text:
Start here to read the report
The Hon Julie Bishop's Foreword
Ms Merilyn Tahi's Foreword
Progress Highlights by Outcome
Leadership and Decision Making
Enhancing Agency
Progress Highlights By Location
Pacific Women Partners
Key Forums and Events
Annex A: Pacific Women Advisory Members
Annex B: Pacific Women List of Activities
Download our 2016-2017 Progress Report (PDF file)
Pacific Women List of Activities
Project Name and Partner
Outcome: Economic Empowerment
An enabling environment for the full participation of women in economic development (Gender and Development Division, Ministry of Internal Affairs)
Strengthened the capacity of the Cook Islands Government to identify new economic opportunities for women, promote and support women's businesses in the formal and informal sectors and support women's access to financial services.
2013-2017 (Complete)
Outcome: Ending Violence Against Women
Eliminating violence against women through training, advocacy and support services
(Punanga Tauturu Inc.)
Providing support to Punanga Tauturu Inc. womens' counselling centre to provide counselling, legal aid and conduct advocacy focused on eliminating violence against women.
Strengthening capacity towards the elimination of violence against women (Gender and Development Division, Ministry of Internal Affairs; Punanga Tauturu Inc. and Cook Islands Police)
Strengthened the capacity of the Cook Islands Government to improve legal frameworks, law enforcement, justice systems and services to prevent and respond to violence against women.
Outcome: Enhancing Agency
Increasing capacity to deliver on the Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (GEWE) policy (Gender and Development Division, Ministry of Internal Affairs)
Increasing the capacity of the Cook Islands Government to progress their GEWE policy, and provide secretariat support to the National Steering Committee through a national consultant and project funds.
Increasing economic opportunities for women (The Pacific Community)
DFAT will support a 3-year Pacific Women Growing Businesses project, to enable women to start and scale up their businesses by providing business skills and development. SPC will partner with the College of Micronesia to increase the quantity and range of entrepreneurship and business development training available. A Business Development Counsellor will be recruited, working under the Social Development Programme at SPC.
Supporting CEDAW shadow reporting (FSM Non-government organisations)
Funding was provided to FSM Non-government organisations to present their shadow report to the 66th session of the CEDAW Convention in February 2017.
2017 (Complete)
Outcome: Leadership and Decision Making
Support for Women's Weather Watch Preparedness, Participation and Protection campaign (femLINKPACIFIC)
Ensuring disaster preparedness plans, media and information communication systems are gender inclusive. Activities build on femLINKPACIFIC's collaboration with the Fiji National Disaster Management Office which includes development of content for the National Tsunami Preparedness Plan.
Enhancing women's participation in decision making through strengthened community radio transmission (femLINKPACIFIC)
Upgraded community radio infrastructure to increase transmission and reach of femTALK's 98FM radio transmission.
Additional funding was provided to femLINKPACIFIC to enable repairs to radio infrastructure as a result of Tropical Cyclone Winston. The funding supported conduct of community and national level consultations with rural women to increase their awareness and participation in national disaster management response and recovery and pilot women led community based protection mechanisms in six locations around Fiji.
2013–2017 (Complete)
Outcome Area: Economic Empowerment
Markets for Change (UN Women)
Improving market governance, management, infrastructure and access to financial services to increase women's economic empowerment and ensure markets are more sustainable, accessible and safe for women vendors.
Support for women's economic empowerment (South Pacific Academy of Beauty Therapy)
Improving economic opportunities for rural women through education and training. Fifty scholarships were awarded to women to train and graduate with a certificate beauty and spa therapy.
Support to community-based women's organisations (Ra Naari Parishad)
Supporting the establishment of the Ra Naari Centre to enable the organisation to deliver economic livelihood activities.
Support for women's civil society organisations (Women in Fisheries Network – Fiji)
Supporting the re-establishment of the Women in Fisheries Network-Fiji to enable a platform for sharing knowledge, promoting collaboration and exchanging information to address the urgent need to strengthen the involvement of and improve the conditions of women in the Fiji fisheries sector.
Women's Vocational Training Centre (Fiji Muslim Women's League)
Supported targeted training programs for women to enhance economic opportunities.
Additional funding was provided to the Fiji Muslim Women's League to enable the distribution of dignity, hygiene and household kits to women in rural and remote areas of Ba and Ra affected by Tropical Cyclone Winston.
Feasibility study on increasing women's economic opportunities in Fiji (Consultant)
Completed a participatory scoping study on options for expanding women's economic opportunities across urban and rural areas in Fiji.
Support for sexual reproductive health services for women and youth (Medical Services Pacific)
Supporting the increased access to justice, clinic health care for women and girls and increased child protection for vulnerable children and youth through targeted programs.
Additional funding was provided to enable Medical Services Pacific to deliver sexual reproductive health services to rural and remote women in Tropical Cyclone Winston affected communities.
Support for gender equality through ecumenical-based approaches (House of Sarah)
Supported increased collaboration between church leaders and clergy on advocacy for ending violence against women.
Fiji Women's Crisis Centre Programs to Eliminate Violence against Women in Fiji and the Pacific (Fiji Women's Crisis Centre)
Supporting the continuation of funding to FWCC, the leading crisis and support service for women and girls in Fiji and the region. This includes funding for multiple shelters for survivors of violence in Fiji.
Support for women's empowerment through holistic and sustainable service delivery (Empower Pacific)
Provided support to build skills, enhance knowledge and awareness of community members and other local service providers in addressing social issues that impact women's empowerment, well-being and safety.
WEAVERS project (Pacific Conference of Churches)
Supported the use of a rights-based theological approach to eliminating violence against women. This project aimed to provide communities with rights-based ecumenical messages to support the prevention of violence against women and link women to crisis services in Fiji.
The Fiji Women's Fund
Supporting local women's groups, organisations and networks in Fiji to expand and enhance their work on women's empowerment and gender equality. A key objective of the Fund is to reach women living in rural and remote locations and those who are marginalised. The Fund is implemented by a team led by a Fund Manager and support staff and has a Steering Committee to provide strategic guidance and advice.
We Rise Coalition (a partnership between the Fiji Women's Rights Movement, Diverse Voices and Action (DIVA) for Equality, femLINKPACIFIC and the International Women's Development Agency)
Supporting a coalition of four women's rights organisations committed to a Pacific where there is gender justice, ecological sustainability, peace, freedom, equality and human rights for all.
Developing a multi-dimensional and gender-sensitive measure of poverty through the Individual Deprivation Measure (International Women's Development Agency, Australian National University, and the Fiji Bureau of Statistics)
Applying the Individual Deprivation Measure tool to measure the gendered aspects of poverty in communities. The provision of gender sensitive data aims to inform national policy and decision makers on programs and services for women and vulnerable groups.
2013–2017/span>
Support to Ministry of Women (Ministry of Women)
Supporting the Ministry of Women's implementation of the National Gender Policy and Monitoring & Evaluation capacity.
Feasibility study on establishing a women's fund to support women focused organisations in Fiji (Consultant)
Completed a study that built on recommendations of a DFAT commissioned civil society analysis that included a focus on the situation of women focused CSOs in Fiji and how DFAT could best support their work in line with its commitment under Pacific Women.
Support for the Ministry of Women, Youth and Social Affairs to undertake work to support ending violence against women (Ministry of Women, Youth and Social Affairs, Women's Development Division)
Providing funding to employ project staff to support the Government of Kiribati's implementation and monitoring of gender equality activities, including the Shared Implementation Plan on EVAW, the UN Joint Program on EVAW and the Respectful Relationships initiative.
Strengthening Peaceful Villages in Kiribati (UN Women)
Providing funding through UN Women to implement the 'Strengthening Peaceful Villages in Kiribati' program. This program is aimed at changing community and individual behaviours to prevent violence.
Extension of Kiribati Police Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences office based in Betio to provide a safe place and referral centre for survivors of violence (Kiribati Police Domestic Violence Unit)
Providing survivors of violence with temporary shelter and comfort while awaiting referral to relevant services. This funding is also supporting the training and capacity development of over 200 outer island police officers, special constables and village wardens.
Judiciary enabling rights outreach to the vulnerable (Magistrates Court)
Supported consultations on the Family Peace Act and training on issues related to human rights and sexual and gender-based violence for lay magistrates on Tarawa and outer islands. This project also supported the community and outer islands to improve understanding of the court system and services in relation to ending violence against women as well as to improve services provided by lay magistrates and court clerks.
Support the implementation of the Kiribati Women and Children's Support Centre's (KWCSC) Strategic Plan through the Kiribati Family Health Association (KFHA) and technical assistance for development of the strategic plan through Pacific Women Support Unit (KFHA)
Supporting establishment of the first formal support centre in Kiribati for women and children survivors of violence, including funding for recruitment and training of staff. Technical assistance was also provided to the Kiribati Family Health Association to facilitate the finalisation of a three-year strategic plan for the KWCSC. Establishment of the KWCSC commenced in 2017.
Improved infrastructure and training for Ministry of Health staff (Ministry of Health)
Supported the extension of an existing gynaecology room in the main hospital in South Tarawa to enable improved access to treatment, care and referral services for survivors of violence. Also, supported training of frontline officers working with survivors of sexual violence.
Supporting women's organisations (Ministry of Women, Youth and Social Affairs, Women's Development Division)
Supporting the restoration of AMAK (Kiribati's national women's umbrella organisation) through recruitment of technical assistance to assess the current status of AMAK and provide recommendations on the way forward.
2015 One Billion Rising Campaign (Kiribati Family Health Association)
Supported Kiribati to be part of a revolutionary global ending violence against women movement where the Kiribati Family Health Association worked with young people to lead the campaign using creative arts such as stage performances, dancing, singing and marches.
Increasing women's political participation (UN Women)
Transformational leadership training for potential women candidates, male allies and community representatives; and training on CEDAW and human rights to MPs.
Improve the health sector response and services to reduce domestic violence (PACTAM, Ministry of Health)
Strengthening the role of the health sector to identify and support survivors of violence by training health workers, improving access to counselling services and raising awareness of domestic violence.
Pacific Community Health and Wellbeing Education Project (University of New England)
Strengthening social skill and qualifications of Nauruans.
$594,734/span>
Regional support on male advocacy (Fiji Women's Crisis Centre and Government of Palau)
Supported for Palau participants to attend the Regional Fiji Women's Crisis Centre Training Program.
Support for implementation of the Government of Palau's gender mainstreaming policy and strategy (Gender Division, Ministry of Culture and Community Affairs, Government of Palau)
Providing support to the Government through funding for a national Gender Analyst position to be based within the Ministry of Culture and Community Affairs to support the development and implementation of a gender mainstreaming policy.
PNG Women in Mining (Consultants)
This project is working with the Mineral Resources Authority and extractive industry partners to strengthen women's participation in negotiation and agreement processes for major extractive industry projects.
Women in Leadership Support Program (Australian National University/State Society and Governance in Melanesia Program)
The project is improving women's leadership and political participation by enhancing competitiveness of women candidates contesting PNG's 2017 and 2022 national elections and the 2018 local level government elections.
Inclusive Development in post-conflict Bougainville (World Bank)
Supports an approach to planning that works to ensure women are involved in decision-making at community and district levels regarding allocation of funds and direct delivery of projects.
Support to the PNG Women's Forum (US State Department and Department for Community Development and Religion)
