With so many things to do in Hästveda, it's important to choose a good Hotel.
Located in Hästveda, surrounded by nature, this property is 22 km from central Hässleholm. It provides simple cottage accommodation with a kitchenette, as well as a private patio with outdoor seating.


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BNP Paribas publishes its voluntary tender offer for DAB Bank AG
Find here the latest press releases from BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas' wholly owned subsidiary, BNP Paribas Beteiligungsholding AG, published its voluntary tender offer for DAB Bank AG ("DAB Bank").
BNP Paribas publishes DAB Bank offer document.
- Acceptance period for the offer to run until 13 October 2014
- Offer price of €4.78 per DAB Bank share, as previously announced
- Premium of 28.5% over 12 months average price
The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht, "BaFin") has approved the publication of the offer document pursuant to the German Securities Acquisition and Takeover Act (Wertpapiererwerbs - und Übernahmegesetz/ "German Takeover Act"). The offer document and an additional English translation, which was not reviewed by BaFin, are available online at https://invest.bnpparibas.com/en in the "Events" section under the entry dated 5 August 2014.
Publication of the offer document marks the beginning of the acceptance period of the offer, which ends on 13 October 2014, unless it is extended pursuant to the statutory provisions of the German Takeover Act. Shareholders of DAB Bank can tender their shares at a price of €4.78 per share, as indicated in BNP Paribas' previous announcement of 5 August 2014. For further details regarding the offer and on how to accept, shareholders of DAB Bank should refer to the offer document.
On 5 August 2014, BNP Paribas announced that it had entered into a conditional agreement with Unicredit to acquire its 81.39% interest in DAB Bank at a price of €4.78 per share. Shareholders of DAB Bank are invited to tender their shares at the same price BNP Paribas agreed with Unicredit. The offer price represents a premium of 28.5% on the undisturbed 12 months average price and of 29.5% on the average analyst target prices before announcement of the agreement with Unicredit, as specified in the offer document.
A minimum acceptance threshold has not been set. Completion of the offer is subject to receipt of certain banking regulatory approvals and non-objections by certain banking associations.
About BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas (www.bnpparibas.com) has a presence in 75 countries with more than 180,000 employees, including 140,000 in Europe. It ranks highly in its three core activities: Retail Banking, Investment Solutions and Corporate & Investment Banking. In Europe, the Group has four domestic markets (Belgium, France, Italy and Luxembourg) and BNP Paribas Personal Finance is the leader in consumer lending. BNP Paribas is rolling out its integrated retail banking model across Mediterranean basin countries, in Turkey, in Eastern Europe and a large network in the Western part of the United States. In its Corporate & Investment Banking and Investment Solutions activities, BNP Paribas also enjoys top positions in Europe, a strong presence in the Americas and solid and fast-growing businesses in Asia-Pacific.
About BNP Paribas in Germany
The BNP Paribas Group has been active in Germany since 1947 and has successfully positioned itself on the market with 13 companies. Private customers, companies and institutions are looked after by roughly 4,000 employees at 19 locations all over the country. The wide-ranging products and services offered by BNP Paribas are almost identical to that of a universal bank.
www.bnpparibas.de
Follow us on Twitter : @BNPParibas_pr

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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informationnarratives
This is a blog about library and information theory and practice, with special interest in both public and academic librarianship…
Leadership and Organizations with an Anarchist 'Soul'
October 10, 2014 Information Managementanarchism, Fairholm, flat management, information studies, leadership, management, postmodernism, strategic thinking, top-down managementgarylacumbre
Mathew R. Fairholm in his article 'Leadership and Organizational Strategy' makes a clear distinction between 'strategic planning' and 'strategic thinking', the latter being more concerned with a downward focus on ensuring that employees throughout the company understand the values and purpose of the company as a whole, thereby leaving them with a greater sense of connection to the company or institute. In this sense, strategic thinking leans more towards leadership than traditional management. Fairholm's theory is particularly interesting in that he emphasises the leader's abilities to 'see and feel' important issues within a company. It is a theory that promotes a great deal of trust between employees and the company. In a more practical sense, the best experiences I have had in my 10 year teaching career have taken place in schools/ companies that I have had a trusting relationship with. This is because this trust allowed me to connect more to the companies' ethos.
Given my interest in postmodern discourses, I am particularly impressed with the 'Why-What-How Approach' to strategic thinking. Postmodernism is inherently concerned with the dispersal of homogenous discourses and the 'Why-What-How Approach' sees the world as non-linear allowing organizations to focus on its relationship with the whole. Leadership in this sense gives an organization more 'soul' in that the dispersion of homogeneity allows, in a self-consciously contradictory postmodern sense, for the organization to have greater identity from top to bottom. I recently listened to a lecture by Simon Sinek in which he repeated the mantra which he believes allows some companies to succeed when equally strong competitors fail: 'it's not what you do, it's how you do it'. Sinek argues that a company's belief in itself is its greatest marketing tool. In this regard, strategic thinking that allows all employees to feed into the belief system of the organization only adds to the organization's purpose. Employees then, add to the 'values' of the company/ institute rather than only to its objectives, thus allowing them to become more connected and involved.
In many ways, Fairholm's reference to the unleashing of information over the controlling of it, along with his principle of working with 'unmeasurables' reminds me of 'Anarcho-syndicalism'. I don't want to turn readers away with the mentioning of Anarchism (I wish they had named it something less aggressive!), a term which does carry a lot of negative reactionary connotations. Anarcho-sydicalism supports the idea that workers should be self-managing and that they should be empowered to make decisions within an organization independently of hierarchy. This is because all decisions that they make for the organization directly affects themselves. Allowing workers to have this kind of empowerment is perhaps the most effective way of allowing them to add 'values' to the organization as a whole, to connect to it, believe in it, and to essentially give it 'soul'.
Fairholm, Mathew R., 'Leadership and Organization Planning', The Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal, Volume 14(1), 2009, article 3.
Sinek, Simon, 'How Great Leaders Inspire Action', http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?language=en
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Where do plains zebras live?
They have a wide range in east and southern Africa. They usually live in treeless grasslands and savanna woodlands and are absent from deserts, rainforests, and wetlands. This species' habitat is shrinking, however, and they are now extinct in Burundi and Lesotho.
What is a plains zebra?
Also known as the common zebra, plains zebras are the most common and widespread species of zebra — even appearing on the coat of arms of Botswana. Larger than the mountain zebra, and smaller than the Grevy's, this ungulate is horse-like but has a mane of short, erect hair, a tail with a tuft at the tip, and bears recognizable vertical stripes.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of zebras gather up their young and begin the long journey from Tanzania's Serengeti plains, north to Kenya. This annual trek to find food and water covers a distance of around 2,900 kilometers (1,800 miles) and exposes them to a myriad of dangers. River crossings leave zebras vulnerable to crocodiles, while the size of the migration itself brings lions, hyenas, and wild dogs.
They live in small family groups called "harems." These groups consist of one stallion, several mares, and their offspring. Harems generally remain together for months or even years, making it an incredibly stable family unit.
Plains zebras have at least 6 different vocal calls. A two-syllable call is used to alert herd members to predators while snorts indicate happiness. They also use facial expressions to communicate. When greeting each other, zebras will stick their ears up and push their faces forward. When feeling threatened they will press their ears against their heads.
Unlike many ungulates in Africa, zebras do not require short grass to graze. Instead, they eat a wide variety of different grasses, sometimes even eating leaves and young trees. As a result, they can range more widely than many other species, often venturing into woodlands. They are considered to be "pioneer grazers" — preparing plains for more specialized grazers who rely on short, nutritional grasses.
Habitat loss and competition with livestock threaten plains zebras.
Habitat loss due to human encroachment, agricultural practices, and livestock grazing remains an issue in the ongoing conservation of this species. These problems seem to be especially prevalent in the southern half of their range and account for much of recent population decline.
Hunting for plains zebras persists.
Especially severe in the northern half of their range, over-hunting poses a serious danger to zebra populations. They are hunted for their meat and their distinctive skins.
Set aside safe space for wildlife.
AWF works with governments and communities to designate wildlife corridors — large swaths of land that zebras can use to from one park, or country, to another. Corridors link protected areas and allow wildlife to follow rains or migrate to their feeding grounds.
In Kenya, communities have improved their livelihoods through a partnership with Ol Pejeta Conservancy, financed by African Wildlife Foundation. The Linking Livestock Markets to Conservation initiative links pastoralists to premium livestock markets and provides high prices to pastoralists who adhere to conservation criteria, thereby reducing overstocking, rangeland degradation, and resource competition for wildlife.


The box shown here is for the Dinky Toys #408 (522/922) Big Bedford Lorry model.
It is a 'Supertoys' style lid & base type box which was originally used to supply both the maroon & fawn and blue & yellow finished versions of this model.
If the lid is turned over, it has an illustration of the other colour finish model on the other side.


