ran a left-oriented campaign. It relied on the personal appeal of Layton. It called for moderate tax increases on corporations and some new and positive social spending. It appealed to "families" and the "middle class"; played down its programmatic opposition to the war in Afghanistan; and certainly seemed to appeal the centre. There is little socialist in who they are.
TA: What can we expect from the NDP in opposition? It is regarded as social democratic or socialist here in the U.S., but the party's record in provincial government has been rather centrist, even neoliberal at times.
HR: Who knows that the role of the NDP will be in opposition? Unlike the US, the opposition has no power when faced with a majority government. Will the NDP call on the labour movement and other supporters to "tone it down", in order to be able to supposedly win over queasy Liberals, so it can get elected in 4 years? Or, will it support the kinds of on-the-ground resistance that working people need to organize against Harper and his business friends? Will they simply call for a "return to the good old days", or will they support more radical demands to create jobs, oppose militarism, rebuild cities, etc.?
Their track record on this isn't good. When they have been in power in different provincial governments, they acted as "responsible" defenders of the status quo, often pitting themselves against labour and social service recipients, supporting tax cuts, reduction of social services. The former NDP Premier of the Province of Manitoba was named by Harper as the ambassador to the US. And, Layton has already taken pains to tell the business community that an NDP government and opposition would respect their rights and would be "responsible".
Let's be honest here: this IS what social democracy is in the 21st century. Like American liberals, British Labourites, and French Socialists or the German SPD they accept the limitations imposed by the need to accommodate the competitive success of private employers, embrace trade and investment liberalization and are unwilling to challenge the social structures informed by neoliberalism. Social democracy offers no alternative in the current era.
TA: Is there any sign yet of how the Liberals will respond to their fall from grace? Michael Ignatieff has stepped down as party leader, but should we also expect any major changes in their political orientation?
It's hard to know what will happen in the Liberal party. There have been calls by some folks who want to see a realignment of sorts – with a kind of merger or working relationship between the NDP and Liberals – but it is hard to see the Liberal base accepting this. The party has over 100 years of traditions, the strongest of which is political opportunism and survival and as one of the historical options for the capitalist class it isn't going to go into the night so silently. Much of the business-oriented elements in Canadian society reject the NDP, regardless of its moderation. A significant number of Liberal voters also voted Conservative in this election, in order to prevent the NDP from winning.
The Liberals will most likely try and rebuild, starting with the selection of a new leader. This shape-shifter of a party can end up taking a number of identities, all geared towards attracting a softer neoliberalism than their Conservative adversaries.
TA: Going forward, what are the prospects for the Canadian Left? Does the electoral success of the NDP reflect the emergence of a mass Left constituency or will Canada continue to slide further to the right?
I think you have to make a distinction between the Canadian Left and the NDP. The kind of left that the NDP represents is extremely moderate and isn't much different than American liberals.
The socialist left is different. It is very much apart from the NDP. It is small, based in different cities across the country and argues for a political project that both rejects neoliberalism and the continued dependence on private accumulation. It calls for a transformation of the existing social system, and argues for structural reforms in the medium term such as nationalizing the financial sector, and shorter term demands such as a surtax on the wealthy to pay for the bailouts of the banks and corporations. It tends to be eco-socialist and calls for an end to the tar sands and the reliance on fossil fuels. It currently has no political parties, but exists as a series of small movements and groups. The crisis, rather than creating what we all hoped would be an opening for the left, has instead created an environment of austerity, with most ordinary people unable to see an alternative.
Hopefully, the emerging resistance to the ongoing calls for austerity from governments of just about all political stripes will build – such as through the labour movement and some of the social movements in urban centres – creating openings for the development of a mass left constituency.
The NDP has links with the labour movement, and it is difficult to see whether those links will help or hinder moves towards greater resistance to austerity, or the development of a greater constituency for left politics and ideas. As I said in an earlier answer, they could very well having a dampening effect on resistance movements, looking for some kind respectability which they might see as helping them get elected in the future. Whatever move they make here, one can hardly see them as anything more than a moderate reforming left.
There is also another tendency within the NDP that sees the party becoming the only political alternative to the Conservatives – a kind of centre-left replacement for the Liberals. Clearly, those folks are not likely to see themselves fostering a mass left constituency of any kind.
It is interesting that even in Canada a lot of progressive people are excited about the vote spike of the NDP and their new role as the official opposition. Some of the leading elements in the Canadian labour movement see this as pointing towards an electoral victory at the end of the Tory mandate.
More likely, it might open up some new avenues to challenge the austerity agenda coming down the road. On the other hand, it can never serve as a base for a move to a socialist orientation.
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May 6, 2011 May 19, 2011 Leave a commentCanada, elections2011
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text:
Q: Sending email with attachments using Amazon AWS SMTP I'm trying to send a email using amazon WS SMTP, is sending with success but i never receive the email. When i send it without attachment i receive it with success.
Here's my code
// Create an SMTP client with the specified host name and port.
        using (SmtpClient client = new SmtpClient(ssHost, ssPort))
        {
            // Create a network credential with your SMTP user name and password.
            client.Credentials = new System.Net.NetworkCredential(ssSMTP_Username, ssSMTP_Password);

            // Use SSL when accessing Amazon SES. The SMTP session will begin on an unencrypted connection, and then
            // the client will issue a STARTTLS command to upgrade to an encrypted connection using SSL.
            client.EnableSsl = true;
            // Send the email.

