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Michigan's Budget Crisis
Reconcilable Differences – Towards Completion of the FY2013 State Budget
State Budget Note ( May 2012 ) 7 pages
Recently, the framework for next year's state budget (fiscal year 2013) began to take shape when both legislative chambers passed their respective spending plans. Eyeing a June 1 deadline, both chambers have offered their responses to Governor Snyder's Executive Budget issued in February. Both legislative proposals reduce the General Fund appropriation recommendation included in the Executive Budget. Although the proposals share some key similarities, there are key differences in a number of areas, including funding for K-12 education.
The paper looks at the main components of each legislative proposal and examines how they differ and what issues will need to be resolved through negotiation. Final budget development will also have to consider the Governor's recommendations. Although total budgeted amounts in some areas are similar across all three iterations, beneath these totals lie notable differences in the details – how dollars are allocated across programs, services, and sub-state entities.
Stabilized State Budget and Rainy Day Fund Deposits Improve State's Cash Position
State Budget Note 2012-01 ( February 2012 ) 5 pages
While the State of Michigan's final audited figures for Fiscal Year 2011 are not complete, recent evidence suggests that state policymakers have reversed course over the past five years and have taken steps to address the state's once very weak cash position. The report documents the recent improvements in the state's cash position, and urges lawmakers to continue to maintain a focus on this important indicator of the state's overall financial health.
In the spring of 2007 it was feared that the state, grappling with an ongoing structural budget deficit and worsening revenue estimates, was in danger of running out of cash and unable to pay its bills. To address the immediate cash shortfall, the state changed the date of its monthly school aid payments. The cash shortfall was the result of the extraordinary steps taken to maintain short-term state budget balance, but which ultimately proved detrimental to the state's underlying cash position and cash flow. Eventually, state taxes were raised in the fall of 2007 and over the next few years, state spending was brought into alignment with the amount of ongoing revenues.
As a result of recent policy choices, the state's year-end cash position has shown consistent improvement. However, at the end of Fiscal Year 2011, the state's cash reserves are nowhere close to where they were at the beginning of Fiscal Year 2000 and prior to the decade-long single-state recession when the state was sitting on $4.9 billion in reserves. At the end of Fiscal Year 2010 (most recent data), manageable common cash reserves stood at $1.4 billion.
The General, School Aid, and Budget Stabilization Funds represent the state's major funds and are intended to support state government programs and services, in addition to payments to local governments of all types. Throughout the early- to mid-2000s, the failure to address the state's structural budget deficit weakened the cash position of the major funds. While the major funds cash deficit still existed at the end of FY2010 ($374 million), it was well below the peak of $1.3 billion at the end of FY2006. Early indications suggest that the picture further improved at the end of FY2011 and the major funds deficit has been eliminated; the first time since FY2002.
State policymakers are in the midst of crafting a spending plan for FY2013. An improving national and state economy, along with sizeable estimated surpluses in the major funds going into FY2013, will create pressure to increase spending in some areas of the budget that have experienced reductions.
The State of Michigan's New Fiscal Plan
State Budget Note 2011-02 ( July 2011 ) 13 pages
With Governor Snyder's signing of the FY2012 state budget on June 21, the final piece of the state's new fiscal plan is now officially in place. The plan was crafted against a backdrop of an improving state economy and growing state revenues, in part making it easier to complete in a timely fashion. It consists of: 1) a revamped state tax structure, 2) a spending plan that balances ongoing spending and resources mainly through significant appropriation reductions; 3) a down payment on future long-term obligations; and 4) a deposit in the state's rainy day fund. Major pieces of the plan will come on-line in the fall, including the budget on October 1, while many of the tax changes take effect on January 1, 2012.
CRC's new state budget note The State of Michigan's New Fiscal Plan examines the major components of the state's financial plan for the coming fiscal year, including changes in state tax law and spending policy. The report suggests that major progress has been made towards addressing the state's chronic structural deficits affecting the General and School Aid Fund budgets. At the same time, it takes steps to improve the underlying condition of state finances, both in the near- and long-term.
Now the Real Work Can Start on the FY2012 State Budget
State Budget Note 2011-01 ( May 2011 ) 6 pages
Recently, the framework for the upcoming state budget began to take shape when both chambers of the Michigan legislature passed their respective spending plans. Eyeing a May 31 deadline set by Governor Snyder, both chambers have offered their responses to the Executive Budget issued in February. The Senate was the first chamber to complete its work on the Fiscal Year 2012 (FY2012) state budget when, in late April, it approved all operating appropriation bills financed by the General and School Aid Funds. This action was closely followed by the House of Representative's approval of all appropriations bills in early May. The two plans for the General Fund share some key similarities; however, the Senate's plan spends $179 million, or 2 percent, more than the House's budget and the two recommendations differ in other substantial and material ways.
CRC's State Budget Note Now the Real Work Can Start on the FY2012 State Budget looks at the two legislative proposals and examines the key differences on both sides of the budget ledger that will have to be reconciled before final budget action can occur.
"While a major milestone in the budget process has been achieved, much work remains before the final FY2012 state budget can be enacted," said Craig Thiel. "Perhaps the most notable difference between this budget and prior years is the precedent-setting plan to use the School Aid Fund to finance post-secondary education appropriations."
Equally important, and a key component of the revenue assumptions for the budget, is the tax restructuring plan proposed by Governor Snyder and the legislature's response to the suggested changes in business and individual income taxation. Finally, it is expected that the May 16 revenue estimating conference will revise upward, perhaps substantially, the General and School Aid Fund revenue estimates for both the current year and FY2012. These revisions will likely play a role in the final appropriation decisions made by the legislature, perhaps by lessening the extent of the cuts included in the budgets.
Nonrecurring Resources and the FY2011 General Fund Budget
State Budget Note 2010-03 ( October 2010 ) 12 pages
The Michigan legislature completed its work on the FY2011 General Fund budget before October 1 and the governor signed all but one of the appropriations bills (higher education) before the start of the new fiscal year, thus avoiding another temporary government shutdown. The FY2011 state School Aid Fund budget, which provides operating funding for Michigan's local and intermediate school districts, was completed in July, when local schools start their new fiscal year. Both "early" adoption of the SAF budget along with the avoidance of another government shutdown mark some progress in the budget development process compared to the experience in recent years; however, while the FY2011 budget did contain some cuts, it still relies heavily on nonrecurring resources.
The Citizens Research Council of Michigan's new report, Nonrecurring Resources and the FY2011 General Fund Budget, looks at the major solutions to achieve budget balance for FY2010 and FY2011 and provides some indication of the FY2012 fiscal problems that will face the new governor and the new legislature that will be seated in January 2011.
The FY2011 budget, while technically "balanced" in the short term, will contribute to fiscal imbalance in FY2012. The budget is premised on nearly $1 billion in one-time resources, which will not be available in the coming fiscal year. These resources included the exhaustion of federal stimulus funding, state debt refinancing, and accelerating the collection of unclaimed property. Furthermore, the new budget does not address the structural budget challenges that have faced the state for years.
The FY2012 budget will take effect on October 1, 2011. The first step in the process takes place when the new governor presents his FY2012 executive budget proposal to the legislature within 60 days (early March) of the 96th Legislature convening in early January. At this time, it is estimated that the new cohort of policymakers will have to address a General Fund shortfall of at least $1 billion, due in large measure to the solutions employed to achieve budget balance in FY2011.
"The FY2011 budget presented yet another opportunity for Michigan to address the near decade-long structural deficit." said Craig Thiel, CRC's Director of State Affairs. "However, the final budget passed by the legislature and signed by the governor failed to make major inroads toward solving the state's chronic budgetary problems."
The FY2011 School Aid Fund Budget: A Day Late and A Few Hundred Million Dollars Short
State Budget Note 2010-02 ( July 2010 )
Before embarking on its traditional 4th of July two-week recess, the Michigan Legislature passed the Fiscal Year 2011 (FY2011) budget for the School Aid Fund (SAF), which provides operating funding for Michigan's local and intermediate school districts. July action on the SAF budget this year breaks with recent history, during which the state budget (SAF and General Fund) has not been enacted until late September or even after October 1, the start of the new state fiscal year. The legislature's "early" adoption of the budget provides schools with a greater degree of certainty as they begin their fiscal years on July 1. Observers should be cautious about placing too much importance on the recent legislative action, however, as a number of major budgetary issues, both for this year and next, remain to be resolved.
The Citizens Research Council of Michigan's recent report, The Fiscal Year 2011 School Aid Fund Budget: A Day Late and a Few Million Dollars Short, looks at the impetus, issues, and implications surrounding the adoption of the new state school-aid spending plan.
"Given the fiscal struggles of FY2009 and FY2010, coupled with the loss of $1.3 billion in temporary federal stimulus funding from the budget, crafting a balanced budget that did not further reduce per-pupil spending is a significant accomplishment." said Craig Thiel, CRC's Director of State Affairs. "However, the adoption of this "early" budget was aided greatly by the significant positive change in the official SAF revenue estimates and the fact that major General Fund budget shortfalls were not addressed at the same time."
With the passage of the FY2011 SAF budget now complete, the legislature will turn its attention to the General Fund budget, which is in much worse shape. Current projections indicate that the General Fund faces a shortfall of at least $220 million in FY2010, with only three months in the fiscal period remaining. For the upcoming FY2011, the state budget is in deficit by $500 million. Legislative deliberations on the General Fund were stalled during the development of the SAF budget and will resume sometime in late July or early August, following the July 4th recess.
