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Paranoidia
richardforsyth September 20, 2021 September 21, 2021 Crime, future, Survival, Technology
It was a rude awakening. The holo-link even woke my children, they stirred in the darkness of their bedrooms and then called to us in confusion.
"It's OK!" I shouted back, trying to sound caring but with an unmistakable edge of utter frustration. "Just a holo-alert… Go back to sleep!"
The image erupted in three dimensions in my bedroom accompanied by that loud rhythmic noise you could not ignore. My wife, Seti complained and swore at me, grabbing a pillow and pulling it tight over her head, trying not to scream with sleep deprivation. The call-out message was becoming a regular issue, a recurring challenge and always at the most inconvenient time. The glowing revolving pictogram of the police emblem was like a symbol of our torture every night. It made us resent it, it made us resent my job.
"Paranodia siege in the Water Monitoring Station at Trenton East. Report immediately. This is not a drill."
I gave the vocal affirmation I was on my way. I dressed quickly, dragging on some chinos and tucking in a crumpled blue shirt, almost forgetting to grab my Id lanyard as I headed out to the awaiting one-man government emergency tram, parked a few yards from my door.
Seti had not kissed me before I left, she was in a bad mood from lack of sleep and I didn't blame her, but the truth was, every time I left the house this way, was potentially my last. Paranodia never made for an easy assignment. It was a chronic psychological condition where those who had it were never able to distinguish truth from fiction, they had degraded into a state of paranoia so steep, they believed no one was genuine and everything was a lie. The extreme of the condition always led to organised violence.
The last run I had for a paranodia case, a middle-aged man and his teenaged daughter declared they were at war with lizard kings by shooting their neighbours and burning a dog. The dog, they declared, was an AI spy, designed by an alien race and with cameras for eyes. When the SWAT team took them both out, all I remember is the streaked blood. It seemed to paint the walls. For all my training, for all the procedures, my words had been useless, my presence, as an official police psych doctor, only making it worse. Truth was, I was tired, exhausted. Dealing with reasonable people, with predictable thoughts, those days were gone. Why was I even needed on scene? It was a question that haunted me and every successive failure to change the course of a paranoidia encounter.
"Tell me the situation and background?" I asked the tram, which was now adjusted to my voice signature, giving me access to government and police databanks. "I need a summary before I arrive on scene?"
The computer spoke. "Four individuals. Three known and under aliases, one not identified. They have five hostages, staff on scene, and they are holding up the Water Monitoring Station, with shop bought assault rifles. Their claim is that the government is brainwashing the nation, aided with a susceptibility drug inserted into the water supply. The conspiracy suggests the government is furthermore subliminally making us despise each other through their campaigns of slogans. The conspiracy follows that these manipulative 'hate constructs' will divide us and make us pliable to their agenda of total control."
"Divide and conquer, eh. Sounds a reasonable theory for once! Hell, that's just politics!" I remarked, instantly regretting it, less it became logged and repeated back to me in an assessment.
The computer continued: "They have executed two policemen. You are authorised to do anything at all, if it leads to their arrest. We have a limited window before SWAT arrive on scene. Be advised SWAT has been green lighted to terminate them all, if necessary and expedient, to secure the monitoring station."
When SWAT arrived, it would be all over. Likely nine body bags were being hauled in readiness into a truck at that very moment. The innocent hostages would be swept away from the news. Speed was everything in these cases. Get there before the phone cameras and TV drones emerge and it's a win.
"And you wonder why paranoidia is so rampant right now!" I laughed. I was still a little drunk from the whiskies I had sat alone with and downed last night. These days were tough beyond measure. I wasn't sure why I was making such remarks to a machine, it felt like I just needed to listen to my own rant, the pressure needed release.
As the tram accelerated to the east side of Greater Trenton, past the neon noodle bars and dirty half empty racks at the scooter stations, I wished for once this would end well. Maybe that would make a difference to me, the family, who could tell?
"Tram, show me their search histories relevant to the crime."
