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Defence of Family Provision Claims
Contested Estates Recent News
John Stinson	, 6
An executor (and an administrator in the case of intestacy) has a duty to defend family provision claims brought against the estate.
In this article we look at what this involves in New South Wales.
Family provision claims
Certain people, including a spouse and a child of a deceased person, and a person who had lived with the deceased in a close personal relationship are eligible to make a claim that provision or further provision ought to be made from the estate (or notional estate) of the deceased, for their proper maintenance, education and advancement in life.
How much provision the Court might make
If the Court is satisfied that adequate provision has not been made for the applicant in the deceased's will (or pursuant to the laws of intestacy), it will only make the orders necessary to make adequate provision for the applicant's needs. The Court's role is not to rewrite the will to achieve a "fair" disposition of the estate but to only make the orders necessary to make adequate provision for the applicant's proper maintenance, education and advancement in life.
In Vigolo v Bostin [2005] HCA 11; (2005) 221 CLR 191, Callinan and Heydon JJ said the following of the words 'maintenance', 'support' and 'advancement':
"'Maintenance' may imply a continuity of a pre-existing state of affairs, or provision over and above a mere sufficiency of means upon which to live. 'Support' similarly may imply provision beyond bare need. The use of the two terms serves to amplify the powers conferred upon the court. And, furthermore, provision to secure or promote 'advancement' would ordinarily be provision beyond the necessities of life. It is not difficult to conceive of a case in which it appears that sufficient provision for support and maintenance has been made, but that in the circumstances, say, of a promise or an expectation reasonably held, further provision would be proper to enable a potential beneficiary to improve his or her prospects in life, or to undertake further education."
Similarly, in Alexander v Jansson [2010] NSWCA 176, Brereton J (with whom Basten JA and Handley AJA agreed) stated:
"Proper maintenance" is not limited to the bare sustenance of a claimant [cf Gorton v Parkes(sic) [1989] 17 NSWLR 1], but requires consideration of the totality of the claimant's position in life including age, status, relationship with the deceased, financial circumstances, the environs to which he or she is accustomed, and mobility."
In assessing whether inadequate provision has been made for the applicant the Court takes into account a number of factors including the needs of the applicant for maintenance, education and advancement in life (including future needs such as the need to guard against unforseen contingencies), the needs of any competing applicants or beneficiaries, the size of the estate, the relationship between the deceased and the applicant, contributions the applicant may have made to the support and care of the deceased and to their property and the age, health and financial circumstances of the applicant and any competing persons.
The Court considers all of these factors at the date of the hearing and so it can take into account any needs or other factors that have changed since the deceased made the will and indeed since the deceased's death.
When considering whether adequate provision has been made, the Court will have regard to what is considered to be right and proper according to contemporary accepted community standards.
The Court has a great deal of flexibility when making an order for provision and may make it in the form of a lump sum or "in any other manner the court thinks fit". The Court may also make such orders concerning the abatement, or adjustment, of distributions from the estate, as between the person in whose favour the family provision order is made and the other beneficiaries of the estate as it considers just and equitable among the persons affected. Any order made takes effect, unless the court otherwise orders, as if the provision was made in a codicil to the will of the deceased, or in the case of intestacy, as in a will of the deceased.
Time limit for making a claim
The time limit for making such a claim in NSW is, as of right, 12 months from the date of death of the deceased.
The Court has power to extend that time limit, but will not do so automatically. It can be very difficult to convince the Court that it should do so, particularly if the delay is significant.
Duties of the Executor
It is the duty of the Executor to defend the claim and uphold the provisions of the Will or to negotiate a compromise, where appropriate and particularly if the estate is small.
The Executor must place before the Court all evidence which might have any bearing on the issues raised by the Applicant's evidence or which might arise at the hearing. It is the duty of the Executor to put material before the Court which any beneficiary desires should be placed before it, (unless the material is believed to be false or clearly irrelevant) and for that reason, it is not usually necessary for the beneficiaries to be separately represented.
If an Executor has received notice of an intended claim, then we strongly recommend that the Executor does not make any distributions from the estate, except in certain special circumstances, which we can discuss with the executor if the need arises. If a distribution is made and it transpires that there are insufficient assets in the estate to satisfy an order made by the Court in favour of a successful plaintiff, the Executor may become personally liable to satisfy that order, to the extent of any deficiency in the estate to meet it. Costs may also be awarded against the executor. The executor therefore seeks legal advice before making any distributions from the estate.
Notice to other Eligible Persons
Upon receipt of a family provision claim against the estate, the Executor is required to send notices of claim to all other persons who may be eligible to make a family provision claim against the estate. The purpose of these notices is to ensure that all relevant parties have the opportunity to join the proceedings so that all possible claims can be determined in the one set of proceedings before the Court. The definition of eligible persons includes:-
(i) any person who was married to the deceased person at the time of their death,
(ii) a person with whom the deceased person was living in a de facto relationship at the time of the deceased's death,
(iii) a child of the deceased person, or if the deceased person was at the time of his or her death a party to a domestic relationship, a person who is, for the purposes of the Property (Relationships) Act 1984, a child of that relationship,
(iv) a former wife or husband of the deceased person,
(v) a person who was at any particular time wholly or partly dependent upon the deceased person and who is a grandchild of the deceased person or who was, at that particular time or at any other time, a member of the household of which the deceased person was a member,
(vi) a person with whom the deceased person was living in a close personal relationship at the time of the deceased person's death.
