text:
"Let Them Come to Boston!"
In 1963, the late President John F. Kennedy delivered one of the most stirring and memorable speeches of his brief presidency to a throng of hundreds of thousands of Germans gathered in Berlin.
The Communists had erected the infamous "Berlin Wall" almost two years earlier, separating Communist East Berlin from free West Berlin. There appeared to be little hope for the future.
President Kennedy's visit to West Berlin was intended to provide strength and encouragement to the people of Berlin, and that it most certainly did. In soaring rhetoric, he referred to those who questioned why the West was so implacably opposed to Communism, and proclaimed, "Let them come to Berlin!" Again and again, with great power, Kennedy challenged those who saw the spread of Communism as the inevitable wave of the future by proclaiming, "Let them come to Berlin!"
Most people who were alive then, or are students of history, remember that speech because of its closing. Saying that all free people are essentially citizens of Berlin, the President himself proclaimed proudly Ich bin ein Berliner; I, too, am a citizen of Berlin! It was surely a powerful moment, but that repeating refrain of "Let them come to Berlin!" has stayed in my consciousness even more powerfully than the more famous tagline of the speech.
I have thought a lot about that speech over the past few days, since, in my capacity as President of the Rabbinical Assembly, the professional organization of Conservative rabbis, I was invited to spend a day this past week at the annual International Convention of the United Synagogue Youth (best known as USY), held this year in Boston. Gathered together from all across North America were close to 800 USY'ers, approximately 150 staffers, mostly alumni of USY or one of its programs, and sundry other movement leaders like myself.
Having raised four children with my wife in a Conservative synagogue with a strong USY chapter, I am hardly a stranger to USY and its work. But a more substantive awareness of USY's mission and powerful influence over its members came to me much later in life, as my upbringing in the world of what used to be "Modern Orthodoxy" did not include membership in USY. And, though I have been a part of countless kinnusim (gatherings of USY'ers over Shabbat) and regional conventions and get-togethers here in my own synagogues through the thirty-plus years of my rabbinate, I had never participated in what USY'ers respectfully call "IC;" International Convention. This was a first for me… and it was, indeed, memorable.
In session after session, whether at prayer services, meals, or lectures, and even– maybe especially– in free time, there was an amazing sense of spirit and positive energy that manifested itself in the way the USY'ers conducted themselves. They sang, they danced, they were just totally immersed in the joy of being with each other in a setting where they were so at home– celebrating their Jewishness, and happily declaring themselves proud to be a part of the Conservative movement.
At the opening session of the convention, when all of the close to 800 USY participants made their way into the huge convention hall singing and dancing and waving Israeli flags (as well as the banners of their own regions), my mind– without any conscious effort on my part – went back to that speech that President Kennedy delivered all those years ago in Berlin.
More than a few observers of the American Jewish community have made for themselves a cottage industry of predicting the imminent demise of the Conservative movement. After all, what with the demographic decline and loss of "market share," if you will, these are, I am obliged to admit, not the best of times for us, our institutions, or our movement as a whole. That we are in a period of transition from what was to what ultimately will be is clear and not debatable.
But drawing a straight line from the crises of today to the imminent demise of the movement as a whole is not, I think, what the moment calls for. Clearly there is work that urgently needs to be done, and a creative reappraisal of where we are and where we'd like to go to is the shared responsibility of all leaders of the movement.
But anyone who stood where I stood earlier this week and saw and heard those hundreds of teens could not possibly have believed that this is a movement with no future. The future was staring us in the face. Yes, we have to provide those USY'ers, within their own communities, with what they desperately want and need in order to nurture their commitment and retain their loyalty. But the most important piece- the raw material- is there, and they reported for duty last week, en masse.
And so it was that, as I watched them make their way into that hall singing and dancing, I said to myself– first quietly, and then more full-throatedly, "Let them come to Boston!" Let all who would declare us dead or dying see what I saw, and I'd dare them to say that there is no hope for our future.
The road ahead for my movement is long and winding, and fraught with difficult decisions and painful choices. But as The Who once sang, "The Kids are Alright!" Yes they are… and thank you, USY, for providing us with a glimpse of a better future.
Rabbi Gerald Skolnik is the spiritual leader of the Forest Hills Jewish Center in Queens.


Research Associate (Postdoctoral) position at the MRC Cancer Unit, University of Cambridge, UK.
Job: Research Associate (Postdoctoral) position at the MRC Cancer Unit, University of Cambridge, UK.
The successful candidate will have a PhD in computational biology or a related discipline (systems biology, computer science, software engineering, statistical or computational genomics). Evidence of a multidisciplinary skill set (A good understanding of statistics, mathematics, computer programming and their applications in biomedicine) and experience with NGS data analysis, cancer genomics and R / Bioconductor would be an advantage.
Once an offer of employment has been accepted, the successful candidate will be required to undergo a security check.
The closing date for applications is Friday 28 November 2014.


text:
You are at:Home»Editor's Message»Increasing Demand
Increasing Demand
By jrush on August 30, 2018 Editor's Message, International News, News, North American News
In our August issue each year we profile the Tunnel Achievement Award winner – a project that exemplifies excellence in tunnel construction. These projects are built within budget and on schedule, overcome unique challenges or embrace innovation – or any combination. This year's winner is the Northgate Link Extension for Sound Transit in Seattle.
The Northgate Link project involves the construction of 4.3 miles of twin-track railway from a new elevated station near 1st Avenue NW and NE 103rd Street to the existing University of Washington Station. The Northgate Link project includes 3.6 miles of twin-track tunnels and two new underground stations, all built within a densely populated area as well as under the university itself.
The notoriously difficult ground in the region came in to the play, as usual, as did restrictions on tunneling under campus and its world-class research facilities. The joint venture of Jay Dee/Coluccio/Michels was awarded the design-bid-build contract for $440 million in 2013, and recently finished construction. Northgate Link is scheduled for revenue service in 2023.
Interestingly as Northgate Link was under construction in 2016, Seattle voters approved ST3, a ballot measure that provides $54 billion to expand and improve the region's transportation, including an additional 62 miles of light rail. Plans going forward include the Ballard Link Extension that may include a new 3-mile long tunnel under downtown Seattle, parallel to the existing downtown tunnel.
This surge in demand for sustainable, reliable and efficient transportation options are being seen across the country and across the globe. In North America, Toronto and Los Angeles are in the midst of huge investments in new rail infrastructure, as are areas like New York, San Francisco/San Jose, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary.
According to the statistics from the International Tunnelling Association (ITA), the demand for tunnels in general is staggering. Global output for tunnels in 2016 was €86 billion euros (approximately $100 billion USD), with an average 5,200 km (3,200 miles) of constructed tunnels per year. The yearly average growth rate in tunneling is 7%, double that of the global construction market at large.
What's more, interesting is building in non-traditional transportation systems that could drive demand even higher. Studies are underway for a 60-km maglev train between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore with more than 75 percent of the alignment underground, and Chicago has awarded a contract to The Boring Company for the construction of an 18-mile high-speed link between downtown Chicago and O'Hare airport.
Similarly, interest is building in hyperloop systems elsewhere in the United States, as well as in Europe and the Middle East. Speaking at the 1st annual HARP International Conference on Hyperloop Transportation and Related Technologies July 23-24 in Los Angeles, Brad Swartzwelter of Amtrak said the ultimate key to the success of hyperloop systems is tunneling.
Tunnels allow the hyperloops to be straight – both in terms of line and grade – and provide greater protection from competing transportation systems/utilities, the elements and terrorism. From a financial standpoint, tunnels may have a higher initial cost, but the total construction and land cost would be cheaper than the surface option in the long run. "As the hyperloop systems start to get built, we could see the greatest expansion of tunnel construction ever seen," he said.
While there are still issues to be resolved – technically, legally, politically, financially – high speed, safe and efficient transportation systems are certainly appealing. The appeal becomes even greater when the systems are underground, leaving surface space untouched.
Previous ArticleVIP-Polymers Ltd. Wins 3 More Gasket Contracts for London's Thames Tideway
Next Article German Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy Visits Herrenknecht Factory

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Eclectic Songwriter Ko Sherman kicks off the Singapore leg of his Tour at the familiar setting of the iconic Musicdreamer Live! Cafe. Based on repertoire from his debut portfolio, see the songs from the "Equinox" album come alive in a cosy evening of friends and good music.


