text:
Ulta-rare working Apple-1 computer with box going to auction
By David Szondy
Ulta-rare working Apple-1 comp...
The rare, fully functional Apple-1 computer that is going up for auction
RR Auction
Back view of the Apple-1
The Apple-1 computer
Apple-1 copyright label
Apple-1's power supply transistor
The Apple-1 for sale is in working order
The first Apple-1s were assembled by hand
The Apple-1 initially sold for US$666.66
Apple-1 showing interface port
The Apple-1 began life as a kit
The Apple-1 was one of the first desktop computers
The auction includes the original box signed by Steve Wozniak
The lot comes with a vintage Datanetics keyboard in wooden case
A rare piece of cyber history that helped usher in the modern computer age is going up for sale as RR Auction's Steve Jobs + Apple Auction offers up a functioning Apple-1 computer from the 1970s, complete with its original box signed by Apple-1 designer Steve Wozniak.
When the Apple-1, which was originally known simply as the Apple Computer, was formally released in July 1976 it wasn't very impressive to see. Out of the box, it was just a completed circuit board without even a case, and the buyer had to supply the keyboard and television set to get it to actually do anything.
This relatively simple machine was a starting point for one of the world's most successful technology companies and was part of a handful of devices that helped to move computers out of the hands of scientists, engineers, and hobbyists, and into homes and offices.
When Wozniak and Steve Jobs conceived of the Apple-1, computers came in three basic configurations. At one end were the gigantic mainframes, in the middle were the ever-shrinking mini-computers, and at the far end were the small kit computers built and operated by hobbyists who were willing to spend hundreds of dollars for a bare circuit board, a bag of parts, a schematic and hours of wielding a soldering iron.
Even the Apple-1 started as a bare-board kit that Jobs and Wozniak planned to sell 50 of at US$40 each to the members of Palo Alto's Home-brew Computer Club after demonstrating a completed prototype. What made the Apple-1 unusual was that it functioned remarkably like the desktop computers of later years. Where hobby computers used switches and lights for programming and readouts, the Apple-1 took input from a keyboard and its readout was an ordinary television set.
However, things really took off when Jobs took the Apple-1 to the owner of the Byte shop in Mountain View, Paul Terrell, who agreed to buy 50 of the machines at wholesale for US$500 each, but only if they were completely assembled. Jobs and Wozniak went away and for 10 days assembled and tested the computers by hand. Ten months after release, 200 were manufactured and 175 were sold.
In 1977, the Apple-1 was discontinued and the profits from it went into replacing it with the incredibly successful Apple II. As a result, surviving Apple-1's are extremely rare, with only 63 known to exist and only six of these in working condition. The one up for auction is a restored machine that was refurbished by Apple-1 expert Corey Cohen in September 2020. He also produced a technical condition report stating that it is 8 out of 10 in terms of its condition and has run for about eight hours without a fault.
Along with the Apple-1, the lot includes the original box that was signed by Wozniak, a Panasonic cassette player, a 1976 Sanyo monitor, an original Apple-1 Operation Manual, and an original Apple Cassette Interface manual. In addition, there is a program from a 2005 UCLA event where Wozniak signed the box, an image of the owner of the computer with Wozniak, and a 1994 email printout from Wozniak regarding the Apple-1.
"The Apple-1 is not only a marvel of early computing ingenuity, but the product that launched what is today one of the most valuable and successful companies in the world," says Bobby Livingston, Executive VP at RR Auction. "What makes this particular Apple-1 even more valuable is that the collector had the foresight to present one of the extremely rare original boxes to Steve Wozniak and have the Apple-1 creator hold it in his hands one last time."
The Steve Jobs + Apple Auction will be conducted online from December 10 to 17. The starting bid for the Apple-1 lot is US$50,000.
Source RR Auction
ComputersRR AuctionAppleComputerAuction
David Szondy
David Szondy is a freelance journalist, playwright, and general scribbler based in Seattle, Washington. A retired field archaeologist and university lecturer, he has a background in the history of science, technology, and medicine with a particular emphasis on aerospace, military, and cybernetic subjects. In addition, he is the author of a number of websites, four award-winning plays, a novel that has thankfully vanished from history, reviews, scholarly works ranging from industrial archaeology to law, and has worked as a feature writer for several international magazines. He has been a New Atlas contributor since 2011.
Asus targets business users with tough and capable Chromebox Fanless
Lenovo's latest all-in-one PC offers horizontal or vertical viewing
Cloud service will turn any photo into 3D holographic image
New magnetic tape prototype breaks data density and capacity records


All across Northrend, many battles have been fought against the vile Scourge. Countless lives have been lost since the Alliance and the Horde first reached these frozen wastes, but the champions of Azeroth continue to march forward — and Icecrown Citadel, the cornerstone of the Scourge's power and the home base of the Lich King, is their final target. Tirion Fordring and the Argent Crusade have forged an accord with Darion Mograine and the Knights of the Ebon Blade to form the Ashen Verdict. This coalition's strongest combatants, along with the champions of the Alliance and the Horde, will lead the charge against the citadel. In the new Icecrown Citadel raid dungeon, Azeroth's mightiest will face terrifying challenges before ascending to the Frozen Throne, where the Lich King and his runeblade, Frostmourne, await to deliver the heroes to their deaths….
A number of changes have been made to World of Warcraft's introductory experience, including updated character and class information at the character-selection screen, more robust tooltips with images, improved health and mana regeneration at lower levels, and adjustments to various classes designed to make it easier for players to get started. In addition, all-new quest-tracking features have been added to assist players in finding objectives, including new interface functionality in the quest log, the map ("M" key), and the Objectives pane.
Three separate 5-player dungeons — The Forge of Souls, Pit of Saron, and Halls of Reflection — containing all new challenges and missions of discovery, await players in normal and Heroic modes.
Symbol "@" added as a synonym for "target=". For example: "/cast [@focus] Flash Heal".
"motionScriptsWhileDisabled" attribute added to buttons. This allows "OnEnter" and "OnLeave" to fire while the button is disabled.
You can now query for a list of completed quests with "QueryQuestsCompleted()" then wait for the "QUEST_QUERY_COMPLETE" event, and call "etQuestsCompleted(<luatable>)".
A new feature has been added to the D3D graphics engine to improve texture management (particularly for Windows XP users). If you are experiencing random crashes related to file read errors or out of memory, this new backend may help. To enable the new backend, add the following line to your Config.WTF file: SET gxApi "d3d9ex". For more information please visit our Technical Support forum.


