text:
require 'spec_helper'

describe CCML::Tag::CuratedFeedTag do

  context "#index method" do

    before(:each) do
      @curated_feed = FactoryGirl.create(:curated_feed)
      @url = "http://www.theciviccommons.com/feeds/#{@curated_feed.slug}"
      @tag_body = '{id} "{title}" {slug}'
      @tag_regexp = Regexp.new("#{@curated_feed.id} \"#{@curated_feed.title}\" #{@curated_feed.slug}")
    end

    it "accepts an id as opts id" do
      tag = CCML::Tag::CuratedFeedTag.new({id: @curated_feed.id}, @url)
      tag.tag_body = @tag_body
      tag.index.should =~ @tag_regexp
    end

    it "accepts a slug as opts id" do
      tag = CCML::Tag::CuratedFeedTag.new({id: @curated_feed.slug}, @url)
      tag.tag_body = @tag_body
      tag.index.should =~ @tag_regexp
    end

    it "gets the id from segment 1 if no id is given" do
      tag = CCML::Tag::CuratedFeedTag.new({}, @url)
      tag.tag_body = @tag_body
      tag.index.should =~ @tag_regexp
    end

    it "returns blank if the requested curated_feed is not found" do
      tag = CCML::Tag::CuratedFeedTag.new({id: 0}, @url)
      tag.tag_body = @tag_body
      tag.index.should be_blank
    end

  end

  context "#all method" do

    before(:each) do
      @tag_body = '{id} "{title}" {slug}'
    end

    it "returns all curated feeds" do
      feeds = []
      3.times {|i| feeds << FactoryGirl.create(:curated_feed) }
      tag = CCML::Tag::CuratedFeedTag.new({})
      tag.tag_body = @tag_body
      output = tag.all
      feeds.each do |feed|
        output.should =~ /#{feed.id} \"#{feed.title}\" #{feed.slug}/
      end
    end

    it "returns blank when no curated feeds exist" do
      tag = CCML::Tag::CuratedFeedTag.new({})
      tag.tag_body = @tag_body
      tag.all.should be_blank
    end

  end

  context "#items method" do

    before(:each) do
      @feed = FactoryGirl.create(:curated_feed)
      @tag_body = '{id} "{title}" {original_url}'
    end

    context "limiting" do
      before(:each) do
        @first_feed = FactoryGirl.create(:curated_feed_item, curated_feed: @feed, created_at: 0.days.ago, pub_date: 0.days.ago)
                      FactoryGirl.create(:curated_feed_item, curated_feed: @feed, created_at: 1.days.ago, pub_date: 1.days.ago)
                      FactoryGirl.create(:curated_feed_item, curated_feed: @feed, created_at: 2.days.ago, pub_date: 2.days.ago)
                      FactoryGirl.create(:curated_feed_item, curated_feed: @feed, created_at: 3.days.ago, pub_date: 3.days.ago)
        @fifth_feed = FactoryGirl.create(:curated_feed_item, curated_feed: @feed, created_at: 4.days.ago, pub_date: 4.days.ago)
        @sixth_feed = FactoryGirl.create(:curated_feed_item, curated_feed: @feed, created_at: 5.days.ago, pub_date: 5.days.ago)
      end

      it "returns all feed items if no limit is specified" do
        tag = CCML::Tag::CuratedFeedTag.new({id: @feed.id})
        tag.tag_body = @tag_body
        output = tag.items

        # Make sure each of the feed items are in the output
        curated_feed = CuratedFeed.find(@feed.id)
        items = curated_feed.curated_feed_items
        items.each do |item|
          output.should =~ /#{item.id} \"#{item.title}\" #{item.original_url}/
        end
        output.should =~ /.*#{@first_feed.original_url}.*#{@sixth_feed.original_url}/ # Newest Feed comes first.
      end

      it "returns all feed items if limit is negative" do
        tag = CCML::Tag::CuratedFeedTag.new({id: @feed.id, limit: '-1'})
        tag.tag_body = @tag_body
        output = tag.items

        # Make sure each of the feed items are in the output
        curated_feed = CuratedFeed.find(@feed.id)
        items = curated_feed.curated_feed_items
        items.each do |item|
          output.should =~ /#{item.id} \"#{item.title}\" #{item.original_url}/
        end
        output.should =~ /.*#{@first_feed.original_url}.*#{@sixth_feed.original_url}/ # Newest Feed comes first.
      end

      it "returns X most recent if a limit is specified" do
        limit = 5
        tag = CCML::Tag::CuratedFeedTag.new({ id: @feed.id, limit: limit.to_s })
        tag.tag_body = @tag_body
        output = tag.items

        # Make sure each of the feed items are in the output
        curated_feed = CuratedFeed.find(@feed.id)
        items = curated_feed.curated_feed_items.limit(limit)
        items.each do |item|
          output.should =~ /#{item.id} \"#{item.title}\" #{item.original_url}/
        end

        output.should =~ /.*#{@first_feed.original_url}.*#{@fifth_feed.original_url}/ # Newest Feed comes first.
        output.should_not =~ /#{@sixth_feed.original_url}/ # Sixth feed should not be incldued in 5 most recent.
      end
    end

    it "returns blank if the feed is not found" do
      tag = CCML::Tag::CuratedFeedTag.new({})
      tag.tag_body = @tag_body
      tag.items.should be_blank
    end

    it "returns blank if the feed has no items" do
      tag = CCML::Tag::CuratedFeedTag.new({id: @feed.id})
      tag.tag_body = @tag_body
      tag.items.should be_blank
    end

  end

end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


More warranty resources for your equipment.
Register your John Deere equipment purchased from Home Depot or Lowes.
Gather your sales receipt, model number, and product identification/serial number to register for proof of ownership, service reminders, and other important notifications.
Register your John Deere engine purchased through our John Deere Distributor or Dealer.
Get faster service. Protect your investment. Stay Informed.


text:
New leak claims Trump scrapped Iran nuclear deal 'to spite Obama'
Bangladesh: Sheikh Hasina's Fear of Fall is The Issue
Dynamism in India-Bangladesh relations will be crucial to success of India's 'Act East' policy
Sri Lanka: BBS calls for Sinhala govt, wants Lankan Sufis to take over Muslim leadership
Grim Reminder about CTBT on International Day against Nuclear Tests- 29th August0
Blog, Issue 19 – Winter 2017
Dr. Kenneth T Bainbridge was the physicist who directed the first atomic bomb test and "Trinity" was the codename given to the world's first nuclear explosion by Dr. J Robert Oppenheimer, known as the 'father of atomic bomb' for leading the World War II Manhattan Project that produced the first atomic bomb. His reaction to
By Maimuna Ashraf
Preserving Environment, Energy Security & Sustainability in South Asia0
Restraining environmental degradation, ensuring uninterrupted energy supply and sustaining development are interrelated aspects of overall growth process whose mutual interplay considerably affect the environment and ecological balance in nature. Unfortunately South Asia, which like many other regions, is also affected by degradation of the environment and consequent loss of ecological balance, has severely been suffering
By Sudhanshu Tripathi
A 21st Century Approach in Empowering Women and Minorities in India0
Former Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik agreed: "It's not just China and India — it's women who are the emerging power of the 21st century!" Introduction Equality of men and women are a question of human rights and a prerequisite for social justice. The Government of India had ushered in the new millennium by declaring
By Sangit Dwivedi
Political Participation of the Indian Diaspora in the United Kingdom0
Emigration is a worldwide trend. According to the latest reports published by the United Nations, around 244 million people, i.e., 3.3% of the total population of world has emigrated to some other countries. The strength of Diaspora has been increasing more rapidly than the population itself. If migrants were a nation then they would have
By Bhaskar Jyoti
WHAT STRATEGY FOR MODI GOVERNMENT IN KASHMIR?0
Indian media reports events in Kashmir these days, as if it is describing a cricket match, counting the death score every day. What is conspicuous is while the media reports the death score of the agitators, it is silent as far as the sufferings and death amongst the personnel in Kashmir police and Indian army
By N. S. Venkataraman
Maldives: Re-evaluating and re-positioning Maumoon Gayoom0
Reports that at least seven or eight of the 53-member ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM)-Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) combine in the 85-seat Parliament defied President Abdulla Yameen leadership's whip to vote in favour of some controversial legislative measures in recent days should make Maldivian-watchers sit up. After two instances of alliance-partner Gasim Ibrahim's Jumhooree
By N Sathiya Moorthy
Democratic Decline: Real or Imagined?
by William Milam July 5, 2019 I have written much in the past few months about what academics have been calling "democratic decline" or what more recently some academics have renamed "autocratization." No matter what one calls it, clearly there are a number of countries which have moved away from a more liberal democratic political