The FY2011 Executive Budget: "Déjà Vu All Over Again"
The FY2011 Executive Budget: "Déjà Vu All Over Again", examines the Governor's FY2011 executive budget, with special attention to those aspects intended to address the long-term structural imbalance plaguing the General and School Aid Fund budgets.
The exhaustion of the temporary federal recovery funds used to support state spending in FY2009 and FY2010 and the revelation of the resultant "revenue cliff" in FY2011 will bring the state's structural deficit problems into clearer focus. Absent any further extraordinary sources of fiscal relief, the Michigan legislature is now tasked with passing appropriations bills and associated legislation that reduce spending and/or raise taxes to achieve balance in the coming fiscal year.
Dual Deficits and Federal Recovery Assistance: Prospects for State Budget Balance
State Budget Note 2009-02 ( April 2009 ) 8 pages
Although federal stimulus funds can help balance the Michigan budget in Fiscal Years 2009 and 2010, they also create a real possibility of aggravating the ongoing structural deficit by permitting policy makers to postpone actions to bring long-term revenues and expenditures into balance. This is one of the findings of a new State Budget Note released by the Citizens Research Council of Michigan.
The State has been operating with a structural deficit, a deficit that will not be eliminated by a more buoyant economy, during the past decade. It has met the constitutional balanced budget requirement principally by using nonrecurring sources of income totalling over $8 billion over that period and has not solved the basic structural problem. Federal stimulus dollars, available from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) will provide the State with $7 billion, which will help in the short run, but which may make more difficult the resolution of the structural deficit.
ARRA, which is aimed at the cyclical downturn, will provide significant new funding, but:
Will not be sufficient to prevent spending cuts
Will mask the size of the cuts necessary to deal with the structural deficit
Will not be available long enough see the state through the entire period of reduced revenues caused by the recession
Will cause a revenue "cliff" when the additional federal funding expires
"Policy makers must take steps to assure that the FY2011 budget is not more difficult than it has to be," said CRC Director of State Affairs, Craig Thiel. "While we won't be turning down the federal stimulus funding, we can't relax our efforts to eliminate the ongoing deficit."
Michigan's Weakened Financial Position and The Problem of Dual Deficits
State Budget Note 2009-01 ( January 2009 ) 8 pages
The much-anticipated Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference forecast to be released on Friday will shed light on the Fiscal Year 2009 and 2010 budget outlooks for the State of Michigan, but the basic financial condition of the State is known and shows a weakened cash position in the face of Michigan's ongoing structural deficit. This is the principal conclusion of a new analysis of the State budget by the Citizens Research Council of Michigan.
The report, Michigan's Weakened Financial Position and the Problem of Dual Deficits, notes that Michigan is ill-prepared to deal with the current cyclical problems associated with the national economic recession because it has failed to deal with the underlying structural deficits that have existed since FY2000. At the end of FY2000 the State had amassed over $3.9 billion in major fund cash reserves to deal with the 2001 recession. Today it faces a cash deficit of approximately $400 million that it must finance by means of both internal and external borrowing.
Michigan's Fiscal Future
Report 349 ( May 2008 ) 152 pages
The Citizens Research Council of Michigan projects that Michigan's budget challenge will continue to grow through Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17) because virtually every area of the State budget faces spending pressure increases that outpace projected revenue growth. This "structural deficit" will persist even as the economy improves.
Provisions in the Michigan Constitution require the Governor and Legislature to take annual actions to keep current spending in line with current revenues. The CRC projections in Michigan's Fiscal Future quantify that absent those requirements and without substantial policy changes, structural deficits in Michigan's General Fund, K-12 education finances, and highway finances — by FY17 – would grow to:
$6.0 billion in the state General Fund
$3.6 billion in K-12 education finances
$417 million in the state highway program
Using a well-established regional economic forecasting model, CRC and the W.E. Upjohn Institute collaborated on an analysis of Michigan's future state budget challenges from FY09 through FY17. The analysis is based on a series of assumptions about the performance of Michigan's economy between 2007 and 2017. This new analysis covers budgets supported by three major state funds: General Fund (GF), School Aid Fund (SAF), and the Michigan Transportation Fund. Major changes in the State's tax structure made in 2007 that will affect future State revenues have been factored into this analysis as have two series of tax cuts required by state law for FY09 and beyond.
Memorandum 1086 ( May 2008 ) 8 pages
Summarizes Report 349
State Budget "Balance" for FY2007 Achieved with $1 Billion in Additional Non-Recurring Resources
State Budget Note 2007-01 ( June 2007 ) 2 pages
Going into Fiscal Year 2007 the State of Michigan had used $6.8 billion in non-recurring resources to meet the constitutional balanced budget requirement. The recent agreement on the FY2007 budget has increased that total by $1.015 billion adding new challenges to achieving a structurally balanced budget.
Michigan's Deteriorating Cash Position
Note 2007-02 ( May 2007 ) 8 pages
Actions to maintain balance in the State general and school aid funds since Fiscal Year 2001 have relied heavily on the depletion of reserves and the use of one-time accounting maneuvers, which have served to erode the State cash position, by $4.2 billion. Actions to balance the FY07 and FY08 budgets will be subject to the realities of cash constraints brought about by failure to resolve the underlying structural deficit.
Michigan's Budget Crisis and the Prospects for the Future
State Budget Note ( March 2006 ) 11 pages
On March 14, CRC Director of State Affairs Tom Clay presented an analysis of the state budget problem to the conference "Where Do We Go From Here?" sponsored by the Center for Michigan, the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, and the Center for Local, State and Urban Policy within the Ford School of Public Policy.
The paper concluded that the general fund structural deficit is not going away and that eroding revenues and growing Medicaid and corrections spending are making it increasingly difficult to balance the budget.
A Recap of the FY04 Budget and Look Ahead to FY05 and Beyond
State Budget Note 03-10 ( October 2003 ) 10 pages
The forecast of lower-than-anticipated General Fund and School Aid fund revenues for the State of Michigan fiscal year that began on October 1 portends increased fiscal pressure on the budget for fiscal year 2004-05, which will be submitted by the Governor in February. The report points to growth in Medicaid and corrections as the basic problems in the General Fund. Growth in these programs has begun to crowd out other state programs, such as higher education and revenue sharing. School aid, which has been protected to a higher degree than other programs, will be under great pressure in FY05, largely because school districts will be faced with an increase of at least 10 percent in their contributions to the Public School Employees Retirement System and increased health care insurance costs.
PDF File The Problematic Fiscal Year 2003-04 State Budget
Memo 1073 ( April 2003 ) 10 pages
Debate on the FY2004 State Budget is beginning to heat up and it is clear that agreement will not come easily. CRC has just released its first analysis of the FY2004 budget.
Prospects for School Aid in the Economic Recovery
State Budget Notes 2002-03 ( March 2002 ) 4 pages
Discusses the prospects for state school aid, the largest category in the state budget, for the next 5 years and presents a scenario to finish the process of managing through the current budget problem.
The FY2003 Executive Budget: Short-Term Balance, Long-Term Gaps
State Budget Notes 2002-02 ( February 2002 ) 2 pages
Analyses how the Governor's proposed FY2003 Executive Budget addresses the imbalance between spending and revenues.
The Problem Facing the New Budget
State Budget Notes 2002-01 ( January 2002 ) 3 pages
CRC continues to track the deteriorating budget condition and offer analysis.
Michigan's Budget Problems — Time for Permanent Solutions?
State Budget Notes 2001-01 (December 2001 ) 3 pages
PDF File Michigan's Budget Situation – A Long-Term Problem
Note 2001-05 ( September 2001 ) 4 pages
In June, Note 2001-02 outlined the difficulties confronting the State in dealing with the budget. Since that time, actions were taken by the Governor and State Legislature to close the budget gaps for fiscal years 2000-01 and 2001-02. This Note summarizes the Fiscal Year 2000-01 and 2001-02 actions and provides some finding relative to the fiscal year 2002-03 budget outlook.
PDF File Michigan's Precarious Budget Situation
Note 2001-02 ( June 2001 ) 2 pages
Even with economic recovery, the State will face problems as far out as FY2003.
1990-91 State General Fund-General Purpose Budget
Misc., ( February 91 ) 4 pages
Michigan's Financial Improvement Strategy
CC 945, ( November 83 ) 4 pages
(eliminating cash deficit)
The State Fiscal Plan
CC 941, ( June 83 ) 7 pages
1. Tax Increases establish financial base; 2. Increases in key fund spending — See also Misc. Report —
To some extent, the fiscal 1984 Executive Budget can be viewed as a watershed in recent state financial history. It is widely believed that Michigan is at last emerging from the prolonged recession that has precipitated a seemingly endless series of budgetary adjustments and fiscal crises. The financial position of the state, although still deep in deficit, is improving and should be positive by the end of fiscal 1985. The March tax increase expanded the available revenues of the state so that, with some prudence, state officials should find ample resources in fiscal 1984 to support state programs. And, although welfare caseloads are projected to continue their rise into 1984, the outlook is for stabilization and perhaps an opportunity for state policymakers to order spending priorities in accordance with long-term goals for economic development. In short, the stage is set for a fresh start.
Resolving Michigan's Past, Present, and Future Fiscal Problems: The 1983 Debate
CC 939, ( March 83 ) 2 pages
Estimates size of the 1983 structural deficit and discusses the use of spending cuts or income tax rate increases to solve the problem. Summarizes findings of 12-page "white paper".
Resolving Michigan's Past, Present, and Future Fiscal Problems — The 1983 Debate
Misc., ( March 83 ) 12 pages
Michigan's Key Fund Fiscal Problem
CC 933, ( September 82 ) 8 pages
Effects on Michigan of the 1981 Economic Tax Recovery Act
CC 930, ( July 82 ) 6 pages
The State Revenue and Spending Limits
Memo, ( October 81 ) 18 pages
Michigan's Growing Cash Deficit
State Finances in Distress: Michigan–Fiscal Years 1980 and 1981
Fiscal Management in an Age of Limits: Balancing the State Budget
The State's Fiscal Crisis
CC 677 ( April 57 ) 4 pages
The governor's 1957-58 budget proposes appropriations from the general fund of $411 million, an increase of 24 per cent over this year's (1956-57) appropriations. To finance this amount, revenues for next year are estimated at only $336 million. This leaves a revenue gap of $75 million. Available surplus will probably reduce this to about $71 million in new revenue needs.


