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Tag: saskatchewan
Infertile Ground
This week, the Conservative government in Ottawa nixed a $39 Billion takeover bid of Potash Corp by Australia-based BHP Billiton. Industry Minister Tony Clement broke his rhythm as he read a prepared statement in the foyer of the House of Commons reading his "Canada's open for business" preamble and then taking a deep breath and then delivering his verdict against foreign investment.
Economically, this shook the faith of fiscal conservatives. The Investment Canada Act mandates compulsory review of such foreign takeovers when they exceed $299 million in assets exchanged. But as fiscal conservatives can we be surprised when our ideas don't sprout when they have not taken root?
The blocking of the potash takeover put to shame our principle of free investment and our global reputation of being open to business. By the time Clement had finished speaking, it was front-page news on the Wall Street Journal's site. The blackberries of Ottawa-based consultant lobbyists buzzed with bewilderment from clients in Frankfurt. However, this wasn't a decision made in the broadest political context of global economic stimulus, it was one made in the more raw and narrow context of saving 13 Conservative seats in Saskatchewan. And by doing so, acting wholly unconservative.
Politically it was the right move, but it should not have been. More votes were saved in Saskatchewan this week than were lost on Bay street. Yet as with the stimulus, for Conservatives both in name and in principle, it ripped at our guts and gave us great pause as to what we're doing in Ottawa if not acting to advance rational objectives and liberal free-market principles.
Back in early 2009 when other developed nations doing it and spending at least two percent of GDP on government make-work projects, this government caved to peer-pressure and took a hit of illicit economic enhancing stimulus. In order to participate in the global pork project, Canada — while best-positioned to whether the global economic downturn — conceded by jumping into the sordid business of direct economic intervention in order to keep borders open to other countries (especially the US) who were looking at stimulus out of conceived necessity rather than as a go along. Indeed, if we had eschewed stimulus, our access to markets would have been closed to government projects in other countries. That 2% of GDP was rationalized by our government in Ottawa as a small price to pay for shelter from a global wave of protectionism that lapped at our shores and border. Yet, I have never heard my government discuss this concession to fiscal conservatives so plainly. But in turn, we fiscal conservatives also fail the governments we elect.
I've written before that parties and governments are only principled up to a point. By definition, a government must win a majority or at least a plurality of votes or seats to act. This week the government acted according to a majority of opinion where it counted as votes — in Saskatchewan. Eighty five percent of the residents of that province were firmly against the foreign takeover. As Conservatives with populist roots we should at least take comfort that provincial rights were respected. While acted as a central planner, the plan recognized provincial autonomy.
What should shock and concern us though is that a great number of Saskatchewans either thought that their government still owned the resource or that the majority of shares in Potash Corp were actually owned by Canadians. A Conference Board of Canada report held the sobering truth. For the knee-jerk economic nationalists, it was unknown that a majority of shares of Potash Corp were foreign owned. What should shock us further is that a great number of Canadians are not passionate about the free market principles that have brought more people out of poverty than any other miracle in our history.
These past couple of years have been jarring for a town filled with reporters that cover five news beats with an inch of depth and politicos that write policy on the fly between their stints in undergraduate and business school programs. From constitutional crises, to prorogation, from censuses to potash, if Wikipedia were a publicly traded company, the government would have already nationalized it as a "strategic resource". Hours before the announcement, many reporters were scrambling to justify their gut feeling that the government was about to go in the wrong direction on the file and approve the takeover. "Apparently potash is some kind of fertilizer made of salt," one remarked. "'Pawd-ash' not 'pot-ash' is how its pronounced," remarked another. When you pair understaffed newsrooms against an army of online amateur "experts" and professional rent-seekers willing to step into the void, you have a recipe for reactionary policy that grows like a weed.
The major communications challenge unmet by this government and by the movement that puts its hopes in the same is that the ground on important issues such as foreign-investment in potash has not been prepared; the studies sit on dusty shelves, the advocates recline unprepared or over-confident. In the new world of Facebook populism, where activism is made more broadly accessible, parties struggle to cultivate grassroots activism and observers sometimes fail to calibrate to measure the significance of an online uprising.
In recent memory, the government has only once prepared the ground for a key showdown on a contentious issue: the long-gun registry. But as for other issues that matter, policy has only been jarringly announced and clumsily if not sparsely advocated. And still, the government is but one megaphone for conservative issues. If conservatives want to see their values implemented in any government (whatever its name), a government that can only a plurality of votes, we must also prepare the soil.
Globally, conservatives must entrench free-market principles as the de facto standard. If protectionists were political pariahs, parties in various countries would compete over who could make the economy freer, not who could protect and reclaim the most from foreign investment. My pride in Canada should be its openness to investment and international growth, not its stagnation for the sake of the failed practice of economic nationalism. Yet, our principles cannot exist in a vacuum; our ideals face competition from special interests. Conservatives cannot believe that government should be small and with limited influence while investing their hopes on it to make transformational change. Our challenge is greater than any government; we have a lot of soil to till because until then our ideas cannot sprout in infertile ground.
Posted on November 4, 2010 Categories ColumnsTags brad wall, conservative movement, conservative party of canada, economic literacy, foreign investment, potash, saskatchewan, tony clement
Potash decision expected today
Industry Minister Tony Clement will make a decision on the government's power to block the sale of Potash Corp by Australia-based BHP Billiton later today when markets are closed in Canada and Australia – between 4:30pm and 7pm EST.
From discussions that I've had over the past week, I've learned that it is expected that the Minister will likely not block the takeover, however, if the takeover goes ahead, strict conditions of sale will be in place which may include promises to invest in infrastructure funds, heritage funds and the like.
Politically, this puts a few federal Conservative MPs in a shaky spot as 85% of their fellow Saskatchwans have expressed concern over the foreign takeover. Conservative-leaning Premier Brad Wall has already read the tea leaves and has come out strongly against the deal.
The decision comes on the heels of a bit of a scatter approach by Industry Canada under this federal Conservative administration when it comes to foreign influence in the Canadian marketplace. Radarsat-2 was blocked for sale by former Industry Minister Jim Prentice, citing the national interest, yet the Amazon and Wind Mobile decisions have suggested a openness to foreign investment in the highly regulated culture and telecommunications sectors.
If Minister Clement announces today that Potash Corp. is ready for sale, it will signal that Canada is open to business and open to foreign investment in the natural resources sector. In a time where this government has fought foreign protectionism due to the global economic collapse of 2008, this will further indicate that the Harper government is not simply paying lip service and lecturing other countries on the same. The liberalization of markets and business is a positive step forward as the global recovery has taken longer than projected. The election of a free-trading Republican House of Representatives and Senate now susceptible to filibuster also helps this cause.
As for today's decision, the Investment Canada Act stipulates that the Minister must first inform the BHP Billiton of his decision. Until the company makes the decision public the government will be able to comment according to the law.
UPDATE: SHOCKER. Minister Clement determines that BHP Billiton's bid does not provide a net benefit to Canada.
A very disappointing decision economically in my opinion. Politically it is the safe decision as it will save more votes in Saskatchewan than it will lose from investors. However, sometimes you just hope your government will do the right thing.
The government's decision is "No" to BHP, however, the world's largest mining company now has 30 days to revise its bid. This is largely a formality under the Act and a takeover of Potash Corp by BHP is not exactly viable after today.
It was widely expected among Ottawa Conservatives that while the Minister was in a tough position on the potash file, the heightened heat exchanged (and subsequent chill) between the Premier's office and the PMO indicated that the deal was to be done and that it would be done on the principles listed above.
Posted on November 3, 2010 Categories OtherTags foreign investment, potash, saskatchewan, tony clement
New Senators
Newfoundland and Labrador – Fabian Manning
Nova Scotia – Fred Dickson, Stephen Greene, Michael L. MacDonald
PEI – Mike Duffy
New Brunswick – Percy Mockler, John D. Wallace
Québec – Patrick Brazeau, Suzanne Fortin-Duplessis, Leo Housakos, Michel Rivard
Ontario – Nicole Eaton, Irving Gerstein
Saskatchewan – Pamela Wallin
British Columbia – Nancy Greene Raine, Yonah Martin, Richard Neufeld
Yukon – Hector Daniel Lang
UPDATE: Here is the backgrounder from the Prime Minister's Office
LIST OF NEW SENATORS
Fabian Manning has dedicated his career to serving Newfoundlanders and Labradorians at all three levels of government. A three term councilor in the town of St. Brides, Mr. Manning served as coordinator for the Cape Shore Area Development Association for three years. Mr. Manning would go on to win three elections to the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly as the representative for Placentia – St. Mary's. Mr. Manning was subsequently elected as Member of Parliament in the federal constituency of Avalon in the 2006 Federal Election campaign. Mr. Manning would go on to chair both the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans as well as the Conservative Government's Atlantic caucus.
Fred Dickson, QC is both one of Nova Scotia's most respected lawyers and one of Canada's top legal experts on offshore resource development. Mr. Dickson is counsel with the law firm of McInnes Cooper. Mr. Dickson has advised the federal and provincial government's on numerous resource and infrastructure projects, including serving as an advisor to the Government of Nova Scotia during the singing of the 1982 and 1985 Canada / Nova Scotia Offshore Oil and Gas Agreements. Mr. Dickson remains active in these files as a Director of the Offshore / Onshore Technologies Association of Nova Scotia and Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships.
