I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for participation in a blog tour! All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Penelope is a bright young girl with a love for books and a bit awkward at times. Penelope is unexpectedly approached by a boy at school named Keats and is instantly falls head over heels for him. Unfortunately, Penelope's two best friends, Eph and Audrey, both think that Keats is bad news. However, this does not stop Penelope when Keats begins to give her more and more attention.
Penelope has never received the kind of attention from a boy like Keats has given her. She immediately agrees to go out with him, even after her best friend's advice. Since this is the first time Penelope has dated a boy, there are certain quirks and statements that she initially dismisses. Penelope is new to the scene of dating and she isn't quite sure about the etiquette of it all. Over time, she begins to wonder if her friends were right after all. While some may complain about Penelope's decisions or tolerance towards a boy who isn't very nice, I loved how Leder portrayed first, and often awkward, romances. I was just like Penelope in my freshmen year of high school. Through everything, Penelope makes new friends, reconciles with her old friends, and learns what is good and what is bad in a boy, even if he is cute. She learns how to speak up and defend her opinions and feelings.
Each chapter starts with an object that is a part of "The Museum of Heartbreak." That chapter explains why each object has significance and I thought it was a nice touch. The Museum of Heartbreak was a cute, sweet romance. This book is an easy read and will leave you with a smile on your face. While this is the first book by Leder that I have read, it most definitely will not be my last!
Also check out my interview with Meg Leder here!
Meg Leder is the author of The Museum of Heartbreak, coming from Simon Pulse on June 7, 2016, as well as the co-author of The Happy Book and other titles.
You can find her on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter.


Full-length trousers are among the first intimations of growing up, and every child needs to transition from shorts to trousers. This being just a norm, trousers have their benefits and are a stylish alternative to change your kid's look from the usual shorts and T-shirts. Kids today can choose from a list of fabrics and styles to match their playful personalities.
If you're on the lookout for something that's fashionable yet sophisticated then let your search start here. Myntra offers a broad range of trousers for boys and girls. Let's list down some of the most popular styles available online.
Printed Trousers - If you're looking for an outfit that's stylish yet classy then this is what we recommend. Pick one in a deep purple shade that gives it a splash of colour and little snowflake print that makes it a practically perfect outfit for all occasions.
Printed Joggers - joggers are truly an all-environment outfit, they work fantastically well as nightwear and activewear. Pick a pair of funky navy blue joggers which comes with zipper pockets and an adjustable drawstring. Your little one would certainly be at ease wearing one of these.
The Quintessential Khaki - The humble khaki has been the saviour of many last minute decisions. With its superpower to blend perfectly with any top, it tops the list of must-haves for every wardrobe. Fold the hems of your kid's khaki pants to change up the look and add a belt to make a statement.
Classy Culottes - They hang like a skirt but are actually pants; culottes seamlessly fit the dress code, be it formal or informal. You could team them with a printed blouse or solid T-shirt, and complete the look with a pair of wedges.
Khaki Cargos - For kids brimming with active energy and a love for the outdoors; cargo trousers are the unbeatable favourite to suit their lifestyle. Stylish and durable, these can take a beating and come back fresh from a simple wash. Pick a pair of olive-brown mid-rise trousers that comes with six utility pockets, all to take on those exciting little adventures of childhood.
Checked Trousers - A refreshing change from the usual, checked trousers add a vibrant boost to the look. Pick cotton mid-rise trousers that come with riveted pockets and a button closure, keeping the look relaxed yet sharp. A crisp solid formal shirt or a polo neck go well with these trousers and remember to pair it with some trendy loafers.
Classic Beige Trousers - It's not always days at the playground, little boys have commitments too. Classic beige trousers are a wardrobe essential. Go all formals with leather shoes and well-pressed shirts to perfectly pull off this look.
Trousers with suspenders - Suspenders are hot in fashion right now as they can be a fun and stylish alternative to waist belts. Pick a pair of solid black trousers that comes with a three-tone suspender that adds the colourful touch to the outfit.
There you go, trousers don't always have to be of monochrome fabrics with minimal styling. Trousers can boost every kid's fashion quotient, making them look like adorable tiny versions of grownups but keeping intact their impish charms. Go shop on Myntra for the trendiest trousers for kids!


Classic country Georgian Manor with a contemporary spa.
Congham Hall is a commanding white Georgian house set in the heart of the idyllic North Norfolk countryside. The stunning East Anglian coastline is an awesome backdrop for visitors, as well as a renowned haven for bird watchers. The wider geographical area abounds with interesting places to visit. Visitors can enjoy exploring market towns seeped in history or visit seaside villages and traditional holiday resorts. The majestic Sandringham Estate is within easy reach of the Hall. Should you decide to stay within the grounds of the hotel you will not be disappointed. The gorgeous gardens and park land are a haven for quiet strolls. Whilst the spa complex that includes a swimming pool and gym will satisfy the most active of guests. Congham Hall is a peaceful retreat offering cosy, relaxed and warm hospitality. The recent awards and nominations are well deserved and a testimony to the new owners commitment to excellence.
Congham Hall was built in approximately 1780 by a wealthy King's Lynn merchant. The Hall remained a private family house until 1982. Although the hall remains an elegant and graceful house, it has the added benefits of a contemporary spa. Horses graze on the parkland, wild flowers flourish in the woodland and the renowned Herb Garden is a hive of activity – both for bees and people!
The herb garden is very typical of the gardens of old, that worked for a "big house" supplying flowers, baby vegetables and herbs most weeks of the year. A collection of over seven hundred different varieties of herbs can not only be seen but smelt, in all their glory, in the immaculately laid out gardens.
Congham Hall staff are renowned for dealing with sensitivity to the needs of anxious partners planning a wedding or civil ceremony. From planning the service in the Hall, choosing the food and wine, and hosting the event, the important special day will run smoothly with the help of Congham staff.
The new owners are justifiably proud of the progress they have made in refurbishing Congham Hall they have created a fabulous mix of country house hotel with the added benefit of an innovative and fun spa. The spa complete with a tropical rain storm, mood lighting and bird song are sure to delight, amuse and refresh guests. There is also a gym and yoga room.
The swimming pool is a good size and has the added attraction of jacuzzi vents to ease those tired joints and muscles. Pitch and put in the garden, croquet on the lawn or tennis, along with logs by the front door, all add to the authentic country house ambience. The abundance of carefully mapped walks does not depend on sunny weather; wellies are available for guests to use, should the ground be wet. Other personal touches include the daily wiping of guests car windscreens and books and DVD's to borrow to while away the hours in the comfortable sitting rooms or guests own bedrooms.
There are twenty-six Congham Hall rooms, including eleven new garden rooms all of which are individually decorated to the very highest standards. The best quality linens complimented by Crabtree and Evelyn toiletries and fluffy dressing gowns are standard in the bedrooms. The outstanding food and excellent service from all staff make a visit to Congham Hall memorable. Whether you are looking for a relaxing place to stay, a family lunch in peaceful surrounding or somewhere for that special occasion you need look no further than Congham Hall.
The bedrooms are named after the profusion of flowers growing in the gardens of Congham Hall. From the bedroom windows guests can enjoy views of the estate. Many of the rooms offer flexibility of use. Double beds may be converted to twin use, whilst others can accommodate a child or children. Two rooms have interconnecting doors making ideal provision for families who have responsibility for caring for dependant relatives. There is a large suite ideal for family use.
The new garden bedrooms are spacious with contemporary wet rooms. The bedroom patios of the garden rooms not only provide glorious views of the garden but also an idyllic place to enjoy breakfast or that all important pre dinner aperitif.
Two midweek nights with dinner, bed and breakfast & access to the Fantastic Five nature trail.
The house, the team of lovely staff, the food and the wonderful spa with excellent therapists was all amazing so I just wanted to thank you and your team for bringing it to my attention and I shall look forward to trying other hotels on your lists.


WHEREAS, the citizens of the Commonwealth and the New England region will be best served by a review of all aspects of Massport's operation, and by the recommendation and implementation of long-term, permanent changes to enable Massport to continue serving our citizens well into the 21 st century.
Section 1. There is hereby established the Special Advisory Task Force on Massport (the "Task Force"). The Task Force shall systematically review the function, mission, and security of the entire Massport operation and advise the Governor on how the focus and mission of Massport can best be improved to meet the challenges of a new era. Specifically, the Task Force shall examine the need to refocus Massport's attention on public safety and the means by which to implement necessary changes.
(e) the hiring and personnel policies of Massport and all of its associated and affiliated agencies.
Section 3. The Task Force shall consist of six (6) members appointed by the Governor and each shall be chosen from the ranks of business, management, security, legal and aviation experts. The Governor shall appoint one of the members to serve as Chair of the Task Force. All members shall serve without compensation in a strictly advisory capacity to and at the pleasure of the Governor.
Section 5. The Task Force shall meet at such times and places as determined by the Chair, provided that it reports its findings and recommendations to the Governor by no later than December 4, 2001.
Given at the Executive Chamber in Boston this 27th day of September in the year two thousand one.


