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Category Archives: Public Education
by rustwire | March 14, 2014 · 7:45 am
Ohio and the Fate of the "Big Eight"
The 2010 Census produced mixed results for America's "legacy cities," that is deindustrialized cities located primarily, but not exclusively, in the Midwest and in the Mid-Atlantic states. While east coast cities like Newark and Philadelphia actually posted population gains, Midwestern Rust Belt cities generally continued their long slide down in terms of population growth. This proved especially true in the state of Ohio, formerly a key manufacturing hub and once arguably the heartland of Industrial North America. For not only have Ohio's major cities continued to shrink, their population loss actually ACCELERATED from 2000 to 2010. The same largely holds true for the shrinking counties that are home to Ohio's seven withering major cities.
All of this leads to a central question: How long will it be before Ohio itself loses population? Much is at stake. Not just tax bases, representation in the house, and federal funding, but national relevance. With the decline of the Upper Midwest/Great Lakes region, Ohio's internal decay is even more of a pressing issue.
The state has been traditionally known for its "Big Eight" cities: Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo, Akron, Dayton, Canton, and Youngstown. All of these cities, save the capital city of Columbus, owe their existence to the explosion in manufacturing in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Cleveland was an early leader in automotive production before diversifying into other manufacturing sectors as the twentieth century wore on. Youngstown was a steel center, known as "America's Ruhr Valley." Dayton's manufacturing muscle grew on, among other things, automobiles, foundries, and printing plants. Toledo was also known for auto manufacturing and the glass industry.
Suburbanization in the post-war era and deindustrialization hit Ohio's cities as hard as any in the nation. From the early 1970s to the mid 1980s, Ohio's manufacturing employment dropped by nearly 20 percent. Simultaneously, Ohio's metropolitan areas decentralized. Seven of the Big Eight began to crumble, albeit at various speeds. The deterioration in the economic and social fortunes of Ohio's cities through the 1980s has been well covered in a variety of venues. What has been less mentioned is that, unlike east coast legacy cities, the decline of Ohio's major cities accelerated from 2000 to 2010. And according to 2012 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the decline continues.
Figure one is a comparison of the change in population for seven of Ohio's Big Eight from the 2000 to 2010 census.
Every one of these cities experienced a larger decline in 2010 than they did in 2000. Cleveland's collapse is particularly shocking, as are Dayton and Youngstown's double-digit losses. Even Akron, somewhat of a success story, experienced a surprising drop in 2010. After seeing a substantial improvement in its population numbers in 2000, the city registered its largest population decline since 1980 in the year 2010. The 2012 census estimates look equally dismal: Only one out of 15 Ohio cities with a population of over 50,000 managed not to lose residents. Two of Ohio's cities (Cleveland and Youngstown) were among the seven fastest shrinking cities in the entire nation during that period. Youngstown was the country's fastest shrinking city.
Counties containing a major shrinking city are on a similar path of continued contraction. With the exception of Stark and Summit in 2000, accelerated population loss has become the norm, as figure two below shows.
(Chart shows negative population loss. Negative numbers are positive)
Lucas County, Mahoning, and Cuyahoga experienced large decreases in the period from 2000 to 2010. Cuyahoga, home to the second largest city in the state, is the fastest shrinking county in the state. Mahoning County in particular faces a troubled future. Between the middle of 2008 and the middle of 2009, Mahoning had more deaths than births. This is termed "negative natural increase." Once a county experiences a cycle of negative natural increase, it is likely to re-enter the cycle again at some point.
The population decrease of the state's major cities and counties is almost certainly a prelude to state population loss; a major sign is the disappearance of young people, a problem especially centered in counties housing the state's largest cities. Cuyahoga County's under-18 population dipped 16 percent between 2000 and 2010. In fact, Ohio's drop in people under 18 was the third worst in the nation.
Ohio's manufacturing employment wasn't just hard hit during the seventies and eighties. At the beginning of the century Ohio had nearly a million manufacturing jobs. A little over a decade later just under 350,000 of those jobs remained. Manufacturing is the crucial piece of the economic puzzle in Ohio. And as the "recovery" begins to pick up steam, especially for automobile production and pipe production for energy exploration, manufacturing will continue to be a centerpiece of the state domestic product. However, it's unlikely job growth will ever return to the numbers seen in the nineties, much less the seventies. Also present is a significant skills gap, particularly in distressed urban communities, between what modern manufacturing employers are demanding and what job seekers possess. Lost manufacturing jobs are particularly troubling considering that average compensation in manufacturing for the year 2009 was nearly $68,000, while non-farm, non-manufacturing sectors averaged only about $42,000.
As important as the decline in manufacturing jobs is for the state, there are other negative long-term indicators. According to the Brookings Institute, "Ohio underperformed the national average on employment in every industry from 2000 to 2008. Ohio's shrinking industries are declining faster than its growing industries are gaining ground." There have been bright spots, like the creation of the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute in Youngstown or the Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland-a green worker co-op that's part of a highly innovative "Cleveland Model." The model partners community co-ops and anchor institutions (like universities and hospitals) with a large local footprint that could utilize services in their surrounding communities. Still, it's unclear how long these initiatives will take to have a measurable impact. And time is not on the side of the "Big Seven."
The term Big Seven denotes the absence of the capital city of Columbus. Unlike the others, Columbus has seemingly prospered while urban flight and deindustrialization ate away at her brethren. Columbus' diversified economy traditionally buffered it from the extremely cyclical nature of Ohio's manufacturing cities. And while sprawl devastated other cities in the state, Columbus annexed outlying areas, withholding the extension of water lines to areas that might resist incorporation into the city. Annexation disguises the low-density nature of the city. The urban core of Columbus has been hit hard by foreclosure and disinvestment. The near east side and south side are also experiencing disinvestment, yet, Columbus is drawing people from all over Ohio. It is the only one of the Big Eight with a growing population.
Franklin County, however, which Columbus dominates, has a child poverty rate of almost 27 percent.[vii] For several years child poverty in Ohio has eclipsed the national average; approximately one in four children live in poverty. Black child poverty in Ohio is three times higher than all other child poverty. The percentage of black children living in poverty in Ohio's Big Eight is much higher than the state average. In 2003, over 40 percent of black children in Youngstown, Toledo, Akron, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Canton lived below the poverty line. In 2011, that number was over 50 percent in Toledo and around 56 percent in Youngstown.
Ohio is now very likely to join Michigan as the only other state in the union to have lost population. While recent census estimates show a very slight uptick in growth, long-term trends are more than enough to reverse this. Overall population growth is trending in the wrong direction. Ohio's metropolitan areas are no closer to resolving long-standing conflicts between city and suburb; instead, shrinking counties are home to a polyglot of municipalities fighting over ever-decreasing economic pies. The federal government has long been an absentee voice in the realm of urban issues, so what is being done at the state level? States have toolboxes that can hinder or help cities. Ohio's poor record on fostering municipal cooperation, encouraging sprawl and green field development, as well as failing to invest in twenty first century transportation infrastructure, is more than discouraging-it's akin to promoting spatial suicide. Since Ohio's 2005 tax cut-that largely benefited top-earners-job growth in every sector has trailed the national average. From 2005 to 2009, Ohio eliminated its corporate income tax, instead establishing a "commercial activity tax" in 2010. Unfortunately corporations are multi-state enterprises and are likely to invest such tax breaks in places other than Ohio, which is apparently what happened. Since 2005, only three other states have worse job growth rates.
Ohio's budget for 2014 and 2015 also features income tax cuts (mostly benefiting the wealthy, again) and an increase in the regressive sales tax. Tax cuts up to $250,000 for small business owners won't add up to much of a stimulus when most small business owners make under $30,000 a year. Estate taxes, the majority of which fund local government, are now gone. Distressed cities in Ohio will likely have to enact further reductions in services, which in turn will make them even less desirable places to live.
Ohio is in crisis mode, whether the state government realizes it or not. Seven out of Ohio's eight major cities are in various states of decline or even collapse. The economy is moribund on many levels. The decline of manufacturing employment is hurting working class families at a time when few opportunities for college graduates are driving more young people to the Sun Belt and elsewhere. As the Greater Ohio Policy Center points out, "Ohio's seven largest metro areas are home to 71 percent of its population, 76 percent of its jobs, and 80 percent of the states' gross domestic product." With accelerating blight and population loss, metropolitan fragmentation, and a disconnected state government more interested in restricting access to abortion than in increasing access to education and jobs for low-income households, Ohio faces a race to the bottom of states in terms of opportunity and quality of life.
–Sean Posey
Filed under Economic Development, Education, Featured, Headline, Labor, Politics, Public Education, sprawl, Urban Planning
by Angie Schmitt | April 25, 2013 · 5:16 am
A Sad Ending for the Girlfriends Club
This best place to buy cialis online short film, produced by some Plain Dealer reporters, was featured at the Cleveland International Film Festival two years ago. It told meds canadian pharmacy the story of a Giddings Elementary School teacher Sherida Freeman and a club she started for fifth grade girls aimed at reducing fighting. The Girlfriends Club was a tear jerker. Freeman financed the high tea at the Ritz Carlton partly out of her own pocket.
The Girlfriends Club from Dale Omori on Vimeo.
I just cialis generic wanted to share this because my boyfriend recently brought it to my attention that this school was closed, this is roughly two years ago now so it's not news. Freeman was among 643 teachers who was laid off at the time. I'm not sure whether she was offered her job back. If anyone knows, please respond in the comments.
I wonder what happened to those girls and to the teacher.
Giddings was in the Kinsman neighborhood. I couldn't find much about it, other than an USA Today report saying it had some of the highest levels of air pollution of any school in the country.
-A.S.
Filed under Public Education
by rustwire | June 11, 2012 · 8:50 am
'Smartest' US Cities Have a Rusty Tint
SOURCE: contentrules.com
According to a June 6, 2012 piece by Richard Florida published by The Atlantic Cities, a recent analysis by Lumosity shows that more than half of the 25 smartest cities in the United States are situated in the Rust Belt. In order to calculate the smartest metropolitan areas, the article indicates that the following research methodology was utilized:
"…scientists at Lumosity tracked the cognitive performance of more than one million users in the United States on their games, mapping them across U.S. metros using IP geolocation software. Individual scores were recorded in five key cognitive areas: memory, processing speed, flexibility, attention, and problem solving.The data was normalized into a basic brain performance index controlling for age and gender. Only metros with more than 500 observations were included. The data cover 169 metros."
Based on the research, below is the list of America's 25 brainiest metros, according to Lumosity's metrics, with the city's ranking in parentheses:
Lafayette, Indiana (2)
Madison, Wisconsin (4)
Cedar Rapids-Waterloo-Iowa City & Dubuque, Iowa (6)
Johnstown-Altoona, Pennsylvania (8)
Champaign & Springfield-Decatur, Illinois (9)
Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota/Wisconsin (10)
Rochester, New York (13)
Lansing, Michigan (16)
Burlington-Plattsburgh, Vermont/New York (18)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (19)
Syracuse, New York (20)
La Crosse-Eau Claire, Wisconsin (23)
Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York Pennsylvania (24)
Springfield-Holyoke, Massachusetts (25)
According to Daniel Sternberg, who developed the brain performance measure,
"The result is not driven principally by college students. "Since our analysis controlled for age, the reason they score well is not simply that they have a lot of young people," said Sternberg. "Instead, our analysis seems to show that users living in university communities tend to perform better than users of the same age in other locations."
An informative map (see below) prepared by the University of Toronto's Martin Prosperity Institute depicts the results of the Lumosity study graphically. It clear shows concentrated strength throughout much of the Northeast, Great Lakes, and Midwest, with other areas scoring well along the Pacific Coast, Alaska and Hawaii, the I-35 corridor of Texas, and those larger metropolitan areas of the Rocky Mountain region.
SOURCE: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2012/06/americas-brainiest-cities/2132/
The good news that could be derived from this report is that the "brain drain" may not be quite as bad as first thought. However, this represents a snapshot over one period of time. A more reliable long-term measure will be when this data is spread out further so trends can be observed.
The results also present an excellent marketing and public relations tool for many economic development agencies in the Rust Belt. Here's is a weblink to one such press release from Greater Lansing's LEAP (Lansing Economic Area Partnership).
Congratulations to all those cities who scored well in this report. As a graduate of Purdue University in Greater Lafayette, Indiana and a resident of Greater Lansing, Michigan, I was very pleased to see the data show what I already knew about these two terrific cities of the Rust Belt.
