History and Art Walking Tour. Discover the flourishing of Faith through its works.
Florence is not just about Art.
engraved by artists to reach you through times and places.
It's a Truth you can treasure for a lifetime.
These are our main proposal and more itineraries are coming. We will be pleased to build your tour upon your interests.
The word "inspirational" comes up a lot from guests when describing their experience with Christian History and Art Tours.
Tours, insights and Charity: find what fits you most!
Tours can be tailored upon interests and guides availability.
Discover Florence from Middle Age devotion to Reinassance fourishing of faith and arts.
Tours of major Museums and Institutrions of Christian heritage.
People, tradition, symbols: learn more about Florence's Faith treasure in our BLOG.
Christian Art had educational and poverty cure purposes.
It was an amazing lesson about Gospel and Redemption. It also elevated poor and suffering in hospitals, giving them the dignity of creatures, beloved by God.
Art as mere amusement is a big loss: contemplation of Beauty can still recover the inner meaning of Christian Art and Message.


text:
Q: How do I make this plugin generator work in Rails? First of all I am new to rails. I want to make a country.list table in my database so I found a great plugin on github at https://github.com/mm1/country-list so I kind of figured out how to install it. I ran the following command in my application root: rails plugin install https://github.com/mm1/country-list which installed the plugin inside the vendor/plugins folder. Now I want to use it to generate a country-list table, how do I make it work?

A: run rake db:migrate and you will have a model country for using the plugin.
so you can use this model's attribute anywhere you want like
A smentioned in the site the attributes of the model country are name, iso2, iso3 and numeric for ISO 3166
so anywhere you want to use this model, you can give something like
country = Country.all
country_name = country.find(id).name # id can be any unique attribute

A: The plugin you're trying to use is very old. Try something like carmen. It's compatible with the version of Rails you're targeting and has a lot of nice features.

A: If you look at the source code, the generator does not actually do very much. You can easily recreate these steps manually. This is what it does:
# check if "migrate" folder exists
#if not then create the folder
migrations_directory_path = "#{RAILS_ROOT}/db/migrate"
Dir.mkdir(migrations_directory_path) unless File.directory?(migrations_directory_path)

#copy countries migration
record do |m|
  m.file 'migrations/create_countries.rb', "db/migrate/{Time.now.strftime("%Y%m%d%H%M%S")}_create_countries.rb"
end

All it's doing is copying a migration file to the new location! You can do this yourself in line from irb:
File.copy("plugins/country-list/generators/countries_list/templates/migrations/create_countries.rb", "db/migrate/#{Time.now.strftime("%Y%m%d%H%M%S")}_create_countries.rb")

And the supplied model doesn't actually contain anything, it's just a skeleton:
class Country < ActiveRecord::Base
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Luckily for me, starting yesterday I had the privilege to attend Juval Lowy's 5-day Architect's Master Class which is held in Israel and organized by Gadi Meir's IDAG. In this Master Class, Juval, a recognized software legend by Microsoft and one of the most well known Software Architects in the world, explains the role of the Software Architect in the Software Development industry and his position in the organization.
Listening to Juval is, as always, a pleasure. I am personally happy to find out that many issues I have contemplated about in the past as a solution Architect are not unique, and that my solutions and beliefs are usually on par with what Juval teaches. Juval certainly has an ability to take a point and graphically drive it all the way home and that is why listening to him is so enjoyable.
The first two days of the Master Class were devoted mainly to the Software Crisis and the lack of industrialization in the software industry, and a thorough explanation of the appropriate process for managing the development of a Service-Oriented System. I can't even count the number of times in which Juval demonstrated a situation which I could project into real life. The material is very practical and I believe that this is the key to the success of the master class – real life instructions for the real life architects.
These two days were definitely a blast and I learned a lot, and I am looking forward for the remaining three days. Hopefully I'll be able to share my insights once the master class finishes. I know I can't wait to implement the material on our Cloudoscope!
Do you know from where I can download the class source code and lecture slides?
The class doesn't have any "source code" as it is a mostly theoretical class. There is some demonstration of WCF, but all of that code can be found as part of Juval's ServiceModelEx library and samples which can be downloaded from IDesign's site (http://www.idesign.net/idesign/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=5&tabid=11).


Existing to be the ship that sails beside you into the vast unknown and to be the lighthouse guiding you home, Noah Rauch has begun to etch out his place as an up and coming singer/songwriter in the Dayton, Ohio music scene. He stops by DATV to chat with Izzy Rock.
Share the post "Episode 604: Storyteller – Noah Rauch"


NVIDIA has also released CUDA™ Toolkit 3.1, an update to its CUDA software development kit (SDK), available here.
Parallel Nsight also represents the premier environment for graphics development, delivering the DirectX 11 tools required by graphics developers to quickly and efficiently develop today's top game titles and visual computing applications.
NVIDIA Parallel Nsight software supports Windows HPC Server 2008, Windows 7 and Windows Vista, which works closely with Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Professional edition. To download the Standard edition of Parallel Nsight, please go here. Download on EMEAI NVIDIA homepages coming soon.
NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA) awakened the world to the power of computer graphics when it invented the GPU in 1999. Since then, it has consistently set new standards in visual computing with breathtaking, interactive graphics available on devices ranging from tablets and portable media players to notebooks and workstations. NVIDIA's expertise in programmable GPUs has led to breakthroughs in parallel processing which make supercomputing inexpensive and widely accessible. The company holds more than 1,100 U.S. patents, including ones covering designs and insights, which are fundamental to modern computing. For more information, see www.nvidia.co.in.
Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to, statements as to: the benefits, features, impact, performance and capabilities of NVIDIA Parallel Nsight software; and NVIDIA's leadership position in development tools for GPU computing are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: development of more efficient or faster technology; design, manufacturing or software defects; the impact of technological development and competition; changes in consumer preferences and demands; customer adoption of different standards or our competitor's products; changes in industry standards and interfaces; unexpected loss of performance of our products or technologies when integrated into systems as well as other factors detailed from time to time in the reports NVIDIA files with the Securities and Exchange Commission including its Form 10-Q for the fiscal period ended May 2, 2010. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on our website and are available from NVIDIA without charge. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, NVIDIA disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.


text:
The masked trogon (Trogon personatus) is a species of bird in the family Trogonidae. It is fairly common in humid highland forests in South America, mainly the Andes and tepuis.

Taxonomy
There are eight recognized subspecies of masked trogon:

T. p. assimilis is found in the subtropics of the west Andean slope in Ecuador.
T. p. duidae is found on Mount Duida in the tepui region of southern Venezuela; males of this subspecies are reddish-bronze on the back.
T. p. personatus is found in the subtropical Andes of Venezuela, central and east Andean slopes in Colombia, and east Andean slopes in Ecuador and Peru; males of this subspecies are glossy green above.
T. p. ptaritepui is found in the tepui region of southern Venezuela; males of this subspecies are golden-green on the back.
T. p. roraimae is found on Auyantepui and Monte Roraima, on the border between Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil.
T. p. sanctamartae is found in the Santa Marta Mountains of northeastern Colombia.
T. p. submontanus is found in the Andean foothills in Bolivia.
T. p. temperatus, sometimes considered to be a separate species, the highland trogon, is found in the temperate Andes of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

Description
The masked trogon is a mid-sized trogon, averaging  in length and  in mass. Like all trogons, it displays sexual dimorphism. The upperparts, head, and upper chest of the male are variously glossy green, reddish-bronze, or golden-green (depending on the subspecies). The belly and lower breast are red; the latter separated from the greenish upper chest by a narrow white band. The male has a distinct eye-ring, which is red in most subspecies, but tending towards orange in the subspecies from the tepuis.  The female is brown above, with a pinkish to red belly and breast; the white band separating brown and red on her underside is often either narrow or obscured.  Females of all subspecies have a partial white eye-ring.

Behavior

Feeding
Like all trogons, the masked trogon feeds on both fruits and insects.

Breeding
The masked trogon excavates a cavity nest in the soft wood of a rotting vertical tree trunk.