The annual Women's Forum brings diverse women from across PNG together to discuss issues of gender equality and national development.
Young Women's Leadership Project (International Women's Development Agency and Bougainville Women's Federation)
This activity provides leadership and mentoring opportunities for young women in South and Central Bougainville. The program supports a Young Women's Leadership Forum, a Women's Leadership Caucus and Male Advocacy sessions.
Voter Education Project (International Women's Development Agency and Bougainville Women's Federation)
The project is providing civic education about voting rights and responsibilities to people across Bougainville, focusing on the historically disenfranchised cohort of people who grew up during the Crisis, known as the 'lost generation'.
Women in political leadership design (UN and consultant team)
The design provided recommendations for ways to support women's political leadership from local level upwards. The design included a workshop in partnership with UNDP drawing together eminent leaders from across the Pacific to discuss temporary special measures for women in Parliament. The design drew on consultations in four provinces across PNG with women and men.
Strengthening Women's Advocacy in Community Mining Agreements (Consultants)
The design provided recommendations to strengthen women's participation in negotiation and agreement processes for major extractive industry projects in PNG.
Increased women's representation in local government (Centre for Democratic Institutions)
Supported training for prospective women candidates in the 2013 local level government elections. Developed a media information and talk-back radio campaign and compiled a register of candidates.
Financial Literacy Training for women and men in Yangoru-Saussia (Asian Development Bank delivered through the Microfinance Expansion Project)
The Microfinance Expansion Project will deliver training on budgeting and savings for 13,000 additional men and women with a target of reaching 10,000 women and 5,000 men.
Kirapim Kaikai na Maket, Tsak Valley (Community Development Workers Association Inc.)
The project helps women in the Tsak Valley to increase crop production resilience to reliably produce surplus which they may be able to collectively market.
Coffee Industry Support Project (CARE International in PNG)
This project supports women's participation and advocacy in the coffee industry to increase opportunities for women farmers to benefit from the industry.
Strengthening Business Coalitions for Women and Economic Empowerment Partnership with the Private Sector (International Finance Corporation)
This project supports the Business Coalition for Women to improve the status and safety of women in workplaces. The project is working to empower women economically and improve businesses.
Increasing economic opportunities for women smallholder and their families 'Family Teams' (University of Canberra)
This project works with women and men to change gender roles at family level so that women have more access and control of income from family farming activities.
Creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem for women in PNG to enable women's economic empowerment.
This involves two grants that are co-financed by the US State Department (Center for International Private Enterprise and StartUp Cup, Inc.)
This project supports the establishment of an environment supportive of women's entrepreneurial ambitions. It includes establishing a Women's Business Resource Centre, an accelerator business model competition, mentoring for women entrepreneurs and working with universities to strengthen the content and teaching of relevant curriculums.
Women's Needs Analysis – Tsak Valley, Enga Province (Consultant)
The needs analysis recommended activities to support women's economic empowerment in the Tsak Valley, Enga Province.
Ginigoada Project Design (Consultant)
The design recommended extending Ginigoada's learning programs and development of new modules to new geographical areas to benefit more poor women.
Family and Sexual Violence Case Management: Building on Success for National Impact (Femili PNG)
Femili PNG's vision is to provide effective client case management services and foster strong partnerships to address family and sexual violence in Papua New Guinea.
Port Moresby: A Safe City for Women and Girls Program (UN Women)
Improving women's safety at markets in Port Moresby and supporting women market vendors to advocate with local government to meet their ongoing needs.
Responding to Gender Based and Sorcery Related Violence in the Highlands (Oxfam in PNG with Highlands Women's Human Rights Defenders' Network)/span>
* Previously called: support to Highlands Women's Human Rights Defenders' Network and repatriation research
This project is preventing violence against women by challenging traditional community attitudes to sorcery, implementing behavioural change activities with communities and conducting research on the effectiveness of repatriation of survivors.
Support for strengthening national coordination, implementation and monitoring mechanisms to prevent and respond to Family and Sexual Violence (United Nations Development Programme)
Supporting the Government of PNG to lead a coordinated response to support survivors of violence, including development of a national strategy, developing a national database and mobilising community champions.
Building the capacity of PNG's Family and Sexual Violence Action Committee (Institute of National Affairs and consultant)
This project provides financial and technical support to strengthen the sustainability and capacity of the Family Sexual Violence Action Committee National Secretariat.
Safe Public Transport for Women, Girls and Children (UN Women)
This project is connected but separate to the Safe City project. It focuses on the provision of a safe, reliable and affordable public transport that enables women and children to move freely and safely around Port Moresby.
Komuniti Lukautim Ol Meri (FHI 360)
This project is addressing violence against women and girls in selected sites in Western Highlands and Sandaun provinces. The project has four pillars: prevention, response, empowerment and monitoring and evaluation.
From Gender Based Violence to Gender Justice and Healing (International Women's Development Agency and Nazareth Centre for Rehabilitation)
This project provides crisis support services for women and children and men, across all regions of Bougainville, particularly within rural and remote communities. It also works to prevent violence against women and developed a network of human rights defenders and male advocates.
Partnerships for Positive Parenting (UNICEF)
This project is developing an evidence-based approach to training parents on strategies that promote child development. It is building on the strength of the church to deliver a parenting program within communities and is developing and testing locally appropriate resources and monitoring and evaluation tools.
End Violence against Children Campaign (UNICEF)
This project is increasing public awareness and understanding of the impact of violence against children and improving access to support services whilst campaigning against violence.
Highlands Sexual, Reproductive and Maternal Health Project (CARE International in PNG)
This project draws on community-based analysis of local gender and power issues to address underlying and intermediate causes of sexual, reproductive and maternal health-related morbidity and mortality, including family and sexual violence. The project is increasing civil society advocacy for sexual, reproductive and maternal health to provincial and national actors.
Creating a movement to end violence against women in PNG: The SASA! pilot and Family Support Centre assistance project (Population Services International PNG)
This project supports the work of the Port Moresby General Hospital's Family Support Centre through effective community outreach and awareness and intra-hospital referrals. It also works with communities in National Capital District and Central Province to end gender-based violence and ensure provision of services to survivors of violence.
Establishment of Family Support Centres at Arawa Hospital, Bougainville and Daru Hospital, Western Province (Health and Education Procurement Facility and the Health and HIV Implementing Services Provider)
This project supported the construction of a Family Support Centre Building at Arawa and Daru hospital and procurement of basic clinical equipment. Funding also contributed to the development and piloting of a Gender Based Training Manual for the PNG National Department of Health.
Refurbishment of Lifeline (Lifeline)
The refurbishment of Lifeline refuge enabled them to provide emergency accommodation to survivors of violence.
Support to Family Support Centres and Health clinics in Southern Highlands (International Committee of the Red Cross)
This support purchased medical equipment for eight health centres in Southern Highlands to assist women survivors of violence.
Construction of Koki market transit centre (Koki Market)
This infrastructure support complemented the UN Women Safe City project and built a transit centre and other market upgrades to increase the safety of market vendors who stay overnight to sell their produce.
Increase in Family Support Centres (Port Moresby General Hospital)
This project rebuilt the Family Support Centre at Port Moresby General Hospital in accordance with the Family Support Centre guidelines, and provided transport for survivors.
Family and Sexual Violence Case Management Centre 'Femili PNG' (Oxfam in PNG with Australian National University)
Established the first case management centre to support survivors to access emergency medical care, access emergency shelter of an adequate duration and standard, provide counselling support and assistance to obtain police, legal and social services if requested.
Family Support Centre at Eastern Highlands hospital (Eastern Highlands Provincial Health Authority)
This project strengthened the governance and operations of the Eastern Highlands Family Support Centre to provide crisis services to survivors of violence.
Outcome: Learning and Understanding24
Research Training Program (Australian National University / State Society and Governance in Melanesia Program)
The project will enhance existing research skills and develop new gender research skills of Pacific Women partner organisations and practitioners with a specific focus on research addressing gender inequality in PNG and working with Pacific Women funded partners.
Developing communication strategies for social change against sorcery related violence (Queensland University of Technology)
This research project integrates communication for social change and audio-visual media approaches in developing communication strategies. Communication products will support attitudinal and behavioural change through the development of materials that are contextually relevant.
Improving the impact of state and non-state interventions in overcoming sorcery accusations related violence in PNG (Australian National University / State Society and Governance in Melanesia Program)
This research project investigates different interventions by state and non-state actors and institutions (such as customary and local organisations, churches, and civil society) in overcoming the violence associated with accusations of sorcery in PNG. These research insights will assist partners to develop training packages to implement the Government's National Action Plan on Sorcery and Witchcraft Accusation related violence.
Gender Stocktake of Australian Government Aid Program in PNG (Consultant)
This consultancy took stock of all gender and women's empowerment work occurring across the Australian Government in PNG; including diplomatic engagement, whole of government partners, Defence and aid.
24 In the PNG Country Plan, Learning and Understanding replaces Enhancing Agency as an intended outcome.
Iden Mwekun (Place of Life) Program (Women United Together Marshall Islands – WUTMI)
Providing core funding and organisational strengthening support to WUTMI to improve governance and operations. This project also provides funding to WUTMI's ending violence against women program, which includes the first domestic violence support centre in RMI.
Technical assistance to WUTMI (PACTAM, WUTMI)
Provided technical assistance through an Adviser who supported the design of a domestic violence support service for women and girls in RMI and delivered capacity building for WUTMI staff to enable them to provide rights-based support to women and girl survivors of violence.
Establish a domestic violence support service (Women United Together Marshall Islands)
Enabled wide community consultation on the design of a culturally appropriate domestic violence support service for women and girls in RMI.
Organisational capacity development and strategic planning (Pacific Women Support Unit)
Undertook a capacity assessment of WUTMI to identify organisational capacity development needs and explore future opportunities for partnership.
Increasing Political Participation of Women in Samoa (UNDP)
Providing support in the implementation of the 2013 Constitutional Amendment to introduce a 10 per cent quota of women representatives in Parliament.
Samoan Women Shaping Development Program (Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development (MWCSD))
Supporting the MWCSD to implement the gender components of the Community Development Sector Implementation Framework in the key outcomes areas of: increasing women's economic empowerment; advancing gender equality in decision-making and political governance; and reducing violence against women. This project enables MWCSD to fund multiple activities with national NGO's and women's organisations in Samoa.
Samoa Gender Adviser (Consultant)
Providing technical assistance to support the implementation of Samoan Women Shaping Development. The Adviser provides mentoring, coaching and training to support capacity strengthening within the Ministry and provides support to enable gender mainstreaming of DFAT sector programs in Samoa.
Empowering Women is Smart Business (International Finance Corporation)
Supporting engagement with the private sector in Solomon Islands to address gender inequalities in the labour market.