@Drew-Cannon is a 23 year old Gay Male from Orem, Utah, United States of America. He	is looking for Chat, Friendship, Casual, Other Activities, Relationship, Group Casual and Workout Partner.
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Edition of 2000. Each badge set comes boxed with a hand signed and numbered card by the Artist.
Limited edition Peter Blake Pop Art Badges designed exclusively for Pallant House Gallery. The designs of these four badges will be familiar to anyone interested in the Pop Art of Peter Blake. Blake has used badges in his work for more than 40 years, the most famous example being 'Self Portrait with Badges' held by Tate. Despite this he has, until now, never designed his own badges and he relished the opportunity of doing so.
Pallant House Gallery has an extensive collection of pop-art examples as part of it's Permanent Collection including The Beatles 1962, Roxy Roxy and Girls with their Hero by Sir Peter Blake. Further details about Pallant House and its collection of pop-art can be found at the Gallery's Website.


A Plus Warehouse is happy to feature a large variety of product from many trusted vendors. A Plus Warehouse would not be here today if it wasn't for our great manufacturers. They all deliver high quality products you can count on. Learn more about some of our important vendors.
Our product selection includes bins, cabinets, conveyors, dock equipment, hoists, ladders, lockers, shelving, work benches, and more. We are able to offer a wide selection of product because of having many different vendors specializing in many different industries. Our vendors include but are not limited to Andersen, Ballymore, Durham, Hallowell, Pollard Brothers, Presto Lifts, Pucel Enterprises, Quantum Storage Systems, Roach Conveyor, StrongHold, Vestil, and Wesco Industrial Products. Many of these vendors have been in the business for upward of 50 years!
Why should you order from A Plus Warehouse? There are many reasons! We are very easy to work with. The company website is also easy to navigate. Questions and requests get answered in a very timely manner. We are a big enough company to fill your order but small enough to realize that every order and customer matters. Order today from A Plus Warehouse, your right choice right now!


The Adelaide Botanic Gardens holds the richest botanical collection in South Australia.
The living collections describe the beauty, peace and tranquillity that define our experience of the Gardens. But perhaps the Gardens are equally well described by our experience – by the memories intimately entwined with the Gardens. Indeed, the Gardens might also be the richest collection of memories in South Australia.
Our experience of the Gardens follows the courses of our lives – from immersion to exploration, from commitment to celebration, from observation to reflection.
The title here, Landscape and Memory, acknowledges Simon Schama's 1995 eponymous landmark exploration of the relationship between landscape and culture – a foundational theme for gardens in general and for botanic gardens as a special case. Landscape and memory also forms the subject of the current exhibition in the Santos Museum of Economic Botany entitled Garden/Archive. This experimental exhibition is the culmination of Melbourne-based artist Jess Hood's PhD research The Botanic Garden: Photographic Relation and Exchange, which seeks to work with an idea of the garden as a 'living' archive, by relating photography to an experience of the garden itself.
The work takes as its starting point a series of black and white glass lantern slides of trees, taken in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens around the 1920s and the prints of these slides sent to the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew in London in 1931. The setting – the Santos Museum of Economic Botany – a museum facilitating and showcasing memory is integral to the work.
The Museum was a key platform for the institutional relationship between Adelaide and Kew Gardens – a relationship based on the exchange of plants, objects (including images) and ideas.
Hood embarked upon reproducing the series (in The Frame of the Tree) – this time as colour transparencies, in a similar format to the lantern slides (8 x 9 cm), taken both in Adelaide and Kew Gardens. Hood acknowledges the purpose of botanic gardens as an institutional framework for enquiry into plants, while exploring the nature of the observer, both as an institution and as an individual. From an individual's perspective the changes evident in the images and the changes experienced through memory represent different dimensions.
The exhibition also includes Equinox – a conceptual work that traces the sun and the interior of the Gardens' Palm House through a series of still photographs taken every four-and-a-half minutes at the equinox. In turn the photographs are projected in real time, at the actual time of day they were taken. The connection between the space of the Palm House and the space of the exhibition is one that might easily be accessed by viewers to relate these differing perspectives.
great deal to tell us about our relationship with our environment and with each other. In this sense Hood's work resonates with some of the threads running through the Earth Perfect: Nature, Utopia & the Garden symposium I was invited to at the University of Delaware in June.
Robert Finley's understated reflection on Canadian poet Marlene Creates' work during the symposium seems apt. In his exploration of Creates' Boreal Poetry Garden on six acres of forest just outside St. John's, Newfoundland, Finley meditates on what constitutes a garden. In the absence of cultivation Creates' garden is defined by her presence and her relationship with the land expressed through site poems – perhaps even more clearly than her work as a photographer and land artist. Finley suggests an alternative gardener's tool kit to tend Creates' garden – acknowledged transience, lightness of touch (or reticence), impressionability, a devotion to the ineffable qualities of places and attention to their multiple histories. Such a gardener's tool kit is rooted in our relationship with a place rather than to planting of seeds and cultivation.
Certainly our experience of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens in particular, and gardens in general, is as much about our construction through our experience and memories as about the change that can be documented and archived. As Creates observes, 'The distance between two (places) is measured in memories'.
While the concept of garden defines garden literature the idea of cultivation is more significant here. In Finley's exploration he observes the etymology; 'The word 'cultivate' leads back to the Indo-European root Kwel – to revolve, circle, wheel, all of which we can see in the action of the plow or the spade on soil: a turning over. But it carries these other meanings too: to move around, sojourn, inhabit, and to dwell.' Perhaps the nature of our relationship with the place we inhabit is as much a garden as the physical act of cultivation.
Originally published in The Adelaide Review on 20 September 2013.


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Elephant Car Wash t-shirts are made in the U.S.A. with ultra soft 100% cotton. Our water-based inks leave a soft-hand feel on these cool t-shirts. Don't forget to visit this landmark car wash the next time your car needs a little TLC!
Serving the city since 1951, this full-service car wash's pink neon sign is among Seattle's most beloved and recognizable landmarks. What few people realize is that the original owners, Archie, Dean and Eldon Anderson, actually invented the automatic car wash! That's right, the Elephant Car Wash was the first automatic car wash ever; and what's more, the Elephant has remained an innovative and thriving Seattle business for over 65 years.
Visit any of their 10 Seattle area locations.


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Trevor Bauer Had A Rough Start And Then Went On A Twitter Blocking Spree
Filed to: cleveland indiansFiled to: cleveland indians
Mike Stobe/Getty Images
There were a lot of goats in Cleveland's 7-4 Game 4 loss Monday to the Yankees, which makes them 4-17 in their last 21 potential clinchers dating back to that nightmarish Game 7 of the 1997 World Series. But even with the four errors committed by the Indians, this one was ultimately over after a four-run second inning, which brought about the early exit of starter Trevor Bauer, who had been lights-out just four days earlier.
Bauer was an unexpected choice to start Game 1 but rewarded Terry Francona with a dominant outing. Coming back on short rest, however, he fell apart pretty quickly, allowing four straight hits after an error and getting pulled with a final line of 1 2/3 innings, four hits, four runs (all unearned), a pair of walks, and the loss.
"I thought my stuff was better than Game 1 tonight," Bauer said. "Velo was up, curveball had more depth to it. I located pretty well. Just a couple little things went their way instead of mine. Double lands right on the line. Check swing that I thought he probably went. Umpire didn't see it the same way. Just as a team, we didn't play the greatest defense tonight, too. Little things in baseball games that beat you."
A simpler reason the Yankees got to Bauer this time? They figured out his curve. Actually a weird knuckle-curve—it baffled them in Game 1. They had seen it, though, and were able to lay off of it yesterday when Bauer would previously get them to chase it, and did damage when he was forced to come back up in the zone. In Aaron Judge's second-inning at-bat, he watched Bauer put three unhittable curves in the dirt, then fouled off a two-strike curve over the plate. When Bauer went to his fastball for the payoff pitch, Judge whacked it for a two-run double.
"He threw a lot of pitches in the inning, and I thought he was starting to go to his breaking ball too much," Terry Francona said. "It looked to me like they started to hunt it, like they knew he was going to throw it. He left a couple up, and those are the ones that hurt him."
Starlin Castro said he thought Bauer's curve wasn't breaking quite so well as in Game 1, but whatever it was, the Yankees were connecting—every single ball in play against him qualified as "hard-hit," according to the Statcast threshold of 95 mph.
With an early trip to the showers and plenty of time to kill before the game ended, Bauer apparently did what so many of us do with our free time: He got mad online. At some point between getting the hook in the second inning and the eighth inning, when we got our first email about it, Bauer went on a Twitter blocking spree.
I can confirm that at least some of these blocks came during the game, rather than before it, because I am one of those people—I checked my phone immediately upon the game's final out, and I was blocked. I deserved it, because I am an asshole: Every time Bauer gave up a hit I retweeted one of his many, many pro-Trump or MAGA tweets.
In my defense, some of these are pretty amazing:
I also said I hoped Bauer would get his dick stuck in a drone, so yeah, I'd block me too. It's the most relatable thing he's ever done! But it's unclear if the Indians have a policy on phone use while a game is still going on. (The Red Sox, remember, benched Pablo Sandoval for liking a pretty lady's Instagram photos from the crapper during a game.)
Game 5 is in Cleveland on Wednesday night, and if you're a non-aligned baseball fan, you can go back to safely rooting for this likable Indians team. Unless Bauer's telling the truth here:
Stick to shitposting, Trevor.
H/t Jonathan
The Dodgers Are Going To The NLCS, But The Diamondbacks Made Sure That They Can't Go Swimming
The Red Sox And Astros Got Bullpen Crazy In Game 4
Go Ahead, Take Out Your Camera At A Ballgame
Deputy editor | Deadspin