A little smeared screen in front of me lit up with links. A pattern was obvious straight away. A guy from inside a government agency no less, presenting on TubeMe, his weekly videos around five minutes each. The thumbnails showed him in a grey suit and red tie, his government insignia Id badge still intact on his lapel, if a little out of date. I clicked on the most watched video, which had 3 million views, 330 thousand likes and 50 thousand shares.
"Those of you who know of me, will know I worked directly in the Trenton Water chemical plant. I was Chief Scientist there for one year before they destroyed my career and ruined my credibility. Why? I uncovered what they were doing in the labs and supply mixing tanks…."
I sat back, wishing to God I had grabbed a chocolate bar on the way out of the house and sighed with deflation. I had seen this sort of thing every day for the last ten months. It was like hearing a bad script from a bad writer, dreaming up an unlikely play that would never come to anything. Yet, somehow, these people found their audience, which meant the audience was always out there waiting for them. That terrified me. If I wanted a different outcome this time, I would need a different approach. I decided what to do.
"Tram, I need you to make a voice synthesizer, can you print one so I can attach it to my shirt? It will need to match exactly the voice patterns of ex-Chief Scientist at Trenton Water, Criton Monroe. Can you do that for me now?"
The tram's little screen showed me a large smiley face emoticon as confirmation and I heard the whir of the onboard 3D printer begin its creation from a downloaded blueprint. The rain began to pour outside on the streets. It was never just drizzle, always big tropical drops, which quickly turned to a thrashing beat of attacking water. I had not brought an umbrella. What a night!?
The ping of the printer and a green light told me I could reach into the box compartment next to the screen, and grab my voice synth, about the size of an orange, which I attached to my shirt. It was still warm from the laser.
I tested it, and it was scarily accurate. I had the vocal match of the mad scientist, this would be interesting.
The blue and red flashes and taped off street alerted me that it was time to get out and do my job, despite the rain. The tram stopped abruptly next to a barricade of defensive police cruisers and armed officers.
One ran to me and greeted me with the customary thumbs up. Thankfully he had a spare police issue poncho so I slapped him on the shoulder with genuine gratefulness.
"Hell of a night, eh?" said Captain Wayward. His name printed in capitals on his peaked cap that poked out of the transparent poncho hood.
"You got a line open to the perps?" I asked loudly through the thrash of water.
"Yes. For what it's worth – they are all batshit crazy. It'll only end one way, sorry to drag you out here but it's policy as you know."
"Well, I'm going to try something, I have this voice synth on and I have an idea."
"Ha – I thought you sounded off!"
He led me to a makeshift muster point in a police van.
The rain was relentless, we had to grit our teeth and squint through the ferocity of the noisy downpour. I could see the outline of the plain white rectangle of a low rise building they had hijacked ahead. It was detached, sitting alone like a monument. At a window in the water monitoring station, I could make out a head with scruffy black hair peering out alongside the long barrel of weapon.
The officer handed me the phone where they had an open line to a character they identified as the ring-leader.
"Just push off silent and you're live. He calls himself Razor, can you believe that? Not his real name obviously. But better not call him Manfred, it will break his ego for sure.. Ha. He has the phone on loud-speaker, so you'll be addressing the room in there. We're going to storm it in ten minutes when… Sorry, if… you can't shake them out of their delusions and get them to come out unarmed."
The captain was smiling and shaking his head. He was immune to hope when it came to cases of Paranoidia.
I held the phone close to my lips and pushed the off-silent symbol with my wet thumb.
"Razor? Can you talk to me?" I began…
There was no reply, which the cops found odd as he had previously been highly enthused about his demands, to switch off the water supply to half the city.
Then the voice came, a man, a young man with unlimited, nervous, insane energy.
"You sound like… Like Dr Monroe?"
"That's right," I confirmed, "I am. I appreciate what you are doing in there, Razor. They have been lying to us all, I understand your anger and frustration. But you need to let the hostages go, they played no part in this conspiracy. Keep one if you must for leverage but release the others. I am on your side, believe me, but let us not threaten innocent people."
"Strange…." came the voice, sounding assured and unmistakably cynical. "I always took Monroe for a revolutionary, not someone to sit in a police van telling those willing to act just to give up."