Most medical students only focus on one thing—learning medicine. However, this is not the case for Ahad Azimuddin, MD Plus student with the Texas A&M College of Medicine Class of 2024.
Azimuddin is wrapping up his Master of Business Administration (MBA) through the Texas A&M Mays Business School. Through the MD Plus Program, students can enhance their medical education by earning a master's degree in addition to their medical degree—all within five years.
Earlier this week, Azimuddin and his team won first place in the Aggie PITCH Competition hosted by the McFerrin Center for Entrepreneurship in the Mays Business School. This competition gives students from across Texas A&M the opportunity to pitch their tech startups and new innovations. The competition awarded a total of $50,000 to the winners.
Azimuddin's startup, LCLIP, placed first and won $15,000. LCLIP is committed to eliminating the most common adverse event during intubation—dental damage with the laryngoscopy. They designed a disposable sensor that attaches to the laryngoscope and alerts the user when too much pressure is being applied to the teeth.
His company also won the 2019 MBA Venture Challenge and the 2018 Raymond Ideas Challenge, both challenges hosted by the Mays Business School. His team members are Kevin Kotamarti, MD, anesthesiologist resident, and Aaron Kotamarti, a first-year medical student and electrical engineer.


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Epilobium es un género de unas 160 a 200 especies de plantas con flor de la familia Onagraceae, nativo de las regiones templadas y subárticas de ambos hemisferios.

Descripción
La mayoría son plantas herbáceas, anuales o perennes, raramente arbustivas. Las hojas son en su mayoría opuestas o verticiladas, alternas en unas pocas especies, simples y de forma ovada a lanceolada.

Las flores tienen cuatro pétalos, de color rosa en la mayoría de las especies; rojas, naranjas o amarillas en unas pocas.

El fruto es una cápsula cilíndrica alargada que contiene numerosas semillas envueltas en finas pelusas de seda suave con las que son dispersadas por anemocoria.

Características
La taxonomía del género presenta variaciones entre diferentes botánicos, pero la tendencia actual es de incluir los géneros anteriormente reconocidos de Boisduvalia, Chamaenerion, Chamerion, Pyrogennema y Zauschneria dentro de Epilobium.

Muchas de sus especies son malezas de jardín. Uno de los miembros más conocidos del género es la maleza de los fuegos (Epilobium angustifolium), planta que coloniza rápidamente la tierra quemada. Durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, después del bombardeo de Londres, muchos de los solares con escombros abandonados pronto se cubrieron con esta planta, que suavizaba con el color de sus flores un panorama por lo demás desolador.

Las especies de Epilobium son la base de la alimentación de las larvas de algunas especies de Lepidoptera: polilla de doble banda, la gótica, Orthosia gothica, polilla ratón y Xestia c-nigrum.

Taxonomía
El género fue descrito por Carlos Linneo y publicado en Species Plantarum 1: 347. 1753.
Etimología
Epilobium: nombre genérico que proviene de las palabras griegas: epi = "sobre", y lobos = "una vaina o cápsula," como la flor y la cápsula aparecen juntas, la corola está soportad en el extremo del ovario.

Especies

Referencias

Enlaces externos

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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I am an associate professor in the School of Public Affairs at American University.
My research focuses on political violence and political psychology. I am particularly interested in the effects of social media and exposure to violence on political attitudes, why individuals fight, and how leaders mobilize supporters for conflict or peace. My research uses survey and experimental methods drawn from social psychology and behavioral economics, along with large-N analysis.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Jay's Reviews
Audiobook Review: All Kinds of Tied Down by Mary Calmes
May 8, 2017 | 2 comments
Story Rating: 4.25 stars
Audio Rating: 3.75 stars
Narrator: Tristan James
Length: 9 hours, 1 minute
Audiobook Buy Links: Audible | iBooks
Book Buy Links: Amazon | iBooks
Miro Jones has been crazy for his best friend and partner, fellow Deputy US Marshal Ian Doyle, for years. Ian is kind of intense and crazy, the sort of guy who is always running toward trouble, but Miro has fallen hard for him regardless. They make great partners and are the closest of friends, which is why Miro has to keep his feelings for Ian secret. Ian is straight and has a girlfriend, not to mention a past string of hookups, and so Miro figures if his feelings ever come out it would ruin the close friendship the two men have. But Ian is so touchy-feely with Miro, so comfortable in Miro's space and in his life, that is killing him to stay hands off the sexy man.
It seems like everyone else is seeing something between them that Miro is not. But one day, Miro realizes that just maybe Ian is interested after all. When they finally get together, things ignite between them, giving Miro exactly what he has always wanted. Ian has alway resisted being tied down by anyone. He is a part-time soldier in addition to his marshal duties, and as such he is a leader on the job. But it soon becomes clear that in the relationship department, Ian definitely likes it when Miro takes charge.
Even as things are heating up between them, a new case brings danger and excitement. What starts out as a routine witness transport turns into a matter of life and death. Ian and Miro have just found their way to each other's hearts, and now their lives are threatened before things really get started between them.
All Kinds of Tied Down is the first book in Mary Calmes' Marshals series. I have heard such great things about this series, and am a fan of Calmes' work, so I decided to give it a shot in audio. I loved Ian and Miro as partners. We can feel Miro pining away for Ian almost from the start and the chemistry between them is crazy. We can really see how hard Miro has fallen for Ian, but at the same time, he really tries to hold back and not mess things up between them. I also liked how Miro supports Ian in his relationship with his girlfriend and doesn't try to get in the way. Miro has pretty much accepted nothing is ever going to happen between them, so he is just doing his best to get by. Things are made more complicated by the fact that these guys are partners and best friends, not to mention that Ian is way in Miro's personal space all the time. He wants to spend pretty much every minute together, which is both great for Miro, and torture as well. I liked the way these guys banter and bicker and give each other a hard time, but also clearly have such a close bond. And when they finally get together, things are totally explosive between them.
On that note, however, it does take some time for things to really develop here on the relationship end. I liked that Calmes takes the time to establish the bonds of friendship between them and show how close the guys are. But we are well into the book before anything happens either between the men relationship-wise, or in the key case that is the focus of the suspense. A lot of the first part is the guys taking on various assignments, and I kept thinking "this has got to be the thing" that is important, but then it passes and something new comes along. Ian is also gone on military duty for part of the book and Miro is alone, or hanging out with his other besties. So I felt like this part goes on for a little too long before we get to the real meat of the story on either the romantic or the suspense end.
I listened to this one in audio, so those feelings about timing may have been partly influenced by the fact that I was listening rather than reading. Tristan James is the narrator here and I think overall he does a good job. Honestly, for me in audio, my biggest criteria is a generally pleasant listening experience and James delivers that. The pacing is good and nothing is too jarring, so overall it worked. But looking into details, there are some problem areas for me. First off, James' tone remains the same sort of casual vibe throughout the book, regardless of what is happening. Whether it is a routine conversation, a passionate sex scene, a heated argument, etc, everything is narrated with the same kind of blasé tone. So I think in many places it takes the energy of the story down a notch, or just feels off from what is happening in the book. In the same way, we get verbal cues that don't carry over into audio. For example, "he moaned" or "he yelled" are spoken, but they aren't conveyed in the narration. The other big problem is that pretty much everyone's voice sounds the same. Ian does have a slightly different voice than Miro some of the time. But mostly it sounds just alike, and there were many conversations between them, or between other characters, where I couldn't tell who was talking. Most of the women were kind of nasal and whiny sounding, which made them come across unpleasantly even when they were perfectly fine characters. So like I said, the audio was mostly fine and pleasant, but nothing that really excited me or made the book come to life beyond the words on the page.
Overall I really enjoyed this first installment in the Marshals series and I am eager to catch up with the other books. Now that Ian and Miro are together, I am really looking forward to seeing where Calmes takes them from here.
A review copy of this book was provided by Dreamspinner Press.
Audiobook Review: Fit to Be Tied by Mary Calmes
Review: Fit to be Tied by Mary Calmes
Audiobook Review: Tied Up in Knots by Mary Calmes
Review: Twisted and Tied by Mary Calmes
FILED UNDER: 3.75 stars, 4.25 stars, Audiobook, Contemporary, Jay's Reviews
TAGGED: coworkers, Dreamspinner Press, friends to lovers, law enforcement, Marshals series, Mary Calmes, OFY, Tristan James
Kareni on May 8, 2017 at 12:04 pm
This sounds like a book I'd enjoy reading. Thanks for sharing your review, Jay.
Becky on May 16, 2017 at 10:12 am
Excellent Book! I have all formats and I love the Audible in this series.
Review: Blue Plate Special by Layla Reyne

