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Home > Persecution > Accounts of Persecution
Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners at the Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp in Changchun City - Part 2
(Clearwisdom.net)
Part 1: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2005/10/26/66230.html
II. Physical torture
The policy of Jiang and his cohorts to "destroy'' Falun Gong practitioners physically," is ruthlessly carried out at Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp. Over the past few years, the guards here have used insidious and perverted methods to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. Almost all the time, they order inmates, mostly thug-types, to torture the practitioners. I used to be shocked by movies about the Japanese army invading Chinese villages. We all felt that the Japanese soldiers were cold-blooded. I also used to be horrified by stories about Nazi Germans massacring innocent people; yet, at the Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp I experienced an evil perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party which I believe is unprecedented in history. In fact the human language falls short of being able to convey the true nature of the CCP, a political party that uses lies, wickedness and violence to commit crimes.
Guards personally torture practitioners
The guards at the labor camp commit crimes without fear of legal repercussions. They curse and beat people at will. They often hit and kick Falun Gong practitioners, shock them with electric batons, hit them with wooden sticks and whip them with triangular belts or wooden boards. They hit people using anything within reach.
Every practitioner that entered the room as a healthy person needed help walking out. After the beatings, the guards locked some practitioners into water dungeons and poured cold water on them until the practitioners curled into balls, suffering from severe hypothermia. The sound of the torture tools hitting the practitioners' bodies, the demonic yelling of the guards and the tragic screaming of the practitioners put together is heart wrenching to hear. When the guards get tired, they order the inmates to beat the practitioners. Some inmates, upon seeing the scene, were afraid of killing the practitioners and dared not torture them further. Even those types of inmates with tattoos on their bodies and tough looks on their faces have said, "I've never seen anything like this; this is scaring me to death."
In late March 2002, several guards wanted to make an example of two practitioners. They called the two practitioners to the instruction room and tried to force them to write "breakaway announcements" to renounce Falun Gong. The practitioners refused. The guards slapped their faces, hit them with wooden sticks, shocked them with electric batons and whipped them with leather belts and triangular belts. Each practitioner was attacked by five guards and shocked by five electric batons. They didn't stop until the practitioners were covered with injuries and could hardly walk. In November 2003, guard Zou, who had been transferred over from Division 5, beat practitioner Fu Yan until he could not walk.
Instigating Inmates to Commit Violence
The guards promised the inmates sentence reductions to encourage them to torture Falun Gong practitioners. They told the inmates to do "whatever it takes" to make the practitioners give up their beliefs. The inmates beat the practitioners nearly to death; some practitioners were crippled from the torture, and some sustained internal injuries. Practitioner Li Ou from Division 5 lost consciousness after being savagely beaten in the spring of 2002, and his legs were disabled from the torture. The guards prompted the inmates to use spade handles to hit the practitioners. When practitioner Yang Shu was whacked with a spade handle he sustained a brain concussion and could not eat for many days. The wooden board on the bed was also used as a torture tool. Inmate Zhao Changle from Division 3 said, "If you validate Dafa and follow Truth-Compassion-Tolerance, I'll punish you by making you sit on a small stool." If the inmates were in a good mood, they made the practitioners sit in bed; if they were in a bad mood, they made the practitioners sit on a small stool.
The division head didn't feel ashamed when he said to the practitioners, "Soon I'll have the inmates beat you to death!" Some inmates screamed, "I hit you, so I'm a bad person and you are a good person; so a bad person is hitting a good person. Now look if the government will back me!" Some inmates declared, "I'm making your life a living hell."
The guards ordered two inmates to monitor each practitioner, including when the practitioner eats, sleeps, goes to the restroom and takes a shower. They would not allow the practitioners to talk. They deducted points from the practitioners, and each point means one more day at the labor camp. The points accumulated because the practitioners refused to cooperate with the perpetrators. The inmates were rewarded with sentence reductions for "reforming" the practitioners.
When practitioner Dong Wenqiang from a class in Group 2 held a hunger strike, guard Wang Hexing from Group 2 said, "The class head lacks management skills, which is why trouble arises in the class." As a result, class head Hou, nicknamed "electric cannonball," savagely beat Dong Wenqiang and forced him to eat in order to prove his "management skills" and to please his supervisor, guard Wang Hexing.
The guards operated outside the law, and so did the inmates. Inmate Zhang Fuli from Division 6 said many times to practitioner Yu Donghui, "Don't be stubborn! Just write the repentance statements; if the government orders me to beat you up, I won't care about your rights - I'll beat you up. I don't care if you are a good person. I want my reward! We get rewarded for reforming each practitioner, and for each point I earn I get a one day sentence reduction. You are talking about being a good person? Gamblers and drug addicts like us are good people; otherwise, why would we be allowed to watch you guys?" The guards often used Zhang Fuli to torture the practitioners.
The inmates often did not allow the practitioners to sleep or to drink water, and cursed and beat the practitioners if they made a slight mistake doing slave labor. Some practitioners developed scabies all over their bodies and were still forced to sleep on the floor. The practitioners were forced to mop the floor several times a day, and were beaten regardless of how well they worked.
At a meeting in March 2002, the head of the labor camp, surnamed Wang, said, "Inmates who help reform a Falun Gong practitioner will receive 35 points, which translates into a 35 day sentence reduction. During the months of 'Strict Control' the class heads will receive 20 points; the cell heads get 15 points. Class heads will receive 12 points, 10 points or 7 points for reforming a practitioner." As a result, physical and verbal abuse was taking place in all of the divisions. The inmates usually bare their upper body when they savagely beat the practitioners. Many of them have tattoos in the images of snakes, tigers, wolfs or leopards. They used all kinds of cruel methods and torture tools on determined practitioners, including forcing them to sit on narrow stools from 2:00 a.m. until midnight for many days at a time until pus seeped out of the practitioners' buttocks; then they forced practitioners to sit in the chilly wind and poured cold water on them. Many practitioners developed scabies on their bodies.
Perpetrators at the labor camp exhausted vicious methods to persecute Falun Gong practitioners and they held the practitioners beyond term to further torture them. Sometimes they held the practitioners for five months past their terms, while they released some inmates before term.
Long-term corporal punishment
There are many different kinds of corporal punishment. They may forbid the practitioners from sleeping 'or using the restroom, force them to sit on the cold concrete floor with their legs double-crossed, force practitioners to sit on small stools and/or force them to do heavy labor. Inmates in each division were encouraged by their guards to invent their own torture methods. Those who came up with extremely vicious methods earned points toward their term reduction. Practitioner Wang Tianming said, "Falun Dafa is great." Inmate Zhang Yu reported this to the guard and was praised, and practitioner Wang Tianming was brutally beaten.
In 2001, the persecution escalated in scale and severity. After the abducted practitioners were taken to the labor camp they were showered with punches and kicks. Practitioners who renounced their beliefs were allowed to sit by the wall. Determined practitioners were forced to sit in the front row and were not allowed the slightest movement. If they bent their head slightly, they would be brutally beaten, or the inmates responsible for monitoring them would "discipline" them. They were not allowed to speak a word from morning to night while the guards used the vilest language to either insult them or attack Falun Dafa.
One example shows the CCP's complete disregard for the law. The CCP allocated four million yuan to build a new building. Almost all of the "arrested" male Falun Gong practitioners in Jilin Province were sent there on January 18, 2002. There were approximately a dozen practitioners held in each division when they were in the old building; after the transfer was complete, there were about as many practitioners as inmates. The perpetrators also established Division 7, run by inmates, where they sent all former practitioners who gave up their beliefs. Determined practitioners were persecuted in different divisions, and those who returned to Falun Dafa after they gave it up were also sent to different divisions to be persecuted.
The "Harsh Attack"
There were three rounds of severe persecution in 2002, which the officials call the "Forced Reform Harsh Attack." On March 5, 2002, the perpetrators grew fanatic after some practitioners broadcast Falun Gong truth clarification videos over the local cable network. Luo Gan went to Changchun and expressed his dissatisfaction with the low "reform rate," and as a result another round of brutal persecution began. Determined practitioners at the Chaoyanggou Labor Camp were taken away and tortured for one hour, several hours or days at a time. When they came back they were bruised or deformed. Some were covered in bloody injuries, some could not walk and some were in a coma. The practitioners were placed under 24-hour surveillance and were not allowed to meet with their families.
The most determined practitioners were held in Division 2, where the most blood-chilling torture tools are located. On the morning of April 6, a group of practitioners were taken to the interrogation room and asked whether they would reform. No one answered. One practitioner was taken out and tortured with a spade, a crow bar, leather belts, steel-wire locks, bamboo sticks and bamboo planks. They cuffed the practitioners' arms and legs and four perpetrators would pull the practitioners' limbs in different directions while demanding whether they would reform. If the practitioners remained determined, they would further torture the practitioners. When the practitioners were covered in blood and their bodies deformed, the perpetrators would proceed to pour salt water on the practitioners and shock them with high-voltage electric batons. Their heart wrenching screams could be heard in the hallway.
During the first few days of April 2002, an earth-blanketing sand storm hit Changchun. Many people had never seen such a large-scale sand storm in their life. This happened during the height of the persecution of Falun Gong. After the sand storm the persecution again escalated at Chaoyang Labor Camp, a place shrouded in terror. I often saw healthy practitioners being carried out of the instruction room; during lunch I would see many practitioners with bandages on their heads, their arms in a cast, their hands and feet wrapped in gauze, and so on. Four practitioners from Division 5 were carried to lunch.
This time the perpetrators used varying sizes of electric batons, police batons, white plastic tubes, wooden sticks, metal tubes, and a whip made of steel wires and bamboo planks. The bamboo planks were broken during the beating, and pieces of sharp bamboo stuck in the practitioners' bodies. The perpetrators would then rub laundry detergent and salt into the wounds and pour cold water on the practitioners. They burned the practitioners' palms with fire, hung them up with their hands cuffed behind their backs and beat them.
On April 12, we couldn't see the sun because the sky was reddish yellow from the sand. Beginning from this day, the perpetrators started the so-called "Harsh Attack." At 9:00 a.m. Wang Yanwei, head of the labor camp, held a meeting and the divisions carried out the persecution.
The meeting ended at 9:30 a.m. At 9:40 a.m., beating and screaming filled the hallway, and all perpetrators participated in the torture. They took the practitioners to the instruction room, and about seven guards surrounded each practitioner. With spade handles or electric batons in their hands, the guards tried to force the practitioners to reform. Those who agreed were immediately sent back to their cell to write guarantee statements. As for determined practitioners, they would first beat and kick them, and if the practitioner stayed firm they would grab the practitioner's hair and bang his head against the wall or the concrete floor, or they would whack the practitioner with spade handles until the handle broke.