            MailMessage message = new MailMessage();
            try
            {
                //creates a messages with the all data
                message.From = new MailAddress(ssFrom, ssFromName);
                //message.To.Add(ssTo);
                //To
                List<String> toAddresses = ssTo.Split(',').ToList();
                foreach (String toAddress in toAddresses)
                {
                    message.To.Add(new MailAddress(toAddress));
                }
                //cc
                List<String> ccAddresses = ssCC.Split(',').Where(y => y != "").ToList();
                foreach (String ccAddress in ccAddresses)
                {
                    message.CC.Add(new MailAddress(ccAddress));
                }
                //bcc
                List<String> BccAddresses = ssBcc.Split(',').Where(y => y != "").ToList();
                foreach (String ccAddress in ccAddresses)
                {
                    message.Bcc.Add(new MailAddress(ccAddress));
                }

                //replyTo
                if (ssReplyTo != null)
                {
                    message.ReplyToList.Add(new MailAddress(ssReplyTo));
                }

                //email
                message.Subject = ssSubject;
                message.Body = ssBody;
                message.IsBodyHtml = true;

                //Attachment
                foreach (RCAttachmentRecord attchmentRec in ssAttachmenstList){
                    System.IO.MemoryStream ms = new System.IO.MemoryStream(attchmentRec.ssSTAttachment.ssBinary);
                    Attachment attach = new Attachment(ms, attchmentRec.ssSTAttachment.ssFilename);
                    message.Attachments.Add(attach);

                    ssErrorMessage = ssErrorMessage + "||" + attchmentRec.ssSTAttachment.ssFilename+"lenght:"+attchmentRec.ssSTAttachment.ssBinary.Length;
                }
                client.Send(message);

            }

source: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/ses/latest/DeveloperGuide/send-using-smtp-net.html

A: I think your problem probably is that you are not adding your attachments correctly to your message.
I was successful sending a single message with an attachment.  I started with the code that was taken directly from your source link above.  I then added the code from another SO article about the missing content type problem.
The attachment is a Word Document Lebowski.docx from my Documents folder.  I suggest you create a similar simple Word document and run the following code to verify you can send a simple attachment in a single email.
The following code worked successfully for me:
namespace SESTest
{
using System;
using System.Net.Mail;

namespace AmazonSESSample
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            const String FROM = "from-email";   // Replace with your "From" address. This address must be verified.
            const String TO = "to-email";  // Replace with a "To" address. If your account is still in the
                                                        // sandbox, this address must be verified.

            const String SUBJECT = "Amazon SES test (SMTP interface accessed using C#)";
            const String BODY = "This email and attachment was sent through the Amazon SES SMTP interface by using C#.";

            // Supply your SMTP credentials below. Note that your SMTP credentials are different from your AWS credentials.
            const String SMTP_USERNAME = "user-creds";  // Replace with your SMTP username.
            const String SMTP_PASSWORD = "password";  // Replace with your SMTP password.

            // Amazon SES SMTP host name.
            const String HOST = "your-region.amazonaws.com";

            // The port you will connect to on the Amazon SES SMTP endpoint. We are choosing port 587 because we will use
            // STARTTLS to encrypt the connection.
            const int PORT = 2587;

            // Create an SMTP client with the specified host name and port.
            using (System.Net.Mail.SmtpClient client = new System.Net.Mail.SmtpClient(HOST, PORT))
            {
                // Create a network credential with your SMTP user name and password.
                client.Credentials = new System.Net.NetworkCredential(SMTP_USERNAME, SMTP_PASSWORD);

                // Use SSL when accessing Amazon SES. The SMTP session will begin on an unencrypted connection, and then
                // the client will issue a STARTTLS command to upgrade to an encrypted connection using SSL.
                client.EnableSsl = true;

                // Send the email.
                try
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("Attempting to send an email through the Amazon SES SMTP interface...");

                    var mailMessage = new MailMessage()
                    {
                        Body = BODY,
                        Subject = SUBJECT,
                        From = new MailAddress(FROM)
                    };
                    mailMessage.To.Add(new MailAddress(TO));

                    //REMOVE THIS CODE
                    //System.IO.MemoryStream ms = new System.IO.MemoryStream(attchmentRec.ssSTAttachment.ssBinary);
                    //Attachment attach = new Attachment(ms, attchmentRec.ssSTAttachment.ssFilename);
                    //mailMessage.Attachments.Add(attach);

