text:
Death toll in Kajuru attacks has risen to 130 —El-Rufai
Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai on Tuesday sought the deployment of more troops in the state to maintain peace during the general elections.
El-Rufai spoke shortly after a security meeting convened by President Muhammadu Buhari ended at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
He stated that from latest figures he had received, over 130 lives were lost in the recent attacks in Kajuru Local Government Area of the state.
He recalled how some people doubted the initial report on the loss of 66 lives, adding that the updated toll had risen to over 130.
The governor called those who said nobody died in the attack "irresponsible".
He said, "The last report we got is that over 130 people were killed, not even 66. And the Fulani leaders are providing the names of all these people; we have the list and we will release it to the press.
"We can release the pictures of the people killed and how the army had to be there to help bury them two days after they were killed because the bodies were decomposing.
"But some people are being irresponsible, they are pretending this has not happened because it does not fit their ethnic or partisan narrative. It is totally irresponsible because this can happen to anyone of us."
He said he had been appealing to the victims' families to avoid reprisals not to worsen the security situation in the area.
El-Rufai added, "We requested enhanced military presence in particular locations that are either affected by rural banditry, these are the local government of Birnin-Gwari/Giwa Angchukwu and areas where there has been a history of either electoral violence or ethno-religious intolerance.
"We have already mapped out local arrangements with the garrison commander and the commissioner of police and we have made adequate arrangements to ensure that every citizen of Kaduna State will be free to vote in an atmosphere of peace and security.
"We got assurances from Mr President that whatever security assets we need in addition to what is already on the ground to ensure peaceful elections will be provided."
The governor said the meeting dwelt on the general insecurity in some northern states, particularly Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and Kaduna.
While the case of Yobe, Adamawa and Borno had to do with attacks by Boko Haram, he said the meeting touched on the Kajuru killings.
El-Rufai said, "The governor of Borno State submitted a comprehensive brief on the situation in Borno and Yobe states, which he is very familiar with, having been on the seat for eight years.
"The governor of Adamawa State presented a situation report regarding Adamawa and I submitted a briefing based on what has been happening in Kaduna State in the last few weeks and months.
"We noted the significant improvement in the security situation across our states, in spite of the challenges and thanked the Federal Government for making available security assets to the states any time we needed them, which has led to some level of stability of the situation.
"Across the states, we are ready for elections; we do not believe that the level of challenges will preclude elections not taking place all over our states. Of course, in the case of Borno, other than one or two local governments that may vote outside of their immediate areas, every voter will vote in their local government, compared to the situation in 2015 that some voters in Borno had to vote in Maiduguri."
READ ALSO: No fresh killings in Kaduna to justify polls postponement — CAN chairman
El-Rufai spoke just as the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Mr Ahmed Abdulrahman, announced the arrest of 11 suspects in connection with the Kajuru killings.
He said they would be arraigned on Thursday.
Also speaking after the meeting, Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima said he was ready to die if that would end the insurgency in the state.
Shettima stated that despite the recent attack on his convoy that led to the loss of lives, he would return to the Maiduguri-Gamboru road for campaign next week, adding that he would not drive in a bulletproof car.
Kaduna govt names board members for metropolitan authorities, others
Plateau/Kaduna killings: Int'l human rights group targets 200 youths in peacebuilding advocacy
Lawyer sues el-Rufai, NCC, others over telecoms shutdown
EndSARS: Kaduna govt receives panel report, to set up White Paper committee
Abacha's hotel demolition: El-Rufai, others lose bid to stop hearing
Kaduna suffered 'too much' from religious conflicts - El-Rufai


It's known as "London Bus Syndrome" – you wait for ages for one to come, and then two come along together. So it is with the Bedouins. Having waited all season for a win, two come in rapid succession. Joy was unconfined (did you know that Joy had been in confinement, by the way?). The chairman permitted himself a full-strength (no less) glass of Coke, while the skipper permitted himself a second plate of chicken curry (it's that London Bus Syndrome again).
John Howells led the way with 31 retired, including a number of classy boundaries, and was even seen to scamper a couple of quick singles. Looks like he may have been on the red meat again – better be careful, John, look what it did to "Beefy" Mike George! Lippo added 18 before falling c&b, and the Beds were on the way.
Numbers three, four and five failed to contribute much, so it was left to Neill Smith (22 not out) and Lee Bywater (20) to add 44 runs for the fifth wicket, taking the Bedouins' final total on to a reasonable 117 for 5. However, it was a good Oldswinford wicket, so nothing was yet decided.
The Bedouins' regular opening pair of bowlers were again in good form, particularly the effervescent (don't remember him when he effer vasn't) Mike George, who completed his four overs for just 11 runs. Lee Bywater was accurate too, his two spells of four overs in all costing 23 runs.
Jon Stanier took particular delight in securing two wickets against his "other" club; Adrian Susman had a wicket with first ball and went on to 1 for13 in four tidy overs; and our guest for the evening, Matt Watts, had 2 for 22.
There were a couple of spilled chances in the field, but both would have been pretty good efforts if they had been taken. Tony Hancock made up lots of ground to get close to a catch in the deep field, failing by inches to make it. Mejdi Mabrouk found himself under a skied off-drive and again almost completed the catch before taking a hefty tumble that left him bruised and battered.
However, man-of-the-match honours went to John Howells, who followed up his good batting from with a terrific display behind the stumps that resulted in three stumpings.
A good evening all round, against friendly but competitive hosts, and on a superb wicket, was rounded off with a welcome chicken curry in the pavilion. The names of those who went back for seconds have been noted and will probably be used against them at a later date.
Now can we keep up the winning run? We'll see what the Celebs have in store for us on Chairman's Day, July 1st.
As of today 'Beefy' is on a diet !!


Out comes the high-tech windbreaker. A pair of socks. That's it.
What else. Think. These things will keep you alive.
The plane's canopy cover flaps in a low tree branch. Roll it up. Tie it to the bag. The first aid kit is lodged behind a rotten tree stump. The plastic case has cracked, but the contents are still intact: iodine, rubbing alcohol, bandages, scissors, painkillers, antihistamines, tweezers, sewing kit, tape.
My eye snags on the cabin. My phone. You have to go back in. There is food there. Water. I won't last two days without those things. There is smoke coming from the engine, black and thick. In. In. In.
The plastic bag. Right where I left it, tucked behind the front passenger seat. Four Luna bars, a bag of mixed nuts, an unopened bottle of water. The can of Diet Coke. I feel momentarily giddy. My hand searches the floor and finds the sharp cut of glass. I pull it out and look at the smashed face of my phone. I try to switch it on but the spidered screen stays black. Broken. Fuckfuckfuck. I take it with me anyway. My eyes water from the smoke. Focus. Focus. I reach behind the back seat. A fleece blanket, a roll of duct tape, a coil of rope. I reach again. The thin metal body of a lighter. Everything in the bag. The light is dimming. I have to go.
Out. Out. Out. My animal brain is screaming at me, but wait. What is the plan? Stay alive. I climb on top of the wreckage, avoiding the razor edges, the pain in my shoulder, and the blown-off face of the man I had so recently touched. 'Look'. Snow-capped mountains thrusting their way into an epic stretch of blue sky. Below, green hills roll out in gentle waves, each fringed with trees and specked with wildflowers. On and on the vast lands stretch, out to the farthest point on the horizon. There is no sign of another human, except for a path. A steep slope but relatively even, and free of the sudden sheer cliff edges peppering the other routes. There, nestled into the crook of the valley below, I see a thin strip of mirrored glass. There is water below. The plan. The path is the plan.
Out. Out. Out. I jump free of the wreckage.
I heft the bag back onto my shoulders, screaming at the pain, and slip my arms through the handles and use the long strap to buckle it securely around my waist. The engine's hiss has finally fallen silent but the smoke still comes. I cast one last look around the clearing and see the shattered glass and bits of broken plastic and the pile of belongings that I have cast aside.
There is nothing left here now, nothing to salvage.
The sun is setting. You have to go.
It was still early in the morning, the sky outside a dark pink not yet paled to blue. I had NPR on low in the background, a mug of coffee was slowly going cold on the counter, and Barney was threading himself around my ankles, hoping for a second breakfast. The floorboards creaked underfoot as they always did. I glanced at the recipe card, not that I needed to check it. I'd been making the same loaf for years and knew it by heart, but the recipe was written in Charles's strong, sure hand, and I liked to keep it near me when I was making it. It was part of the ritual.
The dough was warm and soft as I pulled it away from me and folded it back, feeling it stretch and tighten beneath my hands. I shouldn't be kneading dough—it exacerbates the arthritis that had settled in my knuckles after years of typing—but I made a loaf of bread at the start of every week, even though most weeks now it ended up stale and moldy by Friday.
The doorbell rang. I ignored it. If I stopped, it wouldn't turn out, and besides, my hair was a bird's nest and I was still wearing my dressing gown and the L. L. Bean slippers Charles had given me six years earlier. It was probably the mailman. He'd stick a note under the door about a package and be on his way.
The doorbell rang again. I sighed and wiped my floury hands on a square of kitchen towel. Whoever this is, I thought, it better be good.
When I opened the door and saw Jim standing there in his full chief of police uniform, I thought maybe he'd come for Linda's casserole dish. She'd left it at the house after bringing over a lasagna, and she was always eagle-eyed about her bakeware. But I took one look at his face, and at the nervous little slip of a thing standing behind him all buttoned up in her starched blues, and I knew he wasn't here about the dish.


