text:
Like all the volumes of the Light in the Empire series, Blind Ambition, set in AD 114, and Faithful, set in AD 122, can be read and enjoyed as stand-alones, but they share some characters. The families of Tiberius Cornelius Lentulus, Gaius Licinius Crassus, and Baldric of the Vangiones are key players in these two tales of courage, faithfulness, unselfish love, and transformed lives set in Germania, Rome, and points between. Other stories that feature Lentulus or Crassus family members include The Legacy (AD 114 in Rome), and Honor Bound (AD 122-3 in Rome and Germania).
Now available in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle formats at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and international Amazon sites. Also available at Kobo world wide, at Barnes & Noble in paperback, hardcover, and Nook (epub), and at local bookstores by special order.
Blind Ambition by Carol Ashby
It's AD 114 in the Roman province of Germania Superior, and being a Christian carries a death sentence. Tribune Decimus Lentulus is on the fast track for a stellar political career back in Rome. When he's robbed, blinded, and left for dead, a young German woman who follows the Way finds him. Valeria knows it's his duty to have her and her family killed, but she chooses to obey Jesus's command to love her enemy and takes him home to care for him.
It's not his miraculous recovery that shakes Decimus to his core. It's the way they love him like family and their unconcealed love for Jesus. In spite of himself, he falls in love with the Christian woman Rome wants him to kill. Can Valeria hide her faith to follow him into the circles of Roman power? Or should he abandon his ambition to help rule the Empire and choose to follow a different way?
Blind Ambition is the second volume in the Light in the Empire series, a mosaic of stories that follow the interconnected lives of the members of several Roman families during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. The twelve novels of the series will take you around the Empire, from Germania and Britannia to Thracia, Dacia, and Judaea and, of course, to Rome itself.
Historical background for Blind Ambition
Now available in paperback and Kindle formats at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com.au, and international Amazon sites. Available at Kobo world wide and at Barnes & Noble in paperback and Nook (epub).
Faithful by Carol Ashby
In AD 122, Adela, the fiery daughter of a Germanic chieftain, is kidnapped and taken across the Roman frontier to be sold as a slave. When horse-trader Otto wins her while gambling with her kidnappers, he entrusts her to his friend and trading partner, Galen. Then Otto is kidnapped by the same men, and Galen must track them half way across the Empire before his best friend loses a fight to the death in a Roman arena.
Adela joins Galen in the chase, hungry for vengeance. As the perilous journey deepens their friendship, will the kind, faithful man open her eyes to a life she never dreamed she'd want?
A trip to the heart of the Empire poses mortal danger to a man who follows Jesus, especially when Galen must seek the help of an enemy of the faith for Otto to survive. Tiberius hunted Christians when he governed Germania Superior and banished his own son when he became one.
When Tiberius learns sparing Galen offers a chance at reconciliation with his son, he joins the trio on their journey home. Can his life-long hatred for the followers of Jesus survive a trip with the Christian man whose courage and faithfulness demand his respect?
Faithful is the fourth volume in the Light in the Empire series, a mosaic of stories that follow the interconnected lives of the members of several Roman families during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. The twelve novels of the series will take you around the Empire, from Germania and Britannia to Thracia, Dacia, and Judaea and, of course, to Rome itself.
Historical background for Faithful
Volume 1: Forgiven
Now available in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle formats at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and international Amazon sites. Available at Kobo world wide and at Barnes & Noble in paperback, hardcover, and Nook (epub).
Volume 3: The Legacy
Volume 5: Second Chances
Now available in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle formats at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com.au, and international Amazon sites. Available at Kobo world wide and at Barnes & Noble in paperback, hardcover, and Nook (epub).
Volume 6: True Freedom
Volume 7: Hope Unchained
Volume 8: Honor Bound
Volume 9: Hope's Reward
Volume 10: More Than Honor
Important aspects of Roman history for each can be found in the short articles at the end of each novel linked here and in longer articles in this website.


