text:
Stunted and distorted
The economy is too dependent on oil and gas, and too dominated by the state
Special reportJan 18th 2003 edition
IRAN'S economy grew by 4.8% in real terms in 2001-02, after 5.7% the year before and 3.6% the year before that. Not bad, you might think: GDP per person in 2002 was 20% up on ten years earlier. But for many Iranians, even the young, the comparison they make is with the 1970s, when GDP per person was 30% higher than it was last year. For anyone old enough to remember the days of the shah, that statistic means something. Stationary in an evening traffic jam behind the wheel of his Paykan, Bahman, who works by day for the power ministry, says: "Before the revolution, I used to go out for a beer in a café after work. Now, in order to make ends meet, I have to start another job driving this lousy taxi."
What has gone wrong with the economy? Not recent macroeconomic policy, which received a generally favourable report from the IMF last September, despite 17% inflation and a growing fiscal deficit. Whatever the improvement, though, it has not made up for the upheavals of the revolution, years of subsequent mismanagement born of dogma and incompetence, the long, destructive war with Iraq and the Khomeini-inspired population explosion. All have played their part, adding to two enduring problems: Iran's continuing dependence on oil and gas despite many efforts to diversify, and the dominance of the state throughout the economy. Not surprisingly, politics lies behind both.
Iran has nearly 10% of the world's known oil reserves and more gas than any country but Russia. It said that at the end of last year it was producing about 3.4m barrels a day, slightly more than its OPEC quota of 3.2m, but well below its claimed capacity of 4.1m. Under the latest five-year plan, it hopes to produce 5m b/d by 2005, but, at least according to the consultancy Atieh Bahar, it is unlikely to succeed. Even if it does, it will still be well behind the 6m b/d pumped in the mid-1970s.
Some oil lies beneath the Caspian Sea, but most is in the west, in Khuzestan province. There it is cheap to extract—$1-2 a barrel onshore—though the fields are old, little exploration has taken place for 30 years and the installations have suffered from war damage and lack of investment. About 250,000 b/d of production is lost each year through the exhaustion and depletion of old wells.
However big its reserves, Iran is not staking its future on oil, which has proved a fickle friend, bringing plenty when its price rises but poverty when it falls. The vulnerability has proven hard to shake off. The oil industry no longer accounts for the 30-40% of GDP that it did 30 years ago, but it still provides 10-20% and, more seriously, 40-50% of government revenue and 80% of export earnings. The country has prudently built up a fund to help cushion it against oil-price falls, but it must nonetheless dread any lasting price collapse.
Iran could get better value from its oil if it wasted less of it. Just as it squanders water (consumption per person is twice the world average), so it squanders energy. Iran uses three times as much energy per person as Malaysia, ten times as much as China and 16 times as much as India. No wonder: the stuff comes cheap. Petrol, most of which is imported, can be bought for six cents a litre, even though to buy it and transport it to the point of sale costs about 30 cents. In general, Iranian petrol prices are about 10% of world prices, and have been rising more slowly than inflation. The government fears a revolt if energy subsidies—which are variously put at 12-18% of GDP—were abolished, though a World Bank study last year said that, if transferred back to households in equal amounts, the incomes of the poorest people in towns would double and those of the poorest in the countryside would treble. As it is, some say Iran will become a net importer of oil (only petrol is imported at present) within a decade.
The government, however, is less eager to boost the production of oil than of gas. Gas must be injected into some oil wells to keep them in production. The pressure must be maintained in semi-depleted wells, partly to make extraction easier from the reservoirs, partly to prevent collapse, partly to reduce the amount of salt water that inevitably bubbles up along with the petroleum. There is also optimistic talk of using compressed natural gas in cars. But the main reason to make gas a priority is that, although Iran has South Pars, the biggest gas field in the world, it shares it with Qatar, and Qatar is pumping the stuff out as fast as it can.
Iran wants to be producing 700m cubic metres of gas a day by 2007, but at present manages only 300m. The reason is largely political. No one except those at the very top likes to take a decision. So approval for anything tends to be drawn out, and approval for something involving foreigners, as oil and gas production does, is likely to pit reformers against conservatives, making it even more delicate and controversial.
Difficult, but too big to ignore
The central awkwardness lies in the constitution, which forbids foreigners to own concessions, operate oil projects or enter into production-sharing agreements. After some puzzling, Iran found a way round this problem through a "buy-back" system, whereby foreign companies finance and develop a project, but are reimbursed in dollars, not oil. Foreign oil companies do not like the system, because it gives them no long-term stake. They also complain of the shortage of qualified Iranians and the expense of employing expatriates, at ten times the cost of a local. Nor do they like the hard bargaining, delays and indecision; they would much prefer either a play-by-the-book democracy or a my-word-is-law dictatorship. But they reckon Iran is too big a source of oil and gas to ignore. Almost all the big oil companies, even Exxon, have a presence in Iran, and TotalFinaElf, the only company to have gone through a complete buy-back cycle, seems well enough pleased with it.
For Iran, though, oil and gas are problematic. As it wastefully devours oil, for which the market is generally a seller's one, the country looks ever more nervously at its plentiful gas, which must be sold in a buyer's market. Western Europe would like another source of supply besides North Africa (limited life expectancy) and Russia (too fragile a basket to hold all the eggs). But Iran is some way from Europe and the stuff must be transported. Turkey said it would take 10 billion cubic metres of Iranian gas a year by pipeline, but its eyes seem to have been bigger than its stomach; supplies have been suspended. East Asia would be a fine market, but how would the gas be delivered? India, another fancied market, is much closer, but the idea of a pipeline through Pakistan produces only a mirthless laugh.
A better bazaar
So does salvation lie in those parts of the economy outside oil and gas? It could do, if Mr Khatami's reform proposals, embodied in the 2000-05 five-year plan, were ever allowed to bear fruit. Much of the plan is devoted to promoting the rule of law, non-oil exports, privatisation and deregulation. But the president has little to show for his efforts, because most of these reforms would strike at the power of the clerics, or of their commercial allies, the bazaaris.
About 60% of the economy is directly controlled by the state; another 10-20% is in the hands of five semi-governmental foundations
The big difficulty he confronts is that about 60% of the economy is directly controlled and centrally planned by the state (the constitution actually implies it should be much more) and another 10-20% is in the hands of five semi-governmental foundations. These bonyads were set up after the revolution chiefly to administer property confiscated by the state, supposedly for charitable purposes. They control much of the non-oil economy, exploiting their preferential access to domestic credit, foreign exchange, licences and contracts. They are accountable to no one except the supreme leader, and subject to no public scrutiny. The incoming head of the biggest, the Foundation for the Dispossessed and War Disabled, said in 1999 that he would get rid of 250 of its 350 mostly loss-making companies. But though their sale is central to Mr Khatami's plans to privatise 538 enterprises, few if any of the bonyads' companies have in fact been sold.
Progress on other fronts has been equally slow. Iran now has one genuinely private bank, Karafarin Bank, with three branches in Tehran, one in Isfahan and three others under construction. It claims to be more efficient than the state banks, and on lending rates beats them by 3-3½ basis points. Three other banks are nominally private, though in fact linked to state-owned enterprises or parastatals.
The car industry is stirring, too, and Iranian-made Peugeots, Kias and a home-grown model, the X7, are now joining the traffic jams. But locals speak scathingly of domestically produced cars; even makers with good reputations abroad apparently build sub-standard vehicles in Iran. Moreover, they sell at vastly inflated prices. An Iranian-made Kia Pride can be bought in Syria for less than half its price of roughly $8,000 in Iran and, being an export model, will be better built than the local version.
Rolling out the unwelcome mat
Iran claims to want foreigners. Last year, after much wrangling, it eventually passed a foreign-investment law to attract them. Most analysts say this is a step forward, but still leaves much to be desired. Foreigners dislike the thicket of taxes through which they must fight, the high prices they must pay (hotels routinely charge foreigners two or three times as much as locals), the fact that it is virtually impossible to lay off labour and the endless haggling and quibbling. Even so, some foreigners are doing business, lured by the size of Iran's market, its educated workforce and its potential as an export base for the Middle East.
There would be more of them if Iranians themselves were investing, but they are not. The various free-trade and special economic zones that have been set up have attracted some money, but so far the trade zones, at least, have been used more for importing than for exporting. Iran's exchange rate, set by a managed float, makes exporting difficult. On the other hand, the average tariff of nearly 30% should encourage production for the home market, but Iranians seem to prefer property or commerce to industry. Certainly, there is plenty of money, some local, some from émigré Iranians, to finance the building boom in northern Tehran. But the suspicion lingers that Iranians prefer the long-practised arts of the bazaar—importing, exporting, trading—to the dirty world of making things. Moreover, the system actually encourages illegal trading: smuggling out across leaky borders commodities, notably petrol, that are subsidised in Iran, and bringing back goods that can be legally made at home only by going through an endless round of bribes and permits.
Iranian businessmen's attitude is "wait and see" while a distorted economy labours on. The central bank, the main engine of economic reform, does its best. Last year it unified Iran's multiple foreign-exchange rates, and successfully launched a euro625m bond. Soon the World Bank may resume lending, despite American opposition. But the political deadlock means economic deadlock too. The clerics dare not abandon their control over the state enterprises and bonyads. They dare not antagonise their supporters in the bazaars with a programme of privatisation, deregulation and freer trade. Nor do they dare risk a mass uprising by reforming the subsidy system, which affects not just energy (at least $13 billion a year) but wheat, rice, cooking oil and sugar too (at least another $1.6 billion). Whatever the intention, the subsidy system helps the better-off much more than the poor. Iran cries out for a proper welfare system, directed at those most in need: 15% of the population subsist below the poverty line, and average living standards are no higher than 20 years ago. But no real change is in prospect.
Meanwhile, it may be asked, who will provide the jobs for the burgeoning number of young people? The oil, gas and petrochemicals sector employs only 120,000 workers, and is hardly going to mop up the job-seekers. The government has recently started to hand subsidies to employers to take on extra staff. But with job-creation lagging behind the increase in the labour force—1.8m people turn 18 each year—and registered unemployment of 16% (probably five points below the true figure), the number of people out of work can only rise from its current 3.2m, perhaps to an explosive 7m or 8m in the next few years.
God's rule, or man's? Iran
God's rule, or man's?
The surreal world of Iranian politics
The trials of everyday life
The curse of Westoxification
Stuck on the axis of evil?
A secular democracy-in-waiting
This article appeared in the Special report section of the print edition under the headline "Stunted and distorted"