The executor may need to make enquiries to identify all possible eligible persons.
Executors Affidavit
The Executor is required, shortly after being served with the summons commencing the Plaintiff's claim, to file and serve an affidavit which sets out the assets and liabilities of the estate, and any possible notional estate (see further below) that might be taken into consideration by the Court in assessing whether any assets of the estate or notional estate could be applied towards making additional provision to the Plaintiff. The affidavit sets out the following matters:
(a) the nature and value of the assets and liabilities of the deceased at the date of death,
(b) what is likely to be the nature and value of any distributed estate and the net distributable estate (having regard to expenses incurred from the date of death to the date of swearing the affidavit e.g. funeral expenses, tax liabilities, rates, water, electricity etc on the deceased's home),
(c) what is the nature and value of any property which may be the subject of any relevant property transaction that may give rise to an order declaring property to be notional estate e.g. transfers of the deceased's property to other parties without full and valuable consideration prior to the deceased's death (see further below)
(d) the name and address of every person who in the defendant's opinion is holding property as trustee or otherwise which is or may be the subject of any relevant property transaction,
(e) the name and address of every person who in the defendant's opinion is or may be:-
(i) an eligible person
(ii) an eligible person under a legal incapacity
(iii) a person beneficially entitled to distributable estate
(iv) a person holding property as trustee or otherwise
(f) the name and address of every person to whom the defendant has given notice of the plaintiff's application
(g) whether any commission is to be charged by the executor and, if so, the amount to be charged.
Notional estate
The Court has the power to order that property which has fallen outside of the estate, either because the deceased or the executor transferred it, or because the deceased omitted to do something which would cause the property to become part of his estate (and full valuable consideration was not given for the act, transfer or omission), constitutes notional estate. It can do so if the act, transaction or omission (the "prescribed transaction") took place within a maximum period of 3 years from the date of death, if certain other criteria are also met.
Specific examples of transactions which may be caught include failing to direct the proceeds of a life insurance policy to be paid to the estate, failing to direct superannuation or other monies payable to the deceased on death to the estate and entering into a contract providing for the transfer of property, whether before or after the person's death, without receiving full consideration in return for this.
However, even if such a transaction has occurred, this does not necessarily mean that the Court will declare the affected asset to be notional estate. The court will only declare this asset to be notional estate, if an order for provision in favour of a plaintiff cannot be met from the actual estate and only after other factors are considered and certain other criteria are met.
Affidavit of executor responding to matters raised by the plaintiffs in their affidavits
After the plaintiff has filed his/her evidence, then the executor will have the opportunity to file evidence in defence of the claim. This may include affidavits from other family members, responding to matters raised by the plaintiff.
Court Appearances
The matter will be listed before the Court for a number of "directions hearings" when the Court will make orders setting down a timetable for each party to complete and serve their evidence. The executor is not required to personally attend any directions hearing as we will attend Court on the executor's behalf.
Brief to counsel
It is our usual practice to brief a barrister to settle the affidavit evidence (if time allows) and to provide a written advice to the executor on the strength of the claims made by the plaintiff. This will allow the executor to consider whether to make an offer of settlement to the plaintiff and explore settlement negotiations.
Subpoenas and Notices to Produce
To fully explore the plaintiff's financial position, it is our usual practice to issue a notice to produce documents to verify the information the plaintiff has provided in respect to their financial circumstances. We may also need to issue subpoenas on third parties to gain a further understanding of the financial position of the plaintiff.
Plaintiffs evidence in reply
After the executor serves his or her affidavit evidence, the plaintiff will be given the opportunity to file any affidavits in reply to the estate's evidence.
Mediation is usually ordered by the Court after all of the affidavit evidence has been filed. Mediations are very helpful in narrowing the areas of dispute between the parties and the majority of cases are resolved at mediation.
Mediations can be held before a Registrar of the Court (in which case the Registrar's time is offered free of charge) or before a private mediator, who will of course charge for his or her services.
Mediations before a Registrar are held in the offices of the Supreme Court and are scheduled for 3 or 4 hours duration. The executor will need to attend this mediation with legal representation, which would normally include a barrister.
Mediation is an informal process where the parties' legal representatives make short opening statements to the Mediator explaining their position. The Mediator then speaks to each of the parties to explain the purpose of the mediation, the costs involved in proceeding to a hearing before a Judge, and generally encourages the parties to try and resolve this matter at the mediation. The parties then move into different conference rooms and offers of settlement are exchanged through the Mediator until the matter is resolved or the parties decide to terminate the mediation.