text:
Home April 2017 Haroset - A New Twist On An Old Favorite
Haroset – A New Twist On An Old Favorite
LET'S FACE IT. There was an awful lot of kvetching as Moses led our ancestors out of Egypt. The Israelites whined about the food – "We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic" (Numbers 11:5). They whined about the lack of water. And tell me if this doesn't sound like Jerry Seinfeld: "So there weren't enough graves in Egypt, you had to bring us out here to die in the wilderness?"
But for every kvetch, G-d provided miracles, and we were led into glorious freedom, enabling us to use our ingenuity, skill, traditions, and collective memory, to create a glorious celebration around this iconic episode in our history. To kvetch about what we do without for those eight days is to see the glass half empty.
During the Seder, we eat matzoh with haroset, the fruit-nut mixture resembling, in color and texture, the mortar the ancient Hebrews used as slaves in Egypt, and combine it with bitter herbs, to remember the bitterness of slavery and the sweetness of freedom. Yet, unlike the roasted lamb, bitter herbs, and matzo, haroset is not mentioned in the Torah as one of the foods we are commanded to eat on Passover, and doesn't show up as part of the Seder until hundreds of years later in the Mishnah. While the Mishnah mentions placing unleavened bread, lettuce and haroset on the Passover table, it is referred to as a type of appetizer, leading to much debate about its inclusion in the ritual proper.
"The name 'haroset' comes from the Hebrew word for clay (chres)," explains Oded Schwartz in "In Search of Plenty" (Culture Concepts). "Haroset is a direct descendent of the Greco-Roman sweet-sour sauces which were served at the beginning of a feast as a dip for raw bitter salad herbs. They were eaten to refresh the palate and tantalize the appetite…and were probably adopted in Israel under the Greek and Roman occupation."
We tend to think of haroset as a strictly Passover tradition, but it wasn't always so. "Haroset was probably eaten throughout the year, as the Mishnah specifies that flour is not allowed just in a Pesach haroset," notes Schwartz, "There is no set rule about which fruit should be used, but the tradition is to use fruit which is associated with the land of Israel: dates, figs, raisins and pomegranates."
Haroset also symbolizes hope and faith, and most recipes call for apples, according to "Jewish Soul Food" (Brandeis University Press) by Carol Ungar. "The apple, which is called tapuach in Hebrew, recalls the tree beneath which the Israelite slave women birthed their babies," she notes. Giving birth in the orchards muffled their cries of pain so that the Egyptians would not know that a male child was born.
As apples in biblical times only grew wild, and were difficult to cultivate in tropical climates, many scholars believe that the tapuach was the quince, according to food historian Gil Marks, while others make a case for a citrus fruit.
Even the spices used in the mixture are symbolic, suggests Ungar. "Cinnamon and ginger, which are hard spices until ground, are added to the mixture to recall the straw pieces the Egyptian taskmasters forced Hebrew slaves to use for making bricks after they stopped supplying them with clay."
The impoverished shtetl residents of Eastern Europe could hardly afford the expensive fruits and nuts with which to make haroset, she adds, so the town's wealthiest citizen would make up a big batch and divide it among his neighbors.
Joan Nathan tells an interesting story about an improvised Seder in "Jewish Cooking in America" (Knopf) gleaned from the Civil War memories of J.A. Joel written in 1866 in the "Jewish Messenger": "The necessaries for the choroutzes [sic] we could not obtain, so we got a brick which, rather hard to digest, reminded us, by looking at it, for what purpose it was intended."
Two recipes in Faye Levy's "1,000 Jewish Recipes" (IDG) – her Yemenite Haroset and Haroset Truffles – inspired me to create the pretty little Yemenite Haroset Truffles shown here. Sweet, spicy, and festive, they really belong on the dessert table, but I like to serve them as part of the Seder ritual, along with Ashkenazi haroset, of course, where they won't get lost amidst that ostentatious display of sponge cakes, tortes, cookies, and pastries. (Ah, yes, poor us. No bread for a week. Thus we remember the sufferings of our ancestors!)
Every country makes its own combination of local fruits and nuts, and one year, bored with the Ashkenazi haroset we were all used to (and probably having way too much time on my hands), I made a variety of them and had everyone vote for their favorite. Guess which won? The Ashkenazi, of course! Old habits die hard.
What to do with leftover haroset, should you actually have any? (Or maybe you forgot to toast your nuts!) Spread it on matzo for breakfast or a delicious snack, or add some to your matzo brei. Think about it: nuts and apples in your breakfast pancake – what could be bad? Or freeze it, and after Passover try haroset instead of applesauce in home-baked breads and cakes.
Yemenite
Haroset Truffles
Makes 20 to 24
For the coating
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted and finely ground
For the truffles
1/3 cup (2 ounces) pitted dates
1/3 cup (2 ounces) dried figs
1/3 cup (2 ounces) raisins
1/3 cup (2 ounces) dried apricots
2 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 tablespoons orange liqueur
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cup toasted coarsely chopped pecans
3/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1 Coating: In a food processor grind almonds until fine. (Do not overgrind or you will get almond butter.) Remove from processor and set aside. No need to clean processor.
2 Combine dried fruit, honey, orange liqueur and spices in food processor and pulse until smooth. Add pecans and slivered almonds, and process until well combined. Refrigerate, covered, until firm, at least 3 hours.
3 Form mixture into balls 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Roll them in the ground almonds, and place them in individual fluted foil or paper candy cups to serve
Ashkenazi Haroset
Walnuts are traditional, but use any nuts you like, such as almonds as shown here. While both walnuts and almonds are mentioned in the Bible, I break with tradition and take my cue from my Atlanta cousins and use pecans. Whichever nut you choose – in fact, no matter which haroset recipe you use – please, please, toast thy nuts! (Haroset recipes rarely if ever include this instruction, but trust me, you won't believe the difference!)
3 medium-size crisp sweet or tart apples, or a combination, peeled, cored and cut into eighths
1 cup pecans or walnuts or almonds, or a combination, toasted
2 tablespoons sweet red wine
1 Place apples in a food processor and process until chopped. Transfer them to a mixing bowl.
2 Place pecans in food processor and chop them. Add them to apples, and stir in wine, honey, and cinnamon.
Note: Best served the day it's made, but it will keep, covered, in refrigerator for up to 3 days (the nuts will soften after the first day). Makes 2 1/3 cups
Source: "Cooking Jewish" (Workman) by Judy Bart Kancigor
Jlife food Editor Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of "Cooking Jewish" (Workman) and "The Perfect Passover Cookbook" (an e-book short from Workman), a columnist and feature writer for the Orange County Register and other publications and can be found on the web at www.cookingjewish.com.
Previous articleThe Oy in My Joy!
Next articleBeing Present for Passover
"Hana's Suitcase"
JLifeOC - March 29, 2017
Stranger in a Strange Land
Pesach Duality

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


When you're serving burritos outside a marijuana dispensary, your customers are always watching to make sure they're not rolled too tight. Obviously, there's no sticks and seeds in the valley's best burrito, but you might be surprised to learn there's no rice and beans, either. They would just get in the way of the flavorful meat, fresh pico de gallo and avocado, and the delicious homemade salsas.


Why Give to Gospel Work?
At Christ Church we want to build whole-hearted disciples of Jesus. We want to see people connect to Christ and our church family, grow as disciples of Christ and serve to build disciples of Christ.
If you don't know Jesus yet – if you haven't yet come to put your full trust in him – then please consider finding out more about who Jesus is and what he came to do, and join us at one of our Sunday Gatherings.
But if you are part of Christ Church, joining us in building whole-hearted disciples of Jesus so we can grow as a family of churches and reach further into the world with the good news of the gospel, then we want to ask you to consider what financial support you might be able to provide to further this vision and mission, under God, and for his glory.
How Can I Give at Christ Church?
You can pick up weekly Giving Envelopes at the Information Desk to give regularly by Cash.
All Cheques (whether making a regular or tax-deductible contribution) should be made payable to 'Christ Church St Ives'. If contributing to a specific Appeal (including Scripture Appeal) or Ministry, please enclose the cheque in an envelope and specify the Appeal or Ministry on the front.
Our church is funded solely by contributions from members and there are significant costs in sustaining our ministries that help people connect to Christ, grow in their love and knowledge of him and serve Christ and his people.
You can use any of the options above for Regular Giving to the General Fund orTax-Deductible Giving to the Gospel Trust Fund. All Tax-Deductible Giving by Cash or Cheque must be enclosed in an envelope with a Giving Form.
Regular Giving to the General Fund — When you give regularly at Christ Church, either week-by-week at our Sunday Gatherings or electronically, you are contributing to the General Fund, which helps sustain and grow these core ministries and the gospel work of our church year in and year out.
The bulk of our costs are associated with salaries for our ministry team. We also need to provide for administration & property costs. As a church, 11% of contributions made to the General Fund are also set aside each year to help us reach further into the world with the gospel as we support our Mission Partners in their work in Asia, Africa and Europe.
Tax-Deductible Giving to the Gospel Trust Fund — In addition to giving regularly to fund our core gospel work both locally and overseas, there are opportunities to make tax-deductible donations to specific funds which have been approved by the Australian Tax Office. Tax-deductible contributions made to the Gospel Trust Fund can be made in support of scripture teaching in our local schools, certain maintenance projects, and the development of music and arts that further the cause of the gospel at Christ Church.
The Gospel Trust Fund is an umbrella tax-deductible fund that allows Christ Church to efficiently manage its tax-deductible donations. You can direct your tax-deductible contribution to the Gospel Trust Fund and authorise Christ Church to apply the donation where it is most needed, or make a fixed or flexible contribution to a specific area (a fixed contribution can only be allocated to the specific area, and a flexible contribution can be reallocated to another tax-deductible fund if the specific area is oversubscribed).
We ask our members to regularly give to gospel work at Christ Church so that we continue to build more and more disciples of Christ. We also encourage our members to support other Christian organisations involved in gospel work, as well as contributing to charities working with the poor & disadvantaged.
Please direct any queries or concerns about Giving for Gospel Work to our church family's elected representatives on the Parish Council or our Senior Minister, Andrew Graham.


In the US extra virgin olive oil is used to prevent heart attacks and other heart diseases, denying those who would like to tax it and brand it with warning labels.
This was announced by Coldiretti, in reference to the invitation published by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to indicate on its packaging that olive oil – containing at least 70% of oleic acid – has cardiovascular benefits unlike saturated fat, which is harmful to the heart.
"The US food health agency – underlines Coldiretti – suggests writing on the bottles that if consumers use half a tablespoon of olive oil, without increasing their daily calorie intake, it is beneficial for their health".
"The FDA proposal represents – says Fabrizio Filippi, president of Coldiretti Toscana – a response to the alarmist labels and unjustified taxes that some UN countries are asked to adopt when dealing with foods considered dangerous for the health because they are rich in fats, sugars or salt".
"This is an infamous stigma that favours artificial food products and – explains Filippi – unjustly affects the Made in Italy extra-virgin olive oil sold in various countries, such as Great Britain and Chile. Here the olive oil is labelled with warning labels, to discourage its use. Its unjust as oil has always been vital for the Mediterranean diet, and considered an elixir of long life".


text:
Q: Handling multiple forms on a page I have a page that is mostly informational data (not an input form, overall). And it has a title that can be edited.
Clicking the Edit Title button pops up a modal window where the user can edit the title and hit submit.
Because this form is a very small part of the page, and because I may need other small forms on the same page, I just created a small handler in the controller to handle this one submit.
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult PageTitle(string title)
{
    // ... Save new title to the database ...

    // I have no PageTitle page, so just redirect back to the source page
    return RedirectToAction("Index");
}

This works okay, but I don't like the extra redirect here. A redirect back to the client causes another round trip back to the server.
Is there a more efficient way to handle small forms on a page, where you don't want to resubmit every input element on the page each time?

A: I don't think there is a convenient way how to avoid the redirection after a post request (without using Ajax).
You can of course return any View:
public ActionResult Index()
{
    return View();
}

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult ProcessForm1(FormOneData data)
{
    // process form
    return View("Index");
}

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult ProcessForm2(FormTwoData data)
{
    // process form
    return View("Index");
}

So the user will get the same page but the problem with this solution is that the url will be different.
You can have one function for GET request, another for POST requests, both with the same URL. But than you would have to figure out how one action method would handle more forms - doable but terrible for maintenance.
And this can get even more complicated if those forms can appear on more than one page.
But actually, it solves one thing. With the redirection you avoid the re-POST dialog that user gets if they press F5 (and sometimes submit the form again by mistake).