More details about the report and the story itself are available at Atlantic Cities.
Rick Brown
Filed under Brain Drain, Economic Development, Education, Headline, Public Education, The Media, Urban Planning
Tagged as Brain Drain, cities, Education, knowledge, research
by rustwire | January 18, 2012 · 9:23 am
Midwestern Universities Wooing Chinese Students
Source: lonelyplanet.com
Michigan State University in East Lansing has been a steady leader among public universities in the United States for sending its students abroad for a portion of their academic studies. On the flipside, the university along with seven other Big Ten universities has been the lucky recipients of a growing influx of international students, particularly undergraduates from China in the past five years. According to the Open Doors 2011 report from the Institute of International Education, of the 25 universities in the United States with the largest international student population, eight are from the Big Ten (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan. Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, and Wisconsin).
China has become the primary source of new international students since 2005, as the nation's economy has boomed and its citizen's wealth has grown. Part of the reason for this influx beyond increased wealth is due to the fact that only 18 percent of students are admitted to Chinese universities. The growth from China alone has been substantial enough to warrant Michigan State to open a satellite office in Beijing, China in 2008.
For Michigan State University, the rise in the international student population is fortuitous because it's taking place at a time where the pool of potential Michigan resident students is starting to decline. As a result, the international students are filling a void and not squeezing out home state students. Below is a chart based on annual data from Michigan State's Office for International Students and Scholars which shows the meteoric growth in the Chinese student population (undergraduate and graduate) at Michigan State. The greatest proportion of the growth in recent years has been in undergraduate students, rising from just 92 in 2006 to 2,217 in 2011.
Source: MSU Office for International Students & Scholars
In the communities around Michigan State's campus, there has been a noticeable influx of new residents from China, many arriving with a great deal of disposable income. While the university requires all freshmen to live on campus, students are free to live where they choose after that first year. Based on cursory observations and reports from area property owners, the largest concentration of students from China appears to be occurring just to the northeast of campus along the Grand River Avenue (M-43) corridor. However, they are not alone, as a substantial number of relatively recent newcomers to the United States now reside in many parts of Greater Lansing from India and several other Asian nations.
Recognizing the growing and fairly concentrated Chinese student population, a number of commercial businesses along an approximate two-mile stretch of Grand River Avenue (M-43) now include Mandarin lettering in addition to English on their signs. Furthermore, some of the international students themselves are opening new businesses along this commercial corridor and in nearby areas. Automatic teller machines on campus and in the surrounding community now offer transactions in numerous languages (in some cases more than eight), including Mandarin. In an effort to reach out to the area's growing Chinese community, Meridian Township, which borders the campus, recently appointed a Michigan State University student-local resident with family ties to China to a seat on the community's Economic Development Corporation.
According to a report from the Association of International Educators, foreign students attending Michigan State University contributed nearly $185 million to the Greater Lansing economy in 2010, of which almost $90 million was spent on living expenses and dependents. Needless to say, spending like that gets noticed quickly.
Public school districts near Michigan State's campus have also benefited from the growth in the international student population, as many of these students bring their spouses and/or children with them to the United States. Since Michigan's funding formula for school districts is based on student head counts, any increase in class attendance is important to a school district's bottom line.
This author can personally attest to the substantial benefits derived from a more diverse and inclusive community. It can be observed in new friendships, more cultural and religious offerings, dining and recreational options, educational opportunities, travel options, architectural influences, and in the area's enhanced entrepreneurial spirit. Freshman year at Michigan State, my son's dormitory roommate was from South Korea. As a result, my son was afforded an amazing opportunity to befriend someone from the opposite side of the planet and learn more about his culture,while sharing the same about America.
Source: chicagochinatown.org
Will this student population boomlet from China continue into the foreseeable future? One would imagine so, barring any international disputes or incidents taking place that might sour relations. As a result, collegiate communities throughout the Rust Belt could and should be able to reap the cultural, societal, and economic benefits from Chinese and other international student population growth for some time to come. I cannot think of a better way to build friendships, improved understanding, and trust between the amazing array of societies and cultures on this planet.
— Rick Brown
Filed under architecture, Art, Economic Development, Education, Featured, Public Education
Tagged as Big Ten, China, Education, international students, MSU, universities
by Angie Schmitt | February 9, 2011 · 10:17 am
Urban Schools and the of Challenge Retaining Middle-Class Residents
When I bought a house in the city of Cleveland, one of the constant questions I faced was: "but what about the schools?"
Failing public schools are a problem in urban areas throughout Ohio and in more broadly throughout the country. And that is hindering efforts to repopulate even some of the more fashionable city neighborhoods in places like Cleveland. That was the basic premise of the thesis I just completed for my master's in urban planning.
Using original research, I explored the extent to which failing public schools undermine neighborhood stability by encouraging residential turnover among middle-class residents. I thought the readers of this blog might be interested in the results.
The Cleveland Public Schools are struggling and they have been for decades. Standardized test scores and graduation rates are inexcusably low. The district is more or less a last resort for families without options. It is highly segregated–70 percent black, 11 percent Hispanic–and terribly poor–every school in the district has a poverty rate exceeding 60 percent.
A great body of education research suggests that schools with such demographics are very unlikely to succeed. Schools that have a mix of income levels, those below 40 percent poverty, are much more likely to be effective.
My research looked at the issue of retaining middle-class Cleveland residents through the scope of education. What would it take to convince middle-class people to raise children in the city? My underlying assumption is that without middle-class buy-in, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District will never perform adequately and without adequate performance from the school district, the city will never be truly vibrant.
Here is a summary of the findings from the abstract:
Original research bore out common assumptions about the impact of poorly performing local schools on middle-class tenure in the city. A survey of 271 Near West and Downtown Cleveland residents revealed an overwhelmingly negative perception of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Prospective parents almost universally reported they do not perceive the urban school district to be a viable option for their future children. Only 9 percent reported they would remain in the city and send their children to a public school, given the opportunity. This attitude was reflected as well in the neighborhood's parents, a clear majority of which (65 percent) reported their children are enrolled in private schools.
It is easy to see how this negative perception of the public school system could hinder residential and neighborhood stability. About 72 percent of those surveyed said they either "had not reached the stage in their life for children," or had children that have not reached school age. A total of 62 percent of this population said they would move to a suburban district when the time came, or that they "weren't sure" whether they would move or stay.
A supporting real estate analysis, although limited in scope, showed that 66 percent of neighborhood residents who sold homes valued at $100,000 or more relocated to a suburban municipality.
These results have important implications for these four "emerging neighborhoods." Advocates of urban revitalization in Cleveland should be focused on helping ensure the local school system is considered a viable option among middle-class residents in order to prevent residential turnover and the resulting decline in real estate values.
The full report is available at http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi?acc_num=csu1295884532.
Also, in a coming post I will share the story of a group of city parents who have banded together to form their own charter school.
-Angie Schmitt
Filed under Headline, Public Education
by rustwire | September 30, 2010 · 1:54 pm
Race and Inequality in Youngstown, Part 1
Rust Wire contributor Sean Posey has written a response to the piece we posted earlier in the week on the city of Youngstown's continuing struggle with crime. Here is the first of two parts:
The recent high profile shooting of an elderly couple leaving church on Youngstown's south side—the second such murder of a parishioner at Saint Dominic's this year—has rocked the city. The usual calls for greater police crackdowns and the typical mystified responses from the public and the media make it clear that few people understand why exactly a cycle of crime is playing out in our inner cities. The only explanations usually given involve the same stories of the loss of manufacturing jobs and the closures of the mills in the 1970s. Almost none address the fact that Youngstown's—and indeed almost every ghetto in the Rust Belt—has largely been created by economic structural changes that have disproportionately affected African Americans and by deliberately exclusionary policies designed to reinforce segregation.
In the 1950s urban renewal projects changed the face of entire sections of the city of Youngstown. African Americans found themselves time and again in front of the wrecking ball as highways and industrial parks bisected or obliterated their neighborhoods. Those displaced persons often found themselves shunted into public projects or into older neighborhoods where they could not get home loans—or if they could find an older home to buy, they could not get home improvement loans. Forcefully centralizing low income populations increased blight and started the process of economic and racial segregation. The term for this is concentrated poverty and it is a key issue in inner city areas. It is almost always connected to racial segregation and its definition is a given census tract where forty percent of the population is below the poverty line.
During the 1960s, 27,000 people, nearly all of them white, left the city of Youngstown. At the same time the use of "redlining" and other tactics in the mortgage industry and among neighborhood groups made sure African Americans were kept out of the suburbs and other white neighborhoods. By the year 2000 the city of Youngstown was almost half African American while the African Americans in neighboring Boardman Township made up only about two percent of the population.
Will someone take some more pictures of Youngstown? We're running out of photos to run.
When light-manufacturing jobs began to replace heavy manufacturing, it was outer ring and suburban areas where industrial parks and machine shops often located—beyond the reach of inner city African Americans and outside of the informal job system where word of mouth and connections can get you a job. Additionally, in the ever-important trade and apprenticeship programs discrimination proved rampant. As heavy manufacturing employment nosedived—8,000 steel jobs alone disappeared in the 50s and 60s—low skilled African Americans were hit the hardest. Between 1970 and 1990 the black male labor participation rate dropped from seventy one percent to thirty two percent.
Schools too quickly segregated by race. As early as the 1960s schools on the city's south side—especially the troubled Oak Hill neighborhood—were predominately African American and predominantly low income. By 1990, minority enrollment represented sixty five percent of Youngstown city schools student body, while in the suburbs of Austintown, Boardman, and Canfield, minority enrollment accounted for less than five percent of the overall student body.
In part two I will discuss what effects decades of disinvestment, segregation, and economic collapse have had on Youngstown's inner city neighborhoods and how that relates to street crime.
Filed under Crime, Headline, Public Education, Race Relations, Real Estate
Tagged as Austintown, Boardman, Canfield, Racial Segregation, Youngstown
by Angie Schmitt | April 23, 2010 · 11:26 am
Young, Broke and 'On Your Own' in Ohio
The Akron Beacon Journal is carrying an interesting editorial about the economic status of young people in the Buckeye State.
In the article, Amy Hanauer, executive director of the liberal, Cleveland-based think tank Policy Matters Ohio, argues that high college costs, declining middle-class wages and increasing basic costs are disproportionally squeezing Ohio's young people.
"Skyrocketing costs make it difficult for students to complete their degrees, employment has become less stable, earnings have declined steeply for workers without a four-year college degree, and young adults are increasingly saddled with debt," she writes, with co-author Nancy Cauthen.
Who's to blame for young Ohioians' declining fortunes? According to Hanauer the culprit is loss of manufacturing jobs and an "unraveling of the social contract."
"All the hallmarks of a middle-class life — a college degree, a home, family security — are more expensive. Two-thirds of four-year college students in Ohio graduate with student loan debt averaging $24,000. Ohio renters ages 25 to 34 spend a third of their incomes on housing. The average annual price of full-time center-based child care for two preschool-age children in Ohio is nearly $17,000."
The country is moving in the right direction, however, with the health care bill, which included a clause that eliminates subsidies to banks that were part of the federally guaranteed student loan program, Hanauer writes. That money–$36 billion–will be reinvested in need-based financial aid for low-income students.
Filed under Headline, Labor, Public Education, The Big Urban Photography Project
Tagged as Ohio, Policy Matters Ohio, The Health Care Bill