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Wikileaks and the coming conflict between closed and open
I've been thinking about wikileaks ever since the story broke. Most of the stories – like those written by good friends like Taylor Owen and Scott Gilmore are pieces very much worth reading but I think miss the point about wikileaks and/or assess it on their own terms and thus fail to understand what wikileaks is actually about and what it is trying to do. We need to be clear in our understanding, and thus the choices we are about to confront.
However, before you read anything I write there are smarter people out there – two in particular – who have said things that I'm not reading anywhere else. The first is Jay Rosen (key excerpt below) whose 15 minutes Pressthink late night video on the subject is brilliant and the second is by zunguzungu piece Julian Assange and the Computer Conspiracy; "To destroy this invisible government" (key excerpt further below) is a cool and calculated dissection of wikileaks goals and its intentions. I've some thoughts below, but these two pieces are, in my mind, the most important things you can read on the subject and strongly inform my own piece (much, much further below). I know that this is all very long, and that many of you won't have the patience, but I hope that what I've written and shared below is compelling enough to hold your attention, I certainly think it is important enough.
Jay Rosen:
While we have what purports to be a "watchdog press" we also have, laid out in front of us, the clear record of the watchdog press's failure to do what is says it can do, which is to provide a check on power when it tries to conceal its deeds and its purpose. So I think it is a mistake to reckon with Wikileaks without including in the frame the spectacular failures of the watchdog press over the last 10, 20, 40 years, but especially recently. And so, without this legitimacy crisis in mainstream American journalism, the leakers might not be so inclined to trust Julian Assange and a shadowy organization like Wikileaks. When the United States is able to go to war behind a phony case, when something like that happens and the Congress is fooled and a fake case is presented to the United Nations and war follows and 100,000s of people die and the stated rationale turns out to be false, the legitimacy crisis extends from the Bush government itself to the American state as a whole and the American press and the international system because all of them failed at one of the most important things that government by consent can do: which is reason giving. I think these kind of huge cataclysmic events within the legitimacy regime lie in the background of the Wikileaks case, because if wasn't for those things Wikileaks wouldn't have the supporters it has, the leakers wouldn't collaborate the way that they do and the moral force behind exposing what this government is doing just wouldn't be there.
This is one of the things that makes it hard for our journalists to grapple with Wikileaks. On the one hand they are getting amazing revelations. I mean the diplomatic cables tell stories of what it is like to be inside the government and inside international diplomacy that anyone who tries to understand government would want to know. And so it is easy to understand why the big news organizations like the New York Times and The Guardian are collaborating with Wikileaks. On the other hand they are very nervous about it because it doesn't obey the laws of the state and it isn't a creature of a given nation and it is inserting itself in-between the sources and the press. But I think the main reason why Wikileaks causes so much insecurity with our journalists is because they haven't fully faced the fact that the watchdog press they treasure so much died under George W. Bush. It failed. And instead of rushing to analyze this failure and prevent it from happening ever again – instead of a truth and reconciliation commission-style effort that could look at "how did this happen" – mostly what our journalists did, with a few exceptions, is they moved on to the next story. The watchdog press died. And what we have is Wikileaks instead. Is that good or is that bad? I don't know, because I'm still trying to understand what it is.
Zunguzungu:
But, to summarize, he (Assange) begins by describing a state like the US as essentially an authoritarian conspiracy, and then reasons that the practical strategy for combating that conspiracy is to degrade its ability to conspire, to hinder its ability to "think" as a conspiratorial mind. The metaphor of a computing network is mostly implicit, but utterly crucial: he seeks to oppose the power of the state by treating it like a computer and tossing sand in its diodes…
…The more secretive or unjust an organization is, the more leaks induce fear and paranoia in its leadership and planning coterie. This must result in minimization of efficient internal communications mechanisms (an increase in cognitive "secrecy tax") and consequent system-wide cognitive decline resulting in decreased ability to hold onto power as the environment demands adaption. Hence in a world where leaking is easy, secretive or unjust systems are nonlinearly hit relative to open, just systems. Since unjust systems, by their nature induce opponents, and in many places barely have the upper hand, mass leaking leaves them exquisitely vulnerable to those who seek to replace them with more open forms of governance.
– zunguzungu
Almost all the media about wikileaks has, to date, focused on the revelations about what our government actually thinks versus what it states publicly. The bigger the gap between internal truth and external positions, the bigger the story.
This is, of course, interesting stuff. But less discussed and more interesting is our collective reaction to wikileaks. Wikileaks is drawing a line, exposing a fissure in the open community between those who believe in overturning current "system(s)" (government and international) and those who believe that the current system can function but simply needs greater transparency and reform.
This is why placing pieces like Taylor Owen and Scott Gilmore's against zunguzungu's is so interesting. Ultimately both Owen and Gilmore believe in the core of the current system – Scott explicitly so, arguing how secrecy in the current system allows for human right injustices to be tackled. Implicit in this, of course, is the message that this is how they should be tackled. Consequently they both see wikileaks as a failure as they (correctly) argue that its radical transparency will lead to a more closed and ineffective governments. Assange would likely counter that Scott's effort address systems and not cause and may even reinforce the international structures that help foster hunan rights abuses. Consequently Assange's core value of transparency, which at a basic level Owen and Gilmore would normally identify with, becomes a problem.
This is interesting. Owen and Scott believe in reform, they want the world to be a better place and fight (hard) to make it so. I love them both for it. But they aren't up for a complete assault on the world's core operating rules and structures. In a way this ultimately groups them (and possibly me – this is not a critique of Scott and Taylor whose concerns I think are well founded) on the same side of a dividing line as people like Tom Flanagan (the former adviser to the Canadian Prime Minister who half-jokingly called for Assange to be assassinated) and Joe Liberman (who called on companies that host material related to wikileaks to sever their ties with them). I want to be clear, they do not believe Assange should be assassinated but they (and possibly myself) do seem to agree that his tactics are a direct threat to the functioning of system that I think they are arguing needs to be reformed but preserved – and so see wikileaks as counterproductive.
My point here is that I want to make explicit the choices wikileaks is forcing us to make. Status quo with incremental non-structural reform versus whole hog structural change. Owen and Gilmore can label wikileaks a failure but in accepting that analysis we have to recognize that they view it from a position that believes in incremental reform. This means you believe in some other vehicle. And here, I think we have some tough questions to ask ourselves. What indeed is that vehicle?
This is why I think Jay Rosen's piece is so damn important. One of the key ingredients for change has been the existence of the "watchdog" press. But, as he puts it (repeated from above):
I think it is a mistake to reckon with Wikileaks without including in the frame the spectacular failures of the watchdog press over the last 10, 20, 40 years, but especially recently. And so, without this legitimacy crisis in mainstream American journalism, the leakers might not be so inclined to trust Julian Assange and a shadowy organization like Wikileaks. When the United States is able to go to war behind a phony case, when something like that happens and the Congress is fooled and a fake case is presented to the United Nations and war follows and 100,000s of people die and the stated rationale turns out to be false, the legitimacy crisis extends from the Bush government itself to the American state as a whole and the American press and the international system because all of them failed at one of the most important things that government by consent can do: which is reason giving.
the logical conclusion of Rosen's thesis is a direct challenge to those of us who are privileged enough to benefit from the current system. As ugly and imperfect as the current system may be Liberman, Flanagan, Owen and Gilmore and, to be explicit, myself, benefit from that system. We benefit from the status quo. Significantly. Dismantling the world we know carries with it significant risks, both for global stability, but also personally. So if we believe that Assange has the wrong strategy and tactics we need to make the case, both to ourselves, to his supporters, to those who leak to wiki leaks and to those on the short end of the stick in the international system about how it is the reform will work and how it is that secrecy and power will be managed for the public good.
In this regard the release of wikileak documents is not a terrorist event, but it is as much an attack on the international system as 9/11 was. It is a clear effort to destabilize and paralyze the international system. It also comes at a time when confidence in our institutions is sliding – indeed Rosen argues that this eroding confidence feeds wikileaks.