text:
Cart () | Help | Sign In
Why AudiobooksNow?
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49
Add Favorite Author
Covert Game
Author: Christine Feehan
Series: GhostWalkers #14
Narrator: Jim Frangione
Unabridged: 14 hr 47 min
Format: Digital Audiobook
Publisher: Recorded Books
Genre: Fiction - Romance - Paranormal
The GhostWalkers deal with the explosive fallout from Power Game in the lastest suspenseful novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan. Despite the death of a traitor and key conspirator, the plot to use the GhostWalker experiments to undermine the security of the U.S. by foreign interests still exists. The GhostWalkers themselves must race against the clock to neutralize the danger.
Lover Avenged
by J.R. Ward
As the vampire warriors defend their race against their slayers, one male's loyalty to the Black Dagger Brotherhood will be tested in this breathtaking novel in J. R. Ward's #1 New York Times bestselling paranormal romance series. ...
Rhage and Mary return in a new novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, a series "so popular, I don't think there's a reader today who hasn't at least heard of [it]" (USA Today). Nothing is as it used to be for th...
Lover At Last
"The hottest collection of studs in romance" (New York Times Bestselling Author Angela Knight) returns as J. R. Ward brings together two of the most beloved people in the Black Dagger Brotherhood world—at last.... Qhuin...
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A scorching forbidden love threatens to tear a rift through the Black Dagger Brotherhood in J. R. Ward's newest novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series. Xcor, leader of the Band of Bastards, convicted...
Blood Fury
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this sexy paranormal romance novel set in the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, #1 New York Times bestselling author J. R. Ward tells the story of two couples—both fighting to find love in the midst of ...
Lothaire
by Kresley Cole
New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole continues her Immortals After Dark series filled "with kick-butt action and scorching passion" (Romantic Times)! Available simultaneously in hardcover and on audio for the first time ever!Fr...
Narrator: Robert Petkoff
Blood Vow
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • J. R. Ward returns with an all-new tale of paranormal passion in the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. The Black Dagger Brotherhood continues to train the best of the best to join them in the deadly battle again...
J.R. Ward's # 1 New York Times bestselling Black Dagger Brotherhood continues as a royal bloodline is compromised by a grave threat to the throne.Long live the King… After turning his back on the throne for centuries, Wrath, son of Wrath, fina...
Once Burned
by Jeaniene Frost
"An author who delivers only the best."—Romantic Times "Put Jeaniene Frost on your must-read list!"—Lara Adrian, New York Times bestselling authorSpinning off from her wildly successful, New York Times bestsellin...
Narrator: Tavia Gilbert
How many times do we hear of anyone following exactly the career path that they always dreamed of? For author, Christine Feehan, the dream came true. She talks about how she always wanted to be a writer, as far back as she can remember. She began writing at a very early age, and required her sisters to read each of her works before being sent to a publisher. Currently, her daughters help with that job......to edit and critique the work before it is submitted for publication. That is called literally, keeping it all in the family.
Feehan has always loved family time. She came from a huge family and she and her husband, Richard, had a blended family with 11 children. She is a strong advocate of women helping each other. During one period in her life, she learned self-defense, then taught it to women who had been abused.
Feehan is a consistent #1 New York Times bestselling author, with over 70 published novels. These also include five series....... Dark Series, Ghostwalker Series, Leopard Series, Drake Sisters Series, the Sisters of the Heart Series, and Torpedo Ink. In her own words......."I've been a writer all my life......it is who I am. I write for myself and always have."
Reviews Write A Review
GhostWalkers Bundle
Get 5% off your total order by adding 3 or more audiobooks from GhostWalkers
GhostWalkers #14
GhostWalkers #4
Toxic Game
Add All Items to Cart
Or Choose Any 3 Audiobooks From This Series >
{"id":"2078956","ean":"9781501981944","abr":"Unabridged","title":"Covert Game","subtitle":"","author":"Christine Feehan","rating_average":"4.17","narrator":"Jim Frangione","series_id":"6311","ubr_id":"2078956","abr_id":"0","ubr_price":"24.99","abr_price":"0.00","ubr_memprice":"14.99","abr_memprice":"0.00","ubr_narrator":"Jim Frangione","abr_narrator":"","ubr_length":"Unabridged: 14 hr 20 min","abr_length":"Abridged: "}
Contact Us Reviews	About Us	Help / FAQ Bulk Purchasing	Rewards Program Media Center Affiliates	Sitemap
Nora Roberts James Patterson John Grisham Dean Koontz Dan Brown Debbie Macomber Stephen King Nicholas Sparks David Baldacci
The Girl on the Train All the Light We Cannot See Fifty Shades of Grey The Nightingale The Husband's Secret Big Little Lies Fifty Shades Darker Fifty Shades Freed The Stranger
Copyright © 2012 - 2019 AudiobooksNow. All rights reserved | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use


we went for lobster rolls!
Beautiful day by the water.
Evening boats & lighted palm tree.
Warding away mosquito bites on her feet!
See 2009 & 2010 here!
Food carts?! Lobster rolls?! Can I trade you weekends?
Looks so dreamy! I grew up with a riverfest - only this one is in Wichita, KS and is along a rather gross river!
you and your friends always know how to have a good time. love amandas nails and the shock top car!
that looks awesome with a capital A!
Lobster rolls sound SO DELICIOUS! lol. And shock top indeed!
oooo that looks so much fun! i love festivals in general... specially when food is involved hehehe!


text:
Q: How to get the average overall accuracy and kappa statistics in R [enter link description here][1]

Recently,I have writte a script to train a random forest model to classifier land use/cover type using randomForest package in R.I will get the different overall accuracy and kappa statistics when I run the script 10 times.Now, I want to retrain my model using K-fold cross-validation,but I don't know how to do this and how to find a optimal model? And If I retrain my model using K-fold cross-validation,how can I get the average overall accuracy and kappa statistics?
Does anyone have some experiences or some worked examples?That will be very appreciate.Thank you very much.
My code as follows:
cat("Calculating random forest object\n")

randfor <-randomForest(as.factor(response)~.,data=trainvals,importance=TRUE, na.action=na.omit,proximity=TRUE)

#try to print randomForest model and see the important features
print(randfor)

#Try to see the margin, positive or negative, if positive it means

#correct classification

rf.margin <- margin(randfor,responseTest)

plot(rf.margin)

#display the error rates of a randforForest

plot(randfor)

#Predict the land cover type of the test datasets

pred <- predict(randfor,newdata = trainvalsTest)

#generate a classification table for the testing datasets

rf.table <- table(pred,responseTest)

rf.table

# Plotting variable importance plot

varImpPlot(randfor)

classAgreement(rf.table)

#Print the value of overall accuracy and Kappa Statistic

confusion <- confusionMatrix(pred,responseTest)

confusion

#print the importance of all the input variables
randomForest.importance <- importance(randfor)
randomForest.importance

#using caret package to calculate the variable importance

caret.importance <- varImp(randfor,scale = FALSE)

#print the overalll value of the input variables

print(caret.importance)

#display the variable importance plot

plot(caret.importance)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The Village Council of Coconut Grove holds their monthly meetings on the third Friday of every month at Miami City Hall. This is the oldest district in Miami since 1873. Come, Listen, Participate and become informed and active. We are a stronger community with your engagement.
The third Friday of each month at 6:30 p.m.


Well gosh darn, it's been a while. It's been a very long while since I have written a proper post and I thought I'd give you an update on what we've been up to here in merrie olde Enfielde.
But before I give you a photo dump, just to let you know this here blog has changed. Have you noticed? Appearance wise it's not much different, but Baking Betsy has gone and She Sees is the new name, something more in keeping to what this place is about. Baking Betsy was fun, but not really the right fit. I hope you like it! By the way – follow me over on Bloglovin – I managed to delete the old Baking Betsy profile and I think you have to follow again if you want to catch up on a feeder. It turns out that changing name is a massive ballache and I'm sure there's loads more to do (hello, newsletter subscribers!), but I think it's all going to be worth it in the end.
We also travelled down to Wimbledon to the wonderful Polka theatre to watch the new Sarah and Duck play. WE are all big fans of Sarah & Duck, and the play didn't disappoint at all. I was so excited about the whole thing I cried through most of the first half.
We had a half term trip with friends to Capel Manor where I spotted Betsy trying to do some meditating next to a fountain in the Japanese garden. I literally have know idea where she got that from, but it's bloody awesome.
We also had a little explore around the Queen's House in Greenwich which is rather lovely, although I think the works of art were lost on the kiddos. We all liked the Tulip stairs though.
Oh! And Arthur started nursery and we all went on a colourwalk which was marvellous fun and I will blog about one day.
I think are the major things that have happened. Or a least these are the things that have happened that I have recorded. I got very disillusioned about everything not that long ago and it was a struggle to find enthusiasm in anything – photography fell by the wayside and blogging more so – I could not see the point in doing anything. But slowly, I have been feeling the itch again, the itch to create quite nice images and share them here. Hopefully I'll be writing here much more often – I have so many ideas and things to show you at the moment!
Looks like you've been busy! Love the Capel Manor photo with the four kids. Look forward to seeing more photos from the colour walk!