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Community Rx (old)
Ebola Is A Deadly Virus — But Doctors Say It Can Be Beaten
By Jason Beaubien
Published July 22, 2014 at 4:44 AM EDT
1 of 6 — Villagers watch a Red Cross burial team carry out a neighbor who may have died of Ebola in the village of Pendembu, Sierra Leone. The goal is to prevent transmission of the virus from the body of the deceased.
Villagers watch a Red Cross burial team carry out a neighbor who may have died of Ebola in the village of Pendembu, Sierra Leone. The goal is to prevent transmission of the virus from the body of the deceased.
2 of 6 — Sylvester Jusu, a Red Cross volunteer, wears a suit and goggles to protect himself from contracting Ebola.
Sylvester Jusu, a Red Cross volunteer, wears a suit and goggles to protect himself from contracting Ebola.
3 of 6 — Jose Rovira (center), a World Health Organization logistics expert, trains residents of Pendembu to bury an Ebola victim without touching the body — a dramatic change in a place where family and friends traditionally wash and embrace a loved one's body.
Jose Rovira (center), a World Health Organization logistics expert, trains residents of Pendembu to bury an Ebola victim without touching the body — a dramatic change in a place where family and friends traditionally wash and embrace a loved one's body.
4 of 6 — The burial team waits outside the house of someone who may have died of Ebola.
The burial team waits outside the house of someone who may have died of Ebola.
5 of 6 — To confirm the cause of death, Rovira of the World Health Organization takes a swab from a suspected Ebola victim in Pendembu village.
To confirm the cause of death, Rovira of the World Health Organization takes a swab from a suspected Ebola victim in Pendembu village.
6 of 6 — The team is sprayed with disinfectant after removing the body.
The team is sprayed with disinfectant after removing the body.
Saidu Kanneh was given a hero's welcome last week when he walked into a community meeting about Ebola in a tiny village of mud huts in the Kissi Kama region of Sierra Leone. Kanneh was diagnosed with Ebola early in July, was treated for 12 days in a Doctors Without Borders hospital and overcame the disease.
"God has made me as an example to survive and then get into the community to talk to my people," says Kanneh, who's about 40 years old and runs a health clinic near the border with Guinea and Liberia. In treating Ebola cases, he too caught the disease — he thinks he may have been infected from contact with the bodily fluids that transmit the disease, perhaps because of a gap between his rubber gloves and his shirt sleeve.
Kanneh's message is that not every patient dies.
And there are signs of hope: changes taking place that could be key to stopping the West African outbreak that began in March and has so far seen 1,032 cases in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, with more than 600 deaths.
"There is no cure but that does not mean we can't treat it with success," says Tim Jagatic,a Canadian physician at the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kailahun where Kanneh was treated — a series of tents set up in a field.
He says the human body can figure out how to combat it: "This is just a virus. It's a virus like influenza. When we have influenza we know we stay home, take our fluids and let our bodies do the rest. That's the same thing that we are doing here.
"Our job is eliminating distractions for the immune system so it can create the anitbodies [that] cure the patient. So they can walk out."
Treating patients is one element of the response to this outbreak; the other huge challenge is stopping transmission of the virus through contact with vomit, blood, sweat and mucus.
Funerals were initially a major source of transmission. "Relatives sometimes fall, cry on the dead body, wash the body," says Temba Morris, who runs a government health clinic in a remote village of roughly 3,000 people near the epicenter of the Sierra Leone outbreak.
Funerals in Sierra Leone, Morris says, are a very physical expression of mourning. But when someone dies of Ebola, the level of virus in the body is at its peak. The corpse is incredibly contagious.
People have been told not to touch the body of anyone who may have died of Ebola. Changing that custom, Morris says, is very hard. "Especially when a strong relative dies, like a mother, father, a child. Everybody wants to touch, everybody wants to fall on the dead. And maybe roll over it. To maybe express their love for the particular person. So it is yet difficult to accept that one."
Nonetheless, he says, Sierra Leoneans are now accepting that they must stay away from the corpse of an Ebola victim. That change in behavior could go a long way to bringing this outbreak to an end.
Community Rx (old)EbolaDoctors Without Borders
Jason Beaubien
Jason Beaubien is NPR's Global Health and Development Correspondent on the Science Desk.
See stories by Jason Beaubien


This section contains a more detailed explanation of concepts and techniques for analysing energy data.
The first step in monitoring energy consumption is to perform an energy review.
The energy review should be evaluated at regular intervals and especially when significant changes take place in an organisation's systems, processes and activities (e.g. procuring new equipment). A formal energy audit can be a major supporting component of the energy review. It can provide a detailed assessment of how energy is used and what the saving opportunities are.
Initially, energy consumption data can be collected from utility bills and manual meter readings. To develop a more detailed understanding of energy use, more frequently collected, or granular, data is needed. Current smart metering technologies allow for real-time monitoring and collection of energy consumption data; half-hourly or more frequent data is particularly useful.
Sub-meters are a good option for organisations that wish to gain a more in-depth understanding of the most energy intensive areas they have identified. Once installed, these allow isolated monitoring of a specific area of energy use such as a staff room, kitchen, or even individual equipment or appliances.
Analysis of the collected data should aim to correlate energy use with its driving factors. For instance, when examining energy use within an industrial process, the process output is often the main driver for energy consumption; increased consumption. In the case of energy used for heating or cooling buildings, weather is usually considered the main driving factor.
Building heating and cooling are often significant drivers of energy use. 'Heating degree days' are used as a measure of cold weather over a specific period of time. Equivalent indicators for hot weather are known as 'cooling degree days'.
Degree days measure the difference between the outside temperature and a theoretical or desired static indoor temperature (often referred to as the base temperature) that is comfortable for carrying out everyday activities without the need for heating or cooling. Thus in the context of heating, if the outside temperature is higher than the base temperature, the heating system should not need to be turned on, and the heating degree days equal zero.
In the UK, the base temperature for most buildings is 15.5°C, whereas in the United States, it is 65°F (approximately 18°C).
Figure 6 depicts an example of the relationship between the levels of gas consumption in a building and the number of heating degree days.
Typically, the relationship between fuel consumption for space heating and heating degree days can be represented by a straight line on an x–y diagram. This line is referred to as the performance characteristic line or trend line.
The trend line allows the energy manager to calculate expected consumption and compare it to actual energy consumption. For instance, given the consumption data plotted in Figure 6, for 100 heating degree days expected gas consumption is about 520,000 kWh. In this example when space heating is not needed (0 degree days), there is still an expected gas consumption of approximately 300,000 kWh; this would be driven by demand unrelated to the outside temperature, such as water heating.
Building heating and cooling represent just one example of energy consumption that should be examined during an energy review. All forms of energy use should be monitored; this can be accomplished using simple spreadsheets or more automated and fully-featured energy management software.
Heating is usually provided by gas, therefore heating degree days are usually correlated with an organisation's gas consumption. Cooling is normally provided by electrical chillers, therefore cooling degree days tend to be correlated with electricity consumption. Many resources for calculating heating and cooling degree days are available online.
As discussed in the example, heating degree days are used as a metric for measuring energy consumed for space heating. This relationship between the number of degree days and energy used for space heating is an Energy Performance Indicators (EnPI), and would be expressed in units of energy per degree day. A deviation from this relationship may indicate that something has changed within the heating system, such as equipment maintenance, replacement, or malfunction, or human-driven change in use. Another example EnPI is the amount of energy used per person in a building or other context.
Firstly, the actual and the expected energy consumption are plotted on the same chart. The expected energy consumption is calculated based on the EnPIs of the process or area being examined.
Figure 7 shows an example of how the actual energy consumption (orange points) of a process correlates with expected consumption (blue line). Secondly, the differences between actual and expected consumption over the applicable time interval are calculated, as illustrated in Figure 8.
Thirdly, the cumulative sum of differences (commonly referred to as CUSUM chart) is calculated and plotted as shown in Figure 9.
The trend line of a CUSUM chart indicates whether the monitored procedure consumes more or less energy than expected.
An upward trend in the CUSUM chart indicates consistent use of more energy than expected, whereas a downward trend indicates less energy use than expected. A horizontal trend implies that there are no substantial differences between the actual and the expected consumption. An alteration in the slope of the trend line implies that a change has taken place in the performance of the monitored procedure.
CUSUM charts are particularly useful for achieving continuous improvement in energy efficiency. As explained above, if a downward sloping trend line is consistently observed, less energy is being used than expected for the monitored activity. To ensure continuous improvement in efficiency, this expected amount should be ratcheted down via new targets, resetting the expected energy consumption (or EnPIs) to the current level of use. This adjustment should level the slope of the CUSUM line, until the efficiency of the monitored process is altered again.
In order for the M&T process to be fully effective, an energy manager should create energy consumption reports based on analysis of the collected data. These reports can vary from simple visual representation of consumption to more analytical reports that include the correlation between consumption and driving factors. Reports should be tailored to the needs of the target audience. For instance, reports addressed to senior management could contain a synopsis of the most important findings, whereas reports addressed to key end users are likely to be more detailed or focused. If overconsumption is detected, exception reports can be created. Action can then be taken based on the findings presented in these reports.
Larger organisations or those with more experience managing energy can opt for automatic monitoring and targeting (aM&T) systems. These systems are widely used and benefit from modern integrated communication systems. An aM&T system consists of meters, data logger devices for capturing and storing energy metering data, and software for analysis.
- automatically identify missing data.
- benchmarking functions enable automatic comparisons of current energy performance against established benchmarks.