Some practitioners lost consciousness from the torture, and the guards would pour cold water on them. When they came to, the perpetrators would continue to threaten and intimidate them. Guard Jiang Chengcai stomped on the practitioners' toes and whipped the practitioners' heads, chests and backs with rubber clubs. Encouraged by group heads Zhu Dechun and Yu Tie, inmate Yu Changjiang beat the practitioners. About eight inmates beat practitioner Li for three days until he lost consciousness and could not move; he was also incontinent and lost sight in his right eye. At this point, the perpetrators were afraid of taking responsibility, so they were a little more self-restrained when beating the practitioners. However, they still forced determined practitioners to stand with their upper body bent forward and their hands raised above their backs. They also didn't allow the practitioners to sleep.
The first "Harsh Attack" lasted two months, during which time the practitioners were physically and mentally tortured. Some people gave up Dafa practice because they could not endure the ordeal, but more practitioners remained firm.
In June, another round of "Harsh Attack" began at the Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp. This time they assigned Gao, an official from the Administration Section, to take charge and lead the inmates and collaborators (former practitioners who have turned against Dafa), to debate with Falun Gong practitioners. They took advantage of the practitioners' loopholes and did everything possible to destroy their belief in Dafa. In the daytime, the guards forced the practitioners to watch Dafa-slandering videos. Before playing the videos, Gao would explain the content and ordered the practitioners to discuss the video after it was shown. The practitioners refuted his warped understanding and presented the righteous principles. Gao was furious and said, "If you don't reform, I'll lock you up! After I get off work, I go to a restaurant, but you'll still eat steamed buns and drink cabbage soup!" He ordered the collaborators to attack Dafa. The second "Harsh Attack" was more damaging than the first, in that the perpetrators twisted the content of Dafa and took advantage of the practitioners' lack of understanding of Dafa to destroy their beliefs.
In order to further the brainwashing the perpetrators formed a group consisting of 12 perpetrators led by Wang. They went to the different divisions to spread their twisted theories for five days. They asked Wang Zhigang, who had written two books to attack Dafa, to give a report and to brainwash Dafa practitioners, but their attempts ended in failure overall. They could not achieve the 95% reform rate after three months. The guards were exasperated because they would each have received 400 yuan a month if they had reached the reform rate.
In September 2002, the division heads went to a labor camp meeting and said they would achieve 100% reform of the practitioners at all costs. The third "Harsh Attack" started right after the meeting. The perpetrators first went after practitioners who returned to Dafa after they wrote a repentance statement. They locked the practitioners inside an office so that people could not hear the screaming. They locked all three doors so that the room was completely insulated. First, seven perpetrators stripped the practitioners naked and threatened the practitioners with electric batons and triangular belts in their hands. If the practitioners refused to give up Dafa, they would whip the practitioners all over their bodies, except the face, while at the same time shocking the practitioners' ears, head, neck, armpits, genitals and anus with electric batons.
They poured water on the floor, forced the practitioners to stand barefoot in the water, and shocked the practitioners until they fell on the floor. They continued to shock the practitioners until they rolled on the floor in pain. Then they hit the practitioners with spade handles. They broke many belts, electric batons and spade handles during their torture of Falun Gong practitioners. One practitioner shouted, "Falun Dafa is great!" They gagged the practitioner's mouth, cuffed his hands to a heating pipe and then whipped him. Some practitioners were hung up and beaten for three days. According to one practitioner who was later released, some guards killed one practitioner by repeatedly whacking him all over the body from head to feet with a thick wooden board.
Many practitioners stepped forward to stop the persecution. The practitioners shouted, "No beating!" When judicial officials came to the labor camp to inspect the work, the practitioners shouted, "I'm innocent. I ask for unconditional release!" Some practitioners went on a hunger strike to protest.
The third round of "Harsh Attack" lasted two months, until November, followed by the fourth round of "Harsh Attack." Each practitioner held at the Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp was tortured during the day and not allowed to sleep at night.
The perpetrators often forced detainees to do slave labor, such as work in a brick kiln, work in the fields, fold papers for pirated books, and dig ditches. Practitioners who were held at the labor camp earlier were persecuted this way. They were forced to work in the brick kiln in the heat of summer; they often became dehydrated. Practitioners who worked in the fields had to remove grass, shuck corn and pull radishes. Those who worked slowly often did not get a break or water.
Due to malnutrition and long-term torture, the work was not easy for the practitioners. The guards insulted or beat the practitioners if they were slow. A philosophy professor from Jilin University in his 50s was forced to dig ditches when he was running a high fever, only because he is a Falun Gong practitioner.
Poor living conditions
Sometimes the practitioners had radish soup or frozen cabbage for six months straight. People could smell frozen cabbage when they walked in the dining room. It is heard that the guards embezzled the food money.
Due to chronic malnutrition and poor hygiene, many practitioners contracted tuberculosis and scabies. The perpetrators limited or did not permit the practitioners to take a shower. As a result many practitioners died from scabies or tuberculosis due to the lack of medical treatment and torture. This is part of the evidence of the inhumane persecution at the Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp.
In October 2004, practitioner Song Wenhua from Tonghua City ran a high fever for several months and eventually lapsed into a coma. He could not eat or drink. The labor camp authorities did nothing and simply told Song Wenhua's family to take him home when he was at the brink of death. They also extorted 5,000 yuan from his family. Song Wenhua died several days after he was taken home. A practitioner from Yushu City contracted tuberculosis but was not given access to medical treatment. He was taken home when he had but one breath left and died a day later. Practitioner Liu Ziwei died three days after he was sent to the labor camp!
18 practitioners tortured to death
The Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp is a breeding ground for crime, despite its deceptive appearance of pink walls and green meadows. Again and again the labor camp authorities sent home practitioners tortured to the brink of death, claiming, "If they die outside the gate it's not our problem."
Case 1: Mr. Zhang Quanfu, 65 years old, was an employee of Jiangyuan County Forestry Bureau, Baishan City, Jilin Province. Since December 1999, he had been detained twice because he went to Beijing to appeal to the government to stop the persecution of Falun Gong. After he was released in January 2001, local policemen always harassed him at home. On the evening of March 6, 2002, he was arrested again and sent to Group 2, Division 6, of the Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp, where he was detained and tortured for one year. During detention he suffered all kinds of torture and was also brutally beaten, even when he was near death'. His body was full of boils; he was extremely skinny and could not walk due to muscle atrophy. He had blood and pus in his stool, and his body was covered in scabies. He was beaten before he passed away on January 8, 2003. His son, Zhang Qifa, 38 years old, was also illegally held at the Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp. He was released on January 18, 2003. His body was covered with bruises and his skin was hard and black. His body was full of hard swellings and boils, and his legs hurt so much that he couldn't walk. He had difficulty breathing and couldn't speak clearly. He suffered from pain, itching and constipation. He passed away on January 19, 2003, the day after his release.
Case 2: Mr. Bai Xiaojun, 35 years old, was a professor at the Northeast Normal University in Jilin Province, and lived in Changchun, Jilin Province. On July 18, 2000, he went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and was abducted and illegally sentenced to one year of forced labor. He was sent to the Fenjin Forced Labor Camp in Changchun City where he suffered arm and leg injuries from beatings and developed severe scabies. He lost the ability to take care of himself. In April 2002 he was illegally sentenced to three years of forced labor and was sent to Division 4 of the Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp. In early June 2003, he could not eat due to torture and was transferred to Division 1 in late June. Guard Zhao Jianping beat him in front of other Falun Gong practitioners in the division. He died on July 18, 2003.
Case 3: Mr. Liu Ziwei, 29 years old, from Baishan City, Jilin Province, was abducted and sent to the Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp on December 10, 2004. He immediately went on a hunger strike. He was subjected to various inhumane tortures such as being locked up in a small cell, being force-fed, and being hung up on a wall with handcuffs, making his wrists bleed. He was hung up 24 hours a day and not allowed to sleep. The police also gagged Liu with dirty socks to prevent him from calling out. The perpetrators saw that he was dying at 11 p.m. on December 13 and sent him to a hospital. He died on the way to the hospital. He was murdered, and his bodily injuries are proof of that.
Since July 20, 1999, hundreds and even close to 1,000 Falun Gong practitioners were often held at the Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp. In the past six years, 18 practitioners were tortured to death here. They are: Zhang Quanfu (65 years, Baishan City, Jilin Province), Zhang Qifa (Baishan City, Jilin Province), Sui Futao (30 years, Liuhe County, Jilin Province), Bai Xiaojun (35 years, Changchun City, Jilin Province), Yue Kai (29 years, Yushu City, Jilin Province), Li Qiu (41 years, Changchun City, Jilin Province), Tian Junlong (45 years, Manchurian Autonomic County, Yitong, Jilin Province), Ding Yunde (55 years, Tonghua, Jilin Province), Zhen Yongping (Baishan City, Jilin Province), Xu Xijun (29 years, Changchun City, Jilin Province), Huang Baochen (65 years, Yushu City, Jilin Province), Yu Xianjiang (51 years, Changchun City, Jilin Province), Wang Jinian (28 or 29 years, Baishan City, Jilin Province), Li Chuanwen (54 years, Meihekou City, Jilin Province), Gao Chengji (52 years, Baishan City, Jilin Province), Zhang Shengqi (35 years, Baishan City, Jilin Province), Zhen Fuxiang (35 years, Yushu City, Jilin Province), Liu Yongqi (Baishan City, Jilin Province). The youngest of the practitioners was 26 years old, and the oldest was 65 years old.
Chinese version available
Category: Accounts of Persecution
"Tears and Blood of Dalian: The Persecution of Dafa Practitioner Ms. Sun Yan, Part 4 (Photos)"
"151 People Declare that their Words and Deeds Under Forced Brainwashing are Null and Void"
Self-Immolation Hoax
Video: A Decade of Courage
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Rumors of the Z's demise have once again been exaggerated.
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Reports that the Nissan Z is on its way out seem to be exaggerated as the car will continue on for the immediate future. Past that, it's murky but possible that a successor emerges.
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Market Appraisals
Deposit scheme releases inventories guidance to avoid checkout disputes after tenant fee ban
From Property Industry Eye
The Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) has teamed up with Propertymark and the Association of Independent Inventory Clerks to compile guidance on the check-in and check-out process for tenants.
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Finishing out today's batch of digital sketches is a piece I did of one of the greatest MC's of all-time, Rakim. I had the pleasure of seeing him perform in NYC over the summer, and he has not lost a step. Below is a video I recorded from his show. Be sure to check back for new art and updates!