I had a boiler installed last fall. It didn't go as well as I had hoped, despite my best efforts and intentions to have it done right. Basically the installer kind of misrepresented to me that he had read and agreed with Dan's books, pumping away, etc. I was gone for a few days when they came to do the install, and my wife sent me pictures of the progress, which prompted many phone calls on my part. They ended up throwing the pump on the return, using too small an expansion tank, setting the system pressure to 22psi (cold - exactly 20 ft from basement floor to top of system), reversing the supply and return connections to the old gravity pipes, installing the exhaust and intake too close together, and failing to install a boiler bypass.
Heckuva list, eh? In the end, they lowered the pressure, swapped the supply and returns, and called it a day. Long journey later, I did manage to recoup about 90% of the 'labor' costs and gave them many scathing reviews. We lived with the boiler as it was for the winter as shutting it down to repair was not an option. And honestly, it heated the house fine. But....nagging thoughts persist.
We had our roof replaced last week. Before they started, I sealed the exhaust and intake pipes (this is a Burnham ESC4 nat gas boiler) to prevent all the dust and shingle bits from possible getting in there (sidewall terminations). I thought, Boy, I don't want to trap all this horribly humid air in the boiler. It's off for the summer. So I removed the inspection/air box cover so that it can stay dry (I run a dehumidifier in my basement ALL summer to keep the humidity around 45% -- was pretty swampy when we bought the place).
I took my phone and took a few blind pictures up into the boiler sections. What I'm wondering is, does this look like it should after one 7 month heating season? Seems...excessive. But I'm no boiler expert, I'm a heavy equipment mechanic by trade.
On the list for this summer are: re-packing all the hand valves on all the radiators (we have all cast iron rads), installing a proper size expansion tank, moving the circ (which is now a Bumblebee) to the supply after the PONPC, and installing a boiler bypass. This is my concern...Is the rust/buildup indicative of condensing flue gasses? I know we run relatively low water temps. Maybe maxing out at 140* or so. The Burnham is rated to handle 110* return water...while it may get there eventually, I think it's condensing the whole way there.
I'm just concerned, as I want this boiler to last as long as possible with as few problems as possible.
Sorry for the long-winded post, and happy Sunday to everyone out there.
Ford Master Technician, "Tinkerer of Terror"
I don't see any problems, it looks like a clean CI block to me. I would just make sure and monitor your return water temps. I would not use 110 as my return as it will guarantee condensing.
The heat loss of the house came out to 68000 btu/hr at a design temp of -17f. Which we see quite frequently around here. Also planned within the next 2 years are an indirect and a basement zone. For now, it's all one zone, currently first and second floors heated, third has electric baseboard that is unused, and basement just gets residual heat from piping and boiler. It gets chilly in the winter down there.
Doing the math using the cycle counter and hour meter on board, I came up with an average cycle time of 21 minutes. Granted, this is without a boiler bypass as recommended by the manual. I played with the thermostat this last winter, trying 2 CPH and 3 CPH, and the 2 setting definitely gave it a longer burn time. I also have the board set to run a 4 minute post purge on the circ. I have yet to ever hear it short cycle, probably because the house and rads have enough mass to act as a very large flywheel. All original plaster and lath, good sized steel pipe, and large cast iron rads (the smallest of which, at 21 EDR, still weighs 200 pounds). Once the boiler cycles off, it may fire again a half hour later, or it could be 2 hours later. Really dependent on if the wind is hammering the east face of the house where the majority of the glass is.
But going by my installed EDR, and average water temps last season, I'd say that on average the heat loss is more realistically around 40-50k at 10*f. Apparently the house is sealed/insulated a little better than I thought. We did hit -29*f AND 40 mph winds last winter (not counting wind chill), and I noticed that the boiler ran very long cycles, almost continuously. Those nights we had our highest average water temps of the season.
Knowing what I know now, I would've stepped it down to an ESC3. The only reasons I stuck with the 4 were for added capacity later, and because I found that all the literature I found (on paper and online) was wrong on it's ratings. They listed it as a 105k input, 92k or so out (net), which I knew was way too much.
But the actual rating on the nameplate is 91k input, 78k net, 68k DOE for the 4. So pretty close to design day needs. Overall I like the boiler, but in hindsight, I do wish I had nursed the old WM thru another winter and saved a little more towards a WM ECO or a Triangle Tube, since in my case the thing would be condensing all the time. Oh well, live and learn. But boy, I don't even want to imagine how badly they would've botched primary secondary piping. Eek.
My main concern was if what I was seeing in their was indicative of condensation...but I think I'll be installing a bypass regardless, just to get the average boiler temp above 140*. That's what the manual shows, in any case. A boiler bypass, not a system bypass. So it must just give the boiler a smaller percentage of water to heat, therefore allowing it to heat it to a higher temp, before re entering the system? If it's in the book, it must be for a reason. Although, as my installer pointed out, there's an asterisk that says "optional". And nowhere on that page does it say why it's optional. He would've had to turn the page for that info. And hey, that's damned hard work!
Sorry. Ranting a bit. I learned my lesson, and now that I'm on a first-name basis with our city's inspectors (I service their fleet vehicles), I intend to do the work myself in the future -- with the exception of gas pipe work. That's a liability I don't want or need.
Thanks for the advice, and as I've said before, this is the best heating forum on the interweb! ---still looking for a residential steam system to explore around here, but we are predominately a hot water area. Steam systems are very interesting to me.
The diagram I have shows the bypass as a bridge between the return to the boiler and the supply out. So if that bypass valve is fully open, the boiler would in theory see zero flow, and the system would see full flow. Then they say to throttle the valve until the boiler maintains the minimum preferred temp, which will be higher than that of the system water. This is assuming that yes, the circ is upstream of all of that plumbing, as it is in the diagram.
The way I understand it, this way the system will always see full flow (thus bypassing the boiler: boiler bypass). This allows the boiler to heat up to a higher average temp and reduce condensing. It doesn't increase return water temp. They say a low return temp is okay as long as A) flow is relatively low through the boiler, and the delta T thru the boiler is high enough to prevent condensing at that flow....so they spec this bypass.
I've seen other boilers that spec a 'system bypass,' such as copper boilers and older Weil McLain boilers (though to be fair, the WM's show both types of bypasses as optional). The system bypass returns some hot supply water to the return to keep the return temp up to prevent condensing...thus bypassing the system by returning water directly to the boiler.
Perhaps my terminology is backwards between 'system' and 'boiler' bypass, it's just the terminology I've gleaned from various conversations and Dan's 'Classic Hydronics' book. I think, all boiled down (with the DHW indirect removed), Burnham's diagram is hydraulically the same as this one in Dan's book... That's what I think I'm going to go for.
IE, drop the flow through the boiler by about 10-15%, which (if my math is right) should allow the boiler to come up to 150* minimum instead of 130*. Of course since it'll be a ball valve, I'll be able to make adjustments. Also considering a Danfoss thermic valve if I can afford it.
Here is how I do my bypass on ES2.I have temp gauge on return of boiler to tell me how much to throttle bypass valve.Seems to work.
Jonny - that's basically what I had in mind...are you 'pumping away' from the expansion tank on that setup (meaning, is the circ on the supply after the bypass)?
Yes always pump away.On that system there was a lot of CI radiation and I also used outdoor reset.I get your point about the bypass causing excessive cycling and agree but in this case everything ran well as boiler was sized properly .Concern was more about flue condensation than boiler protection as they are claiming it can handle low temp.I have seen many installed without bypass so I guess it really is up to installer and if he/she is getting a proper price for installation.
What if stack temp doesn't climb eg running on odr.I honestly do not know what the S/S manufacturer will guarantee but I was advised to do this by someone I respect for that reason.It's impossible to get a clear answer so I just do it.
Heh. That is a very good question. My total flue consists of 36" up, 90*, then 48" out, followed by the USBoiler provided vent termination. Granted, my ESC is an induced draft and the ES is not, but I wondered that myself. My vent piping is all stainless Z-Vent.
I was possibly more concerned with condensation occurring within the boiler itself...and maybe (hopefully) that's an idiotic thought? If so, then I guess a bypass is altogether pointless in my situation. Looking at the vent pipe now, there is some very slight staining near the o-ring bosses where liquid would pool, but nothing I would consider bad. Looks like water spots.
Jonny - that's what I figured on that setup, and that's what I'm aiming for myself. Of course I'll have to move and rewire the circ, but that's no big deal.
Mass is something I have no shortage of in terms of radiators. All of mine are large, freestanding cast iron, total of 436 EDR in the house. Which is nothing compared to my mother's house, an original 1890's home across town. She has 11 rads with a total of 950 EDR or so. She's thinking about selling and sadly doesn't want to 'burden' me with such an old (but very well-kept) house. The original gravity monster boiler was there until I was in my late teens, so I remember it well. 6" screwed pipe in that basement, and a lot of 4" as well.
You are exactly right about that. Tweak one thing and all others change. I learned that after the boiler was installed and I put in a delta T ECM circ... Suddenly the radiator in my daughters' room wouldn't heat. I had to loosen the packing nut and turn the valve considerably. It always heated fine with the 'monster' circ the previous boiler had.
Shoulder seasons are tough. The boiler doesn't short cycle, per se, but it'll only fire for about 15 minutes out of every 1-2 hours or so. Outside temp of 50, supply water temp of around 90. Heh.
We have good southern exposure so as long as it's sunny and above 45, the heat stays off all day. Then I'll usually turn the stat up 2-3* around sunset, let it satisfy, and it'll be off til the middle of the night.
I like to tinker, but at this point in my life I have a lot more time than money. So data recording was my hobby over the last few winters. This last winter wasn't nearly as bad as 2013-14, but on a therm/HDD basis, this boiler is definitely better than the 30 year old WM VHE we had. Plus this one doesn't leak when the water temp goes over 120*.
I was raised in that old drafty house, which never had the stat turned above 62. Here we average 68 when the house is full (evenings and weekends), otherwise about 65. I tried varying amounts of setback, and found that for the most part, a constant temp is best, even in our smaller home.


If you have ever visited Walsingham, England's National Marian Shrine, you may have seen the poignant sight of a ruined friary standing upon a small hill just outside the village. It forms part of a private property now, and so is not normally accessible to the public.
At the entrance gate, one July day, there stood a figure dressed in dark gray, a member of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, more commonly known as Grey Friars. This was the order that used to live and worship at the Walsingham Friary centuries earlier.
The Grey Friar in question was Fr. James Mary. Each day of his Walsingham pilgrimage, he would stand at the gate that leads to the ruins. He would gaze upon the ruined friary offering supplication for the friars buried there, and also for those who had caused the destruction of this once holy place. He also offered a unique prayer for a specific intention: namely that, one day, the Grey Friars would return to Walsingham.
Upon his arrival in the village, I had noted this friar. With Fr. James Mary, it was immediately observable how he talked to everyone and anyone he met, to say nothing of his gift for disarming even the most confirmed atheist. There was the woman who owns a local teashop. No believer, she was obviously so charmed by the tall, gentle friar who came each day for coffee that when the friar offered to bless her shop, she agreed. Perhaps she thought: 'Why not?' The day after she had something to tell the friar. He could 'bless her shop any day' because following its blessing, the teashop had enjoyed its busiest custom yet.
It was not just shops that were blessed; souls were touched. I saw pregnant women upon the street having their unborn babies very gently but very publicly blessed. Seemingly, no one refused Fr. James Mary's offer to impart a blessing. Some, I know, were non-believers; some were Anglicans; many were Catholics.