Stephen Greene has political and policy experience at both the federal and provincial levels. Mr. Greene served as Chief of Staff in the Leader's Office of the Reform Party of Canada from 1993 and 1996 during which he helped manage the opposition response to the national unity and fiscal issues of the day. He went on to work as the Executive Director of the Insurance Brokers Association of Nova Scotia. For the past two years he has served as Principal Secretary and Deputy Chief of Staff to Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald with wide responsibilities to help the Premier administer an effective government for all Nova Scotians.
Michael L. MacDonald is a Nova Scotia businessman who since 1988 has been the owner and President of Fleur de Lis Motel Ltd. Mr. MacDonald had previously served terms as executive assistant to two federal cabinet ministers and the premier of Nova Scotia. A graduate of the University of King's College and Dalhousie University, Mr. MacDonald has been an activist and volunteer with the federal and provincial Conservative parties since university, and is presently Vice-President of the Conservative Party of Canada and a two-term representative for Nova Scotia on the party's national executive. A native of Louisbourg, Mr. MacDonald is a long-time resident of Dartmouth where he resides with his wife and two teenaged sons.
Michael Duffy is one of Canada's most well known and respected news personalities and the current host of CTV's daily program, Mike Duffy Live. Mr. Duffy joined CBC Radio News in 1974, switched to CBC TV's "The National" in 1978, and joined CTV in 1988. He is a member of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Mr. Duffy is involved in a number of charitable activities both in Ottawa and in his home province, including the UPEI Building fund, and the current Holland College Foundation Fundraising campaign. He has been a visiting fellow at Duke University; and has been twice nominated for the "Best in the Business" award by the Washington Journalism Review. Mr. Duffy has received many other awards and citations, and honourary degrees from the University of PEI; from Niagara University in Niagara Falls, NY; and from Wilfrid Laurier University in Brantford.
Percy Mockler has been a long-time MLA in the New Brunswick legislature since he was first elected in 1982. During his time in the provincial legislature, Mr. Mockler served in a number of portfolio's including Minister of Wellness, Culture and Sport, Solicitor General and Minister of Human Resources Development and Housing. Mr. Mockler is a former advisory member for trade opportunities strategy with the federal Department of External Affairs. He has also been active in community affairs as treasurer of local fish and wildlife associations, a director of the caisse populaire, and as a member and chair of his local school board.
John D. Wallace was born in Rothesay, NB and had a distinguished law career in St. John. Most recently, he served for 7 years as Partner/Counsel at the law firm of Stewart McKelvey. Previously he had been Corporate Counsel for Irving Oil Limited and a Partner at Palmer, O'Connell, Leger, Turnbull and Turnbull. Mr. Wallace continued his community service after retiring from law. He is a Member of the University of New Brunswick Board of Governors, the St. John Imperial Theatre Capital Campaign Cabinet and the New Brunswick Symphony Steering Committee. Mr. Wallace was the Telegraph-Journal Male Newsmaker of the Year in 2002 and became a recipient of the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal in 2003.
Patrick Brazeau is a member of the Algonquin Nation and a citizen of the Indian reserve of Kitigan Zibi, near Maniwaki, Quebec. A champion of the rights of Aboriginals, in 2006, he was chosen as the National Chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples. He used this forum to promote the economic and social development of Aboriginals, especially those who live off-reserve. Mr. Brazeau has a black belt in karate and was a member of the Naval Reserve on HMCS Carleton, in Ottawa.
Suzanne Fortin-Duplessis was born in Chicoutimi and studied at the École des Beaux-arts de Québec and at Laval University, where she obtained a bachelor's degree in visual arts and a certificate in college education. She was a teacher at the regional school board Louis-Fréchette. In 1981, she became the first woman to be elected to the Municipal Council of the City of Sainte-Foy. She became active in federal politics and was elected as the MP for the riding of Louis-Hébert from 1984 to 1993. Ms. Fortin-Duplessis has always been involved in the community. During her career, she was a member of the board of the Alzheimer Society and the Fondation de l'Opéra de Québec, and she is a member of the Laval hospital and the Saint-Sacrement hospital foundations. More recently, she was a volunteer for the International Eucharistic Congress.
Leo Housakos was born in Montreal and studied at Cégep Vanier and at McGill University, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in arts, with a major in political science and history. In 1993, he co-founded the Montreal Hellenic Chamber of Commerce and is currently a Director of Via Rail Canada.Throughout his business career he has held important management positions in several companies, including Quadvision Consultants and Terrau. Mr. Housakos is married and is the father of two children.
Michel Rivard studied in Quebec City and spent the most part of his professional life in public administration. He was President of the Corporation des maîtres entrepreneurs en réfrigération du Québec, then Mayor of Beauport from 1980 to 1984. Mr. Rivard was director of a number of organizations, and was President of the Executive Committee of the Communauté Urbaine de Québec. In 1994, he was elected at the Assemblée nationale as the MNA for Limoilou. He was Regional Delegate for the region of Quebec and parliamentary Assistant of the Minister responsible for the region of Quebec.
Nicole Eaton has devoted much of her life to serving her community in varying degrees through her participation and leadership in a number of charitable organizations, foundations and the arts. Presently she is Director and Vice-Chair of St. Michael's Hospital Foundation, Director and Vice-Chair the National Ballet of Canada and Chair of the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. Previously, Ms Eaton has served in varying capacities on a number of other organizations, including the Royal Ontario Museum, the George R. Gardiner Museum, the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair and the Stratford Festival of Canada. Ms Eaton is also a columnist for the newspaper the National Post and is co-author of two publications.
Irving Gerstein, C.M., O. Ont is a businessman and corporate director. A Member of both the Order of Canada the Order of Ontario, Mr. Gerstein has been involved in politics for over 40 years, including service as Chair of the Conservative Fund Canada. He is an Honorary Director of Mount Sinai Hospital (Toronto), having previously served as Chairman of the Board, Chairman Emeritus, and a director over a period of twenty-five years. He is a director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and a former Chairman of the Young Presidents Organization. Mr. Gerstein graduated from the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce, University of Pennsylvania, and attended The London School of Economics.
Pamela Wallin, O.C., S.O.M is an award winning journalist whose career stretches back more than three decades. Ms. Wallin is most recognized from her time at CTV where she co-hosted Canada AM and later served as CTV's Ottawa Bureau chief. Ms. Wallin would subsequently form her own production company Pamela Wallin Productions Inc. Ms. Wallin has remained active in public life as Chancellor of the University of Guelph and Senior Advisor on Canada-US relations to the President of the Americas Society and the Council of the Americas. In 2007, Prime Minister Harper appointed Ms. Wallin to the Independent Panel on Canada's Future Role in Afghanistan. Ms. Wallin has agreed to step down as Senator and submit her name as a candidate when Saskatchewan holds its first legislated Senate election.
Nancy Greene Raine, O.C., OBC was Canada's female athlete of the last century by the Canadian Press and Broadcast News. She won gold and silver medals in alpine skiing at the 1968 Grenoble Olympics and overall World Cup titles in 1967 and 1968. Her total of 14 World Cup victories (including the Olympics) is still a Canadian record. During her nine-year career Nancy won a total of 17 Canadian Championship titles. Since retiring from active competition, she has worked to promote the sport and was instrumental in the early development of the Whistler-Blackcomb Resort. Since 1994 she has been Director of Skiing at Sun Peaks Resort and since 2005 she has been Chancellor of Thompson Rivers University. Ms. Green Raine is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a member of both Canada's Sports Hall of Fame and Canada's Walk of Fame.
Yonah Martin has deep roots in both Korean and Canadian heritage and has spent her life building bridges between different cultural communities in BC. Born in Seoul, South Korea, before immigrating to Canada 1972, Ms. Martin is the co-founder of the Corean Canadian Coactive (C3) society and has served on the Multicultural Advisory Council of BC, the Vancouver Korean Canadian Scholarship Foundation, the Kateslem After School Club and the Coquitlam Festival Planners Network. Ms. Martin has also been active in political life as a candidate in the constituency of New Westminster-Coquitlam. In 2004 Ms. Martin received 'Spirit of Community' award for her service in the Tri-Cities Area.
Richard Neufeld has spent close to two decades in public service to the people of British Columbia. First elected to represent the riding of Peace River North in 1991, Mr. Neufeld has been re-elected on three separate occasions. Since 2001 Mr. Neufeld has served as British Columbia's Minister of Energy Mines and Petroleum Resources. Mr. Neufeld has also served as the on the council of Fort Nelson, including five years as mayor. Prior to his involvement in public life, Mr. Neufeld owned and operated his own business.
Hector Daniel Lang has made the Yukon his home for more than 50 years. Born in 1948 in Dawson Creek, BC, he moved with his family to Whitehorse where he completed high school, and later attended the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. First elected to the Yukon Legislative Assembly in 1974, Mr Lang served 5 consecutive terms, retiring from the legislature in 1992. Over the course of his 18 years in elected office he was responsible for numerous Ministerial portfolios and later served in the opposition. Since 1992, Mr. Lang has worked as a Sales Associate in the Yukon Real Estate industry. Active in community affairs, he is currently the Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors for Yukon College. He has four children and three grandchildren, who reside in Whitehorse. Mr Lang presently lives in Whitehorse with his partner Valerie Hodgson, a local artist.
Posted on December 22, 2008 Categories OtherTags Appointments, british columbia, fabian manning, fred dickson, hector lang, irving gerstein, john wallace, labrador, leo housakos, michael macdonald, michel rivard, mike duffy, nancy greene, new brunswick, newfoundland, nicole eaton, nova scotia, Ontario, pamela wallin, patrick brazeau, percy mockler, prince edward island, Quebec, richard neufeld, saskatchewan, senate, stephen greene, suzanne fortin-duplessis, yonah martin, yukon