If the matter does not settle at mediation, the Registrar will re-list it before the Court to allocate a hearing date before a Judge.
Offers of Compromise
In the normal course of events, where mediation had failed, the parties may file a formal offer of compromise that reflects the last offer of settlement they made at the mediation. The offer is made on a costs plus basis e.g. $100,000 plus costs as agreed or assessed and the offer is usually open for 28 days for acceptance.
The effect of an offer of compromise for the executor is that if the plaintiff does not obtain an award in excess of the monies that are offered by the executor in the executor's offer of compromise, then the Plaintiff risks having an adverse costs order made against him or her in respect of the legal costs that were incurred by the estate after the offer of compromise was made. For example the Court may order that the plaintiff pay the legal costs of the estate incurred from the date the offer of compromise lapsed, rather than those costs being ordered to be paid from the estate.
If the plaintiff makes an offer of compromise to the estate and is awarded by the court the same or more monies than the plaintiff was willing to accept in its offer of compromise, then the estate is at risk of having an adverse costs order made against it arising from the estate's failure to accept the plaintiff's offer. The court may order the estate to pay the Plaintiff's costs on an indemnity basis from the time the offer of compromise lapsed rather than the ordinary order that costs be paid on a party/party basis. The difference between these two costs orders is that in the normal course of events parties only recover approximately 65-75% of their total legal costs on assessment if a party/party costs order is made but if an indemnity costs order is made then the party will recover anything up to approximately 90-95% of its legal costs provided that the costs are not unreasonably incurred.
If the matter is not resolved at mediation, it will be set down for a hearing usually 3 – 4 months after the date of the mediation. Prior to the hearing the parties will update their affidavit evidence and may seek to file additional evidence to more properly detail their respective positions. The parties will also be required to each pay a hearing fee to the Court.
The hearing of the proceedings before the court may take a number of days depending on the extent of the evidence and the number of witnesses. The legal costs of the hearing are usually quite substantial as the solicitor and barrister will need to allocate at least a day to prepare for the hearing and then be in attendance through each day of the hearing.
In the course of the hearing, each side will have the opportunity for their barrister to cross examine each of the witnesses and at the conclusion of their evidence each barrister will make submissions.
Legal costs of the proceedings
It is usually the case that plaintiffs who are successful in obtaining further provision from the estate are entitled to an order for their costs of the proceedings on a party/party basis. It is rare that the court would not allow the plaintiff to recover its costs.
However, in recent times the court has become very concerned about the escalation of legal costs in these proceedings and has made it clear to all of the parties to proceedings that costs are at the discretion of the court and that in some instances, costs will be capped at a particular sum and the parties will have to pay the balance of their legal costs. An order of this nature is only likely to arise where unreasonable legal costs have been incurred in the circumstances.
The costs of the executor defending the proceedings are usually ordered to be paid out of the estate on an indemnity basis as usually the executor has no choice but to incur these costs in defending the estate and these costs are paid from the estate as they are incurred.


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Q: Jenkins Windows | Build > Execute Windows Batch Command | How to move folder and files into the Root Directory / Workspace I could really need some help right now.
I want to move files (with subfolders and files in it) into the root / workspace of my current jenkins App. My other batch commands work, for example:
move app laravel moves the app folder and its content into the laravel folder
And i think it works without a problem because I can call the absolute folder.
but if I want to move my files "dynamically" using an relative path (move to root):
move public/.htaccess ./ it throws an error that it coudn't find the path.
I also tried the following synonyms for the root directory, but none worked:
.., $WORKSPACE,%WORKSPACE%, ws, workspace, /workspace/<appname>, <appname> or / .. or \ im just out of ideas by now.
Any recommendations?

A: Okay, I solved it...
I researched the folder structure and found that one of my earlier trys kinda worked. It moved files into the Jenkins/workspace folder. That wasnt planned but because of that I now knew that some command must have worked!
The command that worked was .. as the destination directory, because it is in the root directory.
So my Solution now was simple:
move public\*.* .

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Q: Can we reuse WebSphere MQ TLS/SSL certificate? Let us say, I used a queue manager QMGR1 in host1 to create a CSR and obtain a CA-verified certificate labeled ibmwebspheremqqmgr1. Can I use load the same certificate (and its root and intermediary chains) in another host host2 for the a queue managed named same (i.e. QMGR1) ? In other words, a certreq needs to be present when we 'receive' a certificate using rumqakm or no? Can we just 'add' a cert (like we do the chains)? If the question is not clear, please ask, i can provide more details. In my case host2 is production. host1 is a QA environment where we test connectivity. Thanks.
Update question from comments 26DEC16
Specific to MQ, I believe I would have to load CSR first on host2 and then receive the CER again, right? I wonder how do I 'load' the CSR without creating it. I see an option to recreate it in runmqakm, never used that before and not sure if that will work.

A: TL;DR: Yes.
When you create a CSR using IBM GSKit (e.g. runmqakm), the result is a certificate that is unsigned and the CSR file itself.  The CSR is cryptographically bound to the unsigned certificate that remains in the .rdb file of the keystore.  The signed CSR cannot be received into just any keystore at that point.