A: What about sending form data via Ajax as shown below?
@model Models.YourModel

$('form').submit(function (event) {
    event.preventDefault();

    //Send the values of all form controls within the <form> tags including the token
    var formdata = $('#frmRegister').serialize();

    $.ajax({
        type: "POST",
        url: '@Url.Action("ProcessForm", "Controller")',
        cache: false,
        dataType: "json",
        data: formdata,

        error: function (response) {
            $("#error_message").html(data);
        },

        success: function (data, textStatus, XMLHttpRequest) {
            $('#result').html(data);
        }
    });
});

You can also use Partial Views in order to use multiple forms or fragment on the same View.

A: As @TiesonT. points out, post/redirect/get is a standard pattern. No, it doesn't seem like the most efficient. But without doing AJAX or something a little more elaborate, there is really no way to postback to a specialized handler and then refresh the page without a redirect.
Was hoping I overlooked something simple but it looks like I did not.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Patagonia calls upon teams of graduate students solve some of its toughest environmental issues.
Berkeley Haas centers and institutes are engines of knowledge creation, where faculty thought leaders and industry partners generate insights and practices that shape markets and business success. As a corporate partner, you can join the collaborative effort, co-creating new knowledge and activating it within your organization. Each center offers unique opportunities for creativity, partnership, and impact.
These are some of our most relevant centers and institutes.
Center for Financial Reporting and Management: Advancing a globally focused curriculum in accounting education.
Center for Responsible Business: Supporting an equitable, inclusive, sustainable society.
Energy Institute at Haas: Dedicated to energy business, policy, and technology commercialization.
Fisher Center for Real Estate: Focused on real estate, urban economics, the California economy, land use and public policy.
Berkeley Roundtable on Applied Innovation and Design: Advancing co-innovation by strengthening collaboration between UC Berkeley and businesses.
Berkeley Innovation Forum: Exploring innovation management.


The Recipe: A moist, apple-y and cinnamon-y apple cake with a crispy topping, almost a coffee cake, rustic and delicious.
The Conversation: How sharing recipes makes the world a smaller place.
If our apples are local, let our inspiration be global.
Three decades ago, my friend Pille grew up in Estonia behind the Iron Curtain, imagining lives on the other side through a cookbook called World Dishes. Her favorite recipe became Kanada õunakook, Canadian Apple Cake.
Last fall, I made Pille's cake for a bake sale in my hometown on the Minnesota-Ontario border. Knowing locals would yawn at a "Canadian" apple cake, I called it "Estonian Apple Cake". Sure enough, it sold fast!
To fancy up a notch, serve this cake in a pool of crème anglaise (pronounced krem-ahn-GLEHZ), French for "English cream", the runny custard.
CRÈME ANGLAISE Bring 1 cup half & half just to a boil. Meanwhile, separately whisk 2 large egg yolks with 2 tablespoons sugar. Slowly whisk the hot liquid into the egg mixture, then return it all to the saucepan. Cook on medium heat, stirring continuously, until it just thickens. Stir in a splash of vanilla. Serve warm or cold. Makes 18 tablespoons.
ALANNA's TIPS This simple apple cake is mixed by hand so is especially good for new cooks. Besides, not everyone has (or wants) even a simple hand mixer, so I collect dessert recipes, no mixer required. Melt butter in the microwave in a small bowl, using 10 - 15 second zaps so not to spatter. Cinnamon is cinnamon, right? Wrong. Cinnamon is harvested all over the world, some are spicier, some sweeter, some mellower. My favorite is Extra Fancy Vietnamese Cinnamon from Penzeys whose collection is a spice 'n' herb marvel.
Heat oven to 400F/200C. Spray a 9- or 10-inch round cake pan or an 8x8-inch square cake pan with baking spray.
CAKE In a large bowl, whisk egg, then whisk in milk, butter and sugar. Scoop flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon onto wet mixture without mixing in. With whisk's tip, lightly combine without mixing in. Now whisk dry mixture into wet mixture until just combined. Stir in apples. Spread evenly in the baking dish.
TOPPING In a bowl, mix topping ingredients with fingers until mealy, spread evenly atop batter.
BAKE & SERVE Bake for 30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool for 15 – 30 minutes. Serve alone, with Crème Anglaise (see recipe on the left) or simple whipped cream. Keeps 2 - 3 days.
PEAR & GINGER CAKE Just substitute ripe pears for the apples and ground ginger for the cinnamon. A delicious change from the apple original!
COOKING for DIABETICS While this remains a "dessert", it is possible to adapt this cake to use less sugar. In the cake itself, substitute 6 tablespoons of agave nectar and use whole grain flour (I had good luck with 3/4 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour.) Finally, use demerara sugar, an unrefined sugar made from sugar cane, for the topping instead of brown sugar.
Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Do you have a favorite apple recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. "Like" Kitchen Parade on Facebook!
2008, RIGHT HERE IN ST. LOUIS When Pille visited the States, I got to meet my blogging friend in person! Our meeting reminded me why I once wrote about the friendships that form among bloggers, "And when we meet, we're already friends." Pille's blog Nami-Nami (which means Yummy, Yummy in Estonian) is a fascinating window into the life of a young professional couple who live and work near the capital city of Tallin. Be sure to check out what she calls Canadian Apple Cake, also another apple recipe she posted just recently, Oven-Baked Toffee Apples.
2014, RIGHT THERE IN TALLINN, ESTONIA And then we spent a few days with Pille and her family in their home outside Tallinn. What a joy, those days, especially meeting her lovely three towhead children! And a fascinating time to visit Estonia, too, geopolitically, see Estonian Deviled Eggs for the story.
If you like Kitchen Parade's recipes, for more scratch cooking recipes using whole, healthful ingredients, visit A Veggie Venture, my food blog, home to the famous Alphabet of Vegetables where there's a vegetable in every recipe and vegetables in every course.
What a lovely cake. Had it not been for blogs, I would have never known that Estonia has such a rich cuisine.
Oh, oh, OH, is this the one you made for us? I knew I'd forgotten to get a good one.
Tried the apple cake yesterday ... yum!


I was having coffee recently with one of my team members and the coffee conversation soon became a coaching session on career progression. These conversations come up often and I have given the same advice (or variants of it) many times. I wanted to share some of it here.
You need to Take Ownership of Your Career. If you don't, nobody will. But what does that mean? Here are a few points to get you started.
Know What You Want: It's too easy for people to complain about their job, their boss, their career, etc. But do you know what will make you happy? If you can't articulate what you want, nobody, including your boss, can help you achieve it.
Maintain a Positive Attitude: Happier people and happier teams are more successful and able to overcome obstacles. Be positive and enthusiastic. It's contagious and people will gravitate to you. You will build better relationships, and leaders will want you on their projects and teams. This doesn't mean you should see the world with rose coloured glasses, that won't do you any good. Be realistic about things, but focus on positive energy, body language and communication. It will help.
ABC – Always Be Curious: The world is changing, technology is changing, management principles are changing. We all need to adapt and learn new things. My own career has gone through many changes and I have had to learn and re-invent myself repeatedly. This is not a bad thing, it is the way of the world. Just remember to bring the transferrable skills with you. Sometimes I feel like a Swiss Army Knife, pulling out tools that I have collected through the years and re-applied them to solve today's problems. You must keep learning.
Think Long Term: In managing a services business, it is always very hard to match Demand, Supply, and everybody's Interest at all times. Work must get done, even if it's not what we have on our personal 'learning plan' for that month. But if you know what you want, communicate it, and show some patience, you have a better chance of getting the experiences you want over time. Being a 'Team Player' can pay off.
A Final Thought: Only you can define what success means to you. What other people want is not relevant. Be honest with yourself and genuine in what you aspire to. Success on someone else's terms is fools gold.