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America's Past and Future Do Battle in an Unlikely Tech Incubator
Author: Issie LapowskyIssie Lapowsky
Youngstown, OH.
Washington Post/Getty Images
There are about 20 startups that call this tech incubator home. On any given afternoon, you can walk through these lime-green halls, past a life-sized Darth Vader cutout and a sign that reads, "Stop Tweeting Boring Shit" to see them at work. In one office, watch 3D printers whir, making knobs and propellers to build even more 3D printers. In another, strap on a PlayStation virtual reality headset and let it transport you to a haunted coal mine, designed by an upstart VR company.
If you're thirsty, pop on over to the pour-over coffee shop down the street, or grab a craft beer around the corner at Rust Belt Brewing. You might as well. You are in the Rust Belt after all.
What, you were expecting Palo Alto?
The Youngstown Business Incubator, located in Youngstown, Ohio, is a rare spot of technocentric optimism in the middle of a city whose reputation as a drab and dire former steel town is so well-known it's a cliché. Heck, Bruce Springsteen once wrote a song about it, so you know it's got hard times, blue collar cred. From the early 1900s and for the next three quarters of the century, steel sustained life here, until new pressures of trade and globalization ignited a blaze of mill closures that decimated the workforce and Youngstown's economic prospects for decades to come.
Jim Cossler, who was born and raised here and has run the incubator since 2001, isn't interested in retreading that history. "We get tired of reporters coming in and using us as the example of the dying Rust Belt city," Cossler tells me, a reporter who has come to Youngstown to use it as an example of a dying Rust Belt city.
Intentionally embracing new technologies, Cossler says, has helped bring downtown Youngstown—once a crime-addled strip of abandoned buildings—back from the brink.
The Future Business
If this message sounds familiar, it may be because this approach to urban revitalization hews pretty closely to the one Hillary Clinton has been proposing on the campaign trail this year.
"I want America to get back in the future business," she said during a speech at another tech incubator in Denver, Colorado this year. "I want more people in more places to feel that their future lies in STEM, in technology, in helping to create the jobs that we're going to attract." The former Secretary of State's innovation plan includes support for incubators in underserved areas and student loan forgiveness programs for entrepreneurs and startup employees. Clinton wants computer science taught in every school and tech skills training courses available to anyone who wants to learn.
Which is all well and good for the college kids and recent graduates who occupy YBI's halls. But what about the former steel workers and laborers who once powered this town and now view this inexorable march into the future as a threat to their usefulness in this economy? What about them?
It's little wonder that Youngstown, which has been a Democratic stronghold for decades thanks to its deep roots in union labor, is starting to look a lot like Trump country.
Even Cossler, who has become the face of this future in Youngstown, says that at the incubator at least, "There's nothing we can do for them."
And so it's little wonder that Youngstown, which has been a Democratic stronghold for decades thanks to its deep roots in union labor, is starting to look a lot like Trump country. Back in 2012, President Obama won this county—Mahoning—63 percent to 35 percent. But Trump has a different pitch for the people here than his free-trade Republican predecessors ever did. By cracking down on trade and globalization, the promise goes, the Trump administration will bring back factory jobs. In that version of the future, Trump has said, "It will be American steel that will fortify America's crumbling bridges. It will be American steel that sends our skyscrapers soaring into the sky."
Nevermind that Trump has used Chinese steel in his own skyscrapers. During the primaries, at least, this pitch worked: Mahoning County was one of the few places throughout all of Ohio where Trump defeated the state's own governor, John Kasich. Now, Ohio is poised to be one of the tightest swing states in the country, with Clinton and Trump virtually neck and neck in public polls. Though the two candidates are proposing entirely different plans for Mahoning County, officials at both campaigns say they like their chances there.
Youngstown Business Incubator sits both geographically and symbolically at the intersection of this tension—the tension between those who fear how fast the American economy is changing and those who fear what will happen if American workers fail to change along with it.
You Can Do It Here
Cossler will soon be 62-years-old, so he remembers clearly when the steel mills started to close in the late '70s. Growing up, there were two options: either go to college and secure your "ticket out of Youngstown" or go right from high school to the mills. Cossler chose college at Youngstown State University, and he was lucky he did. In 1977, not long after he graduated, Youngstown Tube and Steel, one of the area's biggest employers, closed, laying off 5,000 steelworkers in a single day—a day known now as Black Monday.
By the time Brittany Housel, the incubator's director of program management, was getting ready to leave high school in the late 2000s, she says, the options available to Youngstown's youth had been reduced to one. "For so long we were taught, 'Go to school, go to college, graduate, and leave Youngstown, because there's nothing here for you,'" she says.
But Housel, who graduated from Youngstown State a few years ago, says the incubator changed her mind about that. While she was still in school, she answered a Craigslist ad for an internship at one of YBI's startups, and she's been there ever since. "It's saying you can do it here," she says of the work going on at YBI. "It may not make an impact in our parents' or grandparents' lives, but it's changing our future."
The incubator itself has been around since the '90s. But it wasn't until 2001 that Cossler refocused its mission on tech. At the time, he says, people laughed at the idea of Youngstown as a tech hub. "You can't do that here," they'd say. But by 2007, YBI was doing it. That year, Turning Technologies, one of the incubator's first startups, became the fastest-growing, privately owned software company in the country, according to Inc. magazine's annual ranking.
He mines LinkedIn for Youngstown's 'lost nation,' Cossler's term for people who have been part of Youngstown's decades-long exodus.
Cossler wooed startups like Revere Data away from Silicon Valley with his pitch of $8-per-square-foot office space and a deep pool of engineering talent from nearby Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh and Case Western University in Cleveland. He mines LinkedIn for Youngstown's "lost nation," Cossler's term for people who have been part of Youngstown's decades-long exodus, and has found them in C-suite positions at tech giants like Cisco, HP, Salesforce, and Twitter. He uses these connections to hook YBI entrepreneurs up with potential clients and exit opportunities.
This work has earned Cossler friends in high places, like, for instance, The White House. In 2013, President Obama name-checked YBI in his State of the Union address. The year before, his administration picked Youngstown as the site of the first of 15 so-called National Additive Manufacturing Institutes, aimed at reviving manufacturing through 3D printing. Today, signs hang on street posts just outside YBI's doors, proclaiming Youngstown a top 10 city to start a business.
"If you're in technology in Youngstown, you want to be in YBI," says Don Hileman, 41, a former photographer who now runs Enyx Studios, a VR gaming company.
Hileman's father lost his job in the steel mills, and while he remembers it as a scary and painful time in his family's life, he says he knows there's no going backward. "I don't see the steel mills coming back," he says, as one of his employees toils away on a 3D model of a game character. "Technology, that's the future."
ISSIE LAPOWSKY/WIRED
What About Us?
Not all of the area's citizens have shared in YBI's success, of course. "I was born poor, I was raised poor, I'm poor now, and I'll probably die poor," Edward Heck, 54, of neighboring Salem, Ohio tells me on a sunny Friday in October.
I was born poor, I was raised poor, I'm poor now, and I'll probably die poor.
Edward Heck, 54
We're sitting inside the Ohio Republicans field office in Youngstown, as Heck palms a new Trump button he's just purchased. There's a table beside us, displaying T-shirts for sale that read, "Hillary for Prison," and "Politically incorrect and proud of it!" Along one wall of windows is a replica of Trump's would-be border wall. Make a donation, and you can add a brick (or more specifically, a wooden block painted to look like a brick) to the wall. In mid-October, the wall is almost completely full.
Out front, a sign rigged to the back of a pickup truck reads: "CROSS OVER VOTE FOR TRUMP GROUND ZERO YOUNGSTOWN OHIO."
It's a pitch to the many disaffected Democrats in this area, who are attracted to Trump's message. Heck and his daughter, Justine Farley, 30, are two of them.
Back in 2008, Heck bought a similar button with President Obama's face on it. He and Farley say they had high hopes for the young senator. But little changed for Heck, who is on medical leave from the plant where he manufactures car parts. Now, though they've never voted before and have considered themselves Democrats all their lives, both Heck and Farley are planning to pull the lever for Trump this November. They're not the only ones. Inside the field office, the majority of volunteers are so-called crossovers, too. Coni Kessler, 75, for one, has voted Democratic her entire life, even volunteering for local Democratic officials over the years. She voted for Obama here in 2008. "But what has he done in eight years?" she says. "There are no jobs. He changed nothing but his pants."
So Kessler is supporting Trump. She believes he is the only candidate who will bring back the steel mills that once employed her brother and brother-in-law. "We have a savior," Kessler says of Trump. "I know he'll do that. I know it in my heart."
Back at YBI, Cossler isn't picking sides in this race—not publicly at least. But he says, "We are on a mission to communicate to our community that the workforce is changing dramatically." Change is coming no matter what. The people of Youngstown might be wise to change with it.
#election 2016
#Hillary Clinton
#National Affairs