So what matters is how we react. To carry forward (the dangerous) 9/11 analogy, we cannot repeat the mistakes of the Bush administration. Then our response corrupted the very system we sought to defend, further eroded the confidence in institutions that needed support and enhanced our enemies – we attacked human rights, civil liberties, freedom of speech and prosecuted a war that killed 100,000s of innocent lives on the premise of manufactured evidence.
Consequently, our response to the current crises can't be to close up governments and increase secrecy. This will strengthen the hands of those who run wikileaks and cause more public servants and citizens to fear the institutions wikileaks and look for alternatives… many of whoe will side with wikileaks and help imped the capacity of the most important institution in our society to respond to everyday challenges.
As a believer in open government and open data the only working option to us to do the opposite. To continue to open up these institutions as the only acceptable and viable path to making them more credible. This is not to say that ALL information should be made open. Any institution needs some private place to debate ideas and test unpopular theses. But at the moment our governments – more through design and evolution than conspiracy – enjoy far more privacy and secrecy than the need. Having a real and meaningful debate about how to change that is our best response. In my country, I don't see that debate happening. In the United States, I see it moving forward, but now it has more urgency. Needless to say, I think all of this gives new weigh to my own testimony I'll be making before the parliamentary Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics.
I still hope the emerging conflict between open and closed can be won without having to resort to the types of tactics adopted by wikileaks. But for those of use who believe it, we had better start making the case persuasively. The responses of people like Flanagan and Liberman remind me of Bush after 9/11 "you are either with us, or with the terrorists." Whether intentionally or unintentionally, an analogous response will create a world in which power and information are further removed from the public and will lead to the type of destabilizing change Assange wants.
I'm bound to write more on this – especially around wikileaks, open data and transparency that I think some authors unhelpfully conflate but this post is already long enough and I'm sure most people haven't even reached a place where they'll be reading this.
This entry was posted in canadian politics, commentary, open data, open source, public policy and tagged open, opendata, wikileaks on December 2, 2010 by David Eaves.
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17 thoughts on "Wikileaks and the coming conflict between closed and open"
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Jonathan Brun December 3, 2010 at 3:17 am
Interesting post tying all these things together, I am not sure I completely agree. In short, I think wikileaks has an important role to play in the transformation of governments. Open-Data, of which I am a big fan, can only go so far because the data we get is at the discretion of the powers that be. Wikileaks, like Greenpeace, is very important because it reminds powers what the alternative to Open-Data is, they are the extremists in the discussion.
On another point, my understanding of the "To destroy the invisible government" article is that Assange actually wants governments to try and become more secretive, because it will restrict their ability to act on items that are not moral (i.e. which they cannot do openly), so he is probably happy with Lieberman's response as it further reinforces his position for openness and restricts the government's ability to quickly respond.
My two cents. Trying to write a post myself.
Mark Kuznicki December 3, 2010 at 3:36 am
Great post, glad to be able to read your thoughts on this. I'm one of those who has been reading as much analysis on the meaning of Wikileaks that I can, so I appreciate reading yours.
I think Jay Rosen's reading is particularly profound from the point of view of the failure of journalism to hold government to account. This week I read with interest Samara Canada's second report from MP exit interviews which found that few MPs saw that their role included a responsibility to hold government accountable. If these two major institutions – media and Parliament – have failed to uphold this critical function of democracy, then of course new structures will emerge to fill the gap.
I think of Wikileaks as fulfilling a role similar to that of a trader seeking an arbitrage opportunity. It only has power in those places where the gap between truth and public statements is so great as to make the transaction worth the great human costs in terms of risk to the whistleblowers and the leaders of the Wikileaks movement. While Wikileaks may be the "first stateless news organization", the individuals involved are still very much subject to state power and take on the state at great personal risk. And yet, the dynamic this has unleashed, by its example if not by Wikileaks' specific continued existence, seems impossible to reverse. We're past that point.
So here we are – the scary weightless space just beyond the collapse of bedrock institutions most people still believe to exist. We're Wile E Coyote. The question appears to be – can we build new Network Society institutions while in free fall? How will we transition? Will it be peaceful transformation, or violent revolution? As for me, I'm becoming increasingly doubtful of the possibility of reform, but I'm hopeful of being proved wrong.
David Wrate December 3, 2010 at 4:40 am
Appreciate the observation that the event is potentially more disruptive than the released material. However, the power of the material can't be ignored in the face of its impact to world relations.What strikes me as positive is the potential for nations/diplomats/leaders to change their behaviour such that that wikileaks and its ilk become irrelevant.I look back at life lessons from my parents; if you are honest and upfront with people, they are more likely to reciprocate. That is, until other base human motivations; greed and power, chief among them, edge out integrity and decency and take control. And with them comes the need for wikileaks.
Igniter December 3, 2010 at 5:04 am
Thanks for tackling this. I'm at the same place, seeing this as a systemic challenge being brought to our attention. I think further that it is part of a larger civilizational process. It is challenging the very heart of our philosophy of organization… the mechanistic material manipulation model that served us well in designing factories and machines but has proven less successful in organizations and institutions.
This is well beyond a debate about whether the actions right or wrong. It's a demonstration that in our new connected reality, secrecy and information security does not exist. The pace of technological evolution is too fast to credibly claim that any new form of technical security wouldn't be circumvented in short order. And further, it shows it is about individuals making choices to share information. People, individuals, cannot be controlled the way we liked to believe. In other words, there is no rational justification that the current geopolitical, governmental approach to influence and control can effectively continue. It's over. It's just a matter of how long it takes to find a new approach that is compatible with the new reality of the connected world and how much trauma there is in the transition to that model.
Like the lovely little arsenic microbes have challenged our basic assumptions of life, or new red dwarf star theory that's challenging our orderly model of the universe, wikileaks has challenged our orderly model of governance and organization. Interestingly we are readily able to discuss and accept that our models of life and the universe are incomplete, but when it comes to wikileaks… whoa nelly. Well maybe, just maybe it's because as a civilization there is nothing more important. It's certainly what's caught my attention.
Great post. Thank you for your insight. Having worked in government and signed the privacy agreement, I was always uncomfortable with both secrecy and leaks. Often it seemed that the leaks could only have come from the executive level and were more politically motivated than released for the betterment of the services or the public. When things occurred that were pertinent to how services were being performed to the determent of the public they weren't leaked. I guess my question is who has the right to determine what should be leaked? I am suspect of the motivation. That goes for the press as well. In making the case for open data with government, I'm hopeful that a solid rational, clearly outlining the restrictions and regulations will prevail.
p.s. Tableau public is really taking it on the chin as well. http://www.tableausoftware.com/blog/why-we-removed-wikileaks-visualizations
TokyoTom December 3, 2010 at 10:59 am
Many thanks for bringing this to our attention.
I note that Jay said "collaborate", not "calibrate".
David Eaves December 3, 2010 at 3:41 pm
Hi Tokyo Tom – fixed it… thank you!
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Taylor Owen December 3, 2010 at 3:35 pm
Dave, as usual, nice post. While i feel we should be having this convo over a drunken dinner, alas, today it will have to be through cyberspace! A few thoughts in response, which I have also posted on my site, http://www.taylorowen.com
First, I 100% agree, as you know, that the institutions of the 20th century were built for a different social, economic and political model, and need to be reformed. One of these reforms will need to far more transparency. More open data is part of this greater transparency. So yes, you and I are both incrementalists.
Let's be clear about what Assange wants though. He wants to bring down the system – in it's entirety. Just look at the zunguzungu piece: "Assange has a clearly articulated vision for how Wikileaks' activities will "carry us through the mire of politically distorted language, and into a position of clarity." Ah yes, the true sign of a false prophet – if only we know everything, then we will reach purity. This is Maoist in it's true sense. Cleans the world of politics, then politics will be pure. Demagogic absolutism at it's core.