text:
Standard Method Mortuus Est
Matthew Spry 12 Oct 2022
Standard Method RIP. The writing was on the wall during the summer Conservative leadership campaign when both Liz Truss[1] and Rishi Sunak[2] argued against the idea of "top down", "Whitehall-inspired" and, famously, "Stalinist" housing targets. Change was seemingly affirmed on 8th September when Simon Clarke, the new Secretary of State said[3]: "We need to move away from the culture of top-down housing targets which have done so much to poison the relationship between individual communities and government on the question of how we build the houses that we need." In truth, the Standard Method has been in purgatory for months; a host of local planning authorities had cited its expected demise in deciding to abandon plan making[4] contributing to a situation where 59% of the country does not have an up-to-date local plan, and with no sense that Government would intervene to deliver on its December 2023 deadline. This has had significant adverse economic costs (our analysis of eight abandoned local plans found that 69K homes would be lost, costing the economy £1.9billion of economic output (GVA) annually. Housing delivery is now heading in the wrong direction[5]: Starts on site (April to June 2022) down 15% on the same period last year Net additional dwellings in 2020-21 down 11% on 2019-20 280,000 homes granted permission in the year to June 2022, down 16% from the 334,000 in the same period last year. Capital Economics is now forecasting a further fall in starts of 38% to just 110,000 in 2023 and 2024, before a small recovery to 130,000 in 2025[6]. This would be a function of the current economic-crisis (on sites already with permission that stall or build out more slowly), but the reduced bank of permissions, particularly in the stronger markets[7], means this market cycle fall starts from a lower base. In the context of current economic headwinds, the Guardian[8] was briefed on the contents of a new planning policy "reset": "Government sources also said the target of building 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s had quietly been abandoned. They said it was unlikely to be officially abolished, as it had been a 2019 manifesto pledge, even though Truss hit out over the summer at "Soviet-style targets". But blue wall Tory MPs in the south-east of England are pressing for a firm commitment that the nationally imposed housing target will be dropped, and are wary of further planning reforms that would lead to a significant increase in development. They are seeking to ensure local authorities maintain a "master veto" over developments before pledging their support to Clarke's plan. This would keep any drastic new developments to areas that want them – but potentially limit the plans to turbocharge housing numbers." Despite this, the Times reports that the 'reset' is not intended to reduce new supply[9] but "to boost house-building and drive economic growth." But how? In this blog I look at what the removal of the Standard Method might mean for housing delivery, consider the role of housing targets in plan making, and provide a few concluding thoughts on factors that might be considered in shaping the detail of a new policy. What will removal of the Standard Method mean for housing delivery? The answer – obviously - depends on what, if anything, replaces it. And here there is no real clarity. In her interview in the Telegraph[10], the now Prime Minister was reported as saying: "I want to abolish the top-down Whitehall-inspired Stalinist housing targets; I think that's the wrong way to generate economic growth… The best way to generate economic growth is bottom up by creating those incentives for investment through the tax system, simplifying regulations." Ms Truss wants to amend Mr Johnson's Levelling Up Bill to legislate for new low-tax "investment and building zones". The centralised targets are a "Labour approach", she says. "It's not Conservative." The views of her Secretary of State were reported[11] as: "he wanted 'to build more houses', but do so 'in the right way', by 'accelerating development of brownfield sites' and 'building beautifully'. He said: 'We want to grow organic communities, not impose cardboard boxes across our shires. As with investment zones, local consent will sit at the heart of our plans.' In comments made to the Times at the weekend, Clarke implied that greater incentives for local communities to accept development were likely to replace the compulsion for housing contained in the "top down" housing numbers. He told the Times that he wanted to "create incentives for residents to support development". He said: "What I would like is to have a system … whereby if you're a resident of X community there is something in it for you about a new settlement in your area." However, the specific incentives and simplified regulations are awaited and – due to difficulties with "the detail" - proposals have been pushed back to November[12]. In an indicator of possible thinking, the Government's approach to fracking is reported to involve offering households "up to £1,000 to approve provisional fracking in their area. The proposal being floated is for companies ... to go door-to-door to convince residents to green-light the move. Cash incentives could be offered, with exploratory drilling allowed to go ahead if more than 50 per cent of households in the local vicinity give their approval."[13]. This gives new meaning to the old expression of 'buying a permission', and – were a similar approach to apply to housing schemes (of which, unlike with fracking, there are literally thousands every year) raises practical questions as to how this process would relate to the local plan making and development management process[14]. Similar questions arose with the concept of Land Auctions[15]. The Secretary of State is reportedly suggesting further permitted development (PD) changes[16] and a relaxation of Green Belt rules for brownfield development[17]. The evidence for what this will yield is not yet apparent, but our analysis in May 2014 suggested brownfield sites in the Green Belt had a capacity of just 23,000 homes. On all brownfield land, the maximum capacity of land on brownfield registers amounts to less than 93,000 homes a year even were every site viable, not all of it will deliver the homes with gardens that many families want, and it is not concentrated in areas where affordability pressures are greatest. The last attempt at a brownfield-led planning policy resulted in annual net housing additions falling to 132,000. Stepping back from the current policy maelstrom, the past 30 years tells us something about what life without the Standard Method could look like: Between 1991 – 2005 (pre-Barker[18]), policy twisted and turned, but an overarching characteristic was that, although housing need and targets were relevant to plan making, they were 'soft': not defined by the crisis of affordability, mostly based on unvarnished household projections, shaped by the 60% target for use of brownfield land, and with less focus on deliverability. Housing output suffered accordingly. Annual stock growth was around 0.75%. In the period 1997 – 2003 when 'brownfield first' was at its zenith, it was lower still. Across the whole period, supply was on average 150,000 - 160,000 homes per annum, undershooting the official projections of household growth in that period. After 2005 (post Barker), the focus turned to how supply could address affordability and whilst the targets were hotly debated, there was – particularly with the NPPF - increased emphasis on meeting need, on Green Belt reviews in strategic and local plans, and on a deliverable supply of land. The annual stock growth in that 15-year period was around 0.85%. Strip out the five years of the financial crisis and the annual output was 0.9%. In the 'peak' years of the 2012 NPPF (with the 'tilted balance' given force and advent of expanded PD rights) and it was just shy of 1%, securing 230,000 - 240,000 per annum. This tells us that output is driven not just by housing need and targets, but by how these sit as part of a wider policy environment, including on plan making and delivery (and of course, economic cycle). If the replacement for the Standard Method is a vacuum or some kind of 'soft' target, it will – despite all the talk of incentives and de-regulation – likely lead to a much-reduced level of housing provision. Why? The current (2018-based) household projections envisage formation of just 164,000 new households each year (baking in trends of household suppression and assumed lower migration). In plan making, ONS local projections would likely be an influence for most LPAs. Whilst some might seek to exceed their figure[19], absent clear guidance on addressing market signals, affordable housing need or economic growth, most would see it as a maximum to then be moderated by perceived or actual constraints. If there was not an adequate mechanism for Green Belt review or addressing unmet need in our under-bounded, constrained big cities (Birmingham, London, urban South Hampshire, Leicester, etc) then output would be suppressed. If the 'tilted balance' policy was not applied with force to areas with out of date local plans, we can reasonably expect the national total would fall well below 160K, perhaps down to 140K. Quite simply, one could easily predict no real bounce back from Capital Economics' predicted economic downturn. Any boost from de-regulation or permitted development in a world without clear targets might simply see LPAs reduce the scale of their planned allocations as they would say they were no longer 'needed'. At the most optimistic, one might see output in a 'no-target' world go as high as, say, 185K if there was a major funding and delivery effort to support brownfield regeneration akin to the early 2000s (and a strong market for the particular form of housing it provides), a permissive approach to other forms of housing development that was treated as windfalls and not to be offset against other planned provision, and a strong commitment to plan making. Reflecting on this uncertain picture, it is worth turning to why housing targets have a role in plan making more generally. The role of housing targets Most planning systems involve some quantification of how much development is needed or desired in an area. This is because it helps the decision maker with judgements over how the impacts and benefits of development are balanced, how large developments should be, how many should be provided and where, what infrastructure is needed to support them, and if they warrant public sector investment. Without an assessment of need and obligation to set targets, experience tells us that many Local Planning Authorities who are, at best, ambivalent about housing delivery, will simply stop new homes being provided. A good example of why 'need' is relevant comes, ironically, from the Government's Investment Zone Expression of Interest process[20]. In question 2.5 on residential sites, bidders are asked to "set out here the estimated impact of the site over 10 years. What evidence is there that the site will drive additional or accelerated housing supply?". Among the metrics requested is "the level of unmet housing need currently in your MCA/UTLA/Freeport". Right now, the level of unmet need will be based on, you guessed it, the Standard Method. A recent attempt to construct an intellectually coherent alternative to the use of housing targets – but not at the expense of addressing the housing crisis - is the prospectus advocated by the Policy Exchange in its 2020 paper – Rethinking the Planning System for the 21st Century[21] which advocated: "Calculations of economic and housing 'need' should no longer be used (or required) to allocate land uses in a local area. The supply of new homes, offices and other types of use should no longer be capped by local planning authorities in local plans or by site allocations. Zonal designations should be separate from any concept of 'need'. Instead, they should be dependent on metrics that determine whether land has good access potential, whether new development would cause environmental disturbance and the potential for an existing built development to expand." In essence, under this approach, rationing of land would not be based on releasing only that deemed necessary to meet a quantified level of need, but simply on whether the land was, per se, deemed suitable for development. The implications of this are readily apparent when one looks at a typical strategic housing land availability assessment (SHLAA) and sees how the housing capacity of sites considered "suitable" is typically greater than what is required to meet an area's assessed need over a 15-year period. Whilst the Policy Exchange approach seems politically unlikely, it is possible that those who sought abolition of the Standard Method to cut housing supply may in time reflect that they should be careful what they wish for[22]. Where do we go from here? If a need and target-based approach is to remain in some form (and it is an 'if'), what factors need to be considered in arriving at a new policy approach? How should need be derived? At what spatial level should judgements be made over how it is met? And how far should national policy expect need to be met through plan making and decision taking? Some preliminary thoughts to conclude: History tells us that Government has always faced political difficulties when it was seen to 'own' specific 'top down' housing target figures[23]. The political reality (at least for now) might be some reversion to a method where plan makers generate their own estimate of need, based on evidence, with clear parameters for the relevant factors to take into account, the agreed data sources, and a much-streamlined approach aligned to the digitalisation of the planning system. An estimate of need looking beyond official household projections (as currently formulated) is an imperative if the housing crisis is to be overcome and the approach needs to be stable and predictable. A new approach to housing need must be accompanied by a reinvigoration of the evidential justification for housing supply as part of the solution to the housing crisis. Whether we need a headline national target is moot, but the role – identified by Barker and the NHPAU - of supply in addressing affordability, especially in the least affordable areas, would benefit from a refresh. This also can remind us that most comparable European countries - large and small, crowded or sparsely populated - regularly build many more homes per capita each year and are mostly the better for it. The NPPF 2012 was based on meeting locally-derived Objectively Assessed Need (OAN). Its political genius – initially - was that Government was not directly implicated in either need or local targets, whilst setting a real expectation that whatever figure arose should be met through plan making and the requirement for a five year housing land supply. To some extent, it worked. However, it suffered from the length of time it took for local plan-making (often held back by hotly contested calculations of OAN), and there was local push back to on how speculative housing applications filled the vacuum where plans were supposed to be[24]. Areas will likely need to retain – as now – the ability to determine how much of their need they can accommodate based on the relevant factors in their area (under the 'tilted balance' or similar), but this ought to be governed by a clear expectation that needs are met across housing market areas with an effective governance mechanism for achieving that. The concept of need and targets is only as good as the ability of the system to generate positive plan making; this means plans formulated at the right spatial scale to address strategic planning issues (duty to cooperate issues, constrained urban areas and the like), a streamlining of the plan-making system and its outputs to increase productivity (as suggested by the LURB), digitalisation of the process, better resourcing, and the right mix of carrots and stick for plan making bodies, including a political drive. Targets must be accompanied by an effective approach to deliverability, so strategies are achieved by a realistic supply of sites, be that through five year housing land supply and/or the proper scrutiny of housing trajectories in local plan making. It is a false dichotomy to assume that planning focused on boosting supply must be at the expense of wider policy objectives around quality, design, place making, infrastructure delivery and securing net zero carbon, all of which can be part of the framework. As we reflect on the short life of the Standard Method, proper attention must now turn to what should replace it. With political will, we have the planning tools available to deliver a more effective approach to planning for the homes we need, but prolonged uncertainty or a target vacuum will make it much more difficult for supply to bounce back from the inevitable downturn. [1] Widely reported, but as set out in Housing Digital– see here[2] In the pages of the Daily Telegraph - see here (£)[3] In an interview on LBC – see here[4] The tale of woe is well summarised by Zack Simons here and Simon Ricketts here [5] As shown in the DLUHC September 2022 publication Housing supply: indicators of new supply, England: April to June 2022[6] As reported in Building – see here[7] See Figure 4 on Page 14 of Taking Stock: The geography of housing need, permissions and completions[8] From the Guardian – see here[9] From the Times - See here (£)[10] From the Telegraph – see here (£)[11] In BD Online – see here[12] As reported by the Times – see here[13] In the Telegraph – see here[14] See, for example, how it would square with the provisions set out in the PPG ID: 21b-011-20140612 which says that: "Whether or not a 'local finance consideration' is material to a particular decision will depend on whether it could help to make the development acceptable in planning terms. It would not be appropriate to make a decision based on the potential for the development to raise money for a local authority or other government body."[15] See Planning Resource article here[16] Government figures suggest PD rights delivered just under 14,500 homes in 2020-21, down from 19,500 in 2018-19 – see here[17] Presumably relaxing NPPF para 159 (g) in which, in order to be "appropriate" in the Green Belt, limited infilling or the partial or complete redevelopment of previously developed land must "not have a greater impact on the openness of the Green Belt than the existing development" or "not cause substantial harm to the openness of the Green Belt, where the development would re-use previously developed land and contribute to meeting an identified affordable housing need within the area of the local planning authority."[18] Kate Barker Review of Housing Supply (2004)[19] In 2017, our five year review of plan making found that local authorities with adopted plans (excluding Birmingham and London) exceeded the then household projections for their area by 22%.[20] The Investment Zone Expression of Interest is here[21] Policy Exchange – Rethinking the Planning System for the 21st Century[22] Especially with Mr Airey (the author of the document) recently appointed as special advisor at DLUHC – see here[23] See, for example, the push back to the NHPAU Supply Ranges of the late 2000s, the hostility to setting of housing targets through RSS/RS, the debacle over the mutant algorithm, the prior difficulties the Government had updating the Standard Method with new household projections, and the rejection of the 2020 White Paper's suggestion of top down 'binding' targets[24] The problem was diagnosed by the Local Plans Expert Group