When you receive the signed CSR, it is combined with the pending unsigned certificate and moved to the .kbd file of the keystore.  At this point it is a valid personal certificate with the label name you specified (ibmwebspheremqqmgr1 in this case) and the DN that you specified.
Once completed you have a usable personal certificate.  If you wanted to use it on another QMgr you would need to get that certificate to that other QMgr in one of two ways:

*

*Copy the set of files that comprise the keystore.

*Export the personal certificate to a file and then import that file into the other QMgr's keystore.

If you copied the entire keystore and the other QMgr is also named QMGR1 then you can use them immediately.  If the other QMgr has a different name, then you'd have to rename the certificate to something other than ibmwebspheremqqmgr1, or in a modern QMgr set the QMgr's CERTLABL attribute to ibmwebspheremqqmgr1.  Generally, you want the cert label to reflect the name of the QMgr using it so a QMgr named QMGR2 with a CERTLABL of ibmwebspheremqqmgr1 is not recommended.
If you import the certificate then you can set the label during the import command.
Keep in mind, the label and the Distinguished Name are two completely different and unrelated things.  The distinguished Name is the value that the CA verified and signed off over and is cryptographically bound tot he keys in the cert.  It is the thing that a remote connection partner decides whether to trust or not.
The label is how the local QMgr or client finds its own certificate.  Imagine you had created two personal certificates, the QMgr needs to know which one to send.  It finds the correct one by matching the label of the certificate to the expected value of ibmwebspheremq[qmgr name in lower case] or against the QMgr's CERTLABL attribute if it is not blank.
This is why the certificate label can be changed easily with a GSKit command but the Distinguished Name is immutable.
With this in mind, note that external, and many internal, CAs will expect the certificate Common Name of the certificate to contain the fully-qualified hostname where the certificate will be used.  HTTPS clients check that the certificate CN matches the hostname when they connect.  For an MQ connection, this is not the case.  You can put anything in the CN that your CA will sign and use it on a QMgr of any arbitrary name.  So your certificate can have CN=QMGR1 and that QMgr can live on mqhost.yourcompany.com and MQ likes it just fine.  However, clients using the new MQ REST API will not!  This is an important distinction for people hoping to use the new MQ REST API.
Finally, please note that best practice is to generate the certificates where they will be used, protect them using filesystem permissions, keep them in local storage, and never copy or move them from that location.  Public/Private key crypto was invented to solve the very difficult problem of securely exchanging private keys.  If the personal certs are copied around it defeats the purpose of using them in the first place.
The various commercial PKI packages (i.e. IBM Tivoli Key Lifecycle Manager, Venafi, etc.) all solve this problem using FIPS-certified algorithms that don't store keys or crypto primitives on disk, securely wipe memory space before releasing it, and in general take excruciating care to not leave keys unprotected in transit, disk or memory.  If you must copy personal certs around, use a real PKI package designed for that purpose if the company has one.  Otherwise, export them to a .p12 with a very long and random password and avoid email, FTP, or other non-secure means of copying the file around.


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Binge-worthy: The best of Netflix
Do you ever have those days in the beginning of the year where you don't have that much homework and you have nothing else to do?
Baja Beaman
AFH PHOTO//MARIANA MELARA
Do you ever have those days in the beginning of the year where you don't have that much homework and you have nothing else to do? I definitely have those days. Here I am going to suggest my favorite binge-worthy Netflix shows, from drama to comedy to classic high school flicks.
The Fosters, set in San Diego, is about a lesbian couple named Stef and Lena, a police officer and a school vice-principal who are raising a multi-ethnic family. The family consists of one biological and four adopted children, Brandon, Mariana, Jesus, Jude and Callie.
I recommend this show because it shows that you don't need to be a blood family to be loved. Social issues are also underlined in every episode's storyline. The show never pushes a topic on you, but it's honest about how hard life can be. This series deals with issues such as gay rights, feminism, first loves, suicide, mental illness and the importance of following your dreams. You'll just grow to care about these characters like they really are your own family. It has taught me personally that family has the unconditional love that is indescribable.
Shameless is a TV show about the dysfunctional Gallagher family in Chicago's South Side. The children have to learn how to care for themselves since their single father would rather spend his days drunk.
You can easily relate to at least one character in Shameless on a deep level. Frank Gallagher, the father who you think would have no real substance, actually has a lot of knowledge on real world issues. Frank is well known for his constant ranting sessions about life, and during these times he uses amazing vocabulary that demonstrates how educated he is.
Even though they are a dysfunctional family, if any of the Gallaghers are in trouble, they will be there for each other always. This family resembles what some American families are like. No family is perfect and this show does a great job showing that the most dysfunctional families can have the most love for each other.