Second, and related, Assange is supposedly sitting on a huge data dump of a US bank. While this is likely a database of emails amongst managers and executives, what would those that are heralding this new world of absolute transparency say if he releases the financial information of every client of this bank. If his goal is to bring down the corrupt western capitalist system, why would he not release data that would bring the world economy to a standstill? And if he does, what will the reaction be from those that view wikileaks as a relatively harmless, though inconvenient for the powers that be, truthsayer?
Third, on Rosen's video, far from brilliant, I actually think he gets his two core points wrong (maybe it's the Dewars). Yes the role of press as watchdog has been degraded, but this is a bit of an old story. If anything though, wikileaks has increased the role of the press. Assange has 250,000 cables, and what does he do? Instead of releasing them all on say, a wiki, and letting the wisdom of the crowds sort it out, he gives 5 old media companies privileged secret access to the data for several weeks before the dump. As such, it is the NYT, the Guardian and Der Speigel which are the primary filters through which we see the cables. Far from their death-nail, wikileaks is the best thing to happen to the mainstream media in a decade.
Related, the second thing Rosen gets wrong is the reason leakers go to wikileaks rather than the traditional Bernteinian press. He seems to imply that they trust wikileaks to do better things with the data. That the press, having lost its watchdog role, is no longer worthy of a leakers intel. But maybe one simply leaks to wikileaks because wikileaks has a better guarantee of anonymity and is way easier? Imagine you are a junior officer in the US military sitting on a data base you want to leak. You could try to contact someone at the Washington Post via smoke signal, meet them in parking garages late at night, and hope that their J-School ethics course had enough of an impact that when they are thrown in jail by the US government, they will not divulge you as a source. Or, you could go to the wikileaks site and click upload. Let's not read to much into this choice. I feel in this case Rosen has fallen victim to looking solely through his worldview – in this case, that the view from nowhere press is bad at everything.
Finally, all i wanted to highlight in my piece is that data exists on a continuum from those which could usefully be opened, to those that loose their value if opened and must remain secret. I personally would rather my elected government make this decision. Assange thinks everything should be open does should be open for us to see. I don't. That being said, government will need to be pressured to do be more open, and part of this pressure should include calls for far more accountability. Only a more accountable government will have the credibility to convince a sceptical public that the secrecy decisions they make are the right ones.
Where, for example, are the detainee transfer documents that nearly brought the present parliament down nearly a year ago? A process was supposedly designed to balance national security with transparent government, yet to date not a single document has been released. It is a singular failure of both the Harper government and the opposition parties that this process has been treated with such negligence. And a more engaged citizenry would have demanded and empowered their representatives to act more responsibly. Ironically, it is this sort of behavior makes leaks all the more likely, as both bureaucrats and citizens stop trusting the government with the powers of secrecy we give them.
And this is where Dave's work is so important. The question is not between absolute open and absolute closed. This is not, as much as some might like it to be, a revolution. It is not that romantic. As Dave regularly reminds us, it is a question of how we transition our government and institutions from the 20th to the 21st century. In this sense, it is, and must remain to be, incremental.
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Michael December 3, 2010 at 6:52 pm
Do we have a choice between reform and whole hog structural change?
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PeteMoss17 December 4, 2010 at 9:32 pm
Fantastic reading! As to the choice between incremental non-structural reform versus whole hog structural change, my hope is that this will lead to the latter. That doesn't mean anarchy. That doesn't mean violent revolution. Massive change in the system can be achieved through the democratic electoral process. But we don't even have that in the U.S. Wholesale structural change must include one person, one vote. There must also be true campaign finance reform – no candidate can be beholden to anyone or any group, no outside money to influence a candidate's ideas or positions. Also, and absolutely most important, we as human beings must evolve to the point that we elect people whose egos don't allow them to believe they are so much more superior that they have the ability to lead all others. Better yet, we evolve to the point we govern ourselves. But back to the existing world. Jay Rosen asks whether this WikiLeaks phenomenon is a good thing or a bad thing. If WikiLeaks was indeed born of a failed watchdog press, that is a bad thing – not because we now have WikiLeaks, but because our mainstream press has seriously lost its way. If the work of WikiLeaks results in diplomats beginning to conduct business as decent people, communications become open and honest, jealousy and distrust is removed from the equation, territorial barriers are broken down, then all of this is a good thing. As Julian Assange told the Guardian, "History will win. The world will be elevated to a better place. Will we survive? That depends on you."
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Wikileaks is the simply the result of a profound imbalance. For many it is simply a desperate measure because nothing else has worked. Correct this extreme imbalance and the very need for a "wikileaks" will decrease. So you are right in that we ought to do something to correct the imbalance but you are wrong in seeing it as a revolution. It is simply a small necessary step in the good direction (because we have lacked people with courage and ethics for far too long). A second reason why it is not a "revolution" but simply an evolution is something I thought you would have seen already: the public in general can see and process it all, contrary to what most powers tend/want to believe. In any case, the cost of delegating responsibility is and has always been extremely destructive for mankind, far more than the tedious exercise of dealing with reality and truth. Well, already said too much. Greetings David. Always a pleasure to read you struggle. Jacques
Wikisteff December 10, 2010 at 6:41 pm
Thanks for this article, David.
In my own thinking on the topic, the probability of a wikileaks-type event would seem to scale with:
1. the number of candidate leakers;
2. the discrepency between an organization's public line and its private behaviour; and
3. the ease of gathering candidate information.
That said, #1 and #3 can be subject to organizational interventions. #2 appears to be subject to supercriticality, which is the theory that explains the power law distribution of earthquakes and economic crises. As such, these mega-leaks can be viewed as extreme values on the leaks power law. Governments that try to hide bad behaviour can expect to see more leaks as a function of time, and occasional very much larger leaks as well. So can corporations.
My understanding of Assange's point on this leaking is this: he doesn't seem to want to break everything. Indeed, dumping the 250,000 unexpurgated cables on the Web would have been MUCH simpler and much cheaper than the trickling, editing and publishing the leaks line by line. That says to me that his game is not wanton destruction. I suspect that when the bank mails get released, they also will be checked for personally identifying information and carefully edited to put together the story without hurting individuals involved.
This should be contrasted with the unexpurgated and radical openness used by the CRU Hack, also known (dubiously) as "Climategate". That group ignored wikileaks, and simply dumped the email spool on the web unfiltered, with zero editing or oversight. A rabid fan base of volunteers and media agents dived on the bolus, looking for the most questionable of lines – finding three interesting emails in the process. I will point out again that it is MUCH easier to just dump information unfiltered on the Web, as a moment's consideration will reveal.
Cheers from Ottawa!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Whether it's huge towers, strong walls or even gigantic boats, the Bible is full of incredible stories about construction projects. In this series, children ages 6-12 will learn about some of those projects as we join Ike Ironsides and Caleb Cade on the job site. Each week we will be learning about such things as: how to follow God's plan for your life, how to obey God in all you do, why we should praise God instead of ourselves, and why we should never give up doing good. We will also learn to wisely use what God gives us, to be kind to others, that as Christians we are the church, and that we should have perseverance while serving God. So, put on your hard hat and tool belt and let's get ready to build a life that is pleasing to God!
For this series, the Perform It Live Teaching Format includes performing the Skit and Bible Lesson live. Learn More about this series on our blog.
The children will learn that God has a plan for our lives. And by following God's plan we can experience the best life possible.
The children will learn that God is the ultimate authority and we should be obedient to Him above all others.
The children will learn that as followers of God we should try to do good things. And even when doing something good becomes difficult, we shouldn't give up.
The children will learn that we should focus on God and the great things He has done instead of focusing on ourselves. God deserves the praise, not us.
The children will learn that we should keep God our priority. It is okay to be busy and to have possessions, but none of the things we do or own should ever become more important to us than God.
The children will learn that we should share with others because everything we have comes from God. And God wants us to use what He has given us so we can help others.
The children will learn that the church is not just the building where we meet. The church is really the people who serve and worship God together.
The children will learn that when we make the decision to follow Jesus and serve God, we should know that it will not always be easy. However, it is the absolute best way to live life.