                    System.Net.Mime.ContentType contentType = new System.Net.Mime.ContentType();
                    contentType.MediaType = System.Net.Mime.MediaTypeNames.Application.Octet;
                    contentType.Name = "Lebowski.docx";
                    mailMessage.Attachments.Add(new Attachment("C:\\users\\luis\\Documents\\Lebowski.docx", contentType));

                    client.Send(mailMessage);

                    Console.WriteLine("Email sent!");
                }
                catch (Exception ex)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("The email was not sent.");
                    Console.WriteLine("Error message: " + ex.Message);
                }
            }

            Console.Write("Press any key to continue...");
            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }
}
}

Once you prove you can send an email with one attachment from your account, then you can start working on how to get the binaries from your ssAttachmentsList into an your emails and the correct content type assigned to each.  But you didn't provide enough code or context for me to determine that at this time.  Im hoping this code will help you get over your attachment issue.


text:
Virginia Woolf – Monk's House
On 6 July 2019
In England, Women
While we had visited nearby Charleston, home of the Bloomsbury set a couple of times, we had never visited nearby (six miles distance) Monk's House. till now Virginia and Leonard Woolf bought the simple cottage in 1919. They had been married seven years. Virginia wrote four of her best-known books there: Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, Orlando and The Waves.
Virginia found it a place of calm: how happy I am how calm, for the moment how sweet life is with L here, in its regularity and order, and the garden and the room at night and music and my walks and writing easily and interestedly.
A Room of Her Own
The house had many disadvantages. It was small, it was damp, it flooded, it had no indoor plumbing and no electricity. However, it had a wild but large garden and splendid views over the South Downs. Gradually, with the royalties from their books, they did the house up. Mrs. Dalloway, for example, paid for an indoors toilet. They built an extension. and a lodge – Virginia's Room of Her Own (see photo above right. It is now behind glass, hence the not very good photo).
The house was reputedly very messy, with books everywhere. (The books have since been removed but replaced. by National Trust books, i.e. old-looking books bought in bulk. I was struck by the four volume set of the Intimate Memoirs of Colonel House – House was Woodrow Wilson's adviser – presumably acquired because no-one in the National Trust had any idea of who Colonel House was). A few have been judiciously placed on the stairs but, as you cannot go upstairs (the building is permanently occupied by a National Trust person for security reasons) it is relatively safe.
The pictures at top left and immediately left show that there were some works of art there. (The house is very small so it is difficult to take photos). Some were by the Bloomsbury set from nearby Charleston, particularly, Virginia's sister and Vanessa's lover Duncan Grant.
Virginia committed suicide in the nearby River Ouse. After her death, Leonard lived there for twenty-eight years, till his death. Much of the time he was with his lover, the artist Trekkie Parsons. Like many women artists, she has faded into obscurity, except for her relationship with Leonard. Some of her paintings are in the house, while many others have disappeared. Work is now taking place to track them down.
Andrej Nikolaidis: The Olcinium Trilogy
Shi Tiesheng: 我的丁一之旅 (My Travels in Ding Yi)


text:
2019 Election: Kwankwaso's presidential campaign posters flood Jigawa
Aliyu Muhammed September 7, 2017 2 min read
Posters carrying the picture of former Kano State governor, Dr. Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso, have flooded every corner of Dutse, the state capital of Jigawa state.
Yesterday morning, residents of Dutse woke up to notice the posters, with the inscription "Kwankwaso for President 2019, Insha Allah" pasted on walls, roundabouts, billboards and other spaces.
The development may have been triggered by the calculation of supporters of the former governor, now senator representing Kano central, that President Muhammadu Buhari may not contest in the 2019 presidential election.
There are indications that the senator, who came second behind President Buhari in the 2015 All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary elections wants to take another shot at the presidency.
The coordinator of Kwankwaso movement in Jigawa, Alhaji Ishaq Hadejia, told Daily Sun that there was a new resolution amongst youths across the country to support the former Kano governor in his quest to become president come 2019.
Ishaq said: "I can categorically assure you that Kwankwaso has already won the hearts of many of the APC youths across the state.
"And the interesting part of this movement is that this man (Kwankwaso) does not use his personal money to fund it, rather it is these new revolutionised crop of youths who have dedicated their time and resources for his sake."
Although the Jigawa State government had, at a point, distanced itself from the Kwankwasiya movement, however, there were indications that the movement in the state has the blessings of the governor, Alhaji Muhammed Badaru Abubakar. This may not be unconnected with why the coordinator of the movement is currently the managing director of the state-owned television station.
ASUU Strike Updates: Good News as Buhari appoints Osinbajo as "Chief Negotiator''
FG-ASUU Negotiations Continue Under Leadership of Labour and Education Ministers
Attack me before you touch Igbos – Sultan of Sokoto on Quit Notice
NNPC Crashes Petrol, Cooking Gas Prices Nationwide
Misau's retirement letter genuine – Police Service Commission
Igede Community from Benue State residing in Kano State celebrating her new yam festival