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Advance Auto Parts was established in 1932 and they've primarily reached their target audience through TV, print and their retail locations, but have encountered stiff competition in the internet age.
Advance Auto Parts have recently shifted broadcast budget away from traditional channels and are seeking ways to stand out from the competition in our mobile connected world.
Advance Auto reached out to Influencer Connect to come up with a solution other than search and display. Influencer Connect has a pre-vetted network of over 7,500 content creators, spanning blogs, social media and YouTube. After consulting the brand, the decision was made to focus exclusively on YouTube, and lock in on the rising star of DIY auto channels: Chris Fix.
Chris's channel was near ~800K subscribers when our talks began and had grown to 1.8mm by the time the final video went live.
Authenticity and storytelling resonate best in digital world where everyone is vying for attention, and our plan was to integrate specific jobs – and the parts from Advance Auto necessary to fix them – into "how to" content on Chris's channel.
The plan included four original videos and social sharing of images from the raw footage.
Advance Auto loved the results! They even exceeded our expectations.
The four videos in aggregate received almost 5,000,000 views and continues to grow! One of the benefits of YouTube is there's usually a healthy gap from when a brand signs on with a channel to when the campaign runs. In that time frame, the channel continues to grow and acquire new subscribers. That happened here as outlined above. As a result, the views exceeded projections by >60%!
The CTR was significantly higher than a standard display buying campaign and the traffic to the landing page was qualified. The total number of comments exceeded 17,000 and the videos enjoyed almost 130,000 likes on the videos alone! The social shares across Facebook and Instagram drove that number up a great deal more.


Hi, I am interested in your 2016 JAYCO Jay Flight SLX 267BHSW listed on Autotrader for $15,950. I'd like to get more information about this vehicle and confirm its availability.
Come relax inside the 28RLS Jay Flight trailer by Jayco. Inside you will find a rear living area and single slide. There are two entrances to this travel trailer. As you enter the rear entrance along the rear wall you will find two lounge chairs and an end table. The slide has a sofa and a booth dinette. On the opposite side of the trailer you will find a double kitchen sink, three burner range, microwave, refrigerator, and pantry. Adjacent to the pantry you will find an entertainment center. The side aisle bath has a toilet, corner shower, sink and medicine cabinet. In the front bedroom you will find a queen bed with wardrobes on either side of the bed, an overhead cabinet above the bed. In the bedroom you will also find a private entrance door that leads outside. overhead cabinets can be found throughout the trailer, and outside the trailer there is exterior storage for all your exterior camping gear, and more!! Stop in today to take a look at this beautiful travel trailer!


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Q: Handling several thousand redirects with .htaccess I am working on a site overhaul. As a result I am moving several pages over to a new format. They aren't keeping the same file name as before so the migration is a little tricky.
Example:
news.alpinezone.com/93467/ is becoming
http://alpinezone.com/still-more-skiing-and-riding-at-whiteface/
The news subdomain has accumulated in several years over 3000 articles. Is it OK to put 3000 + 301 redirects into an .htaccess file?
On a side note, for proper SEO, should I also make sure I use http:// instead of http:// www and also make sure they are fully lower case and also close with a / at the end of the URL. I am redesigning into wordpress and any combination pretty much works but I understand that for Google they can be considered unique but similar URL's so I want to stick with one as much as possible.
Thanks!

A: Apache does have some stuff for this, like RewriteMap or RewriteProg. I think htaccess files are read on every request, so I wouldn't want to make the size of it explode with 3000 lines of text - although I gut tells me it would handle it just fine. I think RewriteMap is only loaded once per server start or somethign like that, so thats a benefit.
But personally, I think I would just do an internal rewrite of any request to the news subdomain to a serverside script like php, and then inspect the uri, query the database to get the most current/up to date url slug for the id, and then do an external 301 redirect to the new url.

A: Have you considered mod_authnz_ldap to offload the authentication and authorization lookups to another server? I use this particular module on several enterprise servers with no problems whatsoever. It easily allows you to set up access to pages by group etc.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Guest : Yazeed Kamaldien Yazeed Kamaldien is a Cape Town-based journalist and documentary filmmaker. He's following Good Party leader Patricia De Lille during her campaign to be Western Cape Premier. He follows her from the moment she resigned as mayor of the City of Cape Town, till the May 8th General Elections and beyond. He calls it a "work in progress", and he develops a character sketch on the woman who tells people to "Call me Aunty Pat"


BREAKING: DJ Duo Venice Breaks Up. What\'s Next for Gino Souto?
Goodbyes can sometimes be hard depending on the situation. In other cases, goodbyes can mean a new beginning is coming. If you have not heard the news already trance/progressive house DJ duo Venice has unfortunately called it quits and have decided to continue their music careers solo. Alex Marrero, 26, will still be continuing his career under the name Venice, as Gino Souto, 25, will start a new journey. The news was broken to the public via Souto\'s social media accounts early afternoon on May 1.
There is, of course, an old saying "when one one chapter closes another one opens." The Venice chapter in your life has come to end, but that means an even better chapter of your life is about to start. Are you ready for it?
In this new chapter, that is about to begin what can we expect? A new sound from you, or will trance/progressive house be the genre of choice still?
You just recently posted a picture to your socials with the caption "M E T A" following with a #ChangeIsComing and tagged Denver, Colorado in it? This post has been raising a lot of questions. Care to elaborate on that for us?
What do you hope to accomplish with this new chapter that you are about to embark on?
It seems like you have a couple of secrets that you are keeping from us? What is one secret that you can share to the public?
If there is one thing that we can take away from this interview is that Gino Souto and his musical talents will not be fading into the darkness (a little Avicii reference right there for everyone) anytime soon. There are big things in store for Souto and the public will soon get a hold of those plans. Souto has taught us that life throws curve balls at you, but ultimately the only person that has control on how you catch that curve ball is YOURSELF. For the latest news and updates about this breaking story make sure to keep checking in with EDM Chicago for exclusive press coverage about this BREAKING story.