text:
Election expenses - help yourself!
Thanks to Freedom of Information requests submitted by Plaid Cymru (press release here) we now know that Carmarthenshire County Council is not sure how much it paid its chief executive in expenses in his capacity as returning officer or when exactly the money was paid, although it is clear that substantial amounts of money were paid well before the elections actually took place.
Unlike the other 21 Welsh councils contacted by Plaid, Carmarthenshire said that it did not hold information on when the expenses were paid, and it provided information on the amounts paid which conflicted with answers previously given.
Readers may recall that the council was not able to provide answers on how much it really spends on its propaganda sheet, the Carmarthenshire News, and was unable to say how much it spent on advertising in its own rag.
In the case of the returning officer's expenses, Carmarthenshire would also seem to be unique in giving its chief executive discretion to pay himself expenses when and as he sees fit.
More confirmation that the council works like a private fiefdom, with no proper accounting in place for how and when it spends money, and the sort of corporate governance controls which are reminiscent of the financial arrangements enjoyed by the late Robert Maxwell.
As with so much else in Carmarthenshire County Council, there is a complete lack of transparency when it comes to returning officer expenses. These are substantial amounts of money paid out of different pots, and it seems that nobody, apart from the chief executive himself is entirely sure how much he gets or when it is paid. Indeed, in the case of council funded elections, the council has confirmed that he can pay himself whenever he likes.
Earlier this week the council announced that finally it will be going ahead with a pilot to broadcast meetings of the full council, although not it seems any of the other committee meetings or meetings of the governing Executive Board.
At least that is a very belated step in the right direction, but before we get too excited, it is worth remembering that the council makes very extensive use of powers under the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude press and public from meetings.
Recently there have been more secret meetings about the council's public toilets which the authority is trying to palm off onto community councils. No private sector interests are involved.
At a meeting of the Planning Committee on 31 January, press and public were excluded from a discussion of the ombudsman's report on the Breckman case (or rather a watered down version of the ombudsman's report). The council justified this by saying that it wanted to protect the identity of those involved, even though everybody knows who was involved, and Mrs Breckman wrote to the council asking for the meeting to be held in public.
On Monday, 4 March, the Executive Board will be considering a further two "exempted" items in secret. Those relate to the Elli Theatre in Llanelli, which the council would very much like to get rid of, and a mysterious entry relating to "land to the rear of the former St Ivel building" in Johnstown.
The St Ivel building is the property which the council bought and then agreed to gift to Towy Community Church for 99 years for its bowling alley, "therapy" rooms and new church/auditorium. Effectively, the entire project is being financed by the tax payer, and yet tax payers are not allowed to know what is happening to their assets and money.
So much for Kevin Madge's commitment to transparency.
They go on and on and on...digging an even bigger hole, but never bury themselves. Why......because they are protected by the Welsh Assembly Ministers who should have a duty to intervene over serious abuses, but never do. The confidence they exude in blatant malpractices is testament to that.
Où sont les Gitanes d'antan?
Noson Adloniant Y Cadeirydd
Council Leader breached Code of Conduct
Planning matters: enforcement Carmarthenshire style
A Victory Parade
Grillo - Poisoned Waters
Difaterwch ac atgasedd
What's On at the Odeon This Week
Hate crime, whistleblowers and jargon
Some reflections on the James v Thompson libel trial
Dw i eisiau byw yn Gymraeg - Safiad Sir Gaerfyrddin
James v Thompson Libel Trial - updated
Week In Week Out - Fat Cats and the WAO
Unison writes open letter to Kevin Madge
Council boss: Tony Blair to the rescue
Shops 'queuing up' to open or close says paper
Llu o bobl am ffoi rhag y Gymraeg
@carmsccpress with love
Loaded dice - planning tales from Carmarthenshire


text:
Introducing JØTA
September 12, 2016 / electricityclub / Comments Off on Introducing JØTA
Space travel and synths were just made to go together.
JEAN-MICHEL JARRE, A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS, KOMPUTER, SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN, DRAMATIS, OMD and DAVID BOWIE are just some of the acts that have musically documented those pioneering adventures. Joining this roll of honour, JØTA is the cosmic solo project of Peter J D Mason, instrumentalist with feisty synth duo BECKY BECKY.
Inspired by the Soviet Space Programme of the Cold War era, his forthcoming album 'КОСМОС НАШ' soundtracks the exploits of Laika The Space Dog, Alexey Leonov, Yuri Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova among others. The latter pair were respectively of course, the first man and woman in space; they are coupled together for JØTA's second single on FEINT Records.
The octave shift driven 'Tereshkova' recounts her trailblazing journey around the earth 48 times in 1963. Not only was she the first woman to enter space, but she was the first civilian too. The track takes a more abstract approach compared with KOMPUTER's tribute 'Valentina' released in 1996.
On the B-side 'Gagarin', while it is neither the first or even the second instrumental to be conceived around the legend of Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, it is a goody and the trancey template goes well with the visuals borrowed from the film 'Gagarin: First In Space'.
When asked about why he found the exploits of the Soviet Space Programme more fascinating than those of NASA, Mason said: "I've always had a soft spot for the Soviets, as they had the great 'firsts' of the Space Race. The first satellite, first animal, first man, first woman, first spacewalk, even the first casualty with the tragic story of Vladimir Komarov who knew he wasn't coming back to Earth alive, yet chose to go to save Gagarin…"
The JØTA mission controller added: "Most people just don't know these names, these achievements so it felt right to honour them".
And it's not just cosmonauts that interest Mason. JØTA's debut single 'Korolev' was a celebration of the leading Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer who mastermined the Sputnik and Vostok programmes.
Swathed in swoops, buzzes and bleeps, JØTA is danceable electronica that uses synth hooks rather than beats as its main focal point.
'Tereshkova' b/w 'Gagarin' is released by FEINT Records as a download single via http://feintrecords.com/shop
JØTA live dates include: Brighton The Hope & Ruin (16th September with SOCCER96 + MERLIN TONTO), OSC at the Brighton Digital Festival (22nd September + talk), Brighton The Joker (15th October)
https://www.facebook.com/J0TAmuzk/
https://twitter.com/Jota_mzk
https://soundcloud.com/jotamuzk
Photo by Vasil Dzhagalov
Posted in Introducing	Tagged with Becky BeckyJØTA
Troika! Live featuring KITE BASE, HANNAH PEEL + I SPEAK MACHINE
VILLA NAH Ultima


Linksys no longer offers it on its site ( since it' s old) all of the downloads I find are for firmware only. Disabling the Windows XP computer' s built- in firewall Resolving NAT type issues with gaming consoles through a Linksys router Disabling proxy settings on Google Chrome™. Government that the Software " , constitutes acceptance of the rights , user documentation are " commercial computer software" , " commercial computer software documentation restrictions herein.
Thanks I need the driver to begin setup of this ancient router. I need the driver to begin setup of this ancient router.
Next most compatible drivers for your operating , obsolete Drivers to the latest, corrupt, matches missing, install Linksys in PC , Easy Driver Pro searches a database of over 11 million drivers you can install Linksys 115. LET OP: Dit is een Outlook gerelateerd probleem en heeft niets met u hosting te maken.
Linksys befw11s4 router free download - Linksys 1/ 4 port cable/ dsl router Linksys e1200N300 wireless Router Firmware, Linksys wireless cable/ DSL 4 port router many more programs. Avec différents mandez maintenant!
The best way to fix your PC to run at peak performance is to update your drivers. Linksys BEFW11S4 drivers will help to eliminate failures and correct errors in your device' s operation. Sometimes after upgrading to a newer operating system such as Windows 10 problems can occur because your current driver may only work with an older version of. It can determine which Linksys BEFW11S4 Network Drivers For Windows 10 are either missing corrupt have become obsolete.
Commandez maintenant! Pour Windows user documentation , SQL & Exchange mandez e of either the Software both constitutes agreement by the U. 29年29日後から時空転送装置でやってきた近未来人のブログ. 100 in your Windows PC and Mac OS.
Téléchargement immédiat du logiciel après l' achat. Download Linksys BEFW11S4 drivers for different OS Windows versions ( bit).
Linksys router software free download - Linksys Wireless- G Broadband Router Linksys Wireless- G Broadband Router WRT54GS, Linksys 1/ 4 port cable/ dsl router many more programs. Word Excel Project mandez maintenant! Linksys Drivers Download by Belkin International, Inc. Linksys is developed by Linksys LLC and listed under Tools.
4 drivers to install this to another a computer at my workplace. If your system is slow unresponsive , crashes often the problem may be with your drivers. I want to bring my other computer to the shop and use the owners internet connection. Linksys befw11s4 software for windows 7. Linksys befw11s4 software for windows 7. I have the router BEFW11S4 v. Windows 7, 8 et 10.
Nov 19, · Hello, I have the adapter, but I need the up dates for the driver so I can puy it in manually. i am using some one else` s computer right now. Can u send me the software for the drivers?
Buy Cisco- Linksys BEFW11S4 Wireless- B Cable/ DSL Router: Routers - FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases. Buy Cisco- Linksys EPSX3 EtherFast 10/ 100 3- port PrintServer: Print Servers - FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases.
Jan 29, · I have a Linksys Wireless- G router ( WRT54G, v. Had it all working, then when I tried to access the router ( going between the computer and.
Have you forgot your NetGear, D- Link, Asus, Belkin, TP- Link, and Cisco Linksys router' s username and password?
We' ve all been there, if you can' t remember what is the default password, there are two ways to gain access to the router admin interface, the first method involves resetting the. List of 800+ Default Router and Switch Usernames and Passwords - Cisco Linksys D- Link Netgear Sonicwall 3COM and More.
1, all those addresses are called " host addresses. ", you can find more. Wow thats a lengthy list.
I' ve used it a couple times in the past. Two of my neighbors have the Linksys routers that have no user name and ' admin' as the password. Klantensysteem Home > Kennisbank > Email > Outlook: Fout 0x800ccc0d of 0x800ccc0f bij ontvangen en verzenden van e- mail.
Outlook: Fout 0x800ccc0d of 0x800ccc0f bij ontvangen en verzenden van e- mail.