References

External links

 Photos, videos and observations at Cornell Lab of Ornithologys Birds of the World
 Sounds on the xeno canto collection

masked trogon
Birds of the Northern Andes
Birds of the Tepuis
masked trogon
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


As A Virtual Assistant Do You Create The Best Workspace?
Employers spend a lot of time and effort in creating the best workspaces for their employees. From coffee bars to complimentary lunches, happy hours, in-office massages, and personal trainers employers want to keep employees happy, meet their physical needs, and eliminate distractions, in order to boost productivity and retention.
Now employers aren't just looking to create the best workspaces, they are also creating their very own coworking spaces. According to a Harvard Business Review article by Gabor Nagy and Greg Lindsay, Why Companies Are Creating Their Own Coworking Spaces, there are three reasons – transformation, innovation, and future-proofing.
Given all that employers do for employees don't you think it is just as important for you to do the same for yourself? Your clients depend on your productivity and you depend on clients so you better retain them. How much transformation, innovation, and future-proofing are you doing for your business when it comes to creating your best workspace?
It's your job as the CEO of your virtual assistant company to think like one. Your workspace plays a direct role in your business. It's also how you take care of yourself. Taking care of yourself translates into taking care of your current and future clients.
Taking care of your needs isn't just about the now it's about the future. Your client's needs will continue to change and evolve over time. The virtual assistant who can not only keep up but keep ahead of their client is the one who has high productivity and retention levels, invests in professional development, and plans for the future. Your workspace is a direct conduit for all these things.
One of my favorite places to work from is not where I work from daily. However, as the CEO of my company, I've made it my job to recreate this place. As the CEO of your company is it time to evaluate your workspace and determine how it fits into the future you have set for yourself? The end of the year is a great time to clean, declutter, and reinvent your space.
So what is one of my favorite workplaces? The Delta Sky Club. I affectionately call it my "happy place". Now you may not travel as much as I do. Or even at all. That's not important. What is important is to first determine what your best workspace looks like. Why do you like it? What does the workspace do for you? How can you recreate the same kind of environment no matter where you are?
Energy – I'm definitely a person who feeds off the energy of others. I don't need to necessarily interact with them. Simply having others around boosts my energy levels. I think it comes from growing up in a house that was always filled with people. I find it comforting. In my home office, it's just me and the dogs and it can get boring and even lonely at times.
How I create more energy for myself when working from home or anywhere where I'm not around people is to schedule the majority of my calls in the afternoon. This is when my energy level begins to decrease. I get my calls booked all back to back so I don't have to start and stop my other duties like writing which take more of my focus.
With my energy levels back up again it is much easier to finish the day strong and know I can start the next day fresh instead of thinking what I should have completed the day before.
The continued growth of your business depends on how reliable you are. Not only to your clients but to yourself. Ending your days strong and starting the next day fresh is a key factor in setting yourself up for success. If you continually string together more days like this it has the compound effect of creating excellent long-term results.
Excitement – For some travel doesn't bring excitement. It brings stress. I'm definitely as excited as a little kid watching airplanes take off and land. It literally makes me smile. As someone who once had a lifelong fear of flying, I've made a complete mental shift. It's been about three years now and the excitement of flying is still as strong.
I reduce stress on travel days by getting to the airport very early and working interrupted in the Club. If something is urgent then I can take a call or jump on a video chat. I take the time to plan out my day according to where I am and what is available to me no matter if I'm traveling or not.
Studies have shown that the anticipation of looking forward to an activity can keep you excited and help you when you are having a rough day or week. Who doesn't like to have something to look forward to?
Even when I'm not traveling I make plans and put them on my calendar. It's important to always have something to look forward to. It could be as simple as watching your favorite movie and creating home movie night. Or visiting a local museum. A night out with friends. The point is to create your own excitement. Burnout never transformed any business positively.
Convenience – The convenience of the Delta Sky Club is one of my favorite perks. Whatever I need it's always ready for me. From coffee to breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even a glass of wine to end my day. Plus, let's not forget the businesses services offered.
We all need to make our lives more convenient. I tell clients when hiring a VA that communication needs to be super convenient or you won't do it. The same is true for your workspace. In fact, studies have shown that if it takes you an extra twenty seconds to do something you are less likely to do it. Twenty seconds!
When at home the coffee is always flowing and pretty convenient but I may forget to eat or even skip meals because it's not convenient. I may not feel like preparing anything which isn't healthy and certainly won't keep my energy levels up.
A little prep time ahead of the day or even the night before goes a long way. Don't just make your client's lives easier, make your life easier too. Set up your desk to be convenient. Whatever you need to get the best work done make it convenient for yourself. Be innovative in your own approach to convenience and figure out how to translate this to serve and support your clients.
Whatever you consider your best workspace do your best to create it. It could be completely different than mine. There is no right or wrong. Your workspace is very personal and should be what works best for you to give your best to your clients.
Where is your "happy place" to work and why?
Melissa is the bestselling author of Hire the Right Virtual Assistant and Become A Successful Virtual Assistant. To learn more about becoming a successful VA or be matched with a client looking for a VA just like you, contact Melissa here.


Count the number of letters.
Join a list into a string.
Split a string into a list.
Make a list from another list.
Get the length of each word.
Make a dictionary of US state names.
Make a dictionary of US state codes using a dictionary comprehension.
Make a dictionary where each letter corresponds to a list of US states that start with that letter.
Make a list of functions.
Define a function that returns a list of links on a webpage.
Look at the first five links on a webpage.
Count the number of links on a webpage.
Classes can contain variables and methods.
We recommend the Official Python Tutorial.