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Patchwork strategies handicap region
Can we talk about "patchwork governance"? That's a phrase the Daily Press used recently to describe how one Peninsula city engaged in what the paper called "real estate speculation". Sadly, patchwork is a good descriptor for the model of governance we use today for all the cities and counties in Virginia.
My experiences suggest each Peninsula community works very hard to be successful with economic development within the confined governmental boxes Virginia has provided.
Most of the world, outside of Virginia, pursues economic strategies on a regional basis. Virginia's approach is more patchwork because its disparate public policies produce too many winners and losers for there to be true unity or consistency in the pursuit of economic gain. State, regional and local roles blur quickly. Our state is simply not prepared to efficiently and effectively face the regional and global world in which we live.
Consider these words written in 1967 by the prestigious Hahn Commission:
"Much of the State's growth during the past several decades has oc¬curred in its urban areas, a trend that will intensify in the years ahead. The metropolitan area has become the heart of Virginia's economy. If that economy is to expand as rapidly as possible, and if Virginians are to enjoy maximum opportunities for economic advance¬ment and the mast beneficial environment, then positive, constructive steps to deal more effectively with the problems of the metropolitan areas are essential. (http://www.fhrinc.org/Sections/Readings/HahnCommission.html)
Again, that was 1967.
Virginia did establish regional planning district commissions. Here we call it the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission. (www.hrpdc.org). However, the state did little else that was contained in the recommendations. In fact, the Virginia General Assembly gutted the proposals.
So, here we sit nearly 50 years later patch working our strategies.
Other parts of Virginia governance system add more difficulties. Consider these factors:
1. Independent city/independent county classification. Virginia is the only state in the union with this system. In Virginia you are a resident of either a city or a county. Whichever one you reside, that locality provides your total, local government. Other states provide some local services at the county scale and some at the city scale. In Hampton Roads we have 16 co-equal jurisdictions, which is more than a challenge for regional unity.
2. Taxation disparity. Virginia local governments derive significant revenue from their property taxes. When a major public/private initiative like the new Shipyard Apprentice School was conceived, its benefits affect the region, but only one of 16 localities — the host community — is motivated to financially participate. Similarly, while the location of a large retail center — like a Wal-Mart — is considered, its exact location makes little difference to the regional economy, but can generate multimillion dollar swings in the sales tax revenue of localities, forced to compete under the state's rules of the road for such investments.
3. Dillon Rule. Virginia courts have used an Iowa case law decision (1868) for more than 100 years to "strictly construe" statutory language as it effects cities and counties. In a word, if state law does not explicitly grant authority, then the courts presume localities cannot do the service or act. Cities and counties are left in a constant state of frustrating uncertainty and unpredictability. It's little more than a gotcha environment.
Yet, the state mandates that each city and county adopt and implement a Comprehensive Plan, to include an economic component for improving its tax base. The message seems to be — go forward, at your own risk, on a scale that is not realistic and hopefully succeed.
This is a tough patchwork for cities and counties to negotiate.
It is easy to predict Hampton Roads will continue to underperform if the state doesn't respond to the message that the Hahn Commission delivered. Indeed, the future looks even more problematic for Hampton Roads as it is expected to face new outside challenges.
Bob O'Neill, a Peninsula native, and current executive director of the International City-County Management Association (www.icma.org) makes a compelling presentation about the future. Given the enormity of the federal and state debts, and the nature of demographic shifts in our population, he says "regions are on their own".
That is a sobering thought for all regions, which have historically had partnerships with the state and federal government, but now will "be on their own". That thought is depressing in Virginia where there is no regional governance structure, where we live with independent boundary lines and where state policies, including tax policies, encourage disparity and competition.
Patchwork governance is not going to get us from here to there. We need strong citizen, media and state leadership to first understand our dilemma, and then do something about it. Choices that deserve consideration include: loosen Dillon Rule, consider revenue-sharing structures like the states of Minnesota and Georgia do and implement the 50-year old Hahn Commission Report.
Oliver is Chairman, Hampton Roads Center for Civic Engagement.
Virginia General Assembly


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Similarity measures are useful for many applications, such as recommender systems and search engines. Graph-theoretic similarity measures try to determine similarities by analyzing the relations between objects. SimRank is a popular such similarity measure with an intuitively sensible notion of similarity that is strongly inspired by PageRank. However, SimRank suffers from the fact that the algorithm originally suggested for its computation has an efficiency of Θ(n4). It is not computationally feasible to apply such an algorithm to a large dataset, and hence this thesis explores various alternative algorithms. It is derived how memorizing subresults can improve the efficiency to O(n3). Furthermore, an alternative graph-theoretic similarity measure, called CoSimRank, is discussed. CoSimRank has the advantage that individual similarity scores can be computed in quadratic time. Finally, the performance of the various algorithms introduced is evaluated using data from MovieLens, a collection of large real-world datasets for recommender systems.


text:
In the run-up to the Turkish general election of June 2015, many political parties engaged in campaign efforts to increase their vote shares. The main contesting parties were the governing incumbent Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by Ahmet Davutoğlu, the Republican People's Party (CHP) led by Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) led by Devlet Bahçeli and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-led by Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ. These four parties are the only parties with a realistic chance of surpassing the 10% parliamentary threshold to gain representation in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey

Opinion polling for the June 2015 Turkish general election show that the AKP is on course to win a plurality of the vote with around 40%, the CHP remaining relatively stable at 25% and the MHP registering a large increase in their vote share by polling close to 20%. The HDP is critically hovering at the 10% boundary, with several polls showing the party surpassing it or scoring just below. Opinion polls in Turkey, however, are notoriously unreliable due to their alleged bias in favour of certain political organisations. Many polling companies have no record of existence and proper reports on polling operations are rarely provided by firms.

Overview
The following are the main parties that have engaged in active campaigning in the run-up to the election.

Justice and Development Party (AKP)

The AKP has publicly targeted 330 seats in order to be able to submit constitutional changes to a referendum. With drafting a new constitution being a central part of the AKP's manifesto, the party is expected to promote a presidential system and an advancement in the Solution process with Kurdish rebels in a new constitution. Critics have argued that such efforts would lead to a further decline in the separation of powers and democratic checks and balances, while the AKP has argued that the current constitution is outdated. Despite being constitutionally barred from being partisan, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made several statements in the lead-up to the election that set the AKP's electoral targets higher at 400 MPs, though even pro-AKP polling organisations show that such an eventuality is highly unlikely.

Announcing the party's manifesto on 15 April, Davutoğlu claimed that his party aimed to win 55% of the votes, and criticised Kılıçdaroğlu for his target of 35%.

Extraordinary Congress, 27 August 2014

Prime Minister Erdoğan, who was re-elected for a third time in the 2011 general election, was barred from standing as an MP for a fourth term by the AKP's by-laws. Erdoğan became his party's presidential candidate for the 2014 presidential election and won narrowly in the first round with 51.79% of the vote. His ascension to the presidency required him to sever all ties with political parties and step down from parliament, requiring the AKP to elect a new leader.

On 21 August 2014, Erdoğan chaired an AKP Central Executive Committee meeting, after which Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu was announced as a candidate for the leadership. Davutoğlu was unanimously elected unopposed as the AKP's 2nd leader on 27 August 2014, a day before Erdoğan was due to take over as president from Abdullah Gül. The fact that there was no rival, combined with the exclusive means by which Davutoğlu was effectively declared as Erdoğan's successor by the Central Executive Committee, led to criticism and concern about inner-party democracy.

Candidate selection

Due to the AKP by-law that prohibits party candidates from running for more than three parliamentary terms, founding members of the party who first entered parliament in the 2002 general election will not be able to seek election in 2015. As a result, the party has indicated that founding members will occupy senior positions within the party structure following the elections. In a four-point candidate selection strategy, the AKP has intended to maintain its constant renewal of candidates as had occurred in the 2011 general election without abandoning key figures or fundamental principles. The party will also aim to recruit university law, engineering and medical graduates into the party while also reducing the average age of its parliamentary group by offering candidates under the age of 30 an active role in politics. The AKP has also expressed intentions to elect over 80 female MPs to Parliament. Provincial congresses are due to finish on 15 February.

Candidates for the AKP party lists were able to submit applications between the 11th and 20th of February, with male candidates pain ₺5,000, female candidates paying ₺2,500 and disabled candidates being able to apply without charge. Inspections into prospective candidates are due to take place between the 28th of February and the 1st of March, while interviews are due to be conducted between the 6th and 15th of March.

The undersecretary of the National Intelligence Organisation (MİT), Hakan Fidan, resigned in order to stand as an AKP candidate in the election, despite objections from Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç. Fidan later withdrew his candidacy.

Sources have indicated a potential split between Prime Minister Davutoğlu and President Erdoğan over the AKP lists to be put forward for election, with both politicians putting forward rival lists.

Some applicants advertised their candidacies by depicting themselves on their campaign posters with Ottoman-style attire to comply with the AKP's promotion of Ottoman-era culture and politics. A notable applicant, Osman Yavuz from Konya, became a Twitter sensation after his Ottoman-style campaign advertisement went viral. Yavuz was not selected as an AKP parliamentary candidate.

Full candidate lists were released on 7 April, with 175 MPs being unable to secure renomination. Notable MPs who failed to secure a place on the party lists included controversial Balıkesir MP Tülay Babuşcu. The son of Ankara mayor Melih Gökçek failed to secure nomination, while singer İbrahim Tatlıses and model Tuğçe Kazaz were also unable to obtain candidacy. President Erdoğan's son in law secured 6th place on the party's candidate list for İstanbul's 1st electoral district.
An AKP parliamentary hopeful who failed to make the party list committed suicide shortly after the successful candidates were announced.

Attacks against the opposition
On 28 January, the AKP's spokesperson Beşir Atalay called the CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu a politician 'that could not be taken seriously' who had fallen into a 'funny situation'. He claimed that Kılıçdaroğlu was a 'puppet' of Fethullah Gülen and criticised him for objecting to Turkey's one-day period of mourning over the death of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia while sending a message of condolences to the deceased's successor King Salman at the same time.

