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* United States House of Representatives *
مجلس نمایندگان امریکا
(Wikipedia) - United States House of Representatives For the current congress, see 113th United States Congress. For the current list of House districts, see List of United States congressional districts.
113th United States Congress
Seal of the House
Flag of the House
Type Lower house of the United States Congress
Term limits None
New session started January 3, 2013 (2013-01-03)
Speaker John Boehner (R) since January 3, 2011
Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R) since August 1, 2014
Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R) since August 1, 2014
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D) since January 3, 2011
Seats 435 voting members 6 non-voting members
Republican (233)
Democratic (199)
vacant (3)
Length of term 2 years
Voting system First-past-the-post
Last election November 6, 2012
Next election November 4, 2014
Redistricting State legislatures or redistricting commissions, varies by state
House of Representatives chamber United States Capitol Washington, D.C., United States
www.house.gov
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of the United States
President pro tempore
Other tribunals
Off-year elections
Legislatures (List)
Politics portal
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the United States Congress (a bicameral legislature). It is frequently referred to as The House. The other house is the Senate.
The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the United States Constitution. The major power of the House is to pass federal legislation that affects the entire country, although its bills must also be passed by the Senate and further agreed to by the U.S. President before becoming law (unless both the House and Senate re-pass the legislation with a two-thirds majority in each chamber). The House has some exclusive powers: the power to initiate revenue bills, to impeach officials (impeached officials are subsequently tried in the Senate), and to elect the U.S. President in case there is no majority in the Electoral College.
Each U.S. state is represented in the House in proportion to its population as measured in the census, but every state is entitled to at least one representative. The most populous state, California, currently has 53 representatives. On the other end of the spectrum, there are seven states with only one representative each (Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming). The total number of voting representatives is fixed by law at 435. Each representative serves for a two-year term. The Speaker of the House, who presides over the chamber, is elected by the members of the House, and is therefore traditionally the leader of the House Democratic Caucus or the House Republican Conference, whichever party has more voting members. The House meets in the south wing of the United States Capitol.
2 Membership, qualifications and apportionment
2.1 Apportionment
2.2 Redistricting
2.3 Qualifications
2.4 Elections
3 Comparison to the Senate
4 Salary and benefits
4.1 Salaries
4.2 Titles
4.3 Pension
4.4 Tax deductions
4.5 Health and life insurance
4.6 Personnel, mail and office expenses
4.7 Travel allowance
5 Officers
5.1 Member officials
5.1.1 Leadership and partisanship
5.2 Non-member officials
6.1 Daily procedures
6.2 Passage of legislation
7 Committees
8 Legislative functions
9 Checks and balances
10 Latest election results and current party standings
10.1 Current standing
10.2 End of previous Congress
Tags:Alaska, California, Congress, Constitution, Elections, John Boehner, Judiciary, Legislature, Politics, President, Senate, South Dakota, Taxation, United States, United States House of Representatives, Washington, Website, Wikipedia
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2 Biotechs Tackling the Challenge of Lou Gehrig's Disease
Historically, the underlying cause of ALS has evaded researchers, except in rare genetic cases. But more light has been shone on the disease and the potential of new avenues for drug intervention.
David Haen
(TMFHaen)
Sep 30, 2019 at 3:31PM
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease in which the nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain slowly die, leading to impairment of voluntary muscle movement. Patients lose the ability to eat, breathe, walk, and talk as the disease advances. In many cases, patients become completely paralyzed. Approximately 5,000 patients are diagnosed annually in the U.S., according to the ALS Association.
Four years ago, the Ice Bucket Challenge campaign raised more than $115 million for the ALS Association. In turn, it funded more than 200 research projects to the tune of $84 million, resulting in the discovery of five new genes that could be culprits of the disease. New approaches in development provide hope that one or even a few new therapies lie on the horizon.
A cutting-edge clinical trial in ALS commenced this month at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Dubbed a Platform Trial, it will compare five drugs, each from a different company, against each other and a group receiving a placebo. Traditionally, each drug would have had its own clinical trial. But in this case, 30 companies applied to have their drugs evaluated. Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding (NYSE:BHVN) and Ra Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RARX) each had a drug selected for inclusion.
Biohaven's verdiperstat tackles ALS at the brain
Biohaven's verdiperstat inhibits the myeloperoxidase enzyme which is a key driver of oxidative stress and inflammation in the brain. Originally developed by AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) for another rare, neurodegenerative disease called multiple system atrophy, Biohaven licensed the rights to verdiperstat in September 2018. This summer, Biohaven began a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial with verdiperstat for multiple system atrophy. Oxidative stress and inflammation have been associated with other indications, including ALS and Alzheimer's disease. Based on the drug's unique mechanism, oral tablet formulation, and that it had previously been tested in approximately 250 patients, ALS experts selected verdiperstat for the Platform Trial.
Verdiperstat is one of several promising drugs in Biohaven's pipeline. In the second quarter of 2019, the company filed for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of its orally available migraine treatment. Approval could come before the year ends. Biohaven's stock was up nearly 80% earlier this year before the company raised $302.3 million in a June stock offering. Analysts have an average target price of $72, significantly above its current $41 price. Multiple catalysts including several on-going late-stage trials could cause the stock to respond favorably. While verdiperstat is only one small piece of the pipeline, any drug that shows benefit for ALS patients will be a breakthrough.
Ra Pharmaceuticals tries to rein in an over-active immune response
The second drug selected for the Platform Trial is zilucoplan from Ra Pharmaceuticals. Zilucoplan aims to stop tissue damage caused by excessive or uncontrolled activation of the complement system, a key component of the immune system, according to the company. The complement system has been implicated in many autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Common features between these types of diseases and ALS provide evidence that led to it being included in the Platform Trial.
Ra plans to commence a Phase 3 trial before the end of 2019 with zilucoplan in patients who have generalized myasthenia gravis, a chronic autoimmune and neuromuscular disease. The company claims approximately 60,000 people in the U.S. are affected by this disease. The 12-week pivotal study will likely wrap up before any results on how it performs in the ALS study are known. Patients take zilucoplan as a daily self-injection, but Ra is also developing a patient-friendly once-a-week version.
Like Biohaven, Ra's stock nearly doubled earlier this year only to pull back on the news of a new financing round. In July, Ra raised $140 million to prepare for the upcoming Phase 3 trial. The results from the Phase 3 pivotal trial in myasthenia gravis remain the key driver, making this a stock to keep on the radar for next year.
Platform Trial offers excitement and hope to the ALS community
Approaching a mysterious disease like ALS from different angles and evaluating the drugs side-by-side, in theory, should allow winners and losers to emerge. The Platform Trial organizers suggest additional drugs may be added in the future. That may allow DNL747, a drug that combats neuroinflammation, from Denali Therapuetics (NASDAQ:DNLI); arimoclomol, an amplifier of the cellular housekeeping machinery, by Orphazyme; tofersen, a gene-silencing drug for a genetic form of ALS, in development by Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB); or any of the other drugs that were submitted for inclusion to get their chance to shine.
ALS provides a tremendous opportunity for any company that can demonstrate a benefit for patients with the horrendous disease. Patients and their families, physicians, and regulators would love nothing more than to see new effective treatments approved for ALS. Unfortunately, ALS drug development is littered with failures. However, late-stage drugs from Biohaven and Ra have a strong chance of showing benefit, which could correspond to major increases in their stock prices.
BHVN
Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Company Ltd.
NYSE:BHVN
RARX
Ra Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Common Stock
NASDAQ:RARX
NASDAQ:BIIB
NYSE:AZN
DNLI
Denali Therapeutics Inc
NASDAQ:DNLI
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2 Biotechs Tackling the Challenge of Lou Gehrig's Disease @themotleyfool #stocks $BHVN $RARX $BIIB $AZN $DNLI Next Article

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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The Carraway Library was named in honor of Gertrude Sprague Carraway (1896-1993) who led the effort to restore Tryon Palace and served as its first director. For over forty years, the Carraway Library has been a continuing resource for Tryon Palace staff, volunteers, and visiting researchers.
The library consists of over 5,000 secondary sources. Subjects include regional and national history, fine and decorative arts, material culture, horticulture, and architecture. These materials are non-circulating and are available by appointment.
Email to schedule an appointment
Morley Jeffers Williams (1886-1977) archaeolgoist and landscape architect for the Tryon Palace Restoration
Gertrude Sprague Carraway (1896-1993) First Director of Tryon Palace
North face of Tryon Palace under construction, 1955.
Aerial view of Tryon Palace grounds and gardens, ca. 1960.


After my stint at the pre-release screening of Incident at Loch Ness, I was ready to do something nice and simple with Taren for her Birthday. She was preparing for her trip to Mexico, and she doesn't really make much of a fuss about her birthday, but still, I wanted to make sure she was at least hugged and smooched that day!
What started out as a sweet little jaunt uptown for a possible cocktail and photographing of the protesters, turned out to be a long, LONG night of silly synchronicities, playful prancing, and delightful drunkenness!
We spontaneously veered over to East Of Eighth, [and here] one of our favorite haunts. We hadn't been there in months, so it was a refreshing reunion to be there again! Immediately upon arriving, we were greeted with a couple of gorgeous, happy faces who ended up making the night one of the most fun we have had in a long time!!
Stephanie and Jeffrey greeted us with introductions and questions and compliments all around; our conversation and ensuing goofball night seeming more like a planned reunion than a chance meeting. We were all in love before the first hour passed!
The night was dangerously helped along with the help of one of our new favorite bartenders as he made freshly-squeezed orange juice margaritas! DEEE-lish! Yes, I said it… DEE-Lish!