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Aciphylla divisa är en flockblommig växtart som beskrevs av Thomas Frederic Cheeseman. Aciphylla divisa ingår i släktet Aciphylla och familjen flockblommiga växter. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Flockblommiga växter
divisa

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Q: How to create Gdiplus::Bitmap from CDC I am trying to create a Gdiplus::Bitmap from a device context. The function I use is:
Bitmap bitmap((HBITMAP)myDC.GetCurrentBitmap(), (HPALETTE)myDC.GetCurrentPalette());

...but when I draw the bitmap on the screen, all I see is a black rectangle. I think I'm using the Bitmap constructor wrong, because in docs it's written:

Do not pass to the GDI+ Bitmap::Bitmap constructor a GDI bitmap or a
  GDI palette that is currently (or was previously) selected into a
  device context.

But I have no idea how to go around this. Another approach I tried is using:

To capture the preexisting image from a window, a Windows Graphics Device Interface (GDI) function such as BitBlt() or StretchBlt() would have to be used to copy the image from the screen to a memory bitmap. This memory bitmap could then be used in the overloaded Bitmap constructor, which takes an HBITMAP as a parameter.

But I couldn't achieve this either.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Coober Pedy Regional Times
Regional Newspaper South Australia
GRANTS – FUNDING
MINE RESCUE/SES NEWS
COOBER PEDY News & Events
FLOOD WATERS FROM QUEENSLAND MOVING INTO KATI THANDA-LAKE EYRE
By Coober Pedy Regional Times on April 26, 2019 • ( Leave a comment )
Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre at sunset – Photo: Wayne Borrett
Manager of the Opal Inn Hotel & Motel in Coober Pedy Tony Pallotta said this week, "Water coming into Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre is a great boost to our region."
"We are currently experiencing an influx of visitors, many of whom plan to take that once in a lifetime trip from Coober Pedy to see Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre as it begins to fill with water."
"Historically Lake Eyre has filled up around 4 times each century to date, and due to the recent floods in Queensland the Lake and the desert will once again come to life during 2019."
"Those who had Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre on their bucket list will not be disappointed as the water is beginning to flow in now and already attracting birds for the next breeding season," said Mr. Pallotta.
Wayne Borrett of Arid Areas Tours, a local business in Coober Pedy that takes tours across to the Lake said, "The water flowing in from Queenland is coming from the north, and hasn't reached the Southern end of the Lake yet.
"Although it is beautiful to go and visit Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre, the water is not visible from Halligan Bay as yet.," said Wayne.
"Currently the best way to see the water is to take a scenic flight across the lake either from Coober Pedy or from William Creek", he said.
"The Desert Cave Hotel in Coober Pedy, also owned by the Coro-Group is experiencing similar bookings in that many people traveling north this Easter are heading towards the Lake rather than say Ayer's Rock or even Darwin," Tony Pallotta continued.
"Visitors staying at our venues over Easter say they are hoping to catch a glimpse of native animals such as emus, kangaroos and dingoes in their natural environment. The abundant supply of water at the creeks around the Lake will be an attraction for them."
"For those driving, the trip to Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre is around 265 km. On the way across there is a camping ground at Coward Springs and also at Muloorina Station Bore," concluded Mr. Pallotta.
Categories: COOBER PEDY News & Events, GENERAL News
FLYING HEADSPACE TO DELIVER SERVICES FROM MARREE & OODNADATTA
$2,375,000 FOR NEW COMMUNITY TRANSITION AND LEARNING CENTRE NEAR COOBER PEDY
Published by Coober Pedy Regional Times
South Australian Outback/Regional Newspaper and Community Forum Copyright material - disclaimer applies	View all posts by Coober Pedy Regional Times
FAULTLINES WEAVING THEIR WAY ACROSS SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA
Coober Pedy Regional Times on Facebook
ICAC: TWO ARRESTED IN ALLEGED PROCUREMENT CORRUPTION
SEWAGE PROBLEMS AT COOBER PEDY AS TOURISTS FLOCK TO THE ROCK (ULURU)
POLICE ALERT: DO YOU RECOGNISE ANY OF THESE ITEMS SEIZED AT PORT AUGUSTA?
'BAND-AID' FIX FOR PUBLIC SAFETY AT COOBER PEDY MOTEL ENTRANCE – 'UNDERWHELMING'
TAFE SA TO MAINTAIN PRESENCE AT COOBER PEDY, ROXBY DOWNS, WUDINNA & OTHER CAMPUSES
RESCUE MISSION TO BRING BOX OF FOSSIL BONES BACK TO LIFE
STUART HIGHWAY LANDING FOR THE ROYAL FLYING DOCTOR AIRPLANE
MAN ARRESTED FOLLOWING FATAL STABBING AT COOBER PEDY
EXTREME TOWN COOBER PEDY
COOBER PEDY AREA SCHOOL
COOBER PEDY SAINTS
COPLEY/FLINDERS News & Events
FAR NORTH News & Events
INDIGENOUS NEWS
MINTABIE/MARLA News
OODNADATTA News & Events
OPAL Industry Australia
PROMINENT HILL News
WILLIAM CREEK News & Events
Top categories: GENERAL News far north

