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Home » Parliamentary Activity » Health – COVID-19
Health – COVID-19
Rosalie Woodruff MP - Monday, 23 November 2020
Tags: COVID-19, Health
Dr WOODRUFF - Minister, I want to shift the questioning to talk about our COVID 19 response . COVID-19 has been hugely disruptive everywhere in the world and in Tasmania. Despite our having responded and weathered the situation well, there is still an outstanding level of risk - especially now our borders have opened and we are more exposed than we have been previously. Our understanding is the hotel quarantine that would be used for repatriation flights or mercy flights would use state and federal government employees such as police and defence force staff for security, rather than private security companies. Can you confirm that is true, and tell me whether there will be any staff at the repatriation hotel quarantine facilities who are contracted or employed by private companies? If that is the case, what plans are there to make sure that the risk to the community is minimised?
Ms COURTNEY - Thank you for that important question. We know we have many Australians who are overseas and who want to be able to return home. As a country, it is important for us to ensure we are looking at ways to bring Australians back home. I believe there is a broad community support for this, because people find themselves in very trying circumstances. We also know there is a risk associated with it. We have seen that in other states. A large body of work has been undertaken through federal mechanisms to look at best practice to make sure we are doing things safely.
The quarantine hotels for international visitors are managed through the State Control Centre - SCC. They are managed by Communities Tasmania, and questions about staffing and security are better directed to the appropriate minister. Health provides advice and support about interacting with these quarantine hotels. A lot of work has already been done through Public Health as well as through the THS, to have the right models. We have also engaged with the federal government to ensure we have the right model and the resourcing to support that model. I am happy to ask the department to talk more broadly about what Health is doing, noting there are still further steps required . However, procurement of security is not a matter for the Department of Health. The secretary will provide more information about that.
Ms MORGAN-WICKS - Through the minister, the Department of Health is responsible for the clinical model of care provided for hotel quarantine and particularly in relation to the pending international or mercy flight arrivals. The clinical model of care is currently being discussed with the Commonwealth Department of Health. The Commonwealth Department of Health has an overarching role in supervision, assistance and support to the states and territories regarding the clinical model of care implemented for hotel quarantine and what happens if a guest develops COVID-19, or has any other medical condition while in quarantine in a state Government-provided facility. If the Chair is in agreement, I will ask Dr Tony Lawler to speak to the development of our clinical model of care.
PROF LAWLER - Thank you. As you highlighted, we have a quarantine system in place because we recognise there is a risk. From the beginning of the pandemic we have managed hotel quarantine in conjunction with Communities Tasmania in all aspects, including providing advice on infection prevention control, providing advice on utilisation of PPE and also the management of guests, or residents, as they become patients. We have had instances where we have had to transfer individuals from quarantine hotel to hospital and that has been undertaken in line with strict Ambulance Tasmania protocols and has been tested and shown to be effective. As we move towards the next stage, which is the acceptance of international arrivals, both through repatriation of Australian citizens and through the seasonal worker scheme, we are working closely with the Commonwealth Government, around their advice and also their requirements for supporting this work.
The clinical model of care has been developed, through discussion with infectious disease infection prevention control expertise and also with the leadership of relevant clinical staff within the Royal Hobart Hospital. The international arrivals will be in the south and it hinges on a number of things, including the separate cohorting of Pacific Labour Scheme versus repatriated Australian citizens, and also the appropriate separation and cohorting of any of those who are identified as COVID-19-positive or diagnosed as COVID-19-positive.
There are close linkages with the Royal Hobart Hospital to provide care for those who have medical need, whether it is through their COVID -19 infection or recognising that those coming under the seasonal worker scheme - and also those who have spent an amount of time outside Australia - will likely have significant comorbidities. It needs to be close to and closely linked operationally with the Royal Hobart Hospital. As the secretary highlighted, various issues around how care within the quarantine hotels can be escalated, and what are the appropriate mechanisms of infection prevention control or education are all being worked out. We expect them to be resolved pretty soon.
Dr WOODRUFF - Thank you. Minister, you'd be aware that the South Australian and Victorian outbreaks were linked to quarantine breakdowns. They were also linked to casualised workforces which have increased in the community, as people working in sensitive facilities like security are also forced to work elsewhere to make ends meet. Would you consider, as the Minister for Health, accepting that Communities Tasmania has overarching responsibility for managing security, but would you also accept the risk is there, with a casualised workforce? Would you move to make an arrangement where, if someone such as a cleaner or someone else working on the site has a second job, you would compensate that person so they did not work in the second job and stayed committed to working in hotel quarantine to minimise risk to the community?
Ms COURTNEY - Thank you for the question. We have learned from other jurisdictions about the management of hotels and management of the workforce. I am afraid I cannot comment on a portfolio I do not manage. I suggest you take those questions to the relevant portfolio minister for the Department of Communities. Employment structures for quarantine hotels for overseas arrivals or even the ones we have stood up for interstate people coming from medium risk zones and requiring quarantining in a hotel are best directed to the minister responsible.
Dr WOODRUFF - I was talking about the health risk. Do you accept the health risk of the casualised workforce and as Health minister, are you going to make sure the health risk is clearly identified to the responsible department and that that is plugged. The casualisation of the workforce is a health risk, which has been identified in two states, and was the reason for two major outbreaks and for Victoria going into a second lockdown. So, as Minister for Health, are you going to consider recommendations unplugging that risk?
Ms COURTNEY - As the Health minister, when we are looking at standing up mechanisms for international arrivals to potentially land here in Tasmania and quarantine for a period of time, I want to ensure we have the most appropriate standards across all parts of the care. Some areas my department is not responsible for; however, I am confident that other departments seek advice from Public Health.
I also know that a lot of work has been done federally; indeed, we have the Halton review which we participated in. We welcomed the visit to Tasmania to go through not just the health part of our preparedness and our response, but also through different areas. Through the work Jane Halton has done, has come a number of learnings. We have also seen that in jurisdictions and preliminary findings are coming out of the work in Victoria as well, so all of these things are being incorporated and learned from.
I am not going to comment on the model that Communities has stood up. What I can comment on is that from a Health perspective, we are ensuring that our systems are as robust as possible and I am confident that other parts of government that I am not responsible for will be taking on board all the learnings from the various reviews that have been done.
Dr WOODRUFF - Minister, through you possibly, to the Director of Public Health. I am interested to understand where our state stands, given - I think the Premier said earlier last week - 11 000 people have travelled to Tasmania only in a couple of weeks, now that our borders are opened. There is a huge number of people moving between states and the potential for movement of the virus, which is still active in a number of states. Could you please outline to us where we are in Tasmania with PPE; the resources in hospitals for staff to be able to deal with tourists and the possibility of an outbreak; and for the real prospect of repatriated Tasmanians returning here, many of whom I understand may be sick, which is why they are desperate to come back to Australia and may come to hospital, and potentially will be at higher risk than other people?
Ms COURTNEY - I will be very pleased to answer that. A number of questions are contained there, Dr Woodruff. While I respond to other parts of your question, I will ask the secretary to provide a detailed update on PPE. She can do that towards the end.
Loosening the restrictions on our borders has been undertaken the entire time on the advice by Public Health. The ultimate decision is enacted through the State Controller. I will have Dr Veitch talk to the risk profile.
We have done a lot of work at our borders to ensure that we have the right processes. Indeed, before people even come to Tasmania we have a risk base standing for different jurisdictions: low, medium, high. That is based on the advice of Public Health. The circumstances and the rules around when people come to Tasmania are different, depending on the different levels. The coronavirus.tas.gov.au website has a lot of detail for people before they come and, depending on the risk level of the jurisdiction, how they need to engage with either the Tassie travel app or the Good2Go app. The website provides advice provided on how that can happen.
Everyone who arrives in Tasmania receives a health screening and DPIPWE have done a really good job in standing up those processes through Biosecurity, with Public Health advice.
Regarding the travel we are seeing between jurisdictions, we have done that in a way that is safe and based on the circumstances of those jurisdictions. As we've seen in the last week and a half with South Australia, when those circumstances and the risk level is changing in jurisdictions I will act very swiftly - not only on travellers who are due to arrive, but indeed people who are already here in Tasmania. It is something we keep abreast of and the Director of Public Health also does through his regular contact with his AHPPC colleagues.
You also asked about people returning who might be unwell. As part of the planning for the quarantine hotels for international arrivals, I outlined earlier today that the management of those sits within Communities Tasmania. However, if people need to interact with our health system we need to have robust protocols in place, because of the risk. Earlier, Dr Lawler outlined some of those protocols around transport. There is a range of other protocols to ensure high risk patients who might need care are cared for in an appropriate way. I'm sure Dr Lawler can expand on that.