Image Title: Wood Medicine Cabinets Throughout Unfinished Bathroom Storage Remodel 2. Filename: wood-medicine-cabinets-throughout-unfinished-bathroom-storage-remodel-2.jpg. Image Dimension: 400 x 400 pixels. Images Format: jpg/jpeg. Publisher/Author: Filiberto Ward. Uploaded Date: Saturday - May 05th. 2018 21:22:09 PM. Category: Architecture. Image Source: zillow.com.
Tap The Thumbnail Bellow to See Related Gallery of "Wood Medicine Cabinets Throughout Unfinished Bathroom Storage Remodel 2"


[14/Jun/2012] Archived image files of MIA-X-band Doppler Radar are updated.
[14/Jun/2012] Archived image files of Serpong-C-band Doppler Radar are released.
・[14/Apr/2010] Publication page was updated. ・[26/May/2009] Publication page was updated. ・[19/Jan/2009] Archived data of WPR-Manado, AWS-Pontianak, and AWS-Biak are released. ・[29/Oct/2008] Articles in the press are updated. ・[26/Sep/2008] Windprofiler observation started at Manado. ・[7/Aug/2008] The seminar on wind profiler observation was held on 23 July, 2008. ・[6/Jun/2008] Publication page was opened. ・[8/Feb/2008] Automatic Weather Station Data at MIA, Tiku, and Siberut were released. ・[7/Feb/2008] Precipitation grid data set made by combination of MIA-XDR and raingause is released in DIAS HP. ・[26/Dec/2007] Archived data of WPR-Biak is released. ・[21/Nov/2007] Latest image files of Serpong-CDR are released. ・[27/Aug/2007] Archived image data of MIA-XDR is released. ・[11/Mar/2007] Windprofiler observation started at Biak. ・[22/Feb/2007] Windprofiler observation started at Pontianak. ・[21/Feb/2007] The workshop was held in BPPT office in Jakarta on 6th February 2007. ・[04/Feb/2006] Page of Intensive Observation was updated. ・[21/Sep/2006] Leaflet of the HARIMAU was updated(version2.3). ・[20/Jul/2006] Leaflet of the HARIMAU was updated(version2.2). ・[13/Jul/2006] Leaflet of the HARIMAU was updated(version2.1). ・[11/Jul/2006] Leaflet of the HARIMAU was updated(version2.0). ・[04/Jul/2006] Leaflet of the HARIMAU was inserted(version1.0). ・ This site was opened in June 2006.


Denmark National Food Institute the division of Genomic Epidemiology.
in the analysis of the data.
Both to describe the distribution of the components of the metagenome.
And to find determinants for the pattern that we see in the metagenome.
finally what can we do beyond metagenomics.
right now we are here at the end of the process.
the last lectures were about analyzing your sequence.
we need ultimately to do an epidemiological analysis of our results.
the presence of a certain pathogen in a community.
which ones are appropriate to use with a different goal.
the statistical analysis, as determinants of what we find in our results.
need to collect in our projects, and these are just some examples.
we should associate a certain sample ID to a sample.
the animal species it relates to, the setting, for example.
think through how to code your samples in a meaningful way.
Then of course, you should characterize the sampling site.
you might find different results.
even the time of day if you are analyzing a microbiome.
This may change in the same animal at different times of the day.
community you find will of course differ very much between sample types.
the conditions during transport and storage of your samples.
which protocol you use for DNA or RNA extraction.
the sequencing technology you use.
all the decisions you take along the process of library preparation and sequencing.
The same is true for the quality control step and for the bionformatics analysis.
also which criteria you choose along the way.
be of crucial importance when you do your epidemiological analysis.
whether you collect them from a clinical setting or from a community setting.
The sampled individual can be the age of the animal.
a human is exposed to, may differ with different ages.
to record whether you are sampling hospitalized individuals or the community.
you need to characterize their health status.
is it just a surveillance sample, a screening sample, sorry.
collect records on antimicrobial use prior to sampling.
also how long before the sample date.
to collect data on the development status or economy indicators.
possible explanatory variables that you may need in the final step of the flow.
so what statistical methods can you apply to your data?
in your community, how is your community composed.
descriptive statistical methods of the abundance of different genes.
heatmaps or bar plots or Venn diagrams.
evenness, as you have learned in the previous lecture.
and you can use different types of ordination analysis for this.
what kind of data you have at hand.
then you can also use network analysis.
this is just a snapshot of some of them.
goal of your metagenomic study for surveillance, is to find determinants.
the particular resistome that you find in your samples.
are the appropriate explanatory variables and once you have data on them.
the explanatory variables, and see whether they make sense with the clusters.
many predictors, so many genes, for example.
describe where this variation comes from apart from the country variation itself.
some characteristic of the sample.
these methods can be used with metagenomics data.
different methods and see how they inform your project.


Nat Drapiza | Designer. Leader.
I am a design leader focused on delivering useful, usable, and unique experiences.
For over 15 years I have been discovering and applying user behaviors and insights to design experiences. Today, I lead and mentor cross‑discipline teams to create communications, experiences, products, and services.
In my spare time, I like to run. I have completed 5 marathons and countless half‑marathons, including the New York City Marathon twice.
For more information or to see my work, please contact me at nat@drapiza.com.


Lifeline Children's Services is a full-service adoption and orphan care ministry that exists to provide hope and a future through the Gospel for vulnerable children by discipling, engaging, and equipping the body of Christ for adoption and foster care. Volunteers can provide childcare, mentor birth parents, sew blankets, and put together care packages.
For more information, email Stephanie Bradley at s.bradley71616@gmail.com.


text:
Indotyphlops exiguus, the Belgaum worm snake, is a harmless blind snake species found in India. No subspecies are currently recognized.

Geographic range
Found in southwestern India where it is known only from Belgaum in the state of Karnataka. The type locality given is "Indes orientalis" [East Indies].

References

Further reading

 Boulenger GA. 1893. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) I. London (Taylor & Francis), 448 pp.
 Jan G. 1864. Iconogr. gén. Ophid., 1 (3. livr.): 3.
 Werner F. 1921. Synopsis der Schlangenfamilie der Typhlopiden auf Grund des Boulenger'schen Schlangenkatalogs (1893-1896). Archiv für Naturgeschichte 87A: 266-330.