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Stay and fight: Why socialists should stick with Labour
May 30, 2015 Ben SellersActivism, Anti-Austerity, Bennism, Campaign Group, Campaigning, CLPD, Grassroots Activism, Labour left, Labour Party, New Labour, Red Labour, Tony Benn 2 Comments
When I read Michael Chessum's piece in the New Statesman, I felt the immediate need to respond. Not because I was outraged, but because I think he has hit on a crucial debate about where the Labour left have been and where we go next. I'm sure that virtually every socialist in the party has wondered whether it's worth sticking with the party in recent years. Who cannot have thought about what might lie on the other side as Labour MPs failed to oppose something as basic as the Workfare Bill? Looking further back, even more made the leap after Iraq, and while some have made the return journey since, party membership is 'on notice' for many of these returnees. As socialists, our loyalty to the Labour Party isn't down to a kind of misplaced tribalism, as many of our critics would have it, but is contingent – based on our experience and a carefully considered strategic judgement of where we are of most use. It has to be up for debate, though, and as Michael rightly points out, the idea that socialists are best positioned in the Labour Party has been challenged again by the 2015 election – with a dramatic implosion of Labour's support in Scotland and a steady chipping away of Labour's traditional support in the former heartlands of the North East, North West and Wales. Alongside the Collins Review, which has sown the seeds for a potential break in the organic link between the trade unions and the party, we are clearly a further step down the line to a free-floating, Democratic-style party, despite the brief and fairly superficial optimism of Ed Miliband's tenure and the accompanying (cautious) leftward shift on policy. So Michael is right to urge another review of our position and it is up to us, on the left of the party, to make the argument for staying.
Firstly, I think we have to be honest and analytical about how we have arrived in this position. Many analyses of the Labour left's position treat it as an innocent victim of circumstances. That is understandable. Since New Labour's inception, we have been faced with a seemingly unconquerable 'machine' – well-resourced, organised and ruthlessly efficient. However, New Labour's conquering of the party apparatus, the Parliamentary Labour Party and the leadership didn't happen by magic. It was preceded by a period of deep disillusionment and flight by the left, who immediately prior to the Kinnock-Blair purging of party democracy, were in their strongest position for many decades. What happened? This isn't really the place to go into the detail of the Bennite movement in the party, but there seems to have been a fragility about it which we maybe haven't explored enough. In any case, what is clear is that from that point in the late 1980s, the Labour left appeared like a rabbit caught in the headlights. While some continued to plug away at internal party battles and the democratisation of the party via CLPD and the Socialist Campaign Group, the majority despaired, and previously active Labour Party socialists became members in name only. Many others left at this point to join the Socialist Alliance, myself included – which hardly helped (I'm exercising self-criticism here). The point is, that at no point was there a united, collective, strategic opposition to Blairism in the party – and the New Labourites, never ones to look a gift horse in the mouth, consolidated their power by dominating moribund CLP's and winning selection and selection at a canter. It was like taking sweets from a baby.
So much for the history of it. What about now? Why have we got to this crisis? Well, twenty years on from that pivotal point between 'Old Labour' and 'New Labour', we still haven't learnt our lesson. There are still socialists in the party – of that there is no doubt. We don't know enough about why, but it is clear that many are still members in name only, clinging on to their party cards in the "hope" that something will change. They still get angry at the leadership, exasperated at the lack of democracy and now have more opportunity to voice that discontent via social media. But our numbers are smaller and the numbers of active socialists in the party are smaller still. Despair, once again, has set in – if it ever went away. The familiar story goes like this: we've been stitched up; those Blairites, they can't be beaten; look at our leadership – how can we stick around and endorse that. What is missing is any sense that the left has contributed to this. Of course, it's an attractive idea, to say that we've given it a good go and now it's time to move on to other projects. Who can't be seduced by a fresh start and greener grass – but that is based on the assumption that we have tried and failed. Have we? Really? Maybe a tiny activist core – but once again, there has been no sustained, strategic approach to coalition building within the party, to challenging the Blairites over selections and to shaking things up in our CLPs. Where that has happened, it has been sporadic and normally led by the unions – but many ordinary party members, socialists included, have sat back and let this happen around us. This is not to individualise blame – and neither is it about berating good people for "not doing enough". Of course, it's a natural reaction to withdraw when faced by such seemingly overwhelming odds, but we do need to take collective responsibility if we are going to turn this situation round.
But should we even bother? The ground is changing, isn't it? Maybe we're just clinging onto the wreckage. This is what Michael seems to be arguing. It is true that socialists tend to stick to tried and tested means and only realise far too late that the world has moved on. To me, there are three main arguments against leaving the Labour Party and starting again:
Firstly, Michael puts an awful lot of store by the prospects of a Unite split from the Labour Party. Agreed, that would change the landscape considerably, but there's ample evidence that it won't happen like that – and there's an argument that a right-wing shift in the leadership of the party might nudge Unite and others in the direction of serious alliances with the party left at grassroots level. Our society appears to be in turmoil, with the old certainties disappearing quickly. That leads us to think that institutional change can and will come quickly too, but trade unions are by their nature not risk-takers, and the main unions will stick to Labour while there is a chance that they can influence the leadership and the policy of the party. If a Progressite were to win the leadership, that again might shift the situation considerably, but (a) I don't think that will happen and (b) it won't inevitably lead to a split – after all, the big unions stayed in during the Blair years and were in some cases the biggest cheerleaders. Even where the leadership has changed, and talks more of a left game, the organisation is fundamentally the same.
Secondly, he talks about the left turning outwards towards grassroots campaigning, and how that might reinvigorate those campaigns and the Labour left itself. Of course that is important. Only during the Bedroom Tax protests did we see large numbers of Labour Party members out on the streets. But that will only take us so far. We have to take the campaigning inside CLPs, not just to mobilise a sleeping membership, but to challenge the depoliticisation and anti-democratic nature of many local parties. This is some challenge, but it is something which has almost disappeared from the armoury of the Labour left during the last two decades. Where we have seen a tentative resurgence in campaigning CLPs, they have quite often managed to secure the selection of solid, left-wing candidates (witness the anti-austerity letter signed by 10 new Labour MPs). Again, I absolutely agree – without that 'revolution from below' in the party, we are just treading water, but with a well thought out and executed organising strategy within the party, "fading" away is not an inevitability. But we can't expect to change the Labour Party without taking part in the Labour Party.
Thirdly, the elephant in the room. I'm talking about our good friend, the dysfunctional 'outside' left. I very much don't mean that in a name-calling, derogatory way. I've been honest about the Labour left's deficiencies, but I think it's equally important to point out that the British left outside of the Labour Party has not offered a coherent, credible alternative to the Labour Party at any point in the last thirty years. From the Socialist Alliance, the Socialist Labour Party, Respect right through to TUSC – not a single initiative has taken off in what have been incredibly favourable conditions for the building of an alternative workers party. Having tried my hand outside the party, I'm now almost convinced that they are not capable of building that alternative. That is what marks us out from Greece or Spain – we have, for historical reasons, been landed with a left that works in silos, which is often sectarian and obsessed with the minutiae of past battles and ideological purity. Not every part of it, of course, but enough of it to wreck every attempt to build 'left unity' (small case). I don't say this with any joy, but I think it's a reality that we are faced with. So despite our massive challenges in building a Labour left, they are dwarfed by the enormous task of pulling together a Syriza-like left in the UK. The phrase herding cats springs to mind. If all this history and experience can be broken, and something solid can be built and gain some purchase amongst the working class, again we are in different territory. Maybe, as Michael Chessum suggests, the prospect of the unions pitching into a new party could be the way in which the game changes. Again, I think that is misunderstanding the motivations of the larger unions. You can't simply graft a social democratic union politics onto one of the various political projects that have started their lives as either the possessions of a Trotskyist political party or a chaotic bringing together of various shades of anarchism, communism, green and socialists. The unions aren't going to go for that. What they would want is a party with parliamentary credibility, with basic social democratic credentials, with a working class base, with the potential to make policy which would create jobs, house people, protect the welfare state and workers' rights. In other words, the Labour Party we are fighting for – not as an end in itself, but as a huge step on the road to a more socialistic society.
Of course Michael and others are right to raise this debate. It's essential to the way we view our tasks ahead. But what is often missing is a sober analysis of where we've gone wrong as a left. If we're honest, collectively we've done what we always criticise as futile: we've shouted at the telly a lot, but we haven't organised – not seriously and strategically. It's as if we've excluded the Party itself from our sound analysis that in society, power cedes nothing without a demand. We can no longer sit back. We have to get together and build a serious, organised, engaged and thinking Labour left, one that leaves behind some of the false walls that have divided us. That is what Red Labour (now 20,000 strong on Facebook and with 40 plus local groups) is all about. I think it would be a disaster to leave the Labour Party, but not as much of a disaster as waiting for something to change, like the proverbial boiling frog, slowly being cooked to death.
Previous published at Left Futures
Another Blair is the last thing Labour needs
May 10, 2015 Paul Simpson 2 Comments
We are now being told that if Labour is ever to be electable again it must return to New Labour. After all, Blair is hailed as the leader who won three general elections, a feat not achieved since the days of Harold Wilson.
What this overlooks however is that the New Labour strategy was deeply flawed because it depended upon taking Labour's core vote for granted but still maintaining their support on the cynical basis that they had 'nowhere else to go.'
This worked initially. Yet after the experience of a New Labour government, many of these voters were left disillusioned and simply stopped voting. The result was that New Labour haemorrhaged support. So three general election wins masked the fact that New Labour had lost 3 million votes by 2001, 4 million by 2005 and 5 million by 2010. It also had a profoundly detrimental impact on the party, as membership halved during the New Labour era.
In Scotland the effects proved even more disastrous than in England as a credible alternative emerged, simply by saying the things Labour used to say, resulting in the annihilation of the Blairite-led Scottish Labour Party.
So the trick cannot be repeated. New Labour is a busted flush and re-engaging with Labour's traditional support is the party's only hope. Miliband's efforts were evidently insufficient in achieving this but in a number of respects were a step in the right direction. It will take a lot more than a change of leader and another five years to undo the damage done by New Labour. But if they seize the reins of power again, it would be ruinous. It must be resisted.
See you, Jimmy: what the SLab collapse means for all of us.
May 9, 2015 Ben SellersActivism, Anti-Austerity, Blairism, Ed Miliband, Election 2015, Green Party, Jim Murphy, Labour left, Labour Party, New Labour, Scottish Labour 9 Comments
Let's face it. The overwhelming backdrop to the 2015 election wasn't hope. It wasn't even predominantly fear in the end, though that played a part. It was anger. And it was directed towards our party as much as towards a Coalition Government which had slashed and burnt its way through public services, privatised everything it could lay its hands on and showed a callous disregard for the vulnerable in our society. They were seen as the bad guys by many – probably a majority – but we definitely weren't seen as the good guys, and by many of our former supporters, we were seen very much as part of the problem.
Now we can deflect blame for this. We can blame the naivety and selfishness of voters in large swathes of the South and Midlands in the betrayal of SNP switchers who have been suckered into supporting nationalism dressed up as social democracy. We can retreat to the comfort blanket of saying that we are fighting a losing battle against the twin forces of nationalism and individualism. Or we can quit this blame fest and try to understand our own failures. Why has this calamity (and let's face it, we are in a crisis) happened? Why have we been overwhelmed in an explosion of anger towards the party we are members of?
Firstly, the anger towards the Labour Party is blowback from two decades of New Labourite politics. Particularly in Scotland, where the Scottish Labour Party was used as an incubator for the careers of many a Blairite politician. In so doing, the party machine also wrecked the internal life of the party north of the border, closing down democracy and evacuating the party of real, decent socialist and trade union activists. Scotland has blown first because it was the most extreme example, but we shouldn't kid ourselves that this process hasn't happened all over the UK. The election of Jim Murphy was the final straw, illustrating that the party hadn't learnt the lessons of Better Together, and the scene was set for Thursday's cataclysm.
Secondly, the anger is about Labour's failure to challenge the austerity consensus. This obviously has a historic dimension to it. Blair's governments entrenched the idea that redistribution and progressive taxation, aimed at the rich, was off the agenda. On this score, "One Nation Labour" continued in the same vein. For all the talk of tax avoidance and "everyone paying their fair share", Ed Balls' tightening noose around Labour's economic policy and the disastrous decision to stick to Tory spending plans cemented the idea that they were all in the same club. It forced Labour into a cul-de-sac when it should have been shouting from the rooftops about the economic vandalism being perpetrated in the name of deficit reduction. It hasn't just been the SNP who have benefitted from Labour's cowardice on the economy, but the Greens – and even, in a bizarre, complex way, UKIP. Ed Miliband said that he was making a definite break from New Labour. In style, he did – but on questions of substance he really failed to. Where was the commitment to rail renationalisation, kicking the private sector out of the NHS altogether, or bringing schools back into local authority control? Until Labour rediscover this kind of radicalism, they will be vulnerable to a Scottish style implosion in the rest of the UK too.
Thirdly, what about us? Us socialists in the party? Surely it's not our fault that our party was overtaken by careerist cuckoos and set the time bomb ticking? What could we have done? We tried our best, right? But look what they did to us we? We were powerless. Or so the story goes. Often, people ask why on earth we carry on in a party which is so wedded to neoliberalism? Wouldn't two decades or more of failure to change the party indicate that it is a lost cause. Well, let's go back to Scotland for a second. What on earth was going on while the Blairites were tearing down local democracy and imposing yes men and women? Where was the organisation, where was the united front with the unions to challenge the selection of those New Labour zealots in local parties? The answer is that too many people, good socialists went into hiding, too disillusioned to fight back or too divided to come together. A small band of hard core socialists were left to fight the good fight. It wasn't enough – and we can see similar pattern all over the UK. If there's any hope to be gleaned in these fairly dark days, is that the Labour left will learn those lessons, and come out of hiding to start the long task of rebuilding a party we can all be proud of. If that doesn't happen, we can almost certainly say good bye to the Labour Party in its present form.


"This is the place to eat. They have a huge selection of bagel variety and they also make some amazing sandwiches. I highly recommend the Boogie Board Bagel ..."
"Can't beat this food! Have a great selection of vegetarian food, including my favorite, the sweet and sour tofu. Hopefully it never goes out of business and from ..."
"Ray's in Brookings is a convenient, but small, store that has the basics. When they have advertised specials it makes shopping there more appealing. It is easier to ..."


text:
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;
using System.Linq;

public class HatBilliardsDottedLine : MonoBehaviour
{
    [SerializeField]
    private LineRenderer lineRenderer;
    [SerializeField]
    private int matchIndex;
    [SerializeField]
    private float indexSizeDropoff = .2f;

    private ParticleSystem particles;

    private Keyframe[] speedOverTimeKeys;

    private Color startColor;

    void Awake()
    {
        particles = GetComponent<ParticleSystem>();

        var pSizeModule = particles.sizeOverLifetime;
        speedOverTimeKeys = pSizeModule.size.curve.keys;
        startColor = particles.main.startColor.color;
    }

    private void Start()
    {
        HatBilliardsBall.onHit += onHit;
    }

    void onHit()
    {
        gameObject.SetActive(false);
    }

    void Update ()
    {
        if (lineRenderer.positionCount < matchIndex + 2)
        {
            transform.localScale = Vector3.zero;
            return;
        }
        else
            transform.localScale = Vector3.one;

        var posA = lineRenderer.GetPosition(matchIndex);
        var posB = lineRenderer.GetPosition(matchIndex + 1);

        transform.position = posA;
        transform.LookAt(posB);

        // Particle size curve stuff is pass by object so it's a painful climb to the top to edit them
        var pSizeModule = particles.sizeOverLifetime;
        var totalDistance = (posA - posB).magnitude;
        var sizeModule = pSizeModule.size;
        var sizeCurve = pSizeModule.size.curve;
        var newKeys = sizeCurve.keys;
        for (int i = 0; i < pSizeModule.size.curve.keys.Length; i++)
        {
            newKeys[i].time = speedOverTimeKeys[i].time * totalDistance;
        }
        pSizeModule.size.curve.keys = newKeys;
        sizeCurve.keys = newKeys;
        sizeModule.curve = sizeCurve;
        pSizeModule.size = sizeModule;

        // Also set size and color dropoff for reflection lines
        var size = 1f - (matchIndex * (indexSizeDropoff / (lineRenderer.positionCount - 1)));
        pSizeModule.sizeMultiplier = size;
        var pMain = particles.main;
        var color = startColor;
        color.a *= size;
        pMain.startColor = color;
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


R&B and Underground's Missy Elliot and Timbaland, the Baegod and producer Sbvce return for their new track The Potion. The California artists will be releasing a new mixtape soon. Keep it locked here for the updates!