Taren, Stephanie, Jeffrey, and I took over the bar to the point of scaring patrons from entering. We would see them walk down the steps toward the door, they would see four kooks boogying and gyrating around while the kitchen help sat and watched us, wide-eyed and envious (or terrified, I am not sure), and the person would turn and run. It was all a hoot. Yes, I said it, a HOOT.
After parting ways from Stephanie and Jeffrey, I started walking Taren home, when we made another veer into another favorite bar, Barracuda [and here]!
We got there just in time for the drag show that was starting! Not only was the show funny, we actually became a part of the damn thing!
Taren, upstaging the drag queen!
So, Happy Birthday to you, Taren! I know we paid the price the next day, but dammit, it was worth it! HUG HUG HUG!
…and god help me… more birthdays to come in the next weeks ahead!!


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Dusty debris around an old white dwarf star (NASA)
Posted on March 19, 2009 December 24, 2015 by Ian O'Neill
The Sun as a White Dwarf Star
What will happen to all the inner planets, dwarf planets, gas giants and asteroids in the Solar System when the Sun turns into a white dwarf? This question is currently being pondered by a NASA researcher who is building a model of how our Solar System might evolve as our Sun loses mass, violently turning into an electron-degenerate star. It turns out that Dr. John Debes work has some very interesting implications. As we use more precise techniques to observe existing white dwarf stars with the dusty remains of the rocky bodies that used to orbit them, the results of Debes' model could be used as a comparison to see if any existing white dwarf stars resemble how our Sun might look in 4-5 billion years time…
A comparison of the Sun in its yellow dwarf phase and red giant phase
Today, our Sun is a healthy yellow dwarf star. If you want to be precise, it is a "G V star". This yellow dwarf will happily burn 600 million tonnes of hydrogen per second in its core for 10 billion years, generating the light that is required to make our planet habitable. The Sun is approximately half-way through this hydrogen burning phase, so it's OK, things aren't going to change (for the Sun at least) for a long time yet.
But what happens then? What happens in 4-5 billion years when the supply of hydrogen runs out in the core? Although our Sun isn't massive enough to entertain the thought of going out in a blaze of supernova glory, it will still go through an exciting, yet terrifying death. After evolving through the hydrogen-burning phase, the Sun will puff up into a huge red giant star as the hydrogen fuel becomes scarce, expanding 200 times the size it is now, probably swallowing the Earth. Helium, and then progressively heavier elements will be fused in and around the core. The Sun will never fuse carbon however, instead it will shed its outer layers forming a planetary nebula.
Once things calm down, a small sparkling jewel of a white dwarf star will remain. This tiny remnant will have a mass of around half that of our present Sun, but will be the size of the Earth. Needless to say, white dwarfs are very dense, intense gravitational pull countered not by fusion in the core (like all Main Sequence stars), but by electron degeneracy pressure.
Relative sizes of IK Pegasi A (left), IK Pegasi B (lower center; a white dwarf) and the Sun (NASA)
When the Solar System reaches this phase in its evolution, what will it look like? What will become of the asteroids, gas giants, moons and rocky planets? I was very fortunate to chat with astrophysicist Dr John Debes, from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, at January's American Astronomical Society (AAS) conference in Long Beach (California) who is developing an n-body code simulating an evolving Solar System.
After the Sun has stopped hydrogen fusion in its core, it loses mass as it sheds its outer layers after the red giant phase and subsequent planetary nebula formation. It is estimated that the Sun will lose about 50% of its mass during this time, naturally affecting the Solar System as a whole. As the Sun loses mass, the outer planets (such as Jupiter) will drift outwards, increasing their orbital radii. In the simulation, Debes is very careful to ensure there is a gradual reduction in solar mass to ensure stability in the simulation.
What we are left with is an old Solar System, where little is left of the inner planets (it is likely that anything within the orbit of the Earth will have been swallowed by the Sun as it expanded through the red giant phase). Although the future white dwarf Solar System will seem very alien to present day, some things won't change. Jupiter's orbit might have receded with the drop in solar mass, it will remain a planetary heavyweight, causing disruption in asteroid orbits. Using known asteroid data, the motion of these chunks of rocks are allowed to evolve, and over millions of years, they may get thrown out of the Solar System, or more interestingly, pushed closer to the white dwarf. Once the whole system has settled down, resonances in the asteroid belt will become amplified; Kirkwood Gaps (caused by gravitational resonance with Jupiter) will widen, and according to Debes' simulations, the edges of these gaps will become perturbed even more, making more asteroids available to be tidally disrupted and shredded to dust.
Artists concept of shredded asteroid around white dwarf (NASA/JPL-Caltech)
The AAS conference was full of amazing research into white dwarf observations. The reason for this is that there are many white dwarf candidates out there with dusty metallic absorption lines. This means that there used to be rocky bodies orbiting these stars, but became pulverised (by tidal shear) for astronomers to analyse. These white dwarf systems can give us a clue as to what mechanisms could be supplying the white dwarfs with dusty material, even giving us a glimpse into the future of our Solar System.
"We have a physical picture for the link between planetary systems and dusty white dwarfs," Debes said when describing his model in relation to the mysterious dusty white dwarf observations. "Dusty white dwarfs are truly a mystery! We think we know what might be going on, but we don't have a smoking gun yet."
However, Debes is getting close to finding a possible smoking gun, he's basing his model on some of the key characteristics of these ancient dusty remnants to see what the Solar System could look like in billions of years time.
So, where does this dust come from? As the asteroid orbits are perturbed by Jupiter, they may get close enough to be tidally disrupted. Get too close and they will get shredded by the gravitational shear created by the steep tidal radius of the compact white dwarf. The asteroid dust then settles into the white dwarf. The presence of this dust has a very obvious signature in the absorption lines of spectroscopic data, allowing researchers to infer an accretion rate for metal-rich white dwarfs. In Debes' model, he has set the upper limit to 1016 g/year and a lower limit to 1013 g/year, consistent with observed estimates.
Spectra of G29-38. Could this resemble the spectra of the Sun after turning into a white dwarf? (NASA/Spitzer)
In his evolved Solar System model, Jupiter's gravity controls this accretion rate, pushing asteroids toward the white dwarf and, by using a powerful supercomputer to track the perturbations and eventual shredding of known asteroids, there may be an opportunity to arrive at a profound conclusion. Debes is able to use his model to compare observations of known dusty white dwarfs with the simulated outcome of the Solar System. With reference to previous studies (in particularly Koester & Wilken, 2006 in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics), Debes has found some similar white dwarf "Suns".
"For G29-38, the canonical dusty white dwarf, they [Koester & Wilken] estimate a total mass of 0.55 solar masses–about what people believe the mass that our own sun will have remaining when it becomes a white dwarf," Debes added. "But mass estimates are a bit uncertain–I've seen estimates ranging from 0.55-0.7 solar masses for this particular white dwarf."
The Sun's future? The white dwarf G29-38 (NASA)
"Another good candidate is a DAZ [a metal-rich white dwarf] called WD 1257+278, which does not show dust but is spot on with the mass expected for the Sun–0.54 MSun," said Debes. "Its accretion rate is also consistent with my model predictions so far assuming an asteroid belt mass and characteristic perturbation timescale that I found in my simulations."
Debes is continuing to make his model more and more sophisticated, but already the results are promising. Most exciting is that we may already be observing white dwarfs, like G29-38 or WD 1257+278, giving us a tantalizing glimpse of what our Solar System will look like when the Sun becomes a white dwarf star, ripping apart any remaining asteroids and planets as they stray too close to the Sun's tidal shear. However, it also raises the question: if white dwarfs like G29-38 are being fed by the remains of tidally-blended asteroids, are there massive planets shepherding asteroids in these white dwarf systems too?
CategoriesAsteroids, Astronomy, Solar System
35 Replies to "The Sun as a White Dwarf Star"
Maxwell says:
Will giants like Jupiter still have the same mass after a star has off-gassed its outer layers?
I'd think the gravity of a planet that big would rope in a fair amount of out going gas on its own. Changing its size and altering the outcome.
Excalibur says:
The outward star-wind will possibly be collected by Jupiter (and Satrun), but only the parts that come really close. The speed of the wind is already far above the escape speed for the planet, and unless it 'crashes' onto it, or get magnetically trapped, it will simply continute outward. I know some people will jump with joy when i say this, but plasma flows will have a big significance.
But even so, the amount gathered by either planet will be somewhat correlated to the planets angluar area as viewed from the center of the sun, i dont know the factors involved though. Could be twice the area, 10 times the area, 100 times, 1000 times…
Lets assume all outward gas passing through an angular area a 1000 times the angular area of Jupiter are accumulated. That is about 32 times the angular size of Jupiter, so quite far out, in fact that covers about 1/3 degree on the sky as viewed from the sun, and an area of 1/9 square degree.
The sky in total is about 41 253 square degrees, so only about 3 parts in a million would be grabbed. That would be about one earth-mass out of the whole sun, and only about half the sun is expected to be expelled.
The initial numbers of the capturing area are guesses, you can replace them with something more appropriate, but it does look like only a very small amount of the gasses will be caught by the major planets.
Dark Gnat says:
I imagine they would attract some gas from the sun. I wonder how this would effect their moons. Could it be dense enough to create drag?
OilIsMastery says:
And how do we know the sun is going to turn into a white dwarf?
"One part that came to maturity in the pauses between ping pong games is also perhaps the most important from the point of view of general interest. The name of this particular discovery is the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. It takes a strange position in regard to an ancient question, determinism. Is the future really predictable? If we knew the situation at the present with complete accuracy, then the laws of physics say that the future should be completely predictable. What Heisenberg's uncertainty principle says is that it is impossible to know completely accurately what the present is." — Edward Teller, physicist, 1990
Salacious B. Crumb says:
OilisMastery said;
Well there is more than 20600 in number, most show gravitationall redshifts, and blow me down with a feather, some show polar fiel dstrengths between 1.5 and about 1000 MG (megagauss)
The large field measured in a white dwarf SDSS J2346+3653.