Investor interest toward the Internet sector as a whole has been diminishing through the year.
Until recently, leadership among larger-caps has been narrowed to only Netflix (ticker: NFLX ) and Amazon.com ( AMZN ).
Over the past two weeks, however, Facebook ( FB ) shares have shown better performance. We think a follow-through by Facebook shares is among the most important sentiment drivers for the sector in the second half. We see an abundance of monetization drivers for Facebook and believe it has the luxury of managing its top-line growth, very impressive for a company this size. We think that comfort on the expense outlook would drive the follow-through, and this is completely within management's discretion.
Google ( GOOGL ) has been a severe laggard over the past year, down 5.7% versus the Nasdaq composite up 13.1%. Better second-half performance for Google, along with a follow-through for Facebook could lead to a significant second-half sentiment reversal for the group. Google will report next Thursday. Currency headwinds should begin to ease in the third quarter. Most Internet large-caps have high exposure.
Based on current rates, exchange rates should continue to be a drag until first-quarter 2016. Headwinds are the most difficult in the second quarter, with the third quarter somewhat better and the fourth quarter significantly better.
Netflix will trade post-split the morning of the report, July 15, and the second quarter will be reported with a split-adjusted share count. While sentiment is bullish, we view consensus expectations as somewhat conservative. We expect a cautious third-quarter guide for domestic additions following last year's miss and believe this is reflected in consensus. We think international additions will be above Wall Street and we expect a guide up. We do not anticipate the wild volatility the stock has seen on the past three earnings reports. We continue to recommend overweight exposure for a multiyear period.
We expect an in-line quarter for Yahoo! ( YHOO ) with third-quarter guidance in the range with relatively weak expectations. The focus of the call is expected to be: 1) tax status of Alibaba Group Holding ( BABA ) spinoff; 2) rate of decline in PC display versus growth in Mavens [mobile, video, native and social] businesses; 3) revenue share/traffic acquisition cost on new deals and recent search agreement with Oracle ( ORCL ); and 4) testing of search monetization on Google. We expect management to reiterate plans to spin off Alibaba in the fourth quarter and to remain confident in tax treatment, but will not be able to comment definitely on potential changes in IRS policy. Current sum-of-the-parts valuation suggests that core Yahoo is valued at negative $6 a share if the Alibaba spinoff is taxfree. With core Yahoo at four times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda), we see $11 upside potential if Alibaba is spun off tax-free and $1 downside potential if fully taxed.
Netflix will kick off earnings next Wednesday, followed by Google and eBay ( EBAY ) on Thursday. The following week will have Yahoo, Pandora Media ( P) , TripAdvisor ( TRIP ) and Angie's List ( ANGI ) (confirmed) with Amazon, Baidu ( BIDU ), GrubHub ( GRUB ), HomeAway ( AWAY ) (projected).
Other notable reports are Twitter ( TWTR ) and Akamai Technologies ( AKAM ) on July 28, Facebook on July 29, and LinkedIn ( LNKD ) on July 30 (projected).


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Independence without borders
Introducing Adam Ramsay's new book, '42 reasons to support Scottish Independence', Hilary Wainwright outlines the radical case for independence.
August 16, 2014 · 12 min read
'Scottish independence isn't about borders or flags, it's about people's lives and change' – independence campaigner Cat Boyd presents the case for Yes at a meeting in the House of Commons.
There is today a political movement in Scotland that is quite beyond anything containable by or even comprehensible through the terms of conventional parliamentary, tick-some-scoundrel's-name-every-four-years politics. Many of us south of the Scottish border have had our political senses so numbed for so long by broken promises of change that it's taken a long time for people to wake up to this fact – but wake up we must.
The question posed in next month's referendum, yes or no to independence for Scotland, was intended by British prime minister David Cameron to make the alternative to the status quo look so radical that the forces of conservatism would win out – but it hasn't gone according to plan. The chance to vote on Scotland's future has in fact brought about a popular mobilisation for radical social change unlike anything we have seen in these islands for a generation.
The conditions for this mobilisation were, it's true, put in place by the Scottish National Party (SNP) and its skilful, long-honed, management of conventional electoral politics and its associated media. There would be no referendum if Alex Salmond's SNP had not become the party of government in the Scottish parliament at Holyrood and used what bargaining power he had to extract the commitment to a referendum from David Cameron. But as Cat Boyd insists above, the movement for independence that the referendum has unleashed is not about Alex Salmond, the SNP or the normal accoutrements of nationalism.
Cat was speaking at a meeting in the UK parliament in Westminster, (pictured above) organised by Red Pepper and openDemocracy to bring the case for independence to the 'belly of the beast'. Neal Ascherson told that meeting: 'Gordon Brown has said that this is a campaign for or against the SNP, but he is completely wrong. It is a huge mass mobilisation.'
The referendum has become an invitation to say no to a superpower whose wars, most recently against Iraq, the Scottish people found abhorrent and yet were forced to join; a chance to say no to decades of social injustice and sacrifice at the altar of the global market by Conservative and Labour governments at Westminster, for which Scottish voters did not vote. It is, finally, a chance to refuse a democracy without substance in which MPs working 300 miles away and more are too distant to be accountable or subject to popular pressure.
Most importantly, Scottish people have grasped the choice that they have to make directly – unmediated by the political class – as an opportunity to imagine the kind of society that they, the Scottish people, could build with the democratic possibilities of independence. The strength of these two dynamics, refusal and the sudden birth of new political imaginary, is such that there is even a question mark over whether Salmond's SNP can survive the new political maelstrom.
Yet political commentators, especially in the English and American owned media, pretend that nothing has changed. For them, it's just politics as normal. More middle aged men in suits exchanging insults – a battle where the protagonists are Alex Salmond and former Labour minister and No figurehead Alistair Darling.
I became interested, by contrast, because I sensed that something politically special was taking place. You can see it in the involvement of artists and cultural creators – radical theatre directors like David Greig and journalists like Joyce McMillan (not the usual suspects) – and from the imaginative excitement among students conveyed to me by my niece, who is in her final year at Glasgow Art School and drawn to stay in the city by its cultural vibrancy. I felt that at last there could be an opportunity to shake to the core 'the foundations of Britannia as a pompous, blue-blooded colossus', as Niki Seth-Smith from openDemocracy put it.
Mighty and militant movements against Thatcher such as the 1984-85 Miners Strike and the poll tax rebellion shook the colossus but could not bring it down. Parties of the left could not overcome the obstacles of the electoral system to pose a challenge to Labour from the left that might have prevented its submission to the neoliberal consensus. Could the Scottish movement for independence the stone in David's sling that finds the lethal crevice in the armour of the Goliath?
This has not been a war of political machines. Certainly the Yes campaign, through the National Collective of artists supporting Yes, has benefited from the contributions of many brilliant cultural creators, while the No campaign has relied on planting negative stories about their opponents with the Westminster-style pedlars of political gossip. But the power of Yes is greater than its creative communication techniques.
The remarks of a young graduate from Caledonian University in Glasgow gave me an insight into what gives the Davids of the Yes campaign their unpredicted strength. Jim Bevington, born to English parents in the Shetland islands and living in Glasgow for the past five years, describes how he moved from being a rather passive opponent of independence to an engaged and enthusiastic activist in the Yes campaign. First, he realised that independence was not, as the media implied, about changing letterheads and rebranding Scotland. It was not even about nationalism. 'I realised that something absolutely huge was at stake: the shake up and break up of the UK for the first time in hundreds of years. I needed to get informed and engaged. When I did get informed, going to the Radical Independence website and then to one of their conferences, I realised that it's not just about how bad the UK is but about people's ideas about what an independent Scotland could be like… fresh new ideas that have no prospect of being implemented in the UK but would have every prospect of being implemented in an independent Scotland.'
This is the feasible hope which draws people to get organised in Comrie, in Ullapool, in Troon, in virtually every neighbourhood across Scotland to share their ideas, to work out how they want to shape an independent Scotland. The dynamic of the process is self-organised, galvanised by the simple idea that every citizen resident in Scotland can vote for a different kind of society – not, as in most elections, just for a choice of elites. The possibility of independence is a challenge to Scottish voters to take themselves seriously and to give substance to the hopes they have shared informally with friends and neighbours.
What has built the self-confidence to take up that challenge to shape a new future, rather than bumble along with the familiar but imperfect present? The answer shines clearly from any direct experience of the Yes campaign in action. It is a strikingly generous-spirited, creative, diverse and plural movement, with a concentrated sense of common purpose. It has many platforms, including both the official Yes Campaign of politicians and national organisations and the Radical Independence Campaign (RIC), whose volunteers have canvassed working class communities that have been ignored by politicians for decades.
A variety of different campaigns bring different constituencies to the activities of RIC: the energetic, always-present Women for Independence; the strategically vital Labour for Independence, which now has the support of many of Labour's leading figures. Then there is the Jimmy Reid Foundation, an influential think tank committed to action as well as words, led by human dynamo Robin McAlpine who manages to speak to fifteen meetings a week, going to bed in his words 'exhausted and tearful' but still managing to exude energy and enthusiasm to all who meet him. The Foundation has brought together the ideas for a new Scotland coming from local meetings into a book-length manifesto: The Common Weal.
All these tributaries feed a populist movement that does without a charismatic leader. It is a populism organised through and around the people, in all their particularity. Its power lies in its many voices, in conversation with each other and with strangers, and the way that the Radical Independence Campaign takes a critique of some ghastly feature of UK government policy or structure and then turns the argument powerfully towards a fresh new perspective and positive solution.
An argument for independence based on escaping the London housing bubble, for example, becomes the positive case for Scotland to have the macro-economic powers to create a new kind of sustainable economy, creating socially useful jobs and based on a variety of forms of economic democracy.
Similarly, from a critique of Britain's imperial role in the world and the one-dimensional nature of Scotland's international relations so long as Scotland is part of the union, radical supporters of independence move to a liberating vision of the opportunities opened up by joining a network of nations. They explore a wide range of collaborations which take the debate far beyond the notion of 'separation' and a single, closed, national sovereignty. With the example of the Nordic Council in mind, they point to the feasibility of autonomy being the basis of a shared and pooled sovereignty and a chance to balance out power across our archipelago.
Whether this intellectual as well as organisational energy and associational power will on Sept 18th, produce a majority for Yes is uncertain. I, and many more English people than is publicly acknowledged, hope it will. But it is clear that there is no going back to the old politics, neither in Scotland nor across the UK.
An awakening
And this is about more than a new unstoppable surge of activism. Robin McAlpine tells of a campaigning grandmother who came up to him at the end of a pro independence demo and said, 'When this is over, Robin, I'm naw going back to ma sofa. She's speaking for millions whose imagination has been changed. There are several historical comparisons that could be made: the awakening, for example, of the feminist imagination in the early 70s, which changed society forever and began a still-unfinished revolution, driven by a sense of glimpsed but as yet unrealised possibilities. The consequences of the closely fought independence referendum, with the likelihood of a result that will not be decisive and will serve to further open and deepen rather than close the debate, poses a very real threat to the UK's ruling elites.
These elites have always ruled through an unwritten constitution: that is the secret of their power and its unbroken longevity. As Margaret Thatcher famously proved – with Charter 88 sounding the alarm – unwritten rules known and made only by those with power means that those at the top can do what they like, protected by an opaque membrane of taboo.
Two historic features of the British political system gave a kind of sacred quality to these unwritten rules, making the idea of a challenge unspeakable. The first is the Crown in Parliament, which enables the prime minister and his or her executive unhindered access to prerogative powers – to declare and conduct war, to make a huge number of appointments and so create a powerful patronage machine. More than that, the sovereignty of the Crown in Parliament gives any government with a stable majority the ability to do things through ordinary legislation – like dismantle local government as Thatcher did – that would be impossible in a properly constituted state.
The other, related source of taboo is the 'union' between the nations of the UK, which protects the Westminster parliament against real democracy and self-government. The strength of the Yes campaign and the fact that it is already spreading across the borders and boomeranging back (as I write, readers of the magazine that I co-edit, Red Pepper, are organising a train coach of English Yes supporters to go to Glasgow and give whatever practical and symbolic support that they can) will mean that the unwritten constitution will be talked about and questioned.
The taboo of hundreds of years has been broken. Nothing can stop this, however closely the main parties conspire to restore a reverential silence. But on both sides of the border, whatever the result of the referendum, we must do more than talk about the constitution and challenge its unwritten rules. In England and Wales we must follow the inspiration of the Yes campaign in Scotland and treat the fact that the union's future is seriously in doubt as an invitation to imagine a different kind of England and a different kind of Wales, and different relations between and within our self-governing nations. We can already see in Scotland how the collective act of imagining a new social order turns disheartened subjects into the architects of a new constitutional settlement. Having been told for years that they did not want freedom and could not handle it if they had it, they have learned that they are willing and able. It is past time the rest of us learned the same lesson.
Buy a copy of Adam Ramsay's new e-book: '42 reasons to Support Scottish Independence' for just £1.99 here.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