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
TEKVOX Partners with PCS Telecom on AV Solutions for New Library Learning Center at Texas Southern University
Houston-based HBCU Texas Southern University (TSU) has opened its marquis Library Learning Center featuring the latest in innovative and collaborative teaching and learning spaces. TEKVOX designed and supplied state-of-the-art AV technology for the library partnering with PCS Telecom, which handled the installation and integration. Earlier this year TEKVOX and PCS Telecom teamed on the upgrade of the Earl Carl Courtroom at TSU's Thurgood Marshall School of Law.
The $43 million Library Learning Center has a distinctive angular design by Moody Nolan Architects. The 137,000-square-foot structure will serve as an intellectual hub for the university and the community at large. A soaring five-story atrium is at the heart of the building; the entire structure encompasses classrooms, book stacks, computer labs, study areas, offices, meeting and boardrooms, and gallery space. It also houses TSU's faculty senate, Board of Regents IT department and alumni suite and serves as an honors college.
"With its exciting new concepts of space utilization the library required substantial innovation and adaptation in the delivery of its the audio and video infrastructure," says TEKVOX CEO Jim Reinhart. "All of our technology was highly customized with the goal of making it easy to use and engaging."
TEKVOX solutions are found throughout the library in a variety of different environments. The company provided matrix systems and multiple displays for The Collaboration Stair, a massive tiered open space in the center of the atrium designed for collaborative teacher-student experiences. TEKVOX also furnished switching control, audio and presentation systems for the workshop space built around the large Makerspace videowall.
The library's Gallery enables guests to mingle with art in an immersive open event space. TEKVOX outfitted it with multiple displays for interactive presentations and a high-end audio system. For a more intimate look at guest-selected art The Special Collections viewing area is supplied with large displays and intelligent display control and management from TEKVOX.
TEKVOX also equipped 37 network-managed collaborative study areas. The rooms feature identical intelligent display control and management systems, which allow the library to assign and manage spaces remotely.
In addition, TEKVOX supplied three traditional faculty conference rooms in the library as well as a new meeting room for TSU's Board of Regents. The network-controlled boardroom is outfitted with an array of technologies, including digitally-networked mic systems, multiple HD displays and a high-end audio system.
"Our RFQ had relatively few formal requirements other than to enable the library to do interesting things in many innovative spaces," notes Reinhart. "PCS Telecom was instrumental in maintaining daily interaction with the customer as we evolved and refined designs over time."
A Houston-based network cable design and installation company, PCS Telecom has deployed TEKVOX solutions to meet the needs of an array of sophisticated AV clients. "Once again it was a pleasure to act as technical partner with TEKVOX on an exciting project at TSU," says Mark Lopez, Operations Manager with PCS Telecom. "Every space in the Library Learning Center was challenging, but together with TEKVOX we were able to deliver easy-to-use, cutting-edge technology ranging from multilayered audio to video distribution."