And astoundingly, there are magnetic white dwarf and non-magnetic white dwarf. Yet stone the crows, the larger objects (DB's) are normally the ones without magnetic fields.
And of course the million dollar question is, if the sun doesn't turn into a white dwarf, then what are the white dwarfs we observe, and more importantly if they are magnetic (whatever), what are these objects? (Dark stars?)
No let's see strong gravitation fields and magnetic fields.
Now I wonder why that jackass Peratt never mentions this?
So have do you squeeze an object about 0.6 solar masses into an object the size of the Earth? Any magnetic strength that can compress matter to that amount must be about the field strength of literally astronomical proportion.
Is the future really predictable?
Actually yes, because OilisMastery will be pontificating the same old crap again and again and again.
Olaf says:
I am wondering if that ourgassing could escape the sun's gravity, or will it fall back some point in time?
DrFlimmer says:
@ Olaf
The gas will leave. Since the sun gets less and less massive, due to the loss, and the gas overcome the gravity once, it will continue to do so forever. It will become one of the fantastic planetary nebulae – although human kind will probably not observe it. 😉
Salacious,
"Well there is more than 20600 in number"
What are more than 20600 in number? And how does the number 20600 answer the question, how do we know the sun will turn into a white dwarf?
"most show gravitationall redshifts"
Most what show gravitational redshifts?
How can gravitation effect massless particles?
Newton's formula is F = G x m^1m^2/r^2
So when I plug in mass of zero I get force of zero.
"if the sun doesn't turn into a white dwarf, then what are the white dwarfs we observe"
Why must the observation of white dwarf stars signify that the sun will one day turn into one?
Are you going to turn into a white dwarf also?
OilIsMastery:
Do you intend to prove the universe was created by a creator ?
Excalibur,
I don't believe in gravitation or the Big Bang.
You must be confusing me with creationists like Newton, Lemaitre, and Gamow.
huygens says:
By the time the Sun starts going bad, the following will have happened:
Humans will be dead, either extinct or transformed into something totally different.
The Solar System will be turned into a Dyson Shell and the Sun made to last way beyond its 10 billion year shelf life.
We will have abandoned the Solar System for "greener" pastures in the galaxy.
So this is a fun academic exercise to speculate on the future of the Solar System, but to think that the celestial neighborhood will look the same 5 billion years from now is just ignorant.
Logically it depends if the sun is actually a star.
So is our Sun a star?
(You know that the bright round object in the sky during daylight hours that hurts your eyes if you stare at it too long!)
Note: Good God, you did drop any quotes! Aren't you well or something, eh Oils?
Layman says:
Oillsmastery-
Just for the record- for those of us who are new on the scene.
If you do not believe in the Big Bang- what do you believe? And do you have proof of your beliefs?
Also how old do you believe that the Universe is- 14 billion years? 6000?
If it looks like a creationist, if it sounds like a creationist then Oils must be a creationist.
I agree Salacious, if you compare how creationists talk and spam, and if you compare how Oils talk then you must come to the conclusion that he is some type of new age creationist.
Replace Oils "Electric Universe" by the word God.
Replace Oils quotes, but quotes from the bible.
Observe the playing with semantics.
Observer how he tries to misguide with sentences that "science has nu clue, so therefore Electirc universe must be true".
Observer the ignorance of Oils explanations about real physics and compare that with creationists so called theories of evolution like the bananaman his banana as proof that god must have created the banana.
Observer how he denies the existence of gravity and compare it with the creatinists denial of evolution
Observe his spamming.
Everything is exactly the same as a creationist would do, so I see him as some new age creationist.
Hi Olaf and Folks,
I have finally discovered OilisMastery's "Philosophical Doctrine". It is Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies: On Democritus,
The link is; http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf05.iii.iii.i.ii.html
The follow summaries his techniques and why he behaves as he does. Much of it can be turned against him. For example;
"We must not overlook any figment devised by those denominated philosophers among the Greeks. For even their incoherent tenets must be received as worthy of credit, on account of the excessive madness of the heretics; who, from the observance of silence, and from concealing their own ineffable mysteries, have by many been supposed worshippers of God."
— Hippolytus, priest, Refutation of All Heresies: On Democritus, 2nd century
The fool now stands naked and exposed…
Oil when poured on the hand, for the most part, spreads through ones fingers. He is now becoming a Master of an exposed doctrine. [BIG MISTAKE]
Got any more interesting quotes hey Oils?
Those interested might like to read the last line of the link above;
"Assigning to each of those who take the lead among philosophers their own peculiar tenets, we shall publicly exhibit these heresiarchs as naked and unseemly".
Applicable to anyone we know, do you think?
qraal says:
Oils is a Plasma Universe acolyte with a streak of Thunderbolts/Velikovsky thrown in by the sounds. Velikovsky never did understand gravity and he decided everything was done with electromagnetism – he wrote an essay that "did away with gravity" in the 1940s and ever since Moon-bats have carried on about how gravity doesn't really exist and it's all static charges or some such garbage. The fact that there's absolutely zero evidence for anything Velikovsky actually theorised (rather than plagarised like any of his "successful" predictions) hasn't ever stopped his unthinking legions of admirers from being dissuaded from their faith that mythology should dictate science.
I agree with Graal, Oil proves again and again that he is very ignorent, so he reverts to what he does know at the limit of his own understanding and try to fit eveything with the oversimplified understanding he has.
And then he also tries to hide the fact that he has not even the most basic understanding of physics by trying to impress us with quotes and technobabel hoping that we would not check any clames ourselves. Add this with the multiple of other alias names he uses so ge generates a so called discussion with 2-3 people but in reality he is only one!
What I still do not understand why is he so stupid enough to do this on a science site? On a holistic site he would have some credibility, but here he gets debunked instantly as a fool.
Oils is no longer talking it terms of science. In fact he is still one of the remaining few among the fossilised Natural Philosophers who long ago disappeared in the dust of early 18th Century.
His own blinding doctrine is apparently Oils distorted view of world – a world that is full of illusion and deceit !
Salaciousn can you explain it is simple lifeform terms. 😉
A bit too abstract your explanation of Oils for me.
Do you mean he is religious and wants to get rid of all heritics?
Layman,
"If you do not believe in the Big Bang- what do you believe?"
See here: http://www.bigbangneverhappened.org/
"…their theory is incorrect but they don't have an accepted theory to replace it and that I think is very psychologically bothersome to particularly scientists who have gone into science in order to be certain about the world, to be sure that they're right and so forth, and it's a very insecure position. Some scientists have joked that well a scientist would rather be wrong than uncertain. We sort of have to live with uncertainty which is, well, it's an interesting and challenging situation." — Halton C. Arp, astronomer, 1998
"And do you have proof of your beliefs?"
Yes. Electrons and electricity have been observed and tested. They are not just a little trick that you can repeat in the lab. All matter is coposed of electricity and all inertia of electromagnetic origin.
I have never observed the entire universe so I can't comment on it's age. Time is a priori so I'm not sure the universe even has an age.
Oillsmastery- Thank you for setting us straight on your beliefs.
I read your recommend sight-bigbangneverhappenen.org
I am not a scientist and to be perfectly honest this is my first view of Plasma theory- Most of it is way over my head.
It does go against popular thoughts of currently accepted conventional scientific wisdom.
I have always had a problem with Inflation theory just to make the Big Bang math work- It may well be correct, but how can we ever prove it? In my mind this becomes more like religion- I want more than a faith based science.
What I do know is that it appears that we live in a very large Universe and that we may never know what happened before there was nothing. Black holes seem to exist whether you like it or not. Gravity seems to hold things together or push them apart. Dark matter/dark energy- time will tell…..
We will talk about this again in 5 or 10 thousand years and see what has been learned.
pantzov says:
keep givin' them hell oills!
i'm not all that into your plasma theory, but i do like how you are never afraid to question the limits of what we know.
"Black holes seem to exist whether you like it or not."
Where? In Meinong's Jungle?
"…the 'Schwarzschild singularities' do not exist in physical reality." — Albert Einstein, mathematician, 1939
"Even mainstream scientists admit that at singularities the 'laws of physics' break down. It would be more accurate to say that their own theories break down." — David Pratt, natural philosopher, 2005
popisfizzy says:
I can't find anything verifying the existence of the David Pratt fellow you speak of, except for quotes which seem to indicate he's strangely inline with fringe physics. I can see that your quote there is properly attributed to Marcus Chown of New Scientist though. Of course, he's talking about how our current theories are incomplete and need more refining, i.e. a quantum theory of gravity. Chown (and not this likely non-existance Pratt fellow) isn't saying that black holes don't exist.
Popisfizzy,
"I can't find anything verifying the existence of the David Pratt fellow you speak of, except for quotes which seem to indicate he's strangely inline with fringe physics."
I agree with you characterization of Albertin Einstein and General Relativity as "fringe physics." However, Einstein happened to be correct about black holes.
"I am inclined to think that physicists will not be satisfied in the long run with this kind of indirect description of reality, even if an adaptation of the theory to the demand of general relativity can be achieved in a satisfactory way. Then they must surely be brought back to the attempt to realise the programme which may suitably be designated as Maxwellian: a description of physical reality in terms of fields which satisfy partial differential equations in a way that is free from singularities." — Albert Einstein, mathematician, 1931
Oooh, and twisting words now, eh? You're rather good at being a crank. Of course, I was talking about quotes from "him" (as attributed by a person with your mannerisms, meaning it was likely you) believing in the expanding Earth theory, which is fringe because there is no viable method for expansion.