WHAT DOES NOVEMBER 2 MEAN FOR ILLINOIS AGRICULTURE?
In the wake of a long night waiting up to see the results of the elections (and still waiting to see the outcome of the Gubernatorial race) I'd like to take a moment to reflect on what the outcomes, or proposed outcomes, mean for agriculture. If we assume Governor Quinn wins, we already know he supports an income tax increase and I have to assume that it will be a priority to help resolve our budget mess. The problem with this plan of attack is that it only solves half the annual shortfall at most and does nothing to address our State's huge backlog of past bills yet to be paid. That means either greater revenue increases or budget cuts, neither of which will be easy.
Furthermore, if Governor Quinn decides to only represent the Chicago area, ag and business are in for a rough four years as additional revenue and/or cuts will not be made over a broad base. Long-term, this continues to put the Illinois economy in a tailspin and business leaves the state.
Farmers can't move the land so our businesses can't leave the state! Our choice is to be proactive early on so that the "pain" is shared as equitably as possible and our state's economy can grow. If not, the result will be that our state will continue its economic decline.
Moving on to the federal races, I was blown away by the magnitude of the Republican wave. We had four Congressional seats "flip" from Democrat to Republican: Halvorson, Foster, Hare and Bean. I had expected only one or two.
What does this mean? First of all I hope that the zealousness of USEPA on regulations slows down and in some cases stop. Although it was not an election issue, I believe that USEPA is not well-liked in the rural areas for the agenda they have been trying to move forward. The danger for agriculture though is to assume that all of this goes away. Some will slow down, some will be put on the shelf, but some will continue. As an example, nutrient regulation will continue because the movement of nutrient regulation is based on the Clean Water Act that all states were to implement and USEPA was to enforce back in 2000. There's no getting away from this one.
The other major effect to agriculture is in the area of funding. Nearly everyone elected last night in either the US House or the US Senate will want to demonstrate to the electorate they did something about the deficit when they are up for re-election. This will be a priority. That means that Farm Bill, business tax credits, ethanol tax credits, research, and any other spending by the Federal Government will be under the microscope. This is not a bad thing, but if we expect our elected officials to reduce the federal deficit, ag must be prepared that some of our own programs will be part of the solution.
All in all, it was a fun election night that offers a host of new challenges and opportunities for ag. We have four new US Congressman and a new US Senator that know very little about ag issues and I look forward to the dialogue as we teach them what Illinois' number one industry is all about.


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Замок Святого Олафа (; ) — перша шведська озерна фортеця, збудована з розрахунком на протистояння вогнепальній артилерії.

Розташована в муніципалітеті Савонлінна провінції Південне Саво, Фінляндія, на скелястому острові між озерами Гаапавесі та Піхлаявесі, з'єднаними із затокою озера Саймаа. Біля замку виникло поселення, що в 1639 році стало містом Нюслотт (Нейшлот). Відповідно, і фортеця до 1917 року в Російській імперії часто називалася Нейшлотською.

Історія
Замок Святого Олафа був закладений за наказом регента  1475 року на випадок війни з Великим князівством Московським, що тільки-но загарбало Новгородську республіку. Регент прагнув скористатися політичною нестабільністю на сході для того, щоб закріпитися на колишній Новгородській території на схід від нового московсько-шведського кордону, установленого Орєховським миром.

Замок був споруджений на озері, посеред заплутаної мережі водойм і проток, які б ускладнили облогу. Спочатку фортеця була названа шведами Нюслотт (, що означає «новий замок»). Судячи з особливостей військової архітектури, будівельники замку були запрошені до Фінляндії з Ревеля, де на той час велося спорудження нових міських укріплень. Будівельні роботи тривали до кінця XV століття.

У XVI столітті гарнізон замку становив не менше 200 осіб, що робило його найголовнішим форпостом шведського панування на сході, поряд із Виборзьким замком. Замок із честю витримав облогу московських військ під час воєн 1495-97 і 1554-57 рр. (У фінських джерелах немає інформації про облогу замку в 1554-57 рр.)

Після виходу Швеції з Кальмарської унії фортеця залишилася під орудою шведів. Згодом навколо замку виросло поселення, яке дістало назву Савонлінна. Торгівля йшла добре, і 1639 року поселення вже мало статус міста.

Під час Північної війни фортеця стала однією з основних перешкод на шляху російських військ углиб Швеції. Після шеститижневої облоги 28 липня 1714 гарнізон замку здався російським військам. У 1721 році за умовами Ніштадтського мирного договору фортеця була повернена Швеції. Кордон знову пройшов від замку на тій самій відстані, що й до Столбовського мирного договору 1617 року.

Під час чергової російсько-шведської війни 6 серпня 1742 року російські війська знову підійшли до замку. Гарнізон фортеці складався лише із сотні людей і вже за два дні склав зброю. У 1743 році був укладений Абоський мир, за яким фортеця відійшла до Росії разом з усім регіоном Савонлінна.

У 1788 році під час російсько-шведської війни фортеця витримала облогу шведських військ.

Склад
Фортеця складалася з:
 чотирьох іменних бастіонів («Клок», «Васерпорт», «Лільпорт» та «Дік»), південні бастіони трьохярусного вогню (два яруси з казематів, третій із верхньої платформи, що має кам'яний парапет);
 трьох іменних веж («Кіль», «Кірх» та «Клок»), вежітрьох ярусного вогню (два яруси з казематів, третій із верхньої платформи, що має кам'яний парапет);
 мури між вежами — високі, до 8 сажнів, товсті кам'яні стіни з парапетом і валганг за ним;
 інші частини муру — земляні вали з кам'яними ескарпами у розрізу води і з кам'яними тильними траверсами («Парад»);
 північно-східний фронт фортеці посилений зламаним зовнішнім валом, який у документах 1900-х років називався анвелопою.

У 1792—1793 роках гарнізон фортеці складався з артилерійської команди — 81 особа — й однієї роти від виборзьких батальйонів фортеці. Основне озброєння формування — 48 гармат і 12 мортир і гаубиць. Фортеця як формування скасована в 1835 році.

Фортеця на початок XXI сторіччя
На початок XXI сторіччя Замок Святого Олафа як найпівнічніший кам'яний замок середньовіччя є одним із великих туристичних центрів Фінляндії. У стінах фортеці діють музеї, присвячені історії замку і православному іконопису.

З 1912 року у фортеці проходить Савонліннський оперний фестиваль. Перші фестивалі, організовані фінської оперною співачкою Айно Акті, мали назву співочих свят. З 1967 року оперні фестивалі проводять щорічно.

Див. також

Примітки

Посилання

 Про замок на сайті Агентства культурної спадщини Фінляндії
 Крепость Олавинлинна Ссылка на источник: http://www.infosavonlinna.ru/
 Крепость Олавинлинна
 Оперний фестиваль у Савонлінні

Історія Фінляндії
Савонлінна
Архітектура Фінляндії
Фортеці
Споруди, збудовані 1475
засновані в Європі 1475

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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GENRE: HAMMER, MONSTER, POSSESSION
When is a horror movie not really a horror movie? Answer: when the goddamn monster disappears for a full hour until the final 2 scenes of the movie. Such is the case with The Gorgon, a Hammer entry that gets the cast (Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee), the director (Terrence Fisher) and the setting (colorful castles and villages) correct, but adds in a wholly underwhelming script by John Gilling.
Luckily, the basic plot was interesting enough to maintain just enough interest to keep me awake. There's a mythological creature turning folks into stone, and a whole bunch of stuffy British guys are fighting over the opportunity to stop it. Cushing is also involved in a jealous rivalry with some other guy over his assistant (the classy Barbara Shelley), who clearly wants to nail the other dude. It's an interesting role for Cushing, he's not really the villain, but he's hardly a Helsing-esque hero either. It's more of a Vincent Price type kind of sinister/kind of tragic role, and I hope I see other Cushing roles like this (readers: to the recommendation thread!).
Lee also plays sort of against type. He's a professor or scientist or whatever, but he plays it like Adam Goldberg might, with an air of laid back detachment. Which is just a pretentious way of saying he seems either drunk or high or both throughout the entire movie. He also doesn't really do much. I was all excited for the idea of another Cushing/Lee face-off or team-up, but the two only interact once in the entire movie. It's like Hammer's version of Heat. Bring on Hammer's Righteous Kill!
I also noticed something interesting - neither Cushing or Lee are given dramatic entrances. Both of them are introduced as casually as every other character in the movie. I started wondering if this was always the case with older films; is giving the big star a really big, impressive first appearance in the movie a relatively new thing? Nowadays, if Christopher Lee shows up in a movie, they'll probably show his feet first or maybe have the camera spin around from back to front or whatever.
But back to the point - the scares and horror are just not there in this one. After the monster kills two folks, and scares another guy, nothing even remotely horror-related occurs until the final 10 or 15 minutes, leaving a 45-50 min chunk of the 85 film comprised of nothing but folks yammering on and Cushing fiddling with his seemingly unrelated science experiments. And even the horror is pretty weak; most of it is comprised of the wind blowing open a wooden door (an event that occurs I think four times in the film).
The snake head monster is as goofy as they come, with Star Trek-esque levels of cheapness on display. You know those plastic snakes you buy at crappy toy stores, you hold one end and the rest sort of pendulum swings back and forth? It looks like they broke the heads off a few of those and glued it to one of Winona Ryder's hats from Autumn In New York. Maybe that's why the damn thing only appears in about 35 seconds of the movie.
The ending saves it though. You find out who the Medusa-thing has been possessing, and it's a surprise (to me). Plus, it's a real downer, because you like the person, and it's worth noting that the monster/person dies rather gruesomely, and instead of ending right there (as any other Hammer film would do), there's another minute in which someone else you like dies as well. It's like they broke protocol just to leave you kind of sad, which I appreciate.
Oh well. Not every Hammer movie can be a classic.
Genres: Hammer, Monster, Possession
Cam1020 January 30, 2009 at 2:23 PM
Besides Brides of Dracula and Dracula, Prince of Darkness, this was my favorite Hammer film as a kid. What I liked about this was the way they subverted the viewer's expectations by having Lee as the hero and Cushing as the villain.
The gorgon's big scene is pretty disappointing, especially compared to the awesome Medusa sequence from Clash of the Titans (which is definitely the creepiest scene Harryhausen ever crafted). That said, the movie isn't hurt too much by it. I think the book Terror on Tape described it best: (and I'm paraphrasing here) "A gothic horror version of Vertigo".