External links

Indotyphlops
Reptiles described in 1864

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Tags: Bully, documentaries, Harvey Weinstein, Lee Hirsch, MPAA
Emotional blackmail – ★★½
It's kinda hard to find a connection between The Bully Project, a small-scale documentary that went around the festival circuit last year (including showings at Toronto's Hot Docs 2011), and the media juggernaut that is Bully, which received its North American general release last week amidst a flurry of publicity.
This increased profile seems to be entirely down to one man – the inimitable Harvey Weinstein. The Weinstein Company bought The Bully Project after its debut at the Tribeca Film Festival last April and, while allowing the film to continue its run of festival screenings, managed to create a storm of publicity for the renamed film's general release over controversies with its rating. To cut a long story short, the US censorship body the MPAA initially gave Bully an R-rating, which would mean that it would be inaccessible to much of its intended market of teens who wouldn't be allowed to see the film unless it was downgraded to a lower rating. After weeks of objection, the MPAA finally agreed to release the film as a PG-13 after the director Lee Hirsch agreed to three basic expletive cuts.
Bullying is probably the most serious problem facing schools across the world. This has probably always been the case, but it seems like now, with teenagers more exposed to the ways of the world and connected to each other 24/7, they've got more ammunition and tools than ever before. Whereas 40 years ago our idea of "bullying" meant name-calling and a few slaps across the head after school, nowadays un-relenting campaigns against someone can incite depression, self-harm and even suicide.
Bully was jointly inspired by bullying experiences that Hirsch went through as a child and the tragic death of Tyler Long, a seventeen-year-old Georgia teenager who killed himself after years of abuse from his peers. We spend time with Long's parents as Hirsch sets out to investigate whether anything has changed in the Murray County High School board since then. We also spend time with the family of Ty Smalley, an 11-year-old from Oklahoma who hung himself after being suspended from school for fighting back against the bullies.
Alongside these two tragic cases, Hirsch also follows three victims of bullying as they go about the hell that is their daily existence. The most affecting of these is undoubtedly the case of Alex, a 12-year-old with problems fitting in who is "affectionately" called "fish-face" by his class-mates. But these same class-mates are intent on taking out all their frustrations on Alex, whether it's on the school-bus or in class.
Alex: "Hey, you're my buddy, okay?"
Boy: "I'm not your buddy. I will fucking end you and shove a broomstick up your ass. You're gonna die fucking in so much pain. I'll cut your face off and shit, I'll bring a knife tomorrow and fuck you up and shit."
| o | - "Those kids were as good as gold."
Hirsch's intentions are undoubtedly honourable but his basic ability to put together a good balanced documentary has to be called into question. The choice to film everything with hand-held cameras, coupled with a tightly cropped auto-focusing style makes for a very jarring experience. Motion sickness could kick in and start to take away from the actual stories being told – I speak from first-hand experience.
Add in a reluctance to blame anything on anyone else but the school administrators (who are admittedly quite useless) and you do feel like you're seeing a very single-minded manipulative piece of work. School boards can of course do a lot more, but the role that the parents of bullies play in shaping their children's attitudes and tolerance levels is barely touched upon. Combatting bullying is a combined effort, but you can't help feeling like Hirsch has placed all the blame at the feet of the schools.
There's also a curious case study which threatens to throw the entire film's intentions into question. 14-year-old Ja'Meya Jackson, a victim of bullying, takes her mother's loaded gun on to a school bus and threatens the whole bus with it, before being tackled to the ground and apprehended by authorities. Admittedly she was bullied to a breaking point and felt she needed to retaliate, but amidst teary interviews with her mother, not one moment is spent lingering on the fact that Ja'Meya was in a position to find a loaded gun to take on a school-bus.
As a piece of activist film-making Bully is incredibly worthwhile and if it leads to new discussions and legislation across American schools then that is undoubtedly a good thing. It just seems like a wasted opportunity that lingers on the problem, rather than any form of solution.
U.S.A. / Directed By: Lee Hirsch / Starring: Alex, Ja'Maya, Kelby, David Long, Tina Long, Kirk Smalley / 99min / Documentary / Release: 30 March 2012 (U.S.), 6 April 2012 (Canada)
Footnote (Hearat Shulayim)
Tucker and Dale vs Evil


Due to an unforeseen circumstance, Henry Turner will not be able to join us on Friday 4/9 for the "Intersections" symposium.
We are excited that Bryan Reynolds (Professor of Drama, UC Irvine) will still be presenting his paper titled "Objective Agency." In addition, he has provided me with two *supplemental* readings from his book Transversal Subjects: the "Glossary of Transversal Terms" and Gary Genosko's afterword, "Subjects Matter." Please email me [lduckert@gwu.edu] and I will gladly pass them along.
The event will be held at 4 PM in Rome Hall 771 (801 22nd Street NW). No RSVP is needed; the event is open to everyone. More information about Bryan Reynolds is posted on our earlier announcement.


The new VESTOPLAST® W1750 allows new application options.
Evonik has expanded its VESTOPLAST® product family of amorphous poly-alpha-olefins. In addition to the currently available thermoplastic and reactive grades, it is now offering an entirely newly developed stable aqueous dispersion. The new type is introduced to the market as VESTOPLAST® W-1750. Based mainly on non-polar poly-alpha-olefins, and with a solid content of nearly 50%, this dispersion rounds off the existing VESTOPLAST® product range perfectly. Thanks to its significantly broadened application possibilities, customers can optimize the properties of their products or even open up entirely new application options.
VESTOPLAST® W-1750 combines remarkably low viscosity with high shear stability, ensuring outstanding ease of formulation. The advantages of the innovative product are particularly evident in carpet manufacturing. Its low application viscosity is conducive to excellent wetting of the substrate, which in turn leads to outstanding filament bonding, particularly after thermal activation. The use of the product, which can be applied by spraying or even by commonly used latex coating machines, results in carpets of equal performance but better recyclability.
In addition to its use in filament bonding, VESTOPLAST® W1750 also works as a hot melt for carpet backing; production can therefore be based on a single adhesive, without the need for additional intermediate layers.
Apart from its use in the manufacture of carpets, VESTOPLAST® W-1750 shows significant effects used as additive in PU Dispersions with regard to water repellency and wetting behavior: the contact angle is nearly doubled, i.e. PU-dispersions achieve full hydrophobicity and surface energy is cut, so that wetting of also non-polar substrates is possible.
VESTOPLAST® W-1750 is also excellently suited for further applications such as coatings for corrosion protection, coating of cardboard packaging made of recycled paper or primers for bonding paper to plastic.
For technical support and sample ordering please contact our global VESTOPLAST® Technical Service at +49 2365 49 9583, or adhesives@evonik.com.


You're starting or growing your technology business in Midland because you know it's more than just another business location: It's a unique combination of cutting-edge, world-class research and development with an abundant and skilled workforce and a high quality of life. Let us help get you going.
No matter what your technology or stage of business, you want to make sure you can network with similar businesses to make contacts and share ideas. Midland County has a strong infrastructure of dozens of technology businesses, ranging from small-business startups to Fortune 500 corporations. Midland Tomorrow is proud to host some of the networking events that help them succeed.
The Midland Area Chamber of Commerce hosts many networking events for small businesses. Michigan's New Enterprise Forum hosts monthly events to link entrepreneurs with management expertise, joint venture partners, business services, capital and other critical resources.
Strategy development, marketing, financial estimates: The process of developing and maintaining a plan to carry your technology business forward can be intense. Fortunately, Midland has many resources to assist your business in achieving its maximum potential.
Northwood MBA Fieldwork Program: Midland Tomorrow partners with Northwood University, an international private college specializing in the principles of free enterprise, to offer free business assistance to interested companies. Students in Northwood's MBA program work with businesses on comprehensive strategy and marketing development. Contact Becky Church at Midland Tomorrow to learn more.
Technology-Specific Information: Helpful information is available from Michigan Small Tech on growing the Micro and Nano industry. MichBio has information on how best to drive life science industry growth.
Other Resources: The Michigan Economic Development Corporation maintains a guide to the process of starting a business. And don't forget BusinessUSA, the federal government's comprehensive business resource website.


You will learn the concepts of BIM (Building Information Modelling) and we will teach you the best way to work with Revit and not just the tools.
We will give you many tips, how to work fast and efficient. Almost all Revit Architecture commands will be covered on this course.
During the Revit training, we will teach you about Revit rendering and also real-time 3D Rendering using a fantastic Revit plugin from Enscape™.
Enscape is a plugin for Autodesk Revit and it enables you a real-time 3D rendered walkthrough with no effort.
Any changes in Revit, it will automatically update in Enscape™ which creates a smooth workflow.
This training could be provided at your company with an extra cost. If you need Revit training for a group of people, please let us know.
To book the Revit Training, please contact us for further information.
Our Revit training has only 2 people per class to improve the learning process.


text:
Badin's Case Trokhan named National Merit Finalist
Badin High School senior Case Trokhan has a lot of success during her prep career … president of the Youth Philanthropy Commission, state swimmer, Top 10 student, and more.
Now, add National Merit Scholarship Finalist to that list.
"It's very exciting," Trokhan said of her latest high-profile accolade. "Being a National Merit Finalist opens a lot of doors course-wise, scholarship-wise."
Case is the daughter of Darren and Cynamon Trokhan of Hamilton and a graduate of St. Joseph's Consolidated School in Hamilton.
"Being a National Merit Scholarship Finalist is an outstanding accomplishment," Badin Principal Brian Pendergest said. "It's a very rare feat and worth all of the congratulations Case has earned. She has done a tremendous job in high school – this is just the start of many good things in her life."
"I've loved it at Badin," Trokhan said. "I'm so glad I made the decision to come here. I don't think I'd have been as happy anywhere else. Badin has done so much to contribute to my success in high school."
Trokhan was one of less than 1 percent of American high school students who qualified to be a National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist based on their performance on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test in the fall of 2020. Of those 16,000 students, some 90 percent of them become National Merit Scholarship Finalists, and about 7,500 of those will receive a portion of the $30 million in scholarship dollars awarded.
Asked about her academic success, Trokhan – who is #10 in the Class of 2022 at Badin – said it takes "focus and dedication. There's not any one quality. If you dedicate yourself to success in school and work hard at it, everyone is capable."
Trokhan plans to go to college for pre-med. She has applied early admission to the University of Cincinnati medical school; has been admitted to the biomedical science program at Ohio State; and is also looking at Princeton, Northwestern and Case Western Reserve.
She is president of the Youth Philanthropy Commission of the Hamilton Community Foundation; has been to the Division II state swim meet in Canton for three consecutive years; is on Badin Student Council, in the Ambassador Program, and volunteers at HOPE-full Pastures therapeutic farm on Ross Hanover Road.
"She's had a great career at Badin," Pendergest said. "She's active, involved, and does a terrific job in the classroom. The sky's the limit for Case."
Trokhan is the first Badin National Merit Finalist since Cullen Gantenberg '19. The National Merit Scholarship Program was established in 1955 with the goal of "honoring the nation's scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence."