text:
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: "Earl of Guilford" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford
Waldershare House, front view
Waldershare park, the coach house
Earl of Guilford is a title that has been created three times in history. The title was created for the first time in the Peerage of England in 1660 (as Countess of Guilford) for Elizabeth Boyle. She was a daughter of William Feilding, 1st Earl of Denbigh, and the widow of Lewis Boyle, 1st Viscount Boyle of Kinalmeaky. The title was for life only and became extinct on her death in 1667. The title was created for a second time in the Peerage of England in 1674 for John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale. For more information on this creation, see the article on him as well as the Earl of Lauderdale.
Despite the first two creations, the title of Earl of Guilford is chiefly associated with one branch of the North family, which descends from the Hon. Sir Francis North, second son of Dudley North, 4th Baron North (see the Baron North for earlier history of the family), a lawyer and politician. He was Chief Justice of the Common Pleas from 1675 to 1682 and Lord Keeper of the Great Seal from 1682 to 1685. In 1683 he was created Baron Guilford, of Guilford (now spelled Guildford) in the County of Surrey, in the Peerage of England. He died in middle age and was succeeded by his son, the second Baron, who briefly served as President of the Board of Trade from 1713 to 1714 and was also Lord-Lieutenant of Essex. His son, the third Baron, represented Banbury in the House of Commons of Great Britain. In 1734 he succeeded his cousin as seventh Baron North and in 1752 was honoured by being created Earl of Guilford in the Peerage of Great Britain.[1]
The first Earl of the new creation was succeeded by his son, the second Earl. Known mainly under his courtesy title of Lord North, which he used from 1752 to 1790, he was one of the most influential statesmen of the second half of the 18th century. As Prime Minister of Great Britain between 1770 and 1782, he was a major figure in the American Revolution. North also held two of the other great offices of state, those of Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary. He was succeeded by his eldest son, the third Earl. He represented several constituencies in the House of Commons. Lord Guilford had no sons, and on his death the barony of North fell into abeyance between his daughters (see the Baron North page for further history of this title). He was succeeded in the barony and the earldom of Guilford by his younger brother, the fourth Earl. He died childless and was succeeded by his younger brother, the fifth Earl. He had been one of the Members of Parliament for Banbury from 1792 to 1794 and had also served as Governor of Ceylon from 1798 to 1805.[1] He was also childless, and on his death the titles passed to his cousin, the sixth Earl, a clergyman. He was succeeded by his grandson, the seventh Earl. His son, the eighth Earl, was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal East Kent Yeomanry and also Territorial Force Reserve, and a lieutenant in the 4th battalion Gloucester regiment.[2] When he died the peerages were inherited by his grandson, the ninth Earl. As of 2009 the titles are held by the latter's only son, the tenth Earl, who succeeded in 1999.
Three other members of the North family may also be mentioned. Frederic Dudley North (1866–1921), great-grandson of the Reverend Charles Augustus North, younger brother of the sixth earl, was a prominent civil servant in Australia. His son Charles Frederic North (1887–1979) was Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1947 to 1953. Jonathan North (b. 1931), son of the Hon. John Montagu William North, second son of the eighth Earl, succeeded his maternal grandfather as second Baronet, of Southwell, in 1947 (see North Baronets).