Every casino which offers bonus money be it a normal matching bonus (ie you deposit $100 and they give you a matching bonus of $100) or a no deposit bonus (free money with no deposit needed) has it's own terms and conditions concerning the bonus money. You must read and understand these conditions before depositing money. Almost all casinos use a wagering requirement on the bonus money. Wagering requirements vary from each casino and is usually somewhere between 8 to 20 times the amount of the bonus and/or the deposit.
Some casinos limit which games you can play to meet the wagering requirement. For example some casino won't allow play at the craps table to count toward meeting the bonus conditions. In terms of using this system you will be playing blackjack to meet the wager requirements. Again you should always check the terms and condition to make sure play at blackjack is allowed to meet the requirements. My Top Ten List and the All Casinos List make it easy to find playable casinos. The list tells you if blackjack is allowed and also what the wagering requirement is amoung other important facts.
One other type of bonus I should mention is what's known as a 'sticky bonus'. Sticky bonus money can never be cashed-out even after meeting the wagering requirements. You can still win playing with a sticky bonus but you will have to modify your strategy. Here's an example of how a sticky bonus works. You deposit $100 and the casino gives you a $200 bonus therefore you have a starting balance of $300 in your casino account. Lets assume after meeting the wagering requirement you have $500 in your account. If you cash-out the $500 the bonus money will be deducted from this amount so you will get $300. Remember, the bonus money at casinos who use sticky bonuses can never be cashed-out but you can withdraw the winnings you made with the bonus money. The catch is if you try to cash-out when your account is less than the amount of the sticky bonus you will loss your deposited money. I suggest playing the normal bonus casinos first before playing the sticky bonuses because the strategy to beat the sticky bonus casinos is based on the basics of the strategy you're reading now. This is why you should first learn to play this system then you can move on to my Sticky Bonus Strategy.
Ok this is where the fun starts. Remember I said this system is based on mathematical facts so I consider this more of an investment system rather than a gambling system. You'll actually have the odds in your favor to win money so you have a positive expected return on your money with this system whereas in a true gambling system you would have a long term negative expected return.
The reason is you will only play one casino game and that game is Blackjack. Why? Remember your goal is to meet the wagering requirements and cash-out the bonus money for a profit. The casino or house has an advantage in all games even blackjack. The key here is the advantage they have at blackjack is small and in most cases this advantage isn't enough to make you lose the bonus money before meeting the wagering requirements if you follow my simple system. Now if you really want to 'gamble' you could play keno which gives the casino about a 25% edge which means you can expect to lose $25 for every $100 in bets you make. Not very good and you would never meet any wagering requirements playing such a game without a great deal of luck.
Online blackjack has a house edge from 0.10% to 0.52%. What this means is for example you deposit $100 and get a $100 match bonus with a 10x wagering requirement you would have to make $1,000 in wagers (bets) before you could cash-out the bonus ($100 x 10 =$1000). Making $1,000 in wagers is not as hard and doesn't take as long as you might think since all your bets count win or lose. You have to consider the speed of online gambling, i.e no dealers, no cards to shuffle, and your double downs, splits etc. all help meet the wagering requirements in a decent amount of time. Now back to my example lets assume the casino has a house edge of .40% if you use the Strategy Cards found on All Casino Freebies and make small bets your profit should be as follows: $100 deposit + $100 bonus money = $200 total starting money. Your wagering requirement is $1000. Therefore $1000 x 0.40% house edge equals an expected total loss of $4.00. You should have $196 left in your account after meeting the wagering requirement for a total profit of $96! Realizing of course it's not always this cut and dry you could be up or down a little more or less but if you use correct basic strategy you shouldn't vary far from the expected profit.
Since the best bonus offers are for your initial deposit to the casino I suggest you try to get the maximum bonus amount you can afford so you don't waste any of the bonus offers. For example if a casino offers a 100% matching bonus up-to $200 then you would be wasting $100 of the bonus money if you only deposit $100. So always try to get the most out of each bonus. Just play the one you can afford and as your winnings add up you can move on to the bigger bonuses.
One more topic before you learn the step by step strategy. You'll need a dependable way to deposit and cash-out your money. Some credit cards won't allow you to transfer money to online gambling sites. I suggest using an online account such as Neteller and/or Firepay to speed up the deposit and withdrawal process. Most online casinos also offer extra bonus money for deposit made via these type of methods.
Step One:Read And Understand The Terms And Conditions Of The Bonus Offer. Not all bonus offers are the same. As mentioned about some bonus offers are called 'sticky' bonuses and the bonus money can never be cashed-out. Normal bonus money can be cashed-out after meeting the wagering requirements. Always read the terms and condition found on the casino site to determine what type of bonus they offer. I have attempted to make this easy with the various casino list on my site including my personal Top Ten List .
Step Two: Use The Strategy Cards And Play Each Hand Exactly As The Cards Suggest. Basic blackjack strategy was developed using computer simulation of millions of blackjack hands to give the player the best odds for winning any given hand. Basic strategy has been proven over and over again and you should never vary from it if you use this system. Basic strategy is the key to keeping the house odds low and allowing you to win the bonus money by giving you the odds to play near even with the house. Average gamblers who don't use basic strategy raise the casinos blackjack edge to between 5% - 10% simply because they make mistakes in using the correct basic strategy. The Strategy Cards Page has printable strategy cards for all online casinos. Just use my casino list and match the casino to the correct strategy by the type of software they use. Again it's all listed on my All Casinos List and/or my Top Ten Casinos page.
Step Three: Make Small Wagers Until You Meet The Wagering Requirements. This is very important because you don't want to risk going broke before you meet the requirements. Most casinos offer $1 or $2 minimum bets. My total account bankroll for the casino determines my betting unit. For example if I deposit $100 and get a $100 bonus I have $200 in the account and I will bet $2 - $3 per hand until I meet the wagering requirements. This will help you get through any hot streaks by the dealer because you won't be losing any substantial amount of your bankroll. Don't vary your bet's by raising your betting amount this brings in more risk and will cost you in the long run. By making small bets and playing the correct basic strategy you will be able to play near even with the house until you meet the wagering requirement.
Step Four: Keep Track Of Your Wagers. Once you have made your deposit and get the bonus money you need to figure out exactly how much the wagering requirement is. For example if it's 10x or $1,000 then you will need to know when you have met these requirements so you can cash-out. You can use any method you find best. I currently use the ol' pen and paper method. After each hand I note how much I bet and keep a running count throughout the process. Some people use hand clickers or number counters you can pick up at Wal-Mart for $5 bucks or so. All bets, win or lose including double downs and splits count toward meeting the WR. It's a good idea to play a little past the wagering requirement so you won't be labeled an advantage player. Most online casinos will continue to send you bonus offers via email so you want to keep your tatics a secret from the casino. Advantage players are people who use systems to beat the casino. So hopefully you'll be an advantage player but the casino's won't know! You'll still get paid your winnings but the casino won't offer you anymore bonuses if they think you can beat them.
Step Five: Cash-out Your Winnings! It doesn't matter how good the system is if you don't take your profits and move on to another casino. Never lose sight of your goal which is to win the bonus the money. Once you have accomplished this you should take a profit out. I'm not going to tell you how to manage your money but I suggest you withdrawal your deposit and atleast half the bonus money. You can continue to play with the rest if you wish. Personally I always like to cash-out my deposit amount + bonus amount and play with what's left to try and win more. If there is nothing left I simply cash it all out and move on. This is just my method you may discover a better money management method. Note if you cash-out before meeting the wager requirements most casino consider you first losses as you own money and not the bonus money therefore if you deposit $100 and get $100 bonus then lose a few hands and your account balance shows $175 and you cash-out you will be credited with $75 not the $100 you deposited because you have lost $25. Of course if you cash-out $175 after meeting the wagering requirements you will get the full $175!
There a few Risk Free casino's such as Intercasino which will let you withdraw your deposit amount even if you lose the bonus money so if you have a $100 deposit + $100 bonus for $200 and you decide to cash-out when you have $150 in your account before meeting the wagering requirement you can cash-out your original $100 but not the $50 remaining bonus money. Intercasino is one of the few online casinos which offers a matching bonus every month not just for your initial deposit. The unfinished wagering requirement will carry over to your next months bonus which means for the Intercasino monthly bonus you will have a higher wagering requirement the next month. (ie, your WR will be your current month + what's you had left to complete for the previous month) A great place to play risk free.
1. Read and Understand The Bonus Terms and Conditions From The Casino Site.
2. Only Play Blackjack and Use The Basic Strategy Cards to keep the odds of winning in your favor.
3. Make Small Wagers until you meet the wagering requirement to cash-out the bonus money.
4. Keep Track Of Your Bets so you'll know when you meet the wagering requirement. I suggest playing a little past the wagering requirement so you won't be labled and advantage player and will continue to get more bonus offers.
5. Take Your Profits. This is the goal, you should lock-in your wins and withdrawl some of the money then move on to another casino to take advantage of more bonus money.
I have created my Top Ten Casinos List to help you find the best casinos to beat using this system. I have personally played all these casinos and myself along with other members of this site have had tremendous success against the Top Ten Casinos. I strongly recommend all the casinos on the Top Ten.
I have also prepared a couple of special pages to help you with the system. The Step by Step page will guide you through the process of playing your first few casinos. I give you three different casinos to choose from and walk you through the simple process of playing each. All three of these casinos are also on my Top Ten List.
The next special page is the Strategy Cards page. This page contains all the basic strategy cards you'll ever need to improve your odds against online casinos. You'll also find the most used strategy card on the Top Ten page. To use the strategy cards just match the casino you which to play with the correct strategy card. My Top Ten page has a strategy card included for all the casinos in the top ten.
I suggest starting with my Top Ten Casinos then moving on to my All Bonus Casinos link to find other bonus offers to take advantage of with my system. I try to give as much information as possible for all the casinos listed on my site such as; max bonus offers, wagering requirements, software provider and let you know if blackjack is allowed to meet the requirements to cash-out the bonus money.
Final Note: You should now have enough information to start using and profiting from my system. I know this system works as it has been very profitable for me and others over the past few years. I'm sure if you try it you will agree with how well this works against the online casinos. I'm confident you'll also find this site a valuable resource in your online gaming experience.
It takes a lot of work and a fair amount of money to operate this site so again I ask if you find this information useful please use my links to visit the casinos you decide to beat. Also join my free players forum, this is a new feature just added so currently you won't find a lot of information there but I have developed a loyal following so I'm sure in the very near future the forum will be a valuable resource for all of us in our quest to crush the online casinos.
Please bookmark now and don't forget to tell your friends about All Casino Freebies.com. Thanks for you support and enjoy the money you make with this system.