text:
Q: How do I sort a Python list of strftime('%I:%M %p') in django templates? I have a python list of time values. I have the list in the following format. How would I sort the time values in ascending order?
timeSlot = [
    {'timeSlot': '1:15 PM'},
    {'timeSlot': '9:15 PM'},
    {'timeSlot': '9:15 AM'}
]

A: >>> from datetime import datetime
>>> timeSlot.sort(key=lambda d: datetime.strptime(d['timeSlot'], '%I:%M %p'))
>>> timeSlot
[{'timeSlot': '9:15 AM'}, {'timeSlot': '1:15 PM'}, {'timeSlot': '9:15 PM'}]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


So, you've got your pint of Guinness, plate piled high with Irish stew and soda bread, and all the other stereotypical things that are typically associated with St. Patrick's Day.
Why not complete your celebration of Ireland's national holiday by watching one of the many great films to hail from the Emerald Isle.
From heartwarming comedies and tearjerking dramas to uplifting musicals and powerful biopics, here's a look at nine of the best (along with one buzzworthy TV show) currently available to stream on Netflix.
Director Kirk Jones received a deserved BAFTA nomination for this feel-good comedy about a tiny village's attempts to collect the lottery winnings of the titular, and unfortunately deceased, recluse.
Literally baring all, the late David Kelly steals the show as the plucky pensioner leading the deception in one of Ireland's biggest box-office successes of the 1990s.
Recently adapted into an equally hilarious BBC Three sitcom, The Young Offenders is also based on a quest to collect a fortune that belongs to someone else.
In this case, the prize in question is a missing cocaine bale worth €7million, and the guys in pursuit are two bum-fluff-moustache-wearing teenage opportunists hoping to escape their humdrum lives.
The result is a raucously funny small-time crook tale that has been described as a cross between a Ken Loach movie and The Inbetweeners.
Directed by Martin McDonagh – the man behind one of this year's Oscar favourites, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – In Bruges brings together two Irish acting heavyweights for a darkly comic thriller.
Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson star as two hitmen sent to the Belgian capital to await a call from their ruthless London boss, where they immerse themselves in a surreal world of medieval architecture, prostitutes and racist dwarfs.
Colin Farrell also takes centre stage in this grown-up fairy tale that was unfairly ignored on its 2010 release.
The reformed hellraiser plays an alcoholic small-town fisherman who one day catches something more than he bargained for: a woman named Ondine who claims to be a mythic creature of the sea.
Duran Duran, Hall And Oates and The Cure are just some of the classic 80s pop acts who serve as inspiration for this inherently charming musical from John Carney (Once, Begin Again).
Based in 1980s Dublin, the Golden Globe-nominated Sign Street stars Ferdia Walsh-Peelo as a teenage outsider who forms a band in an attempt to win over the heart of his school crush.
Based on music journalist Neil McCormick's real-life experience of watching his high school rivals grow into the world's biggest band, Killing Bono is another Dublin-based rock'n'roll comedy set in the 1980s.
While it doesn't reach the same heights as Sing Street, it's still an entertaining enough caper which also features the late great Pete Postlethwaite's final on-screen performance.
On the opposite end of the spectrum comes this harrowing and provocative historical drama based on the Irish hunger strike of 1981 – perhaps best-known for its astonishing 17-minute-long continuous take of dialogue.
Directed by Steve McQueen, Hunger stars Michael Fassbender as Bobby Sands, an IRA activist who leads his fellow prison inmates on a strike in protest of their treatment by British prison guards.
This Netflix original also shines the spotlight on a piece of relatively recent Irish history – the 1961 UN peacekeeping mission in Congo.
Starring one of Ireland's hottest acting exports, Jamie Dornan, The Siege Of Jadotville is a powerful tribute which grips both on and off the battlefield.
One of last year's hidden gems, this charming indie comedy drama centres on a fiery-haired sensitive geek who develops an unlikely friendship with his school's rugby superstar.
Starring relative unknowns Nicholas Galitzine and Fionn O'Shea as the mismatched buddies, and Andrew Scott (Sherlock) as their inspirational English teacher, Handsome Devil tackles serious themes of homophobia, conformism and masculinity, but does so with a genuine warmth and breezy sense of humour.
But if you fancy something a little more binge-worthy this St Patrick's Day, then why not try one of Ireland's biggest small-screen successes of recent years, Can't Cope, Won't Cope.
This relatable twentysomething comedy drama stars Seana Kerslake and Nika McGuigan as two lifelong and over-reliant best friends whose alcohol-fuelled relationship gradually becomes more and more toxic.


For all those interested in the self defence art of Wing Chun, Master Tse, who is my Sigong (Grand Teacher), has started to publish weekly notes on the Wing Chun skill. These notes are short so easy to read and contain key information relevant to all Wing Chun practitioners and those generally interested in the subject of self defence. In particular, the notes examine how Wing Chun can be used by an ordinary, small and not particularly strong person to defeat a bigger and stronger opponent than them.


Thank you for taking the time to look at these photos and consider this wonderful vintage French beaded and embroidered evening purse, hand made in France.
This marvelous handbag, with it's abundance of intricacies, is a very dynamic creation, that surely took a talented, master French, embroiderer to accomplish.
Although I find no marking or label on this purse, there is no debating it's country of origin. I have been working with French evening bags long enough to know one when I see it and this is, without a doubt, a hand made purse, from France. All of it's attributes tell me it is from the 1930's era of exquisite and elegant glass beaded evening purses and possibly could be a bit older. The pattern on this particular purse is about as elaborate as I have seen. I really can't say that there is a distinct background color but there are a combination of white and off white micro beads that are interspersed among the pattern, creating their own design. Many of these beads seem to take on a pinkish tone as well. I call this purse the ruby embroidered handbag but, in fact, there is an abundance of colored embroidery to include pinks, teal green, blue, soft green, and yellow, all in various shades. The embroidery is ultra fine, almost like a micro embroidery.
The purse is crowned with a delightful frame, which continues to express how truly unusual this French purse is. Besides all of the tiny glass beads and faux pearls, there is a chain link sort of sculpted design on the frame that is fully enameled in ruby, green and pink, all coordinating perfectly in tone with the embroidery. I love it when I can say that I haven't seen this frame design before and it is amazingly lovely. The frame is in fabulous condition, shows beautifully. If you see some blue tones on the frame's clasp, that is my blue shirt reflecting off the metal. This frame is divine and without problems. It has a fold over clasp that closes this purse tightly with a firm snap. All aspects of the frame works as it should, opening and closing properly and the purse is well attached at all points.
I have professionally cleaned this purse for your future enjoyment. It will carry with a medium hand, not too soft, and will contain all of your essentials, as it has a roomy side and bottom gusset of about 2 inches. As you can see in the above photo, the pattern covers the entire exterior of this purse, simply stunning. The interior lining is original, it has 2 pockets and one holds a two sided make-up mirror. The lining suffers no serious discolors, wears or tears but it does show that this purse was loved and used. Nonetheless, this French evening bag was extremely well cared for, you will find it to be in excellent condition. Stuffed with tissue, this 1930's elaborately beaded and embroidered French evening purse measures 5 1/2 inches from top to bottom, 6 1/4 across the frame, 8 inches at it's widest and the twisted golden chain handle drops the purse by 6 inches. This very rare and stylish glass beaded and embroidered purse has all the charm and elegance that only a French purse can have. I know you'll enjoy adding this very sophisticated evening bag to your wardrobe accessories.