text:
About Andy Grove
GSOE 100th Anniversary Event Calendar
GSOE Faculty Meetings
Freshman Requirements
Masters & Certificate
Computer Engineering (B.E., M.S.)
Cybersecurity (M.S.)
Data Science and Engineering (M.S.)
Earth & Environmental (B.E., M.S.)
Information Systems (M.S.)
Translational Medicine (M.S.)
Urban Sustainability (M.S.)
CAISS
CIUS
Energy Institute
IUSL
Municipal Waste Research
NOAA/CREST
NYCBE
Undergraduate Affairs
Graduate Affairs
Planning, Reporting & Assessment
About Andy Grove History News GSOE 100th Anniversary Event Calendar
Freshman Requirements Transfer Requirements
Undergraduate Graduate Ph.D.
Biomedical Engineering Computer Science Chemical Engineering Civil Engineering Computer Engineering (B.E., M.S.) Cybersecurity (M.S.) Data Science and Engineering (M.S.) Earth & Environmental (B.E., M.S.) Electrical Engineering Information Systems (M.S.) Mechanical Engineering Translational Medicine (M.S.) Urban Sustainability (M.S.)
Dean Undergraduate Affairs Graduate Affairs Finance & Administration Planning, Reporting & Assessment External Relations News
< Home / The Grove School of Engineering / Research Centers
Center for Algorithms & Interactive Scientific Software (CAISS)
Center for Information Networking and Telecommunications (CINT)
Center for Metamaterials (CfM)
Center for Water Resources and Environmental Research (CWRER)
CUNY Energy Institute
CUNY Institute for Municipal Waste Research
CUNY Institute for Urban Systems (CIUS)
Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers (IUSL)
Benjamin Levich Institute for Physico-Chemical Hydrodynamics
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Center for Earth System Science and Remote Sensing Technologies Center (NOAA-CESSRST)
New York Center for Biomedical Engineering (NYCBE)
New York State Center for Advanced Technology in Ultrafast Photonics
IUSL is housed in the Division of Science and has GSOE faculty participation in their administration and research activities.
The CCNY Office of Grants and Sponsored Programs encourages, develops budgets for and administers most regulatory aspects of research grants and contracts. It provides a local interface to the Research Foundation of CUNY, the fiscal custodian of all CUNY research grants.