Well, someone had to go and keep an eye on him!!
Thanks for putting in the time and effort, sorry to hear that you thought the result was something of an anti-climax.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained Russ...and as Carl has already stated, we could have had a few people sign up/re-subscribe, so yes, I think the SOTCW has a future. We might be down, but we aren't out!!
If there's anything we can do to help with that let me know. We can put flyers on the front desk at the very least but if there's some way of allowing subscriptions at the event we can help with that?
The one thing I have forgotten to say, or is it two?
1, Great show if you have not been do so.
2. Thank you to leon and co for inviting us - Lotta good work gone into this show.
No worries, you're more than welcome!
I think it's got to be worth a go...!
Where do you get them Grant!!
I shall get you a belly dancer outfit "next time" I am in Turkey and you can be the side show to Sotcw Lawrence of Arabia game at Battleground2019 !!
Eeeeermmmmmmmmmmm, no, it won't work!!


Adam R. Cohn, branch supervisor of Requirement Home mortgage NC. of Woodfin, likewise explained that this program is valuable most specifically for lower income gaining candidates. "The charm of the program is that homebuyers could use that earnings to get approved for a financing, that assists customers get a higher mortgage," Cohn included.
Turn your checklist for selling a house Woodfin into a high performing machine.
Investor Buying Property Clubs/Woodfin Hills http://www.investing-in-real-estate-clubs.com Call: Marsha Haywood, Club Supervisor [email protected] Telephone: (323) 256-8834 When: 4th Wednesday of monthly, 6:30 pm dinner, 7:30 pm audio speakers Where: See web site, Woodfin Hills.
What To Deal On A Residence The huge decrease Who 'd be a vendor today? It's the supreme humiliation. In one well-off London square, a residence priced at 3.25 million YEAR ago had sunk to 2.65 million by September, as well as still showed no indication of budging - until the estate representative suggested a rate slash.
To get a poor credit rating individual car loan, normally you will need to offer info on any type of cost savings you have. On top of that, you will have to offer details on your automobile as well as mortgage, if relevant. Depending upon your credit score, the financial institution may just consider you for a protected personal lending at least at first.
Be certain to do so just after speaking with an attorney that is experienced in real estate matters if you want to withdraw your deal. You don't intend to lose your down payment deposit or get demanded problems the seller could have endured by relying upon your activities.
Buy A Confiscated Home In Woodfin NC ForeclosureInfoCA.org: A project of the general public Rate Of Interest Clearinghouse and also the State Bar of North Carolina, this website can direct you to lawful support, guidance on staying clear of foreclosure, and info on getting a home.
A house inspection backup is additionally referred to as a due persistance contingency. The objective of a house examination backup is to give the purchaser a right to have the house checked within a particular amount of time. This helps to gives and secure the customer them the alternative to cancel the agreement or re-negotiate to have the vendor complete fixings based on the searchings for of the residence evaluation. Adding contingencies into a home sales agreement will have no effect on the expense of the residence evaluation.
Phase 13 bankruptcy focuses on repayment of debt. Consumers recommend a repayment strategy thats usually completed in three to 5 years. Youll normally require a stable income and a desire making up missed out on repayments on points like a home mortgage or vehicle loan.
Springs Real Estate Investors Network (SREIN) http://www.srein.com Contact: Carla Starkie Telephone: (719) 638-6651 When: 1st Saturday of each month, 9:30 am Where: Protection Title, 1277 Kelly Johnson Blvd., Woodfin.
Getting A Mortgage With A Guarantor As you could see, having a below 500 credit history and only $500 down does not have to make the auto funding process hard. As a matter of fact, we have actually made the procedure as simple and also fast as possible. Most importantly, it's complimentary.
Generally requested documents include recent bank declarations, tax returns and also W-2 forms for the last two years, pay stubs, as well as various other finance-related documentation. Independent customers might have to supply added documents, such as a profit-and-loss (P&L) statement.
Obtaining A NC Finance After Insolvency Or Foreclosure Lending institution are one more prospective resource for safeguarded and unprotected lendings. Among the key advantages of credit unions is they typically offer much better rates of interest compared to typical banks. To make an application for a financing, youll very first should sign up with the cooperative credit union. Because each cooperative credit union has various needs for subscription, criteria and also terms will vary.
Some states need that the customer and vendor both literally attend the closing. At closing, also occasionally referred to as a settlement, the purchaser (or lender) will give funds for the acquisition rate, the seller will certainly sign the action over to the purchaser, the action will be signed up to ensure that the purchaser appears as the record proprietor, and earnings of the sale will certainly be distributed to the vendor.
Many loan providers supplying standard home mortgage will certainly likewise provide residence equity finances. The credit score requirements for a home equity financing will vary by lender, with the minimum rating variety being similar to that for a conventional mortgage.
When creating a wish list, prioritize your list. Initially, produce a category of non-negotiables - these are attributes that the home should have in order for you to also consider buying the home. After that, develop one more classification with attributes you choose, yet are not deal Woodfinkers. Proceed with this process up until you have a want list of the functions you want.
If you are a active or retired member of the U.S. military, you could get a loan through the Division of Veterans Affairs (VA). Just like an FHA lending, a NC lending is in fact made via an exclusive lending institution, however the lending is guaranteed by the NC, decreasing the lenders threat.