Support to Solomon Islands Women in Business Association (Solomon Islands Women in Business Association)
Supporting SIWIBA to establish a business development centre with facilities and training for members to gain skills to establish and run profitable businesses in the formal and informal sectors.
Pacific Partnership (International Finance Corporation)
The program aims to enhance women's economic empowerment through new employment opportunities, improved labour conditions, and improved access to financial services.
Responding to violence against women and girls in Solomon Islands (International Women's Development Agency)
The program will provide core funding, technical support and capacity building to the Family Support Centre and Christian Care Centre to provide quality services to women and children survivors of violence.
Channels of Hope for Gender (World Vision Solomon Islands)
Reducing violence against women in the Solomon Islands by working with religious and community leaders to challenge gender inequitable attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of men and women.
Let's Make our Families Safe (Solomon Islands National Council of Women, Vois Blong Mere Solomon, International Women's Development Agency, Pacific Leadership Program, Oxfam Australia and IOD PARC)
Supporting community-level action to address violence against women and help to establish coalitions between civil society groups, services providers, churches and government agencies that are working to prevent family violence.
Red Cardim Vaelens (Live & Learn Solomon Islands)
Working with selected sports clubs in Honiara and Auki to address gender-based violence through sports.
Youth alcohol and violence reduction against women and children (Save the Children)
Working with young people to address causes of gender-based violence.
Recognising shared interests of Australia and Solomon Islands in the advancement of gender equality (Ministry of Women, Youth, Children and Family Affairs)
Strengthened the capacity of Ministry of Women, Youth, Children and Family Affairs to progress priority outcomes in accordance with its Gender Equality and Women's Development Policy.
Social Development Adviser (Consultant)
Provided technical assistance through a Social Development Adviser who worked with DFAT staff to improve gender considerations in planning, programming, monitoring and learning of all Australian-funded aid programs.
Support to Women and Children Crisis Centre (WCCC) Tonga (WCCC and the Fiji Women's Crisis Centre)
Supporting existing violence against women service providers to increase the quality, coverage and awareness of services.
Funding to government for key ending violence against women events (Government of Tonga Women's Affairs Division)
Supporting the Women's Affairs Division to coordinate media and events for key celebration days (International Women's Day, White Ribbon Day etc.) and and provide core funding to the Tonga National Centre for Women and Children.
Families Free of Violence Tonga (Famili Fiefia 'Oua Vatamaki) (Australian Federal Police)
The program works across multiple sectors to strengthen the response to family violence in Tonga and increase community awareness of the impacts of family violence.
Providing technical assistance through a Gender Adviser who works with DFAT staff to improve gender considerations in planning, programming, monitoring and learning of all Australian-funded aid programs. The adviser also works with the Government of Tonga and sectoral program managers to improve outcomes for women.
Research on impacts of seasonal migrant worker scheme on women and men (World Bank)
Completed research to investigate the social and economic impacts of the seasonal migrant worker scheme and develop recommendations to enhance benefits of the scheme for women and men in Tonga.
$100,0000
National Disability Study (Consultant)
Conduct the first National People with Disability Study, which collects data and information to better understand the situation of people with disabilities in Tuvalu and identify strategies to improve support provided to them.
Gender and Social Inclusion Adviser (Consultant)
Provision of technical assistance through an adviser to support the implementation of the Pacific Women Tuvalu Country Plan. The Adviser provides mentoring, coaching and training to support capacity strengthening within the Gender and Development Division. The Adviser also supports coordination between the Gender and Development Division and other government ministries to enable the implementation of the Family Protection and Domestic Violence Act.
Support the introduction of reserved seats for women at Provincial Council level (Pacific Leadership Program and the Department of Women's Affairs, Ministry of Justice and Community Services)
Supporting the development of alternative approaches to increase women's participation in politics. This project is providing adaptive leadership training to women councillors to increase skills in advocacy and policy reform.
Improving training and employment outcomes for women and girls (Vanuatu Technical and Vocational Education and Training Sector Strengthening Program)
Providing training for women with a focus on tourism and agribusiness, individual coaching to women to improve business skills and increase women's opportunities for paid employment.
Preventing violence against women (Vanuatu Women's Centre)
Supporting collaboration between the Vanuatu Women's Centre and the Department of Women's Affairs, this project focuses on exploring ways to prevent gender-based violence, support the implementation of the Family Protection Act and conduct research on the crisis service needs of rural women.
Film series on women's empowerment and domestic violence (Wan Smolbag Theatre)
Funding provided to Wan Smolbag Theatre to develop a film series on women's empowerment for community awareness.
Response to tropical cyclone Pam (Vanuatu Women's Centre)
Providing funding to the Vanuatu Women's Centre to ensure that women's needs are adequately addressed in recovery planning in Vanuatu.
Research on improved access to justice for women and children (Policing and Justice Support Program)
Completed research that maps out the 'conflict management web', with a special emphasis on how conflicts involving women and violence against women are managed and resolved in order to identify areas of innovation and strength, as well as areas of weakness.
Pacific Women Parliamentary Partnerships (PWPP) Project (Australian International and Community Relations Office, Department of the House of Representatives)
Building the capacity of Pacific women parliamentarians and their staff to ensure gender equality issues are better addressed in parliament.
Support for Women's Groups and Coalitions (Pacific Leadership Program)
Funding provided to Pacific Leadership Program to deliver adaptive leadership training for women leaders and coalition members. The project also carried out research contributing to improved knowledge of entry points for women's leadership and structural empowerment to inform future programing.
Gender Equality in Political Governance (UN Women)
Contributed to the improvement of governance mechanisms, through increased women's transformative political participation in informal and formal systems.
Technical and vocational training opportunities for women in the Pacific (Australia Pacific Technical College)/span>
This project leveraged DFAT's existing partnership with the Australia Pacific Technical College, to provide technical and vocational training to women in the Pacific to increase and formalise their skills and open up employment opportunities.
Private Sector Development Initiative (Asian Development Bank)
This project focused on reducing barriers to women's economic empowerment, with a focus on formal market places.
Building Women Entrepreneurs – Building Nations (Pacific Islands Private Sector Organisation)
This project promoted women's economic empowerment in the Pacific Islands through a Women in Business Conference.
Pacific Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Women)
Supporting CSOs and governments to prevent violence and provide services for survivors of violence, including for counselling, paralegal aid, shelter and referral services. The Fund also builds the capacity of organisations working to end violence against women through training in advocacy, law reform, women's human rights, community education and counselling services.
UNICEF Pacific Child Protection Program (UNICEF)
Supporting governments in 14 Pacific Island countries to strengthen the protection of children from violence, abuse and exploitation.
Support to Pacific Community (SPC) Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT)
Funding to provide policy advice, technical support and training on human rights, elimination of violence against women, governance, democracy and the rule of law. Partners include governments, regional organisations and CSOs.
Partnering Women for Change (Uniting World)
Supporting work with churches to ensure that women, girls and people living with disabilities have increased safety and well-being in their homes, communities and churches.
Women's Crisis Centre Programs to Eliminate Violence against Women in Fiji and the Pacific (Fiji Women's Crisis Centre (FWCC))
The regional program funds FWCC's activities that have a regional focus, including: FWCC's Regional Training Program; the Male Advocates Program; and the Pacific Women's Network Against Violence Against Women.
Last Taboo Research (WaterAid, Burnet Institute and the International Women's Development Agency)
This research aims to undertake formative research in three Pacific countries (Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands) on barriers to women and girls' effective menstrual management, and potential impacts on their participation in education and income generation.
Improving women's leadership, political participation and decision-making in the Pacific (Australian National University, State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Program)
Conducting research that identifies the success factors and pathways to women's leadership and decision-making at political and community levels across the Pacific.
Support research on the relationship between women's economic empowerment and violence against women in Melanesia (Australian National University, State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Program)
Conducting research that covers PNG and the Solomon Islands and seeks to answer the question of how to empower women economically and improve their livelihood and security without compromising their safety (through increased violence from jealous husbands).
Pacific Women Support Unit
Funding the Support Unit which provides technical and administrative services to assist in the management of the Pacific Women program, including planning, delivery and monitoring of activities at the country and regional level, as well as research and communications.
Gender Adviser for the North Pacific (Pacific Community)
The Adviser supports the work of SPC's Gender, Culture and Youth Programme, and through DFAT's Post in Pohnpei, supports the implementation and monitoring of Pacific Women activities in the North Pacific.
Partnerships For Health and Rights: Working for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for all in the Pacific (International Planned Parenthood Federation)
Supporting the expansion of access to sexual and reproductive health services in Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Tonga.
Progressing Gender Equality in the Pacific (Pacific Community)
Conduct stocktakes and support for the strengthening of government capacity to integrate gender equality and women's empowerment into policies, legislation and programs and improve the collection and analysis of data to better track outcomes.
Women's Leadership Research (Developmental Leadership Program, La Trobe University)
Funding to the Developmental Leadership Program to undertake research on women's leadership programs at a community level in the Pacific and to assess how working politically and through coalitions can contribute to program outcomes.
Right to Decide: economic and social equality through children by choice (UNFPA)
This activity will design the pilot for a social marketing approach to accelerate the update of modern contraceptives in a selected country in the Pacific (excluding PNG), targeting 15-24 year olds. If successful, additional countries may be included.
Gender Equality and Climate Change in the Pacific
Supports the Protection and Pacific (ProPa) Network, established by government officials from Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu. The Networks mandate includes raising awareness of the nexus between gender equality and climate change, and generating more informed decision making in this space to ensure women's voices influence decision making, and that climate agreements implemented in a gender-responsive way in the Pacific.
Pacific Gender Research Scoping Study (University of the South Pacific, Fiji Women's Rights Movement, UN Women, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, Pacific Community, DFAT, and the University of Auckland)
Carried out a mapping and gap analysis to assess gender-responsive evidence-based research that has been undertaken on and by Pacific Island Countries. This project brought together research practitioners and academics from across the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand and resulted in recommendations to improve the quality of gender research carried out in the Pacific.
Pacific Multi-Country and Regional Assessment on Gender, Equity and Social Inclusion in Health (Consultant)
Conducted an assessment which provided a gender, equity and social inclusion analysis of DFAT's approach to health sector development to contribute to more effective partner dialogue in this area and better health-programming outcomes.
Review of programs aimed at ending violence against women in the Pacific (International Centre for Research on Women)
Conducted an independent review of six Australian-funded initiatives in the Pacific that represent different approaches to addressing violence against women.
12th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women (Government of Cook Islands)
Supported the Government of Cook Islands in hosting the Triennial and enabling women's groups to showcase and sell products.