text:
Health sector solidarity: a core European value but with broadly varying content
Richard B Saltman1
Although the concept of solidarity sits at the center of many European health sector debates, the specific groups eligible for coverage, the financing arrangements, and the range of services and benefits that, together, compose the operational content of solidarity have all changed considerably over time. In prior economic periods, solidarity covered considerably fewer services or groups of the population than it does today. As economic and political circumstances changed, the content of solidarity changed with them. Recent examples of these shifts are illustrated through a discussion of health reforms in Netherlands, Germany and also Israel (although not in Europe, the Israeli health system is similar in structure to European social health insurance systems).
This article suggests that changed economic circumstances in Europe since the onset of the 2008 financial crisis may lead to re-configuring the scope and content of services covered by solidarity in many European health systems. A key issue for policymakers will be protecting vulnerable populations as this re-design occurs.
The idea of solidarity has been at the center of European health policy at least since the end of World War Two [1]. Whether officially termed solidarity (as in social health insurance systems and also tax-funded systems on the Continent) or phrased as its conceptual near-equivalent "equity" (UK) or "equality" (Nordic countries) in Northern European tax-funded health systems, solidarity has long been acknowledged as a core value in European health policy debate. Any policy proposal that seeks to change coverage or access components within a country's health sector is assessed in terms of its likely impact on solidarity, and a major element of its political success or failure often reflects that impact.
In most of these national policy debates, participants rarely define what is meant by that term, "solidarity". Its content is assumed to be understood by all, and is normally not specifically defined in public discourse or, in some countries, even in its main health sector legislation. Such an explicit definition has seemed unnecessary, as in most cases all sides in the political debate are committed to this core value, and reflexively re-state their commitment as they go forward to deal with the specific policy issue under consideration.
The concept of solidarity used in European public debate has both aspirational (philosophical) and practical (operational) dimensions, sometimes combined in the same statement. Historically, the concept of solidarity in Europe has referred to "communities of mutual recognition" [1]. These typically grew out from personal (family) to communal (churches) to occupational (guilds, unions) and finally to national (political associations and parties) when the state stepped in as the financial regulator and guarantor [2]. Philosophically, a variety of attributes were assigned to solidarity: reciprocity (asymetrical for the needy); social cohesion; altruism and fellowship; citizenship duties; universal brotherhood; political and/or social justice [3]. Operationally, although the original self-governing institutions of solidarity were retained when the state took control, in practice decisions were "lifted out of the context of mutual recognition" to become incorporated into the state's administrative apparatus [1].
In current practice, the term solidarity has a number of different meanings to the range of different political actors who invoke it. To some, solidarity means that every individual regardless of income or social standing has the same services delivered by the same health care providers and with the same clinical outcome. To others, solidarity is more focused on equal process - particularly access to care - rather than equal clinical or health status results. To yet a third group, solidarity refers to shared financial sacrifice – guaranteeing that funding responsibilities are acceptably distributed across a particular group or population. In actual practice, the particular health service content that solidarity covers - "who gets what, when, and how" to apply Lasswell's famous definition of politics - has varied quite considerably, depending on the political and economic era, on the country's norms and values, and on the particular structure of the country's health-related institutions [2]. These operational differences typically are subsumed within the language of solidarity as the philosophical "touchstone" of what is viewed as a core normative value.
This article explores the changing meaning and content of solidarity in two different European social health insurance systems and in the similarly structured social health insurance system in Israel. The next two sections take a broadly historical perspective, reviewing the specific practical content of solidarity as it has evolved up to the present period. Most (although not all) of these changes have served to increase the overall services and population groups covered by the collectively financed system. The subsequent section then considers the implications of Europe's slow/no growth economies for future health reform and the types of measures that have been or are being considered to revise what is covered by solidarity in their health system, this time mostly toward reducing collectively covered coverage and services. The paper concludes with a short assessment of the implications of this reviewed experience for the concept of solidarity generally.
Historical evolution of solidarity's content
The first practitioners of solidarity were the friendly societies formed by craft workers in the Thirteenth Century in England [4]. Over the next several centuries the concept continued to grow in various cooperative and not-for-profit private settings, becoming particularly associated with industrial workers' mutual societies and, in the latter part of the 19th Century, the union movement [2].
By the end of the 19th Century, as more traditionalist politicians were looking for tools to blunt the growing political power of Marxist and/or Lassallean socialist movements among factory workers, the concept of solidarity and its collectively paid set of cross-subsidized health benefits took more comprehensive shape. Through this political process, the concept – and practical benefit content – of solidarity as a central function and objective of collective health insurance migrated from its original source in voluntary organizations in civil society to becoming a shared responsibility between these private sector organizations and the State, with a set of state-imposed statutory responsibilities backed up by formal State regulation and supervision [2].
During this period of growth and expansion, the individuals and the range of services covered were continuously evolving, driven by improving industrial productivity that made possible a rising level of funding from both public and private sources, as well as a rapidly developing level of medical technology. Cultural norms and values also played an important role in shaping the specific services that solidarity should cover. In earlier times, for example, an important component of workers mutual insurance was a death benefit, to ensure that a covered member could afford a proper Christian burial and thus not suffer the ignominy of a pauper's grave. Even in current times, social health insurance in Germanic countries still covers culturally (but not necessarily medically) desirable "kur" or medical spa treatments.
As the above observations suggest, solidarity has historically been a broadly flexible concept, adapting to and reflecting the changing historical, economic, political and social environment around it. In this sense, solidarity has never been something with a fixed content or an immutable character. Moreover, when one considers that the core modern meaning of solidarity – equal treatment for all social groups (including elderly, low-income, immigrants, disabled) which now similarly exist in Northern European tax-based systems defined as norms of "equity" (UK) or "equality" (Nordic countries) – it seems clear that this central value sitting at the core of European health systems is not a fixed notion but rather a flexible concept with a multi-faceted, contingent content.
Country examples of differential/variable solidarity
The wide-ranging health sector services and benefits that compose the real-world notion of solidarity is immediately apparent in the broad distribution of citizen and service coverage that different health systems label as "solidaristic." This is noticeable both in the varying groups of citizens covered by specific national social insurance programs, and also in the varying services and benefits that these programs cover.
Concerning coverage, consider the Netherlands prior to 2006. The statutory health insurance system for regular curative medical care (there was a separate social insurance system for "exceptional" or long term care that covered 100% of the population) only covered about 63% of all citizens [5]. Those whose income was (or grew to be) above the ceiling threshold (32,500 Euros in 2004) were required by law to leave the statutory system This meant, on the one hand, that these higher-income individuals were required to seek private commercial health insurance, which set its premiums based on individual experience (eg personal health-status and family history) rather than community experience (eg collective) costs. This could be particularly expensive for workers in their 40s and 50s for whom a small raise in income could push them over the income boundary into a much more expensive insurance category. Moreover, forcing out higher income earners meant that the "solidarity" of the statutory system was only a solidarity of low and middle income earners – those who earned higher incomes did not have to (indeed could not – at least legally) participate in the collective risk pool. Thus in pre-2006 Netherlands, solidarity was not universal in nature. Yet Dutch scholars writing in this pre-2006 period regularly hailed the normative achievement created by the solidaristic dimensions of their health insurance system [6].
It is equally instructive to consider what solidarity now means in the Netherlands, following the 2006 health insurance reform [7]. In the re-structured arrangement, 100% of citizens must purchase regular medical insurance through the statutory system (the so-called "mandate") from any insurance company they desire that operates in the Netherlands [7]. So in this first respect, the post-2006 Dutch health insurance system dramatically increased solidarity, in that all higher income citizens were for the first time required to be in the same insurance pool as their lower income neighbors for regular medical care (they already were for the ABWZ for Exceptional and Long Term Care expenses), and to cross-subsidize the cost of coverage for lower-income citizens.
Yet the post-2006 insurance system had a new feature that split the purchase of insurance coverage into two linked segments (a third segment with especially challenging solidarity characteristics – a no-use rebate of 255 euros, which had to be paid by covered individuals up front - was dropped in 2008). One of the two remaining segments in the post-2006 insurance model required that the employer's 50% share of the total premium cost must continue to be channeled through a single national state-run fund [8]. This fund would allocate a risk adjusted payment for each covered individual to whatever (private not-for-profit or for-profit) insurer the individual selected. Quite differently, however, the second, individually paid portion of the mandatory insurance premium – labelled the "nominal premium" – was to be used to purchase a second part of the individual's insurance policy with that same selected company, with most individuals paying the funds directly him or herself from his/her own private funds (some low income families received a state-paid "healthcare allowance" until these subsidies were cut). Moreover, to encourage bargaining that could generate efficiencies from the private insurance companies, individuals could reduce their premiums for this second part of their regular medical insurance by up to 10% by banding together with other Dutch citizens to negotiate volume discounts either via a real organization (for example, an employee group or a patient association ) or via a virtual organization formed over the internet, typically solely for the purpose of negotiating just such a volume discount [7].
Thus, while the first part of the post-2006 regular medical insurance considerably increased solidarity by mandating that all citizens must join the same risk pool, the second part of that insurance arrangement considerably reduced solidarity by enabling citizens to separate themselves into smaller market-based groupings that could negotiate a better deal for themselves than the one that other citizens might have. Thus the post-2006 system both increased risk sharing in the employer paid segment but decreased risk sharing in order to encourage market efficiencies in the individual-paid "nominal premium" segment.
Moreover, in a separate part of the post-2006 regular medical insurance, the state now pays the entire insurance premium for all children, further muddying the solidarity waters in that this initiative reduced costs for both higher as well as lower income families. Overall, it is unclear whether the post-2006 Dutch insurance plan actually did increase solidarity as much as proponents claim.
Two additional elements of the new system further complicate the solidarity characteristics of the Dutch post-2006 insurance picture. The first is an additional State bundled payments scheme for those who suffer from what are termed "listed diseases" (eg diabetes, chronic heart failure, COPD) [7]. These additional payments, made through the risk adjustment mechanism to the individual's selected insurer, are intended to compensate the private insurance company for the additional cost of that patient's condition, and thus to relieve the insurer of most financial risk and, one might note, to relieve that individual's fellow insurees of the need to cross-subsidize his/her care – thus simultaneously increasing (by paying more for sicker individuals) and reducing (by taking financial pressure off the second "nominal premium" payments) solidarity via this extra disease-based payment. The result of these extra payments has been - just as the Dutch government had hoped – that individuals who suffered from these listed diseases have been welcomed by the private insurers – who indeed sometimes actually advertised for individuals with these conditions to select their insurance company. This result is exactly the reverse of the adverse selection often found in private insurance markets, and can be considered on balance an improvement in the solidarity characteristics of the post 2006 Dutch health insurance system.
Conversely, however, the second additional dimension concerns the purchase of supplemental medical insurance, which had been widely purchased by those with mandatory social health insurance in the pre-2006 system, and which continues to be sold by private insurers in the post-2006 arrangement. This supplemental insurance pays for additional private services such as physiotherapy and dental care, as well as quicker care for some outpatient medical services [9]. Thus this second dimension of the post-2006 system continued what had been – prior to 2006 – something that also had reduced solidarity, in that the lowest income citizens typically could not afford to buy it.
Moving beyond the Netherlands, a similar profile of collective versus individual risk within a solidaristic health system also can be observed in Germany's social health insurance system. In Germany for regular curative services (since 1996 Germany also has a separate social insurance fund for long term care), a similar (although higher) income ceiling still exists [10]. However in the German variation, there are two important differences from the pre-2006 approach of the Netherlands.
First, those whose income rises over the statutory ceiling can, if they choose, remain in the statutory, collectively based insurance system (with the interesting caveat that, if they ever leave the statutory system, they cannot return, even if their income should fall below the statutory ceiling at some point in the future, although exemptions exist for those who move from self-employed to employed or who leave their job and are eligible through a spouse for statutory family insurance).
Second, unlike the Netherlands, this ability of higher income earners to leave the compulsory system – and thus to break solidarity with lower income wage earners – is still in place, as is the exemption that State civil servants have long had to receive separate indemnity based health insurance [11]. Interestingly, this break in solidarity based on income has been continued despite Germany putting in place a major health insurance reform in 2009 that centralized the collection of all health insurance premiums into a single state-run pool that, as in the Netherlands, then risk adjusts the amounts paid out for each covered person to their choice of health insurance fund [12].
Thus in two of the most prominent social health insurance examples of countries where "solidarity" is the widely proclaimed basis of their health system, the requirement for who has (or is allowed) to share in the collectivist insurance system, and thus how solidarity is put into place, has long varied and indeed varies considerably still in 2014.
A third country example is Israel, which, although not territorially in Europe, has a social health insurance system that resembles both Dutch and German arrangements. Prior to 1995, solidarity was strongly defended in Israel as the central characteristic of each of the four social health insurance funds. Each of these funds was a separate not-for-profit private entity that collected premiums from its membership and in return provided primary care, hospital and ancillary health-related services. The largest fund, Kupot Holim Clalit, was closely tied to the national labor federation (Histadrut), and social health insurance premiums were collected as a portion of each member's labor union dues. Yet because premiums were the same regardless of income, this pre-1995 Israeli system, like most traditional social health insurance systems, was mildly regressive. Moreover, the pre-1995 system was not universal, as some 5% of the Israeli population, especially among Arab Israelis, were not members of any of the four funds [13]. Thus the pre-reform arrangement had several structural dimensions that undercut rather than reinforced solidarity.
In 1995, a new funding arrangement was introduced for the health sector. Individuals pay a flat-rate income tax of 3.1% on wages up to half of the average national wage and 4.8% on income beyond that level. Income above five times the national wage is not subject to this health tax. There also are exemptions and discounts for various groups such as pensioners and recipients of income maintenance allowances. This health tax raised 25% of total health expenditures, and was supplemented by general state revenues which made up some 46% of total health sector funding [13]. All these public funds were collected in a central national pool, which then allocated these funds on a per capita risk adjusted basis to whichever of the four funds a citizen chose to join. This state-centralized, citizen-based funding model covered all Israeli residents, improving solidarity considerably not only among Jewish Israelis but also by incorporating a significant number of Arab Israelis who had not been part of the prior system [14]. While 75% of Israelis also buy supplemental insurance (typically from their health fund), these additional insurances are since 1998 required to be community rated so as to reduce their impact on higher risk individuals and thus add a solidarity increasing dimension to an otherwise solidarity decreasing mechanism.
This new post-1996 system, however, still presents several dilemmas regarding the level of solidarity it generated. One dilemma is that the four funds (now called health rather than sickness funds) continue to sell supplemental insurance to their membership, covering additional clinical services that are not covered by the standard tax-paid premiums. While, as mentioned, some 75% of Israelis purchase these supplemental policies, there is a social gap as only 62% of lower income citizens can afford or choose to purchase these policies [13].
The second equity-based concern was of a different character, in that it involved what services would be covered under the tax-funded health system. Under the 1995 reform, this determination was to have been made by a 70-member council, made up of representatives of key stakeholders in the Israeli health system [14]. Among the most difficult decisions have been those involving new pharmaceuticals that, for cost or efficacy reasons, are excluded from the government-funded benefit package. Major fights occurred over a new multiple sclerosis drug, for example, which ultimately was included [15].
Eventually, decisions regarding additions to the basket of services were delegated to a committee made up of medical people, economists and public representatives, which receives an annual budget for this purpose. Of course, not all possible technologies can be added due to fiscal constraints. For example, the cancer drug Avastin was not included by the committee for treatment of colon cancer. This rejection produced a public hunger strike by some potential patients, and while additional budget funding was allocated to the committee, ultimately the drug's exclusion from the benefits package was confirmed [16]. Even when the decision process is democratic and transparent, however, each time a drug is excluded from the publicly funded package, there is a reduction in solidarity with those patients who would have benefited from its inclusion.
Israel's experience with new drug inclusion mirrors a similar pattern that has occurred in England, where the National Institute for Clinical Excellence has made a number of cost and efficacy based exclusion decisions concerning the formulary provided by the National Health Service which were contested by patients and, in some cases (Herceptin) overturned by national political decision-makers [17]. In 2013 decisions by NICE about new drug adoptions were changed from mandatory to advisory in nature for NHS institutions [18].
Thus in Israel as in Netherlands and Germany, an historical pattern of strong but also somewhat erratic solidarity became more comprehensive as the result of a recent national health reform, yet several other dimensions of the reformed payment structure (eg the continued existence of supplemental health insurance and the exclusion of certain life-extending drugs from the benefit package) simultaneously served to reduce that new level of solidarity.
The three case examples given here provide only the big-picture structural dimensions of how these three social health insurance systems differ in their practical content from the core values assumed to inhere to solidarity. One could deepen this picture by introducing concerns about pensioners, the disabled, the self-employed, university students, immigrants, and other vulnerable populations whose care is funded under a wide variety of special and not always normatively similar arrangements within these "solidaristic" systems [11]. One also could expand this discussion by reviewing the long history of change in services, benefits, and different population groups, and the differential treatment received by individual citizens in different geographic localities, found in the tax-funded but solidarity based Mediterranean health systems (Italy, Spain and Portugal) as well as in the tax-funded equity or equality based health care systems in Northern Europe including England and the four European Nordic countries (Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark). There are, in sum, many different and complex dimensions in how services and benefits have been and still are allocated within countries whose health systems consider themselves to be based on the core European value of solidarity.
Present-day health sector consequences of inadequate economic growth
The impact of the 2008 financial crisis remains strong in European health care systems. While economic growth has begun to return to some countries in the EU, its pace is painfully slow, and its future is not at all secure [19]. In the Netherlands, for example, first quarter 2014 GDP fell by 1.4%, while for the same quarter in Finland, the economy slipped back into contraction for the third time in 5 years [20]. In the UK, although the economy has begun to grow, total annual GDP in the first quarter of 2014 is still below what it was in 2008 [21]. Confirming continued underperformance, on 4 November 2014 the European Commission (the executive arm of the European Union) cut its forecast through to 2016 for the 18 country Eurozone from 1.7% to 1.1% GDP growth – a level which is just barely more than recession level [22].
This now seven-year lack of substantial growth in national economies has restricted the amount of new and even previous funding that is available for publicly funded health sector activities. In England, for example, the recently installed head of the NHS, Simon Stevens, was quoted in the Financial Times on 31 March 2014 as saying that "the traditional model of healthcare will have to change as the NHS faces the 'most sustained budget crunch in its 66-year history'" [23]. A King's Fund report documented that the NHS in 2015 faces a 30 billion pound shortfall in a total budget of some 100 billion pounds [24]. The Financial Times reported that 5 of 6 hospital trusts faces a projected fiscal shortfall in that same NHS budget [25].
In the Netherlands, the King stated on 17 September 2013 in his speech opening the Dutch Parliament's fall session that the prior generous welfare state model was no longer affordable [26]. One consequence for the health sector in the Dutch case – as in the English as well – is that discussions have occurred about new patient payments that might be necessary. As one example, the rising number of elderly in need of custodial and long term care has triggered discussions in both countries about the possibility that more elderly middle class patients may be required to sell their homes in order to pay for nursing home services [27].
A further insight into the current post-recession environment of 2014 can be gleaned from current statistics collected by the World Health Organization's Regional Office for Europe regarding out-of-pocket co-payments as a percentage of total health sector finances in different European Union countries [28]. These largely un-solidaristic payments (although some co-payments for drugs may be tied to age or health status) range from 5.9% in France and 9.9% in England to 20.2% in Italy, 20.3% in Spain, and 18.4% in Estonia up to 37.4% in Latvia [28]. While all these EU health systems would each still say that they continue to honor the European value of solidarity in the finance of their health care system, the range in out-of-pocket payments among these countries currently differs by as much as seven-fold.
To be sure, there are some countries (Germany, Sweden, Norway, Israel) where economic growth has continued if in measured rather than robust terms. In these countries, the health coverage debate about the need to re-consider the content of the publicly funded health sector package typically has had more of a future planning than an immediate management character. However the slow rate of underlying economic development in developed countries since 2008 (and indeed for two decades prior) will ultimately affect all European health systems, as strong economic growth and the consequent wealth production continues to consolidate in Asian Rim countries not in the West [29].
Some implications for the concept of solidarity
The above discussion suggests several points about the character of solidarity as it has been structured in the European health sector. The first is that solidarity has traditionally been a flexible concept, varying considerably across countries and across historical periods in the types of content it covers and for whom. Thus assertions that the present level of solidarity in the health sector cannot be altered without undermining the entire concept and breaking faith with the citizenry do not comport with past practice.
Similarly, the contention that governments should not consider reductions in what services and benefits are covered in a solidaristic system is inherently more political than factual. This is particularly true if the financial sustainability or even the long-term survival of existing health systems in some countries may be at stake. As the examples above highlight, in practice national governments have periodically changed both the content of their solidaristic health systems and the population groups that have membership in these systems. Given past practice, then, what would be new and unusual in the current situation would be if governments no longer tailored their health system funding and benefit structures to the available level of public sector resources consistent with prudent fiscal management.
To be certain, most European policymakers themselves do not want to reduce services and coverage, they want to protect vulnerable groups, they want to expand coverage for newly growing groups such as the chronically ill elderly, and there are numerous health policy arguments that support those preferences [30]. However the argument that an expansive health policy approach is an inherent requirement of health sector solidarity as a core European value is inconsistent with past experience. Past practice clearly indicates that governments can and regularly do change the social contract that underlies health sector solidarity, and that further changes to that basic contract can in some circumstances be in keeping with good governance rather than necessarily reflecting a breach of that stewardship role [31].
This is not to argue that reductions in service coverage or collective payment are good things that national policymakers should seek for their own sake. Rather, it is to validate the types of changes recently seen in a number of European health systems since the onset of the 2008 financial difficulties, and to recognize that changes that reduce as well as expand the degree of coverage and benefits reflect the principle of solidarity as it has been practiced previously.
An important question can be raised about what an appropriate new blend of mandatory social vs. supplemental insurances might look like in response to fiscal stringency, and the degree to which the distribution of specific costs and/or services between different types of coverage might reasonably be changed. Further, as with supplemental insurance in Israel, where governmental regulation requires that such policies be written on a community rating basis, future shifts in the balance of public mandatory and supplemental insurance could potentially be structured to provide more rather than less coverage for socially vulnerable groups. The challenge presented by ongoing economic constraints will be to shape necessary reductions in solidarity in operational terms in a manner that does the least harm to present day health and social objectives of solidarity in philosophical and normative terms.
A second point is that ongoing rapid developments in the health sector including genetic decoding, personalized medicine, bio-engineered pharmaceuticals, miniaturized diagnostic and treatment methodologies, and targeted wireless information technology will further raise the international standard for how clinical medicine will be practiced in the near future, and, in many cases, will raise the cost of operating high quality health systems. However, reflecting the ongoing shortage of new public funds and personnel, these new clinical developments suggest that the international standard will likely be increasing at the same time as at least some European health systems will already be making reductions in the range and content of existing clinical services and benefits that they provide.
These constraints on publicly funded benefit packages will be taking place, further, not only as the international standard of clinical care that their citizens expect to receive increases, but at a time when some public health proponents in Europe believe there should be expensive new commitments of public funding to support long-term "upstream" preventive health interventions in housing, education, transportation, and employment in order to rectify inequities in the "social determinants of health." [32, 33]. These competing pressures on restricted public resources, taken together, would appear to suggest that the operational content of solidarity between and perhaps even within countries in Europe could continue to vary considerably over the next period of years.
Richard B. Saltman is Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Emory University School of Public Health in Atlanta, Georgia. He was a co-founder of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies in Brussels in 1998, and is currently Associate Director of Research Policy. He is also a co-founder and co-director of the Swedish Forum for Health Policy in Stockholm. He holds a doctorate in political science from Stanford University.
Houtepen R, Ter Meulen R: New types of solidarity in the European welfare state. Special Issue: Solidarity in Health Care. 4. In Health Care Analysis 8th edition. Edited by: Houtepen R, Ter Meulen R, Houtepen R, Ter Meulen R. 2000, 329–40.
Saltman RB, Dubois HFW: The historical and social base of social health insurance systems. In Social Health Insurance Systems in Western Europe. Edited by: Saltman RB, Busse R, Figueras J. Maidenhead, Berkshire, UK: Open University Press/McGraw-Hill Education; 2004:21–32.
Bayertz K (Ed): Solidarity. Dordrecht: Kluwer; 1999.
Abel-Smith B: The rise and decline of the early HMOs: some international experiences.Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly 1988,66(4):694–719.
Helderman J-K, Stiller S: The importance of order and complements: A new way to understand the Dutch and German health insurance reforms.J Health Polit Policy Law 2014,39(4):811–840. 10.1215/03616878-2743051
Helderman J-K, Schut F, van der Grinten T, van der Ven WPMM: Market-Oriented Health Care Reforms and Policy Learning in the Netherlands.J Health Polit Policy Law 2005,30(1–2):189–209.
Schafer W, Kroneman K, Boerma W, van den Berg M, Westert G, Devolle W, et al.: The Netherlands: Health System Review. Brussels: European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies; 2010.
Maarse H, Paulus A: The Politics of Health-Care Reform in the Netherlands since 2006.Health Econ Policy Law 2011,6(1):125–134. 10.1017/S174413311000037X
Mossialos E, Thomson S: Voluntary Health Insurance in the European Union. Brussels: European Observatory on Health System and Policies; 2004.
Busse R, Blumel M: Germany: Health System Review. Brussels: European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies; 2014.
Saltman RB, Busse R, Figueras J (Eds): Social Health Insurance Systems in Western Europe. Maidenhead, Berkshire, UK: Open University Press/McGraw-Hill Education; 2004.
Göpffartha D, Henke K-D: The German Central Health Fund— Recent developments in health care financing in Germany.Health Policy 2013, 109:246–252. 10.1016/j.healthpol.2012.11.001
Rosen B: Israel: Health System Review. Brussels: European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies; 2003.
Rosen B, Samuel H: Israel: Health System Review. Brussels: European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies; 2009.
Shalev C, Chinitz D: In search of universality, equity, comprehensiveness and competition: healthcare reform and managed competition in Israel.Dalhousie Law Journal 1997,20(2):553–82.
Sarig M: Israeli cancer patients resume hunger strike.BMJ 2006,333(7567):517.
Harding M-L: Hewitt, Herceptin, and the 100 million pound bill that PCTs can't afford to pay.Health Serv J 2005,115(5985):12–13.
Boseley S: NHS at 'huge risk' from reforms, says healthcare chief.The Guardian 2013. 1 April
Mackenzie M, Foley S, Jones C: Investors retreat as deflation fears arise.Financial Times 2014. 16 May
Milne R, Fontanella-Khan J: Finland and Netherlands display problems at core of Eurozone.Financial Times 2014. 21 May
Wearden G: UK economy posts fastest annual growth since 2007.The Guardian 2014. 29 April
Spiegel P: European Commission slashes Eurozone forecasts.Financial Times 2014. 4 November
Neville S: New NHS chief warns of need for shake-up.Financial Times 2014. 31 March
Iacobucci G: NHS Finances: the tanker en route for the iceberg.BMJ 2014, 348:g3129. 10.1136/bmj.g3129
Neville S: Five of six NHS finance chiefs expect deficits in 2015–16.Financial Times 2014. 15 April
Steinglass M: Dutch king signals welfare reform.Financial Times 2013. 17 September
Simon E: The cap on long-term care costs: myths and reality.The Telegraph 2013. 8 July
World Health Organization: Global health expenditure database. Geneva; 2014. URL: (last accessed 21 April 2015) http://www.who.int/health-accounts/ghed/en/
King SD: When the Money Runs Out: The End of Western Affluence. New Haven: Yale University Press; 2013.
Karanikolos M, Mladovsky P, Cylus J, Thomson S, Basu S, Stuckler D, et al.: Financial crisis, austerity, and health in Europe.Lancet 2013,381(9874):1323–1331. 10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60102-6
Saltman RB, Cahn Z: Re-Structuring Health Systems for an Era of Prolonged Austerity.BMJ 2013, 346:f3972. doi: (Published 24 June 2013) 10.1136/bmj.f3972
Marmot M, Allen J, Goldblatt P, Boyce T, McNeish D, Grady M, Geddes I: Fair Society, Healthy Lives: The Marmot Review Executive Summary, Strategic Review of Health Inequalities in England Post-2010. London: Department of Health; 2010.
Wilkerson R, Pickett K: The Spirit Level: Why more equal societies almost always do better. London: Allen Lane/Penguin; 2009.
The initial thinking for this paper was presented as a commentary at a conference held to mark the 50th anniversary of the Belgian statutory health insurance act in Brussels on 21 March 2014. The author thanks the journal's three anonymous reviewers as well as David Chinitz for their very helpful suggestions, also Ann-Kathryn Seeman and Carly Rae Winokur for comments on prior versions of this paper.
Department of Health Policy and Management, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
Richard B Saltman
Correspondence to Richard B Saltman.
The author warrants that there are no competing interests or conflicts of interest regarding the content of this article.
Saltman, R.B. Health sector solidarity: a core European value but with broadly varying content. Isr J Health Policy Res 4, 5 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/2045-4015-4-5
Social health insurance
European values