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


My friend Tony Headrick is a super talented designer. His studio, Neno Design, has won design awards and he's created some of the coolest logos and websites around Fort Wayne (including my blog's logo!).
We decided we wanted to work on something together. Trouble is, I'm not a designer, and he's not a writer. Luckily, we figured it out.
Presenting: the Woodclinched Pencil Vector Pack!
It contains 14 pencils from my collection, some vintage, and some new. I tried to include a variety — including an old bullet pencil and a fancy antique mechanical pencil — in addition to straight-up wood cased pencils.
To me, pencils are one of the most accessible and basic art tools. Working with Andy Welfle, a professional pencil collector, made the experience so worthwhile. Andy provided some of his favorite pencils, the history behind the design and it was a real privilege to be trusted with such unique, vintage and storied pencils. It was a real challenge to try and keep the design minimal. The colors, materials and textures were what really stood out.
Just look at the detail between various lengths o points, and of the sharpening of the barrel between round and hex pencils.
He did an amazing job, too. As someone who doesn't normally spend a good portion of his day thinking about wooden pencils, he caught a lot of detail: how a hex pencil differs from a round pencil where the tip meets the paint; how the shape and tip of a carpenter pencil differs from, say, a regular round pencil; the shine pattern on a ferrule or a tipped end. From a design perspective, I love how he managed to keep the design pretty flat and basic, but was able to incorporate a lot of detail, still, like the woodgrain and that shine on the barrel.
What is a "Vector Pack"?
What does one do with a vector pack, all you non-designers may want to know? If you're a designer, or find yourself in a situation where you may want to use a pencil like this in a design, then this might appeal to you. Rather than a raster like a JPEG or a PNG, a vector file allows you to scale an image up or down infinitely, keeping its shape and integrity all the while. Plus, you can easily change color, add text, or otherwise manipulate your image to fit the needs of your project.
Click the image to go see the full vector pack at The Creative Market, and purchase for only $5!
This includes all 14 pencils and is for sale for $5 on the Creative Market!
This is coming soon. I'll definitely have more information when we get this up and going. We're going to submit it to The Cotton Bureau to crowd fund the printing of these t-shirts.
I'd be all over that t-shirt. Or, rather, all inside that t-shirt. Fund, crowd, fund!
Super cool Woodclinched Pencil Vector Pack for FREE! And there are plans to release the bunch as t-shirt! WANT!
I LOVE what you've done here! In fact, I love your whole blog.


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Feature Interview
An Interview With DEHD
Will Oliver | July 21st, 2020
[Jason Balla, left]
On Friday Chicago trio DEHD returned with their third album Flower Of Devotion via Fire Talk Records. It's a big sonic leap forward for the band who sounds as confident as ever, while still keeping their sound very much intact.
We had the chance to chat with DEHD's Jason Balla about the sonic shift forward, the quick follow-up from their last record, his process with Emily Kempf, how they're getting through this tough time, and much more.
Find our conversation with Jason Balla below.
Will: First off, how are you guys during with everything quarantine related? Are you guys still all in Chicago?
Jason: Yeah we're holding it down here in Chicago still. Things are as good as they can be all things considered.
W: Congrats on Flower Of Devotion! Did you guys ever consider postponing the record due to circumstances or did you see it as a chance to give people something to help them get through such a trying time?
J: Thanks! We actually pushed it back 2 months! Things were supposed to start rolling when the country started locking down. It seems like years ago since then! I'm really glad we pushed it back and that our team was understanding. If folks can use it as a way to relate to what's going on inside them or around them right now I think it'll be doing its job.
W: Have you been recording any more new stuff – Dehd or otherwise – as a result of the downtime?
J: I just moved actually and set up a little studio in my new apartment. Mostly just some tests, and solo stuff for me. Definitely looking forward to when we can get back in the practice space and start writing again. We have like a handful of demos of new music we're gonna have to dig out of the voice memos when the time comes.
W: Does it feel strange not getting to tour in support of it right now? I can only imagine the financial effects of it, are you guys doing ok?
J: Yeah! All we really wanna do right now is be able to play shows and share the songs lives with people who are getting the chance to hear them now. It's definitely a wrench into all the plans we had for the year, but it's also been a blessing in disguise. We've been home and able to focus our energy elsewhere that might have been on the back burner if we were away from home and always moving around on tour, playing shows. We're gonna be okay and when shows are back on it's gonna be hard not to hug everyone!
W: Your last album Water came out last year. How quickly did you start writing the new one and did you intend to follow it up quickly or did it just happen organically?
J: The way putting that record out worked had the record done 2 years before we actually put it out. So there was quite a bit of distance between that record and those songs. Flower came on so quickly mostly because we were touring so much more and practicing a lot more. It seems every time we get in the room together a song comes out. We lived a lotta life in between Water and Flower and it just came out the pa speaker in our space.
W: Sonically, this record is a big leap forward for you guys but your sound is still very much intact. Was it hard to find that balance, was there any trepidation about having a more polished production this time around?
J: When we talk about the "Dehd sound" it's really wrapped up in the way we write songs. Everyone has such their own vibe on their instrument, for me recording it all is really just to turn it up (shout out my mentor Matt Hannigan for this amazing, and simple outlook on sound) and make it sound as full and cool as it does in the room. We rented out a studio and it was just the three of us in there. We tracked everything live still for that energy. I was literally in the control room with my guitar, hitting record, and then strumming away.
W: What influenced you guys during this recording, if there were any bands or other form of media that helped inspire you?
J: It seems like a kitchen sink of inspiration, but bands like Broadcast and Cocteau Twins were on my mind. Kinda vibey synthed out, magic in the space between notes and melody kind of vibe. Em had some old school rockers and country crooners knockin around. A big part of the new record and our influence was just experimentation with drum machines and synths. I think it just opened our heads.
W: A big part of your sound – for me – is the vocal interplay between Emily + Jason. Can you discuss your songwriting process and if you guys co-write together or if you write individually, how are the vocal duties decided and split up?
JB: We each write the words we say. We just throw it at the wall while we're writing the song and whatever sticks, sticks. We've gotten a lot better at this over the years and all three of us are really listening to what each other are doing. If someone is on to something, we let them take the rest of us there.
W: A lot has already been said about your breakup from past rounds of press. But has the fact that you've been able to keep working together since furthered your bond as both people and songwriters? Seems like you had fun with this on "Haha"
J: The breakup is ancient history. It was a great opportunity with Flower to show that we're a band first and foremost. When we wrote about Water that was what was going on. With Flower, it's what's going on with our lives. Different struggles and new insights into life. That time really was wild and the three of us came out of it better communicators and as good friends. A great recipe for making music if you ask me.
Flower Of Devotion by DEHD
W: Emily has her own tattoo shop Time Being Tattoo. How has the pandemic affected that, is there anything fans can do to help in any way?
J: They actually recently opened back up for business as Chicago's restrictions have opened things up a bit here in Chicago. I think the best form of support would be booking work, but another important thing to mention is that Time Being is running weekly supply drives to distribute to various communities of need throughout Chicago. If anyone reading this is local, check out their gram and give if you can.
W: I know here in NYC a lot of people are worried about the live music landscape, especially for smaller DIY venues. I'm sure Chicago is going through a similar situation. Do you think small venues will be able to survive such an uncertain time?
J: I really hope that places can hang on. This whole thing just shows how fragile the individual can be and how important the places with personality and identity are to making life good. It's a good time to help out if you can. I think that this whole music thing means so much to so many of us that either we can help these places hang on, or new places will hopefully take their place. We need to keep the interests in the music community out of the hands of the big companies. Keep it local, keep it caring.
W: To end on a lighter note, what stuff have you guys been listening to/watching/reading to help pass the time stuck at home?
J: lots of good books: If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin, Native Son by Richard Wright, We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Also been on that Ken Burns Civil War doc tip.
Flower Of Devotion is able to pre-order now right here.


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El Pabellón de Finlandia en la Bienal de Venecia es un espacio artístico ubicado en la ciudad de Venecia con motivo de la Bienal de Venecia. El Pabellón, diseñado por Alvar Aalto, fue construido desde 1955 a 1956. Posteriormente fue restaurado por Fredrik Fogh entre 1976 y 1982. Después de la restauración el Pabellón fue brevemente utilizado por Islandia, pero posteriormente regreso a Finlandia.

Expositores

 2005 — Jaakko Heikkilä.
 2007 — Maaria Wirkkala.
 2011 — Vesa-Pekka Rannikko (Comisariado: Laura Köönikkä).
 2013 — Antti Laitinen y Terike Haapoja. (Comisariado: Mika Elo y Marko Karo Harri Laakso).
 2015 — Visa Suonpää y Patrik Söderlund. (Comisariado: Taru Elfving).
 2017 — Erkka Nissinen, Nathaniel Mellors. (Comisariado: Xander Karskens).
 2019 — Larissa Sansour.

Bibliografía
 Russeth, Andrew (April 17, 2019). "The Venice Biennale: Everything You Could Ever Want to Know". ARTnews.
 Volpi, Cristiana (2013). "Finland". In Re Rebaudengo, Adele (ed.). Pavilions and Garden of Venice Biennale. Rome: Contrasto. p. 187. ISBN 978-88-6965-440-4.