text:
De Kleine Combéweg in Paramaribo is een straat die vernoemd is naar de wijk Combé. Ze vertrekt oostwaarts bij de zuidoosthoek van het Onafhankelijkheidsplein en gaat vanaf de Wakapasi over in de Kleine Waterstraat. Vanaf de noordelijke hoek van het Onafhankelijkheidsplein vertrekt de Grote Combéweg. De straat wordt door UNESCO gerekend tot de historische binnenstad.

Noordzijde
Aan de noordzijde bevinden zich een inrit van het Presidentieel Paleis, de buste van Trefossa, het Directoraat Bestuurlijke en Administratieve Aangelegenheden van het Kabinet van de President, het standbeeld van Henck Arron en de Palmentuin.

Zuidzijde
Aan de zuidzijde van de Kleine Combéweg bevinden zich de buste van Titus van Asch van Wijck, de afslagen naar de Abraham Crijnssenweg en Zeelandiaweg, de ruïne van het Gebouw 1790, het Kabinet van de President met daarvoor het standbeeld van Mama Sranan en het standbeeld van Baba en Mai.

Het standbeeld van Baba en Mai staat nabij het voormalige Koeliedepot Aan de Kleine Waterstraat, waar sinds 1962 de hotels van de Torarica Group staan.

Gedenktekens

Hieronder volgt een overzicht van de gedenktekens in de straat:

Straat in Paramaribo

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Jurassic World: the Exhibition at the Franklin Institute
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text:
Faithful Democracy Coalition - For Profit Prison Influence on Immigration Policy, 2014
• June 1, 2014 • Locations: United States of America • Topics: Private Prisons, Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, GEO Group/Wackenhut, Immigration
For-Profit Prison Corporations & Their Attempt to Influence
As people of faith, we recognize the responsibility of government to seek justice for all people and to build the common good.
Justice cannot be achieved unless the rules governing the democratic process are just and fair to all. Central to that process is a
citizen's vote—not limited by the powers of money, social class and unequal access to public media. Unfortunately in Citizens
United v. FEC the Supreme Court rolled back meaningful campaign finance laws protecting the voices of individual voters. The
Court announced that private businesses—including for-profit corporations—have a right to spend unlimited money in
elections, thus opening the door for increased corruption by money-toting entities and marginalization of constituents with far
lesser means. While companies benefiting from restrictions on liberty attempt to entice politicians into adopting their priorities
with lures of large campaign contributions, the true engine of change –the community – is often swept aside and democracy is
undermined.
For-profit companies supplying detention services to the federal government - including the two largest providers Geo Group
(Geo) and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) - have been covertly maneuvering in immigration policy to increase
detention rates while intentionally misleading the public about their efforts. These federal policies should be guided by humane
principles including rights protections, family unity, and equality, not profit margins.
Currently the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is required to detain 34,000 immigrants on any given
day, translating into approximately 400,000 individuals every year. 1 This mandate through the Continuing Appropriations Act
of 2014 is also known as the "bed quota". Due to this directive, people whose liberty is restricted are housed in county jails,
privately run detention facilities, and federal centers that cost taxpayers $2 billion annually. 2
From a profit-oriented perspective, the expansion of grounds for immigrant detention means more detainees and thus increased
revenue for shareholders. Private prison companies try to influence immigration debates through political campaign
contributions to key officials active in this area of policy and by spending millions of dollars lobbying Congress to ease passage
of legislation that benefit their industry and bottom lines.
To for-profit incarceration corporations, criminalization of immigrants is an important revenue stream
• In 2010 CCA reported $1.17 billion in revenue, 43% percent of which - approximately $500 million - is generated through
contracts with the federal government. 3 Significant portions of these agreements are to house immigrants charged with
immigration violations.
• Geo reported $1.61 billion in revenue in 2011. 4 In their SEC filing in 2013 Geo stated, "(i)mmigration reform laws which are
currently a focus for legislators and politicians at the federal, state and local level also could materially adversely impact
us." 5
• CCA also acknowledges the need to expand detentions: "(o)ur growth is generally dependent upon our ability to obtain
new contracts to develop and manage new correctional and detention facilities." 6
Private prison companies attempt to influence members of Congress and immigration policies
• CCA spent over $19 million 7, and Geo $3 million, on lobbying activities through 2013. 8
• In 2013 CCA told reporters they don't lobby on "sentencing or detention enforcement legislation" and "will not take a
position on or advocate for or against any specific immigration reform legislation nor will our government relations team
on our behalf." 9 However, Senate lobby expense disclosures reveal that in 2012 CCA hired a lobbying firm to follow
federal immigration policy issues. 10
• In April 2013 as the Senate undertook immigration reform, Geo's quarterly lobbying disclosures show it hired a firm to
lobby Congress on "issues related to comprehensive immigration reform." 11 Yet Geo claimed, "(t)he Geo Group has never
directly or indirectly lobbied to influence immigration policy. We have not discussed any immigration reform related
matters with any members of Congress, and we will not participate in the current immigration reform debate." 12
• Geo's in-house lobbyists spent $1.2 million while the company also paid $880,000 to an external firm to engage Members of
Congress on policies of interest in 2013. 13
American Immigration Lawyers Association, AILA's Take on the Detention Bed Quota, (March 10, 2014 at 2:58pm), http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=47205.
3 Detention Watch Network, The Influence of the Private Prison Industry in Immigration Detention, http://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/privateprisons (March 24, 2014)
4 The Geo Group, Inc., 2011 Annual Report at 2, (May 10, 2014 at 4:16 PM), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrections_Corporation_of_America.
5 The Geo Group, Inc., Securities and Exchange Commission Form 10-k at 30 (March 10, 2014 at 4:54 PM),
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/923796/000119312513087892/d493925d10k.htm#tx493925_3.
6 Corrections Corporation of America, 2012 Annual Report (July 17, 2013 at 2:34 PM), http://ir.correctionscorp.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=117983&p=irol-reportsannual.
7 Influence Explorer, Corrections Corporation of America, (March 4, 2014 at 11:32 AM), http://influenceexplorer.com/organization/corrections-corp-ofamerica/46a43aff0a6743c59fbebd588e8ee743.
8 Influence Explorer, Geo Group, (March 4, 2014 at 11:20 AM), http://influenceexplorer.com/organization/geo-group/7dfa33488aad4908ac1c75336c20db05.
9 The Nation, How Private Prisons Game the Immigration System, (July 8, 2013 at 1:52 PM) http://www.thenation.com/article/173120/how-private-prisons-game-immigration-system?page=0,0#.
10 Id.
11 The Nation, Disclosure Shows Private Prison Company Mislead on Immigration Lobbying, (June 27, 2013 at 4:30 PM), http://www.thenation.com/blog/174628/disclosure-shows-private-prisoncompany-misled-immigration-lobbying#axzz2WbOVhBXA.
13 Campaign for an Accountable, Moral, and Balanced Immigration Overhaul, End the Bed Quota Narrative (March 12, 2014 at 11:00am), http://cambio-us.org/wpcontent/uploads/2013/06/End-the-Quota-Narrative-FINAL.pdf.
These corporations gain access through campaign contributions to policy makers active in immigration reforms
U.S. Senators
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Republican "champion" of immigration reform
$27,300 (from Geo) 14
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who introduced legislation appropriating funds for
immigrant detentions through Operation Streamline
$32,146 (from CCA) 15
Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), an author of the "border surge" amendment to the Senate
comprehensive immigration bill
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), a leader in anti-immigrant policies
U.S. Representatives
Rep. John Boehner (R-OH-8), who co-sponsored legislation increasing immigration
detentions, and is the current Speaker of the House
$21,000 (from CCA 18 and Geo 19
since 2008, combined)
Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY-5), who chairs the House Appropriations Committee and cosponsored legislation that would result in undocumented workers being subjected to
$52,400 (from CCA since 2000) 20
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-7), who introduced a bill permitting local law
enforcement to detain undocumented immigrants
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL-25), member of the "Gang of 7" that spearheaded a
comprehensive immigration bill in the House
$3,250 (from Geo since 2008) 22
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX-21), who sponsored legislation increasing immigrant
$2,504 (from CCA) 23
Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI-5), who co-sponsored a bill boosting immigrant
Additionally, six of the 11 Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee members tasked with dispersing federal
funds, including those for the "bed quota", accepted campaign funds from CCA and/or Geo between 2012-2014:
o Rep. John Carter (Chair) (R-TX-31);
o Rep. David Price (Ranking Member; D-NC-04);
o Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL-04);
o Rep. John Culberson (R-TX-07);
o Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN-03);
o Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX-28). 25
Immigration detention continues to increase while private prison companies profit
Private prison companies' campaign funding undermines the democratic process and financially rewards policy makers for
supporting increased detention of immigrants. For-profit prison corporations see enormous financial growth when federal
policies they encourage result in heightened immigrant detentions. When liberty and human rights are on the line, members of
Congress should be guided by a moral voice and not lured by the siren call of private corporations seeking to boost revenue.
Influence Explorer, supra note 7.
Influence Explorer, Corrections Corporation of America, (March 4, 2014 at 5:27 PM),
http://data.influenceexplorer.com/contributions/#b3JnYW5pemF0aW9uX2Z0PUNvcnJlY3Rpb25zJTIwQ29ycCUyMG9mJTIwQW1lcmljYSZnZW5lcmFsX3RyYW5zYWN0aW9uX3R5cGU9c3R
hbmRhcmQ.
19 Influence Explorer, Geo Group, (March 4, 2014 at 3:02 PM),
http://data.influenceexplorer.com/contributions/#b3JnYW5pemF0aW9uX2Z0PUdFTyUyMEdyb3VwJmdlbmVyYWxfdHJhbnNhY3Rpb25fdHlwZT1zdGFuZGFyZA.
20 Influence Explorer, supra note 6.
21 Influence Explorer, supra note 17.
25 Id; Influence Explorer, supra note 18.