And Einstein dislike black holes because of singularities, which is considered a problem in modern physics, likely remedied by a quantum theory of gravity. Of course, he didn't believe quantum mechanics either. Einstein, and all physicists, are hardly infallible. But they're certainly less fallible than you, with your quoting and rambling and ignorance and lack of evidence. Silly little man. 😛
Sir Arthur Wellesley says:
I hope this doesn't sound stupid but if the orbits of the outter planets change wouldn't the inner planets orbit change?? Perhaps pushing earth into a deeper orbit so it wouldn't be consumed?
Sir Arthur Wellesley:
Correct, as the Sun is expelling mass, all orbiting planets will slowly migrate outwards.
However, as the sun is also expanding, some of the inner planets might get atmospheric 'drag' that makes them loose orbital momentum aswell. Inside some limit they would therefor migrate inwards and end up being swallowed.
Feenixx says:
Olaf Says (about OilIsMastery):
"On a holistic site he would have some credibility,"
I don't believe he would. His views often come across to me as reductionist, insular and and protectionist.
I very strongly believe in holism – a belief which provides the basis for my fascination with science, my fascination with observing how the "Big Picture" never quite allows itself to be drawn by "joining the dots", no matter how precisely those dots are positioned, and how many of them can be defined.
OIM, on the other hand, in a manner of speaking, seems to consider a picture he likes and search for dots, which he then claims can be joined to produce the chosen picture.
I can see some mainstream scientists driven by reductionist thinking – others driven by holism… and I continue to be fascinated while looking in awe at the Universe around me….
… and I continue to drift off-topic. My apologies, but at least I've got this niggle off my chest now.
AJames says:
Feenix
I do agree with everything you said in the above post except that you did not go far enough. I.e.
I can see some mainstream scientists driven by reductionist thinking – others driven by holism…
In truth, the most successful among scientists and engineers, and indeed partly in the practical sciences, are the ones who can easily switch between holism and reductionism in their thinking – then apply it to the situation requires. Being involved in investigation often need formal and apt application of the scientific method, but every now and then you must look at where it fits into the big picture. Here lies the spark of inspiration, whose insight leads to different ways of thinking or new avenues to explore. For example, Einstein and others seem adept to the switching between these two scientific philosophies. (I.e. The applications passing of trains relative to one another in the experienced part of the world and the when travelling at light speed. Found later in say the increased mass of a proton as it is accelerated to near light speeds.) Also, such ways are often seen with scientists or engineers who are also brilliant in formal education.
I am more amazed at some of the scientists, and many cosmologists who are just fanatical purists of just reductionism. General characteristics are ones who are diligent in the data produced and the painstaking analysis to draw the correct logical conclusions. However, most fail dismally in how their work fits into others or the branch of science they specialise.
Holism is also useful in examining various cracks in theory, and then assessing which one is the best option to discover new concepts or avenues to deeper understanding.
Oils is vulnerable because he absolutely fails to see the true meaning of the scientific method and the reasoning behind it. Instead, he rejects it outright and relies on crazy faith-based philosophies as the means of defining truth. Those who do not follow the path based on doctrine must be wrong (heretical thinking), so the purpose is to expose the weaknesses of accepted Theory – and finding one fault then completely rejects the whole notion of that theorem. I.e. Gravity waves have not been found, therefore gravity doesn't exist at all. Hence for him it is all or nothing, when the reality is we understand what we perceive as the consequences of mass and the force it exerts very well, but we have yet to absolutely determine the manner of transmission that gives mass its characteristic signature.
The classic example of holism, which exposed Anaconda's weakness in understanding, was Noether's Theorem – in which Emily Noether importantly joins the physical systems of symmetry to their corresponding conservation laws. She, for example, is a prime candidate for the profound insight of things through holism. This was help no doubt to the sexist world of science 100 years ago, who applied an missed insight into nature on behaviours of most physical systems.
[quote]In truth, the most successful among scientists and engineers, and indeed partly in the practical sciences, are the ones who can easily switch between holism and reductionism in their thinking – then apply it to the situation requires.[/quote]
Bang on, enough said!
Thanks for filling in the "missing bit" in my post.
Thanks for the reply, interesting stuff indeed!
Feenix.
Here is a definitive quote by Einstein towards holism that might help you;
"…in truth the relationship between fundamental laws and facts from experience is not that simple. Indeed, there is no scientific method to deduce inductively these fundamental laws from experimental data. The formulation of a fundamental law is, rather, an act of intuition which can be achieved only by one who watches empirically with the necessary attention and has sufficient empirical understanding of the field in question. The sole criteria for the truth of a fundamental law is only that we can be sure that the relations between observable events can be logically deduced from it. It follows then that a fundamental law can be refuted in a definite manner, but can never be definitely shown to be correct, as one must always bear in mind the possibility of discovering a new phenomenon that contradicts the logical conclusions arising from a fundamental law." — Albert Einstein 1925
(Just don't tell Oils…)
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text:
If you are interested in working with young people in developing their faith and spirituality; leading discussions of issues important to youth; and/or working in a church context, consider adding a Youth Ministry Certificate to your major.
This program is open to you regardless of major. The curriculum integrates courses from Bible and religion, conflict resolution and social work and includes a youth ministry placement (10–12 hours a week for one semester) in a local congregation.
Our students have found the placement experience personally rewarding—as added benefits, it's an attractive addition to a resume and it provides training for future employment.
Through the practicum, you'll be able to apply what you've learned in your other courses and reflect on your own spiritual growth and understanding of ministry. This experience will also give you an opportunity to consider ways of discipling and mentoring youth in the church.
Ministry Inquiry Program
Bethel can also help you take advantage of ministry opportunities separate from – though related to – the Youth Ministry Certificate program. Students have enjoyed and benefited from participating with local churches in various ministries, or from taking advantage of the Ministry Inquiry Program (MIP).
Participation in MIP provides students with leadership opportunities in a host congregation where members and pastors have agreed to involve the student in a variety of pastoral ministry experiences, such as preaching, leading worship, planning youth activities and visiting members. These internships in a church provide students with a viable opportunity to test their pastoral gifts and interests in a welcoming congregational context.
MIP is open to students of any denomination, who will be placed in a Mennonite Church USA congregation. For more information, or to make arrangements for MIP participation, contact Peter Goerzen, campus pastor.
Bethel required me to take into account other faiths and other cultures in a way that aided in my personal/spiritual formation and self-identity.
—Tory Doerksen '04, youth ministry
Post-graduate careers include:
Working as a youth pastor in a congregation
Working in a social or community program focused on youth
Graduates have served as youth pastors, gone on to take seminary classes and served as a group leader for Mennonite Mission Network's Service Adventure program.
Tory Doerksen – '04
Tory's strong interests in both music and ministry made him the perfect candidate for Bethel's Youth Ministry Certificate program. As a Bethel student, Tory experienced a tangible effect of a liberal arts education. "The greatest gift of the Youth Ministry Certificate [was] the mentoring from different areas of expertise – ministerial as well as the social work and psychology departments," Tory says.
He also recalls the challenging environment – academically and spiritually – that Bethel is known for. "Bethel required me to take into account other faiths and other cultures in a way that aided in my personal/spiritual formation and self-identity," he says.
After graduating from Bethel, Tory worked for a year as youth minister at Shalom Mennonite Church in Newton and studied at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary-Great Plains extension in North Newton, before becoming a group leader for Mennonite Mission Network's Service Adventure program in Lebanon, Ore. Tory finished his M.Div. degree at George Fox Evangelical Seminary in Portland, Ore., and in June 2010 joined the pastoral staff of First Mennonite Church, Denver, as pastor for child and youth faith formation.
Alan Stucky – '03
After graduating from Bethel, Alan began M.Div. studies at the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary-Great Plains extension in North Newton while also serving as youth pastor at Buhler (Kan.) Mennonite Church. During that time, he worked to create a joint youth group for youth from several churches in the Buhler area.
Alan then moved Elkhart, Ind., to finish his degree at the AMBS main campus. He is now pastor of Pleasant Valley Mennonite Church in Harper, Kan.
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There are many levels of eco-fashion at this point in the game. So many people are trying to make us understand why we should support it, what we shouldn't buy and what we should. Then there is the ultimate question of whether the very notion of eco-fashion is a paradox itself?
Honestly, there are times when I too feel like taking a happy pill to get away from it all but the only way to be a part of it is to be educated. So don't stop now.
These 15 books will take you down many interesting roads on your journey. Be open to it.
"The essence of plants bursts forth in magnificent hues and surprising palettes. Using dyes of the leaves, roots, and flowers to color your cloth and yarn can be an amazing journey into botanical alchemy. In Eco Colour, artistic dyer and colorist India Flint teaches you how to cull and use this gentle and ecologically sustainable alternative to synthetic dyes.
Photo credit: Book pages by Horia Varlan on Flickr, licensed for commercial use under Creative Commons.


text:
Ad: Optima Public Relations
Goodbye Duane
Sadly lost
A wild life
Reload & attack
Tourists, no tourists
By craigmedred on May 1, 2018 • ( 14 Comments )
Gates of the Arctic, Alaska's fourth least visited park/Richard Murphy photo
Almost three decades on from passage of the Alaska National Interests Lands Act (ANILCA), the bonanza and the bust of 49th-state national parks is clearly outlined in a lengthy analysis of the economic value of parks in the U.S.
Road connected parks in the state are proving to have huge tourism value; remote parks not so much.
The 100 visitors who made their way to the Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve in Southwest Alaska last year spent a respectable $772 per person, but the local economic benefit totaled only $112,200, according to the study.