Given the breadth of your question, I will ask Dr Veitch to talk about the risk from travellers and jurisdictions, and then I will get the secretary to run through the PPE component as well.
Dr VEITCH - Thank you, minister. The minister has covered it in broad detail. She has mentioned we have a risk framework for assessing risk that a person coming from another state may pose to the Australian population, should they come here. It's a very conservative risk framework. It really admits very little risk at all. It is principally based on the number of unexplained cases that have occurred in a jurisdiction in the last 28 days. What we have said as our starting point is that if fewer than five unexplained cases have occurred in a jurisdiction in the last 28 days, then that is low risk. In fact, most of the places we've been dealing with have had none, one or two cases of unexplained infection in the last 28 days. We're dealing with risk at the bottom end of low risk.
We have higher risk categories - a medium risk category which talks of having between five and nine unexplained cases in the jurisdiction in the last 28 days; and a high-risk category where there have been 10 or more cases of unexplained transmission in the last 28 days. Once you get to that 10 or more cases of unexplained transmission in the last 28 days, you are dealing with quite widespread transmission to have that many unexplained or mystery cases in your jurisdiction in the last month.
That is just a starting point. We have to bring a lot of other considerations into play, and in some circumstances the other considerations may be even more important than that raw number. That situation played out last week. The other considerations are not so much the unexplained cases but the explained cases; even cases that are occurring that are linked to each other, we don't want ignore them. They propose a risk also. We take them into account. We look at the trend of the cases. We look at the control efforts in place in the jurisdiction. We look at the testing that has been done in the jurisdiction.
To give you an idea of our thinking about South Australia last week, we knew as the week passed that they had between about 15 and up to just over 20 cases, all very tightly linked to each other. South Australia was in a situation where there were no mystery cases. We all knew where they had all come from, but what we didn't know is whether the places these people had been to when they were infectious could have posed a greater risk. In this case we look beyond that simple one-dimensional metric and say there could be a risk here from South Australia, despite there being no unexplained cases. That was the reason to our approach to requiring quarantine for people from South Australia.
It is a multi-dimensional risk assessment strategy. It is not tied into a hard and fast metric. It also uses some other quantitative and qualitative considerations, and that is how we determine what category we will put a state into. Once we have done that, we look to - in the case of high risk - having the highest level of requirement, which is mandatory hotel quarantine. In the medium risk category, we will typically have people either going into home quarantine or hotel quarantine if they don't have the option of an acceptable place at home. In the low risk category we don't require people to be quarantined but to behave the way that everyone in Tasmania does - get tested when you get sick - so we don't have a high level of requirement.
As we move through this pandemic we are looking to whether we can be a bit more targeted, so we can look at a local government area or even attendance at a particular setting as being the trigger for requiring quarantine. It is quite difficult to confidently confine risk sometimes to those smaller settings.
CHAIR - Let the secretary answer the PPE section and then we will come to Labor.
Ms MORGAN-WICKS - With global demand for PPE at unprecedented levels during the pandemic it has been a key priority area for the Health Emergency Coordination Centre. We have established the PPE State Emergency Medical Stockpile, which is a separate stockpile from usual PPE stocks that we maintain for the THS. It has targets of at least six months of supply, based on our peak COVID-19 PPE usage which we measured and modelled off the north west outbreak PPE usage. As at 16 November 2020 the Department of Health held the following PPE in stock - •
surgical masks - 8.24 million; that is beyond our target in terms of the SEMS; •
gowns - 2.07 million; and we have an additional 14 500 on order above normal supply; •
eye protection and goggles - 1.28 million; •
gloves - 21.41 million; with another 2 million on order above normal supply; •
hand sanitiser - 66 106 litres; •
face shields 168 069; and probably most importantly - •
our P2 or N95 respirators. Those have probably been the most talked about item of PPE throughout the pandemic. We currently hold 427 995 respirators, which is close to 80 per cent of our SEMS target. Our initial target was to reach 544 000. We have 3.33 million on order above normal supply.
I will explain, because they are large numbers they are trying to work out in terms of the modelling. By the end of November, we are predicting we will hold 243 days' worth of N95 respirators. That was based on our existing peak COVID-19 demand. By the end of May, we should reach a total of 3.356 million. This takes into account usage that is estimated during that time, which would then mean we have had 1240 days' worth of N95 supply. We are getting regular drops of the N95 respirators, each month.
Dr WOODRUFF - When is that going to be?
Ms MORGAN-WICKS - We are getting regular drops through each month, so we have estimated drops for November, December, January through to May 2021. However, for example, if you wanted to look at close to a years' worth of supply, that will be by the end of January. That is over and above our current THS normal stock.
Dr WOODRUFF - Sounds comfortable.
Dr WOODRUFF - Minister, the report released in April, on the cluster in the North West Hospital, recommends considering the underlying drivers of staff presenting to work while they are unwell with respiratory illnesses and implementing strategies to minimise that. It also recommended reducing the movement of staff between facilities.
The Royal Flying Doctors Association of Tasmania provided a submission to that inquiry. They raised concerns that staff movement between facilities contributed to the outbreak and was partly caused by 'low paid casual carers who have little option but to work across multiple sites'. They were also concerned about sick leave.
Does your recommendation include reviewing staffing and pay structures to make sure that workers are given a reasonable rate of pay and sick leave ,so they can take time off when needed?
Ms COURTNEY - Thank you for that question. All 17 recommendations of the report you refer to, the North West Interim Report, are now complete. Work continues in the department, to ensure those completed recommendations are embedded. They were important recommendations, and ensuring that they could be used across a system is critical.
With regard to staffing, we have provided, through the THS, mechanisms to support staff to be able to take leave. One of the most important learnings from the North West, is ensuring that staff felt supported to not turn up to work when they are unwell, so they can be tested.
We have mechanisms for our testing clinics to identify healthcare workers, so we can prioritise those tests to get them back as quickly as possible.
I will get the secretary to outline the leave issue, and how the mechanisms worked earlier in the year, and also the mechanisms we now have for staff to access leave.
It is important to ensure that presenteeism does not impact our system with regards to COVID 19, and it is something we take very seriously.
I do commend the health workers I have spoken to. Everyone is taking this very seriously. I know people are very aware of their symptoms. I think the whole community has a much higher level of awareness around the importance of being well, and not assuming that something is hay fever, for example. I will ask the secretary to speak about the leave provided to staff so they can comply with that.
Dr WOODRUFF - Casualisation versus contract - which would solve the problem?
Ms MORGAN-WICKS - Through the minister, I ask the CMO to discuss presenteeism. He made recommendations in the interim report about presenteeism and can advise on what the Tasmania Health Service Emergency Operation Centre - THS EOC - has actually done with health screening to try to stop staff at the front door should they still be presenting with symptoms of COVID 19.
Prof. LAWLER - The issue of presenteeism is challenging. Individuals are driven in some instances to attend work with symptoms, but there are also other instances where, with the best will in the world, the individuals don't recognise their symptoms are actually presenting risk to others.
We have instituted and consistently apply screening tools in our hospitals through THS EOC, an emergency operations centre that sits under the ECC, which I have the pleasure of chairing.
We have a visitor and staff screening tool that is applied consistently when individuals attend the hospital. It is presented in some places, particularly for visitors, as a paper tool, but for staff as an app. There is the capacity to scan a QR code on arrival, fill in some questions around recent travel, contact with individuals who have been unwell, are you yourself unwell, or are you awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test, and those issues are then flagged with a screening individual who is also there to answer questions.
That has enabled us to have comfort that we are screening both staff and visitors for symptoms It encourages them not only to consider and reflect on whether they should be attending work, but also to have a more vigilant approach to those they have been in contact with, or in fact whether they have had symptoms themselves.
It is a method of screening to provide a mental cue as well as a process lock for individuals turning up with symptoms to the workplace.
Dr WOODRUFF - Well, minister, could I ask a follow-up to that?
Ms COURTNEY - I will ask the secretary to complete that answer.
Ms MORGAN-WICKS - In relation to leave, I looked at our sick leave rates again and they are actually declining. We have a COVID-19 special leave provision, which has been available to staff if they need to get a COVID-19 test, and while they are await the test results.
Staff in the north-west outbreak who were required quarantine were paid all the standard normal time as per their contractual arrangements.
Dr WOODRUFF - Minister, the question our rural doctors raised, though, is about casualisation. What Professor Lawler has described is a perfect model, but it can fall down in the real world, where people may be disinclined to be entirely as honest as they might need to be if they need to take the shift simply in order to pay their rent.
This comes from a casualised workforce. Rural doctors proposed transitioning away from that, particularly in the regional hospitals. Is there a consideration of moving away from casualisation of this important workforce?
Ms COURTNEY - We have made lots of steps in recent years, and indeed through this Budget, to ensure we are recruiting more permanent staff across our entire system.