Lacking a different secondary title, the heirs apparent to the earldom have continued to use Lord North as a courtesy title. An unqualified reference to Lord North almost always refers to Frederick North, later second Earl of Guilford.
The family seat is Waldershare House, near Dover, Kent. The town in Surrey from which both titles derive is now spelt Guildford.
Countesses of Guilford (1660)
Elizabeth Boyle, Countess of Guilford (d. 1667)
Earls of Guilford (1674)
see the Earl of Lauderdale
Barons Guilford (1683)
Francis North, 1st Baron Guilford (1637–1685)
Francis North, 2nd Baron Guilford (1673–1729)
Francis North, 3rd Baron Guilford (1704–1790) (created Earl of Guilford in 1752)
Arms of the Earls of Guilford
Francis North, 1st Earl of Guilford (1704–1790)
Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford (1732–1792)
George Augustus North, 3rd Earl of Guilford (1757–1802)
Francis North, 4th Earl of Guilford (1761–1817)
Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford (1766–1827)
Francis North, 6th Earl of Guilford (1772–1861), clergyman, Master of Hospital of St. Cross, Winchester, the inspiration for The Warden by Anthony Trollope[3]
Dudley North, Lord North (1829–1860)
Dudley Francis North, 7th Earl of Guilford (1851–1885)
Dudley Francis North, Lord North (1875–1875)
Frederick George North, 8th Earl of Guilford (1876–1949)
Francis George North, Lord North (1902–1940)
Edward Francis North, 9th Earl of Guilford (1933–1999)
Piers Edward Brownlow North, 10th Earl of Guilford (b. 1971)
The heir apparent is the present holder's son Frederick Edward George North, Lord North (b. 2002)
Baron North
North Baronets, of Southwell
^ a b Chisholm 1911, p. 691.
^ Hesilrige 1921, p. 427.
^ Robert Bernard Martin, Enter Rumour, 1962, reprinted Faber Finds 2012
Hesilrige, Arthur G. M. (1921). Debrett's Peerage and Titles of courtesy. 160A, Fleet street, London, UK: Dean & Son. p. 427. ((cite book)): CS1 maint: location (link)
Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,[page needed]
Lord North, The Prime Minister Who Lost America, Peter Whiteley (1996), Hambledon Press ISBN 1-85285-145-7
Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages [self-published source][better source needed]
Chisholm, Hugh (1911). "Guilford, Barons and Earls of" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 691.
Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Francis North, 6th Earl of Guilford
Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Dudley Francis North, 7th Earl of Guilford
Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Frederick George North, 8th Earl of Guilford
Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Edward Francis North, 9th Earl of Guilford
Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Piers Edward Brownlow North, 10th Earl of Guilford
Mabel Eden's Diary, The Life of a Lady, short biographies of the 7th, 8th and 9th Earls, and notes about the North family
Biography of Frederic Dudley North at the Australian Dictionary of Biography
Extant earldoms in the peerages of Britain and Ireland
Winchelsea
Scarbrough
Erroll
Rothes
Buchan
Eglinton
Strathmore and Kinghorne
Kinnoull
Airlie
Selkirk§
Northesk
Balcarres
Annandale and Hartfell
Kintore
Seafield
Ferrers
Tankerville
Aylesford
Waldegrave
Hardwicke
Ilchester
De La Warr
Mount Edgcumbe
Orrery
Bessborough
Winterton
Lisburne
Annesley
Erne
Belmore
Castle Stewart
Clancarty
Kilmorey
Ranfurly
Powis
Harrowby
Cathcart
Verulam
St Germans
Stradbroke
Temple of Stowe
Cawdor
Ducie
Cromartie
Selborne
Iddesleigh
Cromer
St Aldwyn
Iveagh
Oxford and Asquith
Jellicoe
Inchcape
Baldwin of Bewdley
Lloyd-George of Dwyfor
Mountbatten of Burma
Alexander of Tunis
Woolton
§ : Disclaimed. Italics: This title is held by a peer who holds another earldom of higher precedence.
Earls of Guilford
Earldoms in the Peerage of Great Britain
Noble titles created in 1660
North family