Such limited revenue isn't going to do much to support the economy of nearby Port Heiden, population 102.
If you build a road…
Road-connected Denali National Park and Preserve, on the other hand, powers tourism so forcefully the revenue from a Denali Borough bed tax is almost enough to support the local government. The hotels stacked in the Nenana River canyon just outside the entrance to the park produce 71 percent of the borough's budget, according to a study from the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
The stretch of the George Parks Highway just north of the park entrance is so stuffed with hotels, restaurants and shops it has come to be known as "Glitter Gulch." The tourists there are gold, according to the tourism study by economists from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Park Service.
They concluded the economic output of Denali is now approaching $1 billion per year.
Denali is not the state's most visited park – that distinction goes to the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park in Skagway which attracted more than 900,000 visitors last year – but Denali is the workhorse of a park-driven economy the study estimated to be worth $1.89 billion to Alaska in 2017.
Almost half that – about $906 million – is linked to the 634,000 tourists who came to Denali. Only $238 million came from the cruiseship passengers who daily swamped Skagway on summer days, but then retreated to the boats and left.
The Skagway park, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve to the south-west, and the Sitka National Historic Park further south are economic engines in the Alaska Panhandle, and those parks plus three-road accessible parks – Denali, Kenai Fjords National Park and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve – account for about 85 percent of the economic bang of national parks in Alaska.
The Park Service did try to spin up the bright side for rural Alaska in a press release.
"Positive contribution"
"Aniakchak is the least-visited unit in the national park system, but it makes a positive contribution to the economy of the Bristol Bay region," the statement quoted Superintendent Mark Sturm saying. "National park tourism is a significant driver in the national economy, returning $10 for every $1 invested in the National Park Service, and it's a big factor in our local economy as well. We appreciate the partnership and support of our neighbors and are glad to be able to give back by helping to sustain local communities."
For Aniakchak to return $10 for ever $1 invested, the Park Service would have to hold its spending there to $11,220 per year. That might cover the costs of a few quick visits by a lone ranger.
As most Alaskans know, passage of ANILCA in 1980 doubled the amount of land under the control of the National Park Service in the U.S. The parks bill came after almost a decade of political in-fighting that at times stopped barely short of violence in the north.
At the end there was an uneasy compromise between those who wanted to save the last frontier and those who wanted to develop it. The former celebrated more than the latter when ANILCA passed, but neither side was all that happy.
"Lovers of Congressional drama will be happy to know we are beginning today the revival of that great, old, off-Broadway production know as the 'Great Alaska Lands Bill,"' the late Rep. Morris Udall joked not so jokingly in opening a hearing on ANILCA in 1979. "Some other titles have been suggested: 'The Great Lockup,' 'The Dig, Dam, Rape and Plunder' bill and others."
Environmentalists at the time were of the opinion the 402,000 residents of the country's northernmost state had already received enough land, or more than enough land, with the 104-million-acre entitlement of the Alaska Statehood Act in 1958, plus another 44 million acres placed in private, corporate ownership after passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971.
The Claims Act set the stage for the conservation lands battle with Section 17, d-2, which earmarked 80 million acres for study as parks, refuges and national forests. The 80 million grew to more than 100 million over the years that followed and the battle came to be known simply as "D-2."
Too much, too little
Statehood had already given the handful residents of Alaska control over about twice as much land as was under the control of the hordes of California, the country's third largest state. But even after the Statehood and the Native Claims acts, 276 million acres of federal land remained in Alaska – enough property to create more than two Californias or almost three Montanas.
Alaskans generally pressed for those lands to remain open to "multiple-use" under the Bureau of Land Management or the National Forest Service, both of which allow the construction of roads and more: mines, logging, oil drilling and grazing.
Environmentalists, most of them Outside but a few in Alaska, pushed for greater protection by placing land in parks and wildlife refuges. In the end, the acted created 10 new parks and expanded three old parks to bring 43.6 million acres of the state under park control. Another 53.8 million acres went into wildlife refuges.
One of the arguments for preservation at the time was that the protected lands would be of greater value to Alaska in the form of tourism going forward than in terms of timber, oil and mineral development. It was hoped by some in Alaska that at least some of the parks might provide a tourism boost for the rural areas of the state lacking any real economy.
That might still come to pass someday, but to date eight of the 10 new parks remain little visited and economically stagnant. The only two new parks to provide a real economic lift are the road-connected ones – Kenai Fjords near the end of the Seward Highway at the head of Resurrection Bay about 125 miles from Anchorage, and the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve between the Richardson Highway and the U.S.-Canada border about 180 miles east of the state's largest city.
Wrangell-St. Elias in 2017 attracted only 68,300 visitors, but had an economic output of $153 million. Visitors to the 13.2-million-acre park spent an estimated $105 million, most of it on transportation and lodging. It is long drive down mediocre roads to the two communities within the park – McCarthy in the south and Nabesna in the north – and people who make the drive usually plan to spend some time at the end of the road.
The costs of getting to the park helped boost Wrangell's economic output significantly above that of easily accessible Kenai Fiords, a drive of only about two and a half hours south from Anchorage on a well-maintained, national scenic highway. The 304,000 visitors to Kenai Fjords in 2017 more than quadrupled the visitation of Wrangell, but generated only $78.9 million in economic output.
Just shy of half the $53.5 mllion Seward tourists spent went to recreation industries with another 31 percent going to restaurants. A lot of people drive from Anchorage to Seward, get on a sightseeing ship, tour the part of the park fronting the Gulf of Alaska, have dinner in Seward, and drive back to the city.
Together, Wrangell-St. Elias and Kenai Fiords accounted for an estimated $184 million of economic output or more than half of the estimated $364 million for all of the new parks combined.
The others from economic performance first to worst in 2017:
Lake Clark National Park and Preserve west of Anchorage on the other side of the Aleutian Range mountains where 22,800 visitors spent an estimated $34.9 million to produce an estimated economic output of $50.9 million.
Noatak National Preserve in Northwest Alaska where 17,000 visitors spent $26.1 million to generate an economic output of $38.1 million.
Kobuk Valley National Park in Northwest Alaska: 15,500 visitors, $23.8 million spent, an economic output of $34.7 million.
Cape Krusenstern National Monument in Northwest Alaska: 15,000 visitors, $23 million spent, an economic output of $33.6 million.
Gates of the Arctic National Parks and Preserve in far northern Alaska: 11,200 visitors, $17 million spent, an estimated economic output of $25 million.
Bering Land Bridge National Preserve in Northwest Alaska: 2,640 visitors, $4.1 million spent, an economic output of $5.9 million.
Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve along the Yukon River near the Canadian border: 952 visitors, $696,00 spent, $1 million in economic output.
Aniakchak on the Alaska Peninsula: 100 visitors, $77,200 spent, $112,000 in economic output.
Concentrated impact
Some rural Alaska communities do, however, get an especially big bang out of the national parks. Tourism is the Skagway economy and Kotzebue, a regional hub in Northwest Alaska, gets a big boost by having three parks – Bering Land Bridge, Cape Krusenstern and Kobuk Valley, plus part of Gates of the Arctic, headquartered out of the Northwest Arctic Heritage Center in that community.
Overall, the economic value of park tourism business in Alaska ties the state with North Carolina – home to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, one of the countries most popular national parks – for nationl park visitor spending.
Number 1?
California where the mobs bring the money. The Park Service run Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Yosemite National Park generate more than $1 billion in economic output; they also attract almost 20 million tourists.
That's more than 10 times the number of tourists who visited the entire state of Alaska last year, and Golden Gate and Yosemite are but two of a total of 34 park units, most of them small, in California.
California is so overrun with tourists that even ominously named Death Valley National Park attracts more than twice as many people as Denali, but those tourist don't spend nearly as much as the visitors to Alaska.
Denali tourists, according to the study, contribute more than $1,400 per head to the Alsaka economy; for Death Valley, the number is only about $106 per warm body.
Tagged as: Alaska lands act, Aniakchak National Monument, billion, BLM, California, cruiseship, D-2, Death Valley National Park, Denali, economic engines, economic value, Forest Service, Glitter Gulch, huge tourism value, Kenai Fjords, Klondike Gold Rush, Kotzebue, least-visited, mllion, Morris Udall, National Park Service, National Parks, Panhandle, Rural Alaska, statehood, U.S. Geological Survey, Wrangell-St. Elias
Fair or unfair?
Coke Wallace says:
ANILCA also known as the Great Terrain Robbery is one of the worst scams ever perpetuated on the people.The third worst president in our history(only because Clinton & Obummer came along to displace the Libtarded Peanut Farmer) stole land from Alaskans that had been
guaranteed to Alaskans in the constitution.Alaslans acquiesced to the ANILCA act and the Feds don't even honor that agreement.The abhorrent mistreatment of Alaskans by Federal Agents(read Rahoi,Sturgeon,Wild) is unconsciounable and illegal and should have been dealt with by the Government of the People,by the People and for the People.Sadly the Usurpers who have Bastardized our Republic aren't going to let the constitution and our laws get in the way of their Protectionist Self Serving Agendas!?
The National Parks were brought to us by Hunters for wildlife but have been stolen by a bunch of Stay Off the Grass Protectionist Lib-Tards.Until we take back what has been stolen from us by these elitist Alaskans will continue to be thrown in the mud and roughed up and cuffed up by Park Circus and other Federal Agents acting like jack booted thugs!Disgusting and Abhorable!
Bill Yankee says:
Go ahead and tell us what you really think, Coke!
Close these extra-Constitutional parks and give the state and the people therein their land back.
James Hendrix says:
These numbers likely don't include the visitors with the most impact on national parks, especially the northern ones. And that would be Natives that live near parks and use them at will to over-harvest fish and wildlife.