Bülent Arınç – Melih Gökçek polemic
In a response regarding the ongoing Solution process with Kurdish rebels, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç criticised President Erdoğan for making comments that allegedly interfered with the government's policy. Both Erdoğan and the AKP Mayor of Ankara Melih Gökçek subsequently criticised Arınç, with Gökçek taking to Twitter to demand Arınç's resignation, accusing him of being a supporter of Fethullah Gülen and constantly bringing the AKP into disrepute. Arınç responded by stating that Gökçek was too dishonourable to demand his resignation and that responding with abuse would only be bringing himself down to Gökçek's level. Arınç also claimed that Gökçek was trying to guarantee a position on the AKP party lists for his son, to which Gökçek responded by saying that Arınç should be sacked from his position since his chances of resigning were unlikely. After a series of abusive exchanges between Arınç and Gökçek, both threatened to take the other to court. Despite a statement from Prime Minister Davutoğlu warning both men to end their arguments, Arınç made a statement accusing Gökçek of bringing personal and family issues into the political sphere, for which he would not respect the Prime Minister's demands. The Ankara Attorney General began a criminal investigation into both individuals, though Arınç has parliamentary immunity from prosecution until the election.

Split allegations
Allegations emerged on 23 March 2015 that former President Abdullah Gül is seeking to form a new party with other senior AKP figures such as Ali Babacan, Taner Yıldız and Mehmet Şimşek who are not allowed to seek a fourth term as AKP MPs. Gül allegedly gave the order to put 'the opposite of what Erdoğan has done' and also 'what the AKP has failed to do' in the party's manifesto. Although it remained unclear whether Gül would be leading the new party, it was said by his senior advisor Ahmet Takan that he was certain to be the new party's presidential candidate for the 2019 presidential election.
After being asked about the AKP's candidate lists that were made public on 7 April, Gül publicly wished all the candidates well in the election.

Electoral rallies
During a provincial congress at İzmir, Davutoğlu announced his intention to establish a Prime Ministerial office there with an intention to increase his presence in the city after the election. İzmir is seen as the key stronghold of the opposition CHP, thus making it an important electoral target for the AKP who made substantial gains throughout İzmir Province during the 2014 local elections and the 2011 general election. Davutoğlu's bid to establish a Prime Ministerial office, which currently only exists in Ankara and İstanbul has been seen as a bid to raise the city's profile and increase the AKP's influence over the city should they win the election.

Republican People's Party (CHP)

The party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu stated that his party would lead the next government if they won 35% of the vote. This indicates a 9% rise since the 2011 general election.

Extraordinary Convention, 8 September 2014

The loss of the CHP's presidential candidate Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu in the 2014 presidential election resulted in several senior party members losing confidence in the leadership of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, forcing him to call a leadership election. The party's performance in the 2014 local elections also drew speculation that Kılıçdaroğlu would resign after the party lost control of its stronghold Antalya and failed to win in Ankara or İstanbul. In the extraordinary convention held on 8 September 2014, Kılıçdaroğlu ran for re-election. Two other candidates, former parliamentary group leader Muharrem İnce and a former Kars parliamentary candidate Şahmar Dalmış declared their candidacy for the party leadership. Dalmış was unable to contest the election since he failed to secure any nominations.

Opinion polls showed that Kılıçdaroğlu was significantly more popular in south-eastern provinces, while İnce maintained more support throughout the west of the country. The delegationary system resulted in Kılıçdaroğlu winning comfortably with 64.1% of the delegates' vote, despite opinion polls showing that İnce was more popular with the party's voters. Kılıçdaroğlu had initially been endorsed for the leadership by 84.2% of the delegates while İnce received the remaining 15.8% of the nominations, which was just 0.8% more than necessary to be eligible to run for election. In the leadership election, İnce won 35.9% and immediately conceded defeat.

Candidate selection
Key individuals who have applied to become CHP parliamentary candidates have included the President of the Turkish Bars Association Metin Feyzioğlu and the head of the Journalists' Association Atilla Serter. Both have applied to become candidates in İzmir's second electoral district. The leader of the Rize Anatolian School family union Osman Erdoğan, a relative of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, defected from the AKP to the CHP in early 2015.

Over 150 public sector workers have allegedly resigned in order to seek candidacy from the CHP, though many have reportedly withdrawn their resignations due to a lack of endorsement from CHP central offices. Candidates will be chosen either through preliminary elections or by the party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. The party leader will select a total of 27 candidates; 15 from İstanbul, 6 each from Ankara and İzmir and 1 each from Bursa, Eskişehir, Gaziantep, Adana, Mersin, Muğla, Manisa, Denizli and Aydın. In İstanbul, Kılıçdaroğlu will select five candidates from each electoral subdistrict for a total of 15. The party's spokesman Haluk Koç announced the fees for application to be ₺7,500 for those wishing to apply for candidacy through selection by the leadership. In order to stand in preliminary elections that were held in 51 provinces, the fees were ₺5,000 for men and ₺2,500 for women and disabled people.

Candidate applications ended on 2 March 2015 with 2,822 applications. The first nomination primaries were held in Zonguldak, Mersin, Malatya and Adıyaman on the same day. Most nomination primaries were held towards the end of March, with Kılıçdaroğlu himself securing his nomination in İzmir's 2nd electoral district. Former party leader Deniz Baykal contested the preliminary elections in Antalya, though notably failed come first. Mustafa Sarıgül came 9th in the İstanbul 2nd electoral district election, failing even to win in the district of Şişli where he had served as Mayor between 1999 and 2014. CHP supporters in Trabzon and Ardahan protested the lack of preliminary elections happening in their provinces. Frustrated youth wing members occupied the CHP provincial headquarters in Trabzon, after which it was decided to hold preliminary elections there instead. Turnout in İzmir was 55%, though turnouts were considerably higher in other provinces such as Isparta, where 74% of CHP members voted.

Candidates who applied for selection by the party leadership were chosen in early April. Key candidates such as Kamer Genç, Hüseyin Aygün and Umut Oran failed to make the party lists. A female Armenian candidate and a Romani candidate were both amongst the CHP lists, with the potential to become the first female Armenian and Romani MP in the history of the Turkish Republic. A CHP İstanbul MP who failed to secure renomination, Faik Tunay, claimed that he would make revelations about his party in a press conference. Şafak Pavey, who initially did not seek renomination, was persuaded to stand again as a CHP candidate and was selected as the CHP's first candidate in İstanbul's 1st electoral district.

Electoral alliance negotiations
The CHP has expressed interest in negotiating with the left-wing HDP as well as other left-wing parties such as the Labour Party (EMEP) and the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP). Despite this, CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu identified the HDP as a threat to the party's support base during a Central Executive Committee meeting on 29 January and has sought to take 'measures' against the HDP. The ÖDP has ruled out negotiating with the CHP while the EMEP leader Selma Gürkan has stressed the importance of doing so.

Despite key HDP leaders being opposed to talks with the CHP, the party's deputy leader Sezgin Tanrıkulu is allegedly engaged in closed negotiations with the HDP so that the talks do not generate controversy within the party's parliamentary group or voters. Several party members have resigned or openly criticised the CHP for seeking an alliance with the HDP. Workers' Party leader Doğu Perinçek claimed that the AKP had 'left' the terrorist group PKK in the 'lap of the CHP' in the lead-up to elections. As part of this potential electoral strategy, candidacies would be offered to the mother of Ali İsmail Korkmaz and the father of Berkin Elvan, both of whom were killed by government forces during the 2013 Gezi Park protests.

Alleged closure case
In March 2015, a document allegedly regarding a closure case against the Republican People's Party was leaked online, causing many opposition politicians to accuse the AKP of attempting to eliminate competition through anti-democratic practices. The party's leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu confirmed the claims, stating that he had known about the preparations for a closure case for some time. According to Kılıçdaroğlu, the case would involve the printing of a controversial book about Turkey's president Mustafa Kemal Atatürk by the AKP, which will be found illegal by the courts and lead to the closure of the CHP since the party itself was founded by Atatürk.

AKP leader Ahmet Davutoğlu denied the claims and called for Kılıçdaroğlu to meet with him to put forward a constitutional amendment that would make it impossible for a political party to be shut down by the courts. This led to speculation that the closure case threat was in fact an attempt by the AKP to amend the constitution and avoid any closure cases against themselves in the future, having narrowly survived one in 2008 and an earlier case in 2001.

Controversies
Controversy has risen over alleged links between the CHP and the exiled cleric Fethullah Gülen, who was formerly an AKP ally who withdrew support from Erdoğan in 2013. Amid allegations that Gülen had considered the CHP as a possible means of maintaining political influence in Turkey despite staunch differences in ideology, the CHP has come under increasing fire by the government and its own supporters for alleged collaborations with Gülen, who was once a fierce critic of the CHP. İzmir MP Birgül Ayman Güler resigned from the CHP in January 2015, accusing the CHP of collaborating with Gülen during the 2014 local elections. In February, CHP deputy leader Sezgin Tanrıkulu applied to the Ministry of Justice for a permit to visit Hidayet Karaca in Silivri Prison. Karaca, who is the head of the pro-Gülen Samanyolu TV, was taken into custody in 2014 for allegedly establishing a terrorist organisation. The party has also supported Bank Asya, a pro-Gülen bank that the AKP government attempted to shut down in 2014.