This getting started uses a step-by-step approach to guide you through the getting started process. You can use the menu items on the right to browse through the step, or you can use the buttons below each step to move one step forward or backward.
To get started creating embedded software from Simulink models: use HANcoder.
First choose the controller for your project, for a quick prototype or robotics project we recommend the STM32 series development board from Olimex. If you need a more serious automotive spec. ECU, use either the Rexroth RC30 series or the Prodrive GCU. Check the get hardware page to see where to buy.
For getting started with the STM32 development boards follow the installation steps on this site, starting with Installing Matlab. Use the menu on the right of this screen for easy navigation.
Want to check what your program is doing or visualize and send data on a CANbus: use HANtune. This program was first developed to visualize and influence the software created with HANcoder. Nowadays it is also possible to use the program for receiving and visualizing data on the CANbus next to sending messages by using a simple interface which you can freely define. It is even possible to combine the two functionalities and check how a HANcoder program responds to a CAN message.


text:
Q: Remove Line in Pivot Chart for Blanks How do I get the forecast to not show the flat line in the past and also the actual to now show the flat line in the future?

A: I test on Office 365, to hide the line in Pivot Chart for blanks, please right click the Pivot Chart > Select Data > Hidden and Empty Cells > Gaps > OK > OK.
The following picture shows the display of Pivot Chart for my sample.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Spančevac (cyr. Спанчевац) – wieś w Serbii, w okręgu pczyńskim, w gminie Bujanovac. W 2002 roku liczyła 533 mieszkańców.

Przypisy

Miejscowości w okręgu pczyńskim

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Samsung launches 2TB external hard drive with eSATA
Features Auto Backup, SecretZone software and SafetyKey
Samsung Electronics has launched a new line-up of 3.5-inch external hard drives Story Station Plus, which it claims to feature an external serial ATA (eSATA) interface to allow faster data transfer. The 3.0-gigabit per second (Gbps) drives are available in up to 2-terabyte (TB) densities.
The company claims that the addition of the eSATA interface raises the data transfer speed of the Story Station Plus series by more than six-fold when compared with models using a USB 2.0 interface. Users can utilise either the 480 megabit per second (Mbps) USB 2.0 or the 3.0Gbps eSATA interface.
According to Samsung, the Story Station Plus line-up will also feature the company's low standby power design that reduces the standby power by 96% to 0.1 watts (W) from the conventional 2.5W. The reduced standby power level meets requirements for the forthcoming European Union EuP (Energy Using Products) Directive for Standby Regulation, effective January 2010.
The company said that the new 3.5-inch Story Station Plus external hard drive is available in densities ranging from 1TB to 2TB. It comes with an aluminum outer casing that not only provides a chic design but contributes to effective heat dispersion. In addition, the new series of hard drives feature Samsung Auto Backup for ongoing data preservation, SecretZone software for personal data encryption and SafetyKey for password protection.
H S Lee, vice president of storage marketing at Samsung Electronics, said: "Samsung new line of high-density solutions with the eSATA interface give users the speed they need for demanding tasks like photo and video editing, plus safely storing multimedia content libraries. The 2TB density Story Station Plus drive can store the data equivalent of 500,000 MP3 music files, 560,000 digital photo images, or 880 hours of high resolution video."
The Story Station Plus drives will be available globally by the end of November 2009. It comes with a three-year limited warranty and the 2TB version has a $299 MSRP.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOVtnj74ATA, can also be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM6f2VkkmZ0&list=PLF3VXonk-wHnAEJZzZdbTxi4TYH3uudaq.
This video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ0xejhPgeo, can also be seen at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBY7n-jabLZATwYcSkX2k2w.
This video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qxS5aekVyU, can also be seen at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQxL5MXBu1UICDG79aN_CUw.
This video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2BSrIdkgfI, can also be seen at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLNVfrEFLKP6AaumfhDAF-RzY0mkYcmlv.
This video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH5ekb9VF5E, can also be seen at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClf5y39oXfT9e4kROQQ2RvA.
This video, https://youtu.be/bKRHfv0Y0Ag, can also be seen at https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https://goo.gl/XPFdvF.
This video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1gb3jO3mlg, can also be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1gb3jO3mlg&list=LLOQ5B6jPjBR-uaESonpqMUw.
This video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdw8DHzWS_A, can also be seen at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmvN8iXpBKNRRdwo-Sd6j7A.
Video SEO Experts – How-to buy expert Video SEO services that work!
This video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByTEhbdZxds, can also be seen at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa1hedsdZqL7HbCC_KnP_sw.
This video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRmKV9FIAAk, can also be seen at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHchFcHPVJkpS5PzL3e9jMQ/featured.
This video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkXCuyXVixA&t=13s, can also be seen at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO1i2JmrYr2rgLa8vYRrnFg.