The Vampire Diaries is a supernatural/fantasy/horror/drama television series based on L. J. Smith's book series of the same name. The series follows the life of 17-year-old Elena Gilbert who falls in love with both a vampire named Stefan Salvatore and his vampire brother Damon Salvatore. This draws Elena and her friends into the supernatural world of Mystic Falls, a world plagued by vampires, werewolves, witches, doppelgängers and original vampires. As a result, Elena and her friends make enemies, including the Originals and the Travelers.
I suggest The Vampire Diaries because stereotypes are nowhere to be found. Usually the blonde girl with blue eyes is the dumb one, but in this show she is smart, beautiful and passionate. The show also demonstrates how to balance the life of a normal teenager with being the girlfriend of a vampire or being a vampire yourself. Even though vampires aren't a real life thing, you can still learn from the base issue of liking two brothers and the struggle of picking one over the other.
On the 4th of July, the small town of Riverdale is outraged by the mysterious death of Jason Blossom, one of the most popular kids in the school and a part of the town's most powerful family. Archie and a group of his friends try to solve the mystery of Jason's death while dealing with small town issues such as major drug use and hookups. To figure out the mystery, the group of friends must go deeper than what lies on the surface. Little Riverdale may not be as innocent as what meets the eye.
This show is a must watch! It tackles important issues such as slut shaming, sexual harassment and racism. The females in the show are also strong and confident, especially the mean girl, Polly. Polly's iconic one line phrases such as "Check your sell-by date, ladies, faux lesbian kissing hasn't been taboo since 1994," will make you feel that you are as tiny as a grain of salt. Even though Riverdale may come across as a gloomy, suspenseful murder mystery, they do a great job adding some humor into it. And who wouldn't want to watch a show that has good looking male leads like Cole Sprouse?
The euthanasia debate explained
Suffering and pain are omnipresent in the modern world.
Daisy Wang
Suffering and pain are omnipresent in the modern world. They steal the sense of life, and sadly, even with the rapid advancements of medicine, there may not be a possibility to save people from pain or death. Therefore, some are turning to a different path to end their suffering.
One of the biggest controversies of this decade is euthanasia, an option that allows certain eligible individuals to legally request and obtain medications from their physicians to end their lives in a peaceful, humane and dignified manner. Is euthanasia ethical? That's up to you to decide.
Some people see euthanasia as ethical and pragmatic. To them, it relieves patients of their suffering and allows them an honorable death. People should have freedom of choice, including the right to control their own bodies and lives. The state should not create laws that prevent people from being able to choose when and how they die. When someone is suffering, the "quality of life" diminished, and life should only continue as long as a person feels their life is worth living.
Isaiah Monroig, a 15-year old from Boston Latin School, agrees with the ethical view. "People should be relieved of suffering, especially if they have no interest in living," Monroig said. "People should have the ability to decide what their body goes through."
On the other hand, some religions oppose euthanasia. They say that humans are the creation of God and so only He should be the only one to choose when someone's time is up. Committing an act of euthanasia or assisting in suicide is acting against the will of God and is sinful. Even some non-religious people believe that permitting euthanasia "devalues" life. The "slippery slope" argument is based on the idea that once a healthcare service/government starts killing its own citizens, a line has been crossed. According to this theory, legalized voluntary euthanasia could eventually cause:
Very ill people who need constant care to request euthanasia to rid their families of burden
Discouragement of research into treatments and possibly prevent cures for people with terminal illnesses being found
Untimely deaths of those who were misdiagnosed by doctors
Additionally, medical ethics are a big issue. The Hippocratic Oath, an oath historically taken by physicians, requires them to uphold certain ethical standards. Asking doctors to abandon their obligation to preserve human life could damage the doctor-patient relationship. In turn, people with complex health needs or disabilities could become distrustful of their doctor's efforts or intentions.
In the end, death may or may not be a tangible option for those who are suffering. Many see it inhumane and wrong while others see it as a solution. What is your stance?
Jay-Z goes deep on platinum powerhouse 4:44
That's right, rapper Jay-Z has outdone himself.
Djibril Conte
AFH PHOTO//AIJANAH SANFORD
That's right, rapper Jay-Z has outdone himself. His latest album, 4:44, reached platinum status in six days, based purely on streams from its initial exclusive release to Tidal and Sprint subscribers.
In order for an album to become certified platinum, it must sell one million copies. In this case, Jay-Z reached platinum status based on streams.
While posing next to his award, Jay-Z looked at the camera with a "What did you expect?" face, rather than a "This is awesome, I hit platinum" face. Considering this is his 13th solo studio album to go platinum, I think he is used to it by now. According to hip-hop magazine XXL, Jay-Z is the only rapper to have more than 10 platinum albums to his name.
What made this album so special? Was it the fact that it went platinum on his streaming site Tidal before being released to other streams? The long wait before getting new music from him? Or the important messages behind songs like "Story of OJ"?
Ding, ding, ding! The answer is all of the above.
For the first six days after its June 30th release, only pre-existing subscribers to Tidal and Sprint could listen to and purchase the album. This created a huge buzz and anticipation for fans outside these platforms.