Policies
In a document named the 'Vision of Justice, Freedom and Development', the CHP have outlined their main policies to guarantee workers' rights by removing the controversial 'Taşeron' system and bring about social democracy. In addition, the party has aimed at doubling welfare benefits while also increasing the social welfare of ten million retired citizens. Furthermore, the party will aim to liberalise the education system while also targeting child labour and growing unemployment. A commitment has also been made to preserve the separation of powers within the state as opposed to an 'elected monarchy' which the party accuse the AKP of trying to establish.

Party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu presented a four-point pledge, signed by a notary, that committed to giving bonuses to pensioners during Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. He claimed that these arrangements would remain for every year that he is Prime Minister and that he would resign as Prime Minister and party leader if he did not meet his pledge.

Criticism of the government
Party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu accused Ahmet Davutoğlu of not knowing anything about new legislation, arguing that they were handed down to him by his superiors. He accused the AKP of treating voters like 'second class citizens' and called the CHP a 'second home' for voters.

Electoral rallies

The CHP planned 50 electoral rallies throughout Turkey in what Kılıçdaroğlu styled as a 'meeting marathon' (Miting maratonu). During visits to different provinces, Kılıçdaroğlu is also due to make unplanned visits to town centres and other public places to meet with voters directly. Special measures were taken for people with disabilities, with the party accompanying its televised electoral rallies with sign language.

The CHP's inaugural electoral rally was held on 11 April in the Kartal district of İstanbul. The rally was styled as the 'National Applause rally' (Milletçe Alkışlıyoruz mitingi). During the rally, Kılıçdaroğlu appeared to unveil a new slogan, 'Do not be afraid, do not give up, do not cower' (Korkmayın, yılmayın, sinmeyin).

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP)

The MHP has implemented one of the lowest application fees of any party for potential candidates. Between 12 and 18 March, all male, female and disabled citizens wishing to apply had to pay a fee of ₺2,000. The MHP had charged ₺2,500 in the 2011 general election.
In response to plans to build a hotel in a greenfield site at İstinye in İstanbul, the MHP organised a seed-planting protest in the area In January. Actor Mehmet Aslan allegedly declared his potential candidacy during the event.

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP)

Emboldened by the 9.77% of the vote won by Peoples' Democratic Party co-leader Selahattin Demirtaş in the 2014 presidential election, The HDP is due to contest the election by fielding party candidates rather than independent candidates by the order of Abdullah Öcalan. This has been controversial since all of the HDP's votes would be transferred to the AKP in the event that the HDP fails to win above 10% of the vote. There has been speculation as to whether the AKP forced Öcalan to pressure the HDP to contest the election as a party in order to boost their own number of MPs. The party charged a ₺2,000 application fee for prospective male candidates, a ₺1,000 fee for female and young candidates under the age of 27 and no fee was collected from disabled applicants. Applications for candidacy were received between 16 February and 2 March.

According to Habertürk, the party has proposed to field Kurdish candidates in the west and Turkish candidates in the east, which is the opposite of the demographic make-up of the country. The party is also expected to increase its popularity by offering candidacies to famous individuals, such as actor Kadir İnanır. According to a private poll conducted by the HDP in January 2015, the party needs to gather around 600,000 more supporters by the general election in order to surpass the election threshold of 10% and win 72 MPs. Polling organisations such as Metropoll, however, predict that the party would win around 55 MPs if they won more than 10%. It is hoped by HDP candidates that the victory of the left-wing SYRIZA in the 2015 Greek legislative election in January would result in a boost in popularity.

In order to maximise their votes, the party's co-leader Figen Yüksekdağ has announced that the HDP will begin negotiations with the United June Movement, a socialist intellectual and political platform that includes left-wing parties such as the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP) and the Labour Party (EMEP). Negotiations between parties began taking place in early 2015, with the intention of forming a broad alliance rather than a strict political coalition. Although Yüksekdağ ruled out negotiating with the CHP since they were 'closed to dialogue' and Demirtaş was opposed to negotiations, CHP deputy leader Sezgin Tanrıkulu said that the CHP was open for talks and that the two parties had until 7 April to come to an agreement.

Democratic Left Party (DSP)
Similar to the 2007 general election, the Democratic Left Party was expected to form an electoral alliance with the CHP and list joint candidates rather than contest the election on their own. However, in March 2015, DSP leader Masum Türker announced that the DSP would not form an alliance with the CHP and pulled out of negotiations. In a press conference in Bursa, Türker claimed that his party faced significant damage by running alongside the CHP in 2007, stating that the CHP had not kept to their word and several DSP candidates had defected during the course of the 23rd parliament. He also accused CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu of tying to display DSP candidates as CHP supporters and attempting to convince voters that he had 'decimated' the DSP. Türker further stated that the CHP could form a coalition if the DSP managed to enter parliament.

Applications to become DSP candidates will end on 31 March 2015, with all applicants paying ₺1,000.

New parties

In the year leading up to the election, several small political parties were founded mainly due to the dissatisfaction with the established political forces. They were mostly formed by defectors in parliament from the AKP or CHP. The following is a list of new political parties formed close to the election.

Opinion polling

Controversies

Campaigning restrictions
On 3 March, the governor of İzmir took a series of decisions curbing the ability of citizens to protest against the 'established order', limiting freedom of expression and limiting all forms of political propaganda and demonstrations to written statements only. The İzmir Bars Association stated that they would appeal against the decisions, accusing them of being undemocratic and counterproductive. The decisions were later reversed by the governor's office amid heavy protests on social media.

Media censorship

On 7 April, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and 166 other websites were blocked for distributing the images of DHKP-C terrorists taking İstanbul prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz hostage. The court responsible for the block argued that the images could be used as propaganda for the terrorist organisation and were distressing for the prosecutor's family. In addition, criminal investigations were launched into four newspapers that also features the images. The proximity of the block to the election, which bears similarity to the blocking of social media sites just weeks before the 2014 local elections, raised accusations of growing government censorship against opposition views. Allegations were also made that social media sites were blocked to stop potential incriminating evidence regarding the government's involvement in the hostage crisis from emerging.

The state-funded broadcaster Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) took the decision to not broadcast a campaign advert by the opposition CHP, because it was perceived to be openly critical of the governing AKP. The advert featured a cat walking near a transformer, seen as a reference to the AKP Minister of Energy Taner Yıldız's claims that nationwide electricity cuts during the 2014 local elections occurred due to cat entering a transformer. The TRT, which has previously been accused of pro-government bias, was accused of censorship and subsequently taken to court by the CHP. A CHP delegate to the media regulator RTÜK, Ali Öztunç, later claimed that the advert had not broken any laws and that the AKP was directly behind the censorship. A tradesman from Düzce sent the CHP to court for causing provocation and protesting rival parties by applauding, referencing the CHP's 'National Applause' themed election campaign. The individual was later discovered to be the director of public broadcasting for the pro-AKP Diriliş newspaper.

References

June 2015 Turkish general election

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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The 8th Minnesota Infantry Regiment was a Minnesota USV infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Indian Wars and the American Civil War.

Service

The 8th Minnesota Infantry Regiment was mustered into Federal service at Fort Snelling and St. Paul, Minnesota, between June 2 and September 1, 1862, with ten companies, and deployed in guarding the frontier during the Dakota War of 1862. The regiment served in this manner until the spring of 1864, when it was assembled to participate in Brigadier General Alfred Sully's Northwestern Indian Expedition against the Sioux. The regiment rendezvoused at Paynesville, Minnesota, on May 24, 1864, where it received its regimental colors, was mounted on horses, and attached to the 2nd Brigade of the District of Iowa. The 8th marched through Dakota Territory, where it participated in the Battle of Killdeer Mountain in July, and at the Battle of the Badlands in August. After crossing into eastern Montana Territory, the regiment reached the Yellowstone River, from which point it marched downstream to Fort Union, at the rivers' mouth. From there, the regiment marched toward the Canada–US border in search of "hostile" Sioux, but returned to Fort Union empty handed. After reaching Fort Rice in central Dakota Territory, from September 10–30, 1864 four companies were sent 200 miles west to help rescue Fisk's immigrant train at Fort Dilts approximately 13 miles east of the Montana Territory border. At this time, the regiment was transferred to the 23rd Corps, then in the Department of the Cumberland at Nashville, Tennessee. The two separated parts of the regiment moved south, but the detachment that had gone to rescue the immigrant train arrived in Nashville first, due to traveling via a steamboat down the Missouri River. In December, 1864 the 8th Minnesota participated in the Third Battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where it suffered 13 men killed and 77 wounded. The regiment then marched to Alabama, moved to Washington, D.C., and landed at Wilmington, North Carolina. After moving inland, from March 7–10, 1865 it fought in the Battle of Wyse Fork, North Carolina.  The Regiment was present for General Johnston's surrender to U.S. Gen. Sherman at Bennett Place, Durham, North Carolina.  In the last year of the Civil War, the 8th Minnesota saw service in Minnesota, Dakota Territory, Montana Territory, Tennessee, Alabama, Washington, D.C., and North Carolina, traveling more miles during that time than any other regiment of the Union Army. The 8th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment was finally mustered out on July 11, 1865.