Schneider's Steven Carlini discusses ways to improve data centre cybersecurity that most people don't think of until it's too late.
80% of GDPR-related data isn't under the control of CISOs.
Arturo Maqueo says he has seen many security breaches over the years and ironically this is most often in data centres with state-of-the-art security.
The power grid in modern countries may not be as secure as you think, as reports have emerged revealing hackers have breached Germany's supply.
Fewer than half of all organisations are able to detect a 'major' cybersecurity incident within one hour.
Mark Zuckerberg has issued a statement following the bombshell that Facebook's data of 50m people has been misused to "change audience behaviour.
A whistleblower has uncovered the practices of his illicit company, which include stealing the details of 50m Facebook users to help Trump's campaign.
"The NSW Government needs to establish a clear whole-of-government responsibility for cybersecurity that is appropriately resourced."
Experts say while Swisscom may be playing the huge breach down, the implications of the breach will be far and wide.
IBM estimates the cost of a data breach is $3.62m, highlighting the importance of encryption - COMPAREX UK's expert on the matter provides his advice.
Singapore's parliament has successfully passed the country's Cybersecurity Bill into law this week.
Yesterday marked Safer Internet Day – a day that promotes the safe and positive use of digital technology.
Octoly was informed of the exposed cloud repository on January 4th, yet the personally identifiable information was not secured until February 1st.
Cyberthreats have changed significantly in 2017 - Bitdefender's annual report shows one in six spam emails now contain some form of ransomware.
Gemalto's CTO says it's "incredibly frustrating" to see these cybercrime attacks continue to hit the headlines given how easy it is to prevent them.
Check Point researchers recently worked with LG to plug vulnerabilities in a number of home appliances, including robot vacuum cleaners & dishwashers.
It was only weeks ago when the US Government had been hacked again and blamed Kaspersky Labs - the cybersecurity company's CEO says they're false.
A recent worrying survey found that only 3 in every 10 UK businesses have started preparing for the GDPR - seven experts have provided their insights.
This exploit requires an attacker to be in the proximity of the wireless device or network in question.


text:
Just for Purses and Shoes: The Myth of the Secondary Income
There's an assumption about mom's income.
It proposes that her earnings do not go toward necessities such as food and shelter, but rather for discretionary items such as purses and shoes. This assumption—referred to as the myth of the secondary income—is false, and I had the unfortunate experience of confronting it directly while pregnant with my first child.
It's time we cut through all the assumptions, misconceptions, and myths about a woman's income and get to the facts. The facts bust the myth of the secondary income as well as reveal how the myth hurts businesses, economies, and our society.
Busted: The Myth of the Secondary Income
People often asked me if I intended to stay home after my son was born. It was my first pregnancy and the question caught me off guard. I didn't have a choice whether or not I was going to stay home with him. Even if I wanted to, it was not economically feasible for me to do so because I was the primary breadwinner of my family. Besides, we depended on my job for health insurance.
After my son was born, I received a promotion and soon became the sole breadwinner of my family. Like 71 percent of children of families with working moms, my income was not for purses, shoes, or anything else discretionary. It was for housing, food, health insurance, clothing, child care, retirement savings (and the list goes on). And while 71 percent of families in the U.S. rely on mom's earnings for their economic well-being, 34 percent of those 71 percent depend solely on mom's earnings for their economic well-being. In the average household with a mother working outside the home, we can expect that 40 percent of the family's total wages come from her.
To believe that women's incomes are secondary to men's is to neglect the truth.
The True Value of Women's Work
Nevermind that women's income is imperative to the success of American families, it's also critically important for economic growth.
Women's increased participation in the paid labor force has been a major driver of economic growth in recent decades. Roughly 50 years ago, only 44 percent of prime working-age women (ages 25 to 54) were in the labor force, and women held fewer than one in three jobs. Today, about 75 percent of prime working-age women are in the labor force, and women hold almost 49 percent of all jobs.
The contributions these women have made to the U.S. economy have undoubtedly increased over the last half-century. According to the Council of Economic Advisers, the U.S. economy is $2 trillion bigger today than it would have been if women had not increased their participation and hours since 1970.
We have room to grow. There's another $2 trillion on the table if we close the gender equity gap. Ending the myth of secondary income is important to that additional GDP growth.
How the Myth Impacts Your Business
It's 2019 and employees continue to experience inequitable treatment in the workplace. Working women and their families pay the price. We know this because we have data to prove it.
Working moms earn 71 cents on the dollar compared to their male peers. That's 9 cents less than women overall. Women also face a 4 percent earning drop in hourly wages per child.
It's not just working women and their families who suffer. Businesses also pay the price of inequity when they choose to believe the myth of the secondary income. First, from a financial perspective, companies that leave women behind are losing money. Second, from a labor economics perspective, companies that leave women behind are losing valuable and scarce talent.
A recent Randstad survey found that 80 percent of women would leave a company for one that offered better gender equality. For 58 percent of women, the lack of a clear path to leadership is one of the key factors that contribute to gender inequality in the workplace. And at a time when the U.S. has 1 million more job openings than unemployed workers, gender equity is now a strategic imperative rather than a nice-to-have competitive advantage.
Women's earnings have a direct impact on our future labor force and the growth of the U.S. economy. Let's stop believing the myth of the secondary income and start accepting the facts. Women are in the workforce and we're here to stay.
How To Hire A Chief Diversity Officer In 2021
What Are The Top Predictions for DEI in 2021?
Psychological Safety Is Faltering For Working Parents - Companies Need to Step Up


It is quite understandable if you know little to nothing about SEO, but times have changed and it is now important for you to understand at least the basics of SEO as most clients who need website work require SEO knowledge.
SEO is embraced by countless businesses because they understand that if they want to be visible on search engines and drive traffic to their website, they need to implement effective SEO tactics.
A major part of SEO is content creation. So this is where the freelancer fits in all of this. Content creation for blogs is important for every website. The more up to date you keep the blog, the better it is for SEO. Have a look at this blog example to see how awesome posts should be written.
You may still be thinking "Why should I even learn SEO?". There are 3 main reasons freelance writers need to learn SEO.
Is Freelance Translating the Career for You?
Editor's note: This post was written by Louise Taylor, a freelance writer for Tomedes Translation Service, as well as a range of online and print media.
What is Academic Writing and How Is it Different From Other Kinds of Writing?
Some freelance writers specialize in certain niches. They are subject matter experts. Others are more versatile and write about a variety of topics.
Whichever kind of freelance writer you are, we can all agree that there are different types of writing that have different requirements. For example, writing for business to business (B2B) needs a different style from business to customer (B2C).
Then there's technical writing, grant writing, and academic writing, among others. Let's take a look at academic writing and how it is different from the other types of writing.
and the use of conventional grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
Academic writing is taught in schools. As early as middle school, students are taught how to write essays, which is a form of academic writing. High school students and college students need to learn a higher level of academic writing, while graduate and post-graduate students have even more structures to follow.
With everything that students have to deal with in school, they sometimes need the help of freelance academic writers to guide them in their work. There are also some services like thepensters.com, that have a base of freelance academic writers who assist students in their papers. These services benefit both freelance writers who get to earn and students, who get the help they need.
Looking more closely at academic writing, we will see that there are similarities to other types of writing such as business writing, especially when it comes to the formal tone and avoiding the casual – or conversational – language. Here are some specific examples.
Avoid using contractions. Use "do not" instead of "don't".
Avoid casual word usage. "Meager" is better than "scanty".
Avoid using the first person. Instead of "I will share with you the results…", write "The results of the study…".
On the other hand, there are significant differences.
Depending on the discipline of study you are writing for, you will need to learn specific jargon. If you specialize in just one discipline, then you can focus on mastering the vocabulary for that niche. If you want to expand to other disciplines, then you will have to expand your vocabulary even more.
Referring to style, using the first person is not acceptable in some disciplines, while it is allowed in other disciplines. When it comes to structure, different disciplines also have varying requirements.
For example, in the area of Arts and Humanities, longer explanatory paragraphs are encouraged. These paragraphs require topic sentences, with the idea expanded within. On the other hand, the sciences required shorter paragraphs which are direct to the point, using more concrete data.
To reiterate, other kinds of writing, while also requiring some structure, may not have such stringent rules as compared to academic writing.
Another difference is that with general writing – content, blogging, and copywriting, for example – the topics tackled may deal more with actionable and concrete concepts, while academic writing deals more with abstract ideas.
Do you have clients that require academic writing? Maybe you can share your expertise on the matter.
Lily Wilson is a 34 year-old homestay freelance academic writer. Lily runs her personal blog AnAwfulLotofWriting and works as a contributing academic writer at ThePensters.com.
Many writers are interested in learning more than one language and not just stick to good ol' English. Often it can be easier to learn a new language because many languages belong to the same family and use similar base rules. The evolution of language is also undeniably linked to economic shifts in global integration, as seen in the emergence of Credit Loans.
I'm sure everyone knows many examples of Anglicisms used in other languages such as offshore or Germanisms used in English, such as Schadenfreude. Another very popular example, especially among freelance writers, is the Gallicism Resumé or for nostalgic souls your Curriculum [Vitae]. These terms are also called loanwords.
In this new infographic, we have a look at the different language families, their spread and popularity- really a very complex and controversial topic in the classifications of such families.
Did you know that every 14 days a language dies?
Thanks to the crew at Infographiclabs.com for another awesome infographic.