I note this is not only an issue across THS; it is also across private hospitals, in aged care, and other vulnerable settings.
It's something we continue to look at. I'll speak to one example and then perhaps Kath, the secretary, might expand. Through our different escalation protocols, and our different facilities, we have mechanisms in place to ensure we only have staff working in specific areas as a facility escalates.
There'll be mechanisms from the escalations protocols that are right for that location, to ensure we're doing everything we can to prevent infection and the spread of COVID-19. In some facilities I've seen, when things have escalated, staff are working in one department rather than across two departments as they may usually have done.
The annual report shows there has been an increase of more than 600 permanent FTEs across our Health services. We are making significant inroads. We need to ensure our system has robust protocols, as outlined by Professor Lawler, to ensure we minimise the risk wherever we can.
Dr WOODRUFF - That is a commitment to continue that then, is it?
Ms COURTNEY - We've clearly demonstrated that this year.
Ms O'BYRNE - I am absolutely here for the call. I think we're comfortable with Dr Veitch though unless you have further questions. I'm not sure if Rosalie has more questions.
My question goes to the nature of the budgets -
Ms COURTNEY - Is that the committee's decision?
Dr WOODRUFF - I have a lot of other questions. I have things that I want to ask of Dr Veitch but there simply isn't time, given the other questions.
Ms COURTNEY - That's fine, Dr Veitch is here for the next period of time. It was a consensus that he wasn't needed again but, no, that's fine.
Dr VEITCH - I'm here, I'm not running away.
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The United States Animal Health Association (USAHA) and the National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA) are hosting their second Equine Forum, January 17-18, 2017 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Denver, Colorado. This Forum entitled Advancing ID, Technology & Electronic Health Records will bring equine industry leaders together to discuss all aspects of equine identification and to identify solutions to protect the future of the equine industry in the U.S.
The forum will include presentations by subject matter experts and smaller group discussions on focused topics. The discussion groups will focus on industry challenges related to equine identification and traceability, as well as how to enhance communication and collaboration industry-wide at the local, state and national levels. Industry's input is critical for successful implementation of an equine identification and traceability system.
The goals of the Forum are to establish consensus on the parameters of a national equine identification program, to provide recommendations for advancing equine identification technologies and electronic data capture methodologies, and to form an industry stakeholder group to develop a national equine identification and traceability plan. Advancing equine identification and traceability is essential for protecting the future health of the equine industry.


Located in Gulf County, Florida, the Port of Port St. Joe offers a deepwater seaport featuring a bulkhead nearly 1,900 linear feet at the ship channel turning basin. The port is well-suited for bulk and cargo shipments, offering access to rail, the U.S. Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, and state and U.S. highways.
One of the port's greatest assets is the approximately 213 acres of combined ready-to-be-leased lands adjacent to the bulkheads and thousands of acres of land in the Port environs available for immediate development. Businesses wishing to establish facilities have plenty of room to build and expand.
The mission of the Port St. Joe Port Authority is to enhance the economic vitality and quality of life in the Gulf County and Port St. Joe area and the Northwest Florida region by fostering the growth of domestic and foreign commerce, thereby providing jobs and economic opportunity to the region and the State of Florida.


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Death notices, April 28
Richard Auzenne Sr.
HEMET – Funeral services for Richard Joseph Auzenne Sr., 84, will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church.
Auzenne, a native of Frillot Cove, died Monday.
Miller Jones Mortuary of Hemet is in charge of arrangements.
Martha Begnaud Bernard
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Wenesday at 1 p.m. for Martha Bernard, 82, in Evangeline Memorial Gardens Chapel in Carencro, with internment at Evangeline Memorial Gardens in Carencro.
Bernard died Sunday at Lafayette General Medical Center.
A rosary will be prayed at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the funeral home. Visiting hours be observed from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday and will continue from 9 a.m. until service time on Wednesday.
Melancon Funeral Home, Evangeline Memorial Gardens Chapel of Carencro is in charge of arrangements.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The comments were made Monday in Baton Rouge at the Republican Governor's Association round table that included GOP candidates for Governor, businessman Eddie Rispone and Congressman Ralph Abraham.
Abbott targeted the Edwards' decision to reform a tax break known as the Industrial Tax Exemption, as an example of policies that have companies fleeing west out of the Bayou State.
Edwards Campaign spokesperson Eric Holl hit back, noting the Republican Governor Association's past support for former Governor Bobby Jindal.


If you haven't jumped on the Sinemia train yet, the holiday season is a good time to sign up or give a gift to a friend. That's because the movie subscription service currently has their plans running at approximately a 20% discount. So be thankful for the holidays (and celebrate the holiday blockbusters).
For example, their most popular subscription is their Class 3 Movie Per Month plan. The retail price of the plan is $32.99 (which no one has paid in months) is actually, usually $9.95. You can now get the plan for $8.99!
With their holiday season promotion of $8.99 for three movies a month includes the ability to choose any theater, buy advanced tickets, no initiation fee and no black out dates. In ordered to get the deal, you have choose to bill annually vs. the monthly option. Jump on the plan today and double dip with $10 off using this Sinemia promo code.


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Depreciation Breaks Have Saved 20 Major Corporations $26.5 Billion Over Past Two Years
Matthew Gardner
Steve Wamhoff
Federal Policy Director
Read as PDF
The Trump administration and its congressional allies have proposed making permanent the expensing provision in the Trump-GOP tax law. Expensing is the most extreme form of accelerated depreciation, which allows businesses to deduct the cost of purchasing equipment more quickly than it wears out. But expensing and other types of accelerated depreciation already account for a very large share of corporate tax breaks and allows many companies to pay nothing at all.
The table below provides examples of 20 major corporations that together received $26.5 billion in tax breaks for accelerated depreciation in 2018 through 2019. The data are from 10-K reports that publicly traded corporations file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to make information available to the public and to investors.
As a group, these companies paid an average effective federal corporate income tax rate of just 6.7 percent over this two-year period, which is less than a third of the statutory corporate income tax rate of 21 percent.
Depreciation breaks accounted for 52 percent of their total income tax breaks during these two years.
Proponents of the expensing provision claim that making it permanent will help counter the current economic downturn.[1] But the tax break is already fully in effect through 2022. Making it permanent probably will not result in new investment. Even if it did, it would have no effect until years after 2022. This is clearly about securing a permanent tax break for business, not addressing the current economic crisis.
The nation's tax system is built on the simple principle of taxing income. In the case of a business, income is any increase in a company's net worth. When a business buys equipment to manufacture a product, that purchase does not immediately change the company's net worth. For example, the purchase of a $5 million machine is just an exchange of $5 million in cash for a machine that is worth $5 million.
But over time the machine wears out, which reduces the net worth of the company, and offsets some of the income created by the machine and other assets (and labor) of the company. For this reason, the cost of such a purchase is deducted over time under permanent tax rules.
Accelerated depreciation, however, allows these deductions to be taken more quickly than is justified economically. The permanent tax rules allow some accelerated depreciation. On top of that, for most years since 2002, Congress has provided "bonus" depreciation, which is even more accelerated.
The Trump tax law goes even further, allowing expensing, meaning it allows deductions for the full cost of such business purchases in the year they are made, through 2022. After 2022, the Trump tax law gradually phases out this treatment and reverts to the permanent depreciation rules in 2027.
An ITEP report argues that Congress should reverse course and repeal not just the full expensing provision but even some of the permanent accelerated depreciation breaks in the tax code.[2]
Accelerated depreciation encourages wasteful tax shelters and drains enormous amounts of revenue from the Treasury. The expensing provision is mostly irrelevant to small businesses, which effectively receive that treatment under section 179, a permanent provision of the tax code.
It is not clear that accelerated depreciation really increases investment in the long run. Some companies may expedite planned investments to take advantage of tax breaks before they expire, but they are not likely to be doing anything they would not have done in the absence of tax breaks.
For all these reasons, making expensing permanent is not likely to help our economy.
20 Examples of Corporations Benefiting from Accelerated Depreciation
Table 1 provides each corporation's tax breaks resulting from accelerated depreciation, meaning taxes saved by claiming depreciation deductions earlier than allowed under the permanent tax rules, in 2018 and 2019. (In this sense the table could understate accelerated depreciation because it does not account for ways in which the permanent rules themselves allow accelerated depreciation.)
The corporations on the list with the largest accelerated depreciation tax breaks in dollar terms are Amazon and Verizon, followed by Walt Disney and Williams Companies, an energy company. As explained, the 20 corporations saved $26.5 billion from 2018 through 2019 due to accelerated depreciation.