If I were living in biblical times, I would have to say that I feel as though I'm working on the Tower of Babel. You remember the Tower of Babel, don't you? It was going to be the largest structure in the city of Babylon, however it became a source of pride for the people, and God wasn't happy...and you don't mess with God. He caused them all to speak different languages and "scattered the people throughout the earth."
It's not the "prideful" thing for me, but more of the "languages thing."
We can start with my orientation yesterday for STEAC, the Short Term Emergency Aid Committee, which is a non-profit volunteer organization whose purpose is to provide immediate, short-term emergency assistance with basic necessities (electricity bills, food, clothing, i.d. cards, etc.) to county families whose incomes are at or below the poverty level.
I volunteered for half a day in December, helping check in the holiday food baskets that were received and I learned they had a great need for volunteers to help with telephone calls, assessing the need and deciding who met the criteria to receive assistance. Yesterday, I met with a woman who has been volunteering at this job for years. And that's the problem. She knows the job so well, inside and out, backwards and forwards that as she explained what she was doing, and the agencies she was talking with and the forms she was filling out and the people who needed to have input on the decision, my eyes began to glaze over. She suddenly had started speaking a different language.
I am going to go back again in a couple of weeks and perhaps also visit the office in the interim.
I know he's talking. I know he's talking to me. I know that at least part of what he is explaining is important for me to know, but I can only understand about 1/4 of what he's saying at the speed he is rattling it off. And when he pops menus or screenshots up on the monitor and tells me that this and that and the other thing is important and here and there and the other place is where I look to do this, that or the other thing, I'm still back at "where is the plug" and my aging eyes can't focus on things that cycle across the screen so quickly.
So I just nod and pretend that I understand it all, when in reality I don't understand 1/10th of it, and I hope that when he leaves, I can figure it out.
But of course I can't.
I know that Front Page, which has been my bestest program for 7 years is no longer working and, unless I want to spend $300-400, will no longer work, so I have to find an alternative (at the moment, the alternative is to write this on the laptop and upload from the laptop, but I can't do that indefinitely). I know I have lost Microsoft Office, which I used only rarely, but did use from time to time.
I know that I have to reinstall all of my programs, which, after the last clean install of XP, I organized much better, so it's not as horrendous as it has been, but there are still disks I need to find (like Word Perfect). And when I get them installed, find the information that went with them...like my Outlook Express address book and all the e-mail that I had stored. I know that it's on here somewhere, but don't know how to find it, though the guru shows me how several times--with me standing across the room, when I can hardly see what's right in front of my face.
I cried a bit as I tried to reconfigure everything (it's going to take a long time) and Walt went out to the SPCA Thrift Store to pick up the new puppy, a Jack Russell terrier puppy (whose brother will join him tomorrow).
Then I went off to a board meeting for the Davis Community Network, where again I was in the midst of people who were speaking a language that sounded mostly like English but which included terminology and alphabet soup that I didn't have a CLUE about, so I just sat there and nodded my head and smiled and spoke only when I could contribute information about my area of expertise, which appears to be "social networking." I could at least enlighten people when they asked me what "Twitter" was (since nobody had heard of it) and I could give a somewhat intelligent-sounding definition!
It was nice to come home and watch something fairly mindless like "American Idol," though I don't know. Sometimes Randy Jackson sounds like he's working on the Tower of Babel too!!!
The number on the "blogodometer" (Tom's term) is now a whopping 2.11. I was going to put in 10 minutes several times a day, but only made it three times because that's when the guru showed up. So I hope to get over 1.11 miles tomorrow. They say that 10 minutes several times a day is just as good as 30 minutes at one stretch, so until my legs, hips and feet stop hurting, that's what I'll concentrate on.
The puppies are 2 months old. Will probably be adopted quickly.