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Becky G – Garden
ByEMMANUEL December 1, 2021
Becky G – Garden MP3
Music at its best, Becky G Brings a smile on the face of fans with this new song titled Garden The song was first posted on mp3titan.com on Jan 27, 2021, and is available for Mp3 Download Below.
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Housefires FT. Nate Moore – Bless The Lord At All Times
Chris King – Snotty Tsunami!
Kelsea Ballerini – The Other Girl (ballerini album v
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text:
Gerhard Hafner ist der Name folgender Personen:

* Gerhard Hafner (Jurist) (* 1943), österreichischer Rechtswissenschaftler und Hochschullehrer
 Gerhard Hafner (Abt) (* 1964), österreichischer Geistlicher, Abt von Admont


Just wondering what hobbies you ladies have?
I am trying to take care of myself a bit and figured that investing time in a hobby would help me keep my mind a bit sane (I'm in a verbally abusive marriage...) I have never really had any hobbies/ past times. When I was little my parents didn't have money to send me to lessons, in my 20s I was workaholic, now I dedicate every minute of my life to my 2 young kids. I'm trying to get my life back together. What hobbies do you enjoy? I live in California if that helps with ideas of things to do.
I read a LOT, and I love movies. My husband has to go to bed early, so occasionally I will take myself to a movie. I do community theater (both acting and technical work). For most of my life, photography was a hobby, but now I get paid for it. I also write a blog. Kudos to you for trying to find what interests you! Best wishes!
First of all, let me say that I am sorry you have a verbally abusive husband.
Before I had kids, I would tell you to divorce him but now that I have kids of my own & almost got divorced, I think a little bit more about what I am willing do/give up.
Of course, if it's harmful for the kids, I say get out. The problem is.......in most 50 states the ex gets the kids 50/50. That is worrisome in a lot of cases. So if he's good to the kids, I understand.
Hobbies? There are a bazillion things for you to do. It all depends upon your interests: what YOU like to do.
Martial Arts--really I'm a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. You and the kids could take lessons together and move up the belt ranks. Daddy will go to testings and when he sees that Mommy can break boards he might learn to curb his mouth. Marial Arts will also help with self esteem and self confidence and maybe help you find a way out of this marriage.
I also sew and crochet.
((Me too, with the whole abusive marriage thing. 2 years ago this fall I said 'Screw it! I'm going to start doing things that make ME happy!'. Not that I didn't before... but you know how easy it is to have your entire life become about keeping HIM happy so he's not such a prick, and the rest of the time is kids and house and responsibilities and balance/happiness is so far out the window as to be in the middle of the street hit by one car after the next. WHATEVER it is you choose to do... make sure it's all about you. If you can bring the kids and have fun, great (like my son and I snowboard, but we started when he was 7, so it's not like I had to be constantly hovering/minding. And if he didn't like it -our first year- I was totally prepped to still go on my own. He LOVES it, which makes it nice. We have something we can do together that's not me watching him do something, but both of us doing something)... but my point is to make it about you. Not him or them. Something purely your own. Something that makes YOU happy, instead of having to be concerned about other people's happiness 100% of the time.)).
Snowboarding (winter). When I lived in SoCal I surfed. Up here, one needs a drysuit. Nope. Uh-uh. Not gonna do it.
I work with kids, so kid crafts are so fun! Look on pinterest.com for some fun ideas.
scrapbook....I'm 49 & I'm working my way thru both of my parent's lives, my life, my sons.....& the list goes on & on! It's a very time-consuming process. Organization is key!
Last night, I took a fused glass jewelry class. LOVED it! Made 10 pendants for Christmas gifts.....well, that's if they make it thru the kiln. I'll know more next week when I go back to attach the brackets & pick out the chains/cords for the necklaces.
Excercise is the hobby that I get the most out of. It's a great stress reliever and makes me feel more powerful and assertive.
I also make a hobby out of entertaining my kids for cheap. I love to find free or cheap activities for the family. It's great fun to find a free concert, pack a lunch and take the kids and da. I make a game of finding the best, coolest, cheapest entertainment. Just a little internet searching and planning but it gives me something to do and something to look forward to and fills my scrapbooks with great pictures.
I love to read, crochet, sew & scrapbook.
I collected rocks and shells from the Mendocino coast. Whenever we went out, we "camped" in the back of my jeep (me and two small boys). Me and the boys have the best memories of CA (having just moved to Idaho). Also, reading. You can really get educated about your marriage and his problems. or use it purely as an escape. I know it sounds kooky, but romance novels can really take you away. Any type of novel, really.
Personally I enjoy sewing: home decorations and clothing. It makes me concentrate specifically on what I am trying to create since its so exacting.
Your other sentence worries me..verbally abusive marriage. I doubt any hobby will take your mind off of that. I live in Cali also and as you probably know there is a therapist on every corner. Maybe find one you like and talk to them? Gets you out of the house, gives you a place to vent, helps you evaluate the realistic options for change given your personal situation. If you are religious, lots of churches have groups meetings for marital issues and you may meet some women in your same situation who may be of support and encouragement to you. This may be much better for you than a hobby. Contact me privately if you wish. I am more than willing to lend you a supportive ear. As always, YMMV, but my thoughts and prayers are with you.
golf (where I live there is only one, and it's not very well taken care of) it's been about 2 years since I've been on the course, but I miss a lot.
I want to learn to sew and knit, and have my ow veggie garden.
Reading. I can read anything and everything. Historical romances to political thrillers to biographies.
I like to scrapbook only b/c I get to look at pictures of all the people I love and all the fun and memorable things we've done. But my scrapbooking is basically trimming a picture, slapping it on a scrapbook page, writing pertinent info on it, and maybe slapping a few stickers on the page. I don't do any of that fancy paper and artwork and embellishments unless its a extra special or memorable occassion.
I love to work in my flower garden. Its very therapeutic for me to dig my hands in the dirt, pick out leaves and fluff the mulch.
I workout too. I guess that's a hobby. I try to do an hour in the morning and an hour at night. I sleep better, that's for sure.
gl to you. Hope things get bettter once you find your interest.
I cross stitch a lot. I cook and bake, I occasionally crochet, I read a lot (and belong to a book club) and enjoy going to craft fairs and the theater. I also cross country ski but I don't imagine people do much of that in Cali.