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Home/Ecommerce News/Alibaba Takes On Amazon…
Alibaba Takes On Amazon Web Services
One of the biggest successes in the ecommerce support market has been Amazon Web Services. The cloud service provider is the fastest growing business under the Amazon umbrella. It rose 42.7% to $3.66 billion in the last 12 months and is the market leader in the cloud sector and expected to go from strength to strength even with more and more rivals entering the market.
Eyeing the success of its rival's web and cloud services arm, Alibaba now also intends to increase their presence in this competitive market as part of their overall plan to overtake Amazon by 2019. Whilst they are someway behind their American competitor, this may not be such the disadvantage as people think says Simon Hu of Aliyun, Alibaba's cloud computing arm.
"Amazon, Microsoft and others have already laid the groundwork for us by educating the markets about cloud in the U.S. and Europe, so we have an even better opportunity to join in the competition."
Unproven Outside Of China
Alibaba's cloud services has boasted triple digit year-over-year growth for eight consecutive quarters but it does have some limitations, namely that it is as yet unproven outside of the Chinese market.
"There is a lot of attention around Alibaba now because their global expansion plan is so aggressive," said Agatha Poon, research director for APAC Services at 451 Research. "But at least for now, there is no immediate threat to the major U.S. hyperscale cloud providers.
"That's because Alibaba's expansion plan is tied to helping Chinese businesses expand outside of China. Alibaba wants to bring their customers to different countries and different parts of the world, so their expansion is viewed [as] an opportunity for Chinese companies, not just for Alibaba."
Paul Miller, senior analyst at Forrester says: "Their go-to-market in Europe recognizes that brand recognition is still fairly low, so they're initially targeting Chinese companies looking to expand to Europe. This strategy does make some sense, as they can build scale, credibility and visibility by initially working with customers that already know and understand them from China."
However, this may not be a strategy that the company can maintain forever. Whilst starting with the rapidly expanding Chinese market may make sense at the moment, for the Alibaba to truly scale its cloud service it will need to start to appeal to customers outside of mainland China.
"To truly scale, they do need to start appealing to non-Chinese customers," said Miller. "And there, they will find themselves in direct competition for mindshare with the existing hyperscale cloud providers. Alibaba's cloud is certainly credible and technologically capable. Superficially, it demonstrates a lot of similarities to AWS. Alibaba also appears competitive on price, and is beginning to demonstrate some differentiation in areas like AI and machine learning. If it can keep that up, there may be features there that are sufficiently compelling to attract new customers."
However, with the grip that Amazon Web Services has over the cloud market, could this be one battle that Alibaba simply can't win?
Amazon Officially Arrives In Australia
Shopify Announces eBay Integration


Win - AVERY (4-1).  Loss - FARIS (1-3).  Save - None.
HBP - by FARIS (WERMAN).
Virginia 1st - STREET singled through the left side. STREET stole second.
scored. HAGAN lined out to lf. 2 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
lined out to p. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
stealing. 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 error, 0 LOB.
walked. DEMMINK grounded out to p. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
0 hits, 1 error, 0 LOB.
HAGAN advanced to third. HENRY singled to pitcher, bunt; WERMAN advanced to second.
2b. HARVEY popped up to 2b to left center. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Virginia 8th - REYNOLDS struck out looking. ZIMMERMAN lined out to 2b.
KOSHANSKY singled to right field. KOSHANSKY stole second. DUNN struck out looking.