So: what was your big World Cup thrill? Hadji's shuffle? Branco's kangaroo jump? Suker's pulse-check? Or was it your first sight of those 11 yellow-haired Romanians? Earlier tournaments are now known by their 'defining moments'. In 1970, we had Moore and Pele swapping shirts; in '82, there was the demented Altobelli; in '86 the Hand of God; in '90, Gazza's tears. I'm not sure what it was in '94: Romario and Bebeto doing that baby-cradling thing? Or was it about Maradona and his drugs, or Escobar's calamitous own goal?
Repeated time and again, as TV clips, on book jackets, or in the collages that decorate World Cup newspaper pieces, such moments are hardly ever moments of straightforward soccer action. Aside from Hurst's third goal in 1966, or Banks's save in 1970, I can't immediately think of any in-play, fair-play action pix that carry, shall we say, top-grade iconic clout. Action pix are action pix, no more, no less: another wonder goal – so what? If they are not English, or 1966-related, or in some way rather dotty, they tend to get forgotten, filed away. The moments that appeal to our World Cup chroniclers, or headliners, are usually the ones that make us laugh or, better still, the ones that seem to bear some metaphoric potency. Ideally, World Cup clips should touch and teach. Or tickle.
This being so, what of 1998 can we look forward to in future mock-ups? There were, of course, some wacky sendings off: Kluivert's elbow, Beckham's backheel, Zidane's trampling excuse-me, Bilic's mock-facial, and so on. And there were plenty of accomplished dives and fouls. In these departments, though, there was nothing that seems likely to stay with us very long. 'Baby-gol', Owen's brilliant strike against Argentina, will certainly be treasured, for patriotic reasons, but surely not his dive in the same match, although the dive was just as useful to the nation's cause. Owen's dive, in fact, has already been written out of history by English pundits. Not that it was ever written in. On the day after the Argentina game, no paper that I read, and I read lots, could bring itself even to hint that England's first goal had been achieved by, dare we say, a Leap of Faith.
The clips of Beckham's sending-off may well have staying power. I doubt it, though. Already the forces of forgiveness are rallying on his behalf, as so they should be. In four years' time, it will surely be thought of as bad form to highlight the lad's callow petulance. Bad karma, too: in four years' time we are likely to be in need of Beckham's skills, if he still has them. This Beckham business will, we suspect, be taken care of in the first weeks of our upcoming Premiership season. Let's hope the player can withstand the various terrace tribunals that await him.
In the 1998 defining-moment stakes, I think I'll put my money on those spooky Romanians. More than any single soccer moment, it was the sight of those mad-looking robot dandelions that kept me in night-sweats. What next? What next? I whimpered to the moon. And all too many answers flooded in. Some nights, the only way to get some sleep was to try counting Del Piero's goal attempts, or to devise a perfect forward line for France, or to imagine discussing such matters with, say, Kevin Keegan.
You may not have allowed the bleached Romanians to get to you, but surely no one can deny that throughout this 1998 World Cup there was an altogether unsettling preoccupation with hairstyle. Maybe it was all to do with the world's supposedly best player, Ronaldo, being hairless by his own design; or with the world's supposedly next-best, Zidane, sporting a monkishly unashamed bald patch. Whatever the reason, hair questions were forever cropping up. The Nigerian Taribo West wore green, pineapple-style dreadlocks, Stanic of Croatia turned albino after (or was it before?) facing the Romanians. Craig Burley did the same before lining up against Morocco. There were ginger-haired Africans, scarlet-topped Asians, a Chilean who had tried for who-knew-what hue-change then bottled out, or so it seemed. Grisliest of all, perhaps, there was the spectacle afforded by Zvonimir Boban, Croatia's wildly patriotic captain: he had a red and white '10' carved into the back of his head. The visual effect was of a nasty head wound but nobody got sent off for kicking the Croatian's skull. During the semi-final against France, I half-expected Boban to fall to the ground, clutching his bloodied-looking scalp, thus seeing to it that some Frenchman – some curly-headed Laurent Blanc, for instance – found himself heading for an early bath, or shampoo.
I don't want to make too much of this hair thing. After all, there was a foot thing, too. Lots of players turned out in funny-coloured boots. I suppose hair and footwear are the only bits of themselves footballers can get to decorate without first securing permission from Fifa, or Adidas, or Nike. Metal attachments – nose-rings, ankle-bracelets and the like – are banned, I understand, as dangerous. After this year's bleach assault maybe the powers that be will slap a ban on hair dye. I do hope so. And this brings me back to my what-nexts: is there a Fifa ruling against skin-dye? Imagine lining up against a team of green Bulgarians, pink Koreans, yellow Scots. This is not as outlandish as it sounds. Ron Atkinson's on-air response to the shirt-pulling which some people seemed to think had marred so much of this World Cup was to suggest a general ban on shirts. Why don't the players paint their shirts on, so to speak? asked Ron. Then, if they feel so inclined, they can grab handfuls of each other's flesh. But would this not spell the end of replica merchandising, the very life-blood of the richest clubs? No, not at all: a can of Man U skin-shirt paint could retail very happily (inc. turpentine, plus VAT) at £30, I'd say.
From the very start of the World Cup, questions of personal rig-out seemed to be of central consequence. David Beckham's Jean Paul Gaultier sarong, plus his newly blonde-streaked looks, may well have had something to do with Glenn Hoddle's less than friendly treatment of him in England's opening games. And this treatment may in turn have led to Beckham's game-turning folly against Argentina. Hoddle had publicly confided that Beckham at the outset of the tournament had not been as 'focused' as he should have been: hence his for-the-moment exclusion from the team ('for the crime of peroxide', scoffed the Times). Hence perhaps the player's general sense of grievance. And hence again, by some deep psychic route, his silly kick at Simeone's calf. What did Hoddle mean by 'focused'? We were never told. Thus we were able to suspect that the Spiceboy's poncy skirt-show had been a vital factor in Glenn's thinking. I mean, what would Alf Ramsey have said in '66 if a streaky-pated Bobby Charlton had been pictured in a skirt and singlet, with Little Eva (or would it have been Alma Cogan?) on his arm, bound for a night in the Riviera villa of, say, Vic Damone – or would it have been Andy Williams? Things have changed, I know, and Elton John is now a sort of minor Royal, but still . . . Something sufficiently Alf-like squats in Glenn, we're led to feel. He likes to come across as icily on top of things but we can sense a crock of inner turmoil. And his relationship with spoken English is getting to be just like Alf's. 'At this moment in time' would surely have been Ramsey's catch-phrase, too, if it had been around in 1966.
Hoddle's treatment of Paul Gascoigne may also have been influenced by that player's unseemly links with showbiz, in the shape of Danny Baker, Rod Stewart and Chris Evans. Like David Beckham, Gazza seemed to believe that there were prizes more glamorous than those which were in Hoddle's gift. He, too, was unfocused; he, too, needed to be realigned. Gazza's expulsion was, for me, a bitter disappointment. It robbed my World Cup of what would have been its main line of suspense: will Gascoigne triumph once again, this last time, or will he foul up, once again? Will he, say, score a wonder free-kick against Colombia then stupidly get himself sent off in the next, bigger game? We'll never know and I for one feel cheated.
Another thing we'll never know – for which, perhaps, much thanks – is what Gazza would have done about the hair thing. After all, he has strong claims to be thought of as a pioneer of trichological neurosis. Over the years, he has been wavy, close-cropped, bald, even bewigged. When at Lazio, he appeared briefly in a Roberto Baggio-style hair-piece, or tail-piece. For Euro '96, he showed up with a bleached convict cut. In 1990, he warmed all English hearts by tugging at Ruud Gullitt's dreadlocks, and some of his most ghastly japes have been to do with hair: shaving off the eyebrows of a blotto drinking pal, putting shaving foam into a team-mate's kettle, and so on. All in all, hair troubles Gazza, as it now seems to trouble so many of his colleagues. How extra-cruel of Hoddle, then, to have excluded him from this, the hairiest of soccer tournaments. But then, Glenn's own attitude to hair is not all that it might be, as Spurs fans who remember his Eighties perm can testify. And was he not a little mussed up just after the Romanian defeat? For Hoddle, we can easily surmise, sensible hair control signifies a correctly focused style of management. After all, had not his arch-foe, Passarella, Argentina's team-boss, dropped one of his major stars, Redondo, because the player refused to make an appointment with the barber?
But enough of all this hair. What about the action pix? These, it must be said, were few and far between. Apart from a handful of genuinely golden moments – Bergkamp's last-minute winner against Argentina, Njanka's headlong dribble against Austria, Owen's goal, of course, and the odd glimpse of Ronaldo's fabled skills – France '98 was a bit of a let-down, soccerthrillwise. Or am I getting – getting? – old? The star players I adored in '94 and '90 were either absent from the scene, or they looked – even to me – well, somewhat creaky. And where were the new stars to replace them? Raul? Give me a break. Ilie? Are you serious? Owen? Let's wait and see.
Pre-tournament, the hyped newcomers tended to be forwards. By the end, though, all the talk was of full-backs like Cafu and Thuram, of centre-halves like Blanc and Desailly, or of midfield destroyers like Davids. Once or twice, on telly, the analysts found themselves predicting that goalscorers – rather like specialist wingers, post-Ramsey – might soon be disappearing from the sport. Look at France, such analysts would say: they won the thing without a 'recognised goalscorer' in their team. The strikes that mattered issued from midfield or from defence. And this, it was surmised, might well be symptomatic of some general drift towards redefinition. Instead of being an attacking game, of which the chief aim is to score a lot of goals, soccer may soon turn into something else: a game in which goal-prevention is the principal objective. Goal-prevention can, of course, include fouling, time-wasting, play-acting, offside ploys and all the rest of it. In this new version of the game, the thing will be to get through 90 minutes with your goal intact, and ditto extra time. Then everyone can settle down to the penalty shoot-out, in which goal-scoring will be actively encouraged. A 'result' will be decided on and old-style 'excitement' will be made available, in concentrated format, as a kind of postscript to the main endeavour, which is, of course: 'Getting to Penalties'.
A deadly prospect, you will say, and you'd be right. For my part, though, as a long-time casual fan of the Italians, there are occasions when I quite enjoy a stretch of thoroughly obsessed defensive play. One of my minor heroes of this World Cup was Italy's Fabio Cannavaro, a true prince of goal-denial. This player really did protect his turf with the sort of life-or-death intensity that we routinely hope for from goal-hungry forwards. After one of his match-saving interceptions, I found myself wishing that Cannavaro would rush to the touchline and perform some crazy dance: hey, look at me! Of course he never did. Defenders don't. Maybe they will, when soccer's realignment is complete.