Today at the Traffic & Transportation Cabinet Meeting Cllr Ken Ellcome decided to marginally shorten the Mile End bus lane. The recommendation from officers was to maintain the lane as is, but there was an alternative proposal to drastically shorten the lane.
Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats asked for the lane to be left as is, and three deputations – one by First Bus, one by Portsmouth Cycle Forum and one by a private citizen – also spoke against shortening the lane. Despite the recent clamour in the letters page of the local press nobody spoke in favour of shortening the lane.
Despite all of this Cllr Ellcome decided to shorten the bus lane by about 15 metres, as he felt that this would make it easier for traffic turning left from Mile End Rd into Church Street. In many ways this is a puzzling decision. It will make little pragmatic difference to traffic flow and will almost certainly not satisfy those who have been complaining about the road layout in so vociferously in the local news.
What it does do is symbolic. A cut is a cut and this reduces, even if only marginally, the sustainable transport infrastructure in the city. It will do nothing to encourage the modal shift away from the private car that the city so desperately needs. This will make matters marginally worse for cyclists by increasing the gap between the bus lane on Mile End Rd and that on the Church Street Roundabout. We predict it will have no net effect on the traffic congestion.
It is disappointing that Cllr Ellcome decided to over-rule the professional advice of his officers, the wishes of all three deputees and the opinions of the parties who between them represented a majority of councillors. The change is not positive, but perhaps it is significantly less negative than we'd feared.