The PNB Executive Committee has decided to schedule a public comment session on Friday, Nov. 16, at a time before most of the out-of-town Pacifica community will have arrived. In addition, this is in violation of the 30-day meeting-notice requirement, since the meeting had been announced as ONLY being Saturday and Sunday.
Therefore, we are asking you and your organization to act AS SOON AS POSSIBLE to email to all PNB members (list below) either the same or a similar resolution to the one below, adopted Monday night by the Concerned Friends of WBAI Coordinating Committee and later by the WBAI Local Advisory Board. We are cc'ing this email (minus this paragraph) to the members of the PNB majority.
In the meantime, we are maintaining the pressure on the illegal majority board members. Last Friday, over 300 angry people from the anti-corporate-globalization movement joined us in an anti-WTO Tour of Corporate Shame that included a stop at the offices of Epstein, Becker & Green, where a speech was made denouncing that firm's union-busting and HMO-defending tactics, as well as the destructive role of their attorney, PNB member John Murdock. Later today, we'll be joining the Pacifica Campaign in a day of nationally coordinated demonstrations in 10 cities outside Fannie Mae offices, to protest the harmful role played by one of their vice presidents, PNB Treasurer Wendell Johns. Let's keep up the pressure until these usurpers resign!
The Coordinating Committee of Concerned Friends of WBAI calls on the Pacifica National Board to cancel the general public comment session scheduled for Friday, November 16 and instead hold two such sessions, one during the afternoon of Saturday, November 17; the other on Sunday, November 18, the times during which these sessions have been held in the past. We ask that each speaker be given a minimum of three minutes. Further we insist that the status of WBAI be added to the PNB meeting agenda.
Note: Burt Lee does not have email. His fax no. is 202-244-1151.
1) That you not reschedule public comment for this weekend's board meeting for Friday night, when the original meeting was scheduled Saturday and Sunday, and many traveling to attend the meeting and make public comment will not have arrived by Friday. We request that you reserve public comment time for both Saturday and Sunday, as would be anticipated from the original announcement of meeting times. We remind you that the 30-day meeting requirement stipulated in the by-laws would make the rescheduling of public comment outside of the announced meeting time parameters illicit.
2) That the question of the status of WBAI be added to the agenda.
3) That the recent democratic election of an interim Local Advisory Board by KPFT listeners be also included in the Board Meeting's agenda, and that the legitimacy of this democratically elected and highly motivated Interim LAB be recognized by the PNB, in place of the management-appointed LAB which has held no public meetings for months, and whose membership has dwindled to almost nothing, notwithstanding the fact that one of its members, Teresa Allen, was arrested for trespassing by the management for trying to do her job of monitoring programming and station functioning. Elected members of the new Interim Board will be available in Washington to speak to this issue.
There is no way to peace at Pacifica that does not lead through the path of greater democracy and a voice for listeners and volunteers in vital matters. We thank you for any effort you make to further the progress of public participation in the functioning and deliberations of the PNB.
As you will recall, when we spoke the other night I suggested that it might be a good idea to not have the public comment section of the Board meeting on Friday evening. It seems pretty obvious to me that such sessions should be scheduled for time slots that maximize the participation of the public.
We have now received memos from Concerned Friends of WBAI (NYC), Houston Committee for People's Radio and at least ten additional emails from individuals addressing this same concern.
I again urge reconsideration of this matter. During our conversation you indicated that you would ask the chairs of the committees scheduled to meet on Saturday if they would open their sessions with public comments. Another option would be to set aside time for general comments from the public before the committee meetings get underway. Changing the schedule to make it as easy as possible for people who are traveling great distances to make their contribution should not be beyond our capabilities.


As many of you know Kentwood Companies now own www.denverrealestate.com, www.denverhomes.com, and www.homesindenver.com.
Kentwood is working diligently to get to the top of the big three search engines for each of those keywords "Denver real estate", "Denver homes", and Homes in Denver".
As it stands today if you go to www.google.com, www.bing.com, or www.yahoo.com, and type keyword "Denver real estate" in, we are position 1 and page 1 for each of the big 3 search engines. This is HUGE for our search engine optimization (SEO) efforts and referring traffic to the site to ultimately attain more web exposure for our property listings.
Once again, this is an example of Kentwood taking the lead through perseverance, a planned strategy and investment in what's obviously the buyer's path to involvement in the residential real estate market via the internet.
This entry was posted in Buying or Selling Real Estate, Denver, Denver Real Estate, Denver Residential Real Estate. Bookmark the permalink.


Bites from a beloved herptilian pet, while relatively infrequent, are always a possibility, so retailers and pet owners alike need to know how to both avoid and treat animal bites.
While various regulations may limit the sale of certain boas and pythons in the pet trade, there are some species that will meet consumer demand for big snakes.
Perhaps not the best choice for novices, chameleons can make for fascinating, charming pets for someone adept at tending to their specific husbandry needs.