The "fundamental missions" of the University of California are "teaching, research, and public service." All three of these missions are based on relationships – between teacher and student, science and progress, and universities and the public. These are symbiotic, rather than authoritarian, relationships, and yet – at least in the case of the teacher and student – Berkeley's class notes policy gives its professors the sort of powers despots would approve of. There are better ways to manage the rights and responsibilities of professors and students.
It might be laughable to think that professors would really use the Berkeley policy to crack down on student notetaking, checking laptops at the door and randomly searching for pens, pencils, or even Sharpies, the WMDs of writing instruments. But why allow even the thought? A reasonable open-access policy can protect the rights of professors, while adhering, in language and in practice, to the mission statement of the University.
Let's step away from California for a moment and generalize – what should a reasonably "open" policy on student note-taking include? Such a policy should embody a balanced set of permissions (preemptively granted to students) and limited restrictions (which professors may use when necessary), placing neither student nor professor above the other with respect to works like class notes, which are ideally the products of collaboration anyway.
Acknowledge the mission of the institution, and ensure that policies serve and reflect that mission.
Restrictions should be limited, and narrowly tailored to specific acts or activities.
Professors have the right to encourage a preferred type of classroom atmosphere, but restrictions placed on students' ability to take notes and otherwise share information should be minimal, and justified by specifically addressing the advantages and disadvantages of any proposed restrictions.
Professors and students should engage in dialogue over their respective expectations of, and rights to, privacy.
Copyright protects expression, not facts or ideas.
Fair use must be recognized and accepted, and not limited.
Proper attribution is critical in academia; students (and professors, for that matter) should acknowledge the authors of any material they use.
Material that is unquestionably fair to use, such as any non-verbatim notes that students may take.
Material that "skirts" the boundaries, typically because use may violate someone's privacy rights or interests.
Material that is rightly protected by copyright, such as pre-written notes or Powerpoint presentations that professors may distribute in class.
There are many interests at play in the classroom; Berkeley's policy emphasizes the interest of the professor in his original works, as well as in ensuring the accuracy of statements attributed to him. These are important considerations, and legitimate reasons for certain restrictions. However, tying the whole educational process up in chains of copyright is not the answer. To do so uses false legalistic authority to obscure a genuine legal quandary that is only partially based in copyright: what is a professor's legitimate and reasonable expectation of privacy in a classroom, and what are the limits of a given student's right to free expression? A few years ago, PBS's Mediashift "embedded" a student reporter into an NYU journalism class, and ended up confronting some of the same issues of privacy and student freedom. William Creeley of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education also wrote an article about the legal issues involved in that case. Professors who discuss unpublished work in their classes should be aware that their right to privacy in classrooms may be quite diminished. Students should be aware of school policies, particularly at private schools, though few worthwhile institutions would advertise themselves as being against free speech and expression.
Open licensing provides a flexible approach for pre-prepared or unpublished material. Creative Commons allows professors to tailor permissions for their works, ranging from allowing almost anything and everything to be done with their work, including commercial use, to preventing anything other than simply passing along an unaltered work, with proper attribution. When presenting a manuscript or other work not yet published, professors should realize that they are not in a private space, and students should recognize that such materials do implicate copyright law. This sort of scenario – uncommon, difficult to generalize, and intricately tied to law – should lie at the borders of a class-notes policy, not at its heart.
TechWorld reports that Graphics Properties Holdings, the post-bankruptcy incarnation of Silicon Graphics, is suing mobile device makers for infringement of a graphics-related patent. Smartphone manufacturers are no strangers to patent lawsuits, of course, but I think that this latest salvo is a good illustration of how the dual regimes of patent law and rent-seeking litigation do nothing but divert resources from actual innovation.
The patent in question, number 8,144,158, describes a "rendering circuit," the novelty of which appears to lie in the use of floating-point rather than fixed-point data to create images, thereby allowing for more complexity and accuracy in the resulting images.
As an absolute layman in the field of graphics technology, all I want to point out in the actual patent is this: the "Background Art" section of the patent description points out that the advantages of operating with floating-point data are well-known, and that a large part of the reason why floating-point data was not previously used lay in hardware limitations. A good question, then (and one that the manufacturer's lawyers are probably studying like crazy), is whether a graphics person would think it obvious to use floating-point data in the way the patent describes, given the existence of suitable hardware. If it would have been obvious, then the patent should be invalidated under Section 103 of the Patent Act. If not, then Graphics Properties, under the law, and assuming nothing else is wrong with the patent, is entitled to damages and/or possibly an injunction.
Either way there is a clear policy problem – the fact that low-quality patents enter the system and cause wildly objectionable allocations of resources (either through unjustified licensing fees paid to avoid litigation, or the litigation costs incurred in correcting the patent office's mistake), or the fact that a company that doesn't practice or in any way promulgate its invention has rights against a party that does give the public the benefit of the invention. The second problem would be mitigated somewhat, at least morally, if so-called "innocent infringers" were protected – but they aren't.
Timothy B. Lee points briefly but eloquently to the moral argument against patents, and more importantly, sets that moral argument atop a strong empirical showing that figuring out the patent morass is essentially impossible in certain fields. Graphics Properties might have an enforceable patent – but Apple, Samsung, HTC, and others put the invention in your pocket. Enforcing the patent, if it's valid, doesn't promote progress, or magically force companies to innovate more – it removes that invention from the field, it forces practicing companies to spend money to license or attack the patent, or "innovate around" it – or simply stop using that presumably beneficial invention. Mark Lemley posits that innovation occurs despite patent law – because companies simply ignore it. Here, patent law is an agent of stagnation – it allows the ghosts of companies past to haunt companies that actually do things. As a society, we probably should not be empowering ghosts.
Continuing our discussion of UC Berkeley's new class notes policy, I'd like to argue that (1) permissions-based policies, such as those embodied in Creative Commons licenses, create less uncertainty and better serve the purposes of professors and students, and (2) to the extent that education is perceived as lying beyond the free market, the invocation of copyright law is counterproductive at best, and hypocritical at worst.
Let's assume, for argument's sake, that teaching is a unique profession, one worthy of special consideration. For convenience's sake, I'll call this the sui generis position. This appears to be the position of some professors' writings in support of policies that (as discussed previously) claim copyright protection in class lecture notes to a legally questionable extent. Such support essentially argues that content created by professors and presented in classrooms should be more thoroughly protected against unauthorized use and reproduction.
Copyright is clearly only a subservient appendix to the commodification and privatization trends in professional training, but one that is self-defeating and absurd even in its own terms.
This quote follows a refutation of the notion that recordings or notes of the educational process are equivalent to the educational process; Professor Chapela will resist "… the commodification of my life as a teacher and researcher…." So a belief in a fundamental distinction between education and other vocations that create content can lead to two fairly divergent positions with respect to copyright protection. I think that Professor Chapela's position is more consistent with the basic precept; the enhanced protection advocates seem to assume that market activities present a threat to their activities – in other words, the singular status of education is not something inherent (and therefore safe), but rather an imposition, an artificial separation between education and other social activities that must be maintained through policy.
One of the primary failings of a policy like Berkeley's is that it ignores the fact that several disparate interests exist within the spectrum of work that a professor may use in teaching his or her students. As it stands, the policy assumes an adversarial relationship between student and professor – that students learn only by the leave of the professor, and that they are at all points in the educational process suspected of divulging pedagogical secrets to for-profit notes distributors.
Policies based on restrictions can, in fact, do a good and thorough job of addressing adverse effects. They are also basically useless at promoting positive effects. Permissions-based policies, in the educational realm, offer far more certainty for students as to what is allowed; they are explicitly told what they may do, as opposed to vague warnings about professors may forbid them from doing. Insofar as a primary goal of Berkeley's policy is to prevent commercial dissemination, a professor might attach any of three Creative Commons licenses that explicitly prevent commercial use to any prepared materials distributed to students. Such a restriction still allows for the possibility of a defense grounded in fair use, even for commercial uses, but that uncertainty is certainly not lessened in a policy as restrictive as Berkeley's. The cases that proponents of Berkeley-type policies refer to, as well as the cases I discussed in the previous installment, are by no means strong supports for such policies.
Right around the time period (the early 2000s) when legislators and academics in California were batting about the issue of increased protections for lectures, researchers at the University of Michigan were thinking about the problem of low-quality notetaking by students. Collaborative review, reorganization, and rephrasing of concepts are some of the tools suggested by the UMich paper – such activites, in a balancing act between professors' and students' rights (or, phrased differently – between professors' rights and professors' responsibilities), should be encouraged by school policies. This cannot be properly accomplished by merely emphasizing professorial copyright; that, as Berkeley's attempt shows, ends up distorting the teacher-student interaction into the very model of the market-style contractual exchange the sui generis position denounces. Permissive policies would be as effective in getting students to take note of the fact that rights may inhere in educational presentations (more so, if you want them to understand what those rights actually are), and would also emphasize, as a matter of policy, the fundamentals of good note-taking.
As an ideological issue, it is troubling that educators would support a policy blatantly ignoring fair use, when fair use has been invoked (successfully or not) in quite a few instances where educators are the accused infringers. As a policy matter, it would provide normative and legal consistency if universities would ensure that the stances adopted at both ends of the spectrum – as accused infringers and as aggrieved rightsholders – were at least compatible, if not identical.
In the next and final post on the subject, I'll delve into the specific characteristics of a permissions-based policy, examining what language and terms such a policy might incorporate, and how its provisions provide the same substantive protections, while providing a better balance of rights than, restrictions-based policies.
Last week, the Washington Post reported that the Smithsonian Institution had acquired historical materials from V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai, the inventor of e-mail. One problem: As TechDirt points out, lots of knowledgeable people deny that Mr. Ayyadurai actually invented e-mail.
A number of readers have accurately pointed out that electronic messaging predates V. A. Shiva Ayyadurai's work in 1978. However, Ayyadurai holds the copyright to the computer program called"email," establishing him as the creator of the "computer program for [an] electronic mail system" with that name, according to the U.S. Copyright Office.
This is akin to saying "hamburgers predate Ronald McDonald's work, however, McDonald holds the copyright to a clowning routine, involving the production of hamburgers, called "hamburger," establishing him as the creator of a 'clowning routine for placing beef patties between pieces of bread' with that name." More than that – it would seem that, at the Washington Post, this reasoning would support a claim that McDonald invented hamburgers.
The TechDirt article notes that the non-clarifying clarification appears to conflate copyrights with patents. The Washington Post, in that case, would be confusing invention with authorship, which is somewhat alarming, coming from a newspaper.
The Post's description of Mr. Ayyadurai's stance on intellectual property issues is similarly disheveled. Mr. Ayyadurai says, "I fundamentally do not believe in the patenting of software. It would be like Shakespeare patenting the tragic love story." He "prefers copyright, which allows others to innovate using the technology." The first position is relatively uncontroversial, even though it ignores the fact that Shakespeare never could patent the tragic love story, at least not in the United States, and that American courts have, in theory, never embraced software patents that embody nothing more than abstract ideas without concrete application.
The second position, his preference for copyright, is more problematic, because copyright does not protect, or even address, technological innovations. Any usefulness, or utility, described by a copyrighted work must be patented in order to be protected .What copyright protects is individual, singular expression. In other words, it prevents others from appropriating the language an author uses to express a concept or idea. Shakespeare could stop others from copying Romeo's monologue at Juliet's balcony, not the idea that a hormonal teenage boy mght do romantic but embarrassing things to woo a girl. Similarly, copyright in software prevents copying, not the use of any innovations described.
The Post also comments that, "by pursuing a copyright on his email work, Ayyadurai opened it up for use, but with credit." Copyrights are not pursued as patents are; all works of authorship are protected by copyright, whether or not the author registers his work with the Copyright Office, or even places notice of copyright on his work (the © symbol, for instance). Registration is really just a way to ensure that the author is able to sue for money damages should infringement occur. Also, a right to attribution (crediting the author) is not inherent in American copyright law, except in certain cases involving visual artists.
When legal concepts seep into social discourse – here, by underpinning the Post's assertion that Mr. Ayyadurai invented e-mail, they interact with and modify non-legal concepts. In this case, to have invented something is equated with getting a copyright. This is wrong, as a matter both of law and of plain language. It points to a failure of intellectual property law as a mediating force between creators and the public at large – if no one, not even knowledgeable groups like the Washington Post, really understands what patents, copyrights, and trademarks are, or if misapprehensions such as those illustrated above become common, then how can IP law really incentivize creation and disincentivize misappropriation? It can't – it simply breeds costly and inefficient litigation that settles specific cases, without clarifying the law for other parties. Shouldn't laws that encourage technology, literature, and progress in general do better than that?