Xiaomi started off 2017 in India with the release of the next iteration of their most successful device in the country. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 is the successor of last year's Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, which was applauded for its performance and battery life, bringing in the best value package in its product category. With the Redmi Note 4, can Xiaomi improve on these two areas? Let's find out!
Our review unit is from the Indian market, and thus it comes with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC, along with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Snapdragon 650) that we reviewed left us mightily impressed by the sheer performance of the SoC in both processing speed and power efficiency, in both benchmarks and the real world. The addition of 2x Cortex-A72 cores in a separate performance cluster supplemented the 4x Cortex-A53 cores in the efficiency cluster, allowing the device to ace various benchmarks with ease. The Redmi Note 3 put up an absolutely untouchable wall of performance against its competition within the affordable segment, a fact that largely contributed to it being Xiaomi's most successful product in the Indian market.
However, on the surface, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Snapdragon 625) lands up behind the Redmi Note 3 (Snapdragon 650) based on pure specifications. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 bears 8x Cortex-A53 cores on a 14nm fabrication process. It's claimed that the cluster setup is supposed to be divided into a performance (4x cores) and efficiency (4x cores) combination (as intended), but in the real world we routinely saw that all 8 cores were capable of reaching the 2.0GHz peak clock speed and staying there, so we are inclined to believe that the clusters are implemented rather homogeneously.
The removal of the Cortex-A72 cores should be best felt in performance-intensive scenarios as opposed to daily usage cases where the Cortex-A53 cores should be sufficient, although some quick burst operations will likely take a hit in performance as well. The lack of A72 cores will also impact benchmark scores. The area that would be an improvement is battery life, as the SD625 SoC also stands to benefit from the 14nm fabrication process as against the SD650's 28nm process. While that advantage also translate to better performance under similar conditions, it's largely offset by the difference in core setups.
So how exactly does the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 fare?
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 settles in the low and mid end with regards to benchmark performance. It trails behind in several benchmarks against its predecessor, which is inline with our initial assessment of the spec sheet. While the RN3 was a powerful mid-ranger at its best performance, the RN4 is an efficient mid-range device at best.
Starting off with GeekBench, a benchmark that helps narrowly assess the CPU performance, we find that the Redmi Note 4 lags behind the Redmi Note 3 by a good margin. The RN4 scored 841/2927 at its highest, while the RN3 could manage 1492/3482 at its best during our last review. Individual numbers by themselves have little meaning, but as a comparison across the two generation of devices, it is indicative of the decline in sheer computing capacity between the 2016 product and the 2017 product.
Other tests which measure performance through abstract algorithms, like BaseMark OS II and AnTuTu, share similar results. Total score on BaseMark OS II was lower when compared to the scores on the Redmi Note 3 and Mi Max (Snapdragon 650, 3GB RAM), albeit anomalous behavior was noticed with system scoring higher and memory scoring half in comparison. AnTuTu score was lower on the Redmi Note 4 as well. The margins of difference may not be very large, but they consistently exist.
The surprise that we did find was in PCMark tests where the Redmi Note 4 scores higher than both the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 and the Xiaomi Mi Max. In fact, the score on Work 1.0 test on PCMark has the Redmi Note 4 score closer to the OnePlus 3 with its Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC and 6GB of LPDDR4 RAM scores (6692 vs 6748 respectively). This behavior is surprising as PCMark's tests are not entirely abstract tests, but take a holistic approach to benchmarking by putting the device through common use case scenarios in a less-discrete testing environment that still uses system resources.
The results of PCMark echo across the general performance of the device. I was personally disappointed upon learning that the Redmi Note 4 was a downgrade on paper over its predecessor. But the practical performance of the phone left me pleasantly surprised.
MIUI 8 is chock full of animations, which can give a feeling of fluidity to the OS experience but ends up feeling less snappy and not quite as instantaneous. Actions feel deliberate and slow, so the first few hours with the phone felt as if the device was consciously and intentionally slowing down actions, giving an air of incompetence to the underlying SoC power. The slow reaction times were very apparent as I had jumped from a very snappy and reactive OnePlus 3 down to the Redmi Note 4.
Going through menus in the post-setup, there were a few settings which I played around with to get an experience that didn't feel as lethargic. In developer settings, I sped up the animations from the default 1x to 0.5x for Window animations, Transition animations and Animator durations, just to see if the device started stuttering. I also turned off Memory Optimization and MIUI Optimization, both of which are settings which are opaque in their workings and were found to be detrimental to the true hardware potential in my past Xiaomi experiences. I also turned off "System Animations" in the Battery Settings, though I am unsure of which animations these refer to as animations still continued to exist in all the expected places.
Once the animations were sped up and the "optimizations" turned off, the daily usage experience on the Redmi Note 4 became comparable to that of the Redmi Note 3 and other products in the price range. It is not a flagship-like experience, as apps still take a noticeable second to open up (made apparent when you completely turn off all animations in the Developer Settings). But for an average user going about his daily business, there will be no noticeable difference between the Redmi Note 4 and the theoretically-better Redmi Note 3.
Great performance carries onto thermal throttling. The predecessor Redmi Note 3 was an absolute thermal pleasure to use, as heat dissipation was excellent and throttling because of heat buildup was not noticeable. The Redmi Note 4 makes its predecessors proud as it accomplishes the same results. In our throttling tests with consecutive benchmark runs, the Redmi Note 4 showed only a slight decline in benchmark scores while temperatures rose. Temperature stagnated and hovered around 36°C, and performance only showed nominal variations. Do note, due to the higher ambient temperature of my city thanks to its tropical climate, this particular throttling test starts at 30°C base temperature — just a point to remember when comparing throttling performance across our other device reviews which start off around 28°C.
Another thing to point out, the minimum frequency on the Snapdragon 625 is 652MHz and not any lower for some reason. The phone still performs well in the battery department, as we will note later on in this article.
The GPU is an area where the Redmi Note 4 shows a greater downgrade from the Redmi Note 3.
The RN4 utilizes the Adreno 506, while the RN3 utilizes the Adreno 510. While the Adreno 506 is based on the 14nm fabrication process and has a higher clock speed, it has less number of ALU's (96 vs 128) and manages to score lesser GFLOPS (130 vs 180). Most games on the Redmi Note 4 start off on the lowest graphic setting as their recommended setting, but you can ramp them up on popular titles and still retain playability.
Benchmarking scores for the GPU place it well below the Redmi Note 3. The Redmi Note 4 scores about ⅔ the framerate on similar tests.
GPU throttling, on the other hand, is absolutely negligible. Granted, the GPU is not the best performer, but our throttling analysis indicates that it is a rather consistent performer. GFXBench's Manhattan 3.1 Endurance tests had the device scoring a rather consistent 377 frames across 30 consecutive benchmark runs. The variations in the score are of the order of ±0.1 frame across the tests, so while the scores are not impressive by themselves, the consistency is.
When it comes to games, most titles perform just as well on the Redmi Note 4 as they do on the Redmi Note 3. Games do start at low quality, but you can push them up to max details without any issue as popular titles tend to artificially cap the framerate to 30 on most devices. Asphalt 8 and Warhammer 40k Freeblade had no issues churning out their 30FPS ceiling in gameplay at highest settings. On the other hand, Dead Trigger 2 does perform closer to 45FPS as compared to the 55FPS average achieved on the Redmi Note 3 at highest settings.
The takeaway from the CPU and GPU performance sections is that the Redmi Note 4 is indeed a practical downgrade from the Redmi Note 3. But this statement is rather myopic in its outlook, as performance in practical scenarios is nearly equal and differences unnoticeable. Outside the scope of benchmarks, the Redmi Note 4 does not come across as the inferior device, and normal usersdoing everyday tasks will not be able to differentiate between the Redmi Note 3 and the Redmi Note 4. I'd even go as far as saying that advanced users will also be unable to differentiate between the Snapdragon 650 and the Snapdragon 625 in performance unless they go out of their way to find deltas by testing both side by side.
After my usage of the device, I am more at peace with Xiaomi's decision to go for a an SoC that does not have a performance cluster setup as they have ended up with an impressive package nonetheless. App and OS performance is quick, popular freemium titles usually max out at fps, and the device performs admirably under prolonged usage scenarios with minimal throttling and a comfortable maximum temperature ceiling.
One of the weakest links in the Redmi Note 3 package was its limited RAM and liveable storage. The base variant came with a RAM and storage combination of 2GB + 16GB, while the higher variant bumped these up to 3GB + 32GB. We reviewed the 2GB variant of the Redmi Note 3 and noted the disappointing multitasking capabilities of the device. MIUI's heavy handedness in handling background applications as well as its own bloat ended up giving us a very poor performer. Our Mi Max review, which was done on the 3GB RAM variant with the Snapdragon 650 SoC, noted the improvement an additional GB of RAM brought to the experience.
With the Redmi Note 4, Xiaomi attempts to fix this one broken aspect. To cater to a wider budget scenario, the device comes in three RAM + Storage combinations in India: 2GB+32GB, 3GB+32GB and 4GB+64GB. Our review unit is the top variant, and our experience affirms that more RAM is actually good on devices that run MIUI and is well worth the additional cost.
To actually make use of all that RAM though, one does need to turn off Xiaomi's MIUI "optimizations". These settings try and close down background applications and processes mercilessly, aiming for more "battery life". So even though you may have more than 2GB of free RAM, you would find your last accessed background application would be closed away and reset upon a screen off, or your last game which you were playing before an unexpected call came through is no longer in memory and needs to reload from scratch.
The 4GB LPDDR3 RAM variant of the device, without MIUI's optimization interference, can hold more than 12 apps in memory. This is enough for the needs of most people. There is no weird or anomalous behaviour when you have plenty of apps open. You can even switch from games like Warhammer 40K Freeblade and Asphalt 8 and back with no issues. As far as holding apps in memory goes, the experience is comparable to modern day flagships.
The 64GB of eMMC storage (user accessible: 56GB) formatted to EXT4 filesystem allows the Redmi Note 4 to compare with the Redmi Note 3 and the Mi Max on Read and Write speeds for the most part. The only improvements seen are in Sequential Write speeds, where the device comes closer to flagship like performance. High sequential write speeds would come in beneficial when writing large files like videos into the internal storage, so there is limited scope in seeing these improvements unless you plan to be a heavy data creator on your budget device.
In addition to the internal storage, the Redmi Note 4 also provides storage expandability through a microsd card slot (via the Hybrid Dual SIM tray). Seeing as there is no 16GB storage option even on the base variant, most users would be satisfied with the 32GB and 64GB options by themselves. But having the option is always nice, and we appreciate the choice.
App Opening speeds on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 are okay. Seeing that this is a budget device after all, we do not have high expectations. For the most part, the device delivers opening speeds (cold start) comparable to other low end and budget devices, and as naturally expected, tastes dust when compared to flagships. Even compared to the Mi Max, the RN4 opens up apps (cold start) slower by a margin of ~1 second across an averaged run of Play Store, Gmail, Hangouts and Chrome. The difference may seem minuscule, but it adds up through the day if you keep the default MIUI "optimizations" enabled. If you don't, then the hot start timing of apps comes down significantly.
Overall, on the performance end, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 is another solid performer from Xiaomi's stables. It is a theoretical downgrade in certain areas, but does not let any of that affect its real world performance. It is important to keep in mind that Xiaomi's target demographic with this phone is the budget audience, people who go for devices like the Lenovo Moto G4. The previous Redmi Note 3 was an absolute monster in the price range and set the bar a little too high for even Xiaomi to one up. So even though the Redmi Note 4 shoots for the stars and misses, it still ends up pretty high.
The upgrades to the Redmi Note 4 over the Redmi Note 3 come in the battery life department, and that is an accomplishment by itself. The Redmi Note 3 was one of the best phones I have experienced for battery life, dwarfed only by the likes of the Mi Max while coming out on top of the OnePlus 3. So to go beyond that is no small feat.
For forward and backward comparisons, we tested out the Redmi Note 4 on both of PCMark's Battery Life test versions. On Work 2.0, the device gives out a monstrous 16h 41m of battery life at lowest brightness, while continuing on with an impressive 8h 15m of life at maximum brightness. On Work 1.0, which is what we used in our reviews of the OnePlus 3, Mi Max and the Redmi Note 3, the Redmi Note 4 comes out the highest with a life of 19h 15m and 9h 31m at minimum and maximum brightness respectively.
Much of the credit here, especially during battery benchmarking, goes to the large 4000/4100 mAh (min/typ) non-removable battery and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC and its Cortex-A53 cores on the 14nm FinFET fabrication process. Qualcomm claimed a reduction of up to 35% in power consumption compared to the previous generation (which would be the Snapdragon 61x series in this case). Xiaomi claims an increase of 25% in battery life over the Redmi Note 3. We do not agree with the numbers, but it certainly is a marked improvement over something that was best-in-class by itself.
It is so difficult to kill this device that for sake of charging time testing, we ended up spending 1h 42min just trying to get the phone down from 20% to 0%!
As far as Screen On times are concerned, most days end with around 6 and half hours of screen on time with around 25% battery still to go. My usage classifies under heavy usage in these scenarios, thanks to constant LTE connection (courtesy of Reliance Jio) and Dual-SIM usage. These 6 hours would be a mixed bag of Chrome browsing, Whatsapp, Telegram, Slack, Reddit Sync, YouTube and a combined of around 1 and half hours of Ingress and Vainglory gaming. The Redmi Note 4 is pure beast mode when it comes to battery, and with an acceptable level of performance, there simply is no tradeoff in achieving these insane numbers.
On medium to light usage with much more device standby and wifi switchover, the phone can easily eke out two days of usage. Average users will be absolutely content with the battery life on this device, irrespective of their usage intensity.
The best part of this insane battery performance is that the phone manages to do all of that while still retaining a standard size form factor, without needing a bulky battery and body. As we will expand upon in our full review, the Redmi Note 4 offers pleasant ergonomics and allows for comfortable handling too.
As insane as the battery life is, the charging rate of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 is the exact opposite. The phone comes with a 5V/2A charger in the box. Xiaomi makes no mention of any fast charging capabilities on the device even though the Snapdragon 625 supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0.
Charging with the provided box charger consistently takes approximately 3 hours to charge a dead Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 to 100%. Charging rate significantly tapers off towards the higher percentages.
An hour's worth of charge is good enough for the battery to go from 0 to 50%. External temperatures while charging remain a cool 36-38 °C while the phone is idling/asleep, although the charger brick itself manages to go higher than 50°C while charging (not an issue since no one needs to constantly handle the charger, but just something worth mentioning). We had hoped Xiaomi would incorporate improvements in this area seeing that the Mi Max and the Redmi Note 3 had similar charging performance, but alas, that is not the case.
All in all, the Redmi Note 4 is a battery beast that works just as well as its predecessor in most circumstances. The slow charging rates are offset by the absolutely insane battery performance. Not only does the phone last long, it also is a pleasure to use for long periods of time as well.
For a budget device, the spec sheet does not do justice to the performance of the Snapdragon 625 in this device. During daily usage, you will probably perceive no difference between this phone and its predecessor in performance. Gaming does suffer a bit, but that is only when you take into account very heavy and demanding titles. The device is also pleasant to use as far as peak external temperature is concerned, and sees negligible thermal throttling for both CPU and GPU. RAM performance is a massive improvement, and we would readily recommend spending the extra cash and getting the higher RAM variant. Storage also is plentiful as Xiaomi has done away with 16GB options for internal storage, with the base variant starting off at 32GB and still supporting microsd expandability.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Snapdragon 625) is on sale in India for ₹9,999 ($150) for the 2GB+32GB option; ₹10,999 ($165) for the 3GB+32GB option and ₹12,999 ($195) for the 4GB+64GB option. The device is sold via flash sales on Flipkart as well as Mi.com.
Stay tuned for our full review of the device, where we will take a look at all the other aspects of the phone!
Check out our Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 forums!
Commerce graduate and Law student with a passion for all things Android, Aamir frequently helps people get the best out of their budget smartphones through generous use of custom roms and kernels. He receives press releases at [email protected].