Finlandia
Pabellones de Finlandia


I saw the doctor today and we discussed my grapefruit sized cyst. He suggested that I try to remove just one ovary instead of both. Even though I am 51 yrs old, my ovaries still produce a little of the much needed hormones. Better to have the natural one instead of the fake one hey. My right ovary will be checked out and if it doesn't look good, it goes too! My left ovary will be taken out on the 12th if I can get some medicare from the state. See my husband is still unemployed, he is working part time for a friend but it is not enough to take care of all those wonderful medical expenses. I will still get the surgery but I have to jump through all the hoops with the state and hospital first.
Anyway, God is so good. The doctor I am seeing is a Christian dr. and he is only charging me 30% $450 instead of the normal $1,700 to do the surgery. The hospital will charge me well you know, and arm and a leg and then some. Why I get charged $20 per pill is beyond me.
Once everything is taken care of (paper work) then I get my surgery which I need of course. I feel this thing in there every day. Some days it hurts alot. So it's gotta go now. Please pray for me gals that I can get all the financial help possible, that God will open all the doors so we don't sink further in the financial hole than we are already. Jobs here are sparse at best and I can't really get one right now. I still want to finish school which will open up more doors and help pay bills better than minimum wage will.
It's been almost two weeks since my last post. I have not been well I'm afraid. I landed in the ER last Tuesday with unbelievable pain in my ovary. The last time I felt pain like that was when my gallbladder went out of control. Grrrrr!!!!! So needless to say I haven't been here to post. The doctor found a grapefruit sized cyst in my lower left ovary. OMG!!!! Right! The tests reveal it is NOT cancerous. Yippee!!!! But it needs to come out. I will see him tomorrow to decide how, where and what will be done.
In the meantime, I have been working on these silly little dolls and critters. I took a class on Paperclay with Nancye Williams and I still can't get my foil head right, so at this time, I'm using Styrofoam balls. LOL!
I was so unsure of myself that I did the head, neck and bust separately. Why am I such a chicken, hee, hee!
I managed to get a whole bust on each one except the Scrappy Cat. She won't be getting a bust but a body.
This is Scrappy Cat. LOL! I have a whole slew of ideas with this one. Lots of groovy Halloween ideas that I have sketched out and she/he is the first to be created. Time to finish up these little darlings hey?!?
Well I will keep you posted on my doctors visit, I go tomorrow. Have a wonderful, creative day.
Once apon a time in a far away place called West Va. a woman was browsing one of her favorite blogs and discovered the land of Lollishops.com. "Oooooooh" she said with a gasp. "How very nice and what is all this pink and blue?" So she searched and searched and searched some more of this wonderful lolliland of shops, going to and fro loving all the wonderful goodies she found there.
One day she got the greatest idea!!! "I want to live in the land of Lollishops." So she set forth to create wonderful wings of blue and pink, sprinkled with glitter. She also made glorious paper music crowns to go atop each of her new creations.
Day after day she toiled and worked and toiled some more, working diligently on her newest creations. Some went to a magical place called "Petticoats and Parasols." "They will love it there" she said.
But some of her most special creations stayed home.
They stayed home so you could come and visit Lollishops.com too!
Don't you want to come away with me to the land of Pink and Blue? I know you do!
I am so honored to receive such a wonderful award from Sue of "Rabbit Hollow Prims". She was kind enough to think of me when she received this award and has shared it with me. I will be sharing it with a few of my friends here in blog land as well.
Love this rabbit, how cool is that!!!
Too scary Witch but in a nice way of course...hee, hee.
Patriotic Rabbit in pocket, how American, Amen to that!!!
Why are there so many things for me to buy? I have pondered this question. I have also wondered when someone will leave me a boat load of cold, hard cash so I can go on endless shopping sprees. I promise to invite you too!
Here is my first pick. This is a very colorful pin cushion, this designer sells fabric too! She also designs bags, bird hangers and more. Hum, I'm sure I could use just one more of these. Too cute!!!
Here's some adorable little creatures I've just gotta have, how about you?!? I'm digging in my wallet now!
Looking for that lottery ticket, got a good number anyone?
How about this adorable face, awh aint he sweet. I found some change in my wallet. How much did you say this little sweety was?
I didn't even know that I liked foxes. I do now. I have just the place for these darlings.
Sara Lechner created these, she is more of a fiber artist although she creates dollies too!
I'm not sure what this is really, but it is awsome and I gotta have her.
Well that is one of my wish lists. Maybe one day I will be able to buy all the wonderful creations that are out there, till then, I will be patient and tell my kids to get a job, mommy needs stuff now!!! LOL!
All the above mentioned are found at "The Paper Cake Finds" on my blog list to the right for viewing and purchase.
Mark 15:4 Pilate asked him, "arent you going to answer: See how many things they are accusing you of" But Jesus still made no reply and Pilate was amazed.
Prophesy: Isaiah 52:14 There were many who were appalled at him, his apprearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness.
Mark 16: 4...But when they looked up, they saw that the stone which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb they saw a young man dressed in white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. Don't be alarmed, he said,. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucifed. He has risen! He is not here.


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Once upon a time, the great planet Jupiter was orbited by a glorious ring of dust, according to astronomers. Now, nothing of it remains, having coalesced long ago into the planet's Galilean moons. But these moon-forming discs should be found around other planets in alien star systems. And for the first time we have confirmation
While our warming atmosphere on Earth threatens many living things, spurring on global warming on Mars could be the key to making the planet habitable for Earthly life. And scientists think they may have identified a material that can help turn up the thermostat for parts of the Red Planet. "Mars is the most habitable
If all goes to plan, in November this year the International Space Station (ISS) is about to get a bit spicier. Researchers are hoping to send up Española chili pepper plants (Capsicum annuum), which could make peppers the very first fruit to be grown in space by US astronauts. "We were also looking for varieties
SpaceX is about to perform its most ambitious test-launch yet of a shiny Mars rocket prototype in south Texas. Workers have descended upon the developing coastal launch site over the past 8 months to build and prepare the stout, three-legged prototype for testing. It's built out of stainless steel, has the shape of a badminton
Something strange is happening 130 milling light-years away in spiral galaxy NGC 3147: there's a thin disc of material surrounding its small and 'starving' black hole that's a complete surprise to astronomers. Discs like the one spotted in NGC 3147 – made up of gas, dust and other debris pulled into the black hole's orbit
The life of an asteroid is lonely. The rocks spend eons drifting through the cold vacuum of space. But on Wednesday, the asteroid Ryugu welcomed a special visitor: Japan's Hayabusa-2 probe successfully landed on the asteroid's surface at 21:06 ET (01:06 UTC on Thursday). The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched Hayabusa-2 into space in
It's easy to take for granted the detailed, almost real-time knowledge of Mars that we have at our fingertips. After all, in the not-too-distant past, Mars was largely mysterious. All we had were ground-based images of the planet. Now? Now we have daily weather reports and images of dust storms. Martian dust storms are one
Astronomers just detected 2 supermassive black holes on a course for collision
Thanks to gravitational wave astronomy, we are getting a better understanding of what happens when black holes collide. But the closely orbiting black holes only generate ripples in space-time strong enough to be detected from just before they smash. What happens before then? We can only extrapolate. But a new discovery could change all that.
India is getting ready to launch its first-ever lunar lander on Sunday 14 July. As part of the Chandrayaan-2 mission, the lander will be riding on top of the country's most powerful rocket, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III. The plan is to both launch an orbiter module and a 56-pound (25 kilogram) mobile
Scientists are trying to make 'ploonets' a thing, and we are here for it
You've heard of moonmoons – that's what scientists want to call the satellite of a moon. But are you ready for ploonets? You'd better be, because we're here to tell you about this hypothetical new class of cosmic objects. It is exactly what it sounds like: a sort-of cross between a moon and a planet.
Wild new paper claims our galaxy could have formed under Chameleon Theory
Einstein's theory of general relativity has been proven time and again, and is generally accepted as a solid foundation for understanding the Universe. But it's not the only model for explaining how gravity works and galaxies form – and new research has shown a different model under which the Milky Way could have come to
Neutron star smash-up just provided a new measure of a fundamental cosmic feature
When astronomers around the world watched two neutron stars collide in August 2017, it taught us a whole lot of cool things about the Universe. Now there's one more cool thing: Astronomers have used it to refine one of the most fundamental characteristics of the entire Universe – the Hubble Constant. The Hubble Constant is
Highest-energy photons ever detected have been traced to an enigmatic source
It may have exploded nearly a thousand years ago, but the Crab Nebula is still spitting out radiation at incredibly high energies. In fact, astronomers have detected record-breakingly energetic photons coming from the object, clocking in at up to 450 trillion electron volts. Previously, the highest energy photon ever detected was just 75 trillion electron
The Apollo mission had no toilet. Here's how the astronauts went to the bathroom
Bathroom breaks on the moon? Forget about it. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin may have been the first people to set foot on the lunar surface when Apollo 11 landed there 50 years ago, on 20 July, 1969, but they had to forgo some Earthly conveniences in order to pull off the moon landing.
Scientists have a new idea about Mars' methane mystery and its implications for life
For centuries, scientists have speculated about the existence of life on Mars. But it was only within the past 15 years that the search for life (past and present) really began to heat up. It was at this time that methane, an organic molecule that is associated with many forms of life here on Earth
NASA telescopes have revealed the atmosphere of a strange hybrid exoplanet
Out there in space is an unusual exoplanet name Gliese 3470 b (GJ 3470 b.) It's a strange world, kind of like a hybrid between Earth and Neptune. It has a rocky core like Earth, but is surrounded by an atmosphere made of hydrogen and helium. That combination is unlike anything in our own Solar
Einstein's cross is helping measure the spin of distant supermassive black holes
The rotation of giant discs of dust and gas swirling into supermassive black holes billions of light-years away may sound like a difficult thing to measure, but astronomers have found a way to do it. Using a new technique, researchers have determined the spin of five accretion discs – finding that one, in a quasar
Another mysterious space signal was just traced back to its source
They're some of the most mysterious and powerful events in space, and we don't know what causes them – but in a major fear, astronomers have just traced another weird signal to its source. The strange, energetic phenomena are called fast radio bursts (FRBs), and for just the second time in history – both announced in
You must watch these insanely cool videos of yesterday's solar eclipse from space
At the same time as a solar eclipse was passing over Argentina and Chile on July 2, a massive hurricane was brewing in the Eastern Pacific ocean – and satellite cameras tracking the path of the eclipse have caught both in a stunning video. The eclipse began over the South Pacific east of New Zealand
Breathtaking Hubble image reveals never-before-seen detail of a dying star
The death of a binary star is not a peaceful affair. They rumble and erupt, blasting off their outer material and spewing radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum out into space. It's a process that can take a very long time – the more massive the star, the more spectacular the firework display. Eta Carinae, a
Astronomers have analysed claims 'Oumuamua's an alien ship, and it's not looking good
Interstellar object 'Oumuamua – that strange, cigar-shaped chunk of rock from somewhere a vast distance beyond the Solar System – is, new research has concluded, absolutely, positively not an alien spaceship. OK, well, probably not. We can't tell for sure without closely examining the thing, and it's passed beyond our reach now. But, after carefully
Some black holes are so old we can't explain them. This might be where they came from
Super-Massive Black Holes (SMBH) are hard to explain. These gargantuan singularities are thought to be at the center of every large galaxy (our Milky Way has one) but their presence there sometimes defies easy explanation. As far as we know, black holes form when giant stars collapse. But that explanation doesn't fit all the evidence.
Astronomers found a star that dims so erratically, they have no explanation for it
Well, friends, we have another dimming star mystery on our hands, and it's unlike any dimming star we've seen yet. It's called EPIC 249706694, a binary star located around 350 light-years away, and astronomers have identified 28 dips in its brightness. While the drops in light are mostly the same, there's also a problem –
NASA probe captures Insanely gorgeous and moody new photos of Jupiter
There's something about Jupiter that mesmerizes those who gaze at it. It's intricate, dazzling clouds are a visual representation of the laws of nature that are hard to turn away from. And even though the Juno spacecraft has been at Jupiter for almost three years now, and has delivered thousands of images of the gas
Astronomers just found the earliest example ever of merging galaxies
Galaxy mergers are not particularly rare, but they are important events. Not only for the galaxies involved, but for scientists trying to piece together how galaxies evolve. Now, astronomers using ALMA have found the earliest example yet of merging galaxies. The pair of merging galaxies in question is called B14-65666, an unwieldy name, but scientifically
Stunning new pics reveal the rings of Uranus are like nothing else in the Solar System
Saturn may be the most showy, but it's not the only planet in the Solar System circled by rings. And the 13 rings around Uranus just spilled previously unknown details when they photobombed a thermal image astronomers took of the ice planet. For the first time, researchers have determined the temperature of the rings, and
A baby planet is sculpting strange patterns in the dust around its young star
When stars are young, they're often surrounded by a ring of dust and gas known as a protoplanetary disk. Eventually, the material in this disk can clump together, forming everything from planets to asteroids. Now, an international team of researchers has found a young star with thin rings and gaps in the outer part of
Harvard scientists say radiation from black holes could create life
In the hunt for alien life, scientists often focus on the "Goldilocks zone", the region around a star where the temperature would be just right for liquid water to exist on an orbiting planet's surface. But now, a team from Harvard University is suggesting there's another kind of Goldilocks zone we should consider in our
Sorry guys: The most comprehensive radio search ever just found no sign of alien life
Our search for extraterrestrial intelligence requires spanning distances so vast, sometimes it may feel even worse than finding a needle in a haystack. Since the 1960s, astronomers have combed through billions of radio channels looking for anything out of the ordinary, as this could suggest not only some other form of life, but perhaps also