text:
PouringLight1-copy
The Basic Elements of Photography
Emily Burnham, Bangor Metro • December 15, 2017
Artist Caleb Charland talks about his creative process.
Caleb Charland, a Hampden native, is a world-renowned photographer — but not of people, or places, or real-life scenes in the world. Rather, he uses the basic elements of science and everyday visual phenomena to create vivid photographs of simple things like plants, lightbulbs, toys, glass, and metal. In one series of photographs, he used potatoes, citrus and apples to create "fruit batteries," to power little lights. In another, he used a long-exposure camera to take a photo of the stars moving in the sky. He flicked a lighter over 1,500 times to create a flaming ball of light. The result? Richly colored, deeply meditative, oddly compelling images of the natural world.
Charland, 36, lives and work in Brewer. His next show, "Shadows of Earth," opens Jan. 12 at the University of Maine Museum of Art in Bangor.
What are your earliest memories of being creative? As a kid, what inspired you?
I grew up in a DIY household, and that had a huge influence on me — seeing my dad construct things, learning how to use tools. That more pragmatic construction process was a big thing for me. My older brother draws and paints and teaches middle school art, now, and my uncle is a graphic designer, and my grandma painted. It was always around. I could never really draw well, though I always liked art class. I got a camera as a kid and I loved it. And then, when the Maine College of Art hosted classes at Hampden Academy, I took a photo class and really fell in love. I was always in the dark room.
How did you end up utilizing things like fruits and vegetables, chemicals, basic elements of the scientific process to create photographs? When did that become your preferred medium?
Photography is scientific, in a way. But you're capturing and recording things, not actually constructing something by hand, like you would if you were painting. I wanted to do that with photography. When I moved home to Maine, in between undergraduate and graduate [studies], I actually thought I might pursue medical radiology. I took a year of classes at EMCC and was learning all this science, and I was also working on the house with my dad, and I just think all of that really inspired me. And that's really where it started, just experimenting with those ideas and with photography.
When you're working, what do you do to stay in the right place, creatively? How do you keep your ideas and inspirations in order?
The past couple years, I've tried to do an hour-long walk in the morning, at like 6 a.m. It's like walking meditation. I think about procedures I'm going to do that day. I tinker a lot, too. I keep a sketchbook with project ideas in it. Actually, there's something I just worked on that's actually an idea from several years ago, and I'm just getting to it now.
Right now, I'm photographing leaves and plants. So I'll go to the library and start reading about plants … I've also got a show coming up at the University of Maine Museum of Art, and that's really exciting. It's been in the works for a long time. But really, I'm focused on making work. I'm taking it slow. I'm letting it breathe, taking my time.


text:
John Cooper appointed coach of Team Canada at the Beijing Olympics
Alan Binder
Canada Hockey League also revealed on Monday that Bruce Cassidy, Peter Debor and Barry Trotz will be its assistants as the country tries to reclaim its Olympic gold medal.
Cooper will soon begin his ninth full season as head coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning. He led the team to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2020 and 2021. He is the longest serving coach in the NHL.
He served as the coach of Team Canada at the 2017 World Championships, where he won the silver medal, as well as assistant coach with the North American team in the 2016 World Cup.
I have so many fond memories of the Olympics, whether I watched matches when I was young or was winning an unforgettable gold medal.
Quote from:John Cooper, Team Canada coach
I am happy to help create lasting memories for all Canadians when our team competes for the gold medal. , confirmed.
Canada won the Olympic gold in its last two appearances lifeNational Hockey League In 2010 and 2014. He won the bronze medal in 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, but the team was mostly made up of hockey players who play in Europe.
the lifeNational Hockey League It is still in talks with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to reach an agreement on the participation of its athletes in the Beijing Olympics. The schedule, revealed in late July, calls for a truce to allow players to travel to China.
Experienced assistants
Bruce Cassidy will make his international debut for the men's national team. Promoted to coach the Boston Bruins in 2017 after a season as an assistant. He began his NHL coaching career with the Washington Capitals in 2002-03, then worked as an assistant with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2005-06.
See also Warner Bros. After the backlash from the disability community
Bruce Cassidy
Photo: Getty Images / Maddie Meyer
Peter Debore was an assistant coach with the Canadian National Team at the Worlds in 2010, 2011, 2014, and 2015. He won the gold medal in 2015. He was named head coach of the Vegas Golden Knights midway through the 2019-20 season. Head coach in Florida, New Jersey and San Jose.
Peter DeBoer behind the bench at the Golden Knights
Photo: Reuters/USA Today
Barry Trotz represented Canada four times as an assistant coach at the World Championships, winning the gold medal in 2003 and silver in 2009. He also won the World Cup in 2016 as a coach, assistant coach for Team Canada. He is entering his fourth season as a coach for the New York Islanders, having coached the Nashville Predators (1998-2014) and Washington Capitals (2014-2018) for 15 seasons. In his final season in Washington, he led the Capitals to the first Stanley Cup in the organization's history.
DC coach Barry Trotz lifts the Stanley Cup in 2018.
Photo: Getty Images / Bruce Bennett
The Olympic team management group, unveiled in February, consists of General Manager Doug Armstrong, Assistant General Manager Ken Holland, and Deputy General Managers Ron Francis, Roberto Longo and Don Sweeney.
"Alcohol scholar. Twitter lover. Zombieaholic. Hipster-friendly coffee fanatic."
Light therapy speeds up recovery
Fires in Greece and Turkey | Panorama of the end of the world on the Greek island of Evia


Angry Robot will send Mistification direct.
Adele Blanc-Sec will go out straight away from here.
Afraid none of the other prizes are in yet, and a couple are not yet released, but I have chased them all up and will forward them immediately they arrive.
Please let us know if you enjoy the book/films -- or not!
Hurray! Mistification will follow on nicely from The Prestige, which I'm reading at the mo. And I loved Slights. Brilliant news, thanks.
The Sucker Punch Triple Play has arrived, forwarding now.
I shall look forward to the Devil's Rock.
And hopefully I'll remember to write something about what I think of it too!
The Hobos have arrived. Forwarding now.
Apparently there will be a slight delay with the Devil's Rock copies because of warehouse issues.
Attack the Block BD/DVD has arrived, forwarding now. Optimum are extremely reliable.
The Devil's Rock has arrived. Forwarding now.
Very happy to win The Devil's Rock; I am looking forward to watching it after talking to Paul Finch. Many thanks.


text:
<?php

namespace yii2mod\cms\models\search;

use yii\data\ActiveDataProvider;
use yii2mod\cms\models\CmsModel;

/**
 * Class CmsSearch
 *
 * @package yii2mod\cms\models\search
 */
class CmsSearch extends CmsModel
{
    /**
     * @var int the default page size
     */
    public $pageSize = 10;

    /**
     * @inheritdoc
     */
    public function rules(): array
    {
        return [
            [['id', 'status', 'comment_available'], 'integer'],
            [['url', 'title'], 'string'],
        ];
    }

    /**
     * Creates data provider instance with search query applied
     *
     * @param $params
     *
     * @return ActiveDataProvider
     */
    public function search(array $params): ActiveDataProvider
    {
        $query = CmsModel::find();

        $dataProvider = new ActiveDataProvider([
            'query' => $query,
            'pagination' => [
                'pageSize' => $this->pageSize,
            ],
        ]);

        $dataProvider->setSort([
            'defaultOrder' => ['id' => SORT_DESC],
        ]);

        $this->load($params);

        if (!$this->validate()) {
            return $dataProvider;
        }

        $query->andFilterWhere(['id' => $this->id]);
        $query->andFilterWhere(['status' => $this->status]);
        $query->andFilterWhere(['comment_available' => $this->comment_available]);
        $query->andFilterWhere(['like', 'url', $this->url]);
        $query->andFilterWhere(['like', 'title', $this->title]);

        return $dataProvider;
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Just a quick blog post and a warning.
I know some followers of this blog are following probably mostly because of my fitness goals/journey. That is fine.
Just in fair warning though when you get a notification reading that I have posted an update, and if it says anything else not related to fitness or the gym you might want to ignore it. Unless you want to know other stuff about me, my thoughts, other things/hobbies that I like, or my life then by all means read on.
This will be a short blog post, but it might be entertaining in itself anyway.
Last Friday, at about 2pm, I was so tired and I was not feeling well anyways that I tried the new Nintendo Switch console for five minutes because it had Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I mean I had been sitting on my Wii U copy of the new Zelda game for a few days and I dunno I saw something new and shiny and tried it. I did not know if I would have another shot again at trying it. I want to do a review on my experience because doing a full review on the machine itself is not a fair assessment.
Anyway, without even realizing it until the next day on Saturday around 11am I had just finished breakfast when I realized what I had just done. I was very upset with myself, but in hindsight I at least lasted ten days. Mom reminded me again I was not Catholic so it is not a big deal. But, it is a big deal because I set out to do something only be ruined in five minutes. So I guess I am back to playing video games. Well, there is always next year?


Aviation English for ICAO Compliance. By Henry Emery and Andy Roberts with Ruth Goodman and Louis Harrison. Cleared for Takeoff: English for Pilots, Books 1 & 2.... English course for Pilots and Air Traffic Controllers to achieve ICAO compliance at ICAO Level 4 and above. After receiving the results of the Placement Test purchase the required levels of ICAO Aviation English Online necessary to reach ICAO Level 4.
One of the many responsibilities of the captain is to communicate with the passengers. A good cabin announcement should be polite and professional and easy for the passengers to understand.
2008, English, Book, Illustrated edition: Aviation English : for ICAO compliance. [Student's book ] / Henry Emery & Andy Roberts with Ruth Goodman and Louis Harrison. [Student's book ] / Henry Emery & Andy Roberts with Ruth Goodman and Louis Harrison.