Part two of a treatise entitled Human Husbandry and Care.
Looted inside the Tesham Mutna Ruins.
(...) In recent decades, many of us have come to believe that a much more effective way of obtaining good quality human blood than hunting individuals is their systematic, controlled husbandry. Apart from the obvious advantages, such as being able to control what the flock eats and the ability to crossbreed specific individuals to obtain offspring with the best hemoglobin, another clear advantage to breeding human flocks is that domesticated humans held in confinement, as opposed to those in their natural habitat (i.e. "villages" and "towns"), become less aggressive, and therefore less troublesome.
When it comes to farming humans, there are various schools, of which two seem to have gained the widest acceptance in recent times – namely battery-cage and free-range husbandry. This thesis describes in detail the advantages and disadvantages as well as the methods of carrying out each type of breeding. As an introduction, it is worth mentioning the basic differences between both types.
Battery-cage human husbandry (described very accurately and in detail in the book Human Husbandry) is the placing of several male and female individuals in a closed, restricted space, with permanent access to air, food and water. This form of breeding differs from free range in that the flock is not permitted to leave the breeding area and is held captive the entirety of their lives.
Free-range, on the other hand, involves leaving the flock in its natural habitat or creating a habitat that simulates it closely (i.e. creating villages, more on which can be found in the chapter – Human Villages: Establishing and Growing a Herd), and then making the herd psychologically or physically dependent on its owner. The most effective method for making a human individual dependent is guaranteeing it safety and permanent access to high quality feed. It is worth adding that a human that trusts its owner does not feel fear and does not defend itself when having its blood drunk, which limits the production of noradrenaline and cortisol, which have a negative impact on the taste of the blood. Furthermore, it may happen that a domesticated free-range human may feel a certain pleasure when its owner drinks its blood (most likely associated with sexual tension), which causes an intensification in the blood's flavor.
This page was last edited on 24 June 2017, at 20:27.


An international team of scientists has discovered a new bird in China. The new bird, the Sichuan bush warbler, resides in five mountainous provinces in central China. The bird has shunned the limelight by hiding in grassy, scrubby vegetation over the years. However, its distinctive song eventually gave it away, said an integrative biologist on the team.


Since its establishment in 2000, DooYoung T&S has specialized in high-powered LED lighting systems featuring low power consumption, high optic effi ciency, optimum radiation design, uniform intensity of illumination and a long lifespan of over 50,000 hours.
The combination of high illumination refl ector technology and chip on board (COB) surface eff ectively solves the problems of eye strain, including severe luminance diff erence between the LED and the surrounding areas, dark shadows and glare. Thanks to the fi rm's special technology concerning heat dissipation, the temperature of heat sink can be controlled not to rise high and power LEDs can be applied to the lighting systems.
The fi rm's high illumination refl ectors are specially designed in a dual layer with 16 angles substantially increasing light concentration and refl ection effi ciency.


Once again, I found myself completely and totally immersed in the story of the Green Creek wolves and their allies. There is something almost mesmerising about the writing in these stories. The prose is beautiful, the characters are wonderful, and at times I swear I could actually feel the magic that binds the Bennett pack together.
This second book belongs to Gordo, the pack witch, and Mark, Joe's uncle. If Wolfsong tells the story of two boys growing into their adult selves, Ravensong tells the story of two men who have to come to terms with the events and people who shaped their younger selves. There is a long and complicated history between Mark and Gordo and an even uglier history between their families.
The plot is intricate and complicated. I found the first part slow, retelling Joe's three-year absence from Gordo's perspective as he accompanies Joe and his brothers on their quest. But once Gordo returns home, the story speeds up to an almost frantic pace. This story is full of action and at times the suspense is almost unbearable.
I loved seeing the Wolfsong characters from a new perspective. I understood the human pack members much better after reading this and I loved the insights into the pack's history and Gordo's personal past. I think it is the characters and the relationships between characters that make this series so special. Like Ox, Gordo is not a Bennett and I love the way he scrutinises the pack and pack relationships from his position on the periphery of the pack.
For reviews & more info, check out our Wolfsong Dual Media Review post.
Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Ravensong (Green Creek #2) by TJ Klune to read and review.