These companies made investments of some sort to qualify for depreciation breaks, and in some cases these companies have increased investments after the passage of the Trump tax law. But after several years of recovery from the last recession, companies may have simply accelerated long-planned investments to take advantage of the expensing provision before it expires. There is, therefore, no evidence that the law has resulted in a permanent increase in investment.
Table 1 also provides each corporation's "current" federal income tax. The tax reported by publicly traded corporations on the 10-K filed with the SEC reports their "current" tax, which is the tax they actually pay in a given year, and tax that is "deferred" due to accelerated depreciation or other provisions, meaning tax that will be paid at some point in the future. Corporate spokespersons sometimes claim their employers pay an effective tax rate that is the sum of current and deferred taxes. Thinking of effective tax rates as including both current and deferred taxes might make sense for accounting purposes, but anyone who wants to simply understand what a corporation paid in a given year should look to the current tax reported by the company.
The table then provides the federal income tax breaks for each company, meaning the difference between their effective income tax rate and the statutory income tax rate of 21 percent. The table shows that depreciation breaks made up 100 percent of the total tax breaks for several corporations, including FedEx, Intel, Marathon Oil, Pioneer Natural Resources, United Continental Holdings, UPS and William Companies.
As already explained, accelerated deprecation accounted for 52 percent of the total federal corporate income tax breaks the 20 companies enjoyed as a group from 2018 through 2019.
Several corporations on the list had a negative effective income tax rate over the two-year period, meaning they received refunds from the IRS rather than paying income taxes. But in some cases, accelerated depreciation accounted for only part of their tax breaks. For example, Delta Airlines had an effective income tax rate of negative 2.5 percent from 2018 through 2019, and 51 percent of its tax breaks were the result of accelerated depreciation.
The expensing provision is in effect through 2022, so making it permanent would change nothing at all until 2023. At that point it would simply continue to be a type of tax avoidance demonstrated by these 20 companies.
[1] Alan Ota, "Rep. Neal Open To GOP Bix Expensing Plan For COVID-19 Bill," Law 360, April 24, 2020. https://www.law360.com/articles/1267310/rep-neal-open-to-gop-biz-expensing-plan-for-covid-19-bill
[2] Steve Wamhoff and Richard Phillips, "The Failure of Expensing and Other Depreciation Tax Breaks," Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, November 19, 2020. https://itep.org/the-failure-of-expensing-and-other-depreciation-tax-breaks/
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Good News! Audi And Porsche To Enter Formula 1
by Sebastian Cenizo Formula One / 18 Comments
And they'll be backing McLaren and Red Bull.
There has been much talk in the news of late concerning embattled McLaren's potential takeover by another automaker. Last year, rumors of Audi buying McLaren turned out to be false, or at least that's what the people in Woking claimed. But barely three days later, fresh rumors on the matter surfaced. At the same time that this has been going on, there have been reports that Audi and another VW-owned brand, Porsche, would be keen on entering Formula 1 thanks to rule changes for 2026.
The latest news is that the two stories are actually becoming one, with the UK's Car Magazine reporting that new F1 entries are all but confirmed and that McLaren could be the catalyst.
McLaren/Facebook
Formula 1/YouTube
The report claims that the Volkswagen supervisory board's approval is all that's standing in the way of Audi and Porsche joining the sport, with Audi said to be interested in taking over McLaren assets, including its motorsport division and automotive arm. The report further continues that the diligence phase has not yet begun but that lawyers on both sides are in talks. One of the main stakeholders at McLaren, Mumtalakat Holding Company, is apparently willing to sell the cash-strapped automaker.
This would put the Volkswagen Group in an amazing situation, as development costs on engines, electrification solutions, chassis designs, and more could all be shared across Lamborghini, Porsche, and McLaren. Each of these already uses a 3.8- or 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 for many mainstream products, so combining ideas to create one ubiquitous powertrain wouldn't be difficult and would be valuable. Don't hold out hope for a rear-engine McLaren 720S or a mid-engine Porsche 911 though.
So how would F1 fit into the plans? It seems that Audi and Porsche will join the sport as powertrain suppliers, with Audi powering McLaren and Porsche said to be working on an arrangement with Red Bull Racing, likely to commence after the latter's consultancy with now-retired engine supplier Honda comes to an end.
If these partnerships fall through, Car reports that Audi would then work with Williams, and Porsche could turn to Alpha Tauri or Haas. As for the engine that these two would supply, VW's brands were hoping for a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, but the FIA has instead opted to run a 1.6-liter V6 turbo engine in 2026, as this was a precondition for Ferrari - one of the biggest draws in any form of motorsport - to remain in F1. Still, Audi Sport and Porsche Motorsport will work together on the new drivetrain.
Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
Audi and Porsche are expected to collaborate on their future R&D of the engine but would provide unique setups and visual identities. Audi is said to be bidding for McLaren Cars and its F1 unit in a deal said to be worth around £1 billion (over $1.3 billion). The potential acquisition of McLaren's F1 know-how would be expensive but valuable, as Mercedes says that its F1 team generates an annual media value of around $1.5 billion. As for McLaren Automotive, acquiring this road car arm would block a rival like BMW from taking over instead.
In case you're unfamiliar, BMW has shown interest in McLaren in the past, reportedly having talks with McLaren investors in early December. BMW returning to F1 would be great for its own marketing too, and would add substance to its claims of offering outstanding driving machines.
Jeroen Claus
F1 TV/YouTube
At the time of writing, nothing appears to have come of BMW's talks, but you can understand why the Munich-based manufacturer would be interested in a company like McLaren. For a start, it already has a link to the brand thanks to its supply of the marvelous V12 that saw the McLaren F1 become the world's fastest car in the 1990s. That could be used to build upon, and BMW could finally have the means and motivation to develop its own supercar once more. A modern-day BMW M1 with McLaren DNA could be truly fantastic and a much better halo car than the hideous BMW XM.
At this point, it's too soon to guarantee an Audi takeover of McLaren and it's too soon to discount BMW from buying it either. But one way or another, it seems that Audi and Porsche will definitely be enjoying the world's most-watched form of motorsport in 2026.
Source Credits: Car Magazine
Tags: #McLaren News #Formula One #Industry News #Rumor #Sports Cars #Supercars
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The Peoples of the World Foundation
Education for and about Indigenous Peoples
Central America Travel Narrative Story: Skirting Panama's Ngäbe-Bugle Comarca
Story and photography by Ray Waddington.
Click/tap an image to begin a captioned slideshow (best viewed on a modern, wide-gamut display) and, where available, stock licensing information.
Panama has a handful of comarcas — partially autonomous regions established in areas where its indigenous people have traditionally lived. In the west of the country the Ngäbe-Bugle comarca was established in 1997 as the region for the Ngäbe and Bugle peoples, who, combined, form the largest indigenous population of the country. Around 150,000 of them live there.
Researching a future assignment, I recently spent time inside the comarca. But given how inaccessible it is (unless you speak one or both languages, have a local guide and can hike for hours or have a horse), I also spent a lot of time on its outskirts.
I was staying in Santa Fe, Veraguas Province, a small town that is slowly becoming a tourism center. A twice-daily local bus, that few people ride, heads west for about twenty kilometers until it reaches the tiny hamlet of Guabal and can go no further because the road ends — or at least it did when I was there. Today it is being furthered and will, in a few years, cut through the comarca to reach Panama's north coast.
There's little to do in Guabal except marvel at the scenery, chill out to the laid-back pace of life and climb to the top of the hill to view the wilderness that is the eastern part of the comarca. Walking away from the center I was surprised to find a mission. The Centro Misionero Santa Laura Montoya ministers to the Ngäbe and Bugle as well as providing shelter to those who leave the comarca temporarily to interact with mainstream society. Most of Panama's indigenous people have already been converted to Catholicism.
A few days later I based myself in Las Lajas, Chiriquí Province. There had just been a major hurricane in eastern Central America. Even though a paved road goes into the comarca, the conditions were so bad that I couldn't find a guide or a taxi willing to take me there. Providence intervened in the form of my guesthouse owner's friend who had a 4x4. I spent what would be my only day inside the comarca under intermittent rain.
In the first village we visited there was a festival underway. I never got a clear answer on what was being celebrated. Answers ranged from a mass school graduation ceremony to an independence day parade. But it must have been important because there was a huge procession of marching bands with so many school-aged children that some must have come to the village from outlying communities. They seemed oblivious to the rain.
Not so long ago the scene would have been different in this and many other villages in this part of the comarca. Much further in than I was — but accessed by the same road — lies the Cerro Colorado copper mine. Although the indigenous inhabitants control, in theory, the exploitation of resources within the comarca, they have not benefited from this mine. Despite promises from different Panamanian administrations, the economic benefit has gone to the government and foreign investors while the legacy of pollution has remained within the comarca. The situation led to violence, even fatalities, a few years ago as the Ngäbe and Bugle mobilized in a series of protests. The situation is still not resolved.