text:
De Donato's Fakes
We have already denounced the two shameful editions of situationist texts placed surreptiously on the market by the publisher De Donato. He never received the copyrights[1] from Buchet-Chastel for The Society of the Spectacle, but, even more serious, he did not hesitate to publish Basic Banalities with an indication that it was the "exclusive property" of the SI, when it was no such thing. By this action, he did not simply allow himself to present himself as the "exclusive publisher" of these texts in Italy, but also gave himself the appearance of having negotiated their publication with us! But it is in the treatment to which they subjected these texts, which were completely disfigured,[2] that those responsible have exaggerated and will be deprived of all rights for the past, present and future. If these "translators" deliberately deformed these texts, the introductions to them lie and those who wrote them are aware of their lies. It is not a merely a matter here of a particularly serious swindle, which does not even respect the commercial rules for this type of enterprise; we believe that, among all the hostile actions taken by dangerous little mystifiers, this one is the most cunning that such a semi-respectable operation with respect to us (essentially falsifying) can be. The SI has often found itself in a position of having the duty to defend itself from mediocre distortions of its positions, always effectuated in one manner or another in the conscious search for a second-hand success, but it has never happened that it was used for a degradation to the lowest level of spectacular commercialization by an "opposition" for which we will only reserve violence. If this was possible twice in Italy, it will be more difficult now.
These are not only indispensable precisions, but a warning to the merchants of fake information. For them, words are not enough. Valerio Fantinel and the other scoundrel, the author of those introductions: they know it well. If they heard that the "situationist movement" was dead and buried long ago, if they hoped that it was at least sufficiently faraway and could not reach them, they had to personally experience the reality of these chimeras. In May [1969], several days after the publication of Basic Banalities, three situationists assaulted them and dissuaded them from continuing to be preoccupied with the SI. The few words that the two people had the courage to pronounce sufficed to accumulate their lies, which they believed they could offer in the guise of explanations. Changing lies as soon as they had to admit their inconsistencies, they even naively hazarded to affirm that they had received a letter from the authors. But all of their arrogance, which made them imagine that they could treat the matter with frivolity and thereby have the air of saving "face," collapsed all at once into indignation as soon as one of us grabbed them by the collar. These incorrigible individuals, who had not lacked arrogance previously, in reality supported everything, including having their faces spat in twice. Without any doubt, this gave them something to think about.
In any case, they cannot hope to classify that event as an unfortunate episode. We publish here the translation [into French] of the letter sent to De Donato [in Italian] on 5 June [1969]:[3]
The Situationist International
To the publisher De Donato
DE DONATO,
Given that three Italian situationists, who are co-signatories of this letter, roughed up, in your offices on 24 May, the two eunuchs -- castrated on the intellectual plane as well as elsewhere -- who serve you as translators and makers of introductions (Fantinel and another), you must know that the attention of the Situationist International is henceforth upon your editorial activities in Italy.
Last year, you published The Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord in an infected translation. You relapsed with [the publication of] a pseudo-book attributed to a certain Vaneigam, in which one recognized, despite the rain of mistranslations that fell from every page, the text "Basic Banalities" and two other articles by Raoul Vaneigem.
Still more serious, if that is possible, than this infamous translation -- which we believe was made with your dick, if we can be persuaded that you do not lack one -- is the fact that you claim to have taken the copyrights from the SI and reserved them for yourself in Italy. Despite the lie repeated by one of your cowardly employees on 24 May, you know quite well that you have neither asked for nor obtained any sort of copyright from the SI. Moreover, the texts published in I.S. [Internationale Situationniste] are explicitly presented as free from all copyright (concerning this point, we leave to the side the problem of your relations with the publisher Buchet-Chastel). But the fact that we allow the free reproduction of the texts published by the SI does not mean that a dog of a merchant can hope to compromise us by publishing a caricature of our writings. Moreover, your introductory notes concentrate in just a few lines a great number of false novelties and calumnies. Debord is not an "ex-communist." The SI was founded in Italy in 1957, but not in Turin and especially not at the time of an exhibition. We renounce the enumeration of other falsifications (ideology, philosopher . . . ) because you are as much a cunt as Fantinel and thus incapable of understanding what we say.
You are quite a whore, De Donato. But do you believe that you can continue your falsifications with impunity? You better not. What do you think makes you forget? Do you have the intention of leaving on sale the crude fake attributed to Raoul "Vaneigam"? How do you propose to rectify the lies already published against the SI by your little faggots?
Be assured that the revolutionary organization in the name of which we speak will not lower itself to bring against you some kind of lawsuit in a court of bourgeois justice. But if you do not step back now, you will experience all the consequences, personally and physically.
Since we know that your employees, of which you have the audacity to use as "translators" of texts, absolutely do not know French, and seeing that it is of the greatest importance that you understand our letter quickly and well, we attach to it an exact Italian translation.
For the French section of the Situationist International,
Debord, Khayati, Sebastiani, Vaneigem, Vienet
For the Italian section of the Situationist International,
Pavan, Salvadori, Sanguinetti
[1] English in original.
[2] See letter from Guy Debord to the Italian section of the SI dated 27 May 1969.
[3] See letter we have seen dated 4 June 1969, not 5 June 1969.
(Published in Internazionale Situazionista: Journal of the Italian Section of the Situationist International, #1 July 1969. Translated from Italian into French by Joel Gayraud and Luc Mercier, Editions Contre-Moule, June 1988. Translated from the French by NOT BORED! June 2007. All footnotes by NOT BORED!)
To Contact NOT BORED!
Info@notbored.org
ISSN 1084-7340.
Snail mail: POB 1115, Stuyvesant Station, New York City 10009-9998