Seeing the Wanderweg in Switzerland and the amazing roads and cliff side towns there and in Italy, there has to be cheaper ways to provide access than has been the case in AK. Granted there is permafrost in the Interior areas, but there are plenty of attractive areas that are just too hard to get to.
Moki says:
Great article Craig, my question is what about Katmai? People spending 1-2k per day to go fishing is pretty big business, not to mention Brooks Camp!
Steve Stine says:
I would like to know what percentage of the AK "tourism economy" stays in Alaska?
With the federal J 1 Visa program, Princess Lodges (at their 6 locations) can hire foreigners at wages below normal local hires…since they charge for room and board out of the "salary equation".
These foreign workers are "indentured servants" to a modern standard and share dorm rooms with "supervision" onsite.
These businesses do not even advertise seasonal hires anymore to locals in state.
This is also hurting the local rural economies where these lodges are located.
Princess should have AK state mandates to hire a certain percentage of in state workers each summer.
The J 1 visa program hurts local economies in many ways and benifits the global corporate conglomerates that use their service.
allen f barrette says:
Copper Center is at least 24 strait line miles from the boundary. No roads and only access is by foot, good luck, or by aircraft. Sorry i only used "Wrangell" it should have been Wrangell-St. Elias NP. the Fact remains, How many people that sign in at the Copper Center Wrangell-St. Elias NP visitor center actually enter into that system? Why is the Wrangell-St. Elias NP visitor center located on the busy Richardson Hwy. across from the Princes hotel, miles from any access to the park?
https://www.alaska.org/assets/content/maps/wrangell-st-elias-national-park-map.pdf
I stand corrected Bill. I did not see that small dotted line on the east side of the Copper River in my gazetteer (need better glasses). So all the visitors have to do is cross the Copper River to enter the preserve. So it must be like horse shoes, if your close it counts?
I suppose it could have been in Valdez. Heheh!
Since there are no salmon in the valley to catch in June and most streams are closed to fishing, tourists just go north to "window lick" and visit a dog lot and eat some fried halibut with their Alaskan Amber…Pretty contrived experience.
Princess Tour Industries of Seattle and the loss of local fishing lodges have also pushed people towards Denali with the help of large buses and railroad dinning cars…corporate tourism in AK.
How accurate are the numbers of people visiting parks/preserves in Alaska? What i mean by that is. Places like Gates of the Arctic National Parks and Preserve and Wrangell-St. Elias have visitor centers well outside the accrual their boundaries were visitors sign in. Are they counted as visitors, even though they never enter the park? I have noticed over the past decade that federal system has been building visitor centers at more convenient places and outside the park systems to bolster visitor numbers,even though those visitors never enter the park system. ie. Gates of the Arctic National Parks and Preserve has it's visitor center at Coldfoot hours from the accrual southern boundary. A visitor center has been build in Copper Center for Wrangell-St. Elias across the Hwy.from a major tourist hotel and hours from Wrangell. I am sure there are many others. Are all these people counted as visiting?
Copper Center is located right on the boundary of Wrangell-St. Elias NP. And town of Wrangell is in SE Alaska and nowhere near the Park.


Utah is a paradise for outdoor enthusiasts with national parks, ski resorts, the Great Salt Lake, and much more. If you prefer the great indoors, Utah attractions will not disappoint. Our state has great historic landmarks, cultural experiences, resort spas, and fine dining. Utah school districts are currently looking for teachers in all parts of the state. We need good leaders and mentors - teachers willing to make a difference in our public education system.
Come inspire the next generation in Utah.
Click here to visit the Utah state certification website.


For Customer groups you define like this also discuss with the business.
whether the sales docs.deliveries and invoices whether the document types are same are different for the 2 sales organisations.
If the sales docs are different for sales org then you can define separate number ranges.


A nice surprise in the post today - three copies of the world's most prestigious annual for creative professionals - 'Everything is Made', the 2010 D&AD Annual.
These limited edition members' versions are hardcover, 23.9 x 25.6 cm (9.4 x 10.1 in.), with a whopping 592 pages.
This year the annual was designed by Bob & Roberta Smith, whose trademark style is multi-coloured signs and unusual typography, painted onto a diverse range of materials.
The book features an audio recording from D&AD President Paul Brazier when you open up the front page, and a cover that folds out into a double-sided typographical poster, in a matte plastic finish.
Each chapter title is displayed in a handwritten typeface alongside an anagram of that title in a heavy weight of Helvetica. And of course the book contains a massive selection of the best advertising and design in the world.
We'll be putting a copy of 'Everything Is Made' in the LRC, and the remaining copies can be found in the Design Studio.
HND 1 have just finished a one day Guerilla project, set by one of our current mentors, Julie Diver, from the 39Steps Agency. The brief was to work in teams and design a film poster for a possible movie of the recent Chilean Miners ordeal.
Hollywood actor Brad Pitt is reported to be in race for screen rights to shoot the film, currently being called 'Los 33', hence the title of this project.
Abbie and Nick - 'Esperanza' - 5 X A3.
Sarah and Jordan - Tomb of the Free, A3.
Kat & Terry - Dig Deeper - A3.
HND 1 have just finished an MPA Roses brief 'Younique'. The task was to relate yourself to a hero is six steps.
Our NC groups are now three projects into their course, and are starting to get the message - a good sketchbook is the holy grail of the design process.
At any given time, there can between 40 and 50 sketchbooks lying around in the studio, and the Design Team is looking at digitising selections of all our HND student's sketchbooks. Currently, these documents of the inner workings of a designer's mind are lost to us once the class has graduated and left for pastures new.
Which reminds me of a nice article by the American designer and critic, Michael Beirut, on the importance of sketching, and why sketchbooks should be archived.
2) a lot of ideas are 'so simple and dumb that a simple dumb drawing is all it takes to describe them'.


text:
Chris Bicknell
Along with leading the only agency in Maine focused on serving runaway and homeless youth, New Beginnings, Chris is also a founding member and the current chair of the Maine Homeless Youth Provider Group at the State level. He came to New Beginnings in 2016 from The Opportunity Alliance in Portland, where he served as the Director of Access and Intake. Chris has more than 25 years of experience in the field of human services, including as a consultant, trainer, and presenter working with high-risk youth, restorative justice, youth employment, harm reduction, and trauma-informed care. Chris coordinated Preble Street Teen Services in Portland for more than nine years and was instrumental in the design and opening of their Joe Kreisler Teen Shelter in 2012. A passionate advocate for youth and creativity, Chris has a Master's Degree in Art Therapy from Lesley University and has served as a volunteer and board member with the Telling Room in Portland since 2012.
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Official audits reveal absence of the State and threats to the preservation of national parks
Home / uncategorized / Official audits reveal absence of the State and threats to the preservation of national parks
The lack of studies, inventories and monitoring of the state offices of Environment and Inparques caused, according to audits of the Comptroller General of the Republic in 2014, the carrying out of illegal activities, works and settlements in the Médano de Coro and Canaima national parks, in the Pedernales Forest Area and the Piedra La Tortuga Natural Monument. These actions threaten the conservation of four areas that by law must be specially protected.
One of the main sources of information that the Google search engine provides about the Piedra La Tortuga Natural Monument is the official site of the institution responsible for protecting and conserving this place. The page of the National Institute of Parks indicates that the monument not only has an elementary archaeological and landscape value of the Amazonas state, but also forms part of the cultural heritage of the predominant ethnic groups in this area. "It is a space for the protection of cultural testimonies of our ancestors", he says. Despite this recognition, official documents reveal that it has been Inparques himself who has failed to comply with his work and has caused actions that threaten the preservation of this and three other national parks that are under the special administration regime of the Venezuelan State.
This is a series of audits carried out in 2014 by the Comptroller General of the Republic to the state addresses of the then Ministry of the Environment and Inparques, which were recorded in the institution's reports and accounts and processed in open data by Vendata for reuse. The evaluations indicate that the local offices of both organizations in the states of Amazonas, Falcón, Delta Amacuro and Bolívar failed to comply with their legal obligations and consequently promoted illegal actions such as timber trafficking, tree felling and mining activities in national parks. Médano de Coro and Canaima, in the Pedernales Forest Area and in the Piedra La Tortuga monument.
These places are part of the Areas Under Special Administration (Abrae), a legal-territorial denomination created in the Organic Law of Land Management to protect an extensive group of ecological zones that, due to their potential, can be used for productive, protective or recreational. Nearly 70% of the national territory is under this figure to which 43 national parks belong, to date, including the four mentioned in the audits.
The Comptroller's Office established in its examinations that the institutional non-compliance of Environment and Inparques violated provisions of seven legal regulations: Organic Law of the Environment, Law of Management of Biological Diversity, Organic Law for Territory Planning on Administration and Management of Parks and Natural Monuments , Organic Law of Municipal Public Power, Forest Soil and Water Law, Regulations for the Administration of Forest Activities, in Forest Reserves, Forest Lots, Forest Areas Under Protection and Forest Areas on Privately Owned Land Destined for Permanent Forest Production, and Organic Law of Communal Councils.
The National Parks Institute is currently directed by Josué Alejandro Lorca Vega, who has held the position since June 2018. Previously, he worked as a substitute member of the board of directors of the "Robert Serra" Mission Youth of the Homeland Foundation and director of the office monitoring and evaluation of public policies of the office of the Minister of Higher Education, as listed by the Official Gazettes search engine of Vendata.
This open data platform also systematized the goals and objectives set by Inparques during 2013 and 2014 and found that half were not met. The processing also revealed inconsistencies in the budget information recorded by Inparques in the reports and accounts of the Ministry of the Environment for those two years. This State portfolio has undergone different transformations but only in name: it is currently known as the Ministry of Popular Power for Ecosocialism and the reports and accounts of 2016 and 2018 have not been published.