Two recent developments of interest for those interested in copyright law: The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) recently unveiled their new "Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries," and the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Golan v. Holder.
The Code is an excellent overview of the position academic and research librarians take with respect to the interaction between their mission and copyright law. It does, however, take a more aspirational than legally pragmatic view of fair use issues. For instance, it states that "[f]air use is a user's right." Though it is certainly true that fair use is an important legal doctrine, and close to the core of any analysis of U.S. copyright law, it is not actually a right given to users – it is an exception to a right given to copyright owners, an affirmative defense that may cure an otherwise infringing use. Despite this prescriptive bent, the code is a great, example-based way for nonlawyers to engage with fair use issues.
The decision in Golan upheld the removal of a number of works from the U.S. public domain, the result of lawmaking designed to bring the U.S. into alignment with the requirements of the Berne Convention. Bracewell & Giuliani have published an analysis of the case that sets out a core component of the Court's holding: First Amendment concerns do not really come into play, in the copyright context, unless either the idea/expression dichotomy or fair use are threatened.
Thus Golan gives Congress broad discretionary power over copyright, enough to cut into the public domain. At the same time, it is a reassurance that the fair use defense is and will remain a central feature of American copyright law. The Code of Best Practices, despite presenting a somewhat idealized notion of fair use, is a proactive step towards intellectual engagement with a legal doctrine, by the professionals that have the greatest stake in its continued viability. As copyright terms extend and the public domain shrinks, a continued – and aggressive – discussion of the contours of fair use will be critical in ensuring that culture remains accessible to all.
Although the United States recently (and successfully, for the time being) shelved SOPA, Ireland now faces the same threat. Although U.S. detractors of SOPA had the luxury of attacking the bill as it made its way through Congress, Irish supporters of a free Internet find themselves with less opportunity to object – and much less time.
Ireland's version of SOPA is not the equivalent of a Congressional bill; instead, it is a statutory instrument(SI), a piece of secondary legislation "made in exercise of a power conferred by statute." What this means is that the legislation will not be considered by the Oireachtas, the legislature of Ireland, before passing into law. Instead, an emergency debate on the SI has been heard in the Dáil, the lower house of the Oireachtas.
A brief history of "Ireland's SOPA:" In EMI Records v. UPC Communications, the High Court of Ireland determined that "Ireland is not yet fully in compliance with its obligations under European law." As per the court's analysis, European law requires the provision of injunctive remedies against internet service providers who facilitate copyright infringement, and such remedies are absent in Irish law. The proposed statutory instrument is being shepherded by Sean Sherlock, Minister for Research and Innovation of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. The SI would amend the Copyright Act of 2000, giving the judiciary broad powers to grant injunctions against "intermediaries," such as ISPs, forcing the blocking of target websites.
The Internet Service Providers Association of Ireland has issued a letter objecting to the SI, and TJ McIntyre has posted a FAQ describing what is known about the text of the new instrument (not much, but he includes language from a previous draft) and what the implications of its passage may be. In a nutshell, Ireland's SOPA may allow courts, when petitioned by copyright owners, to order ISPs and other "intermediaries" to block access to infringing content. He has also commented on the inadequacy of an emergency debate as a substitute for true deliberation.
In some ways this proposed SI is more insidious than SOPA – the provisions of SOPA allowed opposing groups to understand, to a point, how the legislation worked, and what it might allow copyright owners to demand. This SI does not define what the judiciary may order in any injunction, nor does it say what may not be ordered. Uncertainty and a lack of transparency is a large part of the argument against the SI.
During the debate, a number of deputies voiced the concerns noted by Mr. McIntyre and others – notably, the vague language of the SI, as well as potential negative effects on smaller ISPs and sites that post user-generated content. One of the centerpieces of Minister Sherlock's defense was the idea that the SI "clarifies" preexisting policy – that the EMI v. UPC ruling: (1) exposes Ireland to legal action for alleged non-compliance with European law, and (2) the SI simply closes the hole exposed by the High Court ruling, rather than creating a new remedy for copyright owners. He also emphasized that there are no plans to change the wording of the SI, and that there are no plans to delay its enactment.
Despite the real – and significant – differences between the proposed SI and SOPA, they both seek an expansion of governmental power to control what is available on the Internet, and they both do so in a manner that leads to legitimate objections including: overly broad remedies for copyright owners at the expense of the public interest; the imposition of burdensome costs on ISPs and other intermediaries; and a chilling effect on Web-based innovation, creativity, and business founded in legal uncertainties.
More information about a petition to stop "Ireland's SOPA" here.
UC Berkeley's new class notes policy is the equivalent of fighting a kitchen fire with a sledgehammer. Not only is it a disproportionate response, it is an ineffective one as well – one that poses a subtler but greater threat than the fire itself. Berkeley's policy is not well-supported by federal or state law, and represents a surprising step backwards for the University of California's flagship campus.
Section 102 of the federal Copyright Act informs us that copyright protect subsists, in general, "in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression . . . ." The key term for our purposes is "fixed," which pushes many, if not most, typical classroom lectures out from under the copyright umbrella. Extemporaneous presentations, unless recorded in some manner, do not get copyright protection.
California Civil Code §980 does grant ownership rights on unfixed presentations: "[t]he author of any original work of authorship that is not fixed in any tangible medium of expression has an exclusive ownership in the representation or expression thereof . . . ." Although the federal Copyright Act, in section 301, explicitly preempts state laws that provide similar rights, §980 avoids such preemption by dealing with works explicitly unprotected by federal copyright. It does look like a good foundation for the Berkeley policy, but the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California has found that §980 reflects a legislative intent "to deny copyright protection to ideas, as opposed to the manner in which they are expressed or represented." (See page 1423 of the opinion) This preserves the core idea-expression dichotomy that prevents copyright law from protecting ideas and facts, rather than a specific expression of them. In essence, we can say that §980 effectively extends federal copyright-type protection, within the state of California, to unfixed works of authorship, but with limitations on subject matter analogous to those created by §102 of the Copyright Act.
Finally, the University of California's copyright policy is more a policy statement than a grant of unique institutional rights. It states, in part: "The University encourages the creation of original works of authorship and the free expression and exchange of ideas." Reasonable minds may disagree on whether copyright protection promotes or stifles the creation of original works, but Berkeley's policy is an incontrovertible shackle upon students' ability to engage in any exchange of ideas based upon those works.
Even though the film study questions and practice questions are protected by copyright, genuine issues of fact remain as to whether inclusion of the questions, as well as the lecture summaries, within Class Notes' note packages constitutes fair use…. Dr. Moulton's works as a whole are derivative, factual, and published. Furthermore, his film study questions and practice questions are factual compilations. Copyright protection extends only to the selection and arrangement, not to the underlying facts themselves, and "[t]his inevitably means that the copyright in a factual compilation is thin." Feist. 499 U.S. at 349. So in determining fair use, this factor will weigh against Faulkner Press.
This is, therefore, not a case where the concrete expression of the "composition" (Civ. Code, § 980, subd. (a)) consists solely of an intangible oral presentation. (Nimmer on Copyright § 11.1.) As far as this litigation is concerned, the chief importance of the oral presentation is that it provided defendant with access to plaintiff's work and with an argument that there had been a divestive publication.
Taken together, these two points mean that the common-law copyright jurisprudence applied in this case, in favor of the plaintiff, would today be preempted by federal statute.
A good look at the statutes and their application by judges should be enough to demonstrate that, if they try to exercise the "rights" granted by the Berkeley policy in a court of law, professors shouldn't rely on an easy victory.
In the next installment: a discussion of the public policy issues that underlie the Berkeley notes policy, and how a licensing-and-permissions-based policy is more in line with the interests of educators and students than a rights-and-restrictions-based one. Also – to what extent do students and professors actually care what school policies say, and how should that inform the content of such policies?
Late last year, UC Berkeley implemented a new policy regarding the taking and using of course notes and other class materials. It "sets forth the limitations on use of course notes and course materials and the making and use of recordings of instructors' class presentations," and proceeds to describe a rather draconian regime in which students' use of their notes and class materials – indeed, their right to take notes at all – may be severely curtailed by their professors. Berkeley's Office of Educational Development has also posted a set of cease and desist letters that professors may use, against students or third parties.
This is the first in a series of posts addressing Berkeley's new class notes policy – in this introductory post, I will outline the issues involved and point to places where Berkeley's policy conflicts with federal copyright law. Future posts will include a more detailed analysis of what rights copyright law provides compared to the rights Berkeley's policy purports to take, as well as the benefits of a permission-based access and dissemination policy over a restriction-based one (essentially, telling people what they can do rather than what they can't); I will also discuss the validity of the concerns the new policy seeks to address – specifically the professorial interest in repressing his work versus the social interest in open access; and finally, examine what terms a genuinely useful note-taking policy might include, one based on access rather than restriction.
This new policy is an unfortunately ironic development at UC Berkeley, the site of the 2008 Students for Free Culture conference. It was at this conference that the Wheeler Declaration was drafted, which included "open educational materials" as one of the five criteria of a truly "open" university. Needless to say, Berkeley's new restrictions on the dissemination of such materials represent a step away from the open university movement. Given that all aspects of the University of California's mission statement – to teach, research, and serve the public – are arguably better served by more distribution of knowledge, rather than less, there seems to be an internal dissonance here as well.
Berkeley and other UC faculty have, naturally, commented on the new policy. Richard Brenneman has an excellent post detailing some of their reactions. He includes e-mails objecting to the policy from Professors Amy Kapczynski and Ignacio Chapela, both at UC Berkeley, as well as comments supportive of the new policy from Professor Robert Meister, President of the Council of UC Faculty Associations. All following quotations from these professors are derived from Mr. Brenneman's post.
66450. (a) Except as authorized by policies developed in accordance with subdivision (a) of Section 66452, no business, agency, or person, including, but not necessarily limited to, an enrolled student, shall prepare, cause to be prepared, give, sell, transfer, or otherwise distribute or publish, for any commercial purpose, any contemporaneous recording of an academic presentation in a classroom or equivalent site of instruction by an instructor of record. This prohibition applies to a recording made in any medium, including, but not necessarily limited to, handwritten or typewritten class notes.
(b) Nothing in this section shall be construed to interfere with the rights of disabled students under law.
(1) "Academic presentation" means any lecture, speech, performance, exhibit, or other form of academic or aesthetic presentation, made by an instructor of record as part of an authorized course of instruction that is not fixed in a tangible medium of expression.
(2) "Commercial purpose" means any purpose that has financial or economic gain as an objective.
(3) "Instructor of record" means any teacher or staff member employed to teach courses and authorize credit for the successful completion of courses.
Professor Meister's comments highlight some of the ideological motivations behind the Berkeley policy, which, in his view, has roots in a long-standing conflict of interest between instructors and administrators over who has control over materials created by professors in the employ of the University of California. Professor Meister ends his e-mail with a normative claim, that professorial – rather than institutional – ability to "set the terms on everything beyond note-taking" is a distinction between academics and other varieties of institutional employees that "lies at the heart of academic freedom." But the language of the California Education Code requires that any claim to such a distinction must rest upon sound legal ground – Section 66452(a) stipulates that "[n]othing in this chapter is intended to change existing law as it pertains to the ownership of academic presentations." §66450(c)(1) identifies academic presentations as being unfixed – precisely the sort of thing that, as Professor Kapczynski notes, federal copyright law does not protect.
Distilled, the problem Berkeley's new policy seeks to address seems to run thus: Third parties, gaining access to class notes and materials, have been selling those materials to students and others for a profit. This has already been the subject of litigation, as in Faulkner Press, L.L.C. v. Class Notes, L.L.C., Case. No. 1:08cv49-SPM/GRJ (N.D. Fla., 2010). Disregarding, for the time being, the obvious pecuniary motivations faculty and administrators may have in curtailing such activity, there are normative considerations that are worth discussing – a professor's right (or lack thereof) to privacy in the comments he makes to a closed classroom, for example, which will be discussed in a later post. Broadly stated, this policy, in attempting to protect the interests of some faculty members against note-selling groups, is most detrimental to students and anyone else interested in open education and technology as a route thereto.
Professor Kapczynski writes that "it's not obvious that copyright policy offers the best (or an adequate) response to the challenges of peer-to-peer networks for our modes of teaching." Berkeley's policy, which responds to these challenges by asserting rights beyond those that federal copyright law actually bestows, and ignoring the availability of fair use defenses where valid rights exist, is almost certainly not the best means by which to balance the interests of institutions, faculty, students, and the public. In the next post on this topic I'll be examining, in more detail, the interests of all parties affected, relevant copyright law and precedent, and how Berkeley's policy interacts with both federal law and other UC policies.