The Sky-Watcher Traditional Dobsonian Telescope 153mm/1200mm (6″) has a "paraboloidal" primary mirror to eliminate spherical aberration and a four-arm, secondary- mirror bracket with fine supports (0.5mm thick), to reduce diffraction spikes and light loss. In addition, this models include a 2″ focuser with a 1.25″ adapter, allowing the use of either eyepiece size. This models also include the new feature-tension control handle.


text:
<?php

namespace LOCKSSOMatic\CrudBundle\Controller;

use LOCKSSOMatic\CrudBundle\Entity\Pln;
use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Controller\Controller;

/**
 * Protected controllers can check that the current user has the access rights
 * for an entity associated with a PLN, or the current PLN in the UI.
 */
abstract class ProtectedController extends Controller
{
    /**
     * Check that the current user has access to the PLN. Throws an exception
     * if the user does not.
     *
     * @param string $permission
     * @param Pln    $pln
     */
    protected function requireAccess($permission, Pln $pln) {
        $access = $this->container->get('lom.access');
        $access->checkAccess($permission, $pln);
    }

    /**
     * Find a PLN or throw an exception.
     *
     * @param int $plnId
     * @return Pln
     * @throws BadRequestException
     */
    protected function getPln($plnId) {
        $pln = $this->getDoctrine()->getRepository('LOCKSSOMaticCrudBundle:Pln')->find($plnId);
        if ($pln === null) {
            throw $this->createNotFoundException('Unknown PLN.');
        }

        return $pln;
    }
}


Photivo is a free open source image processor for windows, Linux and mac OS. It supports RAW, bitmap files and many more file types. It comes with GIMP integration and batch mode. The main feature Photivo is 16-bit internal processing, color managed with LCMS2, CA correction, Green equilibration, line denoise, badpixel reduction, wavelet denoise, median filters on RAW data, Perspective correction, distorsion and geometry correction.
Open your terminal app and add Photivo PPA by running the below command in terminal.
Type your Ubuntu password. Then press the enter key. This will add the Photivo PPA on your system. Then run the below command.
After that execute the below command to install Photivo on Ubuntu.
Type Y and press the enter key to confirm the installation. After the successful installation of Photivo image processor restart your ubuntu. Click the Dash home from unity launcher. And type Photivo in the search field. Then click Photivo to open it.


Our High Quality Built-in-Blinds-Insulating-Glass Products throughout China regions and other countries. They are selling to Southeast Asia, Japan, Korea, the Middle East and Europe. We use new technologies to produce High Quality Built-in-Blinds-Insulating-Glass Products products to achieve high accuracy, high intelligence and high speed control. Since the company was founded, under the leadership of Chairman, High Quality Built-in-Blinds-Insulating-Glass Products has has been widely praised in China industries. We adhere to customer first, quality first, continuous improvement, mutual benefit and win-win principles. When cooperation with the customer, we provide customers with the highest quality of service. Established good business relations with the China customer in the industry, we have established own brand and reputation. At the same time, wholeheartedly welcome new and old customers to our company to visit and negotiate business. Sincerely hope to cooperate with friends from all circles to create a High Quality Built-in-Blinds-Insulating-Glass Products industry leader.