Absence of the State
According to the Comptroller General of the Republic, the state offices of Environment and Inparques did not carry out studies, investigations or inventories that would allow establishing the degree of destruction, degradation and fragmentation of the ecosystems in the four national parks. "The absence of these studies and investigations is due to the lack of planning of said activities and their inclusion in the operational plans, regulations and use plans, as well as the lack of professional and technical personnel in the Surveillance and Control Units. Environmental, to respond to the effects of intervention of existing natural resources", was established in the memory and account of the comptroller entity for 2014.
In the case of the Piedra La Tortuga monument, insufficient staff from Inparques was found, there were no management plans and regulations for use, facilities abandoned or affected by theft, and a lack of duly defined budgets to counteract these circumstances. "A deep well installation for firefighting was observed that is inoperative due to the looting (theft) of the bank of electricity transformers, pumps and electrical wiring," it is detailed. The audit concludes that the gaps in Inparques' obligations allow illegal activities and generate a "high degrading impact" on the flora and fauna of the area.
Stone Turtle Monument
This lack of vigilance and monitoring by Inparques and the state Environment Department seems to cause even more serious situations in the Pedernales Forest Area, located in Delta Amacuro. In June 2014, the local headquarters of the Ministry of the Environment responded to the Comptroller's Office that they only carried out surveillance and control inspections at the request of that ministry or in response to complaints from residents of the surrounding communities. This, says the audit, leads to "activities in the protected area that generate destruction, degradation and fragmentation of ecosystems." The control entity found, for example, a metal tube with residues from an oil well that was located a few meters away. "(This causes) oxygen depletion by generating tar spots, destroying food sources in higher species, and introducing carcinogens into the food chain," he concludes.
Other of the failures that are identified in the work of public institutions are those that were presented in the evaluation of the state of the Médanos de Coro National Park. The audit indicates, on the one hand, that the regional office of Inparques in Falcón does not have biosafety programs to prevent risks to the conversation of the place. It also identifies three illegal urban settlements with precarious basic services in the surrounding area. "This situation is due to the fact that the competent authorities did not consider managing social, economic development and environmental conservation, nor did they prioritize the organized communities that live in the park areas to relocate them in a new urbanism." The Comptroller's Office maintains that the installation of these settlements does not guarantee a sustainable and sustainable progress between the ecosystem, the biological diversity and the other natural resources of the area under protection.
For the years 2013 and 2014, the inability of Inparques to solve its deficiencies was also reflected in the reports and accounts of the Ministry of the Environment. Of the 59 goals that Inparques set for itself during the first 15 months of those two years, regarding projects, equipment, plans and guards for the conservation and maintenance of national and recreational parks, half failed to comply. For example, for 2013, ten infrastructure projects were proposed and none were executed.
Ministry of the Environment – Conservation and surveillance goals
Info Gram
The government of Nicolás Maduro authorized in 2016 the exploitation of coltan, gold and diamond in the area known as the Orinoco Mining Arc or the Venezuelan Mining Arc. It is an extension of 112 thousand square meters that covers part of the Bolívar and Amazonas states. This authorization has been rejected by local environmental organizations that they have considered a negative impact of this exploitation in an area where the Canaima National Park is also located, one of the hundreds of Venezuelan areas under special protection of the State that is also a Natural Heritage of Humanity.
Contrary to the government, in 2014 the Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR) warned about the existence of mining activities without state permits that were endangering the conservation of the park. "From the on-site inspection carried out on 14-05-2014 to the Campo Alegre Indigenous Community, geographically located at the following coordinates: N 04° 45' 80" and W 61º 2' 00", in the eastern sector of the Park Nacional Canaima, the practice of mining activity was evidenced in the vicinity of the Kukenan river, carried out with the use of gasoline pump equipment and conveyor belts for the extraction of gold", indicates the CGR.
The audit maintains that these actions originated from the lack of environmental management by the authorities to prevent the deterioration of the ecosystem and from the "excessive and irrational" activities of the inhabitants of the Campo Alegre community in the extraction of gold resources. "Consequently, pollution damage is caused to the main water source of the Bolívar state and part of the Venezuelan territory, as well as to the ecosystem of the Canaima National Park," the report concludes.
In December 2018, a study by the Colombian organization Infoamazonía together with the Amazon Network of Georeferenced Socio-environmental Information detected that of the 2,315 mapped points of illegal mineral extraction in six countries of the Amazon, 82% are located in Venezuela.
The absence of the State in this park has also led to the installation of organized crime groups that have turned mining into a lucrative but at the same time violent business. At least 12 massacres have taken place in the mines exploited in the arc since 2016.
These mining photos in Canaima were taken by myself from a small plane. That's why the pemones closed the track pic.twitter.com/TDU1wTePIR
— Valentina Quintero (@valendeviaje) June 1, 2015
Just as the Comptroller's Office detected mining activities in Canaima, it also found illegal actions that threaten the conservation of the Piedra La Tortuga monument in Amazonas state. "An illegal entry of vehicles (dirt road) was observed located at the coordinates N 05º 34' 15,3" and W 067º 35' 20,96", which is used for the illegal extraction of wood and cucurito palm, as well as an illegal access for vehicles (clandestine port) located at the coordinates N 05° 34' 38,0" and W 067º 35' 33,5" that is used for the smuggling of goods", indicates the audit. The CGR also found signs of illegal fishing.
The discovery of illegal timber trafficking is consistent with the investigations that the international criminal police began in 2012 with their "Operation Lead" in Latin America. The operation allowed Interpol to seize around 2013 million dollars in illegal timber trafficking in Venezuela in 40 and begin to put the country on the trail of countries habitual in this activity.
"Venezuela's role in this latest round of timber seizures is remarkable, especially considering that the amount seized in one month represented more than three times the total amount of timber seized internationally during the first phase of the operation." , pointed out at the time a note from the regional organized crime and corruption investigation platform InSight Crime.
The Comptroller's audits also reveal the existence of one of the main causes of environmental pollution worldwide: the felling and burning of trees. These actions cause destruction of forest biodiversity and water pollution, which end up influencing man's food chain.
"In Caño Wakajara de Manamo, a station geographically located at the following coordinates: No. 1046876-E566279, the vegetation and soil present evidence of affectation by felling and burning of trees, in approximately one hectare, and opening of a drainage channel (trinchas)", says the CGR in reference to an area located within the Pedernales Forest Area of Delta Amacuro state.
According to the United Nations Food Organization, or FAO for its acronym in English, Venezuela is the tenth country with the highest annual loss of forest.
illegal works
In addition to the breaches of Inparques' obligations and the illegal activities that this has caused, the General Comptroller's Office identified three works that were arranged in two of the audited national parks without having the corresponding permits. These constructions, says the CGR, affect the conservation of the biomes (flora and fauna) present in these places.
At the Piedra La Tortuga monument, the state company Corpoamazonas built an asphalt processing plant despite the refusal of the Ministry of Environment. "It was evidenced that the State Directorate of People's Power for the Environment-Amazonas considered the installation of the aforementioned plant to be unfeasible. However, it was verified that Corpoamazonas SA installed and put into operation the plant in question, without having the due environmental impact study, nor the corresponding permits, "says the audit.
Corpoamazonas is a public company created to implement projects that promote the integral development of the state of Amazonas. In other words, a State company failed to ensure the same obligations that the State establishes. In 2014, this company was directed by the militant of the government party, former minister of Hugo Chávez for Indigenous Peoples and current deputy of the National Assembly, Nicia Maldonado.
The Comptroller's Office also considers two constructions carried out in the Médanos de Coro, in Falcón, illegal. According to the controlling entity, both projects lack supporting documentation and permits. "The existence of two contracts was verified: 'Construction Parque Divino Niño', for the amount of Bs. 1.200.000,00; and 'Construcción Plaza Magglio Ordóñez', for an amount of Bs. 499.696,91, specifically executed in Paseo Monseñor Iturriza, during the year 2012, which do not have any support related to the permit application, nor the respective authorization from of the National Institute of Parks for the execution of the aforementioned works, as provided for in article two, sole paragraph of the Management Plan and Regulations for the Use of the Médanos de Coro National Park", the audit indicates.
The report does not indicate which public or private entity was in charge of the construction of the works, but indicates that the Coro mayor's office did not process the respective authorizations. "(This) affects negatively in the administration and conservation, whenever constructions are carried out that are not in accordance to preserve and conserve the ecosystems and landscapes of the Médanos de Coro National Park", he points out.
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The Reds' Yasiel Puig rounds the bases on his way to scoring the winning run in the 11th inning against the Brewers on Tuesday, July 2, 2019, at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. David Jablonski/Staff
McCoy: Are the Reds buyers, sellers as trade deadline approaches?
Hal McCoy, Contributing Writer
CINCINNATI —
This question is asked so much by fans these days Alex Trebek should use it as his Final Jeopardy answer,
The answer: "With the July 31 trade deadline approaching, this team was in a quandary over to be Buyers, Sellers or Stand-patters?"
The answer is: Who are the Cincinnati Reds?
»ASK HAL: Can Joey Votto turn it on down the stretch?
It would be a good Final Jeopardy question right now because few people would get it right because right now there is no answer.
The Reds didn't go all-in over the winter to make the team competitive, but they came close.
They traded for Yasiel Puig, Alex Wood and Kyle Farmer. They traded for Sonny Gray. They signed free agent Tanner Roark. They signed free agents Jose Iglesias and Derek Dietrich.
They made significant moves to make the team better, to make the team capable of climbing out of last place, a place they have inhabited four straight years.