text:
You are here: Parliament home page > Parliamentary business > Publications and Records > Hansard > Commons Debates > Daily Hansard - Westminster Hall
27 Mar 2007 : Column 372WH—continued
27 Mar 2007 : Column 373WH
In conclusion, I ask the Minister what progress is being made on developing the long-term contractual agreement between British Waterways and the Government that was flagged up way back in 2004? Even if the Minister cannot say now that funding will increase over the long term, a contract would at least ensure that British Waterways did not face the in-year cuts that so devastated it in 2006. Given that the contract was flagged up as an issue way back in 2004, I should like to ensure that there is progress towards achieving an agreement.
What discussions has the Minister had with British Waterways on the forthcoming comprehensive spending review and on British Waterways' future funding level, given that the present lower level of funding will not sustain the organisation's vital role in clearing its backlog of statutory maintenance work and in helping to expand the canal network? Any organisation can sustain a year of cuts, but if the year of cuts leads to lower funding over time, that will be completely devastating. Those of my hon. Friends who have spoken have already indicated where the cuts are having an impact and the desperate effect that is being seen in their own areas.
Will the Minister make urgent representations to the Treasury to ensure that the canals are seen not just as the responsibility of DEFRA but as the responsibility of a wide range of Departments? So vital are canals to the Government's agenda on healthy living, regeneration, biodiversity and climate change that they must be prioritised in the comprehensive spending review. The British Waterways budget should be restored and sustained over a long period. There has been a renaissance in inland waterways due to Government investment, and recent years have been a marvellous period for them. It would be very short-sighted of the Government to turn back the clock.
Mr. Owen Paterson (North Shropshire) (Con): It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr. Martlew. I begin by congratulating the hon. Member for Staffordshire, Moorlands (Charlotte Atkins) on bringing this important matter to the attention of the House and I endorse much of what she said.
On your way north, Mr Martlew, you might one day turn left and visit my area. You would find a lot of canals there, and it is poignant that we are discussing this subject in the bicentenary year of Thomas Telford. The Llangollen canal has a spectacular viaduct at Chirk Bank, which has attracted international names such as Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart. A little further on beyond my patch there is the Pontcysyllte aqueduct, which is a world heritage site.
The Montgomery canal in my constituency is a spectacular example of what Governments of both parties have done. The Minister last time made some rather tiresome party political comments, but I would like to stress that this development has been supported by Governments of both parties. Aston lock was restored in 1994. There is a site of special scientific interest beside the canal. I entirely endorse the comments by the hon. Lady that the vast majority of people who visit canals are not boaters; they are pedestrians—people who go to walk beside the canals.
We have seen a tremendous voluntary effort in the area. There is national Government money and local government money and there has been a tremendous effort by volunteers, with people coming up from Birmingham for weekends. As a result, a large section of the Montgomery canal has been reopened and there is more to come. New businesses, such as Barry Tuffin's boatyard, have been created. Such businesses simply would not have existed when there was only bog and mud.
At the other end of my constituency, the Shropshire Union canal is extremely busy, taking traffic up towards the Mersey, going through Market Drayton. The size of that network is significant. The Shropshire Union covers 66 miles within my area—that is, it goes outside my constituency but is reachable from my constituency. Similarly, the Llangollen is 46 miles long and the Montgomery is 33 miles long. Another waterway is 10 miles long. That is 155 miles in total. The group of canals in that geographical area attracts a significant number of visits: 8.3 million a year. Gross direct and indirect spending arising from canal visitors is £54 million, and up to 1,500 direct and indirect permanent full-time equivalent jobs are supported.
As the hon. Lady clearly explained, much of that could be put in jeopardy. Great work has been done over the past 20 years through state action and voluntary action, but due to the cataclysmic incompetence of DEFRA in handling single farm payments, the Government are liable to be fined £130 million and pay £40 million in compensation. It is utterly disgraceful that an area of activity that is completely separate from single farm payments will be penalised.
The sums are pretty simple. The income of British Waterways is £100 million. The subsidy is £60 million, and there is £30 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund and local authorities. If that subsidy is changed radically without planning and at very short notice, it is very hard for British Waterways, which is working its way towards making itself self-sufficient, suddenly to have that reverse dumped on it without being able to plan ahead.
My constituents are very angry. Michael Limbrey, the chairman of the Montgomery Waterway Restoration Trust, who has done a huge amount of work on the issue, reckons that phase 1 restoration of the Montgomery would bring in 100 to 120 long-term jobs, but that that
"could increase to 250-300 with associated developments".
He says of the cuts:
"This could all be very significant for a rural canal like the Montgomery, and if implemented could put the restoration at risk, and prejudice all that has been achieved so far."
Ken and Lindsay Green of Whitchurch said that
"the cuts are to pay the fines imposed on DEFRA for the late payment of farm subsidies. We are just gobsmacked that everyone should be penalised because some people can't do their jobs properly."
Mr. Green says:
"When I ran my own business anyone making that sort of mistake would be sacked."
Similarly, Mr. Alan Wisener from Market Drayton said:
"Why should our Waterways and other environmental departments suffer because of gross bad management by DEFRA?"—
in other words, because of farming subsidies.
Let me explain what this amounts to. As the hon. Lady said, there will first be a degradation of the network, which in the long term will lead to more expensive costs. I have been told that, at Calveley, just outside my patch, in the seat of my hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury (Mr. O'Brien), the towpath is falling into the canal. At Audlem bridge, again just outside my area, £90,000 is needed. In my area, there is Greaves bridge at Ellesmere, which is a listed 18th-century structure. It will need £150,000 to repair, because the foundations are falling in. If the foundations do fall in, the long-term bill, and the disruption, will be immensely greater.
I raised the question of breaches with the Minister in our last debate, initiated by the hon. Member for Leicester, South (Sir Peter Soulsby), and I have raised it in questions, but I had a wholly unacceptable reply. There were two breaches on the Llangollen, in December 2005 and June 2006. That is the busiest waterway in the country. It is also one of the main means of feeding water to Hurleston reservoir, feeding large numbers of homes and businesses in the Cheshire area. Let us imagine what will happen if there is a significant breach. There are 16,000 boat movements on the Llangollen a year, which could be jeopardised, along with that water supply.
I would like the Minister to give us a very clear answer, because the last time we debated this, my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Tony Baldry), who had previously been a junior Minister in the Department of the Environment, said that there was a contingency fund. No Opposition Member is asking for a penny more money from the Treasury. We are just asking that, if there is a breach, which would cause serious damage to the network, the Minister considers using contingency money, which every Government have done for many years.
I would like a clear commitment about what will happen if there is a major breach on the network. The most recent breach was in January on the Brecon and Monmouth canal, which cost £300,000. Luckily, the water just emptied out into a field, but one of these breaches could pose a danger to human and animal life and cause massive disruption to legitimate businesses and jobs. Will the Minister state categorically whether he would be prepared to use contingency funds? They do exist. They have all been allocated; they have all been voted through. It is not new money. If the Minister will not do that, why not?
As for the safety backlog, if British Waterways had continued on the course on which it had been led to believe it was set, it would have eliminated the statutory arrears by 2012. Given that there has now been this complete hiccup, when does the Minister consider that the arrears will be eliminated?
On the British Waterways website, there is an interesting comment at paragraph 5.3.6:
"BW is currently only able to operate commercially on or adjacent to waterways it owns or manages. This restricts both its direct activities and those of its joint ventures. DEFRA and the Cabinet Office are currently considering ways in which this restriction could be removed."
It seems extraordinary that an organisation with great expertise in managing waterways can operate only on stretches of water contiguous to its existing network.
Sir Peter Soulsby: Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the most significant areas of waterway on which
British Waterways is not able to operate are those that are managed by the Environment Agency? I understand that it would be a comparatively straightforward matter for those areas to be brought within the area in which British Waterways can use its very considerable experience and expertise to invest.
Mr. Paterson: I am glad that the hon. Gentleman pressed that point, because I was about to make it. I wanted to draw the Minister's attention to our rivers. The Severn is currently navigable only as far as Bewdley; in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was navigable right up through Shropshire. In towns such as Bridgnorth, one can still see the remnants of the island that divided the main river from a weir, which generated power, and the channel through which boats travelled.
There is a triple hit on this. If we made our rivers navigable again, we would have a very significant source of renewable clean energy. Unlike ridiculous wind farms, which demand vast amounts of public subsidy and do not work, water has been a source of power in this country for centuries. I have been told that the Rhone supplies 10 per cent. of France's energy. If we made the Severn navigable, we could use the power from the weir for green energy. We would then get much more activity through the river, by using the lock system. That would have a further impact on general employment outside matters directly related to boating.
I entirely endorse what the hon. Gemtleman said. We have an organisation, British Waterways, which has great expertise in managing waterways. Why on earth can it not get involved in other projects on stretches of water not contiguous to its own network? Everyone would like British Waterways to stand on its own two feet. Everyone would like it to escape from the clutches of DEFRA and the requirement for subsidies. It seems extraordinary that British Waterways is precluded by statute from taking advantage of our natural river system, which could be a tremendous source of energy and of employment and prosperity.
10.9 am
Joan Walley (Stoke-on-Trent, North) (Lab): I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Staffordshire, Moorlands (Charlotte Atkins) on instigating the debate. It is very important that we debate canals in the west midlands. It forms part of what is happening to British waterways altogether and to canals throughout the country. The fact that so many west midlands Members are here to support her sends the Minister the powerful message that we want to find a way to work with him to resolve the problems facing our canal structure.
Let me briefly set out my concerns. For some of my first 10 years in Parliament I shadowed the then Transport Minister, and one issue that was constantly raised was what we could do about inland waterways and how we could ensure that we got the investment that we needed. As my hon. Friend made clear, the Labour Government brought about a real renaissance in investment in the canal structure and built on much of the preparatory work that went on before 1997. I was proud of the fact that what had begun as a transport policy ended up as a far-reaching policy that made it clear that canals were important and that we needed to invest in them. The
money that the Government allocated to canals meant that we started to deal with some of the huge backlogs.
The Government therefore have a strong and proud record on this issue, but we now face another problem, as we have heard. Problems with single-pot payments and farm subsidies, as well as the mistakes that have been made, mean that the canal structure has become a scapegoat as we try to find the money that we need for other purposes. I understand the problem that the Minister has to solve and I sympathise with him, but I hope that the debate will allow him to draw on the help of those of us who are present and include us in a partnership, because we can ill afford to lose this money and we need to make good the losses. He has been spectacularly successful at encouraging investment in canals, and that has made it all the more clear to people across the country that we cannot afford to lose what is there now. Given that we have seen local canal partnerships with local authorities, with British Waterways taking the lead, and that we have introduced other regeneration initiatives, I hope that the Minister can introduce similar measures now.
Most hon. Members present have met representatives of British Waterways and will know that there is a need for a new mechanism that will work across Departments and through the upcoming comprehensive spending review process, as my hon. Friend the Member for Staffordshire, Moorlands suggested. We need a pooled budget so that we can make good the current shortfall at DEFRA using money from transport, regeneration and other budgets. Such a measure is urgently needed because, without it, we will lose momentum on important initiatives. We cannot wait for repairs and we cannot have years of indecision only for projects not to go ahead—such urgent decisions must be made now. I want the Government, the Minister and the Treasury to be committed to finding a way of working towards all that.
Let me briefly flag up a couple of other issues. I am grateful for the work that the British Waterways Board has done in my constituency, particularly under the inspiring leadership of Derek Cochrane. I am sad that he is one of the casualties of the cutbacks and is taking early retirement. Of course, he will do great work elsewhere, but he will not oversee the initiatives that are ready to proceed in my constituency. Much of the local knowledge that British Waterways Board staff have built up will be lost once they leave, having become casualties of the cutbacks of which we are afraid. When that happens, who will lead the continuing renaissance that our canal structure needs? It is incumbent on the Minister to tell us what he can do with British Waterways to have those posts reinstated.
When I first came to the House, several hon. Members—you might well have been one of them, Mr. Martlew—told me, "Joan, I've recently been to your constituency." When I expressed surprise and asked why they had been there, they said that they had gone through the canal structure—along the Trent and Mersey—to visit the wonderful tourist attractions in my area, including the potteries and the magnificent Staffordshire moorlands. Many people go to the hidden jewel in our area—the spur of the Caldon canal, to which my hon. Friend the Member for Staffordshire, Moorlands referred, which
starts just by the Trent and Mersey and goes through both our constituencies. Many stop off at the improved towpath by the Middle Port pottery, from which, I am pleased to say, the "Antiques Roadshow" will be broadcast in May. Such people come to the area to celebrate the renaissance and regeneration that we have seen, and there have been improvements to the towpath across my constituency, from Burslem right the way up to the Harecastle tunnel. It is essential that those repairs to the tunnel continue, because, without them, Stoke-on-Trent will be completely cut off from a major thoroughfare.
I know many of the volunteers who worked so hard all those years ago to dig and reinstate the Caldon canal, and we will not sit back and see it taken away—no way. We are working with the Inland Waterways Association and everybody who values the canal. We cannot afford to lose parts of the infrastructure that provide the canal with water, such as Stanley reservoir in my constituency and Knypersley pool, to which my hon. Friend referred. At Westport lake, Brownhills high school is building an eco-school as part of a regeneration initiative, but such projects will be under threat if we do not move ahead.
Regeneration is not the responsibility only of DEFRA and British Waterways. There is a great deal of commitment on this issue, and we must find a way not only of reinstating the money and getting the continuing commercial agreement and contracts to which my hon. Friend referred, but of getting funding from other Departments to ensure that we build on what we have. Above all, I want the big Burslem port regeneration project in my constituency to go ahead, and we need the British Waterways Board to help with that. Hundreds of years ago, people met in the The Leopard in Burslem to plan the canal system, and I do not want to have meetings there so that people can complain about the system's demise. We must find a way around this problem and we are here to work with the Minister to do that.
Several hon. Members rose—
Mr. Eric Martlew (in the Chair): Order. Three Back-Bench Members wish to speak, but I want to start the winding-up speeches shortly after 10.30 am. Hon. Members can figure that out for themselves.
Mr. William Cash (Stone) (Con): My constituency has quite a network of canals running through it. The Uttoxeter canal has been mentioned, and I pay tribute to Mr. Mike Maryon, who is a county councillor and the chairman of the Uttoxeter restoration committee of the Caldon and Uttoxeter Canals Trust, which is a registered charity. In the past few days, he has held a meeting about the improvement and restoration of the canal, and the hon. Member for Staffordshire, Moorlands (Charlotte Atkins) rightly referred to the need for a feasibility study to help that work get off the ground. Staffordshire county council, Staffordshire Moorlands district council and East Staffordshire borough council have offered their support, but they are, of course, looking for grants, and I look to the Minister in the hope that we may make some progress on the issue. As the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, North (Joan Walley) said, Derek Cochrane is enthusiastic about the proposals for improving the Uttoxeter canal.