The Ziera Doxie is a long-term favourite among our women's sandals.
Its high degree of fastening adjustability allows maximum comfort for feet of different widths and shapes, including those with bunions. This lightweight sandal owes much of its adaptability to the substantial overlap range of its Velcro straps at the forefoot and instep.
The Doxie has a three-quarter-length removable footbed that you can swap out for your own custom orthotic. It uses the Super Support system - a contoured and cushioned footbed with xmm memory foam. Contouring of the inlay at the heel ensures your foot is cradled and supports the metatarsal and the inner and outer longitudinal arches, giving you the highest level of underfoot protection.
The closed heel has a padded collar, and the soft and supple premium leather upper and lining mould to your foot, ensuring a perfect fit. Ziera's 13 different laboratory tests ensure the leather is super soft yet tough enough for everyday wear.
The Doxie's polyurethane (PU) sole has millions of tiny cushioning air bubbles that make you feel like you're walking on air!


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Q: OpenVPN to home network connections not working on macOS Big Sur I'm using PIVPN with OpenVPN to connect to my home network anywhere in the world.
I have three profiles, one for my iPhone and one for my MacBook Pro and one for a windows laptop.
When I connect to my VPN from either my iPhone or my Windows laptop outside my network, I can successfully connect to my home server via SSH etc.
However, when I connect to the VPN from my MacBook, everything works, like normal browsing and I have my home networks IP address. I just can't ping my home devices or SSH into my server through the connection.
In conclusion, this makes me believe that it is a macOS problem as everything is working on two other devices and my Mac can connect to the vpn, just can't do things that I want it too, like SSH.
I am running macOS Big Sur


Mustang Root Cutter Put a Mustang Root cutter on the job to bore through stubborn roots, hard grease, compacted sand - you name it. This patent-pending design features a spade bit on the center axis and folding dual-flail cutter blades to demolish obstructions. It is self-propelled by jets of water, gliding directly to the blockage on low-profile operating skids. And it's built to withstand harsh conditions, with a lightweight, all-aluminum housing, stainless steel fittings, and a recessed hose connection. This innovative root cutter can operate at high rpm with pressures of 1,000 to 4,000 psi at flow rates up to 1.9 to 12 gpm.
Mustang Foot Pedal Stay one step ahead with this convenient foot/knee pedal. It acts as an on/off switch to free your hands during jetter operation. By controlling the power, you direct the water flow, so you'll be better able to prevent pooling of water. Adaptable to work with all Mustang jetters up to 4000 psi and 10 gpm.
Jet Thruster Head There are 8 basic types of jet thruster heads that are available, each with a specific function.
Trigger Wash Wand Trigger gun with 18" molded lance and nozzle for pressure washing. Also equipped with Quick-Connect Hose Coupler so that lance may be removed, allowing Jetter Flex-Hose to be quick-connected. For use on Jetters which have Over-Temperature Safety Dump Valve. NOTE: Does not have High-Low Nozzle for use with Siphon.
Triggerless Wash Wand Molded grip wash wand includes lance and nozzle. Works best when used with Pulse Eliminator.
Wash Wand Kit with Detergent Siphon Injector A siphon injector that is quick-connected to the jetter outlet. A Trigger Wash Wand w/30 feet of high-pressure hose is included. The High-Low nozzle on the lance controls the siphon action.
Chemical Spray Pail 5-gallon plastic pail. Screw fill cap has garden hose outlet. Included is a 30-inch section of garden hose. Used to feed antifreeze into pump for winterizing.