text:
My House is Your Hotel
As alternative lodging sites soar in popularity, regulators sharpen their gaze
by Heidi Walters
Photo by Heidi Walters Seawoods Cottage, an Airbnb rental in Trinidad whose owner lives in a house across the street.
Photo by Heidi Walters Tom and Kath Collom have rented a room in their Eureka home to strangers for two and a half years.
Photo by Heidi Walters The Lemon Tree Cottage in Arcata, managed by Michael Reinman, who says the owner lives in the home half the year.
Photo by Heidi Walters Redwood Coast Vacation Rentals guests are greeted with wine and flowers, says the company's owner, Michael Reinman.
Photo by Heidi Walters Michael Reinman, owner of Redwood Coast Vacation Rentals, in the back yard of "Serene Redwood Retreat," a short-stay rental in Sunny Brae he manages for the owner, LouAnna Phillips, who lives close by.
Photo by Heidi Walters This is the view from the deck of the most expensive Airbnb rental in Humboldt County.
Photo by Heidi Walters Doby Class (standing in the back) and his wife, Kim, have been renting their boat out to travelers for a couple of years. Doby Class' brother and sister-in-law, Patrick and Tassy Class, were recent guests, pictured here along with Doby and Kim's daughter, Cahaela, and son, Jessiah.
Photo by Heidi Walters Claw-foot tubs are becoming a "thing," judging by many Airbnb listings.
Photo by Heidi Walters The Obsession is tiny but tidy. When nobody is staying in it, owner Doby Class races it in local regattas. "She really fast," he says.
Photo by Heidi Walters Jocelyn Chapman's custom-designed home was trashed when a college student rented it for a few days and held a wild party. But that wasn't as bad as when long-term renters turned it into a pot grow, she says.
Photo by Heidi Walters Tom and Kath Collom like to play concierge to their Airbnb guests, providing brochures, dining tips and even personal tours of local beaches.
Tom and Kath Collom's home sits in a short row of similarly pointy-roofed, 1902 saltbox Victorians in a semi-industrial neighborhood just north of Eureka's Old Town. The bay is close by, as is the first of several bridges inchworming across to the Samoa Peninsula. The houses are cute, their surroundings humble. On a weekday evening, the loud hum of a refrigeration business permeates the atmosphere. At a nearby apartment complex, a guy missing his front teeth helps breaks down cardboard boxes inside a fenced recycling station. "I'm homeless," he says. Three cats — no, four ... five, maybe more — wander in and out of the sidewalk in front of an elderly neighbor's house, stopping to lick paws and sidle up to strange pant legs. The Colloms' own cat, a fluffy black-and-rust named Tab, flops on the couple's small porch, unfazed by a new person walking up the steps. After several knocks, the bright blue door opens and a smiling Kath says, "Come in!"
The Colloms' house is one of about 160 places in Humboldt County listed for rent on Airbnb, a lodging website where people with spare room hook up with travelers looking for something other than the typical hotel experience: wine and flowers on the table, perhaps, or star-gazing from an outdoor claw-foot tub, and maybe fresh local coffee, breakfast, local lore, travel tips and new friends.
There are similar sites, including VRBO ("Vacation Rental By Owner"), but Airbnb is the youngest and most thriving. It boasts 11 million guests and 600,000-plus listings in at least 34,000 cities in 192 countries, according to co-founder Brian Chesky. It's valued now at $10 billion by major investors, making it larger than big hotel chains such as Hyatt, according to the New York Times. It's especially taken off in the last couple years. Two and a half years ago, when the Colloms decided to convert Tom's former "man room" into a short-term rental and list it on Airbnb, there were at most a dozen listings in Humboldt on the site, says Kath. In the time since, despite the proliferation of competition, the Colloms have had 270 reservations amounting to about 600 guests. This June it was booked 19 out of the 30 days. Other Humboldt spaces show equally strong bookings.
Like many Airbnb hosts, the Colloms, who moved to Humboldt from Petaluma in 2000, got into it to help pay off their mortgage. But they've become hooked on the social aspect. They've had guests from all over the world: Australia, China, Sweden, the Netherlands, England — well, just about every country in Europe and then some, says Tom. And while some guests pass through with just the briefest of interactions, others make a lasting impression. During the last presidential election, Tom says, laughing, guests from "at least seven different countries" offered him and Kath "asylum" if Mitt Romney won.
"At first it was weird to have strangers in our home," Tom says. "But now when we don't have guests it's like, 'Where are the people?'"
Ah, all those people. They make tax collectors, hoteliers, housing advocates and others wonder: Are these alternative-hotel guests paying local taxes, as they would have to if they stayed in a traditional hotel? Do their hosts have business licenses? Are host houses zoned for vacation rentals? Are these residential short-term rentals impacting the hotel industry's revenues? Are they hogging housing stock in tight markets?
Battles rage around the planet over these issues. Locally, our cities and the county are in various stages of dealing with them. Furthest along is the city of Trinidad, where 17 percent of the housing stock is tied up in vacation rentals, many of which list through Airbnb.
Airbnb is a classic rags-to-riches story of the digital variety. In 2007, two design students who didn't have enough money to pay rent created sleeping space in their apartment for paying travelers. They appointed it with air mattresses and made their guests breakfast. The idea grew. They acquired another partner, then employees, and now they're all over the world. They're part of a growing list of entrepreneurs in what's called the "sharing" or "peer-to-peer" economy who create fee-based online venues for people to rent (or sometimes truly share) their services or underused things. Others include independent taxi service (Uber, Lyft, Sidecar), errand running (TaskRabbit), parking spaces (ParkAtMyHouse), recreational and technical equipment, and even pets (BorrowMyDoggy). It's an alternate-universe economy in which participants sidestep (often illegally, if unknowingly) many of the regulations and taxes to which their more conventional counterparts adhere.
Airbnb is the most successful, dominating ground broken first by VRBO almost 20 years ago and significantly improving on the model, says Michael Reinman, who owns Redwood Coast Vacation Rentals. Instead of just reviews of the rentals, as on VRBO, Airbnb has reviews of hosts and guests. The site has an easier format for listing a place, Reinman adds. And while it can cost between $300 and $1,000 to list a place on VRBO, he says, Airbnb charges nothing.
Airbnb does charge transaction fees: Hosts pay 3 percent per transaction, and guests pay 6 to 12 percent. The site handles listings and payments, provides 24/7 customer support for hosts and guests, and sends hosts start-up packages that include a first aid kit and a carbon monoxide alarm. Hosts often charge a cleaning deposit, and Airbnb provides $1 million in damage insurance. And it reports hosts' earnings to the IRS so they can pay income tax.
Listings on Airbnb run the gamut. In Humboldt, they go from $38 to nearly $700 a night. Thirty-six of the 158 current listings are either shared rooms or rooms in a house. Most of these are cheaper rentals, such as the Colloms' ($65), a room in an "eclectic" apartment in Ferndale ($38) and rooms in an old farm house on West End Road ($40-$42) whose owner, Jennifer Garcia, will abandon her own bedroom for guests if the demand is there. The rest of the listings are self-contained living quarters — mother-in-law units, apartments and whole houses. With the exception of a $55 two-bedroom flat in Arcata, most of these run between $70 and $250 a night. And the rest go even higher; many of the swankiest are Trinidad-area, ocean-view vacation homes fit for (and used by) celebrities.
There are also some funky outliers: a boat named Obsession, owned by Arcata Public Works Director Doby Class and his wife, Kim, that's docked at Woodley Island Marina; a cabin and corral (for your horse) in faraway Hyampom; a yurt in Arcata; an Airstream trailer in Eureka; the old pulp mill workers' union hall in Samoa converted by artist Steven Vander Meer into a studio with separate guest quarters; and the late Alex Cockburn's Lost Coast Tower in Petrolia, which daughter Daisy Cockburn manages — its lengthy description includes raptures over the view, garden and artful surroundings, and warnings of the 520-foot steep climb up a dirt path to the WiFi-free, minimally provisioned redoubt occasioned by bats.
Many Humboldt listings are offered directly by their owners and tap into that traditional Airbnb model in which guests are fed at least breakfast and can hang out a little with their hosts and, say, learn to juggle or commission a professional massage.
A few hosts manage several listings. And Reinman manages 48 — nearly a third of Humboldt's inventory. His rentals are mostly in Arcata and Trinidad, and most run between $200 and $400 a night. One, at $672 a night, is the most expensive on Humboldt Airbnb. It's a sleek vacation home built for a Redding surgeon and designed by Vancouver, B.C. architect Brian Hemingway to fit a long, narrow space overlooking the ocean in Trinidad.
Reinman is a full-time property manager, not a homeowner looking for a side income.
"I look at Airbnb as another channel to get people to book with us," he says, adding that he also uses TripAdvisor, FlipKey and VRBO.
But even Reinman, or one of his managers, meets his guests to give the transaction a personal feel. Recently, he's begun throwing mixers to get all of his guests together, and he also invites local vendors such as Holly Yashi and Kayak Zak's.
Reinman's success parallels Airbnb's — it's taken off. About nine years ago, the former Wall Street bond trader and Peace Corps volunteer was teaching math and Spanish when he decided to rent out his garage to vacationers. Then he helped a friend rent his house. Soon he quit teaching to market vacation rentals full-time.
Now he manages 60 properties (including the 48 on Airbnb) for 40 homeowners. He pays hotel taxes on all of them — and that'll amount to about $150,000 this year, he says.
Airbnb tells its hosts to check with their local regulatory agencies to find out what local taxes, fees and regulations apply to them. In Humboldt County and its cities, hosts are required to collect from guests 10 percent of the rent in hotel tax (called a transient occupancy tax) and 2 percent of the rent in tourism business improvement district tax. They need a business license. And some neighborhoods are not zoned for hoteling.
Local governments rely on self-reportage from hosts renting through sites like Airbnb. But many don't bother.
In San Francisco, where Airbnb started and where short-term residential rentals (30 days or less) are actually illegal, legislation is in the works to lift the ban and register, regulate and tax them. In New York City, the company's biggest market and where short-term rentals are illegal if the owner isn't present, the city pressured Airbnb into handing over its list of hosts; Airbnb, meanwhile, is pointing its finger at the city saying it wants to pay the $21 million it owes in back hotel taxes but can't because city laws render Airbnb spaces illegal. In Aspen, Colo., and Austin, Texas, Airbnb listings are now licensed and taxed. In Spain's Catalonia, whose Barcelona is awash in (illegal) Airbnbs, officials just lobbed a 30,000-euro fine at the company.
In Humboldt's own dinky, scenic city of Trinidad, city officials have been working since 2011 on a vacation rental ordinance. The city's just waiting for the California Coastal Commission to sign off on the thing, says City Manager Karen Suiker. It would regulate such things as parking and water usage, which matters because the whole city's on septic systems. It also might include a cap on the number of vacation rentals allowed in the city limits.
Suiker says people have trouble forming close-knit neighborhood watch committees in Trinidad because so many of their neighbors' houses are vacation rentals.
In Arcata, Finance Director Janet Luzzi says there doesn't seem to be an impact on housing stock in Arcata from short-term vacation rentals because so much of Arcata's housing stock is rentals. And, she says she's noticed an increase lately in the number of vacation rental owners who do report their operations and pay hotel taxes. Responsible ones include Reinman and Christy Laird who runs the eight-unit Arcata Stay Lodging Network.
But Luzzi wants to pull everyone into the fold. She's about to hire a contractor who will scour the Internet, add up all the short-stay Arcata rentals, and compare them to a list of ones already registered with the city. Then the city will send letters to those not registered telling them to get a business license (about $40) and start paying their combined 12 percent in hotel and tourism taxes.
"It's important because it levels the playing field for all those people who are collecting and reporting," she says. "I get a lot of whispers in my ear from folks who are being compliant. It bothers them that other folks are giving a 12-percent discount on their rates."
In Eureka, city staff is concerned about the scofflaw Airbnbers, says Finance Director Paul Rodrigues. Some hosts proactively abide by all regulations, he says, but there aren't enough resources to track down those who don't.
It's hard to know who, exactly, the non-reporting Airbnbers within city limits are, he says, because Airbnb listings don't give full addresses. But Rodrigues says he hasn't yet noticed a negative impact from short-stay rentals. And the city's got bigger priorities — like going after derelict motels that suck up police and other resources.
"Small cities already are strapped financially," Rodrigues says. "It's hard to chase small dollars when you're plugging holes everywhere else."
Humboldt County, likewise, hasn't noticed a drop in tax revenue collected from mainstream hotels since the rapid rise of Airbnb, says Humboldt County Treasurer and Tax Collector John Bartholomew. But it could happen, he says. Like Eureka, the county can't devote much effort to pursuing compliance. All 58 counties are struggling with this, Bartholomew says.
"Our association, the California County Treasurer and Tax Collectors, we've actually been discussing these issues," he says. "It's all about fairness — that we treat everybody the same."
If the traditional motels and hotels have to get business licenses and pay hotel taxes, he says, so should their unconventional counterparts.
"I anticipate we will have some proposed legislation for a legislator to pick up as part of their platform next year," Bartholomew adds.
County Supervising Planner Steve Werner says one major hurdle is zoning: Many short-term rentals are in residential zones not designed for transient occupancy. If such a rental has a resident occupant and the guests are served breakfast, it might qualify as a standard bed-and-breakfast — but owners still need to register under the cottage industry provisions. If a residentially zoned rental has only short-term guests, the homeowner can apply for a v-combined ("v" for vacation) overlay, which "establishes some performance criteria," Werner says.
"It requires a special permit," he says. "They could come into the planning department, apply, a notice would go out to the neighborhood and an opportunity would be provided to request a public hearing before the planning commission."
Then the owner can get a business license and go through the health and safety inspections that process requires, and start paying those hotel and tourism business district taxes.
The only place where there's a broad-scale v-combined zone overlay now, Werner says, is in portions of Shelter Cove. But there's talk about establishing an overarching vacation overlay pattern for the entire county, he says. County Supervisor Ryan Sundberg is working on this, along with other folks including Reinman, the vacation-rental magnate (who also worked with Trinidad on its ordinance). Sundberg did not respond to two calls and an email from the Journal.
Legalities aside, might all these homey vacation rentals popping up all over the county ultimately be a good thing?
Yes, says Tony Smithers, executive director of both the Humboldt County Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Humboldt Lodging Alliance. Airbnb, at least originally, targeted a visitor Smithers says Humboldt otherwise probably wouldn't get — "someone who's traveling on a budget but wants to see the area." It injects tourists into neighborhoods often not on the conventional tourist maps, which Airbnb proponents say is breathing new life into some areas.
"There's a whole new demographic sample now: millennials, who really want to experience a destination the way locals do," Smithers says. "Staying in a home, not a hotel, gives them that authentic experience they're looking for. And everyone in our industry is talking about how to package and market authenticity."
Smithers also praises Reinman and his steadily growing collection of upscale vacation rentals. These are places that might be sitting empty most of the year, except when their owners use them, Smithers says.
But yes, he says, you Airbnbers should be paying taxes.
"There's room for everyone and more power to you," says Smithers. "But you're benefiting from the destination marketing that we're helping to pay for through the bed tax and tourism business assessment. And you're benefiting from public safety and other street services that the bed tax pays for through the general fund."
Jocelyn Chapman doesn't mind paying those fees and collecting those taxes to rent her custom-designed home in Trinidad to vacationers. She lives in San Francisco now. She says she tried selling the home she and her ex-husband rebuilt 20 years ago. She tried renting it long term, using a property management company — but quit after a renter turned it into a marijuana grow house.
Now she lets Reinman handle it.
"Mike is very expensive," she says. "But he takes care of the cleaning, garden, insurance, water, utilities, Internet and maintenance. You get suitcases ramming into walls, and it's not like your own house where if something breaks you can just live with it. You have to fix it right away."
Even so, she makes more money from the short-term renters. But that's not to say there aren't problems.
Once, a college student rented the place, invited a few friends over, word spread there was a party and the place was overrun and trashed. Reinman says he let the woman pay off the $1,300 in damages and fine over six months.
Airbnb has a built-in vetting system with its reviews section, in which hosts and guests critique each other on their respective member profiles. Still, not every match works out. The Colloms say they had a guest who complained incessantly about their decorations. Garcia, with the West End Road farm house, once had a guest from Alabama whose mom made his reservation using her profile. He was 24, and very sick.
"His health was so bad," Garcia says. He seemed addled, she says, like a starving person. He couldn't figure out the bus schedule to town, and he begged her to go buy his juice. She didn't know if she should call social services. "I was really worried," she says. "I emailed his mom and said, 'Your son needs in-home care and that's not what I'm offering and do you know that his health is so bad?'"
She didn't hear back from the man's mother and, after his three reserved days, he left.
But, Garcia says, mostly her experiences have been good. And she'll probably keep hosting even if she has to start collecting local taxes. She'd probably raise her rates, though, which bothers her.
A school teacher, Garcia rents to university students in the fall and spring. During college graduation, she rents to students' families. In the summer she rents to vacationers, most here to see the redwoods en route to San Francisco or Portland. She gets several recurring guests, including San Francisco optometrist Lois Valenti, who occasionally works at Site for Sore Eyes in Eureka.
Valenti says Garcia's home is the only Airbnb she's used. "I like having Jenn and the other guests to talk to," she says. "Jenn has invited me to go dancing and we have made dinners with her friends and guests."
This coziness that can develop, these friendships — that's what Airbnb is about, say the Colloms. But being regulated might prompt them to shut their cheery door to the traveling set.
"Last year we made $11,000," Kath Collom says. "So to tax that at 12 percent, it wouldn't be worth it anymore. We'd have to charge more."
And that goes against the low-impact, low-budget ethic of the Colloms, who don't even own a car or cell phones.
It's serene and pretty inside the Colloms' home this early summer evening. Soft light filters through cloth-muted windows onto a blanket-draped couch, small kitchen, dining table and conga drums. An incense stick burns in a potted plant, a fountain tinkles. There's art everywhere — flower paintings, maps, sculptures and prints of boats; in one print, tall ships teeter on the cascading edge of the world. Airbnb guests get full use of the downstairs and can come and go through a separate entrance in the side yard, where tiny-dog Sam resides. The Colloms' private space is upstairs, including an office where Kath, a licensed massage therapist, will give guests a massage for an added fee.
Downstairs is where the stories unfold — and where the Colloms likely earn not just their guests' rave reviews (except for some complaints about the location), but also the most reviews (190) of any other Humboldt Airbnbers. As one guest, "Jack," wrote on their profile, "It is reaffirming to find two such partners who exude a joy of life well beyond just the financial 'race w the rats'!"
Tom and Kath love to share local history and tips with their guests, like the best spots for shopping, dining and exploring. Tactile Kath reaches out frequently as she talks to touch her listener's arm and say, "Girlfriend!" Tom, a naturalist guide with Friends of the Dunes, says he offers to take guests hiking if he has time, or he sends them down to the boardwalk at the foot of F Street to decipher what the decorative nautical flags, each a letter, spell out (go try it!).
"And we give every international guest a sand dollar from our local beaches," says Kath.
She stretches her slender frame onto the couch and Tom sits cozily by her feet. Their first guest ever, she says, was a guy packaging up the nuclear waste at Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s power plant south of Eureka. Their favorite was 3-year-old Ari from a small island in Vancouver who played three-string guitar astonishingly well.
"The Chinese guests were a trip," says Tom.
The three, two women and a man, barely knew each other, he continues. They had signed up on a travel board at work. But the women waited on the man hand and foot; when Kath asked about it they said that's their culture. They spent their days sightseeing in the redwoods, and at night they grew generous and a little wild.
"Their first night I get home, walk in, and the table's spread out with food," Tom recalls. "The guy wouldn't even let me take a shower. He sat me down and fed me, and pretty soon out comes the gallon of Carlo Rossi sangria — you know, that really sweet stuff."
The man kept filling Tom's glass. Finally, the Colloms escaped to bed. Later they heard someone wailing downstairs. They listened, wondering if they should go check. They decided not to. The next night, Tom asked the man about it.
"He looked at one of the women and said, 'She had a lot to drink and she went crazy,'" Tom says. He and Kath laugh, remembering fondly.
They have more stories: The man from Florida who came here with his chemistry degree and was high as a kite the whole time. The Princeton woman who never did find their place. But also the many, many guests who walked in strangers and walked out friends. That's what makes Airbnb special, says Kath.
"It's all about connections," she says.
News Cover Story