There could be many reasons why we had to wait so long for a new album, but it's likely because Jay-Z was finding a new perspective on life. 4:44 as an album is focused on race issues, the struggles of minorities and family conflicts. Today's rapper are more focused on talking about their Saturday nights and what car they drive—that is, if you can even understand them.
Every song on 4:44 has a message that connects to the heart of many people in the black community. In the song, "Story of OJ", Jay-Z talks about the black community advancing itself into the future.
If you haven't already listened to Jay-Z's latest gem, make sure to listen to it.
Minority students become the majority in US colleges
The Boston Globe reports that 50.8 percent of students admitted to Harvard are minorities.
Essence Smith
AFH ART//JOSHUA CURTIS
With cultural icons like Malia Obama and actress Yara Shahidi both announcing their attendance at Harvard University, more minority students are deciding to further their education.
Harvard University recently made headlines as a majority of its incoming freshmen class is made up of minority students. The Boston Globe reports that 50.8 percent of students admitted to Harvard are minorities from backgrounds such as African-Americans, Hispanics, Asian, Native Americans, and Native Hawaiians. This number is an increase from last years 47.3 percent.
This uptick shows minorities are making important decisions to further their education through college. Further studies support this. In 2012, the Pew Research Center reported that for the first time, Hispanic college enrollment rate trumped the enrollment rate of whites, 49 to 47 percent.
While these numbers show progress for minority students in higher education, students of color across Boston face unique experiences and challenges as they prepare for college.
15-year-old Jacky Garces, a student at Excel Academy Charter High School, whose family is originally from Colombia, is currently enrolled in an advanced placement history class. She is excited for AP classes, but is nervous it will be time consuming. Garces is positive she will maintain good grades if she stays focused on her studies. She feels supported by her parents, but also feels pressured because her parents did not attend college, therefore, she must attend.
Cyril Robinson, 15, also from Excel Academy, faces other difficulties. Robinson describes himself as a good student, but has different techniques for learning. He also thinks he struggles in school with time management and forming teacher relationships.
As college admission for minority students grows, the experiences of students once they are in college should be given greater thought. Christopher Grant, Associate Director of Student Success in Enrollment Management at Emerson College and co-founder of EmersonWRITES, says through his line of work he definitely sees more minorities enrolling and attending college. However, he believes more can be done for minority students.
"First, on the financial aid side, there definitely could be a lot more help for first generation students. Then, also on the academic side, I think there could be more classes geared towards this generation, especially more diverse classes."
As more minority students populate college campuses, it is important to provide support to the changing dynamics. "The best way to combat all the racial tension is to be able to inform people and have students see the world through the classroom," said Grant.
From ballpark to Boston, Alex's Chimis brings fresh Dominican fare
Alex's Chimis has good service and great food.
Infiniti McCain
AFH ART//WARHEAL BALATA
Walking into Alex's Chimis feels very welcoming. The modest Jamaica Plain restaurant has a lot of big windows, making it easy to see into from the outside. The menu, written mostly in Spanish, hangs above the register—the employees were very helpful, explaining the dishes in English. I spoke to Clara Lopez, the owner's wife, about the origins of Alex's Chimis.
Alex Lopez, who is originally from the Dominican Republic, traces his restaurant roots to baseball. After games, Lopez's team would come to his house for homemade Dominican-style burgers called chimis. One day, a friend gave him the idea to sell chimis at the ballpark. People seemed to really enjoy them, so Lopez decided to take his business a step further. He needed a bigger space. In October 1998, he bought that space—358 Centre Street in Jamaica Plain.
The Lopez's main focus is the community. Most of their employees are locals—friends and friends of friends. All of their food is homemade and they use the same recipes they have been using since the restaurant opened. The prices are very low and affordable.
"[Our] prices haven't increased in five to six years," Lopez said. "Our goal isn't to take all of people's money but to share our food and culture with the community."
Alex's menu features a variety of meat including chicken, ribs and pork. The Lopez's also sell chimi combos, which include a sandwich, fries and a soda. The restaurant offers a wide variety of smoothies and juices, from orange to mango to pineapple and more. Flan, pastelitos and stuffed potatoes are also popular dishes.
When I visited Alex's Chimis, I had the chicken chimi combo. It was lunch hour when I went so the restaurant was packed, but I still got my food surprisingly fast. The chicken was sliced and mixed with onions and tomatoes. The bread was perfectly toasted; it wasn't too hard, but it wasn't soft enough for it to rip. The fries weren't overly salty, and you could tell they were freshly cut from potatoes instead of being bought frozen.
Alex's Chimis has good service and great food. I would recommend this small, family-owned restaurant to anyone in the neighborhood who is looking for a quick meal.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


A goat and tiger at the Primorsky Safari Park in Russia are foregoing the typical predator-prey relationship in exchange for a more progressive and equal one.
Timur the goat was originally intended to be a live meal for Amur the Siberian tiger. However, it seems that upon being released in Amur's enclosure, Timur immediately took charge.