Some bodies just won't stay buried.
J.P. Beaumont, the homicide detective protagonist in twenty previous J.A. Jance novels, is back for a twenty-first outing – but this one is a trip back in time. But not exactly a class reunion.
In "Second Watch," Beau is coming out of knee-replacement surgery when he is visited by apparitions from his past. First back to his early days on the force with the Seattle PD, then even earlier, to his days in Vietnam.
But are they just drug-induced hallucinations? Beaumont isn't so sure.
And soon, "long ago" becomes "present day" as Beau is plunged into one of the most perplexing and mind-blowing mysteries he's ever faced.


text:
Man Broke into Homes, Then Got into Bed with Residents: Cops
Alberto LuperonMay 20th, 2016, 6:43 am
A thousand apologies if you read this story before bedtime. Police in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota say a man broke into six homes on May 7, and crawled into bed with some sleeping residents.
It happened all within a one-mile radius, according to documents obtained by Fox 9. Tyler Rodriguez allegedly went wild in the middle of the night, between 2:45 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. Six houses in under two hours. Busy man.
In one instance, an 11-year-old woke up to find him between her and her six-year-old sister, police say. He ran off. That was at about 3 a.m. Around 3:30 a.m., he broke into another home, then slipped into bed with another woman. She told police Rodriguez never touched her.
Rodriguez was arrested in the sixth home of his alleged spree at about 4:30 a.m. Police said he appeared to be either drunk or high. He now faces two counts of first-degree burglary and four counts of trespassing.
Follow Alberto Luperon on Twitter (@Alberto Luperon)
burglarFox 9trespassingTyler Rodriguez


text:
Your Blood Type May Predict Your Risk For Severe COVID-19
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 14, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- There's more evidence that blood type may affect a person's risk for COVID-19 and severe illness from the disease.
The findings are reported in a pair of studies published Oct. 14 in the journal Blood Advances.
In one, researchers compared more than 473,000 people in Denmark with COVID-19 to more than 2.2 million people in the general population.
Among the COVID-19 patients, there was a lower percentage of people with blood type O and higher percentages of those with with types A, B and AB.
The findings suggest that people with A, B or AB blood may be more likely to be infected with COVID-19 than people with type O blood. Infection rates were similar among people with types A, B and AB blood.
The other study included 95 critically ill COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Canada. Patients with type A or AB blood were more likely to require mechanical ventilation, suggesting that they had greater rates of lung injury from COVID-19.
More patients with type A and AB blood required dialysis for kidney failure, the study added.
The results suggest that COVID-19 patients with A and AB blood types may have an increased risk of organ dysfunction or failure than those with type O or B blood, according to the researchers.
They also found that while people with blood types A and AB didn't have longer overall hospital stays than those with types O or B, on average, they were in intensive care longer, which may indicate more severe COVID-19.
"The unique part of our study is our focus on the severity effect of blood type on COVID-19. We observed this lung and kidney damage, and in future studies, we will want to tease out the effect of blood group and COVID-19 on other vital organs," said study author Dr. Mypinder Sekhon, a clinical instructor in the Division of Critical Care Medicine at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
"Of particular importance as we continue to traverse the pandemic, we now have a wide range of survivors who are exiting the acute part of COVID-19, but we need to explore mechanisms by which to risk stratify those with longer-term effects," he added in a news release.
SOURCE: Blood Advances, news release, Oct. 14, 2020
High-Risk Newborn Blood Disorders
Hemoglobin (Fetal)


Although this is not as brightly coloured as some village signs, it is very attractive and is set in a picturesque spot in the villages Millennium garden.
This could be considered a cache and dash, but you may have to spend some time looking! There is onroad parking on George street, where you will also find a footpath leading to the church on the hill.
There is a waymark at the sign itself, a multi cache at the church and several caches in the lanes around the village to make a circular walk.


how to prevent sleep when itunes is playing?
Discussion in 'Mac Basics and Help' started by whyrichard, Jun 16, 2011.
is there a way to prevent my mac pro from sleeping when itunes is playing? and to have it otherwise sleep at the interval i prescribe in the energy prefs?
mine has started doing that same thing! not good when watching a movie, so what i did was just click on caffiene so my mac wont go to sleep. have tried sorting it in sys prefs like yourself too.
there must be a reason for the problem, i bet somebody here knows the answer.
the only way I can get my '09 mac pro to sleep is by using a program called "PleaseSleep".
Could you please tell me where I can find "jitter"?
My Mac mini 2011 (10.7.3) is also going to sleep although iTunes is playing.
I don't want to disable sleep completely. Is it a bug or a feature??


If you'd like to be profitable, you will have to manage your time therefore you reach your own personal aims. Have a minumum of 1 full evening off per week in of which you get sufficient a chance to do what you may desire that may rejuvenate anyone. Also, in case you are spending moment having to worry, you aren't chilling on strategies you could create or perhaps steer clear of these kinds of sides. Possibly though this is often a reality a sensational scene often the time to help carry out all the things, you do possess time and energy to complete what's honestly vital that you you actually. Evening out your current time results in that people waste time regarding your concerns, and within addition this hints you do not really hang around regarding non-priorities. Essentially, will possibly not possibly be given any sort of opportunity to can easily some sort of A'' career, as they are quickly qualified to materialize with no warning. It can possible in order to afterward match up just how long people went on for each, gradually, you will certainly discover your workload minimizes and performance is in the increase.
If a person donat have got enough period to produce a imaginative name, be tedious, but the truth is ought to be a fact. Time is usually spent for worrying so that as a direct result not much accomplished. Any time you sense hard pressed intended for some has to make some sort of determination, that you simply more willing to bounce to a conclusion without truly considering just about every single choice. Will probably be wasting more time than everyone realize. Truth be told there could often be any saturday and sunday when you are effective to position more time period for. Leisure time in the person really should be used carefully.
Something as simple and easy as adjusting the how to approach time period management could possibly have a significant influence regarding the benefits you have. Period management isn't very just a small business tool, that include, for situation, any claims calculator or even computer system. It is really a new misnomer. It is any important area of our day-to-day daily life. An excellent effort operations may be put directly into position through the guidance of ideal systems constantly in place. Effective precious time management will almost certainly have huge effect at your own personal good results. Successful company occasion direction typically means which will you can must focus on the career at give and thus any important time frame management guidance is to be able to do whichever you may to minimize noise level, for instance the mobile phone and message.
Occasion management is really important, so make sure you can not spend time. Them is any taking on endeavor for some regarding the men and women. The idea has a very important part inside your specialized and private daily life. Much better protect act involving suddenly thinking one minute so that you can consider some time before anyone invest the idea will in order to boost your current own personal time period current administration instantly.