Emergency Power Industries understands how important reliable back-up power and the need for batteries that can operate dependably and consistently through numerous power outages can be. That's why we are a manufacturer's representative for the top brands and products in the UPS System industry. We offer a wide range of batteries specifically designed for the high power requirements of the most demanding UPS systems, from workstations to central data processing centers.


text:
Ignore what Canadians politicians say about a coalition government
By Susan DelacourtOttawa Bureau
Fri., March 25, 2011timer5 min. read
OTTAWA—Here is the first harsh truth of the 41st federal election campaign in Canada: You can't believe anything that the politicians — of any stripe — are saying about coalition governments. Feel free to ignore it all.
It is not true, as Conservatives allege, that coalitions are evil, damaging or treasonous plots against the stability of the federation. It is also not true, as Liberals and New Democrats allege, that the idea of a coalition government hasn't entered their minds if the next election result is unclear.
There are, actually, two conversations currently underway about the possibility of a coalition government in Canada after the votes are counted in early May.
If it helps, think of it as a holiday dinner gathering. The noise from the political campaign is the kids' table, complete with the shrieking and the hurled objects. The other, adult conversation is being conducted quietly, sensibly and soberly — deliberately away from the political fray.
The adults involved in those talks include some of Canada's leading thinkers on constitutional law and the formation of government, and they started their conversation early in February, at the David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights, at the University of Toronto.
Their goal is to come up with an instruction manual to guide the country when and if an election produces an unclear result — a chart for uncharted territory.
Other countries, such as Britain and New Zealand, have such manuals, and that's largely why you didn't see political hysteria in those nations when it came time to hammer out a government out of hung parliaments after their elections.
Peter Russell, the eminent and amiable constitutional scholar from the University of Toronto, has largely been spearheading the adult conversation. He explains that cool heads have to prevail in this whole discussion: Canada's system of government is too important to become a mere political football.
It's merely sensible preparation for an unclear election result, in case it happens, Russell explains. "At that point, the manual could be very, very helpful because it explains what's expected of the political leaders and sort of sets out a process that everyone can understand and follow."
A how-to manual for sorting out unclear election results would have two other important benefits, Russell says.
First, it would keep the Governor General from having to become a political referee — the awkward position in which Michaëlle Jean found herself during the so-called "coalition crisis" of 2008, shortly after the last election, when Stephen Harper's new Conservative government was nearly toppled by a coalition deal hammered out by the Liberals and New Democrats, with the support of the Bloc Québécois.
Second, Russell says, an instruction manual would have a calming effect on a nervous public, whipped up by political actors into frenzied speculation about the fate of the government. Largely as a product of over-the-top Conservative rhetoric in late 2008, a good section of the Canadian public was convinced that a coalition government — even the mere idea of one — was illegal, unethical and probably dangerous.
In previous interviews, Russell has said he'd never forget the image of political partisans lining the streets near the Governor General's residence, waving placards denouncing coalitions with extreme, inflammatory language. He'd like to avoid a repeat of that spin war, in which truths about parliamentary government got twisted dangerously out of shape.
Russell says the public should know "what the fundamental rules of the game are." As well, the media should have a handbook of sorts, so that they're not relying on that misleading political rhetoric to inform Canadian citizens about coalition formation.
If the constitutional scholars and experts do their jobs properly, Russell says, they'll come up with a document that is "politically consensual and publicly accessible."
The participants in the first discussion included Russell and his fellow constitutional experts Peter Hogg and C.E.S. (Ned) Franks, representatives of the Governor General and the House of Commons, as well as people with arm's length connections to the political parties. Those political people included: Tom Flanagan, former chief of staff for Stephen Harper, former Liberal cabinet minister and interim leader Bill Graham, and Brian Topp, former national NDP campaign director and author of a book on the 2008 "coalition crisis." Daniel Turp, a former Bloc Québécois MP now at the Université de Montréal, was also present.
The group has deliberately kept its efforts under the radar, but further meetings are to be held, with even more participants and experts gathered up by the Public Policy Forum think-tank in Ottawa. The discussions to date have all been off the record, but will continue this month, even as the election campaign is underway.
So far, according to the report of the first meeting in February, there is widespread agreement on the need for a manual, but less consensus on what exactly should be in the document.
"There would be much less risk of a parliamentary crisis following an election in which the result is not clear if there were an authoritative set of guidelines such as New Zealand and the United Kingdom have in their cabinet manuals," the report states in its conclusions.
It took political will to create those guidelines, the report notes. In Britain, for instance, former prime minister Gordon Brown had the foresight in 2009 to anticipate a possible hung Parliament after the next election, and authorized work to begin on a manual for coalition formation, just in case. That work was carried out by the Constitution Unit at University College, London and the Institute for Government in that country.
Robert Hazell, head of University College's Constitution Unit, was actually present at the February conference in Toronto too, to give Canadians the benefit of his experience and a speech on lessons learned.
Hazell told the Canadians that the sober, systematic process of writing a manual and getting it into the process was helpful in averting "wild speculation" — somewhat similar to the sort we're seeing in Canada during this election campaign.
"In the months leading up to the election there had been stories in the press of the chaos that would ensue if there were a hung Parliament, and speculation about the role of the Queen," Hazell wrote in a paper prepared for the Toronto conference. "The draft elections chapter helped explained what would happen, and put paid to most of the wild speculation."
Hazell also pointed out that the manual took the pressure off the political actors in the drama too, essentially giving them a script to follow.
Russell is hoping that a conversation like this in Canada would produce the same effect. In the meantime, it's probably wise to ignore the kids' shenanigans in the current election campaign and pay closer attention to the evolving conversation at the adults' table.


Manish Singh knows there are two secrets to happiness: wine, and learning how to enjoy it. That's why the Changing MindSpace founder has launched Winefulness, a class that combines Italian wine tasting with an introduction to mindfulness. The event will take place on Friday, 9 June, from 6.30 to 8.30 PM at 1889 Enoteca in Wooloongabba, and attendees will have the chance to sample eight wines and nibble on Italian fare in the restaurant's enchanting wine cellar.
This won't be your average wine tasting. Rather than discussing the nuances of notes and legs, the class will instead help you focus on paying attention to what you're drinking. Just as traditional mindfulness programs emphasise the sensory aspects of an experience, this will hone in on where the wine is from and how it tastes, smells, and looks.
The evening will begin with a Prosecco, advancing through three white wines, three reds, and a final dessert Moscato accompanied by antipasti including bresaola, aged prosciutto, and a selection of vegetables. Thanks to Enoteca's diverse selection of Italian varietals — more than 90 per cent of its offerings aren't available anywhere else in Brisbane — attendees will be able to experience a wide range of familiar and idiosyncratic options. Expect glasses to range from neutral grapes to those complex and unexpected. The final white will be an orange wine, while the final red will be natural, broadening your palate and helping you develop tools to live a happier, stress-free life.
strategies to gain calm and inner peace while dealing with home, work, and general stress.
"You'll taste beautiful Italian wines and get some real information about them, but you'll also walk out the door feeling because you've gained skills that you can use to deal with stress and to help you feel better in daily life," said Singh.
If you're unable to make June's event, there will be plenty of other opportunities in the future. Singh hopes to expand to whiskey tasting, gin tastings, and collaborations with some of Brisbane's notable, innovative chefs.
Tickets are $125. Book online at www.changingmindspace.com.


text:
Factors influencing the literacy of zakat on income in Lembaga Zakat Selangor, Selangor, 2008 / Nur Hazirah Amat Zakaria
Amat Zakaria, Nur Hazirah (2005) Factors influencing the literacy of zakat on income in Lembaga Zakat Selangor, Selangor, 2008 / Nur Hazirah Amat Zakaria. [Student Project] (Unpublished)
Lembaga Zakat Selangor(LZS) were establishment as one of the non-profit entity to administer the collection of all kind of zakat in Selangor such as zakat on income, zakat on business, zakat on saving, zakat on gold and silver, zakat on stocks/shares, zakat on employees provident fund (EPF), zakat on crops and zakat on livestock. All these kind of zakat are compulsory to eligible Muslims who fulfill the rules that make them compulsory to pay zakat. The largest contribution of zakat payment is zakat on income but there has still many Muslims not pay zakat where only two hundred thousands from two million Muslims pay the zakat on income. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to study on "Factors Influencing the Literacy of Zakat on Income in Lembaga Zakat Selangor, Selangor, 2008". This study examined some relevant factors that include are promotion activities, attitudes towards zakat on income, religiousness, education level and demographic factors towards literacy of zakat on income. For the purpose of this study, 100 questionnaires were distributed to Muslims who live in Selangor by using Non-probability Sampling Technique. Questionnaires were distributed as the survey instrument as the source of primary data, other reliable resources would serve as secondary data. This study finding indicates that all factors such as promotion activities, attitudes towards zakat on income, religiousness and education level have significant relationship towards literacy of zakat on income except demographic factors.
Amat Zakaria, Nur Hazirah UNSPECIFIED
H Social Sciences > HF Commerce > Consumer satisfaction
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Melaka > Bandaraya Melaka Campus > Faculty of Business and Management
literacy of zakat; Income; Lembaga Zakat Selangor
PPb_NUR HAZIRAH AMAT ZAKARIA BM 05_5.pdf
Download (0B)


text:
layout: post
title:  "Let's encrypt the world!"
date:   2015-11-05 10:45
description: "rpadovani.com now uses Let's Encrypt certificates to protect your privacy"
categories:
- security
permalink: encrypt-the-world
---

Hello all,

as the most attentive of you will have noticed, connection to this website is
now via HTTPS, and so it is the connection to all my sub-domains, with valid
certificates, thanks to [Let's Encrypt][le]

![Crypted][img0]

## What's HTTPS?

Well, as you know I'm not a native speaker, so I'll steal from [Wikipedia][we]
the definition:

> HTTPS is a protocol for secure communication over a computer network which is
> widely used on the Internet. HTTPS consists of communication over HTTP within
> a connection encrypted by Transport Layer Security. The main motivation for
> HTTPS is authentication of the visited website and to protect the privacy and
> integrity of the exchanged data.