Timur chased Amur out of his sleeping area and established himself as a dominant force to be reckoned with. Since then, Amur has taken to sleeping on the roof while Timur snoozes in his bed.
Timur's brave antics actually earned him his name, which comes from a courageous character in a Russian children's book.
"It's a fitting name for such a fearless animal," the park stated.
Just goes to show: Sometimes confidence can compensate for sharp claws.


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The Chainsmokers talk with Larry King about their Coachella debut, dream collaborations, and more
by: Austin Evenson May 10, 2016
When it comes to the crossover space, The Chainsmokers have become experts in that department. Currently, the dance-pop duo are sitting pretty at #1 on iTunes Dance with "Don't Let Me Down" and the #5 spot with "Roses" that was previously #1.
Following their highly buzzed-about Coachella debut, The Chainsmokers recently sat down with legendary broadcast anchor, Larry King, to discuss their performance in the desert, their opposition towards Donald Trump, dream collaborations, and more.
First diving into their Coachella performances, The Chainsmokers explain the multi-month process of earning an invite to the Indio festival and how they crafted the 50-minute set. After discussing the pair's early beginnings, Larry King begins his famous rapid-fire question game, 'If You Only Knew,' where Alex and Drew reveal their first kiss, dream collaborations, favorite cities to play in, craziest fan encounters, most embarrassing moments, and more.
The interview wraps up with Twitter questions from fans with the most frequent questions revolving around their unreleased track, "Closer." Given the title "We Ain't Never Getting Older" by fans, the pair showed the track off at Coachella and revealed it will not be released for some time as they space out their originals.
You can watch The Chainsmokers' full interview with Larry King above.
The Chainsmokers – Inside Out (Original Mix)
Watch This: Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind joins The Chainsmokers at Coachella
Watch This: The Chainsmokers' Drew explains how he made the drop from 'Roses'
Tags: interview, larry king, The Chainsmokers, video
The Chainsmokers, Cheyenne Giles fashion 'Make Me Feel' for peak-time play
The Chainsmokers get candid on 'Call Her Daddy' guest interview: 'There's a lot of things we regret doing'
Toby Andrews, President of Astralwerks Records, talks philosophy, label roster, and the year ahead [Interview]
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»Cloud Computing»A dozen things to consider about your CRM….SMB segments think again!
I would like to begin today's discussion with a question. What are the things that you 'really' consider before deciding on a CRM?
My personal belief in the answer has gone down a little especially dealing with Indian customers. For a country that still agrees on a vehicle's value based on it's mileage (as in 'how much does it give?') not really caring if its a car or a ship or a space ship, it becomes extremely challenging to sell a world-class CRM at the end of the day. The only question that is consistent throughout is 'why is it so expensive?'. So truly, should we give a thought to the quality or the price? Answer is both. Its you who need to decide if you are willing to compromise on a couple of thousands or a couple of product features.
Ask yourself, if CRM A is priced at X and CRM B is priced at X+100, which one is actually solving my problems? Can I willfully spend that extra 100 and possess a solution that I am proud to show off OR should I keep looking at my pocket feeling happy for a while only to realize the future is full of hidden costs?
1. Is your CRM giving you a 360 degree view of your customers, contacts, accounts, opportunities? Meaning, click on one and get the fastest insight of related information in a central repository.
3. Does your CRM sync up well with applications that you use on a daily basis such as Google apps, MS Outlook?
4. Is your CRM helping you to be on top of every deal? Are you able to quickly communicate within your team for updates, status checks through your CRM?
5. What about forecasting..how accurate is your CRM in giving you forecast reports?
6. Analyze and maintain your marketing campaigns, know the ROI of each. Does your CRM talk to you?
9. Does your CRM give you the option to tag your partners (dealers/distributors) with respective deals?
11. How easily can you export your existing data to the new system?
Once you discover that your chosen solution answers the dozen parameters, stay confident. Need a free consultation from the experts? Click here and good luck!
Appreciate you reblogging our article! Keep visiting us for more information..


South Dakota warm sector play. Targeted Mobridge, SD for afternoon storms intercepting striated supercell north of Java, SD. Core punched severe storm south of Roscoe, SD finding 2.6 inch hail on ground. Evening convection and gust fronts on the way to Pierre for the night.
My second day out as a driver with the College of DuPage thunderstorm lab trip #5 looked like it would have a decent shot for some supercells across South Dakota. An initial target of Mobridge was picked.
Our Air Force crew hits the windshield during a gas stop somewhere between Sioux Falls and Aberdeen.
Supercells formed in north central South Dakota. We caught a photogenic one north of Java, SD and stopped for a few minutes to watching the undulating but elevated looking structure.
We tracked the cells south toward Java getting some neat rain free base structure.
Tracking the storm east along highway 12, my infamous Bowdle route, the storm started to gust out. We had some neat looking scud pose for a picture though as it crossed over a grave road.