text:
Joe Mullin
The "California City" podcast, and what I saw in 2005
Posted by joemullin on Aug 12, 2020 in California City, Journalism | No Comments
A few weeks ago, a friend texted me a link to a podcast called "California City" that came up as a suggestion for him in his podcast app. Was this the same California City, he asked, that I had visited and reported on, had breathlessly told him about? Of course, it was.
I was an intern reporter at the Bakersfield Californian for one burning hot summer, in 2005. I'd bought a college friend's old car for $700 to take the job. Late in the summer, I had a lead on a few stories out in Cal City. Once I saw what was happening with land sales in the town's so-called "second community," I started working weekends driving around the Los Angeles basin seeking to find and interview the people who had bought into the Cal City dream.
So I immediately moved the podcast, by KPCC reporter Emily Guerin, to the top of my list. The story is about a thinly populated city in the Mojave desert, California City, that has been the center of controversial land deals for more than 50 years. Hucksters have sold near-worthless desert land to outsiders, from all over the world—but especially from Los Angeles—at vastly inflated prices.
The podcast, which broadcast its 5th episode this week, has truly been a blast from the past for me. Some of the business tactics and the players have changed, but it's amazing how much of the California City sales pitch described by Guerin's reporting remains the same. At a dusty, sad resort called Silver Saddle Ranch & Club, a group of wealthy salespeople use high-pressure tactics to sell useless land to immigrants.
Guerin's fantastic podcast and delves deeply into the history of California City, far beyond what I had the capacity to do 15 years ago. I'm sure her work will become the reporting of record on this topic for years to come. As Guerin's work may now draw more attention to California City and its history, it has also inspired me to re-publish my long-lost articles in the interest of drawing an even more complete historical record.
I'll have more to say about my impressions of the California City podcast in a future post. For now, I've transcribed my front-page article—The Bakersfield California's A1 spread on Sunday, October 2, 2005. I'll put up the sidebar piece from page A8 as a separate post once I get a chance transcribe it.
Exploiting dreams for big profits
Immigrants being sold desert land at exorbitant prices
Seda Shadkamyan, an Armenian immigrant living in Glendale, hoped that buying vacant land in the remote deserts of Kern County would give her something she could pass on to her three children. She can't afford a house, but wanted to leave her family something of value.
But records in the Kern County Assessor's office show she paid the seller, Silver Saddle Ranch and Club, almost 20 times the fair market value of the land.
"I feel used," said Shadkamyan, after seeing the sales history of the land she bought for $39,500 in April. My husband didn't want it, but I forced him," she said. "It was my mistake."
Silver Saddle sells hundreds of properties in California City each year, making millions by selling land for 10, 20, or even 50 times what the assessor's office considers "fair market value." While the assessor usually accepts the sales price [of a normal property] as market value, when the price seems unusually high or low, they must re-assess the property.
A second company, National Recreational Properties Inc., which uses actor Erik Estrada as its television pitch man, has sold hundreds of properties in more central areas of town for more than 10 times the fair market value, records show.
Many plots in California City have been sold, defaulted, or foreclosed on, and re-sold, ever since they were mapped out almost 40 years ago.
Looking at comparable sales in the area, the county assessor determined the fair market value of Shadkamyan's land was $2,040. Now she's locked into a contract under which she'll ultimately pay, with interest, almost $50,000.
Shadkamyan's slice of America—tract 3070, in California City—is a patch of dirt that's tough to love. The flags that marked out her property on sales day are long gone. Her quarter-acre of desert is surrounded by about 20,000 other parcels, most of them—like hers—strips of shrub and sand without water, electricity, or paved roads.
It's California City's "second community," a town that exists on paper alone. It was subdivided and zoned in the mid-1960s, along with the rest of the city. Not enough money was set aside to build utilities here, and city officials say that there are no plans to do so anytime soon. The area is about 10 miles away from California City proper, which itself is a stark and remote desert town of 11,000. The nearest shopping malls and movie theaters are in Landcaster, 40 miles to the south.
Silver Saddle sales manager Robert Kvassay said his company's sales practices are straight up. He's licensed, regulated, and careful about what his salespeople say—no one is allowed to use the word "investment" when selling, for example.
Under the company's sales strategy, which is legal, it buys tax-defaulted land cheaply at online county auctions. Typically, small parcels with no utilities in California City's second community sell in the low $3,000s at auction. Then the company sells the plots, mostly to out-of-county residents, sometimes for over $50,000, according to records in the Kern County Assessor's office.
Kvassay said his sales represent the true value of the plots. He knows the dusty lots in the second community like the back of his hand. His company has been selling them—sometimes the same plot several times—for years. "That's the market," he said.
Differing Values
Over time, assessed value can become much lower than fair market value in California because of Proposition 13 protections against tax increases.
But at the time of transfer, in most real estate transactions, the sale price is recorded as the assessed value as well. Yet, assessor's officials say they must record values that represent "fair market value" according to California law, and by their standards, prices commanded by companies like Silver Saddle and NRPI are far above that value.
Assessor's officials say the buyers simply don't know what they're purchasing. According to California law, both parties in a transaction must be knowledgeable about the uses of land for the sales price to be considered "fair market value."
When assessor's officials suspect both parties aren't knowledgeable, they assess property at what they see as the true market value.
"We have to use our judgment as to whether they seem knowledgeable or not," Assistant Assessor Tony Ansolabehere said of people who buy lots from Silver Saddle. "To us, they don't seem knowledgeable about that market and about those lots. Very often they're confused about the utility situation."
Part of the problem, he said, is that these buyers don't have independent Realtors, appraisers and inspectors helping ensure they're getting a good deal as in most real estate transactions.
Ansolabehere said his office can compare Silver Saddle's prices to thousands of similar transactions, and thus know when the price is far above the market value.
In fact, some buyers find out what the county believes their land is truly worth when they get their property tax bill, Ansolabehere said. Sometimes they call the assessor's office wondering why the listed value is so low. Most people don't call, he said, perhaps thinking somebody made a mistake and they don't want to do anything that sticks them with a higher tax bill.
There is a difference between what's happening in California City and an overheated housing market such as Bakersfield, where recent studies have said homes are more than 40 percent overvalued. That difference, he said, is that similar properties in Cal City simply aren't selling for the high prices being commanded by Silver Saddle and NRPI.
On the wall of Silver Saddle's sales office about 12 miles out side of Cal City, photographs of Los Angeles neighborhoods as vacant desert lots are placed above pictures of the metropolis that exists today. "That is the great American story," said Kvassay. "That is how cities get built."
Near the Silver Saddle resort, a few electrified tracts sport about a dozen houses.
Those are the houses, customers and visitors said, that Silver Saddle points out before taking them to a more distant tract to sell, often on land with no utilities.
Silver Saddle finances its own sales. With a minimum 20 percent down payment, a buyer can take out a loan from the company with an interest rate of 13.9 percent.
With all land purchases, the company includes a $35 per month membership, which can be canceled, to its "private club." Membership entails discounts on lodging and discounts up to $25 on certain amenities, such as horseback rides.
Silver Saddle would not allow a reporter to attend a land tour or be present at any negotiations. The company would also not allow any interviews of sales agents or customers at the ranch. But interviews with customers outside the ranch sketch out a similar sales pitch.
Silver Saddle has a marketing system that reaches deep into Southern California's immigrant neighborhoods. Customers from throughout Los Angeles basin reported hearing about the company from Korean newspapers, Tagalog and Mandarin-speaking callers offering prizes, and pitches on Armenian-language television. Bonuses start at $400 for customers that refer others who buy.
The company won't discuss any of its marketing tactics, and denies that any "cold calls," or telemarketing takes place. The company offers free weekend trips to the ranch. Some visitors, usually those brought by friends, know there will be an attempt to sell land. Others don't find out about the pitch until after they arrive.
After breakfast, the overnighters are taken on land tours. Customers who attended land tours say Silver Saddle sales agents deliver a clear message, whatever language they speak: get in on the ground floor. Growth is coming.
Plenty of room
On the tours, salespeople show off the new development in California City, touting the Hyundai test track and new high school as evidence that the area is growing fast.
But that growth has little connection to the second community, say local Realtors, city officials and county assessors. No money was set aside for utilities out there, other than water and low-quality streets. And city officials say "spot" development, bringing water pipes to one lot, isn't a realistic strategy for development.
California City proper, the "first community," which was also subdivided and sold throughout the world, still has vacant lots on nearly every block and plenty of room to grow.
One California City councilman, Nick Lessenevitch, said the town's population of about 11,000 could triple without leaving the first community's borders. Mayor Larry Adams said while one special project, a church, is in the works, bringing utilities to most lots in the second community is a minimum of 20 years away—if ever.
Those utilities won't arrive until the City Council gives its OK. Recommendations about developing in the remote tracts are made to the City Council by a special two-person committee. One of the committee's two members is Jim Quiggle, a founder of Silver Saddle who left the company a few years ago. In 2001, he sold several hundred low-value second community parcels to the company for just over $64 million. Quiggle wouldn't comment for this report.
Bust and Boom
The land business is booming at the ranch.
"I'm a millionaire," said Kvassay, who has been at the company for almost 20 years. "A lot of the guys here are," he added, gesturing to a conference room that an hour earlier was filled with customers, mostly Asian, negotiating with Silver Saddle salespeople.
In his desk drawer, Kvassay keeps a picture of himself pitching land at a seminar in South Korea. "I've sent agents to the Phillipines," he said. The company's promotional DVD can be played in seven languages.
Kvassay's former co-worker, Jose Herrera, made his money selling the dream of development, too, and he believed in it. He even sold Silver Saddle land to the woman who later became his wife. But by the early '90s, Herrera saw that the second community wasn't flourishing, despite the ranch and club that Silver Saddle had built.
"It's a dead horse," said Herrera.
Herrera left the company in 1992, when upset customers started calling him, and he began to have ethical qualms about selling at Silver Saddle. He'd seen too many people throw away their life savings, explained. In fact, Herrera said he's stunned that the company can still sell the lots, and at such a high price.
"Silver Saddle is totally a rip-off," he added.
Like many others, Herrera has let his seven plots in the second community go. He stopped paying the taxes. He advised a neighbor, who bought from the company, to do the same.
It's not an illogical tactic. California City and Mojave School District levy parcel taxes that, together with the county's property tax, can make holding even low-value parcels cost around $150 a year. As a result, those who hold the parcels for long periods can easily pay more in taxes than the land's assessed value.
In fact, records show that Silver Saddle allowed 24 parcels held by itself and its subsidiary, MCQ Corp., to become tax-delinquent, and then bought them back at a 2003 tax auction.
In this year's tax sale, 675 California City properties went to auction because of unpaid taxes. More than 600 of those were barren tracts in the second community.
Kvassay said everything his brokers do is ethical. They're all licensed, and he touts the company's record at the state Department of Real Estate.
His customers are well-informed, Kvassay said, and he's got the documents to prove it.
All receive a public report on their land from the Department of Real Estate, which is often required by law. In addition, each signs a letter beginning "Dear Purchaser," which confirms they have received and understood a variety of information. The company would not provide a "Dear Purchaser" letter for this report.
The Department of Real Estate did have at least one complaint against the company in which Wen Qian Ma alleged she was sold a piece of property for about $37,000 that had several problems with zoning, the maps and possible easement problems that she only discovered after the contract was signed. The Department of Real Estate said the case had been closed and didn't have any further information.
Ma, a native Chinese speaker with limited English, also state in her complaint that she wasn't given information about the property in Chinese and was not shown the public report until after all the papers were signed.
Gary Salonisen, who helped Ma with her complaint, said she was repaid all her money after three or four months of negotiations.
But Kvassay described Ma as a happy customer when he last saw her, who understood the purchase she was making. When she asked for a refund, he said the company didn't resist.
"If she had come up and bought (property) and truly didn't speak the language we wouldn't have gone forward with the deal," he said. "I sign off on those things. I'm there."
Salonisen didn't want to get into the details. His assessment of Silver Saddle was curt and unflattering.
"They take advantage of non-English-speaking people," he said. "That's their game."
Land "Never Depreciates"
But many buyers do hang on to their land. The land Seda Shadkamyan bought was first purchased by Silver Saddle at a 2002 tax auction for $456. Silver Saddle then sold the parcel to 25-year-old Armenak Piskulyan, also of Glendale, for $17,000 in 2003.
He stopped making payments after a car crash prevented him from working, he said. Piskulyan's property was foreclosed on, and Silver Saddle re-sold the lot to Shadkamyan two months later, at more than double the price.
Piskulyan, meanwhile, is still making payments on two other parcels he bought from the company.
"Land never depreciates," Piskulyan said, explaining his purchase. "That's the basic thing everybody knows."
After hearing the low assessed value of his parcels, Piskulyan immediately began talking about an acquaintance to whom he could resell at a hefty profit.
"The big fish eat the little fish, right?" he said, stubbing out a cigarette as his family watched television in the next room.
The Newcomers
Silver Saddle has been selling land for more than 20 years. Its predecessor company, Great Western Cities, was led by Nat Mendelsohn, the legendary Columbia sociology professor who founded California City, hoping for it to be the next Palm Springs.
But the latest land boom has brought a new, aggressive company to California City.
National Recreational Properties, Inc., a corporation that sells land throughout the country, began buying California City lots at Kern County tax auctions in 2003 and promoting them in television commercials, broadcast in Spanish and English, featuring spokesman Erik Estrada.
Like Silver Saddle, the company typically sells lots for several times what the assessor's office considers "fair market value." NRPI sells mainly in the city's first community, selling lots that have water connections and are buildable, though not always with electricity or sewers.
Domingo Gomez, of Anaheim, bought two pieces of land from NRPI in 2004.
Then, on a trip to visit a few months later, he compared prices with other Realtors and was shocked. He was able to buy a $9,500 lot from Coldwell Banker that was larger and more centrally located than what he bought from NRPI for $18,000.
"The company is bad to Spanish people," said Gomez. "We got a little money together and somebody took it."
Gomez's salesman was Jose Herrera, who had left Silver Saddle for NRPI. After about a year, he left NRPI because he said he had similar moral qualms about what the company was doing. He said when he was selling for NRPI, he wasn't aware of how far above the market their prices were.
"Maybe I should have known, but I didn't," he said.
Herrera said company policy was to be deliberately vague about the status of a lot's utilities, which can vary widely in the first community from block to block. After he quit, he helped several of his former clients, including Gomez, write complaint letters to NRPI asking for their money back.
Gomez reached a settlement with the company, but is forbidden from disclosing the terms.
In a written statement to this reporter, NRPI Vice President Todd Gladis said the company strived for customer satisfaction, had an "A" rating at the Better Business Bureau, and allowed any customer with doubts about a purchase to back out during a seven-day cooling off period.
The prices are fair for California City, he said.
"NRP has inspired development and brought about property value increases since locating in this unique community," he said.
Josue Andino, a carpenter, moved from Nicaragua to Los Angeles in 1992. He shares a small Koreatown apartment with his wife and two kids.
Andino first heard about California City from NRPI's television ads, featuring Erik Estrada. In January, he agreed to pay $17,000 for a plot the Kern County Assessor's office says is worth $3,000. He cursed in Spanish when a reporter told him his land had been purchased in 2001 for $450. But then he leaned back, shrugged, and sighed, like a man who felt the sting of a bad deal before.
"What can you do?" he asked. "They already sell it to me. I cannot do nothing."
He'll just keep working.
"First we think about them," he added quietly, pointing to his young son, asleep under a blanket on the couch.
The price of Andino's American dream will be steep. Under his contract, he will pay the company $291 a month for almost 12 years to get his land—a total of $43,149.
Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0