In November I'll be speaking at the annual Explore event at the Royal Geographical Society in London. There'll be a host of fantastic experts on hand giving advice about planning adventures and expeditions around the world. I'll be talking about ways to communicate your discoveries both while you're away as well as when you're back home.


text:
Camera catches woman's compassionate gesture for a cold stray dog
February 5, 2021 January 19, 2019 by Positive Outlooks
It is always easy to do the right thing when the whole world is watching. But the things that truly define us are what we do when no one is looking.
The integrity and character of a woman in Turkey has been tested when her sweet and kind gesture caught on camera went viral online. The compassion the woman displayed towards a stray dog even when no one was looking is inspiring a lot of people to show empathy to those who need it.
In a CCTV footage, a woman can be seen departing from what seems to be a coffee shop during a cold and rainy day in Zonguldak, Turkey. The woman opened her violet umbrella and was ready to go on her way when the stray dog curled up from the cold and rainy weather caught her attention.
For a few seconds, the woman stood still- perhaps she was thinking about what she can do for the poor stray dog. Thinking about the situation of the poor dog rather than her own comfort, the woman took off her scarf and laid it on top of the poor animal.
The kind and compassionate woman made sure that the poor dog was wrapped securely in her scarf before going on her own way.
The video may only have lasted for less than a minute. Yet its sweet message made a long-lasting impact to the hundred thousand people who have witnessed her compassionate action. In fact, the viral footage was shared numerous times, touching the heart of thousands!
"God sees these kind gestures even if most of the time the rest of the world does not. God bless this lady for her kindness." A Facebook user said, commending the lady for her kindness towards the dog.
"This made me cry!" Another Facebook user exclaimed, sharing how the footage made her feel for the poor dog and the helpful woman.
"You have to give love to receive! Thank you kind lady for your scarf!" Another Facebook user said, thanking the woman for her genuine kindness.
Among the 652k people who have watched the heartwarming footage was someone who recognized the identity of the kind woman. As it turned out, the honorable woman was no other than, Duygu Elma.
According to an interview with The Dodo, Elma said that she did not expect the overwhelming reaction of people towards her sweet and kind gesture. For the young lady, she couldn't do more for the dog, so offering her scarf seemed to be the right thing to do during that moment.
"I couldn't imagine that my actions would receive this attention. I'm very surprised about it," Elma shared in an interview. "The weather was so cold. I just couldn't take it when I saw him shivering."
Although Elma's encounter with the stray dog was only brief, the kindhearted girl has high hopes that other people would be looking out for his well-being. After all, her viral footage did inspire a lot of people to follow after her kind footsteps!
Watch the heartwarming video below and witness the selfless deed of a woman towards a stray dog during a cold and rainy day. May her kind gesture inspire us to always lend a helping hand to those who need it the most, even when no one is watching!


text:
Extreme Justice by William Bernhardt
Retired from law, Ben Kincaid is forced to return to the bar when a case—and a corpse—fall in his lap
After years of struggling, Ben Kincaid shuts down his small legal office and decides to make a living doing something that—compared to practicing law in Tulsa—is easy money: playing jazz piano. He buys a minivan to haul his gear, and gets steady gigs playing in a combo at Uncle Earl's Jazz Emporium. His new career is just starting to take off when a body falls from the Emporium ceiling, knocking the wind out of Kincaid and sending him right back to his old profession.
The dead woman is Cajun Lily Campbell, a grand dame of the Tulsa music scene and onetime girlfriend of Uncle Earl himself. And Kincaid must be careful as he readies the old jazzman's defense, because there is a killer on the north side of town who would like nothing more than to hear the piano player's last tune.
"Captivating. . . . Excellent and very believable." - Oklahoma City Oklahoman
"His best work to date." - Tulsa World
"William Bernhardt remains on a roll. . . . Well-written, well-researched, and captivating." - Daily Oklahoman


The Minnesota River Valley Strategic Plan (MRVSP) was approved by the City Council on January 25, 2016. A copy of the final approved plan is available for review or download in the tab below.
The Minnesota River Valley Strategic Plan (MRVSP) identifies several priority activities, including preparation of four more detailed system wide plans addressing natural and cultural resources, trails, signs, and maintenance. Detailed outlines of the proposed priority projects, including estimates of staff time and consultant assistance needed to complete each project, are included in Appendix C below.
The Minnesota River Valley Strategic Plan - FINAL PLAN is available for download below.
Several opportunities throughout the planning period were provided for members of the community to provide input on the project as listed below.
Public Hearings and Formal Review - Official action (approvals) were made at Regular Meetings, which members of the public attended and provided comments.
Project Web page was created on the City of Bloomington webpage: www.BloomingtonMN.gov (keywords: "MN Valley Plan") and a project e-subscribe list was created.
Community Open House #1 (July 31, 2014) – opportunity provided input on plan vision, goals, and initial concepts.
Community Open House #2 (June 17, 2015) - opportunity provided input on draft plan recommendations.
Updates presented at Study Meetings, which members of the public may attend, but no testimony is taken.
2014 Focus Groups - Summaries from focus group meeings are available in the Document Library tab.


The cell phone standard that dominates Europe is growing three times faster than Qualcomm's Code Division Multiple Access, challenging CDMA's hold on North America. Chris Pearson, executive vice president of mobile trade organization 3G Americas on Wednesday said North American use of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) standard increased 57 percent from June 2002 to June 2003. That's three times faster than the growth of Qualcomm's Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), which has dominated the North American market. He cited new cell phone market data from EMC, which publishes the EMC World Cellular Database.
CNET también está disponible en español, Don't show this again, Reports about exploding phones could add to the general unrest among some cell phone owners about the safety of the devices, Aside from occasional reports of melting phones, some scientists are debating whether radiation from certain models might cause cancer, Nokia issued a warning in February against using badly made or counterfeit replacement batteries in Nokia apple - iphone 7 smart battery case - black phones, which apparently was the cause of the August incident, according to the company..
But Oolders pointed out that the phone in Thursday's incident was still using its original battery. "It's not a good situation," she said. A consumer group charges that a Dutch supermarket employee is the second person to be injured by a malfunctioning Nokia phone in the past two months. Last Thursday, a supermarket employee in the Netherlands burned his legs when a Nokia handheld exploded in his pants pocket, according to Juliette Oolders of the Dutch consumer group Consumentenbond. Oolders said she believes the phone was one of Nokia's newer models, but could not be more specific. In August, a 33-year-old Dutch woman was injured when her Nokia phone exploded in her hands.
CNET también está disponible en español, Don't show this again, "Microsoft is trying to get as many vendors as possible, but it will be tough for them to get any other tier one vendors (outside of Motorola) since many of the big ones are supporting Symbian," Burden said, Larry Zibrik, product line manager at Sierra, said that Microsoft's Smartphone OS was an attractive option because of the familiarity information technology managers have with the software giant's e-mail Exchange system, "We wanted to hit a certain level of comfort for e-mail with IT managers," Zibrik said, apple - iphone 7 smart battery case - black "They are very familiar with Microsoft on the back end, because many of them are using Exchange, so we picked what fit our customer the best."..
Microsoft representatives were not available for comment. Burden said that if devices that use the Smartphone OS garner a consumer following, the operating system has a better chance of attracting larger phone makers. Motorola signed on to use Microsoft's Smartphone OS last month, shortly after announcing it would unload its 19 percent stake in Symbian, so that it would have more freedom to work with developers of other operating systems. Symbian is a smart-phone operating system owned by cell phone giants Nokia, Siemens, Panasonic, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, among others. Britain-based Symbian has the leading share of the smart-phone operating system market. Motorola is Microsoft's highest-profile handset partner to date.


Have you checked out the first two forgotten superfoods yet? If not, you might want to take a look. This series is all about the most nutritious foods no one ever eats anymore. These are foods you don't want to skip! A small serving daily will add so many nutrients to your diet.
Today, we are discussing a food I used to eat all the time. It's easy to throw into baked goods, shakes, or just sprinkle over yogurt or even salads. I'm talking about wheat germ.
Back in the 1970s, everyone knew wheat germ was a health food. We always had a jar in our fridge. But somewhere along the way, wheat germ was forgotten. I'm guessing most of the people reading this blog do not eat wheat germ.
But there are many good reasons to take another look at this superfood. The germ of the wheat is where most of the nutrients lie. If you eat white bread, or anything made from white flour, the nutrition (the germ and the bran) has been removed, leaving just the starch. Also the flavor and texture of the wheat has been removed. I happen to love the flavor of whole grain, as well as the texture.
The benefits of adding wheat germ to your diet include boosting the immune system, reducing factors associated with heart disease, preventing some types of cancer, and increasing athletic performance. Wheat germ is high in Vitamin E, folate, many B vitamins, potassium, iron, zinc, calcium, phosphorus, and selenium.
Raw wheat germ is best, as high heat will destroy the Vitamin E. But toasted wheat germ, which can be found in every grocery store, is better than nothing. Store wheat germ in the fridge to prevent the oils from going rancid.


NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Police are trying to figure out who is posting messages on Twitter threatening to carry out an Aurora-style shooting rampage at a Broadway theater.
Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said the NYPD subpoenaed Twitter to order the social media site to produce the account holder's information after the disturbing tweets were discovered by investigators.
The NYPD confirmed to CBS 2's Don Dahler late Tuesday the subpoena was issued and Twitter complied.
An anonymous poster claimed he plans to attack theater-goers attending the Spike Lee-directed play at the Longacre Theater in Midtown. The theater is where Mike Tyson's one-man show, "Undisputed Truth," is currently playing.
Making terroristic threats, even if there's no intent to actually go through with the threat, is a felony in New York.
"I might just shoot up this theater in New York," one tweet said.
"I'm serious, people are gonna die like aurora," said another.
"gosh i'm still making this hit list damn i wanna kill a lot of people," said a third.
That account is no longer visible on Twitter.
Investigators with the NYPD intelligence division discovered the Twitter threats late Aug. 3 and into the early morning of Aug. 4, Browne said.
Police said it was the specific mention of the Longacre Theater that set off alarm bells.
"You have two mass shootings now in short order," Browne told WCBS 880's Alex Silverman, referring to the July 20 shooting in Colo. and the more recent mass shooting of a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.
Twelve people were killed and 58 others wounded in the Colorado attack when alleged shooter James Holmes walked into an Aurora movie theater during a midnight showing of the new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises," and opened fire, police said.
Then on Sunday, seven people were killed, including the alleged gunman, and three others injured when police said Wade Michael Page started shooting inside a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis.
"We have somebody threatening a similar attack in New York, we want to know who that person is," Browne said.
Browne said police contacted Twitter using a system established by the social media site for emergencies, but said Twitter denied the request for the user's information claiming it didn't fall under the criteria of a serious threat.
Congressman Steve Israel issued a statement saying he was "extremely disappointed" that Twitter initially refused to release the information when originally asked.
"A threat to people's lives must always be taken seriously," Israel said.
As the investigation continues, the NYPD has vowed to protect this theater until, "they catch this guy," dispatching police officers and a heavily-armed Hercules unit to the evening performances.
Theater-goers CBS 2's Dahler spoke to Tuesday didn't seem as concerned.
"We're coming from Europe, so we noticed a lot of police officers on the street. It gives you the sense of security, I think, despite the threats. It'll be okay," said Mary Loanga of Paris.
"I think we're all more vigilant," added Glen Birmingham of Philadelphia.
"Why let the terrorists ruin the fun here in the good 'ole U. S. of A.?" said Carla Cwicker of Chicago.
WCBS 880 reached out to Twitter for a response, but the company said they would not comment on the issue. There was no immediate response to CBS 2's attempts to reach the social networking giant later in the day.
Twitter did, however, provide a link to their guidelines for law enforcement, which can be seen here.