A brownfield-based planning policy? The lessons of PPG3
The Prime Minister's Conservative Party conference speech confirmed speculation that a change in direction is afoot on planning reform[1]. Diminished is the thinking that led to the White Paper and the 'mutant algorithm'. Ascendant is 'levelling up' and directing development to brownfield sites[2]. The Daily Telegraph headlined its report of the speech with "PM pledges no homes on green fields"[3] However literally we should interpret the PM's rhetoric[4], the tilt towards brownfield and away from greenfield is worthy of exploration. It may be a response to the politics of the past twelve months, but it is not a new policy outlook, having echoes of the brownfield-first policy of the Labour Government in the late 1990s, that culminated in Planning Policy Guidance Note 3 (PPG3) in 2000. The current BBC documentary series on New Labour tells the political story of that era[5]. Unsurprisingly, its planning agenda is not centre stage, but might a review of PPG3 help frame consideration of the latest brownfield zeitgeist? This blog looks back at the genesis of PPG3, unpacks its core elements, and sketches out what happened to housing delivery. Emergence of the policy New Labour came to power in 1997 with a focus on urban renaissance, but it went with the grain of the agenda from the previous Government[6] which had already suggested an "aspirational target" of 60% of new homes on brownfield land[7]. In 1998, Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) John Prescott published Planning for the Communities of the Future[8]a policy statement which introduced the idea of 'brownfield first', described as: "a sequential and phased approach to the development of all sites, which means there will be a general preference for building on previously-developed sites first, especially in urban areas" This was not a 'brownfield only' policy: "The principle of reusing previously-developed sites is, at first sight, the most sustainable option. However, reuse of land (and buildings) is only one aspect of sustainable development. Other aspects relate to the resource and energy implications, including reducing the need to travel. Not all previously-developed land is equally attractive to develop in sustainability terms. … Thus, in sustainability terms, some forms of greenfield development may be more attractive, such as extensions to urban areas in public transport corridors… This suggests that criteria may be needed for deciding a sequence for development at regional, and particularly local, levels. This means using a more sophisticated approach to the choices of both the form and phasing of development, with the clear aim of creating more sustainable patterns of development." On how this related to meeting housing needs, Government was cognisant of affordability, but sought to downplay the idea of the 4.4m households by 2016 as a binding target, by introducing "plan, monitor and manage". In his statement to Parliament, the DPM said: "The dilemma is clear cut and affects us all - how to accommodate more households and, at the same time, protect our precious countryside, without rents, house prices or homelessness spiralling upwards. It is not just a matter of how many households but where they will live…. In order to achieve greater flexibility, we are determined to get away from a simplistic 'predict and provide' approach in housing, as we have done for road building. We will treat the household projections as guidance, not house building requirements. Moreover, we will allow for greater flexibility in adjusting regional and local plans to ensure local provision is meeting local need over time…" [9] In 1999, the Government consulted on a draft of PPG3, which introduced the sequential approach. That summer, the Urban Task Force reported[10]. PPG3: brownfield-first planning policy PPG3 was published in March 2000[11]. It comprised a number of core elements: Housing targets were to be set at a regional level based on a "realistic and responsible approach to future housing provision, assessing both the need for housing and the capacity of the area to accommodate it" (No tilted balance then!). Growth was to be directed to "areas where previously-developed land is available … in preference to developing greenfield sites." Land supply was underpinned by a brownfield target of 60% "in order both to promote regeneration and minimise the amount of greenfield land being taken for development" with urban capacity studies used to identify the potential of brownfield land. In identifying sites for allocations "authorities should follow a search sequence, starting with the re-use of previously-developed land and buildings within urban areas identified by the urban housing capacity study, then urban extensions, and finally new development around nodes in good public transport corridors." Site selection was based on criteria in Paragraph 31 of the PPG3, but deliverability was not one of them. Brownfield sites were to be preferred to greenfield release unless they performed "so poorly" as to preclude their use for housing. The phased release of sites was to be determined in local plans based on the sequential approach, with plans required only to identify land for the first five years (and no requirement for it to be deliverable, as now), with plans to be "updated is reviewed and rolled forward at least every five years". The only concession to deliverability was the where it said: "it is essential that the operation of the development process is not prejudiced by unreal expectations of the developability of particular sites nor by planning authorities seeking to prioritise development sites in an arbitrary manner." Guidance was produced to assist in this process.[12] Enforcement of the policy included the Town & Country Planning (Residential Development on Greenfield) Direction 2000, requiring local authorities to refer planning applications on greenfield sites of at least 5ha or 150 dwellings - including on existing local plan allocations - to the Secretary of State for him to decide whether he wanted to make the determine the application following a public inquiry. In the first ten months of PPG3, the Secretary of State had 'called-in' 20 greenfield housing applications under the Direction or as a departure, with a further nine pending a decision[13]. What was the impact? In 2003, Lichfields was commissioned by ODPM to carry out research on the implementation of PPG3[14]. We found an inconsistent picture across the country as to how well the policy was being applied. Half of local authorities had reviewed their greenfield allocations, and most had either completed or were underway with urban capacity studies, but there was far slower progress on local plan preparation, with only 13% of local plans and 35% of structure plans adopted. A third of local authorities – particularly in the South East – had not begun preparing local policies (in effect they banked the restrictions on greenfield release as early as 1998 without putting in place a strategy to respond to housing needs). The Study found that barriers to implementation of PPG3 included the slow pace of local plan production and lack of resources. Plus ça change. A historic perspective on the brownfield-first policy is provided by Andrew Prichard, former manager of the Regional Planning Body in the East Midlands[15]. He found: Regional Planning Guidance targets for housing provision aggregate to around 150,000 homes[16] but with a different regional distribution: numbers were higher in the North East, Yorkshire and Humber and the West Midlands. In the North West, the Government cut housing targets by 15% to reduce greenfield development. In the South East, the Government split the difference between the SERPLAN intentions and the conclusions of Professor Stephen Crow (Inspector) who had "demolished" them. The proportion of brownfield increased (CPRE reported it to be 67% by 2005). However, net housing additions fell from 156k per annum in 1998 to a low of just 132k in 2001 despite "increasing economic buoyancy". House building was clearly not keeping up with household growth, with shortfalls of 90,000 homes alone in 2001 and 2002. The figures for net housing additions 1998 – 2003 are shown in the Table below. Source: DLUHC: Table 109 Dwelling stock: by tenure and region, from 1991 (figures may not sum due to rounding) Whilst the rate of completions nationally had recovered by 2003, there was still a 7% reduction in the south, and national supply was historically low. London was the principal driver of increase. Andrew Prichard comments: "The extent to which PPG3 was responsible for the mismatch is of course difficult to fully establish. However, it represented a very significant shift in locational policy for developers and land owners and was strongly enforced by central Government. Research by Savills in 2004 indicated that the immediate effect of PPG3 was to 'restrict greenfield availability rather than increase the availability or capability of development of brownfield sites' – which in turn had implications for land prices and housing supply." The Barker Review of Housing Supply Interim Report (2003) observed that: "The sequential test introduced in PPG 3 requires local authorities to release land for housing development in an order of preference that prioritises brownfield sites. It is not the intention of the policy to restrict land supply but some local authorities appear to have overinterpreted it to the detriment of housing being delivered. Indeed research from ODPM supports this point, arguing that local planning authorities understand 'brownfield first' but also erroneously believe PPG3 says 'greenfield never'. The 'prematurity of sites' is often a reason for the refusal or delay of applications for housing developments. However, priority sites may not always be immediately available or suitable for development. In some local authorities, this policy is used to block development rather than actively manage the release of land."[17] A change in direction By 2003, there was a shift. The DPM launched Sustainable Communities: Building for the Future, with plans to "tackle the housing shortage, especially in London and the wider South East by creating conditions in which private house builders will build more homes of the right type in the right places" [18]. This approach included the four new growth areas[19]. Barker's final report (2004) said the planning system should be more responsive to market signals[20]. On the brownfield first policy, it recommended that: "PPG3 should be revised to require local planning authorities to be realistic in considering whether sites are available, suitable and viable. Any site which is not available, suitable and viable should be disregarded for the purposes of the sequential test." In 2006, PPG3 was replaced by PPS3[21]. This maintained the 60% brownfield target, but crucially brought back the requirement for a rolling five-year land supply of deliverable sites and set a requirement for developable land for years 6-10 and, where possible, 11-15. By 2008, housing supply was 40% above its 2003 level. This policy was carried forward into the NPPF (2012) alongside the presumption in favour of sustainable development. This dual approach – of allowing local authorities to select brownfield sites in preference to greenfield, but still ensure they have a portfolio of sites that will secure a sufficient supply of housing in reality – remains part of the current policy framework[22]. Ten lessons for today This canter through one aspect of New Labour history tells us something about the factors this Government should consider if it is genuinely contemplating a more overt brownfield-focused policy: Even at its zenith, PPG3 was never a brownfield only policy, even though some Councils sought to interpret it as such. Plan makers were able to choose to release greenfield land for housing. Such a policy (that takes effect as soon as there is an expectation of a change[23]) will result in an immediate reduction in new housing supply, with the greatest downward impact in the south of England, where affordability problems are greatest. A brownfield-based policy does not, in of itself, make brownfield land more deliverable for housing. Barker's interim report found that 69% of all National Land Use Database brownfield sites were not suitable for housing development and over half of the suitable land was in an existing use.[24] There is no evidence there is enough brownfield land, in any region, to deliver anything close to 300,000 extra homes per annum[25]. CPRE's annual review of brownfield land[26] identifies capacity for 1.3m homes (1.1m of which was on brownfield registers, and 0.6m already consented). Registers can be a helpful indicator of brownfield potential, but crucially a) local authorities' assessments of site deliverability are not independently tested; and b) they measure capacity looking ahead 15 years. At best it would equate to less than 87,000 homes per annum. In the north of England, the brownfield register capacity equates to just 44% of the Standard Method over that period[27]. In London, the South and Midlands, it is less than a quarter. Relying on brownfield land alone is likely to reduce the supply of affordable housing rather than increase it. The CPRE analysis also highlights that brownfield capacity is not a silver bullet for putting more growth in the north. Of the 1.1m homes capacity on brownfield registers, 55% are in London and the South of England, compared to 45% in the midlands and the north (almost exactly in proportion to population). PPG3 relied on regional planning to do the hard work of strategic spatial choices. Unless the Government chooses to introduce a new strategic planning tier, attempts to skew housing targets towards brownfield areas, and to the north of England, will require a further recalibration of the Standard Method. Directing housing targets to urban areas does not itself drive up the supply of brownfield land. The December 2020 changes to the Standard Method added 35% to the housing need figure for the 20 largest cities, but it is already clear there is no realistic prospect of this being met; plan makers in London, Leicester, Southampton, Bradford are among those already stating they do not have the land capacity to meet the inflated figure[28]. The practical limitations to the flow of brownfield development help explain why, throughout the life of PPG3, net housing additions hovered around half the 300,000 figure. The subsequent coupling of a brownfield focus with a parallel requirement to have a realistic supply of land (in PPS3 and now in the NPPF) coincided with an increase in supply. It impacts on mix too. An overzealous drive for brownfield leads to high density flatted development in town and city centres. This may not be undesirable itself, but the rationing of land release means this can come at the expense of family homes with gardens, which may be what is most needed to make some cities attractive to families. The growth in brownfield development that occurred in the second half of the 2000s coincided with a boom in buy-to-let mortgages[29] and a major public sector funding of housing-led regeneration programmes. Looking at the situation today, one would need to understand whether equivalent market drivers exist to accompany any change in policy, and bridge the gap between rhetoric and real-world delivery. [1] Conference speech text here[2] In this blog 'brownfield' is used as shorthand for previously developed land (or PDL).[3] Daily Telegraph article here (£)[4] Welywn Hatfield Council has interpreted it very literally and put its delayed (very delayed) local plan on hold – see here.[5] Blair & Brown: The New Labour Revolution available on BBC iPlayer[6] For example the 1995 White Paper: Our Future Homes – Opportunity, Choice, Responsibility included proposals for "the planning system and public investment to encourage more development in existing urban areas and less on greenfield sites" and the aim to "build half of all new homes on re-used sites",[7] In its 1996 Green Paper – Household Growth: Where Shall We Live – which looked at how to address the 4.4m additional households expected between 1991 and 2016.[8] Available here[9] Available on Hansard Volume 307, debated Monday 23rd February 1998[10] The Urban Task Force was chaired by Lord Rogers. Its Mission Statement was "The Urban Task Force will identify causes of urban decline in England and recommend practical solutions to bring people back into our cities, towns and urban neighbourhoods. It will establish a new vision for urban regeneration founded on the principles of design excellence, social well-being and environmental responsibility within a viable economic and legislative framework."[11] The 2000 PPG3 is available here[12] Planning To Deliver - The Managed Release Of Housing Sites: Towards Better Practice available here[13] Written Answer in Hansard[14] PPG3 Implementation Study (2003) available here. This blog author was part of the research team.[15] In Chapter 3 of the English Regional Planning 2000-10, edited by Corinne Swain, Tim Marshall, and Tony Baden[16] Broadly equivalent to the 3.8m extra households set out in the 1996-based household projections.[17] The Interim Report of the Barker Review is available here[18] Available here[19] Thames Gateway; Milton Keynes/South Midlands; Ashford; London - Stansted – Cambridge. These flowed from recommendations of Professor Crow's report on the South East Plan.[20] The Final Report of the Barker Review is available here[21] PPS3 (2006) is available here[22] For example, see paragraph 120 of the current NPPF which sits alongside paragraph 68[23] As evidenced by Welywyn Hatfield's pre-emptive pause of its Local Plan following the PM's Conference speech[24] See para 9.9 of the Interim Report: 32% was subject to flood risk or in the Green Belt; and 58% was in weak housing markets (which would impact on values capable of overcoming inevitable abnormal costs). Just 31% was in neither category, but most of it was already in use, leaving just 11% available for development. Add on to this, some of the 11% would have site-specific constraints. [25] This was clear from the NLUD data, as this 2014 Lichfields publication showed[26] CPRE – Recycling our Land: The State of Brownfield Report 2000. Available here[27] Based on the Standard Method as calculated at December 2020 to correlate with the CPRE Brownfield Register base date.[28] Examples are in this Inside Housing article[29] Reported as representing 30% of all house purchase mortgages by 2008 (Sprigings N, 2008, "Buy-to-let and the wider housing market" People, Place & Policy Online 2(2) 76–87).