Design Equity Part 6: Overlooked Details- Clients obsess about materials and the way those will look in a space or on the exterior of a project, but many forget about the small, everyday elements (such as door handles and cabinet pulls) and how those can have an equally important role in the overall feel of a residence. We track down door handles from Australia because of the way the handle feels and looks. Cabinet pulls don't have to be large and in your face. Many times a simpler, cleaner looking pull will fit the space much better.
When choosing between similar properties, buyers and renters will cite an intangible "something" in their selection without realizing that something was the subtle, but superior details that brought a space together.


text:
info@heathermenzies.ca
On Thomas Berger and the Peel River Watershed
Environment, Indigenous Rights, Op-Ed
printed on rable.ca on February 24, 2014
Once again, Thomas Berger is at the centre of a case that questions whether only one understanding of development will rule, or whether justice demands negotiation among alternatives. In the 1970s Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry that he chaired, Berger balanced the realities and priorities of the petroleum industry against those of people still living in direct relations with the land. The details in this case, involving the Peel River watershed in the Yukon, are different. But the principles at stake are the same, and bear on all Canadians — even the world as a whole, facing environmental distress.
On the one hand, the Yukon government has issued its own 'regional land-use plan' for the 70,000 square mile expanse of the Peel River Watershed, proposing to leave a mere 29 per cent of the land protected from development, versus the 80 per cent originally recommended by the Peel Watershed Planning Commission established through a 1993 constitutional agreement with Yukon's First Nations, the Umbrella Final Agreement.
The government is side-stepping this agreement, claiming a 'majority rule' right to do so, to decide what's in the best interests of the Yukon — in this instance, more rather than less mining and related development. On the other hand, the plaintiffs in this case, filed against the Yukon government in late January, argue that the territorial government is only one party governing development and determining what that should entail; the Yukon First Nations are equally involved. And this is key. The 1993 agreement created a process for development planning based essentially on partnership between First Nations and the government; a process that goes far beyond the common law duty to consult.
What's critical is the recognized claim of a people such as the Yukon First Nations to speak from their own realities, and for these to be recognized as legitimate. When I heard Eddie Taylor, chief of the Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nation saying that "to us that land is sacred … as our elders say, the Peel is our church, our university and our breadbasket," I recognized his words as speaking outside the box of what development means to most people. I recognized them too as akin to a language that my pre-modern ancestors in the Highlands of Scotland spoke when they lived in direct relations with the land in self-governing commons called fermtouns or townships, setting limits, or stints, on the number of sheep and cows each family could send to the common pasture, to prevent over-grazing.
The culture of the commons spoke through concepts like duthchas, which means heritage generally and also 'a heritage of the soil,' according to one source, almost even a covenant with Creation, according to another. It was an inherited set of rights plus responsibilities toward both one's people and the land they co-inhabited. In the commons-based economy, development was not first about planning projects, but developing relations out of which appropriate plans might emerge.
Thus, when Chief Eddie Taylor clarified that he wasn't against all mining in the Klondike region, I could imagine where his thinking was going: toward mining paced and scaled within the carrying capacity of the environment; mining practices informed by right relations and the four constitutional principles that native philosopher Richard Atleo outlined in his book Principles of Tsawalk: An Indigenous Approach to Global Crisis, recognition, consent, respect — including "sacred respect," holding all Creation in reverence — and continuity.
In his 1945 classic The Great Transformation, Karl Polanyi chronicled the shift from the community- and commons-centred economy to the modern market-centred economy, from an economy regulated by the social relations of community and ecological relations with the land to one regulated by the logic of the market. The result of this transformation, he warned, "must disjoint man's relationships and threaten his natural habitat with annihilation."
The transformation is not entirely complete here in Canada, which is why this case is so important. It insists on holding the door open to another reality, another approach to 'development' and the constitutional authority of Yukon First Nations to articulate it.
The Yukon government has until March 4 to respond to the case with a statement of defence. Here's hoping they respond with a willingness to listen, to hear the wisdom of other perspectives on what development involves.
Today I Stand upon the Shore
The Treaties | Ottawa negotiated in bad faith
Honouring the Peace
Why Hassan Diab's ongoing incarceration in France is Canada's 'Dreyfus Affair'
Land and Power
We have a historic opportunity to consider alternatives to Site C
Enter Mourning (13)
Indigenous Rights (13)
No time (2)
Peace Activism (3)
Reconnection (17)
Books By Heather Menzies
Reclaiming the Commons
Enter Mourning
Whose Brave New World?
By the Labour of Their Hands: The Story of Ontario Cheddar Cheese
Fastforward and Out of Control: How Technology is Changing your Life
Women and the Chip
Canada in the Global Village
Computers on the Job
The Railroad's Not Enough: Canada Now
website by OceanColleen | © Heather Menzies 2019 | Portraits of Heather by Bill Pope