We dropped south out of Roscoe to watch several cells north of us passing to our east. Victor decided to treat the students to some hail as the structure was becoming rather lackluster. We waited until a brilliant white hail shaft was crossing the road in front of us. Victor cranked Thunderstruck by ACDC at volume on the van's speakers and said, "Skip, floor it!" We charged head first toward the hail, music blasting. It was one of the most thrilling moments of my entire chase season. We slowed down as we approached the core and eased into it so as not to destroy the glass or vans' bodies with huge hail.
Some golfballs pinged off the van and when it was over we got out to see what we could find on the ground. One of the students came back with a baseball sized stone, much larger than anything we were expecting. It measured at 2.6 inches with calipers, the biggest hail I'd seen all season!
A few of the hail stones we gathered with a golfball for size comparison.
Messy clusters were going up across the state and we decided to call it a chase and get dinner and a room in Pierre. We stopped between storms near Gettysburg for some pictures. This silhoutte of the tour against the updraft and anvil of a distant storm captures the essence of storm chasing to me.
We stopped for dinner at Mad Mary's Steakhouse before grabbing a room at the Holiday Inn Express across the river.
Our first real storm day with COD Trip 5 yieled some photogenic supercells. The ACDC core punch and severe hail was one of the highlights of my entire season though.
A careful hail intercept can be as rewarding as some supercell or tornado intercepts.


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Explore Serengeti Game Reserve
Covering tens of thousands of square kilometers, this is one of Tanzania's largest parks, a symbol of African wildlife and primeval beauty. In the Masai language, the name Serengeti means "endless plains". Huge herds of Wildebeests and Zebra dominate the park and their seasonal migration to and from Masai Mara in Kenya provides an unequaled wildlife spectacle. The predator population cannot be overlooked. Naturally, with such a big number of the plains game providing a sufficient food supply, the predators thrive here. It is not unusual to see 40 or more lions in a day's game viewing.The larger area of Serengeti is covered by vast open plains with lofty rocky outcrops, called Kopjes.
The other areas are covered by acacia, Savannah woodland, scrub, forested and mature treed rivers, an occasional swamp and small lakes "here and there". The park ranges in altitude from 910 meters up to 1,820 meters. True eye-catching beauty, immortalized in the film Serengeti Shall Not Die.
Unrivaled photographic opportunities exist when the great animal migration is on. There is a wealth of bird life in the area where the larger species of birds of prey, game birds and water fowl are well represented. Here also a unique historical find revealed a settlement site of people dating from 1000 to 100 B.C.
The great trek usually begins in Tanzania and the Serengeti in January after the herds have exhausted the available pastures.
The migration involves well over a million animals and approximately 500 miles of travel. The true migrants are the Wildebeest or White bearded gnu and Zebra. Thompson's and Grant's gazelles participate but only partially while the predators only trail the herds for obvious reasons; easy prey! It is questionable whether the Zebra make the full journey and it is certain that the gazelles do not leave the Serengeti.
January/February/March
At this time of the year the wildebeests are scattered across the medium and short grass plains south of Serengeti depending on the water and grazing. They criss-cross the plains with large concentrations remaining around Lake Ndutu and Olduvai gorge. Many travel onto Ngorongoro crater increasing the numbers of animals in the crater considerably.
At this time, there are scattered thunderstorms on the plains, the surface waterholes are full and the grazing is good. Wildebeest calving occurs in February and there are literally hundreds of calves. Predatory activity is high with an abundance of Lion, Cheetah, spotted Hyena with frequent sighting of Leopard.
By the end of March, the rains begin to taper off and the surface waterholes begin to dry up, the grazing is becoming short and the animals begin to panic. The wildebeest begin to gather into large herds and start moving north and west towards Lake Victoria as they graze. The herds continue west following Grumeti river and reach within 20 miles of Lake Victoria.
It is for this reason the western arm of the Serengeti was included in the national park and is called the migration corridor.
The animals move off the plains into high country and the corridor.
The herds are still moving off the plains and into the corridor.
The great herds are now in the corridor. At the same time during June the herds move north again through Musoma and head for the Masai Mara in Kenya. Depending on the rain and grazing they reach the Mara river towards the end of July.
July, August, September
The great herds are more concentrated now and remain in Masai Mara area approximately 2-3 months. During this period the courtship and breeding takes place. By the end of September they have consumed most of the grass from the Mara river to the Loita plains in Masai Mara.
They become restless and start moving south through the Keekorok (Masai Mara) and Lobo (Serengeti) Valleys en-route to the plains.
The herds are normally in the highlands, acacia woodland around Lobo in Tanzania. They arrive on the long plains of the Serengeti around Seronera at the end of November and stay in this area for about a month before dispersing onto the vast plains that form the medium and short grass areas of the Serengeti ecosystem.
The herds are in Seronera area (central Serengeti) and the long grassy plains.
The cycle repeats itself.
As every Geoffrey's Travel Safari is tailored to our clients, you can choose where to spend your time in the park. Whether it's soaking up the glorious views of the Great Migration, photographing the elephants as they saunter past, spotting birds as they feast in the swamps (or all three), the day is yours.


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