But on this day the villagers had put that issue aside. As band after band of schoolchildren marched along the road, each was cheered by the adults who outnumbered them. Most people in this and all Ngäbe and Bugle communities live a simple life based mainly on farming. They are mostly economically poor compared to mainstream Panama, yet they displayed an unmistakable pride that day in their ability to put on such a spectacle.
This was far from a typical day in this village or any other. I did not know that this event was taking place when I decided to try to visit the comarca that day. I often seem to be luckier than many at stumbling across such events by chance. Yet I got a sense that the community bonding I was observing and the pride in their people's heritage that was on display were not uncommon to these people.
Daily life is, of course, much different. For most of the children it revolves around school — although many do not progress all the way to graduating high school. But once school is out, as well as on weekends, most of these same children will be seen helping their family by working on the land or, if older, looking after younger siblings or cousins while the adults go about making a living. The road supports year-round travel when reliable transportation is available and just beyond the southern boundary of the comarca is the Pan-American Highway. For these reasons the Ngäbe and Bugle who live in this part are more geographically mobile and have greater wage labor opportunities.
The next day I traveled to Tole — this time without a guide. Tole lies east of Las Lajas and just south of the comarca boundary. It is a very small town. Here, the road into the comarca is not paved. I'd been told there were no accommodation options in Tole unless I could convince someone to let me stay in their house. While that turned out not to be correct, this first visit would be for a few hours only.
The rain left over from the hurricane was still pretty incessant. Nonetheless, Tole was busy. Being a crossroads for people traveling to and from their villages inside the comarca, and others continuing to other parts of Panama, Tole is a de facto commercial center. Onward travel north is by unscheduled pickup truck ascending and descending mountainous dirt roads. There was not enough time for me to take the journey and also guarantee making it back to Las Lajas by nightfall — even though onward travel south and west is by scheduled bus on paved roads. Still, there was enough to do in Tole to keep me occupied for a few hours.
Despite the rain there were a few stalls set up in the outdoor market where everything from shoes to mobile phones were available. Here, as well as in the few stores that I entered, trade was brisk. Inside the comarca commerce is based strictly on a cash economy. Since very few indigenous people are in a position to secure credit, that is also the case outside the comarca for the Ngäbe and Bugle.
At times the rain was too heavy for me to continue my walking so I often had to dash to the nearest shelter and stay there until it slowed. During one such break I was sheltering opposite a bank. We probably take it for granted by now that we can visit an ATM when we need money, but the sight of this lady visiting a cajero automático to withdraw money was interesting for two reasons. First, it is unusual for these people to have a bank account at all; second, she probably journeyed many kilometers to be able to do this.
In this part of Panama indigenous people are also impacted by development. Barro Blanco is the name of a dam that has been constructed near Tole for a hydroelectric project. The local Ngäbe residents have desperately opposed it for the last decade. It was test-flooded last summer with no warning given to the hundreds of people whose livelihood was decimated by the swelling of the Tabasará River. According to the official environmental impact study those same people do not exist! As of early May, 2017, the commercial operation of the project has been approved and should begin in a matter of days.
The final stop on my self-styled mini tour was Boquete, also in Chiriquí Province. The core of this town is still very small since it is surrounded by hills in all directions. Yet it has become a haven for expat and retired gringos, as well as a "must-see" stop on the gringo tourism circuit. This has pushed land and property prices well beyond the means of most Panamanians. This new gringo house is about fifteen minutes from the center, sits on perhaps seven hectares (seventeen acres) and would sell for about US$ 2 million.
The economy in Boquete is booming due to the influx of foreign money. Since the surrounding land is fertile, farming opens up wage labor opportunities for the Ngäbe and Bugle. There is no direct transport to the comarca from here, so the laborers walk for many hours and stay in temporary accommodation for weeks, even months at a time. Many bring their family with them.
Conditions for these migrant workers are a far cry from the luxury enjoyed by the gringos. The accommodation is as basic as imaginable. There is no electricity or running water this far from town. While some leave their children behind with grandparents or other relatives or neighbors, the children who do accompany them mainly drop out of school. Even the very young can often be seen helping on the farms, albeit engaged in light labor only.
It should not surprise us to learn that in such harsh conditions drug and alcohol abuse among men — and increasingly among women — is rampant. There are two kinds of bar in Boquete and I was advised, for my safety, not to visit any of those patronized by the Ngäbe and Bugle. I ignored that advice. One place in particular in the center of town, Bar Nacional, is infamous. It was closed when I was there (probably because it was midday, Friday, which is pay day). But, in some other bars, locals confirmed to me that Bar Nacional is often the starting place of brutal fights. While there is nothing interesting about alcohol-induced fighting among young men, this is different.
In the opening of The Mayor of Casterbridge Michael Henchard gets drunk and sells his wife and daughter. While Mayor is a purely fictional novel, there are anecdotal accounts of similar events at Bar Nacional and other bars in the area. Reports differ in their descriptions, but some suggest that drunk men challenge other drunk men to a duel for the right to win their wife/partner/girlfriend/children.
There are enough accounts of this bizarre ritual to warrant a field study by trained social anthropologists. (If such a study has already been undertaken, I have been unable to find it.) My own, informal research in Boquete, combined with research I conducted before and after visiting the area, suggests that there are cases where this does happen. If that is true we should be concerned for the mental health of the children being impacted. And so should the Ngäbe and Bugle adults who engage in the ritual.
Photography copyright © 1999 - 2020, Ray Waddington. All rights reserved.
Text copyright © 1999 - 2020, The Peoples of the World Foundation. All rights reserved.
Waddington, R., (2017) Skirting Panama's Ngäbe-Bugle Comarca. The Peoples of the World Foundation. Retrieved January 20, 2020, from The Peoples of the World Foundation.
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Like myself, Birchbox is going through some major changes.
Recently, Birchbox has announced it will be increasing its price for their monthly subscriptions. Starting in June, I will be paying $13 a month for my Birchboxes, and admittedly, I was irritated with this off the jump. But then, cooler heads prevailed and I completely understand why and I'm excited for the future of this company.
In order to stay up to date with its competitors, Birchbox will up their prices for loyal members so they can give them the best products each month. You can read more why the changes are necessary here.
Can I restart my hair health? Asking for a friend.
Starts as an oil and turns into foam, this treatment breaks down product buildup and detoxifies the scalp. The pink clay breaks down and removes buildup while majus flower extract promotes a healthier scalp.
I had a lot of high expectations with this product after really loving amika's dry shampoo we received this month. This product reminded me a lot of the ACV treatment from R+Co, but just not as impressive. I love the idea of a pre-cleansing treatment, especially as an avid user of dry shampoo, but this one didn't do much for me.
It was hard to gage how much product I should be using and I can't say I felt much of a difference when it came to my overall scalp health. Also, the bottle was challenging to open and I didn't like how it could be resealed.
DOUCCE hasn't always been my favorite brand from previous experiences, but I was cautiously optimistic. It's really hard to hate a champagne highlight, no matter the formula and I'm happy to say my expectations were well exceeded.
This is such a muted shimmer to start but it can be built up to blind. It's perfect for an everyday glow and something I've been reaching for a lot. There's slight fallout when applied with a fluffy highlighting brush, but it's something I can overlook. It won't replace any of my GlowKits, but it's a good single shadow you can multi-task with when you're traveling.
Sparked Ray is is part of the Freematic Highlighter Pro Palette, which has two other metallic highlights with pink and gold undertones.
Admittedly, I haven't been getting as many ZZZ's as I'd like so I have to disguise the newly acquired bags under my eyes. Most eye creams packed with peptides that are designed to brighten and depuff, which makes me reluctant to using them at night.
However, this formula is designed to work while your body recovers at night, minimizing lines and improving circulation to your under-eyes. Its lavender notes helps soothe tired eyes and butcher's broom extract reduces puffiness.
Trying to establish a sound skincare routine, I was really excited to try this and loved knowing that this eye cream is designed specifically for nighttime use. The lavender scents definitely helped promote some sleepy-time feels and my under-eyes felt more refreshed in the morning.
I had a first-time ever occur with a product this month: I threw it out before I could even test it!
What's even more irritating is that I was genuinely looking forward to this coal black liner because I was in desperate need of a new liner. However, the product broke and fell apart before I could try it out.
I've had some gripes in the past about Manna Kadar products and this is another one we can add to the list of disappointment.
With the warm weather approaching, it's time to shed some layers (of foundation).
BB Creams are my go-to with spring and summer because I don't like being weighed down with foundations. This is an all-in-one product as it acts as a primer, a face cream, a skin corrector and an illuminator. It's also packed with aloe to help hydrate and chamomile to calm stressed skin.