text:
Statement of Strategic Intent
La Trobe University > Department of Engineering > About us > Statement of Strategic Intent
School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Statement of Strategic Intent
The Department of Engineering is part of the School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences.
The School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences' Statement of Strategic Intent aligns with La Trobe University's Strategic Plan 2020-2030.
It contextualises our part in achieving the University's mission: To be known for making a positive difference in the lives of our students, partners and communities.
The School proudly acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands at all sites where its activities are located, recognises the ongoing connection to Country of local communities, and values the contributions Indigenous people make to its activities.
Harnessing our state-wide footprint to become a STEM leader in education and applied research
The School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences offers high quality teaching and research programs to advance knowledge in engineering, computing, mathematical and physical sciences.
Our goal is to strengthen our state-wide footprint – through partnerships in metropolitan and regional communities – to become a STEM leader in education and applied research in Victoria.
We will develop a course portfolio that is future-focused and innovative, and meets the needs of students, industries and communities.
We will offer students outstanding placement opportunities and exposure to industry projects through our Work Integrated Learning program. We will encourage our students and staff to engage locally, nationally and internationally.
We will collaborate with partners to ensure our offerings equip graduates with the skills and capabilities necessary for long-term career success. We will achieve sector-leading graduate employability and supply industry with a skilled workforce pipeline.
We will make innovative, game-changing discoveries and solve interdisciplinary problems that will transform future societies.
And, we will optimise our research capability in key areas of strength – including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data science, smart sensor technology, mathematical modelling, advanced manufacturing, X-ray science and condensed matter physics – to develop solutions for healthcare, agriculture, transport, logistics, infrastructure and sustainable environments.
Our research aligns with La Trobe's five research themes: Sustainable food and agriculture; resilient environments and communities; healthy people, families and communities; understanding and preventing disease; and social change and equity.
We will produce graduates and research outcomes that make a valuable contribution to technologically-focused societies and industries.
We will build capability and continuous improvement in teaching, research and partnerships to make us a leading school in engineering, computing and mathematical sciences.
Equity and access
We will offer a range of pathways into qualifications that meet industry needs, prepare our students for successful careers, and help to redress the gender imbalance in STEM disciplines.
We will embody La Trobe's cultural values – accountable, connected, innovative and caring – in the way we work with each other, our students and our communities, celebrating our diversity and inclusiveness with respect and fair-mindedness.
We will build strong and lasting partnerships with our students, alumni, key stakeholders and communities in Victoria, as well as nationally and internationally.
The School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences is comprised of a strong team of academics and professional staff who work together to support our core missions of teaching and research.
We will continue to champion a workplace that is safe, inclusive, and supports health and wellbeing. The University's cultural qualities will underpin everything we do and everything we strive to be.
We will promote equity, diversity and inclusion to make us an employer of choice for academic and professional staff. We will redress the gender imbalance in STEM disciplines.
We will collaborate, share ideas, and drive new innovations that further strengthen our work and impact. We will create a culture of shared practice that encourages best practice.
We will support the University's workforce strategies. We will achieve our professional goals, focus our organisational capability, and provide flexibility in the way we work and teach in a post-COVID world.
We will recognise and celebrate the achievements of our staff and students, co-partnering with them to create a culture of excellence and inclusiveness. We will engage so that our stakeholders are informed, and staff and students have professional visibility within and external to the School.
We will know we have succeeded in our goal to develop a positive culture when we continue to improve the Employee Experience as measured by a La Trobe Employee Experience Survey.
The School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences provides students with opportunities to engage with industry through Work Integrated Learning, industry placements and industry technology certifications.
We will continue to develop education programs that are innovative and relevant. Our students will learn from a diverse range of academic and industry leaders to ensure they build expertise and capacity in the high demand areas of engineering, computing and mathematical sciences.
We will develop programs to support students from different backgrounds, create majors and specialisations in our courses that reflect current practice and industry demand, establish joint and double degree programs in multi-disciplinary areas, and initiate shorter programs for upskilling and reskilling graduate students and professionals.
We will create a student experience that encourages our students to thrive, learn, develop confidence, and question their own ways of thinking. We will improve our facilities to ensure we offer students an educational experience that embraces contemporary innovations.
We will support the retention and career development of female students to redress the gender imbalance in STEM disciplines.
We will establish an Engineering Hub in Bendigo to lead our teaching programs across Victoria, where our academic staff, students, graduates and industry partners will work together to grow the future regional workforce. We will adopt advanced hybrid delivery approaches suited to students in the regional context.
We will welcome international students into our courses, supporting their journey to be globally employable graduates.
We will strive to ensure that our graduates are industry ready. We will offer students outstanding placement opportunities and exposure to industry projects. We will work closely with partners to ensure that placements are relevant and of the highest quality.
Our students will receive a comprehensive education in professional environments and receive the theoretical and translational knowledge needed to succeed in their chosen careers.
We will know we have succeeded in our goal to ensure quality of teaching when we achieve top 10 nationally in our discipline areas in the Student Experience Survey for Teaching Quality and Overall Experience.
The School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences is comprised of a strong team of researchers who are working on translational, and transformative, outcomes in engineering, computer science and mathematical sciences.
Our research portfolio will focus on areas of strength – including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data science, mathematical modelling and advanced manufacturing – to enhance our performance in key fields and allow us to be focused, yet multi-disciplinary.
Our prestigious research centres, the Centre for Technology Infusion, the Cisco Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things, and the Cybersecurity Research Hub, will continue to lead major industry and government research projects and partnerships.
We will support the retention and career development of female academics to redress the gender imbalance in STEM disciplines.
We will become a one-stop-shop in digital innovation and technology, offering world-class computing and technological solutions that make a difference to the communities we serve, in Melbourne's North and regional Victoria, nationally and internationally.
We will enhance our capacity to support entrepreneurship, innovation and digital transformation for the benefit of our staff, students, industry partners and the greater community.
We will work cooperatively with our partners to understand their needs, bring together the right capabilities, manage projects efficiently, act with integrity, and turn research results into translational outcomes.
We will create an outstanding research environment, where academics will have access to the world-class facilities and infrastructure needed to make world-class discoveries.
We will use our state-of-the-art facilities – in particular, La Trobe's Engineering and Technology building in Bendigo – to optimise collaboration with Victorian industry, to push the frontiers of applied knowledge and innovation, and pave the way for further economic growth.
This interface between research, industry and learning will enhance the graduate experience, supporting students to develop their collaborations, increase their employability and make a difference to their future careers.
We will know we have succeeded in our goals to create impact and achieve recognition when we attain research Excellence in Research for Australia ranking 'above world standard' or 'well above world standard' in all our discipline areas.
Site authorised by: Provost
Email: provost@latrobe.edu.au


CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Commission on Election Central Office will decide on the sanctions of the candidates, who have been found violating the election rule on campaign materials.
Ronnie Amistoso, records section-in-charge of the Provincial Commission on Election Office, said they would submit the inventory of confiscated campaign materials during Monday's province-wide implementation of Oplan Baklas to the Comelec Central Office in Manila.
Amistoso said that aside from submitting the inventory of confiscated campaign materials to the head office, they would also provide the names of those candidates, who violated the campaign materials rule, and the Central office would decide on the proper sanctions to impose on those candidates.
Under the Omnibus Election Code and Fair Elections Act, acceptable campaign materials should not exceed 2 feet by three feet in size and should only be posted in areas designated by the local Comelec Offices as common poster areas.
In Cebu City North District on Monday afternoon, Comelec personnel accompanied by the city police patrolled the roads near their office in Barangay San Roque, passing through Pahina Central, Sambag I, Kalubihan then leading to Hipodromo, Mabolo and Luz.
"Dili man gyud nato madala og tantang og usa ra ka adlaw sa kadtong obvious nga illegally posted and oversized campaign materials ang ato gyud nga gitangtang," Omar Sharif Mamalinta, Comelec election assistant, told CDN Digital.
Mamalinta said that for their part, they have already sent communications to candidates urging them to voluntarily take down their illegally posted materials last Friday, April 5.