text:
Thought Leaders Interviews
Megatrends and Innovations
Inside infrastructure
Global Economy and Sustainability
Stories behind Projects
Infrastruc-
ture: sector consolida-
tion to create economies of scale
Exclusive Interview with Stefano Gatti
Italy's largest groups are growing in size so they can compete in world markets
San Francisco's Water System Improvement Program: fighting droughts
Exclusive Interview with Paula Kehoe
Innovation makes the city's water network among the most efficient in the United States
Flexible and sustainable: here's how the cities of the future will look
Exclusive Interview with Carlo Ratti
How digital data and new technology can help improve the quality of life and the sustainability of cities
ture, knocking down barriers
Exclusive Interview with Richard Baldwin
The role of infrastructure from the great colonial empires to globalization
Atlanta: a transpor-
tation plan to remain the USA's main hub
The city is ready to invest $172 billion by 2050
Paris-Saclay: ready for the Grand Paris Express to arrive
A new subway line from Paris will reach the research centre, considered to be among the world's top ten
The 78, Chicago's new neigh-
bourhood
The real estate development's $7.2 billion investment will build an entire new residential and office quarter in the Windy City
Guizhou, where China's economic miracle has turned farmers into city dwellers
Bridges, high speed railroads and airports now dot what used to be one of China's poorest areas
The Growing Popularity of Driverless Metros
Fully automated metros are being deployed at a faster pace as cities seek to accommodate growing populations
Green infrastruc-
ture: the future of the U.S.
Investments in clean energy and sustainable mobility to reduce air pollution
Future Megacities of the world: discover the 6 new entries
The world's megacities will number 39 in 2030, and will produce 15% of the world's GDP
Silk City: Kuwait's City of Dreams
Kuwait plans to invest $86 billion in a free economic zone called Silk City
Record Year for Supertall Building Completions
Supertall Building Completions Reached A Yearly Record of 26 in 2019
Heathrow: a masterplan to expand Europe's busiest airport
UK parliament has approved a gargantuan plan to expand Heathrow Airport
Africa's first SkyTrain
Ghana will build the first elevated train on the African continent
Sydney's infrastruc-
ture projects: new roads and sustai-
nable mobility
Sydney has embarked on an ambitious infrastructure modernisation programme
Climate-resilient infrastruc-
ture urgently needed to cope with climate change
Sustainable mobility, clean energy, and efficient water management: the infrastructure that can save the planet
"Construc-
tion Megacities": Infrastruc-
ture projects that will change the face of the world's cities
In 2019, 50 of the world's megacities had infrastructure projects in the pipeline worth over $5.3 trillion
Australia: wildfires threaten Sydney's water supply
Dams, aqueducts and electricity networks risk being damaged by the uncontrolled fires
About the US water crisis: two million people with no running water
Certain remote rural areas are in desperate need of water infrastructure
Recycling Wastewater in Turkey: a plan to fight drought
Istanbul is Using Innovative Technology to Reuse Treated Wastewater
Milan's M4: Saint Barbara's Feast Day
At the construction site, the feast day of the patron saint for tunnel workers
Greater Toronto's new light rail line
The province of Ontario has awarded a contract to build a new light rail line for the Greater Toronto Area
Washington State's infrastruc-
ture plans start with highways
Plans for road infrastructure improvements in one of the country's leading export states
The boom of megacities
Populations the size of a country in areas lacking basic infrastructure: the dilemma of the megacity
Every hour, 85 new inhabitants are registered in Lagos, 79 in Delhi, 53 in Shanghai, 51 in Mumbai and 22 in Mexico City. Although these cities are far from one another on different continents with distinct histories and traditions, they have one thing in common: unfettered growth. And this increasing rate of urbanisation will make infrastructure an essential tool for survival.
The trend is the subject of the latest edition of World Urbanization Prospects, published by the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations. It shows a significant demographic increase in a few very large cities: Lagos, as mentioned, but also Delhi, Dhaka, Kinshasa, Manila, Istanbul, San Paolo and Jakarta. Most of these cities are in developing countries, and many are in Africa, where small towns have become unruly megacities in the space of a few dozen years - exactly like what happened in Lagos.
Lagos, the giant that came out of nowhere
Up until the 1960s, Lagos was little more than a coastal town, a group of houses surrounded by farming villages. In two generations, however, the city of 200,000 has grown to a sprawling giant with a population touching 20 million, making it Africa's largest urban area and one of the biggest on the planet.
This happened because the Nigerian city became a magnet not just for Nigerians, but also for people of nearby countries looking for work or simply a better life. In the past 60 years, growth has been so consistent that Lagos today has become a megalopolis that is extremely hard to manage: it stretches across an area 1,000 square kilometres, and its main garbage dump measures 40 hectares and receives 10,000 tonnes of trash every day.
This uncontrolled growth underlines the fundamental role of basic infrastructure, from roads to water treatment. And Lagos needs more of everything because, according to the United Nations, it is expected to keep growing. If this demographic growth continues at the current rate, by 2100 Lagos will be an infinite expanse of 85-100 million inhabitants. So not only will it be the world's largest city, but also an urban conglomeration surpassing the population of entire countries. Like England, for example.
Booming big cities
Lagos was among the cities studied by Daniel Hoornweg and Kevin Pope, two professors at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. The results of their research were recently published by "The Guardian".
Besides Lagos, they found that hundreds of small cities – mostly in Africa and Asia – are growing at a disproportional and rapid rate. The starkest example is little-known Niamey, the capital of Niger, which could explode from one million people to 46 million by 2100. Along these same lines, Blantyre in southern Malawi could become as large as New York City. The demographic boom, accompanied by inefficient management of urban development, may create 100 cities of more than 5.5 million inhabitants each in the next 35 years, shifting the center of gravity of the world's largest cities to the point that by 2100 only 14 of the 100 largest will be in Europe or the Americas.
The effects of uncontrolled growth: Bangalore
Bangalore is emblematic of India's economic growth. It is a city that boasts investment in innovation and technology. Its economic growth, however, has not gone hand in hand with urban planning. According to Hoornweg and Pope, its population is set to rise from seven million to 21 million by 2100. This growth mirrors India's broader trendline. The country is on its way to becoming the world's most populous by 2050, with 1.5 billion inhabitants, of which 600 million concentrated in its cities.
Bangalore is one of the leaders of this unstoppable race, but the effects – according to the Indian Institute of Science – are ominous. In the last 30 years, the city's average temperature has risen 2.5 degrees; 88% of its vegetation has been lost; and weather-related events like flooding have become much more frequent. The solution - yet again - is a much more orderly development, better urban planning carried out with infrastructure investments and a growth strategy that makes sustainability and quality of life top priorities.
Copenhagen, an example for all
The research conducted by Hoornweg and Pope, along with the latest estimates by the United Nations, point to Copenhagen as an example for all: the population of Denmark's capital will remain stable at 1.3 million inhabitants for the next 50 years. This constant can also be applied to the high quality of living that is supported by the city's investment in infrastructure.
Take for example the Cityringen, the metro line under construction that will encircle the city and transport 72 million passengers annually. It demonstrates how an infrastructure project can serve as a tool to promote environmental sustainability, enabling Copenhagen to become one of the least car-dependent cities where 62% of residents use a bicycle for transport.
«Today our harbor is so clean we can swim in the water, and 62% of Copenhageners ride their bike to work or school every day», said Mayor Frank Jensen. «I want Copenhagen to maintain and further develop this position as a green and livable city».
Infrastructure, in turn, is contributing to a very ambitious goal: becoming the world's first carbon neutral capital city by 2025. It would prove to be a significant victory for a European city that could be transformed into an example of sustainable development and a model for future megacities.
The boom of megacities | Aerial view of Mexico City
THERE WILL BE 100 CITIES WITH OVER 5.5 MILLION INHABITANTS IN 35 YEARS' TIME
BY 2100, THE CITY OF LAGOS, NIGERIA, COULD GROW TO 100 MILLION INHABITANTS
BY 2050, INDIA'S POPULATION WILL REACH 1.5 BILLION, OF WHICH 600 MILLION WILL BE CONCENTRATED IN URBAN AREAS
THE LATEST WORLD URBANIZATION PROSPECTS STUDY BY THE UNITED NATIONS LOOKS AT SIGNIFICANT DEMOGRAPHIC GROWTH CONCENTRATED IN A FEW LARGE CITIES
IN 2100, ONLY 14 OF THE WORLD'S 100 LARGEST CITIES WILL BE IN EUROPE AND THE AMERICAS
NASA: Five billion people face risk of water shortage
China: another $60 billion for Africa
A New Babylon
Mega Trends in the Transport Sector
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


THE HAGUE (Reuters) - U.N. judges acquitted Serbian nationalist firebrand Vojislav Seselj of war crimes and crimes against humanity on Thursday, a shock verdict that delivered a boost to his anti-EU Serbian Radical Party ahead of April elections.
War victims and leaders of neighboring countries reacted with dismay to the acquittal of Seselj, who was accused of stoking murderous ethnic hatred with his fiery rhetoric during the 1990s wars that followed the break-up of federal Yugoslavia into seven successor states and killed 130,000 people.
On one occasion, Seselj gave a speech to Serbian troops, telling them: "Not a single Ustasha must leave Vukovar alive," using a derogatory term for Croats in 1991 in the eastern Croatian city on the Danube River border with Serbia. But the U.N. tribunal ruled that this did not amount to incitement.
It could not be ruled out that such speeches were made "in a context of conflict and were meant to boost the morale of the troops of his camp, rather than calling upon them to spare no one," said Judge Jean-Claude Antonetti, who headed a three-judge panel that voted 2-1 in favor of acquittal.
At Radical Party headquarters in Belgrade, Seselj's supporters cheered the stunning outcome at the U.N. tribunal - Seselj himself had expected a 25-year sentence.
Polls show his party hovering just above the 5 percent threshold it would need to return to parliament next month after four years outside.
Croatian Prime Minister Tihomir Oreskovic labeled the verdict "shameful" during a visit to Vukovar, where he laid wreaths in memory of war dead, a sentiment echoed by his Bosnian counterpart Denis Zvizdic.
Munira Subasic, who lost her husband and son in the 1995 Serb massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, said the tribunal had rewarded "an ideology of persecution and war crimes".
In a scathing and unusually strong dissent over the acquittal, one of the three judges said Seselj and his allies outside the courtroom had intimidated prosecution witnesses. "The majority sets aside all the rules of international humanitarian law," Flavia Lattanzi wrote.
Thursday's verdict ramps up the pressure on the right-wing government of Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, once an ally of Seselj who dropped his nationalism in favor of a policy of seeking Serbia's admission to the European Union.
The government is walking a tightrope at a time of growing Russian influence in southeastern Europe and risks losing votes to Seselj's camp if it is seen as too accommodating of the EU-backed ICTY, which has prosecuted mainly Serbs.
Seselj, 61, is a prolific writer known for his pugnacious temper and was a close ally of late Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, who died in his U.N. tribunal cell in The Hague a decade ago before his war crimes trial could be completed.
Seselj has never abandoned his ideal of a "Greater Serbia" incorporating parts of Croatia and Bosnia that Serb nationalist forces fought for after Yugoslavia's federal republics split away, and his message could yet tempt back Vucic supporters.
"This panel of judges contributed to removing the taint from the Serbian people," Seselj told a news conference after the news of his acquittal.
Last week, the U.N. tribunal sentenced Radovan Karadzic, former political leader of the Bosnian Serbs, to 40 years in prison for war crimes and genocide, while Ratko Mladic, the ex-Bosnian Serb military commander, remains on trial.
But since Milosevic's death, the tribunal has never managed to pin legal responsibility for Bosnia's genocide on a Belgrade Serb.
Seselj's acquittal also came as a blow to prosecutors at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia after the decade-long trial, the longest in the history of the ICTY.
Prosecutors said they were considering appealing against the acquittal of Seselj, who has been living freely in Belgrade since 2014 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. Still vigorous, he defied judges by re-immersing himself in politics.