text:
Home » The Reality of Being Lovers
Miriam, a 35-year-old professional IT manager, leads a life consumed by books. When she's not working, she's reading. She has a handful of friends and a questionable social life. Though attractive and well-kept, Miriam chooses to hide herself from men and has led a life of celibacy since her first and only lover ditched her after a two-year romance in college. Then one day, she discovers an obscure book by an obscure author in a used book shop. The book is called The Reality of Being Lovers and its main character Josh is "a man who gets what he wants and sometimes more than he bargains for," according to the book jacket description.
Josh is a sexual powerhouse who has his way with women. Josh is also a lonely man looking for real love, eternal love—a love he cannot find in his book character—a man whose true character is revealed only to Miriam after she begins to read it.
Miriam soon realizes that her life is changing. Something strange, something good is happening to her and she looks to the book and Josh for the answer to why.
The Reality of Being Lovers is an erotic love story for book lovers. It's a book for people who believe in the magic of books and the magic of love. It breaks down the barrier between reader and book character. It's a love story between Miriam and Josh. It's a book that will let you dream.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: CustomPainter causes shake effect while scrolling with SingleChildScrollView Hi I'm playing with CustomPainter and trying to place bubbles at random positions and radius with a horizontal scroll. Using SingleChildScrollView causes a shaking effect bug. any idea how this can be avoided?
Video link here to understand what that shaking effect bug is
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'dart:ui' as ui;

import 'package:flutter/services.dart';

class Bubble extends StatefulWidget {
  final List<String> items;
  Bubble({Key key, this.items = const []}) : super(key: key);

  @override
  _BubbleState createState() => _BubbleState();
}

class _BubbleState extends State<Bubble> {
  double width, height;
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    height = MediaQuery.of(context).size.height;
    width = MediaQuery.of(context).size.width / 2;
    debugPrint("got with $width, $height");
    return SingleChildScrollView(
      physics: ScrollPhysics(),
      scrollDirection: Axis.horizontal,
      child: CustomPaint(
        size: Size((100 * widget.items.length * 1.3).toDouble(), height),
        painter:
            CirclePainter(height: height, width: width, items: widget.items),
      ),
    );
  }
}

class CirclePainter extends CustomPainter {
  final double height, width;
  final List<String> items;
  final ui.Image image;
  CirclePainter({this.height, this.width, this.items, this.image});
  @override
  void paint(Canvas canvas, Size size) {
    var paint = Paint()
      ..color = Colors.pinkAccent
      ..strokeWidth = 5
      ..style = PaintingStyle.fill
      ..strokeCap = StrokeCap.round;

    double startX = 120;
    double startY = 150 * 1.5;
    double originalStartY = 150 * 1.5;
    double originalStartX = 120;
    double midCircleYOffset = 70;
    double evenCircleYOffset = 20;
    double oddCircleYOffset = 20;
    double startRadius = 75;
    List<double> possibleSmallRadius = [85, 90];
    List<double> possibleBigRadius = [100, 110];

    items.asMap().forEach((index, value) {
      canvas.drawCircle(Offset(startX, startY), startRadius, paint);
      int nextHumanIndex = index + 2;
      int currentHumanIndex = index + 1;
      if (((nextHumanIndex) % 3 == 0)) {
        startX = startX + (startRadius * 2) + 20;
        startY = originalStartY + midCircleYOffset;
        startRadius = (possibleSmallRadius
              ..toList()
              ..shuffle())
            .first;
      } else {
        startY = startY + (startRadius * 2) + 20;
        startRadius = (possibleSmallRadius
              ..toList()
              ..shuffle())
            .first;
        if (currentHumanIndex % 3 == 0) {
          startRadius = (possibleSmallRadius
                ..toList()
                ..shuffle())
              .first;

          startX = startX + (startRadius * 2) + 20;
          startY = originalStartY;
        }
      }

      if (nextHumanIndex.isEven) {
        startY = startY + evenCircleYOffset;
      }
    });
  }

  @override
  bool shouldRepaint(CustomPainter oldDelegate) {
    // TODO: implement shouldRepaint
    return false;
  }
}

is this something to do with scroll physics?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


After 20 years on the catwalk, Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen said this week she's hanging up her Louboutins. She took her final stroll on the planks during Sao Paulo Fashion Week, flashing her sunrise smile and shedding a few tears.
As she leaves runway modeling, she'll cry all the way to the bank, of course. At age 34, Bundchen may be worth close to $500 million. Last year Forbes ranked her the world's 56th most powerful celebrity and the highest-paid supermodel.