### Why it matters

When they were first developed in the 1990s, HTTPS and SSL/TLS were considered
_special_ protections that were only necessary or useful for particular kinds of
websites, like online banks and shopping sites accepting credit cards. We've
since come to realize that HTTPS is important for almost all websites. It's
important for any website that allows people to log in with a password, any
website that tracks its users in any way, any website that doesn't want its
content altered, and for any site that offers content people might not want
others to know they are consuming. We've also learned that any site not secured
by HTTPS can be used to attack other sites.

**TLS is no longer the exception, nor should it be.**

([Source][source])

## What's Let's Encrypt?

From [Let's Encrypt website][about]:

Let's Encrypt is a free, automated, and open certificate authority (CA), run for
the public's benefit. Let's Encrypt is a service provided by the Internet
Security Research Group (ISRG).

The key principles behind Let's Encrypt are:

- **Free**: Anyone who owns a domain name can use Let's Encrypt to obtain a trusted certificate at zero cost.
- **Automatic**: Software running on a web server can interact with Let's Encrypt to painlessly obtain a certificate, securely configure it for use, and automatically take care of renewal.
- **Secure**: Let's Encrypt will serve as a platform for advancing TLS security best practices, both on the CA side and by helping site operators properly secure their servers.
- **Transparent**: All certificates issued or revoked will be publicly recorded and available for anyone to inspect.
- **Open**: The automatic issuance and renewal protocol will be published as an open standard that others can adopt.
- **Cooperative**: Much like the underlying Internet protocols themselves, Let's Encrypt is a joint effort to benefit the community, beyond the control of any one organization.

## How this website uses HTTPS

I requested 4 certificates, two for public domains and two for private domains.
My private domains were already protected by self signed certificates, but now I
can share documents to anyone without having to bother about accepting untrusted
certificates.

The two public domains I requested certificates for are rpadovani.com and
img.rpadovani.com. In this way all my posts are protected, also the ones which
load images from my server. Also fonts and all others assets are loaded from my
server, and now it's all protected.

And all for free, without having to spend time in the configuration.

**Great job, Let's Encrypt!**

## What you can do

At the moment, Let's Encrypt is in a closed beta, but it will be public
available since 16th of November. So, if you have any website, consider to
create certificates for it: it's free, it's easy and it makes the web a better
place.

Ciao

R.

[le]: https://letsencrypt.org/
[we]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTPS
[img0]: https://img.rpadovani.com/posts/ssl.png
[source]: https://letsencrypt.org/2015/10/29/phishing-and-malware.html
[about]: https://letsencrypt.org/about/


Kylie is an award-winning science publisher and entrepreneur with experience that spans media, telecommunications, science and education.
Since selling Cosmos Media in 2013, she has been consulting for various organisations. She helped set up the Nature Publishing Group in Australia, conceived of the Queensland Brain Institute's Brain series and in 2016 founded STEM Matters, a strategy, communications and content agency. Clients include Westpac, the Federal Government and universities and research institutes across Australia.


text:
MIP Acquires Cromptons Healthcare, Key UK Healthcare Product Supplier
MIP Inc. ("MIP"), a leading global supplier of high performance reusable healthcare products, announced today that it's British subsidiary, MIP UK Ltd (''MIP UK'') has acquired Cromptons Healthcare Limited ("Cromptons").
With a history that can be traced back to 1926, Cromptonsis a leading supplier of reusable and single use healthcare products, including patient positioning devices and garments, to healthcare facilities and outsourced laundry service providers throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Tor Lund, President and CEO of MIP, said "This is an exciting time for our employees, customers and other stakeholders. Over the past several years, our UK business has experienced strong growth in revenue and market share and our acquisition of Crompton's accelerates the execution of our long-term strategy in the UK. Crompton's is a well-recognized supplier in our market with a proud history of supplying quality products and providing outstanding service to its customers. We are very pleased to welcome the Cromptons' team into the MIP family."
MIP UK's Managing Director, Paul Crabtree said "I'm incredibly proud of MIP's achievements in the UK healthcare textile market. We are thrilled about the unique opportunities our merger with Cromptons will create for our customers, employees and business partners. The complementary product ranges will allow us to move ahead with an expanded portfolio of innovative products. Both companies share strong core values, with our customer being the central focus, plus a determined vision to provide service to the highest possible standard".
Martin Calhoun, Managing Director of Cromptons - www.cromptons.co.uk, said "I'm very pleased to see the business that my team and I have developed over the last 25 years now being acquired by MIP, a global leader in our industry. Cromptons' loyal employees and stakeholders will be well served by MIP and I'm confident that this combination will fortify our leading market position in the UK and create exciting growth opportunities."
Jeff Wigle, Managing Director of Banyan Capital Partners, said "We perceive a significant opportunity for MIP to build on its already strong position in the UK healthcare market. We look forward to supporting the MIP and Cromptons' management teams on their integration of these two successful and complementary businesses."
About MIP Inc.
MIP is a manufacturer and distributor of high performance textile and related products to healthcare facilities and distributors and outsourced laundry service providers. The Company is a market leader in Canada and enjoys significant and growing market positions in the United States, United Kingdom and continental Europe. MIP has manufacturing facilities in Quebec, China and Germany. MIP is owned by Banyan Capital Partners, a Canadian private equity group, and its senior management team. www.mipinc.com
About Banyan Capital Partners
Banyan Capital Partners is a Canadian based private equity firm that buys and invests in private and public middle-market companies located in North America. As a generalist firm, Banyan provides full or partial liquidity to existing owners or partners with owners wishing to grow their companies and become more successful. Banyan is part of the Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group, a multi-boutique asset management firm whose affiliated companies collectively manage approximately $70 billion in assets. www.banyancapitalpartners.com
MIP Inc. Banyan Capital Partners
Tor Lund Jeff Wigle
President & CEO Managing Director
Categories: Company News


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Watch iloveleaks5 Twitter Video of Dog and Girl
There is a big buzz on the Internet because the leaked twitter of the iloveleaks5 has the actual link of Sofia the baddie dog inside it, which is why it is trending online.The Sofia The Baddie Dog Video is gaining a great deal of popularity on the internet and is becoming quite popular as a result. In this article, we will provide information on the viral video content created by iloveleaks5, which has been shared on social media sites such as Twitter and Reddit.
Who is iloveleaks5?
Sophia The Baddie Dog Video Footage
Iloveleaks5 was a twitter account that once contained the actual link to Sophie the Baddie Dog's video, but the link has now been removed by the Twitter account as it has been removed by the Twitter account. While fnewshub.com is the only website with the link available.
As a result of the "Sofia the Baddie Dog Leaked Video" video being posted online, the general public became aware of this issue for the first time. There were already several other movies based on his story available online at the time.
On the internet, it is rapidly gaining popularity and receiving much attention. It is common for online video viewers to be interested in learning more about the topics covered in the movies they watch. It appears that the video is geared toward older viewers.
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Watch Porshe Girl Head Photo
Watch Apollonia llewellyn Judge Rinder Leaked Video


Recognize these jeans?? I'm sure since it's the only pair I've been wearing lately. To say I'm obsessed is an understatement! If you haven't heard already American Eagle has switched up their denim line. Their campaign "The Denim Revolution" features the new evolved 360 degree fit. Jeans that stretch but don't bag out and contour the legs and lift the tush. After trying these AEO Denim X4 Hi-Rise Jegging out, I 100% concur! The most comfortable denim I own and still yet, even after all day wear they never lose their shape. Oh and can we talk about how amazingly flattering these babies are! You'll have slimmer, more defined looking legs when wearing these jeans.
I've paired them with a chambray shirt for my favorite denim on denim look. In my opinion, a combination you can never go wrong with. There is just something so effortlessly chic about it, and you can easily wear it casual or dressed up. This would make a great date night outfit. Just add a bold accessory like this statement necklace and some bright pumps for an added pop of color. However you decide to style them, I hope that you will try out a pair! I promise you won't be disappointed!
Have a great weekend everyone, and if you haven't already be sure to follow my blog with Bloglovin by clicking below so you never miss a post! Thanks!!
*In collaboration with American Eagle.
All opinions are my own and as always I give you an honest review!
Not sure what size to order in these jeans. Regular AE size? Size up? Down?
I'm wearing my usual AE size 2 and they fit perfect. I normally order longs because I like the extra length with heels (I'm 5'7) but these are especially long. I could have went with a reg fit on this pair. Hope this helps!