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Wednesday, 26 April 2017 to Friday, 28 April 2017
"5 stars... An hour of magical chaos" - The Advertiser
Last Dodo Entertainment
Game On! is an interactive comedy stage show for children all about video games. Matty Grey got sucked in to Gameland and had to fight his way to freedom. Join Matty as he tells the tale of his 4G-Wifi-Hi def-multiplayer-Wii fit escape from this dangerous world!
The show focuses on games like Minecraft, Pacman, Mario, Angry Birds and numerous other games that kids recognise and love. Each game is brought to life on stage so that children can participate in those games in the real world.
As the audience arrives at the show each child is presented with a Nerf gun. The finale of the show which marks Matty's final escape from Gameland is an onstage recreation of the old Nintendo game of Duck Hunt. Two parents are invited on stage and asked to each wear a pair of safety glasses and a bike helmet with a plank of wood attached. Rubber ducks are placed on the planks of wood and the children in the audience are asked to help us win the final game using the Nerf guns to complete the game of Duck Hunt. This finale alone has created a real buzz around the show and has allowed us to send children home with a strong positive memory of their experience.
"5 stars... An hour of magical chaos - this is how you do a freaking children's Fringe show!" - The Advertiser
"5 stars... more cackles and chers than there are coins in New Super Mario Bros 2... an absolute ball" - Yawp
"4.5 stars...marvellous, multicoloured maestro of munchkin merrymaking" - Herald Sun
"Our kids gave it 1000 out of 10" - Kid Size Living
"5 stars... To be honest, the grin did not leave my face" - MICF Funny Tonne
"There's only one word to describe this show - FANTASTIC" - Stories Well Told
"An excellently timed and well-constructed show" - Primary Times Edinburgh 2015
Adults $17, Conc $15, Children $15, Family (Good for 4) $55
Matty Grey Kids Comedian
Wednesday, 26 April 2017 - 11:00am
Thursday, 27 April 2017 - 11:00am
Friday, 28 April 2017 - 11:00am
Wednesday, 26 April 2017 - 1:00pm
Thursday, 27 April 2017 - 1:00pm
Friday, 28 April 2017 - 1:00pm


2641 42nd Avenue Southwest has a Walk Score of 91 out of 100. This location is a Walker's Paradise so daily errands do not require a car.
This location is in the North Admiral neighborhood in Seattle. Nearby parks include Hiawatha Playfield, Fairmount Park and California Place Park.
Explore how far you can travel by car, bus, bike and foot from 2641 42nd Avenue Southwest.
2641 42nd Avenue Southwest has some transit which means a few nearby public transportation options. Car sharing is available from RelayRides and Zipcar.
2641 42nd Avenue Southwest compared to all of Seattle.
How do you feel walking near 2641 42nd Avenue Southwest?
2641 42nd Avenue Southwest is in the North Admiral neighborhood. North Admiral is the 50th most walkable neighborhood in Seattle with a neighborhood Walk Score of 68.


More social activists are marching away from the traditional sorts of protesting, and turning to social media to make their mark.
The University of Guelph-Humber's EMERGE team hosted an event focusing on how social media is used to spread awareness of various movements and holding the justice system accountable. Prominent causes such as #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter and #AmINext were some of the earliest hashtag movements to make an online change.
Jamie Vergara, the fourth year media studies student in charge of the event, found that social media is quickly evolving and becoming a place where individuals go to voice their opinions and concerns.
"We saw how social media is no longer a platform just for selfies or memes or tagging people in a funny post. It's become a platform for people to unite their voices, to create change and to be an activist," Vergara said.
Digital activism coordinator at Amnesty International, Daniella Barretto, says social media is making it easy for like-minded activists to further the conversation about the injustices they witness.
"It's a lot easier to find people. Using social media, you can have groups, you can have ways people can find each other and be a lot stronger in creating a response," said Barretto.
#AmINext is just one of the many online movements that have gone viral and raised awareness on the ongoing issue of missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada.
Holly Jarrett, the founder of #AmINext officially launched her campaign in September 2014, after her cousin Loretta Saunders was found dead, two weeks after she was reported missing.
"I created the campaign #AmINext out of pure drive from myself and I did not care who listened to it but it needed to be out there," Jarrett said.
According to Vergara, social media, provides a place for people to have a voice, when the mainstream media leaves them voiceless.
She said, "with the rise of #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo, it's not just small cities, it's the entire community coming online because they relate, they understand and they know. In today's age with the rise of social media, it just goes hand in hand with social justice.


Here's How Your Child Can Get A Return Letter From Santa This Year!
Did you ever write a letter to Santa when you were a kid, with no reply? Can you imagine the magical experience that would have been to get a return letter from Santa?
Well, the Postal Service wants the kiddos in your family to experience that magic by ensuring letters to Santa get a reply FROM Santa with an actual postmark from the North Pole. Way cool!
It's really simple and you can get the step by step directions by following this link to the United States Postal Service official website.
There is a deadline, stating that your child's letter must be received in Anchorage, AK no later than December 15th, 2018, to ensure return letters get back to them on time!
Again, follow this link for all the details!


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Coronavirus In Wisconsin
A sign reminds shoppers to stay 6 feet apart at the Piggly Wiggly grocery store in Sister Bay, Wis., on March 30, 2020. Store manager Jay Kita says the store initially ran low on food when non-residents began flocking to Door County in March. Kita says the store has since caught up with demand. Coburn Dukehart/Wisconsin Watch
'What we got is what we got': Wisconsin grocery store owners say worker shortage is making it harder to keep items on shelves
One store owner says COVID-19 infections, open positions at distribution centers mean they're only getting about half of what they order
By Hope Kirwan
Grocery stores across the country are reporting a return of supply chain issues seen at the start of the pandemic, with some stores struggling to keep popular food items on their shelves.
Nick Hansen is an owner of Hansen's IGA, which has 11 stores mostly in western Wisconsin. He said it's been harder to get orders in since September, and now service levels are back to where they were in March 2020.
"It's been a slow train wreck here for months, and it's just gotten worse and worse," Hansen said.
He said a lack of labor, either because of COVID-19 infections or hiring issues, is the biggest hold up for the industry. That includes everyone from semitruck drivers to workers in distribution warehouses.
Hansen said his business is only getting about half of what they order during a given week because his distributor doesn't have enough employees to fill orders.
"(Our distributor) even went to the extent of limiting how much we can order just because they're saying, 'We only have so much labor in our warehouse,'" he said. "We're trying to prioritize the highest moving (products), and there's a lot of variety that we're just having to say we can't even order it because we don't want to use up our cases that we can get."
Hansen said his own stores have had some workforce challenges. They've raised wages to attract and retain workers and feel lucky to have seen fewer COVID-19 infections this winter than they had at the end of 2020.
Tim Metcalfe, president and co-owner of Metcalfe's Market in Madison and Wauwatosa, has been stocking produce at one of his stores all week because they're down employees.
He said everyone at the store is pitching in to make sure people can still get their days off, but they're not immune to workforce issues seen across the supply chain.
"Every employer is feeling the difficulties that this surge presents in terms of staffing levels or people that are exposed that have to be quarantined," Metcalfe said. "It's been a difficult market to find people to work in the first place, just training the applicants, but then having to lose people because of a surge in the community right now has made things even more difficult for manufacturing, distribution and retail."
Metcalfe said availability of products has been a challenge since the start of the pandemic, but things were improving greatly in December. He said they had finally reached 98 percent of products in stock for the first time since March 2020, but started seeing out of stock notices from their distributor popping up after the start of the year.
"It's kind of hit or miss. We'll have it on one item, you know a certain type of milk, let's say 1 percent, but we have 2 percent, skim, whole. And we have it in three different companies, but one company might be struggling," Metcalfe said.
Metcalfe said he doesn't think there is a shortage of any products at this time. But he said more serious supply chain disruption could be on the horizon if the current surge in cases caused by the omicron variant continues.
Brandon Scholz is head of the Wisconsin Grocers Association. He said the current supply chain problems are different than those seen in early 2020. The sudden increase in demand at grocery stores, especially for cleaning products and shelf stable food items, was the main cause behind empty shelves early on. But he said problems shifted last year when manufacturers and distributors started struggling to maintain their workforce, either because people were leaving their jobs or because of COVID-19 infections and deaths.
"The workforce started to leave various businesses including in the supply chain, those manufacturers, producers, growers, others in the front end that make the things... They weren't able to make as much as they used to," Scholz said.
With consumer demand still high at grocery stores, Scholz said all of these factors are also why prices for some products have gone up. But he said consumers shouldn't panic when they see an empty shelf in person or in a photo on social media.
"You and I could walk through almost any grocery store in Wisconsin today and we're going to find some categories that have empty shelves or maybe half of what they used to," Scholz said. "But you're going to have a pretty full store... Nobody wants an empty shelf... But you can't put something on the shelf if you can't get it."
He said after almost two years of supply chain changes, most consumers have gotten used to accepting a substitute for their favorite products.
Hansen said having a smaller chain of stores has helped his business be more nimble at times. His stores need less product to serve the small communities where they're located, and they've been able to keep some hard-to-find items like toilet paper on their shelves even when the biggest chains ran out. He said hearing customers' appreciation for their independent business has been an unexpected bright spot during the pandemic.
But Hansen warns the scarcity on grocery store shelves likely won't get better for months and there's little individual stores can do to change that.
"Be patient with people in the grocery store. Those employees, they have to put up with a lot and they're doing their best," Hansen said. "People are going to need a lot of patience here for the next month or so, because what we got is what we got."
Metcalfe encouraged consumers to continue showing appreciation for frontline workers like those in grocery stores and to consider moving back to shopping practices adopted at the start of the pandemic, like making fewer trips to the grocery store by buying more at once, in order to slow the potential for virus spread.
Case against Waukesha parade suspect will move forward with 77 charges
Entire state meets 2010 air quality standard after Rhinelander mill reduces sulfur dioxide pollution
6 people have been injured in a mass shooting in Oregon


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Szpicel (fr. Le doulos) – francusko-włoski czarno-biały film kryminalny z 1962 roku w reżyserii i wedle scenariusza Jean-Pierre Melville'a, będący adaptacją powieści o tym samym tytule (1957) autorstwa Pierre'a Lesou. W rolach głównych wystąpili Serge Reggiani, Jean-Paul Belmondo oraz Fabienne Dali. Pierwszy pokaz filmu miał miejsce we Włoszech 13 grudnia 1962, francuska premiera odbyła się w Paryżu 8 lutego 1963.