Mainly Northern Ohio, South of Cleveland area.
Where are some good places to ride?
There are a few places I'll hit in Brecksville Reservation area, Helltown by Boston Mills (roads are sh!t) and Hinkley Medina area between say the North Royalton Border and Rte. 18 in Medina and from 42 to 77.
The group I ride with mainly hit 71 and take that North to Cleveland and ride around the city but you can only do that so many times until that gets old too.
But where the hell are some good places to ride. I am starting to get bored with what I have been on and am looking for better area's to ride in the South of Cleveland area, if there are even any, twisty sections, if I wanted to go fast in a straight line I'd hit Norwalk.
Any feedback would be great. Maybe a general location or something so I can check it out on Google Maps and figure out how to get there.
tons of good people in there that love to ride.
I was just at Nelson's Ledges the other day but for swimmin and drinkin, last Thursday actually, it's only like 45 minutes from me right down Rte. 82. Is there a link you can shoot me for the Nelson's track days so I can see cost's and all that needed to go there? I have gloves, but no actual "riding" boots, just work boots I wear. I will check out craigslist to see what they have for suits for sure! Thanks!
Do you ride street at all, or just track?
I'm on there, seems to be mostly Southern Ohio though. I am not a fan of that forum that much, but I will go back and check it out.
Right now yeah just track, I've been looking for a late 68-74 honda CB to turn into a cafe racer and be able to ride on the street again. Though once you start riding the track the street isn't really fun any more.
Nice, my buddy is doing a full resto on a Yamaha RD 400 I think it is, early 70's into a Cafe Racer.
Go down Highway 11 or SR 7 to East Liverpool area, WICKED WICKED WICKED Whipping grounds!!!!!! It's like Wayne National Forest? It's an hour from Youngstown literally any road you take is curvasious! You can spend an entire day and only go so many miles it's that awesome! It's like a weekend trip kinda deal if you ask me, but I'd want to stay all week. Hit me up sometime if you'd like to go ?? Maybe next season though, I'm only doing local riding because I'd rather not go to far this cold/wet.
most of them pole smoke each other.
Mohican area for scenic back roads!
I'm in Cincinnati. Want to roll around northern Kentucky, let me know.
Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.