I have blogged about emissions trading programs in the EU, California, Quebec, and others. In June of this year China initated its first pilot emission trading program in Shenzhen. Four more (Beijing, Chongqing, Tianjin and Shanghai) of the 7 proposed pilots are expected to start this year.
The Shenzhen Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) program covers 635 industrial companies in 26 different industries. In 2010, these 635 companies emitted 31.7 million tons of carbon dioxide and contributed 26% of Shenzhen's GDP.
In the past, China has used central planning rather than market-based measures to meet its carbon emissions reduction goals. With this approach during the 11th Five Year Plan (2006-2010), China reduced its energy intensity by 19%.
China has committed to reducing its emission intensity by 40% to 45% by 2020. Shenzhen's carbon intensity reduction target during the 12th five year plan (2011-2015) is 21%.
For the Shenzhen ETS, the 635 companies will be given a certain number of emission allowances for free over the next three years. Unlike California, these allowances are specified in terms of emissions intensity (CO2 emissions per unit of added value). The free allowances represent a 32% reduction in energy intensity. There will be a market-based trading scheme for exchanging emissions allowances.
The Air Resources Board (ARB) held its fourth auction of greenhouse gas allowances on August 16, 2013. The auction included a Current Auction of 2013 allowances and an Advance Auction of 2016 allowances.
The Auction Administrator (AA) reported that the 2013 auction clearing price is $12.22 per allowance, with 13,865,422 total 2013 allowances sold. The AA reported that the 2016 auction clearing price is $11.10 per allowance with 9,560,000 total 2016 allowances sold.
According to a report in the press, about 350 businesses and cities took part. A llowances for 2013 emissions, valued at $170 million, sold out. Additionally, more than $100 million in 2016 emission credits were sold this quarter. California's cap-and-trade program came into effect in January. The first auction was held in November of last year.
AB32 is the legislation that mandated carbon trading for about 350 companies in California. In the first two years 90 percent of the credits are free. In other words, based on their emssions history companies get 90% of their emission allowances for free from the state. But by 2016, all allowances will be sold. Participants have to buy credits if they emit over 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year. Between 2013 and 2020, the number of greenhouse gas credits offered will decrease by 2-3 % per year, which is expected to drive up the price of the allowances.
The program is designed to be compatible with cap-and-trade programs in the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) which includes six U.S. states (California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Washington) and four Canadian provinces (British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec).
Who pays for public access to open data ?
I have blogged frequently about the world-wide trend toward free and open access to government spatial data. In general this has meant that instead of users paying for access to spatial data, the government pays for the infrastructure to support open data sites like data.gov in the U.S. The expenditure is justified because governments see transparency as a key responsibilty and by the positive contribution to the national GDP that open access to spatial data can generate as studies in Australia and New Zealand have shown.
But it is an interesting question whether this model can continue on the future. In the first place governments have limited funds that are increasingly being directed to social programs and away from capital infrastructure projects. Secondly, the private sector is generally seen as much more efficient than government. For example, in the civil infrastructure sector this means increasingly governments are looking to private public partnerships to fund public infrastructure including roads and water and wastewater.
In an article in Science entitled Who will pay for public access to research data Francine Berman and Vint Cerf raise a very important question specifically for research data, but that is relevant to public access to all types of open data.
On 22 February, the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released a memo calling for public access for publications and data resulting from federally sponsored research grants (1). The memo directed federal agencies with more than $100 million R&D expenditures to "develop a plan to support increased public access to the results of research funded by the Federal Government." Perhaps even more succinctly, a subsequent New York Times opinion page sported the headline "We Paid for the Research, So Let's See It" (2). So who pays for data infrastructure?
There are several options. The government could allocate funding specifically of this. The government could mandate that this has to be done with existing funds which would mean reallocating funds that would otherwise have gone to research and innovation. The private sector could take this on and perhaps generate advertising revenue ala Google. Apparently in early 2008, Google announced that it would begin to support open-source scientific data sets, but by the end of the year, the project was shut down for business reasons. The authors even suggested paying for access to the data the same way that iTunes does for access to music. They suggest that private sector models will not solve the whole problem but could help provide some infrastructure support necessary for access to and preservation of research data. In this vein they make interesting recommendations that focus on a combination of the private and public sector.
It is incredible how rapidly wind power generation has grown over the past decade. The latest Global Wind Report Annual Market Update 2012 from the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) reports that the 2012 global wind power market grew by more than 10% compared to 2011. Nearly 45 GW of new wind power capacity resulted from about €56billion of investment. The new global total capacity at the end of 2012 was 282.5GW, equal to about a quarter of the power generation capacity of the U.S. In 2012 the cumulative market growth rate of 19% was somewhat lower than the annual average growth rate of 22% of wind energy over the past 10 years.
2012 turned out to be a record year for wind power installations in North America and Europe. China experienced a slower market, which meant that the US led the world in wind installations in 2012.
By the end of last year the number of countries with more than 1 GW of installed capacity reached 24: 16 in Europe; 4 in Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan & Australia); 3 in North America (Canada, Mexico, US) and 1 in Latin America (Brazil).
The US wind energy industry had a record year in 2012, installing 13.1 GW and exceeding 60 GW total installed wind power capacity.
During 2012, 12.7 GW W of wind power was installed across Europe. European Union countries accounted for 11.9 GW of this, 23% more than the previous year. Of the 12.7 GW installed in Europe, 10.7 GW were installed onshore and 1.2 GW offshore. The offshore market grew by 35% compared to 2011.
The total wind power capacity installed in the EU by the end of 2012 provides about 7% of overall EU electricity consumption (up from 6.3% in 2011).
Asia was the world's largest regional market for wind energy in 2012, with new capacity of 15 GW.
In 2012, wind-generated electricity in China amounted to 100.4 billion kWh, about 2% of the country's total electricity output last year, up from 1.5% in 2011. China reached 75.3 GW of wind capacity by the end of 2012. China continues to lead the world in cumulative installed wind power capacity. By the end of 2012, wind energy was the third largest source of electricity after thermal and hydropower in China, passing nuclear during 2012.
installations. 2012 was a slower year due to a lapse in policy, but India still experienced significant new wind energy capacity which reached 2.3 GW at the end of 2012, for a cumulative total of 18.4 GW.
As of January 2013, total renewable energy installations in the country reached 26.9 GW. By the end of 2012, renewable energy accounted for over 12 % of total installed capacity, and about 6% of electricity generation, compared to 2% in 1995. Wind power accounted for about 69% of total renewable energy capacity or about 8% of the total installed capacity in India.
Brazil is the third-largest emitter of total greenhouse gases (GHG) in the world, but energy-related emissions are a relatively small part (only 27%) of total emissions compared to other countries. Brazilian emissions are only 1.3% of global CO2 emissions from fuel combustion. Most of Brazilian GHG emissions comes from expanding agriculture, land-use and forestry activities, mainly in the Amazon region.
Brazil's energy usage profile is one of the cleanest in the world with renewables accounting for 44% of total primary energy supply (TPES).
78% of total electricity generation in 2010 came from hydropower. However, many of Brazil's hydropower generating facilities are located far away from the main demand centres, resulting in high transmission and distribution losses. Recent droughts have ed to diversification of the electricity production mix including increased use of natural gas. And there are currently 22 GW of hydropower capacity already contracted and under construction (including the 11.2 GW of the Belo Monte) plus 3.9 GW of small hydro plants.
Electricity produced from cogeneration plants (mainly from sugarcane bagasse) is planned to reach 11.4% of the country's electricity supply by 2030.
Biofuels provide a large share of the energy consumed for road transport in Brazil. As a result Brazilian transport has a relatively low CO2 emissions intensity. CO2 emissions per unit of fuel consumed in road traffic are 20% lower than the world average (2.3 versus 2.8 tCO2 per toe). Currently, cars that can run on either 100% ethanol or a gasoline-ethanol blend represent 84% of the new cars purchased in Brazil and cost the same as cars that can only run on conventional fuel.
Annex I of the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) includes Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Four major independent datasets show 2012 was among the 10 warmest years on record.
Minimum Arctic sea ice extent in September and Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent in June each reached new record lows. Arctic sea ice minimum extent (1.32 million square miles, September 16) was the lowest of the satellite era and 18 percent lower than the previous record low extent of 1.61 million square miles that occurred in 2007.
A new melt extent record occurred July 11–12 on the Greenland ice sheet when 97 percent of the ice sheet showed some form of melt, four times greater than the average melt this time of year.
The Antarctic maximum sea ice extent reached a record high of 7.51 million square miles on September 26. This is 0.5 percent higher than the previous record high extent of 7.47 million square miles that occurred in 2006.
Four independent datasets indicate that the globally averaged sea surface temperature for 2012 was among the 11 warmest on record.