text:
Washington Middle School principal candidates named as part of open record request
Samantha Hernandez Jonathan Anderson
GREEN BAY - In its search for a new principal for Washington Middle School, the Green Bay School District considered seven Wisconsin-based educators.
The Green Bay School Board approved hiring Cindy Olson, a Merrill Middle School principal in the Oshkosh School District, during Monday's board meeting.
The district on Tuesday released the names of the six additional candidates as part of an open records request by the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
RELATED: Green Bay School Board hires new Washington Middle School principal
RELATED: Washington principal candidate has support of school board majority, questions linger for others
RELATED: Washington Middle School principal to leave as problems persist
The hiring of Olson is just one of many steps the district has taken over the past 11 months after staff and students were thrust into the spotlight last June when a teacher at the school alleged severe student misconduct and demanded the board and administrators take action.
In February, schools Superintendent Michelle Langenfeld announced a nationwide search for a new principal for Washington. During the news conference, Langenfeld explained the principal search was part of a bigger plan to turn around the middle school by curbing misbehavior and improving student achievement.
The district also hired a consultant to help implement the changes over the 2018-19 school year.
Current Washington principal Dennis Christensen will be reassigned to Lombardi Middle School as an assistant principal at the end of this school year.
The Press-Gazette filed a public records request with the school district on May 10 seeking the names of finalists for the principal position, but the district released only Olson's name.
The newspaper subsequently filed a second records request on May 17 and argued that the district had to release all candidates who were seriously considered for the position.
The district on Tuesday released the names and application materials of the seven people who were provided an initial screening interview.
The candidates applications included personal statements, college transcripts and resumes. The principal position application asked applicants about their experience working with diverse populations, the makeup of their school or district's student body, and a paragraph about a personal experience where the candidate had an impact on a diverse student population through their job.
Below is a list of the candidates names, current place of employment and a synopsis of his or her personal statement:
• William Greb has been the Auburndale School District superintendent since July 2015.
Greb stressed open communication, collaboration and creating an environment that gives teachers and students a chance to form relationships. He also noted his use of data when it comes to making decisions.
• Olson has been with the Oshkosh School District since 2011. She emphasized her belief that teachers need to feel ownership and pride in their work. Staff also has to feel supported by administration.
• Molly O'Neill, associate principal at Washington Middle School, has been with the Green Bay School District since 2007.
O'Neill wrote about her year at Washington and developing a system that helps educators meet students' needs when it comes to learning styles and social and emotional needs.
• Cathy Prozanski, elementary principal at Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Wausau, has been with the Wausau School District since about 2011.
Prozanski emphasized her staff's focus on meeting the educational and emotional needs of students. This is done, in part, through partnering with local organizations, including those dealing with mental health, and screening students to determine their social emotional needs and offer assistance. She also noted her school is "high minority, low socio-economic Title I school" and that most of her experience had been in similar school settings.
• Orlando Ramos has been regional superintendent for high schools for Milwaukee Public Schools since 2015.
Ramos noted that he speaks both English and Spanish and has "strong history of collaborative leadership and community engagement." He also listed a number of organizations he had worked with over the years, including participating in the San Jose, Calif., Mayor's Gang Prevention Task Force.
• Katrina Rice, interim principal at Jefferson Middle School, has been with the Madison School District since 2017.
Rice wrote about how her entire education career had been spent in Title I schools and her students have often been referred to as "those kids." Rice noted during the last two years she has worked at schools where the majority of the students are Hispanic.
• Kelly Rieckmann, superintendent of Omro School District, has been with the district since 2013.
Rieckmann focused on how she started college at the age of 24. Starting college later in life gave her an "appreciation for what education can do."
Olson and Prozanski both went on to have in-person interviews.


text:
from __future__ import absolute_import
from copy import copy
from inspect import isgenerator
from rdc.etl.error import AbstractError
from rdc.etl.hash import Hash
from rdc.etl.transform.map import Map
from rdc.etl.util import etree

class XmlMap(Map):
    """
    Reads a XML and yield values for each root children.

    .. todo:: think how we want to make this flexible, xpath, etc ...
    .. warning:: This does not work, don't use (or fix before :p).

    Definitions:

        XML Item: In the context of an XmlMap, we define an XML Item as being either a children of the XML root if no
        xpath has been provided, or one item returned by the XPath provided.

    .. attribute:: map_item

        Will be called for each input XML Item, and should return a dictionary of values for this item.

    .. attribute:: field

        The input field (defined in parent).

    .. attribute:: xpath

        XPath used to select items before running them through item_map().

    """

    xpath = None

    def __init__(self, map_item=None, xpath=None, field=None):
        super(XmlMap, self).__init__()

        self.map_item = map_item or self.map_item
        self.xpath = xpath or self.xpath
        self.field = field or self.field

    def map(self, value):
        """Generator that yields mapped items.

        """
        items = etree.fromstring(value)

        if self.xpath:
            items = items.findall(self.xpath)

        for item in items:
            mapped = Hash(((self.field, item, ), ))
            value_for_item = self.map_item(item)
            if value_for_item:
                if isgenerator(value_for_item):
                    for _value in value_for_item:
                        if _value:
                            yield copy(mapped).update(_value)
                else:
                    try:
                        mapped.update(value_for_item)
                        yield mapped
                    except TypeError, e:
                        raise TypeError('{name}.map_item(...) must be iterable.'.format(
                            name=type(self).__name__
                        ))

    def map_item(self, item):
        """Convert one matched XML item to a dictionary.

        """
        raise AbstractError(self.map_item)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


File system (or filesystem) is a computer terminology that relates to the storing of information, specifically the storage of files once a program that was using the file has closed. The file system saves and holds the program or information until it needs to be opened and used again.
A good example of this would be a Microsoft Word document. The document is edited and used inside the Microsoft Word program, but when the program shuts the document is then stored, saved safely until the program is reopened.
The same example can be given with computer games and program files. It can store the information on the computer's hard drive or on another device such as a memory stick or CD, making the file system software available on each medium used.
A limitation, and therefore a disadvantage of file system, is the need for the drive being used to have enough memory to be able to store the files. As the file system organizes and stores information on another device (such as a hard drive or memory stick) then file system is dependent on their correct operation to be able to carry out its task.
File system also cannot convert from file to file well. By this I mean that it would struggle to turn a PDF document into a Word document, a function that would prove to be very handy.
This limitation can prove frustrating if a file is sent to you by another computer in an incorrect format. If the file system does not recognize the file format then it cannot find the right program to open the file with.
The only other common limitation is the ability to name files, as the file system only recognizes certain symbols, there is a limit on what a file can be called.
What Are Advantages Of File System?
What Are The Advantages Of DBMS Over Conventional File Systems?
What Are The Advantages Of Traditional File System?
What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages Of The Traditional File Systems And DBMS.compare It?
What Are The Disadvantages Of Traditional File Processing Systems?
What Are 10 Disadvantages Of File Based Approach?
What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages Of A Free Enterprise System?
What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Democratic Management?
What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Authoritarian Management?
What Are Some Awesome Virtual Worlds For Preteens That Are Girls?
What Are The Advantage And Disadvantages Of The Index-sequential File?