The following notes are intended to provide some mineral guidance for all first year Management students on the art Of good essay writing. Any hints apply equally to the answering of examination questions. All students, regardless of academic background and ability, should be anxious to ensure that their hard work is properly directed and appreciated. Lecturers want their students to understand what is required of them and so attain the highest standards.
The purpose of these notes is not to force students into writing dull, mechanical essays, but rather to help each student develop his or her own style of thought and essay writing while aware of the ululates sought by lecturers. The art profiting a good essay can only be cultivated through care and by dint of hard work. These notes are only a guide to good essay writing. If you feel you need further guidance, do ask your lecturers for assistance. Preparation No student can write a first class essay without careful preparation of his or her answer.
So, allow yourself plenty of time before you start writing, and consider the following: The Question; Read the Question Sometimes, you will be asked to write on a particular essay theme. Read the question or the statement thoroughly, and deduce the essential point being dad. On many occasions, the question will be alluding to an important theme within your course. Students often write good essays but, in misunderstanding the question at the outset, they finally fail in their task. Be careful, to answer all dimensions of the set problem.
Finally, use your evidence to answer the question specifically and avoid simply writing on the right theme in a loosely conceived way. An understanding of the implications and significance of the question's precise wording will be crucial to the relevance and quality of your answer. Since some of the implications of the question will not become apparent until you have done quite a lot of reading, look back at the exact wording of the question and check that your work continues to be properly directed.
Use some of the vital words or quoted phrases of a question in your essay, so that their full significance can be demonstrated to the reader. On other occasions, you will decide upon a project title in conjunction with your tutor. Once you have selected a topic, your tutor will normally wish to indicate the main issues you may wish to cover; he or she will also wish to relate these issues to the bibliography for the topic. Do take note of your tutor's advice as this may well save you a lot of unnecessary work.
Books and Articles Each topic you study is likely to involve working with four main types Of source: texts which place the subject in a broad context; specialist books which focus upon a particular aspect of the subject; articles in academic journals; and articles in magazines and the financial and business press. Since several other students may be searching for the same books (especially if you have chosen a popular question), you should select your essential reading well in advance of the date you intend to start your note-taking. Use the Library reservation system to ensure that the books are available when you want them.
The most popular books are often available in the restricted loan collection that allows them to be used intensively. Students should recognize that key books are always in great demand. It is highly desirable that you co- operate with your colleagues and circulate books as freely as possible. You should inform your tutor whenever a book is hard to find so that may be placed on restricted loan. Taking Notes You may want to take some general notes about the sort of ideas, arguments and interpretations you find in your prescribed texts, thereafter your reading ND note-taking for an essay should always be selective.
You have a particular purpose in mind, so you should read and take notes only where the material is relevant. To ensure that you do not become immersed in a sea of copious notes around and about your subject, it is probably best to read a chapter or article through before you take any notes upon it. This will help you to see the central arguments and evidence in the chapter, assess their relevance to your work, and take selective notes accordingly. Do not note blindly every peripheral and marginal point Of the discussion. SE headings and abbreviations in your note taking so that you can 'sort the notes when you come to plan your essay, and save yourself the toil of rereading long and elaborate sentences. When you take your notes try also to distinguish between firmly established facts and hypothesis or speculation. Once you have identified the essential 'facts' of the matter, you will be able to see how different management and other social science specialists are using them. Everyone develops their own method of note taking, but a few practical tips may help: uncluttered notes help to speed the writing process.
Start a separate sheet of paper for each book or article. Only write on one side of the paper, and leave generous margins for afterthoughts. When you start on a new book or article, jot down the particulars at the top of the page – author's name, title, etc. As you make notes, write the page number(s) in the margin. When you write your essay, you will need all this information to acknowledge your sources (the Referencing Guide gives fuller information). And of course it will save a lot of time if you need to go back to a book or article later.
It's also helpful to note where you found the source: which library? Shelf number? Again, this can save time if you ever want to consult the work again. Composition The composition of a good essay entails much more than the mere re- shuffling of your notes under particular headings. Here are the hallmarks of a well-composed essay: Relevance As stated above, the relevance of your essay will be dictated in the first place by your ability to interpret the set question or statement properly. No essay is an invitation to write generally around and about your subject.
So, if asked to 'Compare and contrast human resource management practices in British and Japanese companies', an account of the development and current position of he British Trades Union movement would be severely penalized for not answering the question directly and explicitly. Your answer would also be inadequate if it was not truly comparative and did not give equal weight to management systems in both countries. Therefore, be disciplined and do not indulge in a broad discourse on a general theme.
So, stick rigorously to the question; answer it clearly and incisively. Never forget that anyone unable to answer the question in an examination may be failed. Organization This is a vital element in any essay. Never be misled by anyone who tells you hat, so long as you have collected the facts, you can dash them on to the page in any order. An essay is the result of empirical evidence being structured to prove a specific point through the means of a progressive and explicit logic.
The way in which you answer the question – the demonstration of coherent and clearly expressed thought – is more important than the facts used to fill the page. A good essay technique is to begin with an introduction that answers the question directly. This acts as a signal and proof to your marker that you have understood and will answer the question. The rest of our introductory paragraph should explain the structure of your essay, that is in outlining why you have included particular pieces of evidence and why they will substantiate the case you have just expounded.
This will force you to think about the relevance of your evidence, its organization and the order in which it is displayed. The structuring of your essay so that each stage four argument and discussion leads naturally and logically on to another stage is not easily achieved, but it does distinguish a fine essay from the weak and the average. Furthermore, be definite and conclusive in what you are saying. No lecturer ill penalties a student for reaching a conclusion with which he or she personally disagrees, provided that the argument preceding it is generally sound.
The only 'wrong' conclusion (to be justly penalized) is one that is plainly at odds with the evidence presented in the essay, or if evidence which the writer ought to have included is omitted. Information To be convincing, any academic argument must be an informed argument. This does not mean that you have to cram every fact and figure that you have acquired from your reading into the body of your essay. It does mean, however, that you need to support your major claims and arguments by wowing the reader the evidence, or the sort of evidence, upon which they are based.
Much of this evidence may be open to several interpretations, so you should try to demonstrate why the particular argument you are making is preferable to other interpretations. Clearly, you need to exercise your judgment about how much evidence you need to support a particular point. Usually, one or two good examples will suffice to demonstrate a generally accepted point of view, but a more contentious argument will require more detailed explanation and substantiation. Skepticism Be prepared to be critical of your authors, or at least to adopt a skeptical attitude of mind towards them.
Be aware that academics cannot be completely objective, and the treatment of a subject will reflect something of the problems, concerns and attitudes of the time and place in which they write. Do not be afraid to challenge received wisdom with arguments of your own. Clarity Sound grammar and correct sentence construction are essential components of clarity, so you need to take great care of them. Ungrammatical essays cannot expect to attain a good mark, whatever their other qualities. Gross illiteracy invites failure. Jargon, slang, journalese, and click©s are normally penalized.
This is not to say that your style of writing must be colorless, for fluent and forceful prose may well make your arguments more persuasive. Economy The length of an essay is no indication of its quality. An excessively lengthy essay may, however, indicate that the author has failed to master acquired material. Consequently, the student is unable to select material that is relevant and important to the question set. Conversely, a very short essay may indicate that the author has failed to tackle one or two critical aspects.
Always remember that you can write a first-class essay without exceeding the given word-limit. So, do not over-illustrate any single point, or over-develop any one contention. Plagiarism: What it is and how to avoid it Introduction Academic communities, like the School of Management at Royal Holloway, exist to produce ideas and knowledge and to pass them on to students. In joining this academic community, we therefore expect to respect the thoughts and ideas of academic colleagues, both here and elsewhere in the world.
Yet, according to research in the LOS and UK (see reference 2, listed at the end) and from our own experience over the last few years, an increasing number of students are cheating in their academic work. They are doing so by copying other peoples work and presenting it as their own, a form of academic misconduct known as plagiarism. What is plagiarism? At its most simple; plagiarism refers to attempts by the student to misrepresent his/her own ability by drawing on other people's work and presenting it as his/her own.
It includes collusion with or copying from fellow students. However, it is more evident in the copying of sentences and ideas from academic textbooks and articles in the library. Possibly the fastest growing type of plagiarism is the cutting and pasting of materials from electronic sources such as Internet sites. Hayrick (see 4) argues that plagiarism involves a combination Of three elements: Cheating involves "… Borrowing, purchasing or otherwise obtaining work composed by someone else and submitting it under ones own name… Non-attribution involves using someone else's words or ideas without acknowledging him/her as the source Patterning involves taking passages from a variety of sources, often with the judicious changing of words or phrases, with an intention of disguising the sources It does not matter from whom you copy, what you copy from, whether you copy word for word or idea for idea or how much you copy hen it is not attributed. All these practices constitute plagiarism because they do not present your thoughts about the topic in question, but attempt to present other people's ideas as if they were your own.
Washes wrong with plagiarism? In a college community where ideas are at the heart of its existence, using other people's ideas for personal gain is considered to be not just poor work, but academic misconduct ? it is not just intellectually weak or formally wrong, it is also morally indefensible. As academics, our life work is the production and writing of ideas and arguments, and plagiarism constitutes a theft of intellectual property. On a more practical level, it is our job as lecturers to assess your intellectual abilities, and we are not able to do so accurately if you present the arguments Of Someone else as your work.
In the longer run and at a more abstract level, the practice of plagiarism undermines the credibility of the educational work carried out in universities, since confidence in the quality of the degrees awarded will be diminished. In summary, plagiarism is a major threat to academic integrity, a key value underlying university life. Plagiarism and your life as a student If you understand the nature and significance of plagiarism and intentionally copy ideas without due attribution to their authors, this is a serious offence under college regulations and is tantamount to cheating (not necessarily… E Ergs on Exam and Assessment Offences. There is not necessarily, in all cases, an intention to cheat). Resorting to plagiarism may be particularly tempting when there is pressure to meet assignment deadlines. On the other hand, students can quite unthinkingly and innocently fall into academic practices that result in plagiarism. However, your tutors will not always be able to judge whether your copying is innocent misjudgment or intentional cheating, so you must think carefully about plagiarism when you are preparing assignments.
In what follows, we explain some simple techniques to prevent you falling into bad academic practice. Avoiding plagiarism Wide reading The more dependent you are on one source or just a small number sources, the more likely you are to replicate the ideas those authors offer. It is good academic practice to consult as widely as possible, and to focus your reading on the issues raised in the assignment topic rather than retrieving everything you read. The further you progress through your degree programmer, the more widely and deeply you will have to read in order to address issues raised in assignments.
Careful note-taking and paraphrasing ideas Much preparation for assignments involves taking notes from books or materials that you are reading. In taking notes, you should be careful not to copy sentences or paragraphs directly, unless you place them in inverted commas. If you omit the inverted commas, you might forget when you get around to writing that you copied directly and therefore plagiarism without realizing. It is good academic practice to learn to paraphrase arguments.
To do so, you should read, say, a chapter of a textbook and use your own words and your own sequence of ideas to record the arguments as they relate to the issues raised by the assignment. Clear in-essay citing and referencing As mentioned in 2, it is important to record in your notes when a passage is a direct quotation – don't forget to note also the page on which the quotation is located. Direct quotes are Very useful mechanisms for conveying key ideas concisely, but in management assignments they should be used sparingly e. G. To clarify definitions of concepts.
You should avoid citing huge chunks and arcographs from sources. When you do quote directly, you must use inverted commas and make a clear reference to the source at the point of quotation (e. G. Jones 1999: p. 1 0) and provide its full reference details in a bibliography (reference list) at the end of the assignments . Citation of all consulted sources In order to optimism transparency in academic work, it is necessary to provide a full list of all the sources consulted in writing an assignment. All articles, books and other materials including Internet sources should be referenced in conformity with the Harvard system.
Wary use of Internet sources Although it is convenient and quick to gain access to materials on the Internet, you should note that there is virtually no quality control over what appears on the Web. There are obvious exceptions – such as web sites established by authoritative institutions (e. G. The Economist; World Bank) – but in general you should think hard before relying on information from the Internet. Where you do make use of such sources, you must give full reference details, including the date you accessed the site.
Writing individual assignments on your own Most assignments are designed to examine your individual skills and understanding, and it is important that you write such assignments on your own. This does not prevent you from discussing assignments with colleagues – indeed, this is often a very good practice – but the way you present information and construct an argument should reflect your knowledge and ability. Detecting plagiarism A small minority of students, for a variety of motives are tempted to take shortcuts that plagiarism seems to offer.
Where staff suspect a case of plagiarism, it is now possible to undertake very sophisticated analysis of coursework assignments to find the original source of materials. (However, legalism is an academic judgment (see Ergs) and we don't necessarily need to find the source to prove it has taken place) Higher education institutions in the KICK, including Royal Holloway, have access to powerful detection tools, which allow linguistic analysis, comparative analysis of different texts and, most significantly, Internet searches to scour the Internet for similar or identical materials (see, for example, references 1, 5 and 6).
Dealing with plagiarism Where the School of Management has sufficient evidence of collusion between students or of the plagiarism of published or Internet materials, the dents involved will be sent a letter outlining the allegation and asked to attend a meeting to present their view of the case . If it is established that plagiarism has taken place, then a range of penalties may be applied (see Regulations on Examination and Assessment Offences). In the most serious cases, there is the possibility that the student will be required to withdraw from the programmer and the College.
This guide sets out the Harvard system of referencing to be used in essays submitted to the School of Management, Royal Holloway, University of London. It is important to reference published material that you wish to use n your essay. While referencing is a standard that is used to avoid plagiarism it also supports a strong scientific method. To build arguments and provide evidence you must reference any published resources you use. The spirit of referencing is embodied in Newton's famous 1676 quote, 'If have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants'.
It means that Newton's great discoveries were made by building on the previous work of scientists. This reference guide sets out how to reference other authors' work properly. For each type Of material you are referencing (e. G. Kooks, journal articles, newspapers, internet sites), this guide presents two parts, how to write the reference in the text of your essay, and how to write the full reference at the end of your essay. The section at the end of the essay should be called a reference section and only include those references cited in the essay.
For the purposes of this guide these two sections will be called in-text referencing and the reference list format. A note on paraphrasing and quoting: Quotes are direct transcriptions of text from other sources while paraphrasing uses your own words to express there' ideas. You should attempt to paraphrase where possible and only use quotes sparingly and strategically. Both paraphrasing and quoting require referencing, and quotes must refer to the page number from which they were taken (see Books).
The following pages give clear examples of how and where you should reference in your essays and reports Generic Format The Harvard system has a generic format for in-text referencing and the reference list. While this guide provides a range of examples for books, articles, internet sources etc, the generic format below should be used where adaptation is necessary. N-text (Author, year) or Author (year) e. G. Silence (1996) or (Silence, 1999) Reference List Books Author, (Year) Title. Place Published: Publisher. E. G. Silence, J A A. 1996) Business Expert Systems. Hitching: Technical Publications. Articles Author, (Year) 'Article title'. Journal Title, volume (number): pages. E. G. Silence, J. A. A. (1999) 'The role of political language forms and language coherence in the organizational change process'. Organization Studies, 20 (3):485-518. The following exemplifies several in-text references for books with one, two, ore than two authors, and authors cited by another author. When citing more than two authors, list all authors' surnames the first time, then use et al. (see example).
Note the different formats for the in-text referencing of paraphrasing and quotes (with page number) and the complete references in the reference list. In-Text One Author The development of procrastination in the ELK was fundamentally different from that of the US. The Tailors efficiency movement occurred in the US during an expansionary period while the same movement occurred in the UK during one of the worst ever recessions (Littler, 1982). Littler (1982) concludes that for these reasons the labor movements in the UK are fundamentally different from those in the LIST.