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Q: Receive Firebase Cloud Messaging without SDK I have a web application that uses websockets to receive real time updates. Since I don't use the websocket connection for anything else, and scaling websocket servers is a pain, I'm considering moving the messaging part to Firebase Cloud Messaging.
It seems a pretty straight forward port for my web app.
However, the web app comes with a companion desktop app that some customers use, that is written in QT+Python. Is there any way to receive the FCM messages in a different client than the official SDKs?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Oh baby, what a great idea! | News by Wales Express News, People Before Profit!
Home Business Oh baby, what a great idea!
Oh baby, what a great idea!
A go-ahead mum has set up a new business selling bespoke baby and toddler products and now has customers as far afield as France and New Zealand.
Ceri Roberts, 36, who works as an administrator at the Next store in Eagles Meadow Shopping Centre in Wrexham had difficulty finding items with the name of her newborn son, Gethyn.
Ceri Lewiis has started a very successful craft business out of work called Made by Me Little G. She has just sold her first items abroad to New Zealand and France.
Armed with a degree in fashion and textiles from the University of Brisol, Ceri decided she could plug the gap in the market for made-to-order commercial baby products.
She is now supplying customers across the UK with bespoke baby and toddler products such as memory blankets and fairy tooth pillows and has even sent packages of orders to customers in France and New Zealand.
Ceri said: "I have always lived in Wrexham. I was born here but went to Bristol to do my degree. When I came home after graduating I got a job and never really did much with my degree.
"My partner, Russell, and I had our son who we named Gethyn, who is now four, but I simply couldn't find garments or products with that name and spelling. I thought hang on, I've got a degree in textiles why don't I make my own?
"So I used Gethyn's baby clothes and textile-based play items to make a memory blanket with his name, date of birth and birth weight, which was 7lb 7oz, on it.
"My brother saw what I'd done and asked me to make a memory blanket for his three sons, using their old baby clothes. Friends then started asking me to make them memory blankets and other items and it's just took off from there.
Ceri now splits her time between working at Next and sewing and working from home while she expands her fledgling business.
She said: "I now make quite a range of products from memory blankets to tooth fairy pillows that have a pocket for a child to put their tooth in so the tooth fairy can find it and leave some money.
"I also make key rings with a fabric apple attached. The apple has messages on such as 'Thank You' or 'Dioch', these can be given by children to teachers at the end of the school term, that sort of thing. They are really popular and I have had up to 10 orders a day for those.
She added: "I also make personalised advent calendars with 24 pockets for little gifts, soft toys, superhero capes and lots of other things. I can usually make pretty much anything people ask for.
"I used to work with a woman who now lives in France and she sent me an order for a personalised advent calendar. That was my first international sale but then I received an order for a lady in New Zealand.
But despite her growing business, Ceri has no plans to leave her office administrator job at Next in Eagles Meadow.
The former Ysgol Morgan Llwyd pupil said: "It suits me perfectly and I love the job. I've been with Next for 10 years this October. Working 14 hours a week means I have plenty of time to be at home with Gethyn and gives me lots of time to sew and make my products.
"I love working at Next, the team are fantastic and the atmosphere is great. It's just a great place to work.
"But I do want to see how far my little business can take me and I'd like to expand further. I need to find a craft shop, preferably a Welsh shop, that I can display my work and sell from.
Eagles Meadow Shopping manager Kevin Critchley wished Ceri well with her business.
He said: "It's amazing the often hidden talents people working in retail outlets here at Eagles Meadow have. Ceri's textile products are amazing and I can see why she is picking up orders internationally as well locally.