Monday night my oldest daughter, Ragan had a soccer game. Now usually this would be a family affair, unless of course I was at home in bed with a migraine. Then my wife would faithfully haul all three kids out to the park for the event herself. Well she had some prior engagements so the duty fell upon my shoulders this time and I willingly accepted.
I work from home and some days for one reason or another it's just hard to get anything accomplished. Monday seemed to be one of those days. Not only was it one of those days, but two of my employers were asking for deliverables on that morning so by the time Monday evening rolled around I was not in the most patient of moods. My daughter was in her usual… shall I say… "chatty" mode. I think God designed her with a particle accelerator about 2 inches behind her lips. She was asked to get a Gatorade (Public, NYSE: PEP) from the pantry for the game. Of course the drink was not cold, which she pointed out so it was suggested that I put some from the refrigerator that I had premixed into a container for her. I found a suitable thermos, but she wanted to use the large plastic mug that I had pulled out while searching. I was trying to patient so I figured, why not (foreshadowing).
This game was not at the usual location, which is 10 minutes from where we live. It is half an hour (without traffic) on the other side of town. I've never been there so I call the coach who also happens to be very close friends with us and secure directions to my destination. So I'm on the way to the game with all three kids, a seven year old girl, a four year old boy and a 10 month old itty bitty whittle girl (who also has Daddy wrapped around her whittle finger). The interstate is the best route initially as there are no turns for a while, which is good because as it happens there is no place to put the mug full of Gatorade which we've brought along for the ride. I've got it on the floor of the minivan right beside me with my hand rested on top of it to steady it. The kids are great. They are laughing and not fighting or bickering. The baby is playing with a toy and looking out the window. This isn't so bad.
We get off the interstate and start towards the soccer field which is in the not so nice part of our town. This is also rush hour so traffic is terrible. Ok, still not too bad. I left 45 minutes before the game starts. That's 30 minutes travel time to be there in time for the 15 minute pre-game warm-up. We should be fine. Suddenly I'm startled by a strange sound. What's that dinging noise. There it is again. I still haven't figured out my wife's new minivan so during the next halt in traffic movement I survey the dashboard to see what is the matter. Hmmmm. No gas. I mean none. Zilch. Nada. Great.
The first few gas stations I drive past look really run down; especially scary. Furthermore I don't see any pay at the pump signs, so I continue on and hope that the fumes in the tank will somehow propel us further. We do make it to a BP (Public, NYSE: BP) at the next traffic light and I pull in. I step out and start filling the tank as quickly as possible. Of course Avery (the baby) starts crying even though I'm right on the other side of the glass from her making as many funny and ridiculous faces as I can. I finish up, put the gas cap back on and answer "Yes" to the pumps question, "Would you like a receipt?" But guess what. No receipt. Of course. Isn't that always the case. I just pray that there's a pen in the minivan. After searching the glove compartment and the diaper bag I find a pen and scribble the pertinent facts about the transaction (I maintain our money records if you couldn't have guessed) and jump back in the driver's seat. I'm so aggravated. The baby is crying now. The kids are now asking me a zillion questions about when we are going to get there and what are we going to eat for dinner and blah blah blah. "Are you guys buckled up!?… Good." I zip around the gas station and pull back out onto the main highway to get back on track to our destination. My right hand gravitates back down to where it previously rested atop the drink and… umm… awe man! I look down and the mug is not upright. Noooo! It's lying flat on the floor. I quickly pick it up in the futile hopes that it somehow just happened, but of course it didn't and the mug is a LOT lighter than it previously was. Well, no sense crying over spilled… Gatorade.
In rush hour traffic there are a lot more cars on the road. Duh. You need a lot more forewarning about things ahead. If you have a two-lane highway that empties into a one-lane road it'd be nice to know that ahead of time. Also if you happen to be in the lane that's the "must turn right" lane it'd be nice to know about that two blocks ahead. But of course I've never been to this particular field so I didn't realize this. I had to try and beg people to let me into the extremely long line of cars full of people that did know this. I know they were all thinking, "Why didn't you get in line waaaay back there like the rest of us, you jerk!" Because, sir, I'm a jerk and well… I didn't know." Anyway, a nice Asian person let me in and we were finally almost there. All I had to do was find 57th Ave. Ok, there's 52nd Ave. Almost there. There's 58th Ave. Huh? There's 60th Ave. Obviously I've missed it. I turned off on 61st Ave and turn around in some persons driveway. I head back and find a road that I suspect may be 57th Avenue. It is. Only someone has knocked down the street sign. Nice. Just about a half mile down the unmarked road and we are at the Y.M.C.A.
I get the kids out of the minivan and get the stroller out of the back and get the diaper bag, all the while the baby is screaming to be let out. I get the now empty mug and put it in the back of the minivan to my daughter's dismay and inform her that, yes, Daddy spilled the drink and we don't have anything to replace it with. I go around and unbuckle the baby and lift her out of the car seat and… woe-nelly! What's that smell?! Great, a poopy diaper. With the baby securely fastened into the stroller and the older kids holding onto the sides we make our way onto the field. We are still about five minutes before the game, so not too bad. Ragan runs ahead to warm up with her teammates and Gavin takes off behind her. I make it to the sidelines where the other moms are sitting and where Gavin has made his way to greet his teacher, who's daughter plays on Ragan's team. I ask Gavin's teacher to watch out for him so I can change the baby's diaper.
She kindly obliges and I head off with baby in one arm, diaper and wipes in the other hand. I get to the building with the restrooms and walk inside the mens room. Of course I knew better, but I figured I'd check it out just for giggles. Yuck. To the minivan! My little princess and I make the trek to the minivan and I get the nice automated sliding side door open and lay her on the floor. I get the new diaper open and ready for a quick swap-in. Then I open the pack of wipes to be ready for the cleanup. Nice. I've got one crinkled up, slightly moist wipe. This should get really interesting. I open up "the package" to survey the damage and Thank You Jesus it wasn't a nuclear disaster. It was mostly solid and well formed with a slightly piquant odor, for you dookie connoisseurs. I made the most of it with my rations. I was using the edges of the soiled diaper that weren't so soiled. I've never been so creative in soiled diaper cleaning in all my life. Anyway, as any good dad would do I got the job done and got back to the game, depositing the battle debris in a dumpster along the way.
I don't really recall much of the game as I didn't get to watch that much of it. My time was spent watching my son kick a soccer ball around the sidelines and keeping my daughter from getting completely filthy while chasing him around. Yes, she is walking at 10 months old. 🙂 At the end of each quarter I felt the failure of fatherhood as I watched the sweat drip down Ragan's forehead. She smiled up at me and listened attentively to her coach, not complaining that we didn't have anything for her to drink. I can't express how bad that hurt me.


When I planned our blogging schedule last year, I knew I had several categories for Wednesdays - What to Wear, Wall Art, and Wild Horses. Apparently we've made it almost half way through the year with no wild horses? How did that happen?!
So here you go. Our first Wild Horse post on this blog (we did have some on the old blog which is now gone). This beauty was the cover of last year's Currituck Chamber of Commerce Annual Guide.
If you would like to help the wild horses of Corolla, you can find more information through The Corolla Wild Horse Fund.


We evaluate you by marking your coursework and exams. In turn, you evaluate us. In each of the Autumn and Spring terms all students taking a module based in the Department of Economics are asked to fill in an online evaluation questionnaire. This gives you the opportunity to express your views on various aspects of the module. Feedback is most useful when it is provided in a considered and thoughtful way, and when you are able to be decisive rather than relying too much on the 'Neither Agree nor Disagree' option.
We really value the feedback we receive from you, and are often able to make improvements to our provision after hearing your thoughts and suggestions. Individual module lecturers and class tutors are able to view their individual ratings and the comments you have made about their teaching, and are asked to provide a response, which we will publish on each module web page. Departmental management reviews the ratings and the comments made for all modules and publishes a summary of module evaluation results, which you can view here. You are also able to see the ratings given by students for each module you have taken in the form of the charts below.


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This page was last modified 11:27, 22 April 2014.