The policemen around me stood straight in the rain, waiting, counting down the minutes so they could finish this night and get back home to a cold beer and confirming the overtime on their time trackers.
"I am who I am. Proof of those lying to us from authority, it is hard to really come by even when it's true. I am not a revolutionary, I am just a man who worked at Trenton Water with an idea they were up to no good. Listen to me son, let those people go, I don't want anyone to get hurt here. The police say if you come out without your guns it will be alright."
My synth was excellent, no glitching at all. I was his voice, perfect in tone and pitch.
Razor began to laugh. It was disconcerting.
"You are not Monroe…."
"Why do you say that?"
"Turn on the TV, Channel 325…"
An officer picked up a device with a screen, switched it to streaming and found the channel. There they were, broadcasting live, four men and one woman on their knees with guns to their heads courtesy of two perps in waterworks overalls. There was Razor, sure enough, talking into the phone and staring out of the window at me. I could see one of the dead bodies splayed out on the floor in a blue uniform, missing part of a hand, no doubt a consequence of trying to resist them. And the last man in the crew, standing with his hands firmly on his hips in the corner, was the real Criton Monroe. He was the true leader in this siege, he was on a personal crusade, eyes wide and glistening, prepared to kill for publicity, to use murder as a platform to announce his theory to an even wider audience.
So much for my plan…
Behind me in the night, on the street, I began to hear shouts, loud swearing and bursts of forceful chanting. People, ordinary looking people, began to congregate as if from nowhere, edging like jackals nearer to the police cordon. Channel 325 was uncovering a police deception live and the viewing numbers were going through the roof. And there was me, as a picture appeared on the TV show, one downloaded from my social media account. In it I was having a Sunday dinner with my family, we were all smiling and relaxed and seeing it on the screen felt like the ultimate personal intrusion. Deception by Police Psychologist Confirmed in Conspiracy Plot read the tickertape style graphic of a banner, under my family picture.
My phone began to chirp in my pocket. It was other TV Channels, picking up on the viral story. That's when I noticed Seti had tried to reach me. I had missed a message marked urgent, it read: There are men banging on the front door and shouting though the letterbox, come home now! I've called the police already. The kids are crying!
I heard a sound, like metal impacting metal. That's when I realised objects, like bottles, cans and stones, were bouncing off the police van. A mob had formed, like insects circling an intruder to their hive. SWAT were not on scene, nor were they going to be. Captain Wayward was suddenly visibly angry at me for my botched plan.
"SWAT is turning back! The mob's too big, the attention too. We're on our own!" he spat. He had an earpiece relaying the dreadful news of abandonment from Police HQ. In the old days the whole precinct would be there in minutes, armed to the teeth, but it was too dangerous. Protocol avoided riots these days by de-escalation or rather, ignoring the problem until it fizzled away, with a smaller burden of collateral damage on the ground. It didn't always work but it saved the police money and it made the crowd look like the bad guys on the media. That was important.
The chanting was deafening.
"Monroe! Monroe! Monroe!"
That's when he appeared at the door of the water station. His arms were high above his head, like a chosen king greeting citizens of his realm.
A tin can struck me on my brow and a trickle of blood dripped down instantly to funnel through the plastic creases in my poncho. I ripped off my voice synth and dropped it to the ground. The captain fled but he tumbled straight into the baying crowd who tore at his clothes and disarmed him in seconds. He was pleading to them but their eyes were wild and unforgiving.
I held my hands up either side of my head, almost mimicking Monroe in some quirk of synchronicity.
The bolding ex-scientist walked up to me confidently, and with one hand waved down the air, asking the crowd to calm a little so they could hear his address. The yelling turned to a disgruntled murmuring, respecting Monroe's need to be heard. I could see there were men and women of all ages making up the thronging gang nearby. Some had now armed themselves with wooden planks and metal poles. It had become a lethal moment, charged with menace.
Monroe looked me in the eye and shouted a question so everyone could hear, even through the rain.
"You dare deny your involvement in this conspiracy?"
If I did, I knew they'd kill me where I stood. I had to think fast.