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Watermark Awards Two Scholarships to Community College Students
Austin, TX – September 16, 2022 – Thanks to a $5,000 scholarship from Watermark, Beau McLeod and Renee McGirt are one step closer to achieving their academic aspirations. Watermark, an industry-leading software provider purpose-built for higher education, announced today that these two community college students are winners of the 2022 Watermark Scholars Scholarship Program.
This year, Watermark asked applicants to submit a two-minute video responding to the following questions: what challenges have you overcome to be a successful student, and what are you inspired to do after graduation? After reviewing hundreds of submissions, Beau McLeod and Renee McGirt were selected as the winners.
Growing up in the foster care system and struggling with substance abuse, McLeod didn't know if he could achieve the educational milestones he saw his friends reaching. But after committing to his sobriety, enrolling in community college, and connecting with a counselor who specialized in supporting former foster youths, he hit his stride. McLeod is currently a student at MiraCosta College in pursuit of a business degree. "I want to be in service to my community," he states. Through his current work as a sponsor for Alcoholics Anonymous and his future aspirations of owning his own moving company that specializes in giving jobs to recovering alcoholics, McLeod is well on his way to achieving his goals.
McGirt is currently enrolled in the Master Instructor of Cosmetology program at Clary Sage College. She hopes to use this degree to further her community impact. Outside of class, McGirt volunteers for BeHeard Movement, a nonprofit organization in Tulsa, Oklahoma, offering free haircuts to those experiencing homelessness. After she completes her program, she plans to provide apprenticeships to those experiencing homelessness and offer cosmetology classes in women's prisons. "I received my cosmetology degree while I was incarcerated, and it has helped me become an entrepreneur," McGirt says, "I want to use my degree to help incarcerated women have a successful life after prison."
Watermark's CEO Erin Shy reflected on this year's scholarship winners, saying "I was moved by McLeod's and McGirt's impassioned storytelling. Both individuals have worked so hard to overcome adversity and share inspiring visions for the future. I'm proud that Watermark can help them achieve their academic goals, and I wish them all the best on their journeys."
About Watermark
At Watermark, insights inspire progress. Watermark's software gives higher education institutions the insights they need to improve, evolve, and empower student success. Watermark's integrated digital solutions support assessment and accreditation, faculty activity reporting, course evaluation and surveys, and catalog and curriculum development for more than 1,700 higher education institutions worldwide.
PR CONTACT:
Michele Hujber
PR Consultant
mhujber@watermarkinsights.com


In addition to receiving our quarterly Journal, Members were also e-mailed short articles on all of the topics listed above. Don't miss out on another Journal or eNews Alert. Join Today for less than the cost of one doctor's office co-pay, or learn more if you are not sure.
A special 32-page issue from the Fibromyalgia Network is packed with explanations from more than 25 experts on why you have so many symptoms. Read why you have so much pain and fatigue, a brain that can't think clearly or sleep soundly at night, itchy skin, tight and knotted muscles, pelvic pain, headaches, digestion problems, and much more.
The better you understand what is going on with your body, the more equipped you will be to develop strategies to minimize your symptoms. Read more details or order your special issue on Symptoms today.


After some tense and seemingly tumultuous adjudicating, a federal jury in Virginia has voted to convict former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort on just eight of the 18 charges of fraud filed against him.
In a note passed to Judge T.S. Ellis III on Tuesday afternoon, the jury said it reached a verdict on eight counts. But the jury said it could not come to a decision on ten of the 18 counts.
The jury began deliberating last Thursday after a three week trial where prosecutors said Manafort hid income earned from political work overseas from the IRS while fraudulently obtaining millions in bank loans. Manafort, 69, had pleaded not guilty.
Earlier Tuesday, the 12-member jury signaled difficulty reaching consensus on at least one count, as deliberations stretched into their fourth day.
Defense attorney Kevin Downing asked Ellis if he would tell the jury they have a third option – "hung jury" — on each of these counts. The prosecution objected to that plan and Ellis agreed.
The fraud case is considered to be relevant to special prosecutor Robert Mueller's ongoing Russia investigation, although Manafort's lawyers have insisted that Mueller and his team unfairly roped Manafort into their probe and the charges he was facing had absolutely nothing to do with Russia.
This story is still breaking and will be updated accordingly.


Step up to the next level of cooling comfort with the Blue Max 1000 iComfort mattress. This model features even more temperature-regulating technology than the Blue 100, 300, and 500 for an instant "cool-to-the-touch" feeling and enhanced heat dissipation.
60 W x 13 H x 80 D 72.0 lbs.