Casualties
The 8th Minnesota Infantry suffered 1 officer and 26 enlisted men who were killed or who died of their wounds received in battle, and another 56 enlisted men who died of disease, for a total of 83 fatalities.

Commanders
 Colonel Minor T. Thomas – August 24, 1862, to July 11, 1865, promoted to brevet brigadier general in February 1865.
 Lieutenant Colonel Henry T. Rodgers – often commanded regiment throughout the last year of the war when Colonel Thomas acted as its brigade commander.

See also
List of Minnesota Civil War Units

Notes

References

External links
 The Civil War Archive
 Minnesota Historical Society page on Minnesota and the Civil War

Units and formations of the Union Army from Minnesota
1862 establishments in Minnesota
Military units and formations established in 1862
Military units and formations disestablished in 1865


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Principles of Political Economy: With Some of Their Applications to Social ...
За John Stuart Mill
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therefore, might lead to conclusions only the more misleading, for their deceptive semblance of accuracy. There would be less danger of error in taking the average of only a small number of years, and correcting it by a conjectural allowance for the character of the seasons, than in trusting to a longer average without any such correction. It is hardly necessary to add, that in founding conclusions on quoted prices, allowance must also be made as far as possible for any changes in the general exchange value of the precious metals.*
§ 4. Thus far, of the effect of the progress of society on the permanent or average values and prices of commodities. It remains to oe considered, in what manner the same progress affects their fluctuations. Concerning the answer to this question there can be no doubt. It tends in a very high degree to diminish them.
In poor and backward societies, as in the East, and in Europe during the middle ages, extraordinary differences in the price of the same commodity might exist in places not very distant from each other, because the want of roads and canals, the imperfection of marine navigation, and the insecurity of communications generally, prevented things from being transported from the places where they were cheap tc those where they were dear. The things most liable to fluctuations in value, those directly influenced by the seasons, and especially food, were seldom carried to any great distances. Each locality depended, as a general rale, on its own produce and that of its immediate neighbourhood. In most years, accordingly, there was, in some part or jther of any large country, a real dearth. Almost every season must be unpropitious to some among the many soils and climates to be found in an extensive tract of country; but as the samo season is also in general more
* A still better criterion, perhaps, than that suggested in the text, would be the increase or diminution of the amount of the labourer's wayos estimated In agricultural produce,
than ordinarily favourable to others, it is only occasionally that the aggregate nroduce of the whole country is dehcient, and even then in a less degree than that of many separate portions; while a deficiency at all considerable, extending to the whole world, is a thing almost unknown. In modern times, therefore, there is only dearth, where there formerly would have been famine, and sufficiency everywhere when anciently there would have been scarcity in some places and superfluity in others.
The samo change has taken place with respect to all other articles of commerce. The safety and cheapness of communications, which enable » deficiency in one place to be supplied from the surplus of another, at a moderate or even a small advance on the ordinary price, render the fluctuations of prices much less extreme than formerly. This effect is much promoted by the existence of large capitals, belonging to what are called speculative merchants, whose business it is to buy goods in order to resell them at a profit. These dealers naturally buying things when they are cheapest, and storing them up to be brought again into the market when the price has become unusually high; the tendency of their operations is to equalize price, or at least to moderate its inequalities. The prices of things are neither so much depressed at one time, nor so much raised at another, as they would be if speculative dealers did not exist.
Speculators, therefore, have a highly useful office in the economy of society; and (contrary to common opinion) th» most useful portion of the class are those who speculate in commodities affected by the vicissitudes of seasons. If there were no corn-dealers, not only would the price of corn be liable to variations much more extreme than at present, but in a deficient season the necessary supplies might not be forthcoming at all. Unless there were speculators in corn, or unless, in default of dealers, the farmers became speculators, the price in a season of abundance would fall without any limit or check, except the wasteful consumption that would invariably follow. That any part of the surplus of one year remains to supply the deficiency of another, is owing either to farmers who withhold corn from the market, or to dealers who buy it when at the cheapest and lay it up in store.
§ 5. Among persons who have not much considered the subject, there is a notion that the gains of speculators are often made by causing an artificial scarcity; that they create a high price by their own purchases, and then profit by it. This may easily be shown to be fallacious. If a corn-dealer makes purchases on speculation, and produces a rise, when there is neither at the time nor afterwards any cause for a rise of price except his own proceedings; he no doubt appears to grow richer as long as his purchases continue, because he is a holder of an article which is quoted at a higher and higher price: but this apparent gain only seems within his reach so long as he does not attempt to realize it. If he has bought, for instance, a million of quarters, and by withholding them from the market, has raised the price ten shillings a quarter; just so much as the price has been raised by withdrawing a million quarters, will it be lowered by bringing them back, and the best that he can hope is that he will lose nothing except interest and his expenses. If by a gradual and cautious sale he is able to realize, on some portion of his stores, a part of the increased price, so also he will undoubtedly have had to pay a part of that price on some portion of his purchases. He runs considerable risk of incurring a still greater loss; for the temporary high price is very likely to have tempted others, who had no share in causing it, and who might otherwise not have found their way to his market at all, to bring their corn there, and intercept a part of the advantage. So that instead of profiting by a scarcity caused by himself, he is by no means unlikely, after buying in an average market, to be forced to sell in a superabundant one.
As an individual speculator cannot
gain by a rise of price solely of his own creating, so neither can a number of speculators gain collectively by a rise, which their operations have artificially produced. Some among a number of speculators may gain, by superior judgment or good fortune in selecting the time for realizing; but they make this gain at the expense, not of the consumer, but of the other speculators who are less judicious. They, in fact, convert to their own benefit the high price produced by the speculations of the others, leaving to these the loss resulting from the recoil. It is not to be denied, therefore, that speculators may enrich themselves by other people's loss. But it is by the losses of other speculators. As much must have been lost by one set of dealers as is gained by another set.
When a speculation in a commodity proves profitable to the speculators aa a body, it is because in the interval between their buying and reselling, the price rises from some cause independent of them, their only connexion with it consisting in having foreseen it. In this case, their purchases make the price begin to rise sooner than it otherwise would do, thus spreading the privation of the consumers over a longer period, but mitigating it at the time of its greatest height: evidently to the general advantage. In this, however, it is assumed that they have not overrated the rise which they looked forward to. For it often happens that speculative purchases are made in the expectation of some increase of demand, or deficiency of supply, which after all does not occur, or not to the extent which the speculator expected. In that case the speculation, instead of moderating fluctuations, has caused a fluctuation of price which otherwise would not have happened, or aggravated one which would. But in that case the speculation is a losing one, to the speculators collectively, however much some individuals may gain by it. All that part of the rise of price by which it exceeds what there are independent grounds for, cannot give to the speculators as a body any benefit, since the price is as much depressed by their sales as it was raised by their purchases; and while they gain nothing by it, they lose, not only their trouble and expenses, but almost always'much more, through the effects incident to the artificial rise of price, in checking consumption, and bringing forward supplies from unforeseen quarters. The operations, therefore, of speculative dealers, are useful to the public whenever profitable to themselves; and though they are sometimes injurious to the public, by heightening the fluctuations which their more usual office is to alleviate, yet whenever this happens the speculators are the greatest losers. The interest, in short, of the speculators as a body, coincides with the interest of Ihe public; and as they can only fail to serve the public interest in proportion as they miss their own, the best way to promote the one is to leave them to pursue the other in perfect freedom.
I do not deny that speculators may aggravate a local scarcity. In collecting corn from the villages to supply the towns, they make the dearth penetrate into nooks and corners which might otherwise have escaped from bearing their share of it. To buy and resell in the same place, tends to alleviate scarcity: to buy in one place and resell in another, may increase it in tho former of the two places, but relieves it in the latter, where the prico is higher, and which therefore, by the very supposition, is likely to be suffering more. And these sufferings always fall hardest on the poorest consumers, since the rich, by outbidding, can obtain their accustomed supply undiminished if they choose. To no persons, therefore, are the operations of corn-dealers on the whole so beneficial as to the poor. Accidentally and exceptionally, the poor may suffer from them: it might sometimes be more advantageous to the rural poor to have corn cheap in winter, when they are entirely dependent on it, even if the consequence were a dearth in spring, when they can perhaps obtain partial substitutes. But there are no substitutes, procurable at that season, which serve in any great degree to