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The docking platform for the Sky Ark was, plainly speaking, impossible to describe without resorting to elaborate hand gestures.
The entire station was built to the East of the Metropolis, where it wouldn't impact the lives of the citizens too much. Might as well – the real estate the station took over equaled that of a large town, maybe even more.
It hasn't been long since the introduction of the Arks but the number of them in service swelled remarkably fast. Currently, only those involved in the project knew the exact number of Sky Arks in service but a regular layman could estimate roughly thirty of them in existence. Building that many in relatively short amount of time were a feat of engineering far too difficult to achieve unless a humongous amount of resources were sacrificed on the project itself. A kind of resource a small kingdom could survive on for years.
Seeing through the crystal window pane, Kaleena counted ten different-sized Sky Arks anchored in mid-air around the station, throngs of people bustling around them like worker ants doing who knows what.
These Sky Arks had various paint schemes applied to them, signifying either the different routes they serviced, or the divisions of the Imperial Government they belonged to.
The smallest was as big as a ship-faring galleon, at least thirty meters in length. The biggest one, however, that one was nearly ten times the size. It was painted in distinct hues of violet and gold, with the Imperial Crest prominently displayed on the bow.
There was no mistaking it to whom this particular Ark belonged to the Imperial Family. More correctly, the Emperor himself.
When Damien looked at it, his face hardened slightly, before relaxing a bit. The reason for that was, he saw what resembled a bunch of long range cannons on deck, with uniformed men and women milling about around them, clearly performing maintenance.
Since it was the Imperial Family's personal Ark, it stood to reason that some amount of protection was built into it. Damien remembered that Marquis Phillips initially had no plans to turn an Ark into a military weapon, but also had to remind himself that he had been away from the capital and its ever-changing political landscape.
A lot could change in a month, never mind a year.
Suddenly, he began wondering about the balance of power in the structure of the Empire itself. The Founding Families had not been seeing eye to eye on a number of matters, and had been for years like that.
It was rather obvious to see, now that there were potentially many militarized Sky Arks out there, all of them under the command of the Emperor, those nobles thinking of dissent had to think hard before throwing tantrums.
Out of the six Families, The House of Argos always fostered a close relationship with The House of Phillips. It was a given that the Imperial Institute developed and funded Arks would form the backbone of the Emperor's expanding iron-like grip on power.
Then there was the Lomax bloodline. He hadn't kept up with the latest gossip but even Damien knew that the ties between his namesake House and that of the Emperor's weren't all that amiable at the moment.
It wasn't to the point where daggers were drawn publicly. The path for reconciliation remained wide open, but still, the history of enmity would be impossible to erase. Once a rift of distrust formed, it'd be difficult, nay impossible, to completely mend it no matter how much time has passed.
Even one or two of these heavily armed Sky Arks would leave behind a trail of destruction never seen before, with very little means to defeat one without sacrificing even more.
Things Kain said a few months ago suddenly sounded uncannily omniscient. How did a five year old kid predict stuff like this, Damien mused inwardly.
Naturally, thinking about his son caused Damien to fall back into the previous gloomy state of mind. Frowning, he sat back on his seat, sighing. What did any of this stuff matter? His son was gone. None of this gave him comfort. All of it, was nothing more than noise.
Lizbeth glanced at her sighing husband, her face wan and gaunt. She resisted the urge to shake her head in disapproval, and instead tried to keep a placid face. Her son's death pained her immeasurably, but she still had to mind Kaleena and her unborn child. She'd dwell on her grief in private, and unleash the built up anger on those responsible when the time came. That was how she rolled.
As the sun set below the horizon, countless beams of light began pulsating from the ground around the station, illuminating the area as if it was still in the middle of a day.
Guided by the light, the Sky Ark carrying the Lomax family touched down and docked with a loud clunk. Dozens of metallic cables, each one as thick as an ox, connected with the Ark as circles of Invocation array swirled around them.
There was a slight vibration as the Ark resonated with whatever Invocation spell there was in the docking station, which lasted for a few minutes.
Soon, a disembodied voice announced that the passengers were now allowed to disembark.
Everyone, even Katrina, couldn't get used to this voice. They were told that it belonged to that of the Ark's captain, and the messages were broadcast via an Invocation spell. Still, to hear someone speak but not see the person say it was a bit hard to swallow for the uninitiated.
It was a simple affair, getting their travel papers processed. In order to travel between different provinces, a permit for each and every passenger was required from the point of origin. It acted sort of like as a passport, in other words. Everyone had to get it, regardless of age. Wherever they went to, there would be marks on the paper denoting where they have been to.
Have a permit, stand in a queue, get a stamp on the piece of parchment along with the customary Truth Board once-over – and one was allowed to enter the Capital of the Empire.
By the time the family caught a carriage taking into the city proper, the evening had fallen. But unlike any other city, not even Lafayette, the sunset didn't mean the beginning of bedtime for its citizens.
Every street had rows of Invocation array supported street lamps casting bright light, illuminating the surroundings and allowing the public to carry on with their lives uninterrupted. Various businesses continued to offer their services deep into the night, and there were unending throngs of people walking around regardless of what hour it was.
If Kain saw this scene now, he'd be all nostalgic and like. After all, it was exactly like the kind of nightlife he used to enjoy back when.
Damien and Lizbeth, even Rosy, were acquainted with this kind of hubbub, but for Kaleena, this kind of vibrancy was completely unexpected and refreshingly different. The buzzing of life she felt here easily eclipsed what she witnessed in Lafayette. These two cities were totally incomparable as far as the liveliness went.
The first thing the family decided to do was to find a lodging. Michelle still had her residence in the city but it wasn't going to suffice for the six people in her party. She also had a small house in the Academy's grounds, which she requested to be built when she first started working there because she couldn't be bothered to commute every morning.
But ever since tendering her resignation, it was most likely no longer there.
After finding an inn that offered good food and clean beds, Michelle left them and went back home, in order to get some things ready.
It was a truly good timing to arrive in Argos at this precise date because the admissions for entry were about to be open for the prospective learners. Certain portions of the would-be students had to go through a prior procedure to sort out their talent levels to see if they met the minimum threshold of acceptance, while some other, more fortunate individuals would be given a leeway of sorts when recommendations issued by recognized Invokers accompanied them.
The procedure to determine the talent levels was held every mid-year in the capital cities of each of the six provinces. It wasn't a tournament or something like that, but rather, it was boring exams concentrating on testing Aeterna Affinities and aptitudes in casting Invocations. Anyone aged between seven and seventeen could enter.
Going by the inspirational name of The Festival of Soaring Will, it certainly presented a golden opportunity for those looking to make something of their lives. After all, becoming an Invoker opened a lot of doors, all of them leading to fame and fortune of unprecedented scale.
Obviously, Kaleena and Katrina didn't participate in The Festival, so they lacked qualifications. But with Michelle around, that bit was already not a problem. The question was the burden of the admission fee and who would be able to take care of that.
Michelle assured Damien and Lizbeth that with little Kal's latent talents, she would enter the Academy as a scholarship student so there was no problem. As for Katrina, she too possessed a solid foundation as well as highly sought-after Affinity with Dark Element so the elder Invoker foresaw no issues there.
Feeling weary after a taxing travel, both Damien and Lizbeth retired early, but Kaleena couldn't still her excited heart and so she kept on pestering her cousin on many strange things she saw in the city.
"Katrina, why was there men and women in funny dresses singing on the street corner?"
"They are traveling bards." Feeling slightly irritated at her sleep being disturbed, Katrina frowned but answered regardless. "Didn't you see them in Lafayette? Oh right, they weren't as elaborate nor as many of them there, weren't they? Oh well. In Argos, there are lots of Bard troupes that perform for money. Even I can't count how many of them are here in the city."
"Singing and dancing for money?" Kaleena was shocked. "You can earn money like that?"
"Obviously you have to be talented first. Failing that, you could earn coin in many other ways." Katrina sighed as she fiddled with the pillow. She was all ready to hit the sack but Kaleena didn't seem to.
With more irrepressible energy bursting forth, she jumped out of her bed and directly landed on Katrina's.
"Really? So there are other ways to earn money? Not just farming and being an Invoker, right? Just how many could there be? And can I see all of them here in the city?"
"Get off my bed this instance!!" Katrina tried to shove her cousin away and the two began engaging in an impromptu tug of war with a brown colored pillow.