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'Sheba, Baby' (1975) starring Pam Grier on DVD
'Sheba, Baby' (1975) starring Pam Grier on DVD quantity
Category: Exploitation
This sale is for 'Sheba, Baby' (1975) starring Pam Grier on DVD.
'Sheba, Baby' (1975) Action, Crime, Drama | 1h 30min | 17 January 1977 (Sweden)
Director: William GirdlerWriters: William Girdler, David SheldonStars: Pam Grier, Austin Stoker, D'Urville MartinSummary: Louisville businessman, Andy Shayne (Rudy Challenger), who owns a small financial agency which helps provide loans and credit to the under-privileged, is roughed up by a group of hired thugs, who want to send a message; sell his business to a competitor. Mr. Shayne's daughter is none other than the fabulous, Ms Pam Grier, and she's not going to let anyone hurt her father, nor his business- and that includes anyone who disses her 'just because she's a woman'. While Sheba looks for the men (and the organisation) supporting the thugs, she also finds a sinister motive behind their actions. Sheba's former flame Brick (Austin Stoker) adds some muscle to her mission Written by Ken Miller <[email protected]>
Also known as: 'Sheba, Baby' (on a region-free DVD).
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You're viewing: 'Sheba, Baby' (1975) starring Pam Grier on DVD $12.00


I am so happy to introduce you all with Ms Jayashree Mukundan as mentor of Green Knights for the year of 2015! I am sure most of you know her. I hope she will get all your support and help like always.
You will now receive future mails from Jaya.


BOSIG GmbH welcomed altogether 50 participants in the charity cycling tour for the "Hospiz im Landkreis Göppingen e.V." [hospice in the Göppingen region] on 3 August 2010. Led by the member of the Bundestag for the Göppingen region, Klaus Riegert, and gymnastics legend Eberhard Gienger, the participants found warmth and sustenance in the BOSIG GmbH rooms, with the weather outside a typically drizzly "Fritz Walter Wetter", where they were also able to learn much of interest around the topics of insulating, sealing and refurbishing.
Committed to the good cause, the participants of the regional cycling tour visited selected companies in the Göppingen region. BOSIG GmbH is part of the action this year and thus in the group of supporting organisations – and contributing towards the success of this good cause with enthusiasm. On the occasion of welcoming the participants, BOSIG GmbH also had the privilege of welcoming the Gingen mayor, Mr. Marius Hick.
In an entertaining introduction to the programme, the participants and even the former world gymnastics champion Eberhard Gienger were quite amazed by the knowledge of the BOSIG staff also in their private capacity on the topic of artistic gymnastics.
After many interesting discussions covering sport, social commitment and innovative products, the participants said farewell in order to collect further contributions to the good cause.
BOSIG assists! - not by words alone!


Swing barrier Speed gate RS 716 are designed in a modern and elegant style and provide an ideal contactless solution for access control at sites with high aesthetic and comfort requirements. Gate posts are made of stainless steel. Filler panel, top covers and swing panels are made of tempered glass.
Swing barriers are designed to control pedestrian entering and exiting, adopts stainless steel #304, double brushed surface treatment, dust-proof, rustproof, rainproof design, suitable for indoor and outdoor use, easy to integrate with other read/write devices, and widely use for applications like stadium, apartment, gym, museum, station, library and factory etc.


What do you say about a fun imaginary trip to the countryside? You'll be going to a so very charming little animal farm, but not as a big animal lover, you know, but as a... skilled detective! That's right, you'll be challenged to spot all the tiniest differences between the two images on your screen starring all those cute piggies, sheep, lovely cows, bunnies and other adorable animals, set against the background of their charming little farm! Take a really close look at the clouds in the sky, scan each one of those cute farm animals' bodies, leaving no intriguing spot on their skin, funny looking ear or strange looking whiskers unscanned, for they might just be the clues that you're looking for. Wouldn't you agree that this is one of the cutest spot the difference games you've ever tried, do to all those sweet animals greeting you at this farm? Next, go on and take a close look at the barn,too, at the vivid green grass, at all those pretty little flowers in the grass and so on, pointing out all the differences hidden there.


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Posts Tagged 'Aaron Rome'
Posted in Baseball, tagged Aaron Rome, Adrian Gonzalez, American League, Baseball, Bobby Jenks, Boston Bruins, Boston Red Sox, Carl Crawford, Clay Buchholz, Daniel Bard, David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Freddy Garcia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, JD Drew, Jed Lowrie, Joe Girardi, Jon Lester, Jonathan Papelbon, Kevin Youkilis, Luis Ayala, Major League Baseball, Marco Scutaro, Matt Albers, Nathan Horton, New York Yankees, Tim Thomas, Vancouver Canucks, Yankee Stadium on June 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Watching Lester work recently has really been painful. It gets better every time he goes out there, but you can just tell that he's laboring with every pitch. There are no health reports that would suggest that there's anything physically wrong with him. For whatever reason, things aren't coming easily. There are times when watching his cut fastball whiz by a hitter staring in disbelief as it slices the air in front of him is a thing of beauty. But these days are not one of those times. These days, Lester is lucky if he gets through five innings with minimal damage. These days are daily grinds. Stretches like this occur in the career of every pitcher, but watching an ace go through it is just sad.
In light of that, we were going to take whatever we could get from Lester. Fortunately, he managed to deliver just enough to get us through. Which of course was made all the more satisfying by the fact that we were playing the Evil Empire. (In case you haven't noticed, most positives of the game are more satisfying when playing the Evil Empire.)
Lester fired off 112 pitches over six innings; one positive that may result from this stretch is increased stamina and durability since he's throwing a ton of pitches every time he goes out there. He allowed three runs on eight hits while walking one and striking out five with the help of sixty-six strikes overall. He didn't give up any home runs; he just generally doesn't have as much life on his cut fastball as he does when he's more effective. And that means that he misses spots and provides opportunities for constructive contact. It's not like he made one big mistake that allowed a hitter to go yard; he just made several small mistakes that resulted in quite a bit of hits. That and he was inefficient. He threw thirty-three pitches in the first inning alone and hit two batters but gave up only one run. His best inning, hands-down, was obviously the third, when he secured all three outs using only six pitches, four for strikes. That was thanks in part to Drew's phenomenal leaping catch to end the inning. Now that's efficiency. I guess those two innings balance out. But the bottom line is that, while this outing obviously could have been much, much worse, it sure wasn't his best. You could say that the mark of a true ace is to go through stretches like this and still get wins. And that's what Lester did last night. The final score was 6-4. He's won his last five starts against New York, our only pitcher to do that since Reggie Cleveland did it in the 1970s. He's won his last four starts against New York in New York, our only pitcher to do that since Roger Clemens did it in the 1980s.
It was a fun game. Obviously beating the Yankees is always fun, but it was also just good baseball. Ellsbury led off the series with a solo shot on a hanging breaking ball that would've been a ball had he left it alone. Instead, it ended up in the seats in right field, and Ellsbury ended up crossing the plate. It was his fourth leadoff homer and first since 2008. I would say that's the ideal way to start a series.
The fun continued with a five-pitch walk to Pedroia, followed by a triple by Gonzalez to bring him in and a sac fly by Youk to bring Gonzalez in. Salty walked to lead off the second and scored on a double by Pedroia. Nobody scored again until the fifth, which Gonzalez led off with an intentional walk. Goodbye, Freddy Garcia. Then Papi said hello to Luis Ayala by unleashing on a fastball and planted it in right field as well. He just uncorked a massive swing on it like it was no big deal. He just brought that bat all the way around and tossed it away like it was a toothpick. There was no doubt the minute that ball left the bat that it was going out. Joe Girardi took issue with Papi's post-swing bat flip, but he's a slugger, and that's just what sluggers do.
The Yanks got two back in the fifth. Jenks reinjured himself in the seventh; he did something to his back on his fourth pitch of the night and is day-to-day. Albers came in for the rest of the seventh, and Bard came in for the eighth. Paps allowed a run in the ninth, at which point I started to feel really uneasy about the fact that Ellsbury ended the top of the ninth by trying to stretch a double into a triple, but he held on for his two hundredth save. And it's only taken him 359 appearances to get there. He has reached that milestone faster than anyone history.
Other thing worthy of note are the fact that Paps is appealing a three-game suspension he received for his conduct during Saturday's game (which means that he'll be able to pitch in this series), Scutaro is back from the DL and Lowrie's shoulder is hurt, and Buchholz will pitch Friday instead of today due to a sore back, which has apparently been a problem for the entire season so far. And last but not least, Papi was the American League's Player of the Week. During that week, he batted .545 with four doubles, two homers, and six RBIs. Crawford had won the honor the previous week.
We are now tied with them for first place. That's why this series is huge. We want to beat the Yankees whenever we can and preferably as frequently as possible, but now would definitely be the time to do it. This series could put us in sole possession of first place definitively.
In other news, the Bruins decimated the Canucks, 8-1. We scored four goals in the second period and four more in the third, and Tim Thomas made forty spectacular saves. The terrible news is that Nathan Horton is out for the rest of the playoffs due to a severe concussion he received in the first period from Aaron Rome, who deserved every second of his five-minute major, game misconduct, and longest suspension in Stanley Cup finals history.