Heat content in the upper 2,300 feet, or a little less than one-half mile, of the ocean remained near record high levels in 2012. Overall increases from 2011 to 2012 occurred between depths of 2,300 to 6,600 feet and even in the deep ocean.
Sea level reached a record high: Globally, sea level has been increasing at an average rate of 3.2 ± 0.4 mm per year over the past two decades.
Continuing a trend that began in 2004, oceans were saltier than average in areas of high evaporation, including the central tropical North Pacific, and fresher than average in areas of high precipitation, including the north central Indian Ocean.
Global tropical cyclone activity during 2012 was near average, with a total of 84 storms, compared with the 1981–2010 average of 89. Similar to 2010 and 2011, the North Atlantic was the only hurricane basin that experienced above-normal activity.
Major greenhouse gas concentrations, including carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, continued to rise during 2012. Global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production reached a record high in 2011 of 9.5 ± 0.5 petagrams of carbon. A new record of 9.7 ± 0.5 petagrams of carbon is estimated for 2012.
Atmospheric CO2 concentrations increased by 2.1 ppm in 2012, reaching a global average of 392.6 ppm for the year. In spring 2012, for the first time, the atmospheric CO2 concentration exceeded 400 ppm at several Arctic observational sites.
A draft of the United Nations IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) report leaked to the New York Times says that it is "extremely likely" that humans caused "more than half of the observed increase in global average surface temperature from 1951 to 2010." The draft report predicts that sea levels will rise by between 29 and 82cm by the end of the century, with scientists "fairly confident" that sea level will be closer to the upper limit. The report is being circulated for final review and will be released September 2013 to November 2014.
Acording to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the energy sector accounts for two thirds of greenhouse gas emissions. CO2 emissions reached a record high in 2012 growing by 1.4% to reach 31.6 Gt in 2012.
gas. Between 2009 and 2010, CO2 emissions from the combustion of coal increased by 4.9% and represented 13.1 GtCO2. Without additional abatement measures, the IEA projects that emissions from coal will grow to 15.3 GtCO2 in 2035.
Generation of electricity and heat was by far the largest producer of CO2 emissions and was responsible for 41% of world CO2 emissions in 2010. Worldwide, this sector relies heavily on coal, the most carbon- intensive of fossil fuels, amplifying its share in global emissions. Countries such as Australia, China, India, Poland and South Africa produce between 68% and 94% of their electricity and heat through the combustion of coal.
Between 2009 and 2010, total CO2 emissions from the generation of electricity and heat increased by 5.6%, while the fuel mix remained unchanged. CO2 emissions from coal increased by 4.7% and from natural gas by 9.5%.
In 2010 among the five largest emitters of CO2, China, the Russian Federation and the United States have reduced their CO2 emissions per unit of GDP between 1990 and 2010.
Among the five largest emitters in 2010, the levels of per-capita emissions ranged from 1 tCO2 per capita for India to 5 tCO2 per capita for China to 17 tCO2 per capita for the United States. In 2010, the United States alone generated 18% of world CO2 emissions with a population of less than 5% of the global total. China contributed about thes same share of world emissions (24%) while accounting for 20% of the world population. India, with 17% of population, contributed more than 5% of CO2 emissions.
In this fascinating study the authors present a way of including the costs of air pollution (sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, ammonia, particulate matter, and CO2) into the standard set of national accounts used to calculate gross domestic product (GDP) and other national economic indicators.
With this approach a price for coal or natural-gas generated electricity can be calculated that includes the cost of air pollution including such things as impacts on human health, decreased timber and agriculture yields, reduced visibility, accelerated depreciation of materials, and reductions in recreation services.
For example, the study finds that when these impacts are included the cost of coal generated electricity increases by 60 % in states relying on coal. This could make coal uncompetitive with other sources of electric power.
National economic accounts cover activities that are included in market activities. For example, The annual input-output accounts (I-O accounts) measure productive activity occurring in the economy by measuring by industry, the total value of output by commodity and the use of such commodities as an input to each industry's production process. Gross domestic product (GDP), probably the most quoted economic statistic, can be computed using the I-O accounts.
In the generally used system of national accounts external activities such as pollution that do not participate in a market are by definition excluded. In regulated industries, firms often already engage in some abatement. In this case some costs are already included in the existing national accounts. However, damages from any remaining emissions are not incorporated into the accounts.
This study presents a framework to integrate external damages, referred to as gross external damages (GED), into the system of the national economic accounts. It only looks at market activities, so that for example, pollution from households (homes and cars), which is a non-market activity, is not counted. In this framework air pollution becomes another cost of doing business. This approach allows a social price of coal or natural gas to be calculated that reflects the social cost of air pollution from each energy source.
to the physical and economic consequences (social costs) of these emissions on society. This paper takes the position that emissions should be valued by the damage they cause. With this assumption the pollution caused by each industry are included in the national accounts as both a cost and an (unwanted) output.
Using empirical estimates of the marginal damages (in effect, the prices) associated with each emission in every county in the Unites States, the contribution of air pollution damages to national accounts by industry have been calculated for the United States. The GED reported in this study is the annual damages from emissions in the year 2002. The analysis of greenhouse gases is an exception because they are calculated as the present value of future damages from 2002 emissions.
The study estimates that aggregate pollution damages, GED, from the market sector for all industries in 2002 were $184 billion. The study breaks this down by sector and by industry and in addition to GED calculates the GED as a percentage of the total market value for each industry, referred to as GED/VA. The sector with the largest GED is utilities with a GED of $63 billion of damages, about 34 percent of the total damages produced by market activity.
For the electric power industry, the damages from CO2 emissions are included in the gross emissions, referred to as GED*. The CO2 share of GED* for coal-fired generators is between 5 percent and 40 percent. Although coal-fired plants generate a great deal of CO2, they generate greater damages due to other pollutants such as SO2. Emissions of CO2 have the largest percent impact on the damages from natural gas–fired power plants (40 percent to 90 percent) because natural gas–fired power plants generate very small amounts of other pollutants.
In 2002, residential consumers of electricity paid an average market price of 8.4 cents/kwh. Residential electricity prices vary by the primary fuel type used in electricity generation.
In states that primarily rely on coal-fired power, residential electricity prices averaged 6 cents/kwh. The average GED*/kwh of coal-generated electricity is 60 percent of the average residential retail price of electricity in these states. The costs associated with air pollution significantly increases the social cost of coal generation to 9.6 cents/Kwh vs 6 cents/Kwh. An increase of this magnitude could make coal uncompetitive compares to other sources of electricity.
In states that rely primarily on natural gas, residential electricity prices averaged 11 cents/kwh. The average GED*/kwh of natural gas–generated electricity is 5 percent of the average residential retail price of electricity in natural-gas states. The social cost of natural gas generation is 11.5 cents/kWh.
The Air Pollution Emission Experiments and Policy(APEEP) analysis model is an integrated assessment economic model of air pollution for the United States. The APEEP model connects emissions of six major pollutants to the physical and economic consequences of these discharges on society. The effects included in the model calculations are adverse consequences for human health, decreased timber and agriculture yields, reduced visibility, accelerated depreciation of materials, and reductions in recreation services. In addition, for the electric power generation sector, damages from carbon dioxide emissions are also calculated.
The US EPA national emission inventory of air pollution emissions includes 10,000 emission sources representing a complete inventory of all anthropogenic sources of these six pollutants in the United States. The inventory reported in 2006 is the most recent USEPA inventory and measures emissions in 2002. The 2002 inventory includes 656 large point sources (individually documented facilities). The inventory also includes area sources from vehicles and stationary ground sources aggregated by county for the entire contiguous United States. The emissions are identified by a North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) industry code.
One of the important results of the damage estimates is that most of the damages due to exposures to air pollution result from human health effects, specifically premature fatalities. To count human exposures, APEEP contains an inventory of populations in each county subdivided into 19 age groups. The population is divided by age because age is a key determinant of human health effects.
Translating the health effects into economic losses requires determining an economic value for premature mortality. A key assumption is the magnitude of the value placed on mortality risks. This study values mortality risks using evidence from both revealed preference studies and stated preference studies in the literature. Specifically, the study uses a value of a statistical life (VSL) of $6 million per premature mortality. This figure represents the mean of 28 studies reviewed by the USEPA and it is used by the agency in their analyses of the benefits and costs of the Clean Air Act.
CO2 emissions have been calculated for the fossil fuel electric power generators by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Several studies have estimated the global damages per ton of 2002 emissions as a present value of future damages, also referred to as the social cost of carbon. The study uses the value of $27/tC as the most probable estimate with $6/tC as a lower bound and $65/tC as an upper bound. It is expected that as concentrations of CO2 increase in the atmosphere, the social cost of carbon will increase.