My buddy, Arjan Writes, had the most unique opportunity to talk to rising British hip hop star, Tinie Tempah for an event in partnership with HP who demonstrated Beats Audio technology (check it out here).
Not only do I love Arjan, but I kind of am freaking out over Tinie and think he's someone that's going to be taking the US by storm pretty soon. I was so bummed that I missed this event, but thankfully, Arjan's got a bunch of photos and a video up so I can kind of pretend that I was there. Sorta. And so can you.
Those who know me know that I LOVE KE$HA. I think of her as the icon for the post-feminist movement, doing more for the advancement of socially equal rights amongst women than any other female icon of the millenium.
(New York – NY) Pop superstar Ke$ha has been named as Humane Society International's first Global Ambassador. Her mission is to help HSI promote respect, protection, and compassion for animals around the world.
"I am honored to be the first HSI Global Ambassador because my music is inspired by the freedom and primal beauty of animals and the natural world," says Ke$ha. "I take this opportunity incredibly seriously because we are ALL animals. One of the main underlying sentiments of my music is to respect all living creatures just as they are. I believe that together, we can change laws that allow innocent animals to be unjustly mistreated and abused all over the world."
In her first collaboration with HSI, Ke$ha is asking her fans, to join her in signing on to HSI's Cruelty-Free 2013 petition. The petition is aimed at making sure the EU honors its commitment to ban the sale of all cosmetics tested on animals by 2013, making the EU the world's first cruelty-free zone. The move would force cosmetics companies around the world, including in theU.S., to stop the ugly business of animal testing or have their products removed from store shelves in the EU. The "Cruelty-Free 2013 petition" is available here: https://secure.humanesociety.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=4543.
Ke$ha is also teaming up with Tickets-for-Charity® on tour to offer fans an exciting new way to help Humane Society International with a special selection of premium concert seats for all North American shows in September! This exciting partnership offers fans and animal-lovers nationwide the opportunity to access fantastic seats in sold out sections to see Ke$ha rock the stage live while also helping HSI protect more animals and continue its vital work fighting animal cruelty, exploitation and neglect. These exclusive tickets are now available at www.ticketsforcharity.com.


Home Industrial Applications Why are CLIMETAL´s aluminum coils so corrosion resistant?
Aluminum is actually a very active metal, in the sense that it oxidizes very quickly. This feature, while a weakness for most metals, is actually the key to its ability to resist corrosion. When oxygen is present (in the air, soil, or water), aluminum instantly reacts to form aluminum oxide. This aluminum oxide layer is chemically bound to the surface, and it seals the core aluminum from any further reaction. This is quite different from oxidation (corrosion) in steel or other metals, where rust puffs up and flakes off, constantly exposing new metal to corrosion. Aluminum's oxide film is tenacious, hard, and instantly self-renewing.
Therefore, as long as this oxide layer is not damaged, aluminum will remain resistant to corrosion. What factors can affect this oxide layer? Basically, extreme pH levels. Very high or very basic environments can destroy this protective layer and it might not renew itself as fast as needed to to keep protecting the alumnium core. Normally, aluminum´s protective oxide layer is generally stable in the pH range of 4,5 to 8,5.
Salt water DOES NOT corrode aluminum!
There is a traditional fear in the AC industry about heat exchangers exposed to marine conditions. For sure, aluminum does not corrode in lakes and pools. But, what about seawater? Well, surprising as it may be, seawater does not corrode aluminium, simply because of its neutral pH. Then, why traditional copper coils made of copper and aluminum corrode so much near the ocean, up to the point where the aluminum fins disappear? Will not this happen even more likely to aluminum coils being aluminum a softer metal than copper?
The reason is a more complex kind of corrosion called galvanic corrosion and saltwater can be a major facilitator for this.
When two dissimilar metals are immersed in an electrolyte solution, a battery is created. If the two metals get in contact through a conductor or simply by physical proximity (like the copper tubes and the aluminum fins of a heat exchanger) the electrical loop is closed and the current is created. The metal with the highest potential will be the cathode and the one with the lowest potential will be the anode. Electrons start flowing from one metal to the other. The anode will start losing ions and the cathode gains them. This process is actually transferring mass from the anode to the cathode, making the anode weaker and the cathode more resistant.
Which metal will be the anode and which one the cathode?
Metals are ordered in what it is known as the galvanic series. Just "google" it and you will find several sources for this. Galvanic series are different for every electrolite. The further the metals are in the series, the higher the potential difference and, therefore, the higher their galvanic corrosion. The metal closer to the noble end will be the cathode and the one closer to the active end will be the anode. In the case of traditional copper aluminum coils, copper will be the cathode and aluminum will be the anode.
This protective oxide layer is very stable as long as you keep the surrounding pH between 4,5 and 8,5.
The most frequent cause of corrosion in aluminum is due to galvanic corrosion.
The good news is that if you properly understand how galvanic corrosion works, it is very easy to avoid or at least, minimize.
They are inmersed or surrounded (totally or partially) by an electrolyte (in AC applications the most common would be humidity and salt).
The anode will be the sacrifice material whereas the cathode will get stronger.
Avoid contact between aluminum and other metals by using some plastic, rubber or polymeer washers. Be aware that there are some materials that have a high metal content like pressure treated wood (plywood) and concrete.
If you cannot avoid contact between aluminum and another metal, try at least to isolate them from the electrolyte with some kind of polymeer sleeves, shrink wraps or paint. For example, Climetal supplies all alu-copper brazed connections with plastic shrik wraps.
Avoid grounding electrical circuits to aluminum coils. Make sure your AC systems are completely ground isolated and that there is no electrical derivation going through the coil.


Can anyone recommend a pool cleaning service that does high pressure glass beading to remove calcium build-up from tiles? I can find them, just looking for anyone with personal experience for a recommendation. I've already contacted Affinity Pools. Thanks.
Thank you for the recommendation. I contacted Bullfrog and they will try to fit me in this week. I'm not sure how good the pricing is (a range based on difficulty) but their use of a more tile-safe media sounds good.


The year of legal Marijuana continues in Colorado, and despite all the doubt, the state has yet to crumble apart. In fact, Colorado's success with legalization has created a "green rush" and other states are beginning to realize the pros greatly outweigh the cons. The industry continues to prove its worth by creating jobs and tax revenue, among the obvious benefits of the plant itself. We hope to continue the movement and keep people educated on the benefits of legalizing marijuana not only for our health but for our economy as well. The article below from NBC News gives detail on what states will be next, and the overwhelming majority of Americans that are in favor of Marijuana.
"Minnesota a week ago passed a medical marijuana law, and 14 other states have reform bills or ballot initiatives on the table: Arizona, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
Meanwhile, 12 states and the District of Columbia are considering decriminalization: Alabama, Arizona, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina and Wyoming.
And 11 states are considering legislation to establish effective medical marijuana programs: Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Hawaii, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Three states are even considering allowing industrial hemp cultivation: Indiana, New York and Tennessee.
All three states have already decriminalized pot and have approved medical marijuana.
A poll conducted earlier this year by the Pew Research Center found that 75 percent of respondents — including majorities of both supporters and opponents of legal marijuana — think that the sale and use of cannabis will eventually be legal nationwide.


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Restoration work about to begin at the Old Burial Ground
by beth on July 12, 2018
Above: Work to restore Southborough History will take place in Southborough's oldest cemetery next week. (photo by Kate Matison)
One of the oldest historic sites in Southborough is the Old Burial Ground. Over time, much of the engraved history was being lost to erosion. In the spring, voters approved a Community Preservation Act funded project to restore old tombstones.
That project is scheduled to start this Monday. The Historical Commission shared an update on the work being done this summer:
If you see a trailer and a pile of gravel at the back of the lot behind the Town House, chances are it will be it will be conservator Kai Nalenz, President of Gravestone Services New England, doing restoration work at the Old Burial Ground.
DPW's Karen Galligan has given permission for Mr. Nalenz to park his trailer at the Town House in the current gravel area at the back of the lot. He will get the gravel he needs delivered there as well
He will begin on July 16 and estimates the work will take two weeks.
In 2017, the Southborough Historical Commission applied for and was granted $23,000 in CPA funds to undertake much needed preservation of the Old Burial Ground.
[Click here for the link to the Gravestone Services Master Plan from June 2017]
Southborough's Old Burial Ground is a significant part of the institutional focus at the heart of the town center on the north side of Main Street which includes, moving west to east, the Town House (1870), the Second Meeting House (Pilgrim Church), the relocated Flagg School, and the 1912 Fay Library. Enhanced by such an intact setting, the small, crowded burial ground provides a clear link with the earliest days of the founding of the town.
Most of the property is part of the three acres around the center designated as commonly-owned land to be used for both "the meetinghouse and the burying place." It occupies the approximate position of an old Nipmuck burial site, and is believed to have seen a few interments of settlers prior to its official establishment. One early burial mentioned in town records is that of Margaret Newton, who died July 7, 1728. The latest gravestone is dated 1895.
As the town's oldest-cemetery, the Old Burial Ground is a remarkable source of folk art that reflects the tastes, beliefs, and the lives of the residents of the Southborough over its first century and a half.
Among the significant graves here are the resting places of two ministers-Southborough's first pastor, Nathan Stone, and its third, Jereboam Parker, who served for fifty and thirty-three years, respectively. Also buried here, in a Fay family plot, is "Ma jigger," (1828), the last Native American to be interred on the site of the former Indian burial ground. Also buried here in marked graves are some of Southborough's original settlers, including John Woods (1730), James Ward (1756), and Col. and Mrs. Timothy Brigham (1775).
By the 1840s the small burial ground was becoming crowded, and in1842 the Rural Cemetery opened and in 1843 the Old Burial Ground was closed.
You can learn more about the project in this post from last summer.
1 MarthaB July 13, 2018 at 8:27 AM
I'm a Cemetery geek…this sounds like a wonderful project. Can't wait to see it happen.
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