replace bread-corn as the chief article of food: if there were, its price would fall in the spring, instead of continuing, as it alwayB does, to rise till the approach of harvest.
There is an opposition of immediate interest, at the moment of sale, between the dealer in corn and tho con. sumer, as there always is between the seller and the buyer: and a time of dearth being that in which the speculator makes his largest profits, he is an object of dislike and jealousy at that time, to those who are suffering while he is gaining. It is an error, however, to suppose that the corndealer's business affords him any extraordinary profit; he makes his gains not constantly, but at particular times, and they must therefore occasionally be great, but the chances of profit in a business in which there is so much competition, cannot on the whole bo greater than in other employments. A year of scarcity, in which great gains are made by corn-dealers, rarely comes to an end without a recoil which places many of them in the list of bankrupts. There havo been few more promising seasons for corndealers than the year 1847, and seldom was there a greater break-up among the speculators than in tho autumn of that year. The chances of failure, in this most precarious trade, are a set-off against great occasional profits. If the corn-dealer were to sell his stores, during a dearth, at a lower price than that which tho competition of the consumers assigns to him, he would make a sacrifice, to charity or philanthropy, of the fair
Erofits of his employment, which may e quite as reasonably required from any other person of equal means. His business being a useful one, it is the interest of the public that the ordinary motives should exist for carrying it on, and that neither law nor opinion should prevent an operation beneficial to the public from being attended with as much private advantage as is compatible with full and free competition.
It appears, then, that the fluctua> tions of values and prices arising from variations of supply, or from alterations in real (as distinguished from speculative) demand, may be expected to become more moderate as society advances. With regard to those which arise from miscalculation, and especially from the alternations of undue expansion and excessive contraction of credit, which occupy so conspicuous a place among commercial phenomena, the same thing cannot be allirmed with equal confidence. Such vicissitudes, beginning with irrational speculation and ending with a commercial crisis, have not hitherto be
come cither less frequent or lesB violent with the growth of capital and extension of industry. Rather they may be said to have become more so: in consequence, as is often said, of increased competition; but, as I prefer to say, of a low rate of profits and interest, which makes capitalists dissatisfied with the ordinary course of safe mercantile gains. The connexion of this low rate of profit with the advance of population and accumulation, is one of the points to bo illustrated in the ensuing chapters.
CHAPTER HI.
INFLUENCE OP THE PROGRESS OF INDUSTRY AND POPULATION ON RENTS, PROFITS, AND WAGES.
§ 1. Continuing the inquiry into the nature of tho economical changes taking place in a society which is in a state of industrial progress, we shall next consider what is the effect of that progress on the distribution of the produce among the various classes who share in it. We may confine our attention to the system of distribution which is the most complex, and which virtually includes all others—that in which the produce of manufactures is shared between .two classes, labourers and capitalists, and the produce of agriculture among three, labourers, capitalists, and landlords.
Tho characteristic features of what is commonly meant by industrial progress, resolve themselves mainly into three—increase of capital, increase of population, and improvements in production; understanding the last expression in its widest sense, to include tho process of procuring commodities from a distance, as well as that of producing them. The other changes which take place are chiefly consequences of these; as, for example, the tendency to a progressive increase of tho cost of production of fool; arising
from an increased demand, which may be occasioned either by increased population, or by an increase of capital and wages, enabling the poorer classes to increase their consumption. It will be convenient to set out by considering each of the three causes, as operating separately; after which we can suppose them combined in any manner wo think fit.
Let us first suppose that population increases, capital and the arts of production remaining stationary. One of the effects of this change of circumstances is sufficiently obvious: wages will fall; the labouring class will be reduced to an inferior condition. The state of the capitalist, on the contrary, . will be improved. With the same capital, he can purchase more labour, and obtain more produce. His rate of profit is increased. The dependence of the rate of profits on the cost of labour is here verified; for the labourer obtaining a diminished quantity of commodities, and no alteration being supposed in the circumstances of their production, tho diminished quantity represents a diminished cost. The labourer obtains not only a smaller
real reward, but the product of a smaller quantity of labour. The first circumstance is the important one to himself, the last to his employer.
Nothing has occurred, thus far, to affect in any way the value of any commodity; and no reason, therefore, has yet shown itself, why rent should be either raised or lowered. But if wo look forward another stage in the series of effects, we may see our way to such a consequence. The labourers have increased in numbers: their condition is reduced in the same proportion; the increased numbers divide among them only the produce of the same amount of labour as before. But they may economize in their other comforts, and not in their food: each may consume as much food, and of as costly a quality, as previously; or they may submit to a reduction, but not in proportion to the increase of numbers. On this supposition, notwithstanding the diminution of real wages, the increased population will require an increased quantity of food. But since industrial skill and knowledge are supposed to bo stationary, more food can only be obtained by resorting to worse laud, or to methods of cultivation which are less productive in proportion to the outlay. Capital for this extension of agriculture will not be wanting; for though, by hypothesis, no addition takes place to the capital in existence, a sufficient amount can be spared from the industry which previously supplied the other and less pressing wants which the labourers have, been obliged to curtail. The additional supply of food, therefore, will be produced, but produced at a greater cost; and the exchange value of agricultural produce must rise. It may be objected, that profits having risen, the extra cost of producing food can be defrayed from profits, without any increase of price. j.t could, undoubtedly, but it will not: because if it did, the agriculturist would be placed in an inferior position to other capitalists. The increaso of profits, being the effect of diminished wages, is common to all employers of labour. The increased expenses arising
from the necessity of a more costly cultivation, affect the agriculturist alone. For this peculiar burthen he must be peculiarly compensated, whether the general rate of profit bo high or low. He will not submit indefinitely to a deduction from his profits, to which other capitalists are not subject. He will not extend his cultivation by laying out fresh capital, unless for a return sufficient to yield him as high a profit as could be obtained by the same capital in other investments. The value, therefore, of his commodity will rise, and rise in proportion to the increased cost. The farmer will thus be indemnified for the burthen which is peculiar to himself, and will also enjoy the augmented rate of profit which is common to all capitalists.
It follows, from principles with which we are already familiar, that in these circumstances rent will rise. Any land can afford to pay, and under free competition will pay, a rent equal to the excess of its produce above the return to an equal capital on the worst land, or under the least favourable conditions. Whenever, therefore, agriculture is driven to descend to worse land, or more onerous processes, rent rises. Its rise will be twofold, for, in the first place, rent in kind, 01 corn rent, will rise; and in the second, since the value of agricultural produce has also risen, rent, estimated in manufactured or foreign commodities (which is represented cateria paribus by money rent) will rise still more.
The steps of the process (if, after what has been formerly said, it is necessary to retrace them) are as follows. Corn rises in price, to repay with the ordinary profit the capital required for producing additional corn on worse land or by more costly processes. So far as regards this additional corn, the increased price is but an equivalent for the additional expense; but the rise, extending to all corn, affords on all, except the last produced, an extra profit. If the farmer was accustomed to produce 1.00 quarters of wheat at 40s., and 120 quarters are now required, of
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11/01/2017 5:26 AM AEDT | Updated 11/01/2017 5:29 AM AEDT
Trevor Noah Critiques One Small 'Tone-Deaf' Part Of Meryl Streep's Golden Globes Speech
"You don't have to make your point by s**ting on someone else's thing."
Trevor Noah does not think Meryl Streep's Golden Globes speech was totally flawless.
On Monday night's "Daily Show," host Noah discussed the viral speech Streep delivered while accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award, explaining how one tiny portion about football and MMA fans really missed the mark.
"It was really great except for this one tiny part, for me, where Meryl Streep, like her character in 'Florence Foster Jenkins,' was tone-deaf," he began.
"I understand what Meryl Streep was trying to do, and I don't know if I could've done better in that moment, but here's the thing I feel like we could all learn as people: You don't have to make your point by shitting on someone else's thing, because a lot of people love football and the arts."
Handout via Getty Images
Meryl Streep's speech called out Donald Trump -- although not by name.
Streep's comments had criticized exclusionary ideology.
"Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners, and if you kick us all out, you'll have nothing to watch except for football and mixed martial arts, which are not arts," she said at the Globes.
Noah explained that he watched football with friends Sunday before turning on the Golden Globes. The two are therefore not mutually exclusive.
But he concluded by commending Streep's overall message.
"The truth is, if you focus on that part of the speech, you miss the larger point," he added. "It was a speech about respect; it was a speech about empathy; and, most importantly, it was a speech about responsibility."
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