Opis fabuły
Złodziej Maurice Faugel opuszcza więzienie po spędzeniu tam czterech lat. Spotyka się z Gilbertem Vanovre, który oszacowuje wartość skradzionej przez niego biżuterii. Maurice zabija Gilberta jego własnym rewolwerem, zabierając ze sobą drogocenny łup. Po dokonaniu mordu zakopuje biżuterię i planuje kolejny skok, w którym pomóc mają mu znajomi. Wśród nich jest Sillien, zaopatrujący ich w sprzęt niezbędny do przekrętu. W dniu rozboju, działanie Maurice'a i jego wspólnika nie idzie zgodnie z planem, na miejscu pojawia się policja. Wspólnik Maurice'a ginie, a sam Maurice zostaje ranny. Policjanci po znalezieniu Silliena pytają go o jego powiązania ze skokiem Maurice'a, oraz z zabójstwem Gilberta. Bohater stoi przed decyzją wyznania policji prawdy lub chronienia przyjaciół.

Obsada
 Jean-Paul Belmondo jako Sillien
 Serge Reggiani jako Maurice Faugel
 Philippe Nahon jako Remy
 Jean Desailly jako Clain, komisarz policji
 Daniel Crohem jako inspektor Salignari
 Fabienne Dali jako Fabienne
 Michel Piccoli jako Nuttheccio
 René Lefèvre jako Gilbert Varnove
 Marcel Cuvelier jako pracownik policji
 Jacques Léonard jako pracownik policji
 Volker Schlöndorff jako klient baru

Odbiór
W napisanej w 1964 roku recenzji The New York Times Bosley Crowther wyraził krytyczną opinię o filmie. Napisał, że film jest "przegadany" i nieudanie usiłuje wplatać tematykę filozoficzną. Skrytykował także występy Serge'a Reggiani i Fabienne Dali.

Po oficjalnym wydaniu filmu na DVD w 2008 roku, opinie o filmie były głównie pozytywne. Na portalu Rotten Tomatoes, który agreguje recenzje zrzeszonych wokół ów portalu krytyków, Szpicel utrzymuje 95% pozytywnych recenzji z 21 napisanych i średnią ocen o wartości 8,0/10. Jedyną negatywną recenzją wliczoną do oceny portalu, jest ta autorstwa Bosleya Crowthera.

Przypisy

Linki zewnętrzne

Francuskie filmy kryminalne
Francuskie filmy z 1962 roku
Francuskie filmy czarno-białe
Włoskie filmy kryminalne
Włoskie filmy z 1962 roku
Włoskie filmy czarno-białe
Filmy czarno-białe powstałe w koprodukcji
Filmy w reżyserii Jean-Pierre'a Melville'a
Filmy kręcone w Paryżu


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« Adam Rickitt: The farce that is the Rural Payments Agency | Main | Stephen McPartland: The case for effective urban campaigning »
Donal Blaney: Keep a secure home base
Every week the Co-Founder and Chief Executive of the Young Britons' Foundation, Donal Blaney, explains one of Morton Blackwell's Laws of the Public Policy Process. Morton Blackwell is the Founder and President of the Leadership Institute in Arlington, Virginia.
This week's law has two meanings - it stresses the importance of a stable domestic life as well as the political importance of keeping core supporters onside.
The first of these two meanings is, I would hope, uncontroversial. A politician whose home life is stable is better able to perform his public role.
Occasionally there have been politicians who have been able to compartmentalize their lives, such as Bill Clinton. While Clinton's domestic arrangements and behaviour with a variety of women may have left more than a bit to be desired, it cannot be disputed that it didn't seem to do his powers of concentration any harm - indeed he seemed to thrive on the situation. Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher both had strong and happy marriages that gave them strength through difficult times. Tony Blair likewise clearly benefits from a strong family. The careers and lives of both Gordon Brown and William Hague were greatly helped by their marriages.
The second meaning - namely that it is important that a politician or party keep his or its core supporters onside - is perhaps more controversial in the current political climate.
Project Cameron is often portrayed by some as an abandonment of the core vote strategy supposedly followed by Hague, IDS and Howard between 1999 and 2005. To accept this argument, however, requires that one accepts that a core vote strategy was indeed pursued.
Despite what some of David Cameron's more fervent supporters argue, I dispute that the campaigns in 2001 and 2005 - and the years leading up to those campaigns - saw the pursuit of a core vote strategy in any meaningful sense. While 2001 saw a campaign to "Save the Pound" and 2005 included the "dog whistle" issue of immigration prominently, neither issue had formed the basis of the Party's overall strategy in the months or years leading up to those two election defeats. Moreover the Party failed to make the case with any conviction for lower taxes, a smaller state, greater choice and less regulation.
George W Bush showed the importance in 2000 and 2004 of keeping a secure home base. While his campaigns - particularly 2000 - focussed on broadening his Party's appeal to the centre ground and moderate Democrats, he ensured that issues that mattered to his home base, including abortion, gay marriage and gun control, were high on his agenda. He did so in a way that was not so shrill as to scare away moderate voters but which was couched in a way that inspired millions of conservatives and soft Republican supporters to turn out on polling day.
Margaret Thatcher too recognised the importance of keeping a secure home base. Throughout her premiership she moved to ensure that hard working families - personified by "Essex Man" - remained signed up to the Thatcher Project. This was done by solid messages on defence, crime and immigration, an economic policy based on lower taxes and deregulation, vigorous Euro-scepticism and a drive to restore national pride. At no time did she take her home base for granted.
Tony Blair, on the other hand, built his electoral coalition on sand. He never secured his home base. While he certainly silenced the rabid left in the mid-1990s (and they perhaps took a vow of silence in their desperation for power) he has done little to keep his home base secure. He has thrown a bone or two to left-wing MPs obsessed about hunting and devolution but he has done little to warm the hearts of the socialist core of the Labour Party. Now that the gloss has well and truly come off the New Labour Project, he finds himself isolated. Whereas a ballot of Tory members in 1990 would probably have seen strong support for Margaret Thatcher, a ballot of Labour members in 2006 would almost certainly see very weak support for Blair.
David Cameron began his leadership with a strategy designed to move away from pursuit of core voters. In recent months, however, it would seem that he has recognised the importance of keeping his home base secure - particularly as if he does not do so, millions of votes could be lost to the BNP or UKIP or voters will simply not vote because they perceive the platforms of the two major parties as being too similar. Such has been the success of Cameron's first six months as leader that he has the credibility, if he wants to, to pursue core conservative policies on immigration, crime, taxes, choice and anything else and for his pursuit of those policies not to come across as shrill or intolerant.
Some in his kitchen cabinet will be advising him not to pursue those core policies as they might scare away moderate voters. I take a different view. I believe that he has done so well at repositioning the Party and improving its image that he can now credibly campaign on a thoroughly conservative platform in a way that does not alienate moderate opinion and yet reassures his home base. Whether he does so will be the fascinating story of the next few months.
Previous entry in this series: Better a snake in the grass than a viper in your bosom
June 24, 2006 in Donal Blaney, Laws of the Public Policy Process | Permalink
Donal Blaney|Laws of the Public Policy Process|


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Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art is located in Augusta, Georgia, in the home of former Augusta mayor and United States senator Nicholas Ware. Olivia Herbert founded the institute in 1937. The original name for the institute was the Augusta Art Club; it was later renamed in memorial to Olivia Herbert's daughter, Gertrude Herbert Dunn. The two primary missions of the institute are art education and visual arts exhibition.

Education activity
Facilitating the art education mission of the institute is a certification by the Georgia Council of Arts as a Teacher Professional Learning (TPL) provider current as of 2007. Among other certified providers is Emory University.

Ware's Folly: The building housing the institute

Construction of the home in which the institute is housed was completed in 1818. The building is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in the Federal style the house is notable for its three-story elliptical staircase. The building bears the nickname Ware's Folly, which derives from the high cost of the construction, $40,000 in 1818 or c. $12 million in 2007, and the extravagant interior detailing.

References

Notes

External links

 Homepage for the Institute
Augusta, Georgia, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary

1937 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)
National Register of Historic Places in Augusta, Georgia
Federal architecture in Georgia (U.S. state)
University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Georgia (U.S. state)
Houses completed in 1818
Art museums and galleries in Georgia (U.S. state)
Art schools in Georgia (U.S. state)
Arts centers in Georgia (U.S. state)
Tourist attractions in Augusta, Georgia
Education in Augusta, Georgia
Buildings and structures in Augusta, Georgia


hope tattoos dobrucki\u0027s hope tattoo. much smaller than this with musical notes \u0026 initials kd. my tattoo!!! my sons name (jameson) with butterfly and vines!. father / son japanese tattoo @greenmonkeyink #tattoos #tattoo #tattoodesigns #ink #. my olive martini tattoo. ideas for children\u0027s initial tattoos – yahoo image search results. my semicolon tattoo, along with my anchor and balloon.