Hosts Bill Barlow and Jerry Washington interview blues singer and pianist Charles Brown (1922 - 1999) before his performance at the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater. The Rhythm & Blues Foundation's Howell Beagle introduces Brown. Brown performs "I Stepped in Quicksand" (00:12:30), "Save Your Love for Me" (00:19:00), "Seven Long Days" (00:24:34), "Just the Way You Are" (00:29:24), "Black Night" (00:33:59) and "So Long" (00:39:50). Barlow and Washington interview LaVern Baker at the end of the program.


text:
"We Improve Lives by Helping People See Better"
Eyemart Express was founded with a clear objective – to provide people with access to affordable quality eyewear with same-day speed. For 30 years, this has been our focus and will continue to be as we look towards the future. Getting to see clearly is often life-changing, and we're dedicated to helping you see some of life's greatest moments. Simply put, at Eyemart Express,
We Improve Lives by Helping People See Better!
At Eyemart Express, we do more than just employ great people—we invest in them. Our optical training and development programs are designed to empower our associates. We strive to develop insightful, informed leaders at any career level both in the workplace and in the community. We've curated a culture of pride based on a defined set of principles: trust, compassion, openness, opportunity, and Kaizen. Simply put, we believe that developing good people creates the best environment for our business, our products, and most of all, our customers.
We believe in improvement by constantly elevating our product, approach and performance.
We believe in transparency and giving feedback in a positive way.
We are solution-driven and focused on making our service better, faster and more effective.
We can be counted on to deliver quality products and service.
We are patient and understanding in our approach.
Since opening our doors in 1990, we have been driven by a singular focus: to make quality eyewear that is affordable, quick, and stylish. As a doctor-founded company, we understand that our success and innovation stems from maintaining great relationships with optometrists and optical experts across the country. We also believe in building a strong relationship with our customers and use their feedback to develop top-selling private label brands from lab to shelf. Through state-of-the-art lab technology, merchandising and online marketing, we continue to bring excitement back to the eye care industry.
Our first store opens in Appleton, Wisconsin with an in-store lab—elevating us above the competition.
Our first in-house brand, DB Classics, launches. We have since created over 25 successful in-house brands, each offering unique styles at affordable prices.
The first of many milestones for the company, our 50th store opens in San Antonio, Texas.
Our 99th and 100th stores officially open in the Michigan market.
Our home office relocates to a newer, larger facility in
Farmers Branch, Texas.
Partnering with Visual Eyes Eyewear, the SU2C collection is launched. More than $187,000 has been donated to support the SU2C mission to help further cancer research.
In support of our community and those who serve we established discount programs for military, school faculty and staff.
Listening to customer feedback, the Eyemart Express online store opens. We provide savings and personal recommendations matched to prescription and style.
We created High Street – a new women's in-house brand tailored to our fashion forward customers.
With the opening of our 200th store in Destin, FL, we are now able to offer you convenient optical solutions in 38 states.
Take a look behind the lens of the executive team that uses innovative thought to bring our vision of "Right Glasses. Right Price. Right Now." to life.
Mike Nuzzo
Mike Nuzzo brought the "right leadership" to Eyemart Express in 2022. With years of experience leading business development and expansion initiatives within the retail space, his growth-focused strategy brings Eyemart Express's unmatched optical expertise and customer convenience to new frontiers.
Mike graduated from Kenyon College with a bachelor's degree in economics before getting his master's degree in finance and accounting from the University of Chicago. Since then, he's held multiple leadership roles with well-known retailers like Abercrombie & Fitch, General Nutrition Centers (GNC), and most recently, Petco, initially as Chief Financial Officer and more recently as Chief Operating Officer and President, overseeing supply chain, real estate/construction, and the pet services and veterinary care business areas. In his time at Petco, Mike led a turnaround of the grooming business, the launch and scaling of the in-store vet hospital business, and the creation of a new Petco farm and feed store format targeting expansion in small town/rural communities. He also expanded the Petco brand into Canada with a store-in-store arrangement with Canadian Tire Corporation and was chairman of the company's Petco Mexico joint venture.
When he's not leading the development of Eyemart Express's long and short-term strategies, he enjoys running, hiking, reading history books, and spending quality time with his wife, four kids, and their two dogs.
Dr. Tom Patera
Senior Executive Vice President
Dr. Tom Patera has had the "right vision" since 2005, following a long career in the optical/optometry industry. Dr. Patera and his team work diligently to maintain the company's premier affiliate program. Through strong relationships and forward thinking, the program has reached nearly 200 locations spread throughout 38 states. Keeping in line with the company's doctor founded and doctor friendly approach, Dr. Patera's expertise has played a key role in the company maintaining its nation-leading low doctor turnover and vacancy rates. He and his team continue to play an integral role in the expansion of the company's brand throughout the country. In addition to managing his own private optometric practice for many years, he has also held President and Vice President positions at regional optical chains in the Midwest and Northwest. He received his undergraduate education at Buena Vista University and his Doctor of Optometry degree from the Illinois College of Optometry.
When Dr. Patera isn't bridging the gap between great doctors and Eyemart Express customers, he can be found on his tree farm recounting his adventurous tales from around the globe with his wife Sharon, their 3 sons, 3 daughters-in-law, and 8 grandchildren.
Katy Hanson
Katy Hanson has had the "right strategy" for Eyemart Express since 2016. She began leading strategy and planning for all of Eyemart's marketing channels, and then she served as interim Chief Marketing Officer before joining the Eyemart Express leadership team as CMO in 2021. As CMO, Katy leads Eyemart Express' marketing operations, including strategy development and implementation of multichannel media plans for advertising, digital marketing, local store marketing, and brand initiatives. As Eyemart Express continues to grow and innovate, Katy's understanding of our customers, culture, and our Eyemart family remains invaluable.
Katy spent three decades in strategic marketing and communications before joining the Eyemart Express family. She's held leadership roles at Blockbuster and Michaels Stores. While at Michaels, she served as the craft retailer's Vice President of Marketing, overseeing marketing initiatives across channels, including digital marketing, advertising, brand management, and the retailer's in-store experience.
When Katy isn't developing strategies for multichannel initiatives, you can find her hitting the hiking and mountain biking trails with her wife, Penny and their two sons.
Jason Bennett
Jason Bennett has brought the "right experience" to Eyemart Express since early 2021. With over 20 years of Operations expertise behind him, his vision for the company continues to be focused on improving the customer and associate experience.
After graduating from the University of Kentucky with a BA in accounting and finance, Jason quickly passed the CPA exam. However, his passion for people compelled him toward a career in Operations. Before joining the Eyemart Express leadership team, he was at CVS Health for 6 years, leading large retail teams in the long-term care sector. And prior to his time in pharmacy operations, Jason led substantial business units for McKesson across the Northeast and Southern states.
When he's not traveling across the country developing our teams and keeping our customers happy, you can find him at the driving range, playing tennis, watching esports, and spending time with his wife, three children, and their two cats and dogs.
Jason Shanks
Jason has been providing the "right counsel" since 2014. He oversees the company's legal affairs, regulatory compliance, and business relationships regarding our associates and optometrist affiliates. A firm believer in maximizing the company's business opportunities, he works diligently to minimize risk, allowing leadership to focus on what Eyemart Express does best—provide high quality products and excellent customer service. Jason is also the head of managed care operations, ensuring our in-store associates are trained and equipped with the knowledge to service our insurance customers in the best way possible. Jason received his bachelor's degree from Austin College and his Juris Doctor from Southern Methodist University. He began practicing law in 1999, working almost 15 years for a major law firm before joining Eyemart Express. In 2006, he transitioned his focus to optical law and is currently recognized as one of the leading optical attorneys in the United States.
When he isn't managing partnerships and mitigating risk, you can find Jason on the golf course or traveling the world with his wife, Nancy, and two daughters. Depending on the season, you can also catch him on the field or on the court coaching his daughters' sports teams.
Mike Loftus
Mike joined Eyemart Express with the "right financial plan" in the summer of 2021. He brings many years of diversified experience in the retail space to the team. As the head of our financial department, his vision and leadership guide our resources as we move forward with the continued goal of improving the lives of our customers and associates.
After graduating with honors from the University of Texas – Red McCombs School of Business, Mike held prominent financial executive roles at several major companies, including Blockbuster and GameStop. Most recently, he served as the Chief Financial Officer at Lori's Gifts. As Mike transitions into his new role as our Chief Financial Officer, he is eager to develop a robust financial strategy that will propel Eyemart Express forward as a leader in the optical industry.
When Mike isn't staying on top of our finances, he loves to spend time adventuring with his wife and three sons. This fearless family loves scuba diving with sharks, but their favorite activity is hitting the slopes in Colorado.
Keith O'Connor
Keith started developing the "right software" for the Eyemart Express team in 2008. He believes that a strong focus on technology and smart software are advantageous to both our customers and our company. Taking great ideas from all areas of the company and transforming them in to solid processes backed by technology has helped Eyemart Express stay one step ahead of the competition. Keith is responsible for our technical initiatives including the development of our new online store. He and his team also oversee data warehousing, data center infrastructure, hybrid cloud deployments, and technical support. Keith holds a degree in computer science from Texas A&M University.
When he isn't developing new ways to make Eyemart Express a technical leader in the retail space, he can be found spending time with his wife, Haley, and their daughter. He secretly hopes that one day his daughter will love technology just as much as he does.
We are a doctor founded, doctor friendly company that recognizes the value of a strong optometrist relationship and its contribution to our overall success. As we continue to grow, we are constantly searching for talented optometrists to practice next door to our stores. Explore the many benefits of an affiliation with us by visiting DoctorFounded.com.
Higher income potential,
lower overhead
Tailored workspace with
We Know How to Drive Traffic
to Our Stores
Stay up to date on our industry vision with our latest in offerings and partnerships.
UltraXHD
The clearest, most precise lenses available today.
We have a vision.
And it's growing quickly.
We now offer even more locations to bring you the best value in eyewear.
School Faculty & Staff
20% Off. Every day.
We recognize our teachers, principals, bus drivers, custodians and others with a great everyday discount.
Explore our newest in-house line of high-fashion frames.
Our empowered employees share their thoughts about being valuable members of the Eyemart Express family.
Each employee who helped me was courteous and helpful. They never rushed me and answered every question. I felt like I mattered.
Vanessa W. | Des Moines, IA
Really helpful staff. Knowledgeable about product but leave you enough time to look for the right pair on your own. Love that you get your glasses so soon.
Jeff S. | Idaho Falls, ID
In 2 hours I walked out with 2 new glasses that I love! I'm so pleased with the great service at VIsion4Less
Brenda W. | Shreveport, LA


text:
Q: Winforms app as "offline mode" of the web app I saw similar questions here, but none of them really addressed my situation, here's the setup:
I have an ASP.NET application with Forms Authentication (SqlMembershipProvider) where users can submit audit findings.
I want to create a lightweight desktop app (let's call it MyApp) (to use Offline) so that users can submit audit findings when they don't have internet connectivity.
Here are the MUST-HAVES:

*

*Authenticate the user against my SqlMembershipProvider (anonymous users can't submit audit findings)

*Only ask the user for credentials ONCE (when s/he opens MyApp) (I'll have the ability to save the authentication token, but in some cases MyApp will be installed on a laptop that's being used by multiple users, hence I'll have to force users to login every time MyApp is open)

*Do NOT store password in plain-text (if user is offline when MyApp is opened, I want to save the credentials to authenticate the user whenever connection is available) - not sure if this is possible

Once I get the 3 things above figured out - the rest is easy.
Here's a simple scenario in case the above is confusing:

*

*MyApp is installed on the office laptop, that people take along when they travel

*2 Users travel to remote area (no internet), and conduct 2 separate audits

*User 1 opens MyApp, provides his user/pass (see #2 in MUST-HAVES), submits 3 findings (I'll save the findings along with user's credentials to authenticate the user and submit the findings whenever connection becomes available) - see #1 and #3 in MUST-HAVES

*User 2 opens MyApp, and does the same routine as User 1 did in step 3.

*2 days later they come back to the office, internet is available, findings from steps 3 and 4 are submitted to my web-app on behalf of respective users

I've looked into Microsoft Sync framework, but that seemed like an overkill for what I'm doing (and I'm not sure if it can accommodate my MUST-HAVES either).
I'm open to any alternative approaches as long as they would account for my MUST-HAVES.
Thank you for your help.

A: There's a tough problem hidden here.  The use case of multiple users entering reports on the same laptop suggests that users must authenticate before they enter an audit report, as opposed to authenticating when they submit the audit report once the app is re-connected.
Authentication should presumably tell the users whether the credentials that they entered were correct or not, so you need to synchronize the user credential database to the laptop.  That is a significant security risk and needs to be done very carefully, even if the user database is encrypted and uses hashed, salted passwords.  You probably want to only sync a subset of users' records for instance- the ones who would be using the app.
So let's assume that you do that- then you can use the same authentication provider that you use on the ASP.NET application to authenticate the users, and re-sync that database whenever the application is connected.  You don't need to store their credentials other than in the database, which as I mentioned should be encrypted using the windows data protection API or something similarly strong.
All of this could be simplified if you could get around the requirement by allowing the users to associate the reports with their account by just typing in a username, uploading (but not submitting) the reports when they reconnect, and requiring that the users connect via the website and confirm the uploaded report after authenticating the normal way.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Anna Fasshauer
Hello Sinki
September 24–October 24, 2021
Selected WorksInstallation ViewsThumbnailsBack
Knot Blue, 2021
246 x 170 x 96 cm / 97x 67 x 38 in
AFAS_002
Yellow and Yellow + Blue, 2020
Aluminum, lacquer
135 x 105 x 60 cm / 53 x 41 x 24 in
Yellow Bolero, 2021
275 x 160 x 110 cm / 108 x 63 x 43 in
Anna Fasshauer: Hello Sinki
Marking her Finnish debut, German artist Anna Fasshauer (b. 1975) will fill Galerie Forsblom with her eye-popping aluminum sculptures, which at first glance appear to be abstract, but soon begin to recall something familiar. Closer inspection reveals them to be gigantic straws that someone has absent-mindedly twisted and crushed into sculptural tangles. The combination of peppy colors and oversized replicas of everyday objects are highly reminiscent of Pop sculpture, notably the work of Claes Oldenburg (1929-2009). While thus being linked to the continuum of art history, the iconography of Fasshauer's sculptures also speaks directly to the contemporary moment.
For as simple as it seems, a straw is anything but a neutral object. Plastic straws have come to symbolize marine pollution while representing a globally shared multilayered experience. We can all easily picture how it feels to crumple a plastic straw in our fingers, and we can just as easily retrieve memory traces of the anxious energy we experience as we fiddle with a straw. Fasshauer's sculptures invoke a pervasive sense of unease through the most commonplace of objects. Her sculptures nevertheless retain an undercurrent of humor, their cold, stiff industrial material acquiring an endearing human quality. Fasshauer's choice of material underscores the laden, thought-provoking contrast between her art's theme and execution.
Anna Fasshauer graduated from the Chelsea School of Art and Design in London in 2001. She has exhibited her work in group and solo shows around the world, including venues such as the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris, Kunstverein Offenburg and Kunstverein Arnsberg in Germany, and the Goethe Institute in Beirut. The artist is based in Berlin.
Anna Fasshauer CV


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Breaking NewsBreakfast, Cereals & Bars
Nellson Nutraceutical Opens World-Class Nutrition Bar Manufacturing Facility
Ontario, Calif., facility features in-line process capabilities enabling new formats, such as slabbed and extruded bites, triple layer bars and unique custom shapes
Nellson Nutraceutical, LLC (Nellson), a leading North American formulator and manufacturer of branded and private label nutritional bar and functional powder products, announced the opening of its new nutrition bar manufacturing plant in Ontario, California. The state-of-the-art 300,000 sq. ft. facility offers the latest bar processing technology and capabilities available, and strengthens Nellson's market-leading position in nutritional bar co-manufacturing.
"Today we are thrilled to officially open our new Ontario, California facility," said Jamie Better, Chief Executive Officer of Nellson. "This project began in 2016 when we decided it was better to build from scratch rather than retrofitting our aging facility in Irwindale, California. Our goal was to construct a world-class nutrition bar facility that would provide our brand customers unmatched R&D expertise and the latest process and manufacturing innovations for nutrition bars as well as a first-rate working environment for our employees. This is the first new facility of its kind in North America in at least the last 16 years, and is an important strategic investment for Nellson, as we gear up to meet customers' rapidly evolving demands in a dynamic nutrition market across multiple segments, including sports performance, wellness, weight management, functional and medical nutrition."
"The Nellson team is extremely excited to share new capabilities and technologies with our brand partners as we work together to create some of the industry's latest on-trend nutrition bar formats," said Jean Filion, Nellson's Chief Operating Officer and President Nellson Canada. "Our new R&D Collaboration Center enhances our ability to work with brand partners on the next generation of bars, providing custom formulation, benchtop replication, and consumer samples and testing."
"In selecting the Ontario site, it was critically important to us that the new facility be within a short drive from our existing location, as we wanted to retain our experienced workforce and all their bar-making expertise," said Better. "We're delighted that over 80% of our Irwindale employees agreed to transfer to Ontario. This facility sets a new standard in nutrition bar manufacturing. Our investment of about $70 million in the Ontario facility, along with our recent acquisition of Genysis Brand Solutions are the latest steps in Nellson's aggressive transformation under the ownership of Kohlberg & Company, and reflect our determination to be the co-manufacturing partner of choice for the leading brands in the nutritional bar and functional powder marketplace."
Nellson's new Ontario facility at a glance:
The 300,000 sq. ft. facility offers a streamlined layout with segregated lines—providing brand confidentiality, allergen control, food safety, efficient sanitation, as well as flexible production capabilities
In-line process capabilities enabling new formats, such as slabbed and extruded bites, triple layer bars and unique custom shapes
In-line dual mixing capabilities to optimally blend a range of ingredients, from very fragile cereal or crisp-based layers to very dense high protein doughs
New high-speed packaging capabilities to support on-trend consumer demands
Multiple pack-outs on a single line for optimal efficiency and increased flexibility
State-of-the-art R&D Collaboration Center supports customer formulation, commercial scale-up and consumer testing
Smart technology and energy efficient systems to conserve energy, water and other resources, with programs to maximize recycling and reduce waste
Expansion space to support future growth
Visit www.nellsonllc.com for more information.
KEYWORDS: food and beverage manufacturing food processing food technology
Nellson Initiates to Replace Production Facility
Kerry Group Opens €125M Food Manufacturing Facility
Ingredion Opens State-of-the-Art Plant-Based Protein Manufacturing Facility


Stages are tense. Relax after a difficult round with the help of D.Va and her candle. It is presented in a tin with some of your favorite Overwatch characters on the packaging and comes in a cinnamon scent.