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Iran in shock after 11-year-old boy commits suicide over poverty
Economy of Iran
News / Atrocities Human Rights Violation /
An 11-year-old Iranian schoolboy, Mohammad Mousavizadeh, has committed suicide by hanging from the kitchen of his family's rented, humble house in the southern city of Dayyer, Bushehr province, leaving the Iranian society in yet another state of disbelief.
The horrifying details were released by Mohammad's mother, Fatemeh, who earns a living for her three other kids — one of them disabled — and her ailing husband, through cleaning houses as well as small donations from relatives.
"He insisted to sleep in my arms the night before his death," the mother told Rokna News Agency, which closely monitors developments regarding Iran's social maladies. "I had no idea what he was up to the day after," which is when she "found him lying on the kitchen floor with his black and blue face" after he had hung himself. According to the mother, Mohammad was pushed to the edge of suicide after his dream about having a smartphone that he needed to join his online classes never came true.
As the Middle East's biggest coronavirus victim, Iran has transformed much of its regular curriculum into virtual courses, for which students need a reliable internet connection and such devices as tablets or smartphones.
"The principal had promised several times to provide him and two other kids with smartphones, but he never did," Mohammad's mother recounted. Officials at Mohammad's school, on the contrary, said they had already given him the device for free, declaring that they possessed evidence showing the kid had joined the online courses. Yet, the mother accused the school managers of "lying," saying Mohammad only had a broken phone, not a smart one. A note in grief written by Mohammad's teacher says the boy had repeatedly sent her messages indicating that his "broken phone" was incapable of sending or receiving images he needed for his homework.
"The school principal's denial would not change anything because there are numerous families who cannot afford a tablet or a smartphone for their children," wrote Reformist paper Aftab-e-Yazd. The shocking case also revealed how the Iranian government's ambitious plans for online learning contrasted with its poor infrastructure and its failure to cover all students nationwide with the basics during the pandemic. According to the spokesman for the Iranian parliament's Commission for Public Education, online classes remain inaccessible to as many as 3 million out of 14 million Iranian schoolchildren.
Mohammad's suicide even prompted the ultraconservative daily Javan to describe him as a "victim of educational discrimination." The case, the paper wrote, served as yet another indication of "the deep-rooted poverty" in the Iranian society, where the gap between the wealthy and the needy has been fast widening in recent years, due to a multitude of causes, most notably prevalent corruption.
The poverty-driven suicide by Mohammad was not an entire novelty. Last week, two other cases of suicides by hanging in impoverished areas were reported by local activists. In April, Zeinab, an 11-year-old girl from a village in underdeveloped Ilam province, similarly took her life as she was reportedly ashamed of her worn-out clothing, which her needy family could not afford to replace on the eve of the new Iranian year. She was even deprived from a proper grave in the public cemetery, according to the lawmaker representing her constituency in the Iranian parliament, and was laid to rest outside her home.
Nearly a month later and only 60 miles to the north, 12-year-old Armin, a garbage scavenger in the city of Kermanshah, ended his life, reportedly with a handful of pills. The incident occurred a few weeks after Armin's mother succumbed to cancer in a local hospital, where managers kept her body for several days as the family could not pay the bill.
"There was no food in their home, not even a plate or a spoon," said the manager of a local private charity whose effort to provide for some of Armin's bare essentials came to naught.
Source » al-monitor
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An International Space Station school contact has been planned for Scott Tingle KG5NZA with Freeport Public Schools, Freeport, NY, USA.
The event is scheduled on Tuesday 27 March 2018 at approximately 17.41 UTC.
The downlink should be audible in parts of Europe. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.800 MHz FM downlink.
Freeport Public Schools is located in the city of Freeport, about 25 miles east of New York City. The district is composed of 8 schools—one pre-K school, four elementary schools, one intermediate middle school, one middle school, and one high school. The total student enrollment is 7,400 and 90% of the students are Hispanic or African-American. Science is taught in all grades, and at the high school students enroll in Advanced Placement classes in physics (calculus and non-calculus based), chemistry, biology, and environmental science. We also have a research class in each of the grades 7-12 that is open to all students.
Our students have participated in the International Astronomical Search Campaign to confirm or discover asteroids that exist in the asteroid belt. We confirmed the discovery of two asteroids, received two plaques from NASA and then published a paper on our work in a leading physics educational journal. One of our teachers and his students travelled to California Institute of Technology to take part in NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program. One of the students who participated in this research program is now majoring in astrophysics.
1. Lesley (15): If an astronaut gets a bacterial infection, do antibiotics work in space as they do on Earth?
3. Sarah (12): How has your perspective about the Earth changed as a result of your trip to the Space Station?
4. Jonavan (10): What are the duties of a typical astronaut on his/her first day in space?
5. Johan (10): Does the immune system become impaired after a prolonged stay in space?
6. Gabriela (10): What does it look like from space when seasons are changing?
7. Ava (10): How does age effect how the body reacts in space?
8. Giovanni (12): What are the uses of the robotic arm?
9. Brenna (14): You plan to do one or more spacewalks in your trip aboard the ISS. Could you describe the biggest challenge you face in such missions?
10. Adisa (16): How often and how does ISS adjust its trajectory to maintain a constant orbit?
11. Lesley (15): If astronauts leave the Earth at around 17,000 mph why does it take so long to reach the ISS located approximately 250 miles above the Earth?
12. Jayden (13): I know you like fluid mechanics. Could you describe the fluid mechanics experiments you are involved in?
13. Sarah (12): Has the ISS National Laboratory found any possible organisms that can survive the harsh conditions of space for a prolonged period of time?
14. Jonavan (10): What would happen if you got sick in space?
15. Johan (10): You will be doing a number of experiments aboard the ISS. Could you describe one that interests you the most?
16. Gabriela (10): How can we help pets to survive in outer space for longer periods of time?
17. Ava (10): What are the effects of blood rushing to astronauts' heads in a microgravity environment?
18. Giovanni (12): You were one of the first responders in the September 2001 terrorist attacks. Could you describe your role?
19. Brenna (14): Knowing there is debris in space can you describe briefly how ISS detects objects moving toward the station?
20. Adisa (16): Due to varying laws governing research in various countries, does each country work solely on their own project or are projects codependent?
The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org, www.ariss-eu.organd https://www.amsat-on.be/hamtv-summary/.