Clip this mini-shield to your saddle rails to foil mud and water. The sleek design won't slow your progress on mountain bikes, gravel cruisers or commuter rides.
Made of 100% recyclable 0.8 mm thick polypropylene.
Clips to saddle rails, no tools required to install.
Flip-Tip locks this lightweight fender into place.
Designed for tires widths 30 to 50mm.
Length is 38cm from tip to tail.


who receives a copy of The Seabird's Cry, by Adam Nicolson, as a small gift in appreciation.
Are you doing your best to match the target for January (AWC counts at at least three different wetlands)? And there is a new set of yearlong challenges for 2019!
Banner image: Ruddy Turnstone by Bhaarat Vyas/Macaulay Library from this checklist.


Boston based producer André Obin made some ripples last year worth the release of his The Arsonist album. He returns in the first half of this year with another collection of eclectic electronic tunes called Ways Of Escape; the first track form which is Loaded Soul, and EBM lite Germanic opus that should have him nervous that Goths might like him, 'cos then his career will be over.
A lot of people are throwing around the word 'Darkwave', and whilst those word throwers have probably never heard of Black Tape For A Blue Girl, Project Pitchfork or Das Ich they do have a point. The simplistic, growling synth bassline and whispered vocals are loaded with Teutonic, mascara fuelled, connotations. There's a little House flavour in there too, and a surprising funk, amidst the synthesizer swirls and Loaded Soul turns-in a confident and engrossing SynthPop soundtrack.
André Obin's Ways Of Escape is released 29th April.