Mason Companies, Inc. is a family owned catalog retailer of footwear, accessories and apparel. In their over 100 years of existence, Mason Companies has grown from a provider of logging boots to local lumbermen to a mail order and internet merchant of footwear, apparel and general merchandise. Mason Companies is still headquartered in its hometown of Chippewa Falls, WI. Also the parent company to Stoneberry, an online shopping credit line retailer specializing in lease to own furnitureand household goods.
Mason companies came to being in 1904 when the founders, the father and son team of August and Bert Mason, started the company to cater to the footwear needs of the local logging industry, quickly earning a reputation as one of the finest boot makers in the area. They sold their shoes through clothing stores on consignment. They released their first catalog in 1922. In the late 1920's when the economy soured, Masons were in similar dire straits like the furniture on credit stores Fingerhut and Badcock Furniture and had to find some to sell excess and returned inventory during economic turmoil. That was when they recruited dealers to sell the overflow of inventory, and created a marketing plan that would serve them well for over fifty years; direct to consumer sales. They recruited salespeople and set up branch offices throughout the United States, expanding their business.
Throughout the years Mason's business model changed to reflect the changing times. Unique for their time, they used early computers to efficiently recruit dealers and analyze their potential markets. In the 1970's they switched to a part-time salesperson model which allowed people to earn money on the side for selling their products. The 1980's saw the rise of their mail order business, with the introduction of the Wissota Trader and B.A. Mason catalogs. The 90's and the new millennium saw explosive growth thanks to the introduction of revolving credit plans and acquisitions of their various online and mail order companies; Massey's, Figi's, Maryland Square, and ShoeMall.com. One key offspring of Mason Companies is Stoneberry, their buy now pay later catalog and website known for its furniture financing online through their Stoneberry credit online cash plan and affordable furniture leasing program.
This phenomenal growth over the past century has turned Mason Companies into one of the largest mail order footwear companies in the world, as well as a major player in the mail order and e-commerce market, with products ranging from home goods, furniture, clothing, financing services and so much more. Much like Stoneberry's rivals Fingerhut, Aaron's and Rent A Center, Mason Companies applied Innovations such as e-commerce, mail order and pay as you go plans to their various good and services branches. They're innovators when it comes to rent for own, applied to many companies in a multitude of industries, adapting much like Aarons and Fingerhut to economic turmoil through an adaptive, forward thinking business model. Similar to "get stuff now pay later."
*This page is only for information purposes and all information is not guaranteed to be accurate and or reliable. We accept no responsible for incorrect information and all viewers and users of our website are encouraged to do their own research and not rely on the contained publishing. All information was made available on the following websites: Mason Companies Inc, Reuters, D&B Hoover, Bloomberg, LinkedIn, and in no way are we affiliated with, owned or operated by Mason Companies Inc., Stoneberry or any other subsidiary thereof.