New research at HR Wallingford in collaboration with the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL) in the U.S., has developed a toolkit that can be used to optimize the design of floating offshore renewable energy devices, by accurately simulating the response of these floating structures under realistic sea states.
A variety of concepts for floating offshore renewable energy devices is under development around the world, and each one presents its own challenges. This is not only due to the marine environments in which the devices may be placed, where they will frequently be exposed to significant wave forces, known as hydrodynamic loads, but also due to their respective operating methods. While floating wind turbines aim to limit the response to wave loads, wave energy converters, for example, are tuned to have a high response to the most energetic waves.
Being able to understand and predict the behavior of offshore floating structures, under typical or extreme environmental loads, is central to being able to assess their viability. This is particularly important in the case of offshore renewable energy where devices are intentionally placed in highly energetic marine sites.
The toolkit consists of two main components: Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) using Proteus open-source software, and Multi-Body Dynamics (MBD) using the Chrono open-source solver. Both models have been thoroughly validated separately and together.
The research project has been sponsored by CHL and the Engineer Research and Development Centre (ERDC), and HR Wallingford, under a joint collaboration agreement. Additional support was provided by the IDCORE doctorate program from the Energy Technologies Institute and the Research Councils Energy Program.
The research paper was presented at EWTEC (European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference) Ireland, in 2017 and is available to download from the University of Exeter research repository.


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Strictly Come Dancing returned for its second series on 23 October 2004 on BBC One. Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly returned to present the main show on BBC One, while Claudia Winkleman presented a new spin-off show called Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two on BBC Two. Series 1 winner Natasha Kaplinsky filled in for Daly during the first five weeks due to maternity leave. Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli, Craig Revel Horwood and Arlene Phillips returned to the judging panel.

The winner was actress Jill Halfpenny along with her dancing partner Darren Bennett, and their Jive in the final was the first dance to score a perfect 40 in the show's history.

Couples
The ten professionals and celebrities that competed were:

Scoring chart

Average chart

This table only counts for dances scored on a traditional 40-point scale.

Highest and lowest scoring performances
The best and worst performances in each dance according to the judges' scores are as follows:

Aled Jones is the only celebrity not to land on this list.

Couples' highest and lowest scoring dances

Weekly scores and songs
Unless indicated otherwise, individual judges scores are given (in parenthesis) in this order from left to right: Craig Revel Horwood, Arlene Phillips, Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli.

Week 1
Running order

° This week featured the lowest scoring dance in Strictly history, performed by Quentin & Hazel.

° Quentin & Hazel were also awarded the first ever 'one' awarded by both Craig and Arlene. This is the only dance in the shows' history to have received two 'ones' and the only 'one' ever awarded by Arlene.

Week 2
Running order

° This week featured the lowest scoring Quickstep in Strictly history, performed by Diarmuid & Nicole.

Week 3

Running order

Week 4
Running order

Week 5: Blackpool Week

Running order

Week 6: Quarter-final

Week 7: Semi-final

Running order (Round 1)

Running order (Round 2)

Week 8: Final (At Blackpool)

Running order (Part 1)

Running order (Part 2)

Running order (Part 3)

° This week featured the first 'ten' ever awarded for a Ballroom routine in Strictly history (Denise & Ian's Quickstep). The tens were awarded, by Arlene and Bruno.

° This week also featured the first perfect score from the judges awarded to Jill & Darren's Jive.

Dance chart

  Highest scoring dance
  Lowest scoring dance

The dances performed during Series 2 were as follows:

Week 1: Cha Cha Cha or Waltz
Week 2: Rumba or Quickstep
Week 3: Jive or Tango
Week 4: Paso Doble or Foxtrot
Week 5 (Blackpool Week): Samba
Week 6: Two Unlearned Dances from Weeks 1–2
Week 7: Two Unlearned Dances from Weeks 3–4
Week 8 (Final): Favourite ballroom, favourite Latin & Showdance