The worship of the Trinity wast made manifest.
And enlightened the world, glory to Thee.
the Fa..ther bore wit...ness un....to Thee cal..ling Thee the be...lo..
1 1 ! ! @ O @avV 0 1 1 O ! 3} ! !
His word as sure and stead..fast O Christ our God who ha..ast a..
..ap..peared and en..light..ened the wo..orld glo..o..ry..y...y to Thee.


text:
Political Developments Overshadow Economics
2 months ago 85 views 17 min read
Marc Chandler
Chief Market Strategist
Bannockburn Global Forex
Today's Financial Markets Highlights
• The dollar is trading in narrow ranges against the G10 currencies and mostly confined to yesterday's ranges in rather dull dealings.
• Revisions narrowed Japan's Q3 contraction, and separately, reported its first current account deficit since January.
• A coup in Germany was preempted.
• The EU is preparing a ninth round of sanctions against Russia, while Putin's nuclear saber-rattling yesterday may have helped spark the risk-off session.
• The US 2–10-year yield curve is steadying after is was the most inverted yesterday since 1981.
• US PPI and the University of Michigan's preliminary December survey highlight today's economic reports.
• Canada's 50 bp hike yesterday may signal the end of the tightening cycle. Mexico reports November CPI figures today. While the headline may soften, the core may set a new cyclical high, and underscoring the likelihood that the central bank matches the Fed hike next week.
There is nervous calm in the capital markets today. The weakness of US shares yesterday is taking a toll today. An exception in the Asia Pacific region is the Hang Seng and the index of mainland shares that trade there, which up around 3.5% today on thUe easing of some Covid protocols. Europe's Stoxx 600 is off for a fifth day, its longest losing streak in nearly two months. US futures are posting minor gains. Benchmark 10-year yields are mostly little changed. The exceptions are Italy, where the 10-year yield is up about 2.5 bp and the US Treasury, where the yield is up nearly three basis points to almost 3.45%. The dollar is mostly a little firmer against most of the major currencies. The Norwegian krone and Australian dollar are slightly firmer. Sterling's 0.35% decline leads the others to the downside. Rising tensions with the EU and a jump in inflation are a drag on the Hungarian forint, which is nearly 1% lower. The JP Morgan Emerging Market Currency Index is slightly softer after two days of gains. Gold's recovery stalled near $1790 yesterday and it is a bit softer today, trading near $1783 in Europe. January WTI has steadied after falling to $71.75 yesterday. The year's low set on January 3 was almost $69. US natgas is up 1.75% to build on yesterday's 4.6% rally after falling for the previous five sessions. Europe's benchmark is 2% higher on colder temperature and additional maintenance in Norway. Iron ore rose nearly 3%, while March copper is edging higher. March wheat is around 0.4% better after a 2.8% rally yesterday ended a four-day drop.
Japan's economy contracted less than previously estimated (-0.2% rather than -0.3%). At an annualized rate this means a -0.8% contraction instead of -1.2%. The weaker consumption (-0.3% vs. -0.1%) was offset by an inventory build (0.1% vs. -0.1%) and a slightly smaller drag from net exports (-0.6% vs. -0.7%). The economy is expected to rebound here in Q4, helped by the fiscal stimulus measures. However, recent data point to a soft start and weaker demand from the US and Europe may limit exports. Separately, Japan reported its first monthly current account deficit since January. The October shortfall was JPY64.1 bln (~$475 mln) from a JPY909 bln surplus in September. The deterioration was mostly a function of a widening trade deficit (JPY1.875 trillion from JPY1.760 trillion) and primary income (income from investments, dividends, interest, royalties, licensing, etc.).
Australia also reported October trade figures. It was slightly larger than expected at A$12.2 bln (~$8.2 bln) though a touch smaller than September (A$12.4 bln). Exports and imports slipped by about 1%. Coal, Australia's top exports, slipped, Natural gas, a close second, increased, and with a small increase in iron ore shipments helped offset the decline in coal. The decline in gold shipments (~A$1.5 bln from A$2.2 bln) tilted the scales. The report highlights a critical challenge Australia faces. China is by far its largest trading partners. Two-way traded accounted for A$27.1 bln in October, more than twice as large as its second biggest trade partner Japan (A$12.9 bln). The US is its fourth largest trading partner (A$5.9 bln). Yet, as is well known, Australia's foreign policy and security interests are tightly linked to the US and its allies.
The yen continues to track the US 10-year yield. Yesterday's decline in US yields coincided with a modest pullback in the dollar against the yen, while today's firmer US yield has seen the greenback climb back above JPY137. Yesterday's high near JPY137.85 may contain today's recovery. The Australian dollar is in a narrow range (~A$0.6700-$0.6740) in the upper end of yesterday's range. This ~$0.6745 area has capped the Aussie since Tuesday's key downside reversal. Note that the five-day moving average is poised to cross below the 20-day for the first time since October 25. Also, options for a little more than A$785 mln at $0.6700 expire today and another set for A$790 mln roll off tomorrow. The Chinese yuan continues to consolidate in a narrow range since jumping higher to start the week. On Monday, the dollar gapped below CNY7.0 on ideas that reduced vaccination check and some modification in quarantine protocols amount to a policy reversal and an opening up. It has not traded above CNY7.0 since last Friday. Today's range is roughly CNY6.9650-CNY6.9820. The PBOC set the dollar's reference rate at CNY6.9606 today, slightly lower than the median in Bloomberg's survey (CNY6.9636). Separately, news yesterday that the PBOC boosted its gold holdings for the first time in three years last month sparked talk of reserve diversification. Maybe, consider the relative amounts. The US Treasury data shows China with around $933 bln of US bonds at the end of September. The cost of the gold was likely around $1.65 bln. A proverbial drop in the bucket.
The European economic calendar is light and three political developments are the talking points. First, Putin again referred to Russia's nuclear arsenal after strikes by Ukraine at some missile bases inside Russia. Russia refuses to rule out the first use of nuclear weapons. Consider, in contrast, India, who reportedly demonstrates its pledge not to use it its nuclear weapons first, by keeping the key components separate. The US also has a partial no first use policy. It says it will not use its nuclear weapons against countries that do not possess nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction.
Second, Germany foiled what is said to be an elaborate coup attempt. More than two dozen people were arrested, and another 27 individuals are under "initial suspicion" of being involved with a plot to storm the Reichstag (parliament) and overthrow the government. Reports suggested the raid involved 3000 police in 11 of Germany's 16 states. A former MP in the AfD party who is now an active judge was one of the arrests and the barracks of a unit of Germany's Special Force Command (KSK) was raided. Of course, parallels between the events on January 6, 2021, in the US are being drawn.
Third, the EU is preparing its ninth package of sanctions on Russia. This package seeks to deny Russia access to drones, and sanctions three more banks, including Russia's Regional Development Bank, four media outlets, 136 individuals, and another 42 entities.
The euro is trading quietly in a narrow range of less than half-of-a-cent, well within yesterday's range. The session high was set in late in the Asian session near $1.0530 (yesterday's high ~$1.0550) and found some bid in early European turnover around $1.0490). There are options for nearly 810 mln euros at $1.0450 that expire today but they may have been neutralized yesterday when the euro slipped through $1.0445. Sterling is confined so far today to a little more than half-of-a-cent range below $1.2215. Yesterday's high was closer to $1.2235. The intraday momentum indicators suggest follow-through losses in the North American morning will likely be limited.
The US 2–10-year yield curve is the most inverted yesterday since 1981, at around -85 bp. Other parts of the curve are inverted as well. Earlier this year, Fed Chair Powell played down the significance of the 2–10-year curve and drew attention to the spread between the 3-month bill in 18-months' time and the three-month bill yield. At first, he suggests the inversion of that would signal a recession. However, he latter softened his position and said it could also reflect a sharp drop in inflation expectations. His preferred curve went inverted on November 10, the same day the US reported softer than expected CPI and the dollar was sold aggressively. The inversion reached 45 bp on December 1. It recovered almost half by this past Monday and has eased. The 2-year breakeven has fallen from 2.77% on November 9 to nearly 2.30% on November 18. It recovered to almost 2.63% on after the US employment data last week but has since fallen back and dipped below 2.35% yesterday. The 10-year breakeven bottomed at the end of September near 2.10%. It reached a peak on October 24 a little above 2.60%. It found support near 2.25% in the second half of November before bounced back to 2.45% after the jobs data. It retested the 2.25% yesterday.
While inflation expectations, measured here by the breakevens have fallen, the risk of a recession appears to be rising too. The layoffs announced capture imaginations in a way that hiring does not. Remember, the nonfarm payroll is a net figure. Every month there are layoffs and new employment, and despite the sense may get from the media coverage, as of last month, there continues to be more people hired than fired. Still fears of recession are increasing. At the beginning of this year, the Bloomberg survey showed a median expectation a recession in 12-months at 15%. It was stead from there from October 2021 through February 2022. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, the subsequent energy shock saw the odds rise. Even in July, after two quarters of negative growth, the median still put the odds at less than 50%. As of last month's survey, put the odds at 62.5%.
Today's US economic data consists of weekly jobless claims, PPI, wholesale trade and inventories, the preliminary University of Michigan consumer sentiment and inflation expectations, and changes in household net worth (Q3). The market may be the most sensitive to the PPI and University of Michigan survey. Headline PPI is expected to extend is slowing streak for the fifth consecutive month and seven of the past eight. It peaked in March, coinciding with the first Fed hike, at 11.7%. The median forecast in Bloomberg's survey is for a 7.2% year-over-year rate in November. If so, it would be the lowest since May 2021. The core rate has slowed since the 9.7% peak in March without failure. It is expected to have slowed to 5.9% last month, which would also be the lowest since last June. Consumer inflation expectations for the 5–10-year period has been between 2.7% and 3.1% since the start of 2021. It was at 3.0% in November and may have remained there in the preliminary results for this month. Note that the NY Fed's own survey of consumer inflation expectations will be reported Monday, though is often not on economic calendars.
The Bank of Canada delivered a 50 bp hike yesterday to lift its policy rate to 4.25%. Even though many expected a quarter point move, it was a dovish hike because the Bank of Canada said this maybe it. The statement read that the central bank "will be considering whether the policy rate needs to rise further to bring supply and demand back into balance and return inflation to target." There will be two more inflation reports before the BOC meets again on January 25 (November's CPI will be reported on December 21 and the December CPI will be reported on January 17). Barring a major data surprise, the Bank of Canada will likely reaffirm its pause. The swaps market is about 50/50 about a 25 bp hike early next year.
Mexico reports November CPI today and the year-over-year rate is expected to slip below 8% for the first time since June. The challenge for businesses, consumers, and policymakers is that the core rate is still accelerating. It is expected to make a new cyclical high of almost 8.6%. The central bank is expected to match what has been tipped as a half-point hike by the Fed next week. The market expects some separation between the Fed and Banixco later next year. While the swaps market has the Fed raising 100 `bp between now and the middle of next year, it has about 80 bp priced in for Mexico. As widely expected, Brazil's Selic rate was left at 13.75% by the central bank yesterday. Today, Brazil reports October retail sales. A small gain is expected after a heady 1.1% increase in September. Lastly, the dollar soared against the Peruvian sol yesterday as the President Castillo tried to dissolve Congress. He was impeached and arrested instead. Vice President Dina Boluarte is the new president and the dollar reversed lower and settled at a new low for the week.
A 50 bp hike by the Bank of Canada in what seemed to have been a close call did not help the Canadian dollar very much though it settled little changed on the day. The possibility that the monetary cycle is finished and the weakness in US stocks may have deterred buying. Initial support today is seen around CAD1.3640. The risks though are for a weaker Canadian dollar if US stocks continue to unwind the rally that began in mid-October. After jumping on Monday, the greenback is carving a range against the Mexican peso. A shelf has been carved around MXN19.6200-50. And a cap has been formed around MXN19.86. Within that range, a break of MXN19.63-MXN19.75 may signal the near-term direction.
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text:
Michael Tiemann: Red Hat can lay claim to being first in the open source marketplace.
Oct 05, 2000, 16:59 (13 Talkback[s])
(Other stories by Michael Tiemann)
Red Hat Chief Technical Officer Michael Tiemann drew up his own points for rebuttal to a CNET article quoting him as giving credit to Red Hat for starting the "Open Source revolution". Here is an excerpt of the letter defending his position he sent to media outlets:
1.  Richard Stallman started the "free software" movement, not the "open
source movement".  If you ask RMS what he thinks about "open source", he
will tell you that it does not concern him.  What concerns him is
software freedom.  To presume that I am trying to take any credit away
from RMS is contrary to everything I say or publish about free software.
Indeed, since making sloppy remarks about RMS a year ago at an O'Reilly
Open Source conference, I've really gone out of my way to set this
record straight.  The next time you have the opportunity to quote or
discuss RMS, please give me a chance to support his cause!
2.  The comments I made at the WR Hambrecht conference were qualified
by saying that Red Hat, as a company, incorporated the original
business model for open source software.  The fact behind this is that
Cygnus Support was, without question, the first company to base its
business model on the development and support of free software (and
open source software).  Red Hat announced the acquisition of Cygnus in
November 1999, and closed it in January of 2000.  As a founder of
Cygnus, and as a Red Hat Associate, I feel it is fair to say that the
company I work for, Red Hat, can lay claim to the historic distinction
of being first in the open source marketplace.
3.  Eric Raymond deserves a lot of credit for writing the essays that
brought the concepts of open source software to the board rooms of
Fortune 500 companies.  But the revolution was already well underway
by the time his writings appeared.  Cygnus was already a recognized
leader, and Red Hat was already making waves that would make its
success, as John "Maddog" Hall would say, inevitable.  I would argue
that Raymond's writings were the equivalent of de Tocqueville's
writings about America: descriptive, insightful, entertaining, and
illuminating, but not the catalyst of the revolution, and certainly
not the revolution itself.  (As a footnote, I'm surprised that ESR
would conflate RMS with open source.  See (1) above.)
4.  Regarding the distribution wars, I was careful to say that "in
virtually all" surveys, Red Hat is number one.  I'll concede Germany,
but not German-speaking Europe, and certainly not Europe as a whole.
I won't concede Asia.  You show me your surveys, I'll show you mine,
and except for Germany, I think you'll agree that a lot has changed
since the last time you checked.
LinuxPlanet: Red Hat's Michael Tiemann rebuts C|Net article(Oct 05, 2000)
CNET News.com: Red Hat talks big at open-source conference(Oct 05, 2000)


270 pages | 49 B/W Illus.
The NABCEP PV Installation Professional (PVIP) Exam is the gold standard certification exam for PV professionals and is famously difficult to pass. As the industry grows and jobs have become more specialized, the Board has responded to this with NABCEP Specialist Certification Exams.
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