text:
ArchiveOODA Original
National Cognitive Infrastructure Protection: What Can We Learn from the Swedish Psychological Defence Authority?
Daniel Pereira 2022-01-04
In 2019, in what now reads like a strikingly prescient premonition, OODA CTO Bob Gourley penned a two-part series on the neglect of our national Cognitive Infrastructure:
America's Most Critical Infrastructure is also Our Most Neglected Infrastructure
Mitigating Risks to America's Cognitive Infrastructure
In the series, Bob discussed the efforts by the U.S. government in the 1990s to create a framework for "Critical Infrastructure Protection" when talking about manufacturing, dams, the energy sector, nuclear reactors, the materials and waste sector, and transportation systems. In 2007, all these critical infrastructure protection efforts were encapsulated in the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD), which in 2018 became the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). And much of this "Critical Infrastructure" framing and language is still a central part of the policy lexicon today. Most recently, the policy framework was used by the current administration when extending critical infrastructure protections through cybersecurity and industrial control systems initiatives in July and October of last year.
What is the Cognitive Infrastructure? (from Part I in the aforementioned series)
The nation's cognitive infrastructure includes the mental capacities of our citizens and the decision-making ability of people, organizations, and our government. It also includes the information channels used to feed our decision-making capabilities and the education and training systems used to prepare people and organizations for critical thinking.
OODA Loop provides actionable intelligence, analysis, and insight on global security, technology, and business issues. Our members are global leaders, technologists, and intelligence and security professionals looking to inform their decision making process to understand and navigate global risks and opportunities.
You can chose to be an OODA Loop Subscriber or an OODA Network Member. Subscribers get access to all site content, while Members get all site content plus additional Member benefits such as participation in our Monthly meetings, exclusive OODA Unlocked Discounts, discounted training and conference attendance, job opportunities, our Weekly Research Report, and other great benefits. Join Here.
Our cognitive infrastructure is threatened in ways few of us ever imagined just a few years ago. Old-style propaganda has been modernized and is now being aided by advanced technologies and new information dissemination methods.
New technologies used by our adversaries to attack our cognitive infrastructure include
Internet-based communications technologies that enable anonymous action from a distance.
Machine learning algorithms that can extract information from massive quantities of data. These algorithms can be used for a variety of purposes including learning previously unknowable things about people, their behaviors, and deepest desires, all of which can aid adversaries seeking to manipulate cognition.
An Internet that is optimized to deliver information through ads to tailorable audiences across multiple devices and track who sees what.
Artificial Intelligence can help create the right message to influence an audience, and then quickly re-tailor messages on the fly to improve desired outcomes.
Tools that can manipulate images, audio, and sound to create deceptive messages, including creating entire events that never occurred. These tools are now so easy to use that amateurs are "face-swapping" faces into videos of their choosing just for fun. These tools are being weaponized across video, text, and audio.
Tools that can take entire sources of information offline through denial-of-service attacks.
Fragile security systems can be penetrated remotely to enable the planting of information or extraction of data for malicious use.
Adversaries seeking to exploit our cognitive infrastructure are also aided by the many new information channels that reach our citizens and organizations. They include all the old media plus:
Email, voice, and video that connects everyone everywhere.
Social media, including Facebook and Twitter, and LinkedIn, which enables anyone to create and disseminate and consume any content.
New genres of information include podcasts, blogs, streaming video (YouTube), on-demand entertainment (Netflix, AppleTV, Apple Music, Amazon video), on-demand books (Kindle and ebooks).
Many video games can serve as communications media, including immersive video games using virtual reality and augmented reality.
Government and corporate information systems which enable instant broadcasting of messages to individuals. These are controlled by people who can be tricked into transmitting the wrong information or can simply screw up (reducing credibility while doing so).
Cable and broadcast TV is in just about every house and can even reach people on their mobile devices.
This all means that today, 330 million Americans are being bombarded with information that can be not just wrong, and not just deceptive, but malicious in ways we are not prepared to defend against.
What is the potential impact of the threat to our cognitive infrastructure? Imagine a world where:
Groups of people can be manipulated and driven to violence
The credibility of any fact can not only be challenged but deceptively refuted in ways many will believe
No source is considered authoritative. No expert or researcher or academic or a business leader or judge or jury will have the credibility to provide the final answer on any subject
Technologies that distort reality will continue to evolve faster than our ability to detect distorted reality. People will find it harder and harder to tell what is real
Any individual anywhere in the globe can make it seem like an event has happened, even if it did not
Organizations created to gain knowledge, including government agencies, think tanks, and academic organizations, are fed false information that increases error rates, and even when they are acting on good information have their credibility attacked
Reality apathy sets in. The false world of fake stories that sound good and immersive entertainment will be so much more attractive to people, with growing
Elections become moot because the only politicians that can win are those that are masters of deception.
Our cognitive infrastructure deserves to be treated with the same respect afforded our other critical infrastructures. Just like the other sectors, this is not something that free societies place the government in charge of fixing. But we do, and should, determine the role of government in helping to fix these challenges.
The Swedish Psychological Defence Authority
The U.S-based efforts which most closely resemble the working definition of Cognitive Infrastructure Protection offered by Bob back in 2019 include the short-lived CISA website Rumor Control (to address disinformation associated with the 2020 United States presidential election) and the analysis and recommendations made by the recent Aspen Institute Commission on Information Disorder Final Report. To date, the problem continues to dwarf any viable holistic solutions and appropriate governmental responses of any scale.
It took from 2007 to 2018 for cybersecurity to get top billing in the creation of CISA. Is it time for the establishment of an independent National Cognitive Infrastructure Directorate?
Back in 2020, The Swedish government concluded it was time for just such a governmental entity. In May of 2021, Sweden committed to a new authority to develop and coordinate psychological defence, including "the establishment of a National Centre for Psychological Defence within the new authority whose main task will be to develop, coordinate and strengthen the national ability to identify, analyze and face undue information influence." In October 2021, the Swedish Government "appointed a Director General of the Swedish Psychological Defence Agency, Henrik Landerholm. The agency will have a complex operation with contacts with both the military defence and civilian authorities." The report which called for the establishment of the new agency also contained "a proposal that the authority should be an information-entitled total defence authority and thus be able to target signals intelligence."
Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist placed the new agency in the context of what has been called the Hultqvist Doctrine, which resists full membership in NATO, increases defense spending, and closer alliances with the U.S., NATO, and Finland:
"The Swedish government will continue our two-track policy: to strengthen our national defense posture over the coming years and to deepen our international defense cooperation. The good news is that the new policy comes with increased resources…Defense intelligence capabilities are to be further enhanced along with cyber defense. The latter will include the ability to conduct defensive and offensive operations in the cyber domain…An important task in the upcoming years is to reestablish our "Total Defence." The resilience in critical functions needs to be enhanced to enable society to operate under severe crisis or wartime conditions. Civil and military defense needs to be developed in a coordinated fashion. The deterioration of the security situation — due in part to the use of hybrid activities — is a fact. Just recently, the Swedish government decided to establish a new cybersecurity center, and a government agency for psychological defense will be established in 2022." (1)
The Psychological Defence Authority has a uniquely Swedish historical pedigree: it is a direct descendant of the Swedish Cold War entity known as the Board for Psychological Defence from the 1950's and 1960's. The Swedish Total Defence concept also dates to the 1940's (see also 2). Colonel Mikael Johnsson explains: "[Total Defence] is rooted in the idea that all elements of society have a duty to prepare to support the armed forces at times of crisis." Or, according to Dr. Björn von Sydow in the NATO Review, Total Defence is concerned with "mobilising the whole of society."
According to rusi.org, "in a piece of landmark legislation in 2015, Sweden boosted its defence spending; reinstated conscription, albeit a more selective version than in the past; and revitalised its Total Defence concept, remodeled to meet today's spectrum of threats. Key to rebuilding this policy was the need to reinstate its Cold War practice of running regular national resilience exercises." A seminal Total Defence 2020 Exercise, a yearlong Swedish military exercise (of which Colonel Johnsson was the military co-chair of the exercise planning group), provided the actionable insights for the establishment of the Swedish Psychological Defence Authority:
"The first major lesson of the exercise was that it is extremely difficult to communicate clear messages to the population of a free society against the background noise of sustained disinformation campaigns. This was not a surprise to the Swedish authorities but proved far more significant than they expected. As a result, [Nils Svartz, co-chair of the evaluation branch from the Swedish Civil Contingency Agency] reported that his government has decided to establish a psychological defence agency to combat this problem.
The second major lesson was that, with the advent of hybrid and grey-zone warfare, the transition period when the armed forces move from supporting civil society to being supported by civil society has become more complex but nonetheless must be seamless and flexible. It may also call for the central government to take tighter control than normal over lower levels of government during a crisis."
"In a free society, it is the job of the citizen to decide what their role is in the cognitive infrastructure."
The Psychological Defense Authority launched on January 1st, and the role of the individual citizen (as spelled out by the authority) sets it apart from all other approaches we have evaluated in the last year: "Many people contribute to psychological defence. Free and independent media is a key player along with agencies and institutions, but as an individual, you also play an important role. By increasing your knowledge and awareness that misleading information exists, how it is spread and how it poses a threat, you reduce the risk of being influenced. The Swedish Psychological Defence Agency leads the work of coordinating and developing Sweden's psychological defence – an important part of a strong and modern total defence." Frequently Asked Questions directly answered by the Authority's website are also of note:
In what way can undue information influence be dangerous?
"Misleading information can create anxiety, heighten hatred and doubt, and make society more vulnerable. This can be exploited by interests that want to threaten and disrupt Swedish society and our independent decision-making. It can challenge the life and health of the population, societal functioning, and our fundamental values such as democracy, the rule of law and human rights and freedoms."
How can I protect myself from misleading information?
"By becoming more aware and learning to recognise misleading information you increase your resilience to being affected by it. Disinformation depends on people sharing it, so be careful when sharing information and be critical of sources and avoid sharing information you feel hesitant about. A good start can be to complete this web course. Please note that the web course is held in Swedish."
This 'ask' from the government of the individual to have personal agency in the psychological defense of the nation is really striking. When announcing what the Swedes call the "instruction for the Swedish Psychological Defence Authority, which specifies the authority's responsibilities and tasks", part of the remit of the authority is to "contribute to strengthening the resilience of the population. The Agency will have these tasks both in peacetime and on heightened alert."
In Part II of his series, Mitigating Risks To America's Cognitive Infrastructure, Bob Gourley also includes the citizen as a central unit of participation in a broad societal solution: "The nation's cognitive infrastructure includes the mental capacities of our citizens and the decision-making ability of people, organizations and our government. It also includes the information channels used to feed our decision-making capabilities and the education and training systems used to prepare people and organizations for critical thinking." He offered the following considerations for "The Role of The Citizen" in mitigating risk:
In a free society, it is the job of the citizen to decide what their role is in the cognitive infrastructure. But there may be areas where laws or regulations should be changed to mitigate risks of malicious activity.
Optimally, citizens should be equipped with mental models that will enable them to rapidly learn to spot specious or deceptive information.
Citizens should be provided with means to report to businesses and the government when they detect malicious attacks against our cognitive infrastructure.
The Swedish Psychological Defense Authority and Gourley's notion of Cognitive Infrastructure put the enabling (along with the personal responsibility and personal agency) of the individual citizen as the vital organizational unit and design element of a strategic defense for the protection of a nation's cognitive infrastructure. This speaks to a very bottom-up design process for a U.S. Cognitive Infrastructure Directorate. If such an agency is in our future, we can best learn from the example set by the Swedes by first asking: Do we have equally as strong a national, historical, and structural precedent on which to build these capabilities?
Black Swans and Gray Rhinos
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Tags:Cognitive InfrastructureCritical InfrastructureCritical Infrastructure ProtectionCritical Infrastructure SecurityCritical ThinkingMental ModelsThe Swedish Psychological Defence Authority
Daniel Pereira is research director at OODA. He is a foresight strategist, creative technologist, and an information communication technology (ICT) and digital media researcher with 20+ years of experience directing public/private partnerships and strategic innovation initiatives.
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Handmade baby quilt. Machine pieced & long arm quilted in floral design, hand stitched binding.Quilt front made from 100% cotton designer print fabric from British designer Aneela Hoey. Backing and inner batting 100% cotton.