text:
QR Codes Are Powering TV E-Commerce, Flowcode's Jim Norton explains
QR must have had one of the longest gestation periods of any technology.
Started in Japan in the mid-nineties, they were initially popular with the countries NTT DoCoMo mobile carrier, but then never quite took off until they were baked into the cameras of iOS and Android.
Recently, however, practices like contactless ordering from restaurant menus have seen QR codes become even more popular, and a clutch of companies has been trying to embed them in TV shows, too.
Flowcode is amongst them. In this video interview with Beet.TV, Flowcode chief revenue officer Jim Norton explains what is going on.
TV traction
"Brands and businesses want direct connections with their consumers and consumers want to have those direct connections directly with those brands and content providers," says Norton, a former ad sales exec with Tribune Broadcasting, Google and AOL.
"We've seen a lot of traction with TV networks, publishers out of home, and then even individual brands and businesses who are looking to make the connection from, you know, some sort of physical consumer experience to digital assets that they may have.
"QR codes have become ubiquitous. As the world has moved to this contactless environment, the opportunity for brands and businesses to create an enhanced consumer experience through the universal scan on both iOS and Android devices."
Use of QR codes inside TV ads or overlaid on TV shows is one way broadcasters hope to give advertisers a method with which viewers can easily open a mobile web link for messages seen on TV.
That is a practice that has been around for several years now. But Flowcode is working hard to introduce easy-to-create code images that don't expire, can have custom appearances and can be placed on a multitude of different destinations. It provides templates for a range of on-screen placements.
One of them is Good Morning America's "Deals And Steals" slot, which is using Flowcodes to let viewers see product listings for featured items.
"We work with a number of local networks and sports regional sports networks as well for individual games, whether that be NBA or, or MLB," Norton adds."
Future flows
Norton says Flowcodes now wants to position itself as more than just a QR code enabler – rather, a provider of attribution data to advertisers.
"We've already seen scans from over 130 countries, all 50 states," he says. "We're working with tens of thousands of creators on a regular basis.
"We will continue to focus on the scale and scope of different creators. That could be a church or an individual proprietor with a small business all the way up to the largest of fortune 100 companies and everything in between
"If a brand is doing a direct mail campaign or a print campaign, and they want to test an offer or a call to action or creative, we can create unique codes that the brand or business can then look back and say 'Okay, well, we know that 20%-off resonated at a much higher rate than free-shipping' and, therefore, giving that publisher or client and opportunity to optimise towards the better performing messaging."
By Robert Andrews on May 5, 2021 May 5, 2021 @robertandrews
Reported Remotely via BeetCam, UncategorizedTagged jim norton, Flowcodes
Share: QR Codes Are Powering TV E-Commerce, Flowcode's Jim Norton explains


This exciting, dramatic original work is inspired by the rhythm of the Latin words, "Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth," and features a driving, LV eighth-note accompaniment throughout. The slower, softer middle section uses a variation of the melody, accompanied by a flowing LV bass line. The music grows more powerful as it reaches the transition back to a restatement of the first section, then closes with a grand, glorious finale. Appropriate for Easter Sunday or for any festive service or concert.