text:
Nigel Farage planning a party in Parliament Square to celebrate Brexit
The Brexit Party leader claims he will ring in the end of EU membership with 'fireworks, bands and comedians'
Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage (Photo: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)
By Nick Duffy
Weekend Breaking News Editor
January 5, 2020 9:54 am(Updated July 10, 2020 5:55 pm)
Nigel Farage has revealed plans for a "Brexit celebration party" in Parliament Square.
The Brexit Party leader is reportedly drafting plans for the £100,000 bash on 31 January, the day that the UK will formally leave the European Union under Boris Johnson's withdrawal agreement.
Mr Farage and Brexit Party chair Richard Tice have applied to the Greater London Authority for an events license for the party, The Sunday Telegraph reports.
Sign up to get Paul Waugh's daily politics email, with exclusive analysis every weekday evening
The newspaper claims that Mr Farage is planning "fireworks, bands and comedians" for the event – though no line-up is listed.
Genuine celebration
A previous pro-Brexit music concert organised by allies of Mr Farage, Bpoplive, was cancelled in 2016 after nearly all of the acts in the line-up pulled out.
However, Brexit Party officials have vowed to make a success of the new event, with Mr Tice saying: "We are expecting people to apply to want to be on the gig."
Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage is planning a party for 31 January (Photo: Henry Nicholls/Reuters)
Mr Farage said: "31 January is a moment to celebrate, when the establishment have been beaten by the people.
"We will invite people from all parties. Business figures will be asked to join the celebration. There will be a few short speeches but they won't be very political.
"It will be celebratory. There will be music and singing. It will be a good-natured, upbeat, optimistic, genuine celebration with no direct political edge whatsoever."
Strict license rules
The newspaper reports that the event organisers plan to vet prospective event-goers and charge a "small ticket price to cover costs," though there are strong restrictions on commercial use of the square.
Internal GLA guidelines, made public under the Freedom of Information Act, make clear that Parliament Square is not to be used for "private or exclusive parties."
The plans may also fall foul of strict bylaws which specify that "no vehicles, staging or infrastructure of any kind are permitted" in Parliament Square and that "activities requiring a licence under the Licensing Act 2003 will not be permitted" – including live music performances and the sale of alcohol.
A spokesperson for the GLA told i: "Any application to hold an event on Parliament Square will be assessed by GLA officials in line with the existing criteria."
Mr Tice said: "Brexiters should celebrate this historic moment in our nation's democratic history. Parliament Square, under the watchful eye of Churchill, is the right place to lead the commemorations."
Brexit Party
BBC licence fee set to be axed, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries indicates
Why Hamilton could be the biggest winner if controversial FIA investigation goes his way
Five UK supermarket giants to trial age-estimation tech for customers buying alcohol


text:
India Underground: the Most Astonishing Architecture You've Never Heard Of
Victoria Lautman, Contributor
Journalist, author, and lecturer
©Victoria Lautman
Rudabai Vav, Adalaj, Gujarat c. 1500
Thirty years ago on my first visit to India, I looked over a mundane wall and it changed my life. This was outside the city of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, beloved by architects for its iconic modernist buildings. But the view over that simple wall had far more impact: I was staring into a deep man-made chasm, with a long parade of steps and ornate stone columns plunging deep into the earth. What was I looking at? No idea at the time. But it was shocking, beautiful, mysterious, and even subversive, since we expect to look up at architecture, not down into it.
Rudabai Vav, Adalaj, Gujarat, c. 1500
Entering that startling structure was a unique experience that heightened all of my senses the further I descended. Harsh desert sunlight became increasingly murky, scorching heat gave way to cool air, and the annoying din above ground grew hushed. Tall towers of columns and bridges loomed over me, creating shifting views and perspectives that were disorienting. By the time I'd reached bottom - five stories down - I felt I'd entered another world.
Ambapur Vav, Ambapur, Gujarat, c. 1500
Welcome to the world of India's subterranean stepwells, a vanishing species of architecture that few people have heard of. They were used to harvest water efficiently throughout the subcontinent for over a millennium, starting around 600 A.D. Thousands are thought to have existed, yet they're all but unknown today, despite being among the most significant structures of their time. Now, most are derelict, abandoned, and often filled with trash.
Batris Kotha Vav, Kapadvanj, Gujarat, c. 1120
In a country as dry as India, accessing water all year long has always been tricky, and centuries ago it would have been especially difficult. In desert areas, reaching the water-table could require digging nine stories down, and deep well shafts with adjacent stairways ensured that water was available even at its lowest. But during the yearly monsoon deluge, the water level rose dramatically, the steps submerged, and retrieving water daily became less arduous.
Neemrana Baori, Neemrana, Rajasthan, c. 1570
But stepwells provided more than water for drinking, washing, and irrigation. They were subterranean temples, cooling stations in scorching weather, oases along remote trade routes, and active social gathering places. Local rulers and wealthy citizens - many of whom were women - commissioned the structures as charitable gifts to their communities, though today, most of those benevolent patrons are unknown.
Ujala Baoli, Mandu, Madhya Pradesh, early 16th c.
Stylistically, there's a mind-boggling range of styles, and no two are alike. They can be enormous or intimately scaled; encrusted with sculpture or modest; constructed of stone, rubble, or brick; L-shaped, round, square, or linear. Some are characterized by dazzling arrays of pyramid steps so steep it's impossible to imagine sari-clad women climbing up and down, vessels balanced on their heads. Even without a sari, it's not for the faint of heart.
Chand Baori, Abhaneri, Rajasthan c. 800 and 18th c.
I've spent years traversing India in pursuit of these marvels of architecture, engineering and art, and have seen over two hundred so far (seventy-five of which are collected in my book, The Vanishing Stepwells of India, published by Merrell). A relative handful are protected by the government and maintained, but most are neglected, derelict, and strewn with trash. Many stepwells are hiding in plain sight close to popular destinations, and can easily be found in Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, and Jodhpur, but tourists have no idea the wonders they're missing just minutes away.
Helical Vav, Champaner, Gujarat, c.16th c.
The only way to ensure the future of these unique monuments is by building awareness, since the more people who know of them, the better their chances of survival. Otherwise, like every extinct creature, they'll gradually and quietly fade into oblivion.
Mahila Baag Jhalra, Jodhpur, Rajasthan,c.1780
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.