And now a Debbie Downer realization: Where has it gotten them?
They have played 94 games as of Thursday night and they are 43-51, Shockingly that is one game better than their record at this point last season. They were 42-52.
»RELATED: MLB Standings
Was all that spending and dealing worth one additional win? Fans talk about how much better the team would be if they hadn't started the season 1-8. Well, last year's team started 3-18 and were only one game worse at this point.
What's the answer? We'll take 'Sell' for $1,000, Alex."
There should be few untouchables on this team. Joey Votto is untouchable because he has a no-trade contract and wants to finish his career in Cincinnati. Sonny Gray has a three-year, $30.3 million deal.
If the Reds don't hang up on any caller asking about Luis Castillo they should report to the team psychiatrist. Castillo is young, he is under team control through 2023 and he is one of the top pitchers in the game. He is the pitcher which the team should construct its staff around.
Eugenio Suarez is locked up on a long-term deal and is the Reds most consistent run-producer and plays third base like a Dyson vacuum cleaner.
»RELATED: Banged-up Reds fall to Cards in series opener
Nick Senzel is a no-no. Not available, don't even ask. He is probably the future face of this franchise.
Everybody else should keep their suitcases within reach. A slew of fans want the team to sign Yasiel Puig. At what cost? He is looking for a large market contract for a lot of years. There is no doubt if the Reds don't trade him they'll lose him via free agency. But they would get a top compensatory draft pick if another team signs him.
Everybody needs starting pitching and that makes Roark a blue chip. He, too, is a free agent after the season. The Reds probably could do well for him at the trade deadline.
Everybody else should stay close to their cellphones.
What does Reds manager David Bell think? He is true to his crew.
"I don't want anyone else in our clubhouse," he said. "I love the team that we have. We have the talent and we have the ability. We just have to get better."
One might call him an optimist, but Bell still expects the Reds to put it all together and dash off a long winning streak.
"It is very simple for me," he added. "I love the guys we have but we simply have to get better. And I don't mean I'm looking for that to happen in the distant future.
"We've worked hard on these things all year and we recognized we have to get better in all areas — baserunning, defense, score more runs and there are ways to get better with our pitching."
Most of that has been up and down all season, mostly down, but Bell clings to his positive demeanor.
"I believe that can all happen soon and once it does we are going to take off," he said. The runway, though, is getting shorter and shorter. There are 68 games to make up eight games in the standings, with four teams in front of them.
Impossible? No. Improbable? Highly.
"We just have to get better and that's my responsibility," said Bell. "And that's great. That's exactly where I want to be and we have to get better. We know that. We know what it takes and it is going to show up. We can't wait for that to happen."
Reds fans, most of them foot-stomping impatient, have lived through mediocrity and downright ineptitude at times. It has been 29 years since the Reds played in a World Series (and won it in 1990 in a sweep of the Oakland A's). It has been 24 years since they played in the National League Championship Series (they lost every game to the Atlanta Braves in 1995).
Standing pat with this team isn't going to work. It is reality check time. If they don't trade Puig and Roark, their most valued available pieces, they will lose them after the season. Get something now.
Puig, of course, has become a fan favorite with his screwy antics, his hustle, his defense and his suddenly potent offense. And it is difficult to say good-bye to a fan favorite, but it happens all the time, going back to Tony Perez and Pete Rose and Joe Morgan. And in recent times it happened with Todd Frazier and Zack Cozart and Aroldis Chapman.
Of Puig, Bell says, "He has made some good adjustments after his slow start. He has picked up the pace and we're benefiting from that right now. In a lot of ways he has carried our offense in the last month."
In that time, Puig is third in the majors in slugging (.703), tied for fifth in home runs with 12 and is hitting .344.
"He has made a difference defensively all year and when he is swinging the bat like he is, he is a real presence, he is dangerous. To have that in the middle of the lineup is important."
Puig runs full bore after every baseball hit in his vicinity and if a wall gets in the way, well, the wall probably will get dented.
"Even when he struggled offensively, which can wear on you, he continued to play hard in the field," said Bell. "I never knew how good of an outfielder he was until what I saw so far this season. I didn't know he is as fast as he is and can cover so much ground."
All that said, unless the Reds plan to mortgage the future the way they did with Joey Votto and Homer Bailey, Puig won't be around too long.
So, Alex, we'll take the category, 'Trade for $800."
SATURDAY'S GAME
Cardinals at Reds, 7:10 p.m., FS Ohio, 700, 1410


text:
Abhishek Jamalpur
Analysing the Unenforceability of Ipso Facto Clauses During Insolvency Process
[Abhishek is a student at National University of Advanced Legal Studies, Kochi.]
Ipso facto clauses are provisions in a contract that allow termination of the contract merely upon the insolvency of one of the contracting parties. Recently, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited v. Yes Bank Limited and Another has held that a purchaser cannot terminate an agreement merely because the supplier is undergoing insolvency/liquidation process. The tribunal ruled that ipso facto clauses which provide for such termination are unenforceable if they affect the viability of the corporate debtor as a going concern. In this post, the author seeks to analyse the need to restrict the enforceability of ipso facto clauses during insolvency and liquidation process.
Under the relevant power purchase agreement (PPA), the appellant was a purchaser of power from the corporate debtor who owned the power plant. The appellant relying, inter alia, on clause 9.2.1(e), contended that on account of the corporate debtor's liquidation, they had the right to terminate the PPA. On the other hand, the respondent, who had a security interest over the power plant, contended that such termination will impact the value of the power plant and will, in turn, offend the object of maximisation of assets.
The NCLAT accepting the arguments of the respondent held that the ipso facto termination clause in the PPA is unenforceable during the insolvency process. The tribunal ruled that enforcing such clauses will go against the object of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 (Code) and will be in breach of Section 14(1)(b) of the Code. It was held that allowing termination of the agreement will have an impact on the asset value of the power plant. Further, relying on Astonfield Solar (Gujarat) Private Ltd v. Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited, it was held that the provisions of the Code will override any 'instrument' on account of Section 238 of the Code. The term 'instrument' was interpreted to include any agreement, including that creates rights and liabilities of the parties.
Therefore, the ruling of the NCLAT indicates that agreements containing ipso facto termination clauses are unenforceable if they are in breach of the object of maximisation of value of the assets.
While the NCLAT is right in its decision, the justifications for restricting the enforceability of ipso facto clauses needs further discussion. Also, the law as it stands is unclear, and there is a need to have a new provision inserted in the Code to completely restrict enforcement of such clauses.
Is Restricting Freedom of Contract Justified?
It is evident that allowing insolvency law to override ipso facto clauses goes against the pre-insolvency entitlements agreed upon by the parties. This interference with the freedom of contract requires a meaningful justification. It has been held in Indian Steel and Wire Products Limited v. State of Madras that freedom of contract is not an absolute right and can be restricted in light of economic compulsions. Further, in Delhi Transport Corporation v. D.T.C. Mazdoor Congress and Others, it was held that freedom of contract is subject to the economic interest of the community at large.
It is pertinent to note that one of the most important objectives of insolvency law is to maximise the value of assets for the benefit of all parties and the economy in general. To protect this objective, a restriction on the enforcement of ipso facto clauses is necessary. The UNCITRAL Legislative Guide on Insolvency Law recognises the overriding effect of insolvency laws over ipso facto clauses to keep the business of the debtor together and maximise the value of assets. Similarly, the US Bankruptcy Code invalidates ipso facto clauses that prevent debtors from performing beneficial contracts on account of pending bankruptcy proceedings. Further, Australia, the United Kingdom and Singapore have brought in legislative changes to render ipso facto clauses unenforceable during insolvency proceedings.
The NCLAT rightly observed that the object of the Code is to boost economic growth and protect national wealth. Allowing enforcement of such clauses would subvert the purpose of a moratorium and threatens the existence of the corporate debtor as a going concern. Therefore, the interference with the freedom of contract by restricting the enforcement of an ipso facto clause is justified.
Amending the Code to Provide Clarity
The decision in light of Section 238 of the Code suggests that all ipso facto termination clauses are unenforceable during insolvency. However, there is no express provision in the Code that speaks about the unenforceability of all ipso facto clauses. While the Report of the Insolvency Law Committee recognised the unenforceability ipso facto clauses, it recommended legislative changes only with respect to termination of licenses, permits and quotas, concessions, registrations, and other grants issued by the government authorities. These recommendations were inserted by amending Section 14 vide the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Act 2020. The Code and the committee report are silent on the question of enforceability of ipso facto clauses in other executory contracts. To avoid ambiguity, the author suggests insertion of a new provision on the lines of § 365 of the US Bankruptcy Code to expressly render all ipso facto clauses unenforceable during the insolvency and liquidation process.
Further, if the legislature deems fit certain exceptions may be allowed to enforce ipso facto clauses. For instance, an ipso facto clause may be enforced during the insolvency process if the party faces significant financial hardship in continuing the contract with the corporate debtor. Similar exceptions have been recognised under Section 440 of Singapore's Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act and Section 233B (1)(5) of UK's Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020. Such exceptions will help in balancing the objectives of the Code and the contractual stipulations agreed upon by the parties.
If a contract is allowed to be terminated merely on the ground of insolvency or liquidation, it will significantly affect the value of the corporate debtor and negate the object of the Code. To preserve the economic interest of the stakeholders, and to achieve the object of economic growth, the restriction on ipso facto clauses is justified. However, the judgment of the NCLAT is only in reference to PPAs, and the law pertaining to other executory contracts containing ipso facto clauses in unclear. Therefore, taking a cue from the legislations in the UK, Singapore, and Australia, the Code needs to be amended to restrict the enforceability of ipso facto termination clauses.
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