text:
Q: Import Firebase data into android class I'm trying to Query Firebase data and store it into the Dinosaur class from the example link below. I have an issue when importing directly from Firebase into the Dinosaur Facts class. It's able to create the Query and enters the "onChildAdded" method. It then goes to the Dinosaur constructor class but crashes right after that.
DinosaurFacts facts = snapshot.getValue(DinosaurFacts.class); //CRASHES HERE

https://www.firebase.com/docs/android/guide/retrieving-data.html
Here is DinosaurFacts class
package jobsme.com.firebasequery;

import android.util.Log;

public class DinosaurFacts {
    long height;
    double length;
    long weight;

    public DinosaurFacts() {
        Log.i("MyActivity", "FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINDMEEEE2");
        // empty default constructor, necessary for Firebase to be able to deserialize blog posts
    }

    public long getHeight() {
        Log.i("MyActivity", "FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINDMEEEE3");
        return height;
    }

    public double getLength() {
        return length;
    }

    public long getWeight() {
        return weight;
    }

}
Here is the onCreate method in the MainAcitivity
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

    Firebase.setAndroidContext(this);

    Firebase ref = new Firebase("https://dinosaur-facts.firebaseio.com/dinosaurs");
    Query queryRef = ref.orderByChild("height");

    queryRef.addChildEventListener(new ChildEventListener() {
        @Override
        public void onChildAdded(DataSnapshot snapshot, String previousChild) {
            Log.i("MyActivity", "onChildAdded");
            DinosaurFacts facts = snapshot.getValue(DinosaurFacts.class);
            Log.i("MyActivity", snapshot.getKey() + " was " + facts.getHeight() + " meters tall");
        }

        @Override
        public void onChildChanged(DataSnapshot dataSnapshot, String s) {

        }

        @Override
        public void onChildRemoved(DataSnapshot dataSnapshot) {

        }

        @Override
        public void onChildMoved(DataSnapshot dataSnapshot, String s) {

        }

        @Override
        public void onCancelled(FirebaseError firebaseError) {

        }
        // ....
    });

    Log.i("MyActivity", "FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINDMEEEE");

}

The query is successful but the importing crashes. Hopefully that means I setup everything correctly?
Here's the log output:
12-11 16:48:37.793 5581-5581/jobsme.com.firebasequery E/AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
Process: jobsme.com.firebasequery, PID: 5581
com.firebase.client.FirebaseException: Failed to bounce to type
    at com.firebase.client.DataSnapshot.getValue(DataSnapshot.java:196)
    at jobsme.com.firebasequery.MainActivity$2.onChildAdded(MainActivity.java:45)
    at com.firebase.client.core.ChildEventRegistration$1.run(ChildEventRegistration.java:50)
    at com.firebase.client.core.view.EventRaiser$1.run(EventRaiser.java:37)
    at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:733)
    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:95)
    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:136)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5001)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:515)
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:785)
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:601)
    at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
 Caused by: com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.exc.UnrecognizedPropertyException: Unrecognized field "vanished" (class jobsme.com.firebasequery.DinosaurFacts), not marked as ignorable (3 known properties: , "weight", "length", "height"])
    at [Source: java.io.StringReader@52851428; line: 1, column: 33] (through reference chain: jobsme.com.firebasequery.DinosaurFacts["vanished"])
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationContext.reportUnknownProperty(DeserializationContext.java:555)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.std.StdDeserializer.handleUnknownProperty(StdDeserializer.java:708)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.BeanDeserializerBase.handleUnknownProperty(BeanDeserializerBase.java:1160)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.BeanDeserializer.deserializeFromObject(BeanDeserializer.java:315)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.BeanDeserializer.deserialize(BeanDeserializer.java:121)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper._readMapAndClose(ObjectMapper.java:2888)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper.readValue(ObjectMapper.java:2034)
    at com.firebase.client.DataSnapshot.getValue(DataSnapshot.java:192)
    at jobsme.com.firebasequery.MainActivity$2.onChildAdded(MainActivity.java:45)
    at com.firebase.client.core.ChildEventRegistration$1.run(ChildEventRegistration.java:50)
    at com.firebase.client.core.view.EventRaiser$1.run(EventRaiser.java:37)
    at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:733)
    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:95)
    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:136)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5001)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:515)
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:785)
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:601)
    at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

A: This is the JSON for one of the dinosaurs in that database:
"bruhathkayosaurus": {
  "appeared": -70000000,
  "height": 25,
  "length": 44,
  "order": "saurischia",
  "vanished": -70000000,
  "weight": 135000
},

The DinosaurFacts class you're using only has fields+getters for these properties: height, length, weight. So when the Firebase tries to deserialize the JSON into a DinosaurFacts object, it complains about the unmapped properties.
The simplest way to get rid of the error is by telling Jackson (which Firebase uses internally to map between JSON and Java) to ignore any unmapped properties it encounters in the JSON:
@JsonIgnoreProperties(ignoreUnknown = true)
public static class DinosaurFacts {

But be careful with this. If you now write a DinosaurFacts object back into the database, it will only have height, length and weight properties. It will not have: appeared, order or vanished. In fact: even if the properties did exist in the database before, writing this object back will delete them.
So the proper solution is to map all the properties from the JSON structure into the Java class:
public static class DinosaurFacts {
    long appeared, vanished;
    double height, length, weight;
    String order;

    public long getAppeared() {
        return appeared;
    }

    public long getVanished() {
        return vanished;
    }

    public double getHeight() {
        return height;
    }

    public double getLength() {
        return length;
    }

    public double getWeight() {
        return weight;
    }

    public String getOrder() {
        return order;
    }
}


Presumably following studies on whether bears really do defecate in the woods and to which religion the Pope actually pertains, The Greenling Institute in California has released a new report suggesting that expensive electric vehicles aren't benefitting communities of low income.
The new study, entitled "Electric Vehicles - Who's Left Stranded?" highlights the issue that the large majority of electric car and hybrid owners are white people with annual incomes of over $75,000. According to the Institute, 60 percent of California's population are non-whites and not as affluent, so the potential air quality benefits aren't as high as they would be with greater EV adoption.
Poorer people can't afford expensive things? GASP!
Last time we checked, the coins jingling around in our pockets weren't enough to buy a shiny new iPhone. It stands to reason that in order to buy something, you need sufficient income for it. In this respect, it's no more of a shock that less affluent people are unable to afford an electric car than it is they're unable to buy a brand new BMW, or a house in the Hollywood Hills.
Electric cars are still at the "early adopter" stage of the product lifecycle. They cost manufacturers a significant amount of money to research, develop and produce, and until consumers buy them in greater numbers, the cost remains high to remain commercially viable for carmakers.
Again - this is no more of a shock than it was that cellphones cost $5,000 when they arrived in the 1980s. We're willing to suspect that the first mobile phones were (shock!) also bought by wealthy individuals with no benefit to those less well-off.
Failing to understand that high-technology items are initially expensive is simply a poor grasp of basic economics and certainly nothing to do with consumers' color or background.
What became of the second-hand market?
...When brand new. There's a large used market for hybrid vehicles making them much more accessible to the less wealthy. The study quotes that although white Californians make up only 40 percent of the population, they own 70 percent of the hybrids. If non-white communities were as interested in hybrids and EVs as the study claims, used uptake would surely be much higher.
The statistics for electric cars are particularly misleading, anyway. Pure EVs are still incredibly few and far between by the standards of regular vehicles, and even more so in 2009, the year from which the report's statistics were taken. The sample size simply isn't sufficient to make accurate judgements from.
Awareness of incentives - is it really that low?
The study claims that knowledge of incentive information could be quite low amongst certain communities and this may be affecting the potential customer base.
Sites like GreenCarReports are doing their best to educate the consumer on the process of choosing, buying and running electric vehicles and hybrids. That means ensuring our readers know about the latest federal and state tax incentives, benefits such as free parking or use of HOV lanes, the cost of home charging, the availability of public charging points, and more.
This information is available freely on the internet, is widely available from the manufacturers of electric and hybrid vehicles, and tax incentives are widely publicized by the relevant federal and state departments. Anyone even remotely interested in an electric vehicle shouldn't have the excuse of being put off by lack of information.
"For consumers to be willing to purchase electric vehicles, they need to know about tax and other incentives, and have enough money to pay for the vehicles."
Yet Another Reason To Buy a Toyota Prius: Cheap Insurance!