The struggle lasted for a few minutes, before the physical exhaustion forced the two to stop. Although Katrina kept on frowning, Kaleena didn't, and a small smile was etched on her face.
Seeing this, even Katrina broke out a rueful smile as well, then chucked the pillow at her cousin's face. "Just go to sleep, will you? Ask me tomorrow. I'm tired now."
The following morning, the family waited until Michelle returned with news. In the meantime, Kaleena continued to pester her cousin with more questions. Fluctuating from feeling irritated at the constant questioning, and proud of the fact that her country bumpkin cousin was relying on her, Katrina explained this and that to the best of her knowledge, sometimes even concocting 100% bull manure of a story when she had no clue about topics she was asked.
Next to them, Lizbeth and Damien carried a pair of complex facial expressions, both of them mentally noting to correct all the misunderstandings Katrina potentially have caused before they become bigger headaches later on.
Before long, Michelle returned with news.
"Well, I've spoken to the dean of admission, and he has agreed to let Kaleena and Katrina take an out-of-season Festival. They should be ready by early tomorrow. For preparation, let us depart and head for my place in the Academy. Apparently, those old fogies left my residence as is. Not sure why that was the case though."
Michelle spoke, her face showing a bit of confusion when mentioning the last part.
Lizbeth silently mused that the reason for her teacher's place still remaining within the Academy was probably because of the Grand Elders knew of Michelle's personality. She was impulsive, lacked deep thought regarding certain matters, and they figured that eventually she'd return once she got bored of whatever she was doing.
And so, they were almost proven right, although it was with a different reason why she had to return so soon.
Of course, Lizbeth would never reveal her thoughts on the matter to her teacher. That would be considered…. quite inconsiderate.
After settling the account with the inn, they traveled once more. From one side of the city, to the other side where the Academy was located. The trip itself took several hours, due to the distance as well as something both Damien and Lizbeth least enjoyed about the capital city. Something that could not be seen anywhere in the world.
Midday rush hour traffic.
With a city this big, and with so many people living in it, all of whom needed to go somewhere at the exact same moment, a traffic jam was bound to happen, regardless of a fantasy world or not.
As they – Lomax family, Rosy and Michelle – sat in the horse drawn carriage, they witnessed the kind of scene that Kain was quite intimately familiar with from his previous life.
As far as eyes could see, the cobbled roads in every which direction were packed to the brim with other horse drawn carriages and goods supply caravans, as well as people on horseback scything between the stand-still vehicles, while raising the ire of those stuck in this stifling situation.
Seeing this, Damien chuckled wryly. "The traffic jam looks worse than before. Is it because of the Sky Arks with cheaper fares bringing in more folks to Argos?"
Michelle shook her head, as if the whole thing was giving her a mighty migraine. "You're partially correct there, Damien. Ever since the introduction of the Arks, the speed of urbanization exploded beyond what the Imperial Government can manage. I hear that nearly ten thousand souls arrive in the city almost everyday."
"Gee, that's a lot," Rosy murmured, her whiskers bobbing up and down. However, she looked confused. "Uh, how many is a ten thousand?"
"Apparently, it's one too many the way things are deteriorating." Michelle sighed. "I don't mind folks migrating to find work and to provide better lives for their families, but there's a need for a line to be drawn. The Capital is indeed very impressive, but even she has her limits. Exceed that, then all-encompassing anarchy will rise. An anarchy born from resentment. Resentment of not finding work, resentment of being marginalized, resentment of seeing other, less deserving people succeeding where you failed."
"But isn't that human nature?" Lizbeth countered. "Such resentment grows whether it's caused by migration or not."
"Well, in the past, nations often went to war to quell the thirst of anger in the masses. Cull the number of mouths to feed, increase the breathing room, create opportunities, incite the masses into a frenzied, blinded loyalty – that sort of things. But now, with the Empire at its peak with no one else to wage war with, I wonder how the current Emperor will tackle the matter…"
"A war averted is a precious victory earned," murmured Damien as he recalled something the previous head of the Adventurers' Association once told him. "If I were the Emperor, I'd probably ask the citizens to expand to other, more available territories out there. I would think there are more opportunities for wealth and fame out there than here."
"But can you deny the attraction of the Capital? Where the rule of the law is upheld better and the threats of Fiends and miscreants are that much lower, where their children can attend educational institutions, where they can find professional healers quickly? Where jobs are seemingly easier to find, even if the truth is different?" Michelle sighed again. "Even with the loyalty of the citizens, at the end of the day, we all want what's best for our individual selves, and not for the collective good which is something not many of us can sense on the ground level."
Not really understanding anything the adults were talking about, Kaleena, Katrina and Rosy ignored the heavy topic and gazed outside the carriage, hoping that the infernal traffic jam would clear up as soon as possible.
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The cross-town trip took almost the whole day, but eventually they made it to the grand gates of the SOIR's Academy on the West section of the metropolis.
Actually, the plot of land occupied by the Academy was not seen as a part of the capital city at all, but instead as a self-sustained district replete with its own branch of city hall and corresponding governors. In this case, the Grand Elders and the SOIR council acting as such. In all intents and purposes, calling it another city was not incorrect.
To put into perspective the overall size of the Academy, it was as big as Lafayette itself, maybe even more. That's how massive it was.
Of course, it also included the training facilities which were larger than some residential areas in major cities and towns for obvious reasons – when Invocations go off, even in mock battles the collateral damage was no laughing matter. A large, uninhabited area to train Invocation was a must. The empty plot of land in front of Lafayette's SOIR branch served that very purpose as its own training ground, away from the areas where civilians lived.
The entire Academy city was cordoned off by a series of gigantic Invocation arrays that prevented the unwanted from invading SOIR's grounds without permission. Their protective power was so great, even an army of a million wouldn't be able to breach it.
Inside these protective spells, the Academy was further divided into several districts. The residential district where the resident Invokers, students, visitors and regular folks stayed, the open market district where trading took place and anything Invocation and Aeterna related could be purchased, the research and development district where dedicated number of Invokers devoted themselves in the matters of research, the central district where the old fogies, as Michelle liked to put, ran the day to day operation of the city, and the school district for, uh, schooling purposes.
Suffice to say, there were thousands of buildings and structures in the Academy. And also over a hundred fifty thousand souls calling it home, more than two thirds of that number Invokers of various ranking.
Right in the center of the city was a giant mountain that was shaped like a pyramid, every line and angle in a perfect geometrical symmetry.
It was so wonderfully symmetrical, any person standing before it had to question whether the gods themselves personally carved it when they were bored silly.
Also, it was kind of funny looking too, if you saw the mountain for the first time. The lower half was in lush green due to the dense forestation covering. But from then, jagged rocky surfaces lay exposed, coloring the upper half in the mixture of dull gray and brown.
Right at the summit, a thick layer of permafrost coated the tip like a layer of sugary cream on a dessert.
So, the whole thing sorta resembled a cake.
Of course, no one dared to take a bite off the mountain, literally or figuratively. Not only it wouldn't taste good, but it was heavily guarded by SOIR and even by some Imperial soldiers.
"Because that mountain, The Heavenly Ascension, is considered one of the holiest sites in the entire continent, that is why. Only the Grand Elders and the Emperor are permitted to enter."
Michelle explained to Kaleena and Katrina, her tone that of a kindly teacher.
"But why? It just looks like a mountain, you know. What's special about it?"
Kaleena asked, tilting her head in confusion. She had heard about places like Sacred Acres which were too dangerous to enter for normal people, but other than that, it seemed a bit fishy to deny everyone from climbing a mountain just because it was supposedly holy.
"One legend has it, that the mountain was the place where the Twelve Deities descended to this world and spread their teachings. Another one says that the mountain hides an enormous treasure, or itself is a treasure."
"Oh, I heard from father something similar before," exclaimed Katrina. "Father said that the mountain was the place where the First Patriarchs of the Founding Families met for the first time and became comrades over five hundred years ago."
Damien nodded as he looked out of the carriage and gazed at the mountain, The Heavenly Ascension. "Right, I've heard that story before too. Supposedly there's a hidden cave in the mountain that leads to some kind of an altar of worship built by an ancient civilization. That was where the Treaty of the Six was formed, or so I was told."
The road their carriage traveled on was wide and smoothly paved, no doubt with no small help from the Invocation spells. The traffic here wasn't as bad as the center of Argos and they made up a good deal of time lost there.