Notes

Season 02
2004 British television seasons


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Summer That Was A Hot 'Gritty Nightmare' Inspired Famed Pulitzer-Winning Novel
If the recent heat wave in the Northeast and Southeast was rough, it's nothing compared to the "Dirty '30s."
By John Roach March 22, 2022
In this June 1938 photo, a family in Pittsburg County, Oklahoma, is forced to leave their home during the Great Depression, due to a serious drought in the region. (Dorothea Lange/Keystone/Getty Images)
If it wasn't one thing, it was another. And then another. And still more.
It was nearly 90 years ago when stifling heat, drought conditions, dust storms and damage to crops and cattle — all on top of the years-long Great Depression — caused unfathomable damage for millions of Americans, particularly those in areas of the United States that came to be known as the Dust Bowl.
There were even biblical-style plagues as grasshoppers and chinch bugs overwhelmed large sections of the country and decimated farmers' wheat and corn.
A young girl in North Dakota keeping a diary at the time wrote, "Life in what the newspapers call 'the Dust Bowl' is becoming a gritty nightmare."
If the recent heat wave in the Northeast and Southeast was rough, it's nothing compared to the "Dirty '30s." The widespread heat started early and lasted most of the summer of 1934.
Three girls modeling various dustbowl masks to be worn in areas where the amount of dust in the air causes breathing difficulties, circa 1935. (Bert Garai/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
According to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, from June 19 to Aug. 21, "not a single day passed without a temperature of 100 degrees or more being registered at someplace in the country (excluding desert stations … where such temperatures are normal)."
From June through August 1934, Fort Smith, Arkansas, experienced 53 days with a daily high temperature of 100 degrees or higher (its average the last 30 years is 12.5 days), Topeka, Kansas, had 47 days (average of 11.9), Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, had 45 (average of 6.1), and Columbia, Missouri had 34 (average of 12.5). All of this occurred at a time when there was no air conditioning for relief.
"Clearly, if a heat wave goes on for 10 days, 12 days or more — as the one in 1934 did — it can be devastating," said AccuWeather Founder and CEO Dr. Joel N. Myers. "The heat wiped out crops and people were made destitute. The Great Depression was prolonged and made much more severe because of the heat," Myers continued
"Plus, there was a huge drought – worse than anything we have seen recently," he added. "So, it was a combination of drought and heat, the topsoil blew off and ruined crop production for years into the future. The years 1934 and 1936 were the most dramatic volatility of the weather that we've seen in a couple hundred years in this country."
April 1938: A dust bowl farmstead in Dallam County, Texas, showing the desolation produced by the dust and wind on the countryside adding to the problems of the depression in the U.S. (Three Lions/Getty Images)
Indeed, as bad as 1934 was, 1936 may have been worse. High-temperature records that still stand to this day were set in 13 states, including 121 degrees in Kansas and North Dakota, and 120 degrees in Oklahoma, Texas and South Dakota.
Intense heat, expanded the number of areas facing drought conditions and massive dust storms resulted in official estimates of at least 5,000 deaths nationwide that summer of 1936.
"I think a lot of deaths were unreported because they did not classify deaths the way we do today," said Myers. "It may have been 50,000 people.
"The longevity of a heat wave has a big effect," Myers said. "Your body has a certain amount of resiliency, but the longer the heat wave goes, the more it creates a stress on your body and the more it takes out of you. That's why the death toll accelerates with the length of a heat wave. It's not only how hot it gets, but how long it lasts."
The heat and drought "gave new energy to the smothering dust storms that blackened skies," according to The Old Farmer's Almanac. The Dust Bowl area covered 300,000 square miles, and dust-filled skies carried soil as far as the entire Eastern Seaboard. Trains missed scheduled stops because they couldn't see the towns as they passed through them, the doors and windows of homes had to be sealed to keep out the dust, and ceilings collapsed from the weight of dust that had collected in attics.
In this November 1936 photo, a mother, originally from Oklahoma, who works as a cotton picker near Fresno, California, stands with her five children. The Dust Bowl led to a massive migration of Oklahoma and Texas farmers out of the region, many of whom traveled to California in search of jobs. (Dorothea Lange/Farm Security Administration, Library of Congress)
It was the final straw for many Midwestern farmers. The serious health impact of the pollution, extreme heat and drought of the 1930s led to a mass exodus from the middle of the country east and west, as dramatized in John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "The Grapes of Wrath."
One Oklahoma farmer, in correspondence with a friend in Maryland, shared how the conditions weighed on her.
"On days like this," Carolina A. Henderson wrote, "when William Vaughn Moody's expression 'dust to eat' suggests a literal danger, we can't help questioning whether the traits we would rather think of as courage and perseverance are not actually recklessness and inertia. Who shall say?"
For the latest weather news, check back on AccuWeather.com. Watch the AccuWeather Network on DIRECTV, Frontier, Spectrum, fuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios. AccuWeather Now is now available on your preferred streaming platform.
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Report No. 122
Approach of the Bodies in the Past to this Question
3.1. The Law Commission submitted its Fourteenth Report on Reform of Judicial Administration in September 1958. By that time, Labour Appellate Tribunal was already abolished. The Law Commission, while examining the inflow of work in the Supreme Court, took special notice of the fact that the Court had to grant special leave to appeal against decisions of various Labour Tribunals. It was noticed that in the year 1956, as many as 257 special leave applications against decisions of Labour Tribunals were granted, out of which 140 such applications were allowed.
The Commission was of the opinion that the situation created by these large number of appeals admitted in labour matters causes concern in two respects. The first effect noticed was that it clogged the work of the Supreme Court notwithstanding the recent increase in its strength and secondly, that the disposal by the Supreme Court was not equal to the rising institution with which it was faced. According to the Commission, these matters have in a sense been forced upon the Court inasmuch as the Court could not refuse to entertain appeals against the decisions which appeared to be arbitrary and capricious and made in disregard of well-accepted principles of law and natural justice.
According to the Commission, a large number of applications for special leave in these matters made to the Supreme Court synchronised with the abolition of the Labour Appellate Tribunal. The situation of which notice was taken was that against the decisions of the Industrial Tribunals, no appeal lay to any forum. Accordingly, in most cases, a petition for special leave was filed in the Supreme Court contending that the decision was unjust and arbitrary.
The fact that the relief under Article 226 of the Constitution by the High Court would be by a writ of certiorari which would permit the High Court to set aside the award/order of the Industrial Tribunal ; but the High Court cannot make its own decision and substitute for that of the Tribunal, the rush to Supreme Court under Article 136 was inevitable. Having noticed this situation, the First Law Commission was of the opinion that:
"It is, therefore, imperative that the Legislature should intervene and provide for an adequate right of appeal in these matters. Such a right of appeal could be provided either by constituting Tribunals of Appeal under the labour legislation itself or by conferring a right of appeal to the High Court in suitable cases."1
1. LCI, Fourteenth Report, (1958), Vol. I.
3.2. It may be recalled that the situation noticed by the Law Commission in 1958 was the emerging scenario on the abolition of the Labour Appellate Tribunal and the situation had not deteriorated, to the extent it has now. The latest situation is more depressing. The figures tell their own tale. Let them speak for themselves-14,82,450. (Appendix W)-as per the information given to the Parliament on 18-11-87.
One aspect that unfortunately escaped the notice of the Law Commission was that on the abolition of the Labour Appellate Tribunal, the awards of the Industrial Tribunals scattered throughout the length and breadth of this country had finality subject to constitutional remedies. There was no body at an all-India level which can provide uniformity in this matter-a function discharged by the Labour Appellate Tribunal.
The awards of the Industrial Tribunals on questions of wages, dearness allowance, retirement benefits, different allowances, if not brought to some common denominator, were likely to introduce conflict and chaos. Uniformity in this behalf can only be introduced by an Appellate Tribunal having an all-India jurisdiction and a national perspective. Conferring appellate jurisdiction on the High Court over the awards of the Industrial Tribunal would not only not have improved the matter but the much desired uniformity would be shattered. The lack and absence of uniformity surfaced itself on the disappearance of the Labour Appellate Tribunal.
3.3. The Government of India constituted a Commission, chaired by Justice P.B. Gajendragadkar, Chief Justice (retired) of the Supreme Court, for a comprehensive review of various matters connected with labour. One of the important aspects dealt with by it is the power of the State to intervene in the settlement of industrial disputes commencing with the Trade Disputes Act, 1929, and ending with the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.
Conceding that the ultimate legal remedy for the settlement of an unresolved dispute is its inference to adjudication by the appropriate Government, the Commission observed that during the last twenty years, the adjudication machinery has exercised considerable influence on several aspects of conditions of work and labour-management relations. It was noticed that 'adjudication is dilatory, expensive and even discriminatory as the power of reference vests in the appropriate Government'. It was also of the opinion that by and large 'it has failed to achieve industrial peace'.
The Commission felt that disadvantages noticed by it may have been over-stated. It indicated that greater scope should be given to collective bargaining. Ultimately, it recommended the setting up of an Industrial Relations Commission at National and State levels for settling disputes broadly covering matters listed in the Third Schedule to the I.D Act. The broad set up of the Industrial Relations Commission and the method of appointment of the President and the Judicial and Non-Judicial Members of the Commission was indicated.
The procedure for settlement of disputes was chalked out. The Commission was to replace Industrial, Tribunals and National Industrial Tribunal. Labour Court was to be set up in each State to be presided over by Judicial Members and appeal over the decision of the Labour Court in certain clearly defined matters may lie to the High Court within whose jurisdiction the Court is located.1 The recommendation remained unattended.
1. National Labour Commission, Chapter 23, paras. 23.61 to 23.65.
3.4. The National Labour Conference held on 17th and 18th of September, 1982, appointed a Committee under the Chairmanship of Shri Sanat Mehta, the then Minister of Finance and Labour, Gujarat, inviting it to examine important industrial relations issues, one of which being machinery and fora for resolution of industrial disputes. This Committee took note of the fact that a National Labour Conference had practically approved the recommendations of the National Commission on Labour for setting up of Industrial Relations Commissions at the Centre and State level for resolution of industrial disputes.
The Committee recommended that the new legislation dealing with industrial relations must provide for setting up of independent Industrial Relations Commissions and the constitution, set up, qualifications of Chairman, Members and the subordinate officers and staff shall be on the same lines as given in the recommendations of the National Commission on Labour.
It recommended setting up of Standing Labour Courts to work under the overall supervision of the Industrial Relations Commission and they would deal with disputes relating to rights and obligations, interpretation and implementation) of award etc. Reading the Report as a whole, it appears that the Industrial Relations Commission at the Centre as well as State level was to have original jurisdiction.
3.5. On receipt of the Report of the Committee chaired by Shri Sanat Mehta, the Standing Labour Committee formulated the infrastructure of the legislation to be introduced in this behalf. The State level industrial Commission was to have an appellate jurisdiction over the orders and decisions of the Labour Courts. The Industrial Relations Commission at the Centre will have both original and appellate jurisdiction.
3.6. Commencing from the setting up of the Labour Appellate Tribunal in 1950 upto the recommendations of the Committee chaired by Shri Sanat Mehta, and consequent upon its recommendations, the infrastructure drawn up by the Standing Labour Committee unambiguously converge on the view that there has to be a forum at the national level having both original and appellate jurisdiction which would enable that body to introduce an all-India perspective in the matter of industrial relations.
Of necessity, such body must be composed of such persons having intimate knowledge of labour problems, economic planning, just and fair distribution of wealth, socio-economic justice and legal formulations as would enable it to dispose of matters expeditiously and effectively. It also clearly emerges that the jurisdiction of the High Court in labour matter has to be abolished to avoid the confusion arising from different High Courts taking different view in matters of common interest.
The present approach is that apart from the advantages herein indicated, this new set up will help in reducing the workload in the High Courts and the Supreme Court, because the jurisdiction of the High Court in labour matters will be abolished and the jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Supreme Court will be sparingly exercised, as a specialist body with an all-India jurisdiction has examined the matter. This is the justification, if one is needed, for the present approach.


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Report – Stumbling block for Newcastle takeover as Mike Ashley wants Sports Direct adverts to remain as part of any deal
It is now 18 days since Mike Ashley popped up on Sky News, telling everybody that it was possible he could have sold Newcastle United by the end of December.
A mixture of laughter, hope, scepticism and bemusement met the NUFC owner's announcement, as supporters wondered why was he going public with this, if takeover talks were so far down the line?
Plenty of media coverage since that point but a desperate shortage of detail, both Peter Kenyon and Garry Cook having their names put forward, though their claimed roles are as trying to put together the money men, rather than they themselves having the money to do so.
The only clear action we have seen, is confirmation on Thursday that Mike Ashley has jetted off on holiday, rather than being around to hand the keys over when…an imminent sale of Newcastle United goes through.
A new report claims extra inside information and reason(s) as to why there has been no significant progress on the Newcastle takeover.
It is The Mirror who are reporting two obstacles.
They say Mike Ashley wants Sports Direct advertising retained at St James Park as part of any deal.
Meanwhile, they also claim that none of the four supposedly active bidders, have so far agree to meet Ashley's valuation of the football club.
With these media reports, you can never be sure how accurate they are, if at all, due to the fact that what they are reporting also happen to be the fears that fans are voicing already.
Namely, Mike Ashley has no intention of selling or is asking far higher than what the club is actually worth, which are basically the same thing and would mean no chance of the club being sold.
Whilst supporters have also always voiced fears that even if the club was sold, Mike Ashley still wouldn't allow there to be a clean break, with the potential of insisting on the likes of the SD adverts remaining at St James Park and/or continuing involvement by Sports Direct with the club's physical and online shops.
If there are a number of bidders interested in the club, which surely should be the case if NUFC is genuinely up for sale at a fair price, then a sale should happen as a result of normal negotiations when it comes to selling any business.
However, there have been so many false dawns where Mike Ashley ha claimed he is really really trying to sell the club this time, and only last year when the Amanda Staveley bid was made public, Ashley's legal representative Andrew Henderson told Sky Sports that as well as the Staveley interest, they were also already in contact with a host of other serious bidders keen to buy the club.
Whilst Mike Ashley and his people were more than happy to demonise Amanda Staveley and claim she had been simply wasting his (Ashley's) time, they never even felt the need to even mention where all these other serious bidders had disappeared to, that THEY had told us were there, indicating at least one of these serious bidders would be buying the club.
So 12 months on, has anything changed?
Jim Robertson