This is the way that in our Golden Pages has been entered Biac Odit with address Stara Zagora, Sv. Knyaz Boris 110	and phone 088 8463909. The main activity of the company is Biac Odit is "Auditors". If you write by mistake the name of the company in latin characters, you will see	BIAC ODIT or BIAC ODIT. If you use phonetic or BDS layouts, you are probably searching for Biac Odit if you have entered BIAC ODIT	or BIAC ODIT.


text:
Cricket - World Cup
Cricket World Cup – Update
March 4, 2015 Bill LonerganCricket 2 Comments
Reality Bites for Ireland
Unless you're a student, insomniac or night shift worker, chances are you haven't had an opportunity to watch a great deal of the events unfold in Australia and New Zealand, over the last few weeks. Each team has reached the half way point in the tournament's group stages and as expected the pre-tournament favourites have, as good as, booked their places in the quarter finals.
New Zealand and Australia have proven extremely difficult to separate, indeed the Back Caps only overcame the Baggy Green by a single run, in a thriller in Auckland, last Saturday. Reigning world champions India, despite a winless winter in Australia, have come out of the blocks all guns blazing, destroying all before them, including the world's third ranked side, South Africa. To confuse matters further, South Africa responded to this embarrassing defeat, to the Indians, with demolition jobs on both the West Indies and yesterday morning, Ireland. England have been shambolic, Sri Lanka and the wondrous Kumar Sangakarra the latest side to make the founding fathers of cricket sigh in their graves. You could argue their tournament is playing out like a Greek tragedy but one wonders will there be any meaningful ending? Perhaps more like a farce then.
Ireland find themselves in about as good a position as they could have hoped for at this stage of the tournament, in terms of victories, having won both games before the humbling at the hands of South Africa. However Ireland's net run rate; as with everything in cricket, a more complicated equivalent of points for and against, except using runs; was damaged badly by the South African's free swinging batsmen and a dual demolition job of Ireland's top order by the world's number one ranked fast bowler, Dale Steyn, and the in form Kyle Abbott. Ireland actually got an early breakthrough but then succeeded to drop, Hashim Amla, South Africa and the world's second best batsman, on 10. Amla would go on to score 159, while his partner Faf du Plessis, also dropped on 19, added acid to the wound by scoring a century of his own, leaving Ireland with an unchaseable target of 412 to win. South Africa did not even need to rely on their imperious captain AB de Villiers, who though, while not a bowler, still managed to take a wicket yesterday. For those with even only a passing interest in cricket, watch this man bat before the World Cup ends. He has timing, style and power and as Lionel Messi appears to have a second longer on the ball, so the ball seems to come to de Villiers that little bit more slowly. Oh, and he's extremely destructive and fun to watch.
Ireland in response, buckled early, losing captain William Porterfield, and the heroes of the West Indies victory, Paul Stirling and Ed Joyce, when barely into the 20s. To their absolute credit Ireland's batsmen and particularly their bowling tail enders, stuck manfully to the unenviable task of damage limitation, taking Ireland from 48-5, potentially disastrous, to 210 all out, reasonably respectable. Unfortunately they came up against an incredibly talented juggernaut, who had been, completely unexpectedly, left for dead by India. You generally don't need to poke a bear too many times before he jumps up and devours you. India poked the bear, so the bear annihilated the next two teams he saw, West Indies and Ireland. Law of the forest or something like that. That blip aside, the South Africans have confirmed that they will be around for the business end of the World Cup. They have become the first international side ever to post 400 runs in consecutive one day (50 over) games.
Still, like Leicester City travelling to the Etihad Stadium tonight, these are not the games that Ireland, in all honesty, will have earmarked as winnable. Ireland's biggest game of the tournament arrives on Saturday, when they face a Zimbabwe side, who while themselves have only victory, managed to give considerably more problems to the South Africans, admittedly undercooked at the time, than Ireland did. However, this will be tempered by the fact that Zimbabwe completely blew it on Sunday against a Pakistan side who were absolutely reeling early in their innings, and even still posted a very meagre total of 235. Zimbabwe were well on course for victory before dramatically collapsing from 150-4 to 215, all out. Sunday's snatching of defeat from the jaws of victory means the Southern Africans are as good as gone from this World Cup.
Nonetheless, they are still, at least in the eyes of the International Cricket Council; a body dominated almost exclusively by Australia, England and India; superior to Ireland and more deserving of full test status. Saturday, therefore, provides the Irish with a fantastic opportunity to confirm their status as a top eight, or at the very least, top ten calibre side. The I.C.C. in their infinite wisdom, have decided to reduce the number of teams competing in the 2019 World Cup from 14 to 10. It is an idea that seems almost 'Blatteresque' in its construction. The game is expanding and reaching unprecedented levels of popularity outside of the traditional strongholds so, why reduce the playing pool?
There is a serious misconception that Associate nations such as Ireland, Scotland and Afghanistan dilute the quality of the tournament and create too many one sided contests. Unsurprisingly the Associate Nations have lost more games than the Test nations at this World Cup. But, for the most part, the really non-competitive games have just as often involved two of the perceived big guns. Indeed, the biggest defeat of the group stages was a 257 run hammering, inflicted by the now firing South Africa on West Indies. And, the most humiliating defeat was suffered, and I say this with such a heavy heart, by the Irish led England. Last Friday in Wellington, New Zealand were able to chase down England's paltry total of 123 within 12.2 overs, or to put it bluntly, with three quarters of their innings to spare. It seems the I.C.C. are considering a rethink for the 2019 tournament, which to their credit, at least, is more than the incompetents in F.I.F.A. seem willing to do, ahead of the shambolic Qatari World Cup. We'll keep an eye on any developments in this regard.
Captain Morgan on the Rocks
England's tournament continues to plummet into disarray. The comfortable victory over Scotland provided brief respite before Sri Lanka put them to the sword with remarkable ease on Sunday. England have made a catalogue of errors laughable enough to make even Father Ted Crilly seem competent. Their best batsman of the last ten year's, Kevin Pietersen, is providing television commentary on this World Cup, instead of playing because, well, he's deemed to be a prima donna, asshole. Granted, there's more to it than that but it seems incredible that England can't find some way to accommodate Pietersen, an incredibly gifted, game changing batsman. Sport, as we are all aware, is full of tricky characters. Surely managing these personalities is part and parcel of the, and there's a clue here, management side of the game. Unfortunately, things really are not getting any better for captain, Eoin Morgan. Completely out of form with the bat and with his tactical decisions being derided, he has now been further criticised in some quarters of the English media for not singing God Save the Queen, before English games. Why, oh why, would any English journalist get het up about a man born and bred in Ireland refusing to sing a song about how fantastic the Queen is? We don't do politics here on Straight Up Sport but, come on, that's just plain ridiculous.
Anyway, as a gesture of good will, we may have just devised a solution for the I.C.C. to do away with all this furore. Give Ireland full test status, grant us automatic entry to future World Cups and let our best players come home, to represent Ireland against the cream of world cricket. Then, England can return to blaming defeat on conservative coaching, sterile tactics and the use of average players, while the best English player of his generation watches from his couch. Not to blaming it on a man who won't sing a song that means absolutely nothing to him.
→ Louis van Gaal – Wrong Man in the Wrong Place
← Six Nations Review – Round 3
2 thoughts on "Cricket World Cup – Update"
gandor says:
The ICC are still going ahead with the reduced team format. The issue they're considering is whether to let England and Pakistan play off for a place!
Bill Lonergan says:
That just seems so counter productive. Is there a practical reason for omitting the Associate nations? Is it correct to say that India, in particular, see no financial benefit in playing Test cricket against the likes of Ireland or Afghanistan? And, because of this, among other reasons, Test status for Ireland is not actually a reality?


The Pennsylvania Land Title Association (PLTA) held its annual convention in historic Gettysburg, Pa., earlier this month and presented special awards to title professionals and a friend of the industry.
Philip S. Janny, CLTP, NTP was honored with the "Albert E. Pentecost Award," which is given annually to an individual who has made the greatest contribution to the association during the preceding year. Janny served as president of PLTA from 2011-2012, chair of the Lehigh Valley Chapter of the PLTA and served on many committees. He currently serves on the OnLine Notary Ad Hoc Committee, the Predictable Recording Fees Ad Hoc Committee, the Legislative/Judicial and Education Committees of the PLTA. He is also a member of the American Land Title Association, where he currently serves on the Government Affairs Committee. In 2017, he was appointed to ALTA's Online Notary Task Force.
Diana T. Sabol, CLTP was presented with the "James G. Schmidt Distinguished Service Award," which is given annually to that individual who has earned the recognition and respect of his/her peers for substantial service and contributions to the welfare of the land title industry. Over the years, Sabol has worked with many committees of the PLTA to improve and strengthen the industry. After serving as chairperson of the Planning Committee for four years and of the Convention Committee, she became an officer of PLTA. She served as its 2010-2011 president. She is currently the chair of the Southeastern Chapter of PLTA. She has also been an active member of the Association of Title Examiners for more than 20 years, serving as both its vice president and president.
William "Bill" W. Rice III has the special distinction of receiving an award created in his honor. The Pennsylvania Land Title Institute, the educational arm of PLTA, created the "Rice Award for Excellence in Education" in recognition of his many contributions to the institute. It also commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Pennsylvania Land Title Institute. Rice has the additional distinction of being the first title agent to serve as president of the PLTA in 1994. In 1978, he helped found the Pennsylvania Land Title Institute and he continues to this day to serve as a trustee.
Sandra Kirk, retired analyst manager from the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, was awarded the "Ronald W. Froggatt Friend of the Industry Award" for her contribution and betterment of the industry.