Lizbeth mused inwardly how the roadside scenery had changed since she last came here as a young novice Invoker looking to make a name for herself.
Back then, it was wide grassland with a smattering of crop fields. Often times, a herd of cows or sheep could be seen, grazing lazily on the grass. There was even a small lake, where Nobles spent their holiday there on the shoreline.
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Lizbeth suddenly recalled that there was a restaurant there, by the shore. Damien and she used to go on a date there, with Damien struggling to order anything costly while trying to look manly in front of her. That recollection brought a small smile to her lips. When she turned to see her husband, now he looked less dashing, less manly. Instead, he looked withered, tired, and weakened.
She felt anger swelling up again inside. Not at Damien, not necessarily, but at the bastards who cost her her family's happiness. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to continue observing the changed scenery.
And change they have done. All she could see now, instead of grasslands and a lakeside holiday area, was a sea of cheap housing projects built to offset the headache caused by the explosion of urbanization.
There was an unspoken rule of not building any dwellings close to SOIR's Academy but many unscrupulous real estate developers saw opportunities for a quick buck here. Their avarice meant reneging on this rule by expanding shoddily built houses and shacks around the area without caring for the consequences.
Since SOIR didn't own the land all they could do was lodge a complaint with Argos's administrators, And all these greedy businessmen had to do was grease a few palms and et voila, they were the legitimate land owners. The complaint fell by wayside, rebuked by the same greased-up officials as privileged being insensitive towards the needs of the others.
Of course, this wasn't some unique problem only found near SOIR. No, it happened all around the metropolis. The trouble was that, as more and more people from the rural areas moved in, the middle income families moved out of the city center.
The demand was high, and the developers were sort of justified in their actions as they were simply trying to meet this unprecedented thirst for housing away from the allegedly crime-ridden city centers.
It was the beginning of suburb-fication of a fantasy world, basically.
Thankfully, people still had some of their senses and the area around the protective arrays were devoid of houses.
There were three ways to enter the Academy, via one of its four main gates, via Invocation short space/time displacement spell which cost an arm and a leg to operate, or by riding on a dedicated Sky Ark.
Currently the Lomax family was planning to enter the Academy via the Eastern checkpoint.
As they got closer the dome-shaped Invocation shield could be seen. A thin ethereal film rose from the ground and cast a misty haze that could not be pierced by normal means. A wave of multiple colors sometimes rippled gently on the surface of this film, pulsing upwards in a bizarre fashion that, once witnessed, imparted a certain unsettling sensation.
Like, if you touched this wall of protection, you'd die. That kind of sensation.
Four gates, situated in the usual cardinal directions, allowed normal people to move in and out of this protective shield. Called Checkpoints, the structures resembled The Arc de Triomphe with guard stations built by the foot. All who wished to pass by here had to meet certain requirements like holding a correct permit or a recommendation.
As for flying in, the protective shield could be disabled in parts to allow the Sky Ark to enter.
And for the space/time displacement Invocation, the permission must be given beforehand otherwise the spell wouldn't work.
Because Michelle's presence, the family believed they could safely negotiate past the Checkpoint and enter the territory of the Academy. They didn't get their wish, though.
Because as soon as they neared the entrance, they encountered a huge blockade, preventing everyone from entering through the grand archway. In front, a large crowd had gathered, and they sure didn't look friendly.
Damien frowned deeply as he studied the commotion up ahead. He could hear the shouts of dissatisfaction but it was difficult to make out what was being said there.
However, his past experiences as an Adventurer and the lord of a village told him that it was nothing good.
Turning towards Michelle, he asked. "Teacher Michelle, do you know what's gotten into these folks? They seem very unhappy about something."
She looked concerned and confused at the same time. Shaking her head, she replied. "Not sure. It wasn't like this last night. Wonder what happened."
"Shall we go and find out?" Damien swept his gaze across his family. "Liz, Rosy, can you stay here and look after the kids? Michelle and I will go and try to find out what's going on."
Lizbeth nodded. "Be careful."
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38 min ago TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, 17 MLAs taken in police custody
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Amitabh Bachchan gets 'lifetime achievement award'
oi-Reetu
By Reetu Sharma
| Published: Wednesday, February 3, 2016, 15:55 [IST]
New Delhi, Feb 3: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan was on Tuesday presented with lifetime achievement award. The 73-year-old actor said he is happy that even at this age he gets to do interesting projects.
"I am grateful that even at this age, I still get to do some wonderful interpretations of different kind of roles that directors write for me. Thank you so much," he said while receiving the honour at NDTV Indian of the Year Awards. The 'Piku' star was accompanied by his wife Jaya, daughter Shweta and son Abhishek on stage.
"I find myself very lucky that I have had the honour of acting with four-five generations of artists in the film industry, which I am extremely proud of. With each generation I learnt something new and that has always been very helpful in the journey forward," he added.
Also read: Shocking: Amitabh Bachchan has liver cirrhosis, surviving on just 25% of his liver
Jaya, who has worked with Amitabh in films like 'Chupke Chupke', 'Abhimaan', 'Mili' and 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham', said she always knew her husband would make it big one day.
"I don't know whether I thought he will change or redefine the scenario of Hindi film industry but I always knew he had the talent to be one of the best actors of the country," she said.
Abhishek said Big B is the world's best father and that is what matters to him more than anything else.
"We never looked upon him as a megastar. He has always been Paa for us and I think it's a greater achievement than he has. I think he is the world's best father," Abhishek said.
Amitabh started his career in 1969 film 'Saat Hindustani' followed by 'Anand', 'Guddi', 'Zanjeer', 'Sholay' among others. He also made his Hollywood debut with Baz Luhrmann's film 'The Great Gatsby', in which he played a Jewish character.
The 'Wazir' star will be next seen in Sujoy Ghosh-produced 'TE3N' opposite Vidya Balan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
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Prez Kovind honours Amitabh Bachchan with Dadasaheb Phalke Award
Big B admitted to Nanavati Hospital due to liver issue
WB CM Mamata Banerjee wishes Big B on his 77th birthday
There is a paucity of words: Amitabh Bachchan on Dadasaheb Phalke win
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Rituparno Ghosh 56th birth anniversary: Big B to unveil the poster of Ram Kamal's Season's Greeting
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amitabh bachchan award movies bollywood vidya balan
Story first published: Wednesday, February 3, 2016, 15:55 [IST]
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Former PM, Mossad chief, IDF chief found mystery co
16 Mar, 2014 18:31
Lilach Weissman
Ehud Olmert, Meir Dagan, and Dan Halutz have set up EOC Partners.
Two weeks ago, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, former Mossad director Meir Dagan, and former IDF chief of staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Dan Halutz set up a new company, EOC Partners Ltd. for an unknown purpose. The company's executives include Olmert's communications director Yanki Galanti, and Adv. Benny Sheffer.
Olmert and Halutz declined to respond to questions from "Globes" about the company's purpose or why it was founded. Galanti said that Olmert is a private individual, and he declined to comment on the report.
According to the Israeli Corporations Authority, EOC Partners was registered in early March and it operates out of Olmert's offices in the Platinum Tower on Ha'arbaa Street in Tel Aviv. It is authorized to "engage in all legal business", a wording that has no limits on the company's business and does not require its partners to disclose them. The Corporations Authority also states that Olmert owns 46% of EOC Partners through Sino-Israel International Ltd. Halutz, a partner in HDBS Enterprises Ltd. with Ofer Dekel and Benny Sheffer, owns 40% of EOC, and Dagan owns 14% through NDN Investments Ltd.
The common denominator of Olmert, Halutz, and Dagan is the 2006 Second Lebanon War. Olmert was prime minister at the time, Halutz was the IDF chief of staff, and Dagan was head of the Mossad. In 2008, Olmert extended Dagan's term at the Mossad and appointed him head of the forum to politically frustrate Iran's nuclear program.
Olmert went into business after he resigned as prime minister. In April 2009, he founded Ehud Olmert Consultancy Services Ltd. In January 2010, it was reported that he was appointed chairman of the Livnat Group, owned by Zvi Livnat, which owns Taavura Holdings Ltd., real estate, and other businesses.
Halutz and Dekel, who were responsible for prisoner of war negotiations, owned with Yuval Rabin, the son of the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Onida Ltd. which sought to promote Israeli exporters in Nigeria and to upgrade military equipment. In the past few years, Rabin has also worked as a lobbyist for several Eastern European and African countries. Dagan is on the lecture circuit after recovering from cancer, and in one speech, he mentioned his excellent relations with Olmert.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 16, 2014