I was a little apprehensive at first with the golden glow color because it seemed almost too dark for my skin tone (prior to me tanning again at the gym), but the skin tone corrector really proved to work. It adjusted to my skin and left a gorgeous finish.
Whether it was because March is my birthday month, or because Birchbox has announced some pretty big changes, I received a bonus product I was really excited about.
Beauty supplements are a hot trend I can totally get behind. Getting all your nutrients in one serving that promotes a natural, lit-from-within glow and provide protection against skin-damaging factors, such as UV light, stress, and pollution.
Tangerine isn't normally a flavor I'd expect to like, but these gummies almost had a creamsicle taste. I wish that more than a one-time sample was received to see if these really worked, but I'm more open to trying them!
Sign up for your Birchbox using my referral link here!
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Since first opening in 1962, Taco Bell was the revolutionary restaurant bringing Mexican food to the American people. Now with 5,600 restaurants, 350 franchises, and 150,000 employees, millions of customers come to Taco Bell for that unique experience no other restaurant can offer. Taco Bell in downtown Fort Wayne is open Sunday through Wednesday 6:30am-4am and Thursday through Saturday 6:30am-5am.


One of the sixth-place finishers in the highly-competitive sweepstakes for one of Arkansas' five prized pot-growing licenses has filed a protest with the state Medical Marijuana Commission ahead of the regulatory panel's much anticipated meeting on Wednesday.
In a letter from Wright Lindsey Jennings attorney Erika Gee, River Valley Relief Cultivation of Fort Smith alleges that fifth-place finisher Delta Medical Cannabis Company of Jonesboro provided "misleading, incorrect, false or fraudulent information" to the commission. The Little Rock attorney representing the Fort Smith partnership then asks the five-person panel to halt the final award of medical pot licenses until the claims are investigated.
According to Gee's complaint, Delta Medical's application revealed a number of "representations" [that] appear to be false." For one, the complaint states that the Jonesboro partnership falsely bolstered the background and qualifications of its cultivation team, noting that one employee misrepresented his experience as an owner of a medical marijuana business in Colorado.


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Celebrity Supers
Here's a screen grab from a really bad new TV ad for Danone 'Shape' yoghurt.
My point isn't that the ad is bad though.
It's this: why pay for a celebrity who is so un-famous that you need a super to tell people who they are?
Advertising Works, Unfortunately
Despite the huge quantities of my life I've spent creating adverts, all the speeches I've given to creative directors... to clients... I had never been able to silence a nagging doubt at the back of my mind... does advertising actually work?
Yesterday I was watching TV with my 3 year old daughter.
When an advert for 'Cheestrings' came on, she turned to me and announced: "Daddy, we need Cheestrings."
There it was, the 'desired consumer response' you see on the brief. It was instant. It was sincere. It was desperate.
Of course, as adults we learn to hide it. Or internalise it. But it's still there.
Does anyone else have secret doubts over whether what we do actually works?
Funny And Bad!
I don't normally do "this ad is really bad" posts.
But this definitely makes the 'so bad it's funny' category.
(Incidentally, it's for a research company)
Does Shouting Work?
Great comment from 'writer' on my last post. To save you reading down, this is what he says:
"No-one's teaching creatives to be aggressively creative and no-one's teaching suits to be aggressively suitish... there's a creeping blandness about the business that is dulling the creative edge... The industry needs a bit of standing-on-the-window-ledge aggression from all parties."
Personally, I always believe you're more likely to get your way if you respect people, listen to them, work with them.
But maybe I'm wrong.
So my question today is a simple one - does shouting work?
Why Is Everywhere Shit?
Last night I was still pondering over something said at our lunch yesterday - why is it that every agency is shit right now?
One possible answer is the lack of start-ups with a commitment to creativity.
The last wave in the UK included shops like Leagas Delaney (that's Tim Delaney in the pic), Rainey Kelly, Howell Henry, Simons Palmer and - more recently - Mother. All great agencies.
The new wave consists of places like CHI, VCCP and DLKW. Very successful business-wise... but their ads smell like three-year old gorgonzola wrapped in a sock.
Plus, no creative start-ups means less pressure on the big agencies to be creative.
Any other theories?
Bitchfest
Went out for a pizza with the rest of the creative department today.
Despite the fact that our agency is winning lots of awards, no one is happy.
There's no money around for pay rises, it's getting harder and harder to get work through, every client is demanding multiple routes...
But no one can think of any other agency they'd like to work at either. "They're all shit."
Is there any group of human beings that whinges more than a creative department?
Posted by Scamp at 2:08 AM 6 comments:
Baffled
Can anyone explain this ad to me? I genuinely don't get it.
Best Ever Ad For A Hooker
For those who don't know, London's prostitutes place advertisements in the phone boxes here.
Sadly, the standard of creativity is rather low.
But I did see one good one the other day (sorry no pic, my phone doesn't have a camera - it's a cheapo model the company gave me...)
This card had no picture of the lovely lady, and no offer of exotic services. But simply the words "I love my job", and a phone number.
Now who says the art of copywriting is dead?
World's Worst Endline TM
Yes I know a lot of other bloggers cover bad taglines. But there's plenty to go round.
Ford unveiled their new British endline on TV earlier tonight.
It's "Feel the difference."
Ha ha ha ha. "We're different." You are, are you?
Wow - I must go out and buy one right away!!!!
Here's a suggestion for everyone who uses the word 'different' or 'difference' in their endline: why don't you tell us what makes you different? Cheaper? More economical? etc.
Because just saying you're different isn't enough. It says nothing.
Oh and Ford, by the way, you're not different. You're the ultimate conformist.
So your endline is a total muff-up.
The 'Independent'
Ahead of tonight's European Cup final, the ironically-named Independent newspaper has an interview with Barcelona playmaker Deco.
At the end of the rather dull article, the following words appear: "Deco trains and performs in UMBRO evolution X clothing and UMBRO Revolution X boots. The technology of the fabrics and style combine to give performers the edge over their competition. To find out more about the latest gear, visit umbro.com or call 0161 492 2222."
Yet it forgets to add "This message brought to you by the marketing robots at Umbro UK Ltd."
Or should that be UMBRO UK Ltd? Though they didn't capitalise the web address... now i'm confused...
But That's Just Silly
Another team here - friends of mine - have written a script for a TV ad. It's an entertaining idea that's very much on brief, and would show off the product nicely. But, how can I put this, it's also silly. Of course, when the account team and the client check the idea against their brief and their target market etc, this problem won't show up.
Shouldn't the final test of every idea be to describe it to a 7 year old boy... to see if he says "but that's just silly"?
You're thinking about a brief when an account man walks in your office and sarcastically says: "Hard at work, I see."
As he's never had an idea in his life he doesn't understand that to think creatively you've quite simply got to put your feet up on the desk (or look out of the window).
No doubt when he comes in and sees me on the phone (talking to friends) or typing (my blog)... that's when he thinks I'm working.
Reality Check, Everybody
God this is good.
(It's from Gaping Void)
Music Is Hell
You're searching for that one perfect track... out of all the millions of tracks that have ever been recorded. It's impossible to listen to them all. In other words, you can never be 100% confident that you have the perfect track.
You've got a client whose taste runs the gamut from Katrina and the Waves to KC & The Sunshine Band.
A partner who likes "anything melancholy" (his words).
And a creative director who likes anything - absolutely anything - from within his own record collection.
The only saving grace is that one day I will die. After which, I won't have to look for any more music tracks. Unless of course... that is what awaits me in hell...
(I'd be interested in hearing from someone who does enjoy looking for music.)
Happy Birthday, Partner
It was my art director's birthday today. If there's any account teams reading this, we did a lot of work this afternoon. Oh yes, lots.
Posted by Scamp at 6:13 AM 1 comment:
Sins Of The Planners, Part 2
OK, so that brief got cancelled. They already have something. Instead, we get a different brief today, for the same client - remember, this is the one that's our agency's most important client, the one that supposedly has our best account team and planners on it. I skim down and thankfully there aren't three propositions in the 'Single-Minded Proposition' bit of the brief. Just the two this time.
Posted by Scamp at 12:00 AM No comments:
Sins Of The Planners
OK so we get this brief - for our agency's biggest and most important client - but it's not one proposition, it's three. "Take your pick," the planner says. "This is great for you, you have all these different ways you can go."
Hmmm. I have a way you can go. Back to your office and do your job.
Globalisation Is So Annoying
Look, all I want to do is write ads and win awards. To do this, my partner and I need to beat all the other teams working on the brief, then the ad needs to be approved by the creative director, the account team, 104 levels of client and 64 research groups, not get fucked up by directors, photographers, editors, actors etc, before finally blowing the balls off the D&AD jury. I don't need all these foreigners entering D&AD making it harder still. The 2006 Nominations just came out. Apparently 61 countries entered. Stop it. Especially if you're American. (The Asian ads I don't mind, they're normally scams or shit.)