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Home > Testing > Ohio Options for Adult Diploma and Ohio High School Equivalence > Ohio High School Equivalence > Applying for the GED® Test
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Order Official HSE (High School Equivalence) Transcripts and Duplicate Diplomas
August 2017, the Ohio Department of Education has approved GED, HiSET, and TASC to become the testing assessment companies for the High School Equivalency test for the State of Ohio. Additional information will be forthcoming. Continue to check our website for updates.
Update December 24, 2019
Reminder: All test takers for the GED®, HiSET, or TASC must be an Ohio Resident.
Steps to apply for the GED® Test:
1. Create an account on the GED® website.
2. Contact your local Career Technical Planning District (CTPD) Office in order to receive a state voucher code . Voucher codes are available and expire June 30, 2020.
3. Test takers who are 18 years of age, must submit a current school year withdrawal form to:
State of Ohio HSE Office
25 S. Front Street, MS 622
4. Test takers who are 16 - 17 years of age, must submit a current school year withdrawal form and a signed/notarized parental consent form to:
5. Once the withdrawal form and/or parental consent form has been received by the office, the age approval will be entered into the GED® system.
6. Test takers will log back into their GED® account and complete the application process by scheduling the test, entering the voucher code and making the payment.
The Test Series has changed effective January 2, 2014, and will only be given on computer at an authorized Computer Based Site
Scores for the 2002 Series or prior will not carry forward to the new Test Series
September 14, 2016 - UPDATE
Per House Bill 113, Ohio Revised Code 3301.81 - Effective Date: Sept. 14, 2016
Rule: Ohio Administrative Code 3301-41-01 (The rule is currently going through a rule change process)
To take the Ohio High School Equivalence tests, an eligible applicant must meet the following criteria:
A test applicant must be at least 18 years of age.
A test applicant must be officially withdrawn from school.
A test applicant may not have received a high school diploma or honors diploma awarded under section 3313.61, 3313.611, 3313.612, or 3325.08 of the Ohio Revised Code.
A copy of the withdrawal form signed by a school official must be submitted to State of Ohio High School Equivalence Office.
Test applicants who are a minimum age of 16 years, but less than 18 years of age may apply under the following criteria
A test applicant must provide written approval from the parent, guardian or court official. A signed and notarized consent form must be submitted to the State of Ohio High School Equivalence Office.
GED® Fees
The cost of the GED® test is $120. Voucher codes are available by contacting one of your local Career Technical Planning Districts Offices http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Career-Tech/HSE-CTPD
Test takers: must be a resident of Ohio. Only first time test takers are eligible for a voucher code. All voucher codes expire on June 30, 2020.
There are new scoring requirements that an applicant must achieve to earn an Ohio GED®.
As of January 26, 2016, the passing scores has been recalibrated with a new scoring requirement. Test-takers from January 1, 2014 to current will be incorporated into the new scoring requirement, and should have received an email from GED Testing Services. The new scoring will update in the GED Manager system effective March 1, 2016.
The passing score for high school equivalence has moved from 150 to 145, for all test subjects.*
The new "GED® College Ready" performance level (score of 165-174) signifies readiness to enter credit-bearing college courses.
The new "GED® College Ready + Credit" level (score of 175-200) signifies that a student qualifies for up to ten hours of college credit.
The GED® test continues to measure the problem solving and critical thinking skills valued by employers and necessary for adults to succeed in the workplace and career or college programs:
Below Passing: 100 – 144
Passing Score: 145 – 164
Passing Score (GED College Ready): 165 - 174
Passing Score (GED College Ready + Credit): 175 – 200
Additional information can be found here.
GED® test subjects
The four subjects tested on the GED® are Reasoning Through Language Arts (RLA), Mathematical Reasoning, Science, and Social Studies.
Last Modified: 12/24/2019 8:32:04 AM


World Boxing Association Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin requested a special permit to fight with Curtis Stevens. Both fighters were today in New York, where the fight was announced for November 2, 2013.
Golovkin is the 160 pound champion and requested the WBA permit for an optional fight before his mandatory fight against the official challenger Martin Murray.
The boxer from Kazakstan, who is undefeated in 27 fights 24 KO, has been the champion since August 2010, expects a very interesting fight with the powerful Stevens who has a record of 25-3, 18 KO´s.


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Here are Mr Vitamins most popular and informative posts on Diabetes and Blood Sugar. Check what's right for you – and remember to ask for our naturopath's expert advice. Be Well!
Studies have shown that certain types of exercise can lower your risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes.
Did you know that your gastrointestinal tract may contain as many as 100,000 billion bacteria?!
Could Chocolate prevent Type 2 Diabetes?
You can have your health and eat chocolate too!
Pre-diabetes is an ominous precursor for type-2 diabetes.
Should You Be Concerned About Type III Diabetes?
A new form of Diabetes is emerging. It's called Type III Diabetes and rivals Type I and Type II Diabetes.
Diabesity: How come I've got Type 2 Diabetes? I'm not fat!!!
During the day, your body maintains energy based on an even blood sugar level. This is an important biochemical process to ensure daily vitality.
Managing and maintaining healthy blood sugar levels is essential for all aspects of your health.
Blood sugar or blood glucose provides the main source of energy for your body.
Is there a healthy sugar alternative? Yes there is!
When looking for a supplement to help with blood sugar balance it's useful to understand what the underlying problems with your blood sugar might be.
Be sure to ask Mr Vitamins Practitioners, for more advice. Blood Sugar balance is vital for all aspects of your health.
Blood Sugar Balance is dependent upon having enough of the right nutrients in your body at the right time. This can include nutrient rich foods that you can easily incorporate into your lifestyle, as well as the right supplements to ensure you can maintain your wellbeing.
Ask Mr Vitamins Naturopaths for expert advice.


Ruby Jane Smith has been tearing up the Austin music scene for years. She began playing the fiddle at age two, and by eight-years-old she was participating in fiddle contests and bluegrass festivals. At the ripe old age of 10, she formed her first band and started traveling for gigs.
Now, at just 19, her list of musical accomplishments rivals that of many artists climbing the charts.
As the youngest fiddler invited to play the Grand Ole Opry, Ruby Jane has performed and recorded with Asleep at the Wheel's Ray Benson, Willie Nelson (with whom she played on Austin City Limits) and, most recently, Lady Gaga.
We asked the versatile and extremely talented youngster about that SXSW show with Mother Monster.
Playing with Lady Gaga at SXSW this past March was an absolutely amazing and unexpected experience. I got the call about two days prior to the show from a musician friend who is close with Lady Gaga's musical director Michael Bearden (also known for directing the Michael Jackson "This Is It" tour among others). Michael was looking for a fiddle player for Lady Gaga's SXSW show and my name was suggested. I was so honored to have been considered to perform with such a renowned musical act and I must say that she and her team were nothing but kind, down-to-earth and very welcoming. And the experience on stage was unforgettable. Lady Gaga brought me out right up next to her and I got to interact and have fun with her the whole time. It was an experience I'll never forget.
As previously mentioned, Gaga isn't the only big name act with whom Ruby Jane has shared the stage. Although she's loved every experience, her favorites include Willie Nelson (who she calls an absolute sweetheart), Blues Traveler, Big and Rich (who she first performed with at the CMA Music Festival when she was 12) and Mark O'Conner, her fiddle/ violin idol. But the ever down-to-earth Austinite gives the biggest props to her own band.
I have to say my amazing band that I get to share the stage with all the time are my absolute favorites, and I'm so lucky to have them.
Since she can seemingly be described as a true musical prodigy, we asked what her biggest, if any, challenge is as a performer.
Learning to perform with the same energy and same outlook no matter the venue or the crowd. It's easy for a lot of artists to get down or lose energy and focus if they're performing for a small crowd or at a small venue. But it's so important to give every single performance your all because your audience deserves it, and you deserve it.
Wise well beyond her 19 years, she went on to say that every performance is important because it makes you a better artist, better musician and builds your fan base. And this, of course, prepares you for those big and important shows.
Big and important shows that we predict are just on the horizon for Ruby Jane.
We closed out the interview by asking Ruby Jane our 10 Totally Texan Questions.
#1 – What is your favorite movie and/or TV show shot in Texas?
Well, ever since I was around 11, I've LOVED the movie Miss Congeniality. I'm a huge Sandra Bullock fan and loved that movie long before I moved to Texas. On a more serious note, I really love The Tree of Life and think it does a great job of capturing the beauty of Texas, which we often take for granted.
#2 – Who is your favorite Texas musician?
That's a tough one. There are so many Texas musicians that I love. I'd have to say my favorite is probably Willie Nelson. I've admired him since I was four-years-old and his music has influenced me in so many ways. And after getting to know him, my admiration has only grown. I also love Janis Joplin and Erykah Badu (one of my favorite artists anywhere.
There are so many people that do a great job of embodying the Texas spirit. If I had to pick one, I'd have to say Matthew McConaughey. He's done a great job of staying true to his Texas roots and contributing to many Texas charities and events while simultaneously making a great name for himself. I think he's a great representation of Texas hardworking, a southern gentleman and true to himself.
#4 – What's your favorite Texas food?
Hmmm, that's also a tough one! One of my favorite things about moving to Austin has been the amazing food. My favorite would probably have to be the awesomely creative tacos. Everything from breakfast tacos to fish tacos, all full of unexpected but awesome ingredients (Torchys and Taco Deli being my favorites).
#5 – What's your favorite Austin spot to perform?
I've loved playing at this cool new venue called Empire Control Room downtown at 7th and Red River. They just recently won Best New Music Venue at the Austin Music Awards and they have multiple stages, all with great sound systems and great people.
#6 – Who would play you in the movie of your life?
A comedy adaptation by a cross-dressing Bill Murray.
#7 – What's your theme song?
"Everything In Its Right Place" by Radiohead.
#8 – If you weren't a musician, what would you be?
That's a good one. I've always loved acting, or, I think it would be amazing to be one of those people on the travel channel or food network that get paid to travel to exotic and amazing places and eat incredible food. That sounds pretty ideal.
#9 – What projects are you working on in 2014?
2014 is a big year for us. We've got a lot of amazing shows planned as well as trips to LA in preparation of our new album. We'll be recording demos, writing and then proceeding to finish up the new album. Exact dates for completion and release are not confirmed yet, but it's all in the works and we're SUPER excited about it.
#10 – What advice do you have for Austinites looking to get into the music biz?
That's tough. Before getting into it, you've got to realize that the music business is one of the toughest in the world, and being super successful is even tougher. You've got to have business savvy. You've got to be prepared to put hours and days and years of work into it. You've got to be unique, have something that no one else has and no one else can rival. And then you've got to hope that you'll be at the right place at the right time. Assembling a great team is also very important. Having people you trust working beside you and helping you is crucial to success. Nobody can do it alone. I would also advise Austinites to travel a lot to different music cities. Austin is a great place to develop talent and to base out of, but if you want to be majorly successful you've got to make connections in other cities as well. Nashville, LA and New York to name the most important. Be willing to be flexible, hard working and to travel. And always expect the unexpected.
Don't Miss Austin's Ruby & the Reckless On 'Nashville' This Week!