text:
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Quarmby, Katharine. (2014). How the Law Is Standing Up to Cyberstalking. Newsweek, 13 August 2014.
Rackley, Erika and McGlynn, Clare. (2014). The law must focus on consent when it tackles revenge porn. The Conversation. 23 July 2014.
Rainie, Lee. (2008). Online child safety and literacy. Pew Research Centre.
Rawlinson, Kevin. (2018) Labour MP calls for end to online anonymity after 600 rape threats. The Guardian (UK) 12 June 2018.
New York State Office of the Attorney General. (2012). A.G. Schneiderman's "Operation: Game Over" Purges Thousands of Sex Offenders From Online Video Game Networks.
Reuters. (2017). Italy passes law to fight cyber bullying. 17 May 2017.
Reuters. (2013). Two Swedish teens convicted for Instagram insults.
Reyns, Bradford, Billy Henson and Bonnie S. Fisher. (2011). Being pursued online. Applying Cyberlifestyle-Routine activities theory to cyberstalking victimization. Criminal Justice and Behavior, Vol. 38(11), 1149-1169.
Ringrose, Jessica and Renold, E. (2012). Slut-shaming, girl power and 'sexualisation': Thinking through the politics of the international SlutWalks with teen girls. Gender and Education, Vol.24(3), 333-343.
Secretariat of the Lanzarote Committee. (2018). Information Note: The Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (20 June 2018).
Slonje, Robert, Peter K. Smith, and Ann Frisen. (2012). Processes of cyberbullying, and feelings of remorse by bullies: A pilot study. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, Vol. 9(2), 84.
Smith, Peter K. (2012). Cyberbullying and cyber aggression. In S.R. Jimerson, A.B. Nickerson, M.J. Mayer, and M.J. Furlong. (eds). Handbook of school violence and school safety: International research and practice (pp. 93-103). Routledge.
Smith, Peter K., Georges Steffen, and Ruth Sittichai. (2013). The nature of cyberbullying and an international network. In Peter K. Smith and Georges Steffen, eds. Severability Through The New Media: Findings From An International Network. Psychology Press.
Smith, Peter K., Jess Mahdavi, Manuel Carvalho, Sonja Fisher, Shanette Russell and Neil Tippett. (2008). Cyberbullying: the nature and impact in secondary school pupils. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Vol. 49(4), 376-385.
Soukup, Charles. (1999). The gendered interactional patterns of computer-mediated chatrooms: A critical ethnographic study. Information Society, Vol. 15(3), 169-176.
Southworth, Cindy and Tucker, Sarah. (2007) Technology, stalking and domestic violence victims. Mississippi Law Journal, Vol. 76, 667-676.
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Terre des Hommes. (n.d.). Sweetie: How to Stop Webcam Child Sex Tourism.
Terre des Hommes. (2018). The Dark Side of the Internet for Children: Online Child Sexual Exploitation in Kenya - A Rapid Assessment Report.
Thorn. (n.d.). Sharing hashes across industry.
UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. (1999). Sexually Abused and Sexually Exploited Children and Youth in South Asia: A Qualitative Assessment of their Health Needs and Available Services.
UNODC. (2015). Study on the Effects of New Information Technologies on the Abuse and Exploitation of Children.
U.S. Department of Justice. (2012). Third Dreamboard Member Sentenced to Life in Prison for Participating in International Criminal network Organized to Sexually Exploit Children.
Vakhitova, Zarina I. and Danielle M. Reynald. (2014). Australian Internet Users and Guardianship against Cyber Abuse. International Journal of Cyber Criminology, Vol. 8(2), 156-171.
Varrella, Andrea. (2017). Live Streaming of Child Sexual Abuse: Background, Legislative Frameworks and the Experience of the Philippines. ECPAT International Journal, Online Child Sexual Exploitation: An Analysis of Emerging and Selected Issues, April (12), 47-58.
Walker, Shelley, Sanci, Lena and Temple-Smith Meredith. (2013). Sexting: Young women's and men's views on its nature and origins. Journal of Adolescent Health, Vol. 52, 697-701.
Webster, Stephen, Julia Davidson and Antonia Bifulco, Eds. Online offending behavior and child victimization: New findings and policy. Palgrave-Macmillan.
Williford, Anne, Lawrence Christian Elledge, Aaron J. Boulton, Kathryn J. DePaolis, Todd D. Little, and Christina Salmivalli. (2013). Effects of the KiVa Antibullying Program on Cyberbullying and Cybervictimization Frequency Among Finnish Youth. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, Vol. 42(6), 820-833.
Winters, Georgia M. and Elizabeth L. Jeglic. (2017). Stages of Sexual Grooming: Recognizing Potentially Predatory Behaviors of Child Molesters. Deviant Behavior, Vol. 38(6), 724-733.
Working to Halt Online Abuse. (2012). Online Harassment/Cyberstalking Statistics: Cumulative statistics for the years 2000-2011.
Alkaya v Turkey, ECHR (App no. 42811/06), 9 October 2012.
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Kurier Zeitungsverlag und Druckerei GmbH v. Austria, ECHR 49 (App no. 3401/07) [2012].
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Saaristo and Others v. Finland, ECHR (App no. 184/06), 12 October 2010.
The Queen vs. Ian Watkins and others, Case No: 62CA1726112 (18 December 2013).
National and international legislation
African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child of 1990.
Australia (New South Wales). Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act of 2007.
Australia (South Australia). Criminal Law Consolidation Act of 1935.
Australia (Victoria). Crimes Act of 1958.
Australia. Criminal Code 1995.
Brazil. Criminal Code of 1940.
Canada. Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act of 2014.
Council of Europe. Convention on the Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of 2007.
European Union. Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, which replaced Council Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA of 22 December 2003 on Combating the Sexual Exploitation of Children, including Child Pornography.
Israel. Prevention of Sexual Harassment Law, 5758-1998.
Italy. Law No. 71 of 29 May 2017.
Japan. Act on Prevention of Victimization, Resulting from Provision of Private Sexual Image, Law No. 126 of 2014.
Japan. Act on the Promotion of Preventive Measures for Bullying of 2013.
New Zealand. Harmful Digital Communications Act of 2015.
Nigeria. Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act of 2015.
Pakistan. Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance of 2007.
Philippines. Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009.
Philippines. Anti-Photo and Video Voyeurism Act of 2009.
Singapore. Protection from Harassment Act of 2014.
Sweden. Education Act of 2010 (Law 2010: 800 Education Act).
Uganda. Computer Misuse Act of 2011.
United Kingdom (England and Wales). Criminal Justice and Court Act of 2015.
United Kingdom (Northern Ireland). Justice Act of 2016.
United Kingdom (Scotland). Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm Act of 2016.
United Kingdom. Children's Act of 1989.
United Kingdom. Malicious Communications Act of 1988.
United Kingdom. Protection from Harassment Act of 1997.
United Nations. Convention on the Rights of a Child of 1989.
United Nations. Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography of 2000.
United States. Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.
Next: Exercises


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You can read part one of this installment HERE.
Then, one day, my friend approached me and said, "Ann, I really feel you should homeschool your daughter. She is not getting her needs met. Do it with me. My son needs the companionship and I can help you do it." I told her I would think about it, but didn't think I would. It lay heavy on my mind, though. She promised to show me everything she was using, and since we think a lot alike in our approaches to teaching, I felt I could trust her decisions. In addition, she was finishing up her masters in gifted education, so she had researched the needs of gifted children extensively. She even extended the offer to do it all, if I would cover art (she is not crafty) and help. She just wiped out my excuse for not homeschooling, not to mention that I love doing arts and crafts!
But I still wasn't sure. I prayed. I talked to my husband. I talked to my life-time best friend, who proceeded to tell me that I needed to homeschool. There were a lot of advantages. I have elderly parents. Homeschooling would allow me to visit anytime I wanted or needed. I also still could not see my daughter getting on a school bus at 7am and not returning till 4. I kept thinking, "What would she really learn in that time period? And what kind of family life would that leave us?" I recalled the day I called her off "healthy" from kindergarten just to have her home with me and her sister. We painted that day using about six different techniques. At the end of the day, I realized she learned way more with me that day than she ever would in a day of kindergarten.
Then, I thought about socialization. I remembered things about my first grade. Dear Sr. Melinda, so kind and understanding. The excitement of class party days. Field days at the end of the year. Running around on the playground. Class programs. Gym class. Could I take those memories away from my daughter?
Then I also remembered being bored in school. I remember finishing up the readings in class eons before the other kids and feeling maybe I didn't read everything right and would reread it and reread it and reread it till finally, the other kids were done. And still, I feared I didn't read the right page, etc. And I was no where near as advanced as my daughter.
I prayed some more. Talked to my husband some more. Then we agreed to homeschool. We could always change our minds, we said, "What do we have to lose?" I notified the private school we had her registered at that she would not be attending, and added, "But, if we change our minds about homeschooling, we will definitely send her to your school." The secretary mentioned that depending upon how many students enrolled, there might only be two classes and they would be full and I would be put on a wait list. I hung up, feeling like I was just thrown overboard without a life jacket. Should I call them right back and say, "Wait, I am on my way to bring the check?" I didn't. That night, I had a few sleepless hours. Was I doing the wrong thing? What about all those fun school memories I had? She was going to miss out on all those.
But, we had chosen our course. There was no going back. Well, technically, we could send her to the public school or another private school if we changed our minds, but that wasn't in the plan.
Then, a kind friend said to me something that her husband told her once. "The memories she will have will be different from yours, but they will be good memories, too." I started thinking about it. What if my mother had homeschooled me? How would I have liked that? I reflected back on days that my mother and sisters baked cookies or made holiday crafts together. Of course, the activities were fun activities, but the most important thing that I remember about it was the feeling of togetherness. I decided that homeschool would have been nice, had my mother the inclination to do so. I know my daughter will be taught with love.
After making this monumental decision, my thinking about homeschooling has even evolved more. When I heard the school bus roll down the street at 7am the first day of school and we got up, had a leisurely, healthy breakfast without the stress of rushing around, I knew we made the right decision. My daughter has the rest of her life to rush around to be somewhere. We get to sleep in and spend time enjoying each other before our school day begins. She doesn't come home at 4pm, completely exhausted (and hence, irritable) only to have an early bedtime and only get to spend a short time with her father. She gets playtime with her sister, strengthening their bond. I think her younger sister would be totally heartbroken if her older sister was at school all day. School, I decided, would have pulled our family apart. Family, I have always believed, is the most important thing in this world.