Crimes of the Creative Directors
Aside from their fashion sense, here's something that really gets my goat about creative directors:
When they creative direct a brief they are also working on.
Gee, I wonder whose work they'll pick... mine, or - just possibly - their own?
Screw Iraq. The government needs to take action on this pressing problem.
Yes! I Still Have A Job
Interesting report here on a surprise decline in video-on-demand ratings in the U.S. (found via the excellent AdRants).
Apparently only 0.21% of American TV viewing is now time-shifted (which inevitably means seen with the commercials fast-forwarded), down from 0.24%
So VOD won't kill off TV commercials... and I can continue to feed my family. Hurrah!
It's only bad news for "ad guru" Steve Henry of United. All he ever says nowadays is "video-on-demand will change everything" in a "the-end-is-nigh" kind of tone. He will have to think of something else to say now. (Mind you, his conclusion - that we need to make ads people will actually want to watch - is still valid. But then it always was. The 'TiVo of the mind' - people deciding "this is boring, I will stop paying attention now" is nothing new.)
Who Cares Who Paid For It?
The new AIDS awareness ad from TBWA Paris is absolutely brilliant. And who knows? It may even encourage some safe sex. Which isn't such a bad thing.


Maja Hodoscek (1984) is an artist, researcher, pedagogue and curator. She makes video works, installations as well as initiates various workshops. The focus of her research is exploring different concepts of learning and the politics and modes of producing knowledge. Through the language of moving image, Hodoscek observes diverse social groups within specific environments. She is especially interested in constructing situations that promote dis-identification, self-recognition, and processes of temporary group formations.


that do not change db entries.
Switch to new parameters definition for route systeminformation_render.
to the central route definitions.
Add scroll possibility for modal body.
JSON encoding ViewHelper from Fluid is fully compatible.
Counterparts exist in Fluid engine.
ViewHelpers of fluid and chain those.
in BackendUtilityHook as it is unused.
is loaded and the script is asked to check ~100 files.
and "blank" site frontend output works.
does not exist anymore and can be removed from .gitignore.
the page instead a proper redirect.
same functionality - to fetch the full workspace record.
The SQL query has been split into using sub-queries now.
(according to the list module) in the InlineRecordContainer.
takes care of setting this option internally.
argument from select viewhelper. Using the option "optionsAfterContent"
option is now rendered always in the first place.
queries, it creates subselects for certain relation constraints.
which leads to sql exceptions.
This patch introduces braces around those subselects.
casted to an integer and its information will be lost.
Some hooks are now obsolete and dropped along the way.
Update the comment of the mehtod PageRepository::getMountPointInfo().
Add hint addressing to the usage of recursive mount points.
and does not need to be handled by any RequestHandler anymore.
this change might be very helpful.
configure(), so this is not affected.
Command controllers in CLI handling.
a wrong expression was used. Use notIn() instead of in().
possibility to add an user to the compare list.
the user is removed from this list.
Unit test: Fix namespace, test file location and class inheritance.
"noWSOL" which is only used internally within PageRepository.
directly in the according places, as the WSOL does not need to be known.


My husband has always said he doesn't like beets because they are red and he doesn't like red food. Now that doesn't make sense since he does eat catsup, tomatoes, etc. So I decided to make golden beets to use in a salad similar to one I had at Luke's Restaurant in New Orleans. That recipe will come in a couple of days.
Usually the beets I eat are pickled. For years, that was the only thing I knew to do with a beet. And, of course, they were red beets that I pickled and they bled all over everything and if I wasn't careful I would end up with a blood-splattered looking top.
After I started this blog I became more adventurous in trying new recipes. I've always liked cooking but never really went out on a limb to try different things. Then I tried fried beets once at East Side Kings in Austin and I made them almost immediately after returning home. My French Fried Beets with Japanese Mayonnaise is one of my favorite appetizers; I now cut them in slices and not chunks like ESK make their's. Then my next adventure in beets was with my Roasted Beet Napoleon; stacks of deliciousness. And, who could pass up my Pink Heart Egg Finger Sandwiches where I used the beet juice to dye my hard-boiled eggs then cut tiny beet hearts as a garnish for the egg sandwich.
The day I made these golden beets, no splatters of red on my top, no red fingers, and no red splatter on counters and dish towels. So, if you like beets, take a walk on the wild side and try one of my recipes or try them raw, in salads, pickled (of course), roasted, fried, on sandwiches, or even make pasta out of them. Beets are very high in vitamins and minerals so you won't feel guilty eating a few extra helpings.
These beets were so big you could use them for soft balls. I could not find any smaller so I cut these in fourths and wrapped in foil and roasted them. They turned out beautiful and I can't wait to share the Salad Luke recipe with you in a couple of days. I think you will love it.
BLAST FROM THE PAST: Smoked Salmon on a Chip is one of the easiest appetizers you can make for a quick summer treat.
Look at the size of these beets! I would have rather have smaller ones but this is all Whole Foods had the day I shopped.
Mix the vinegar, sugar and spices together and bring to a boil; cook until sugar has dissolved.
These beets were wrapped in foil and baked at 400° for about an hour or until tender.
Peel and slice the beets into 1/4″ slices.
Pack the beets, loosely, into clean, hot jars.
Pour the hot liquid over the beets leaving about an inch space at tom. Wipe off the rims of the jars and put on the lids and rings. Tighten. Cool at room temperature until you hear that magic "ding" saying, we are ready to store.
Love, love, love these beets.
Preheat oven to 400°. Wash and dry the beets and wrap individually in aluminum foil. Place on baking dish and bake until tender. 30 minutes to an hour. (My beets were the size of a softball and I cut into fourths and still took almost an hour to get tender.) Once they are done, unwrap and remove the skins. Slice into 1/4" slices the size that will fit into your jars. Pack the beets into the jars leaving about 1" empty at the top.
Boil some water in a saucepan and place the lids and rings in pan. Have your jars washed and dried and ready to fill with your beets.
Bring the cider vinegar, sugar, salt and spices to a simmer. Simmer for about 5-6 minutes then pour the hot liquid over the beets.
Wipe the rims of the beet filled jars and put the dried lids and rings on and tighten but not too tight. After the jars cool, you will hear a little "dink" sound and that is the jars sealing. You can store in the refrigerator or pantry. Ready to eat in 2 days.
I put my three jars of beets all into the refrigerator instead of the pantry. I used my pickled golden beets in my Salad Luke. Just eat and enjoy.


text:
Remembering Flyboy Greg Tate
How D.C. shaped the acclaimed author and musician, who passed away last month at the age of 64.
by Steve Kiviat January 4th, 2022 January 5th, 2022
Greg Tate performing with Burnt Sugar Credit: Ziga Koritnik
On Dec. 7, acclaimed cultural critic, author, and musician Greg Tate died from cardiac arrest at age 64 in New York City.
But D.C. is where Tate's singular blend of slang, academic, and activist writing originated. Tate moved with his family from Dayton, Ohio, to D.C. when he was 13. Those who met him during his teen years in the District recall his budding genius. As a teenager living in Northwest and later as a Howard University student, he honed both a passion and writing style that landed him a career at the New York alt-weekly The Village Voice, where he became a staff writer in 1987 and worked for over two decades. His take on music, politics, film, art, and culture also shined in his books such as Flyboy in the Buttermilk, Everything But the Burden: What White People Are Taking From Black Culture; and Midnight Lightning: Jimi Hendrix and the Black Experience.
Tate was one of three children. His father, Charles, worked at the Booker T. Washington Foundation. His mother, Florence, was a journalist, civil rights activist, and later handled press for former Mayor Marion Barry as well as Jesse Jackson's presidential campaign. In the introduction to Flyboy 2, Tate describes his mother as a "lifetime Pan-Africanist" who introduced him to Aretha Franklin, Malcolm X, Nina Simone, and Jimmy Cliff.
During his teen years, Tate met a handful of people who helped shape his work. Former Howard University professor and poet E. Ethelbert Miller recognized Tate's skills early on when judging a citywide poetry contest in 1976 in which a 19-year old Tate was a participant. Via email, Miller called Tate a "genius child."
He recalls the contest as one where English teachers encouraged students to write a poem for extra credit, noting that "much of the work is not memorable." He continues: "That's why Greg's work stood out like Hendrix playing his guitar."
Miller subsequently met young Tate after being introduced by a mutual friend and Tate became a regular visitor at his HU office. Throughout the next 10 years, Miller presented Tate and his work at the Miya Gallery, d.c. space, and Folger Shakespeare Library with both Alexis De Veaux and poet Diane Burns.