According to the World Health Organization, around 50 million people get affected by epilepsy every year, making it one of the most common neurological diseases worldwide. It is the fourth most common neurological disorder following migraines, strokes and Alzheimer's.
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by unpredictable seizures and can lead to various other health problems. It can affect people of any age. An epileptic seizure occurs when the nerve cells in the brain suddenly increase their activity, causing an electrical storm that can overwhelm the brain and cause it to seize. Basically, anything that disrupts the normal function of the brain can cause seizures and epilepsy.
A person loses awareness and can't remember what happened during the seizures during a severe seizure.
Age - Epilepsy can start at any age, but two age groups are more likely to get affected: early childhood and people over the age of 55.
Family History – You are at a higher risk if someone in your family has epilepsy.
Dementia – People suffering from dementia (a decline in memory and other thinking skills) can also develop the disease.
Vascular Diseases – Blood vessels diseases and strokes can lead to brain damage, which can trigger a seizure, eventually leading to epilepsy.
Concussions or Head Injuries - If you have previously experienced a concussion or a head injury, you are more likely to suffer from epilepsy.
Brain Infections - Infections in the brain or the spinal cord can also up the risk of developing epilepsy.
Diagnosis of epilepsy usually begins with a medical history and physical examination. Since there are so many seizures, it is important for the doctor to identify the type of seizure that the patient has had.
A CAT (Computed Axial Tomography) scan - A CAT scan is a noninvasive or minimally invasive test that uses a rotating x-ray device to create detailed cross-sectional images of different body parts, including the brain.
An MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) - An MRI is a noninvasive procedure that uses powerful magnets and radio waves to produce clear, cross-sectional and three-dimensional images of the body's tissues.
Blood Tests – Blood samples may be taken to check if the patient suffers from health problems such as diabetes, anaemia, infections; all of which might be causing recurrent seizures.


For the last fifteen years of my life I have been a spiritual wanderer. In my early twenties I left the fundamentalist Christian belief I was raised with and journeyed into the unknown. At times I felt lost and looked for belief structures to grab onto, but eventually found that my greatest growth has come in allowing there to be mystery, to let life and love offer me what it does without strict dogma shaping my outlook. Despite what I was taught as a child, I have found spiritual meaning even without knowing what I believe.
One of the spiritual practices I have grown the most from is the practice of mindfulness. In my childhood church, we were told that meditation opened the mind to demonic influences and that one must always have their mind active with scripture or prayer, including praying in tongues. This busybody way of being rarely allows for the rest and reflection I have found to be so meaningful.
Mantras I have adopted in my everyday life that have contributed to mindfulness have included: "Feel all the feelings," "Be here now," and a simple "I'm breathing in. I'm breathing out." These mantras, and the practice of being present, have created beautiful moments from acts as simple as washing the dishes or taking a walk. They have also made me a more present and loving parent and friend. Most of all this practice has birthed in me a gratitude for exactly what is happening now, which has contributed to a deep contentment and joy that infuses my life even on hard or stressful days.
My husband and I have been going through a painful time in our marriage and we're talking about and considering a separation. I've realized in the last couple months, and especially the last few weeks of acute pain, that while the practice of mindfulness does make you feel joy and happiness in a deeper way, it also can cause you to feel the pain in a deeper way. If you are open, you are simply open to it all. You are present in the joy and you are present in the pain. And I'm learning to be grateful for this too.
Last week my husband asked if we would all like to go to the river. We drove an hour away to a beautiful quiet river with green banks and wildflowers. He fly-fished while the kids took turns fishing with a spin rod, playing in the tall grass and finding caterpillars. I did some writing but mostly sat listening to the water's voice and watching my children.
I felt tempted to decide what this day "meant." Did it mean we would stay together? Was it wrong to have this healthy family day if we were headed for divorce? I have allowed myself to simply be and to practice being present in the moment so often, but I was unsure if I could move into that space while suffering from the heaviness of our situation and decisions to be made.
I felt a pressure to see the implications of such a day. And then I realized that all those normal, somewhat mundane days of practicing mindfulness had been preparation for a moment such as this. I opened the fingers of my mind, unclenched my mental fists and let go of everything this day might "mean." I simply allowed a day that had nothing to do with the past and especially nothing to do with the future. I learned that day what mindfulness can mean in the middle of pain and uncertainty.
What meant to me that day was feeling the fuzz of a caterpillar my daughter placed in my hands. It meant breathing in the smell of the tree I leaned my back on and of my wet dog lying at my feet. It meant watching my children's heads bob just above tall clover and my husband work with a large trout on the end of his fly line and eventually holding it in his hand. It meant laughter when my oldest son stripped naked and jumped into the freezing water. It meant the brush of my fingers against the tops of grass as high as my waist as we walked back toward the van. And it meant gratitude for the things happening each moment while still allowing the sadness and heaviness of my greater life to reside right alongside the joy.
This is the gift of mindfulness. This is why it's a practice worth our time. This is how we live among beauty and grief and view them both with eyes wide open. This is how we see it all as sacred.
Hi, Craig. I am very confused by your comment as this is literally the first blog I have ever posted here. Perhaps you think that all of these blogs are posted by the same person? I only wrote this one piece about mindfulness and pain. I have no idea what the "eating too much on vacation" comment was about. That must have been another blogger. I am sorry about your difficult circumstances. Again, this is the only writing I have ever had on this site,.
Hi Stacy, I thought your writing was beautiful. Thank you for sharing this with us.
For the record, I was homeless a couple times, once for a year and a half stretch. No job, no food, no family, only the clothes on my back and I learned to hone and trust my survival instinct (which had been crushed early in life, in part by 'church'). Fast forward, now a young mother with children. My first husband and I were living paycheck to paycheck, but those were some of the happiest days of my life. I have also had what some may call a cushy life, filled with comfort and love, during which time my beloved second husband suffered and died in excruciating pain from cancer. Not the first time, nor will it be the last surely, where even in the midst of abundance, I experience great struggle, loss, and suffering.
Money, prestige, power, even Love – or lack of it – is not the issue here. This is about the practice of being able to sit with reality, both inner and outer. Allowing, permitting, training ourselves to be truly being in the moment which many of us learn brings the ability to simply observe without judgement.
Pondering a divorce, especially when children are involved, is anything BUT miniscule or comfortable. This I know from personal experience. Loving thoughts surround you, your children, and your husband as you navigate these troubled waters.
I believe your writing is universal, timeless, and personal. My dream is to change the course of my professional career – leave the stress of engineering and instead, teach yoga, write, and organize gatherings. I read recently that the first clue to being a good writing is to not write for a specific 'audience', but rather from your own experience. Thank you for modeling this, and sharing your journey with us.
Thank you for your beautiful response. It sounds like your life wisdom and ability to reflect would make you a wonderful teacher and writer. Best to you as you move forward. Thanks again for your comment.
Stacy, I think you responded in a simple, mindful way to a very difficult letter, with sympathy and clarity. I look forward to reading more of your writing. Best wishes.