This should be obvious, but many meetings are let down by people simply not knowing the formalities. Make the venue and times clear, perhaps even following them up with a reminder as the meeting approaches.
Always confirm with the venue that you have what you need, whether it's a suitable number of tables and chairs, or the right audiovisual equipment. It's a disastrous start to the meeting if someone has to stand up.
Build a written idea of where you want the meeting to go beforehand. This will help to ensure that you start and finish promptly and have covered everything you intend to.
Someone at every meeting turns up without a pen! Spare their embarrassment and maximise your time by having one ready for them.
As meeting attendees relax and conversation flows, it's easy to get sidetracked, so be sure to remain focused. Your agenda should help you here.
How many meetings have you been to where what you discussed has gone out of your mind the minute you left the room? If you don't want to do it yourself, delegate the task of minute-taking to a colleague.
Ask for feedback once the meeting finishes. It can only help make your meetings even more efficient in the future. With careful preparation, an offsite meeting is a powerful tool that can contribute to the success of your business. Why not speak to Hallmark Hotels for a venue that really means business?
Did you enjoy reading all about how to organise the most efficient business meeting? If you did you will definitely enjoy reading How to have a successful business meeting!


You have nine mouths to feed and an income of only $50 a month. There are days without food. Days spent worrying if basic living expenses will be covered. This was the reality for Teresa Alberto João Danasio and her husband, Jemute Manuel Chaona. With three children and several relatives to care for, this family in Mozambique was severely limited by insufficient income.
A dairy cow named Teresinha changed all of that. Yes, a single cow.
Through a USDA-funded Food for Progress program implemented by Land O'Lakes International Development, the couple received a Jersey heifer. With the profit made from selling milk, they've since tripled their income. But before they saw results, there was training, a learning curve, laughter and even some initial skepticism.
Teresa had the idea of reaching out to Food for Progress. With projects taking place in developing countries around the world, the program has two principal objectives: to improve agricultural productivity and to expand trade of agricultural products.
In Mozambique, 4,050 smallholder farmers, those who typically farm on less than an acre of land and live in geographically dispersed area, have received training on animal and plant health, improved farming methods and more. With these new skills in place, the program has then linked farmers to a commercial dairy industry in Maputo, Sofala and Manica provinces.
Jemute, however, wasn't immediately sold on the idea. He'd heard of the program, but knew letting cows graze freely was discouraged. And feed for even one cow is a significant financial commitment.
But the couple's biggest concern was what it would mean for Teresa's education. At the time, Teresa was busily trying to complete 10th grade and did not want to drop out, especially considering her children weren't far behind her in their studies.
After a little convincing from Teresa, the couple decided to give it a try and see what might happen. And so, the two of them began tag-teaming to make this new opportunity work.
Since successfully completing Land O'Lakes' training was a prerequisite to actually receiving a cow, Teresa was skeptical her efforts would come to fruition. But within a few weeks of passing her course, life began to change.
While they cannot say the income from Teresinha's milk covers all their needs, the couple says it has significantly minimized their financial burden. They are easily able to pay for their children's school uniforms, and school lunches, so that they can concentrate better while studying. They are also setting a portion of their earnings aside to pay for the feed that Teresinha needs to remain healthy and productive. And Teresa imagines things will only get better.


text:
Bob Witz
Fluidity of Thought
Bob Witz, "Apollon-Musagete" 2011. Bronze, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist. Photo by Brian Buckley.
That Bob Witz's 2011 piece, called Apollon-Musagète (or "Apollo, conducteur of the Muses"), is a reference to Igor Stravinsky's 1928 ballet is made clear by the fact that the two pieces share a name. Based on an episode from Greek mythology in which three muses—Terpsichore (the muse of dance), Calliope (poetry), and Polyhymnia (mime)—visit Apollo, the Greek god of music, Stravinsky's neo-classical piece played with the notion of remodeling, establishing new conventions regarding mythological depiction by placing a classical subject in a contemporary situation. It would not be wrong to say that Witz does something quite similar, by taking an established art form and changing its meaning by converting both its medium and style. Apollon-Musagète (2011) plays with the very concept of a ballet blanc in which all performers were dressed in white (as in the original Apollon-Musagète) and upends it by casting the movement as an all-black sculpture. His use of disposable, rectangular liquid-containers, such as olive oil jugs and milk cartons, to compose a flow of shapes seems to suggest that the work is a take on the idea of fluidity itself: both of movement and between mediums across time. Apollon-Musagète (2011) is therefore indicative of a certain flexibility of thought visible across Witz's entire oeuvre. For, as Jed Lipinski put it in "A visit with Bob Witz, quite possibly New York City's only remaining outsider artist," if one sees a survey of the artist's work, one would think it "resemble(s) less the work of a single man than a collective of slightly disturbed, post-war folk artists from the Deep South." 1 This very quality is what links Witz and Stravinsky, since both men have been known (and often criticized) for their diversity of artistic style. Each has dealt with a rise and fall of popularity in his time. In his 1949 publication, Philosophy of Modern Music, Theodor W. Adorno criticized Stravinsky on his compositions, pointing out that the latter's artistic sensibility shared more with the time-space construct of painting than the time-duration framework necessary for the composition of a successful piece of music. This however, did not stop Stravinsky from making a name for himself in Russia and the United States. Witz, after the initial fame from the publication of his half-joking, often-critical letters to Artforum in 1973, went underground; dabbling in numerous projects from publishing magazines to working on group shows and sketching people at a McDonald's, but rarely surfacing long enough to engage with society. However, his vast array of artistic experimentation has made him critically important in a culture that has, by and large, stopped promoting risk-taking. According to Ron Kolm, friend and co-member of The Unbearables with Witz, "Bob has never tried to endear himself to the cultural establishment of New York City […] He doesn't kowtow or network. But in a world where a lot of people are simulations of the real thing, Bob is the real thing. He's a real artist." 2
Jed Lipinski, "A visit with Bob Witz, quite possibly New York City's only remaining outsider artist," Capital New York, March, 2012.
Mixed Media, Music, Myth, Sculpture, Third Floor


We anticipate many engaging and lively discussions will take place over the next two days. The Roundtable lunch session will offer an early opportunity to share your experiences, insights, questions, and concerns with others on a topic of interest. Stop by the Registration Table to find the location of each roundtable and pick up an information sheet with the name of the facilitator and some questions that could be addressed during the discussion (don't hesitate to come up with your own!). The number of participants at each roundtable is limited, so if your first choice is full, feel free to participate in another roundtable of interest.
Are we ready for companion robots?