At Howard, Tate edited OO-sh' Bop magazine with his friend Calvin Reid (now an editor at Publisher's Weekly). Miller funded the publication's singular issue, which came out in the summer of 1977 and featured an interview with cutting edge jazz sax player and flutist Oliver Lake. Tate also wrote for Howard's newspaper, The Hilltop, and performed spoken word with a group of poets who called themselves the Six-Legged Griot Trio.
Tate was also learning from poet, jazz historian, and arts administrator A.B. Spellman at the time. Spellman recalls leading a poetry seminar in the early '80s that met in his basement—the Free D.C. Writers' Workshop. He describes Tate as an obvious leader. "Greg was writing performance poetry—long rhythmic lines with hard cadences," Spellman says. "The material was cultural and political. During these years, Greg and I spent a lot of time together listening to jazz. He had a good ear and excellent taste." When hip-hop rose, Spellman says, "Greg was its natural arbiter. Greg was strong and informed in his opinions. His years as a poet electrified his prose."
In 1981, a 23-year-old Tate described his local WPFW public radio show Other Afternoons as: "Black electic [sic] emanations with a sci-fi muse for the hellified. Otherworldly Music for everybody on the one: BlueragblackrockFunkreggae to bop, swing free afro-r'n'b, salsa, Brazilian sounds and a plethora of other pan-ethnic sounds as well." This was the voice he would later bring to the Voice.
During his time with the alt-weekly, Tate displayed not only his broad spectrum of interests but also the creative ways in which he connected them. In his 1982 Village Voice article on D.C. Black punk band Bad Brains, he wrote "being of black radical-professional parentage, the kid has always had the luxury of cultural ambivalence coupled with black nationalist consciousness. That's why my party affiliation reads: Greg Tate, Black Bohemian Nationalist. Give me art or give me blood. Preferably on the One, but everything I do ain't got to be funky. So, a black punk band? Okay, I'm game." His fellow Voice scribe Don Palmer says Tate was a "magician with words. He could make up his own language, but the words were still based in language we understood and very lyrical and poetic. His writing kept growing."
Actor Bob Wisdom, who also grew up in D.C. and lived with Tate in New York for several years in the '80s, says Tate "wasn't going to sit up there and just talk about I like this or I like that, he was inventing an alphabet, a hieroglyphic in a sense. … He gave words a different density. It was like physics—they had a whole different atomic weight the way that he was putting them together."
In a 1993 interview with this writer for Uno Mas fanzine, Tate credited "the editorial page, Marvel Comics, and the liner notes Pedro Bell wrote for Funkadelic" as early influences.
Called a "Godfather of hip-hop Journalism" by some, Tate also wrote about various music genres in his patented style. He referred to himself as "Gregory Iron Man Tate" for years (after the Marvel superhero), and later as the "Mayor of Black Bohemia."
Duke University Press plans to release Tate's White Cube Fever: Hella Conjure and Writing on the Black Arts posthumously. The collection will feature his writing on Black artists, including Carrie Mae Weems, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Kerry James Marshall.
In addition to his writing, Tate cofounded the Black Rock Coalition in 1985. He also played guitar in several bands, including jazz and funk group Burnt Sugar (he was also the band's conductor). Sometimes called Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber, the group released Angels over Oakanda in 2021, which Tate performed on.
Tate (center) playing with Burnt Sugar in 2019; photo by Ziga Koritnik
He also taught classes at Yale, Brown, and Columbia universities.
Tate's friends, such as Wisdom, say playwright, poet, and music critic Thulani Davis was a crucially important source for Tate and bridge between D.C. and New York. Davis, a family friend, was someone he could talk to about music, art, and literature. Davis later encouraged Tate to pitch the Voice, where she worked as an editor and writer.
Reuben Jackson, poet and University of the District of Columbia jazz archivist met Tate through his younger brother, Brian. Jackson recalls being impressed with an enormous upstairs room at the Tate family home with many shelves of jazz records at one end and punk records at the other end. He says Tate "was unpretentious and generous with information and he would recommend books. I asked him to look at my work and he offered suggestions and was very encouraging. He never lost that generosity of spirit. Watching his genius blossom was inspiring to me. The way he would weave references to James Brown and Jean Paul Sartre into his essays—it gave me confidence."
According to reggae scholar, promoter, and activist Dera Tompkins, Tate and other creatives, would listen to reggae records at her Adams Morgan home and discuss the history of Rastafarianism. "Greg decided I needed to be on the radio to share that information" says Tompkins, who became a regular guest on the program. She and Tate worked together for Vernard Gray, owner of D.C.'s Miya Art Gallery one summer. Tompkins calls herself, Tate, DJ Tom Terrell, and a few others "this musical radical Afrocentric collective. We went to the same lectures and music." Of Tate, she says, "He could tell a story like no other. He could spitfire."
Tate's love of D.C. remained throughout his life. In a 2007 Village Voice memorial for Terrell—who was also a journalist, critic, and promoter—Tate wrote of meeting Terrell at Howard when the city was a "post-civil-rights Black Utopia experiencing a golden age of live music and free-form radio—a time when the likes of Funkadelic, War, and Mandrill played every other week, and you judged a man by the size of his jazzrockfunkfusionsoul album collection."
Lewis Flip Barnes met Tate on the steps of HU's fine arts building in 1975. Back then, Barnes says, it was common to see people with boomboxes, but most were playing funk or R&B. "What initially drew me to approach Greg was that he was cranking John Coltrane Live in Seattle!" Barnes also says he and Tate shared enthusiasm for the Howard University film class taught by filmmaker Haile Gerima. Likewise, Wisdom credits Tate's teachers at Howard as the ones who "gave him that fuel and saw the possibilities to approach the world as art."
Bill Warrell, who booked avant-garde jazz and experimental music at d.c. space, remembers Tate fondly. "Greg was at d.c. space for the first concerts upstairs in 1977, Muhal Richard Abrams, Lester Bowie, Julius Hemphill, and Oliver Lake" he writes over email.
Warrell recalls sax player Hamiet Bluiett onstage there before a sparse crowd calling Tate's radio show and putting the phone into the bell of his baritone. The result was a second night sold out show. Warrell, who only listened to avant-garde music at the time, adds that Tate "connected the dots with what I was missing." Unlike Warrell, he listened to multiple genres and saw the connections between the experimental works Warrell loved as well as go-go, hip-hop, and Bad Brains.
Wisdom too remembers Tate's eclectic music interests. Tate listened to and wrote about African artists like King Sunny Ade, plus R&B acts like Kool and the Gang and Chaka Khan. He stayed current with music over the decades. In 2015, he reviewed noted-rapper Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly for Rolling Stone.
But there was much more to Tate than just his ability to string together eclectic cultural interests. Just as his family, professors, and the DJs he met in D.C. supported and mentored him, Tate similarly gave back and helped others. Ghanian-American writer Meri Nana-Ama Danquah, who now lives in Los Angeles, met Tate in 1992. The two spoke on the phone daily for 15 years; she contributed to Tate's edited effort, Everything But the Burden. Tate encouraged her to write her memoir, Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman's Journey Through Depression, and helped her deal with mental health struggles. She credits Tate for helping her "heal" as well as being a "connector of people."
"He liked to create community," says Danquah. Always an activist, the community Tate worked to build was one free of various isms and phobias. D.C. Magistrate Judge Renee Raymond first met Tate in New York in 1985. She shared his interests in music, science fiction, and Black culture. "He was kind and generous at his core," says Raymond. "Although he could slice and dice someone in a critique…he called bullshit on purveyors of sexism and homophobia at a time when men critics were letting it slide."
She concludes, "Greg wrote the way he spoke. Freely. Poetically. Humorously. Words were there to convey a moment or an idea. And if a word wasn't there he created it."
*Editor's note: A previous version said Lewis Flip Jones instead of Lewis Flip Barnes.
Tagged: Burnt Sugar, Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber, Dera Tompkins, E. Ethelbert Miller, Flyboy in the Buttermilk, Greg Tate, Haile Gerima, Meri Nana-Ama Danquah, Renee Raymond, Reuben Jackson, The Village Voice, Vernard Gray
Lucky Buns Expands to The Wharf, Promising a Late-Night Nosh Option
City Lights: Songbyrd Music Trivia Celebrates Funky Divas


[twill] darcs patch: Allow multiple checkbox form fields with same	name.
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Desc: A darcs patch for your repository!


Assuming that Noah's Ark was an early experiment in gene technology, each animal residing in this virtual ark had a trait gene in its Noahsomal DNA that could be implanted into a human.
These traits are represented by biblical personalities from the Book of Genesis. Gamble for a trait in the BAGEL CASINO by scrolling down and selecting a biblical person.