"…I'm sorry," I said, "I was told to do this by HQ. They were going to kill my family if I didn't comply, you understand? What would you do to protect your family? I had no choice – that's how it works. Can you forgive me that?…"
Monroe's fierce stare electrified with vindication, he almost screamed in delight but managed to withhold the glee. It was strange.
He put a hand firmly on my shoulder like he was a father figure to an abused infant.
"You… You poor man!" he yelled. He turned to walk nearer the crowd, pointing and jabbing at me behind him, my hands still held high in surrender.
"Don't direct your anger at him, they used him! He is just a pitiful fly, yes, a fly, caught and trapped in a web. He is not our real foe! March to the nearest police station and burn the rat-hole down! That's right! Burn it and everyone in it. We're going to blow this water station too, but leave this man and his family. Protect them if you can. They will tell us the whole truth if we protect their lives! This man is the key, he is the proof we need!"
I knew what I was doing. I would tell him and the world whatever they needed to believe. If it saved my family, that is what I had to do. Despite the insistence of the thrashing rain, the fires would not be put out tonight. If I had learned anything from my job, it was that truth never mattered, it was belief that always carried the day.
conspiracy, Crime, dystopian, dystopian fiction, dystopian story, fake news, fiction, flash fiction, future, misinformation, science fiction, scifi, short story, story, tale
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Published by richardforsyth
Writer of fiction, non-fiction, magazine articles and commercial content. I live in Wiltshire, UK, run a small marketing agency, edit a science magazine and consider myself lucky every day to have a family, health and a mind that won't sleep for possibilities. View all posts by richardforsyth


There's a new movement on the rise in electronic house music. It's defined by a more relaxed, yet musically rich style called melodic house and led by European artists like Klingande (Swedish for "sounding"). I remember when I first heard Klingande's latest melodic masterpiece "Jubel." I was sitting in my apartment with my roommate and we were both working furiously on our laptops. I was cruising Spotify in search of something that would help me get through my work, something different from the typical EDM fare. It was on that night that I discovered the vibrant saxophone-driven track "Jubel," and I it has been at the top of my playlist ever since.
Ultra Music fully believes in the melodic house movement's staying power and its imminent American invasion. Earlier this week, they released "Ultra Deep House," a compilation of melodic tunes including "Jubel," as well as tracks and remixes by Bakermat, Bondax, Nora En Pure and Kaskade. You can sample tracks from the compilation at the bottom of this article.
Klingande recently set off on a wildly successful world tour, including stops in Milan, Los Angeles, New York, Toronto and Geneva. Luckily for me, Klingande landed in my backyard for one of his New York City shows, taking over hipster electronic music enclave Glasslands Gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It was a packed show, and Klingande fully commanded the crowd, weaving a musical journey that meandered through deep and melodic house, as well as his own originals, accompanied by riveting live sax.
I had the opportunity to chat with Klingande just before his set at Glasslands.
Is this your first U.S. tour? How does it feel traveling across the country?
Yes. The problem is my time here has been very short, so I haven't really had the time to enjoy it. I'm really happy about it, because I didn't know what to expect. Yeah, it's been really great, and I can't wait to come back.
I know your artist name 'Klingande' is Swedish and that part of the reason you chose that name was because you have a love for the Swedish language. How did you develop an appreciation for the language?
Yeah, I love the city, I love the way of thinking of the people there. Also, I started to make music because of Swedish artists, especially Avicii, six years ago. And it was great for me because people didn't know in France that I was French. It was good because at the beginning I wanted to keep it secret.
I know that Klingande originally was a duo, you and Edgar. But I read on your social media that you represent the group now. Is Edgar still involved?
Yeah, when I finish something, when I have some ideas, I send the ideas to him and I try to find any ideas that he has. And recently I thought that maybe next year, he should come with me on stage, you know, like playing a real show together. We are still working on some stuff together, we're still very very good friends.
I read that you studied music theory when you were young. What was that like, were you studying music theory in school?
When I was young, I played the piano. A few years ago, I went to London. I was producing music on my own for a long time, but I wanted to have a year to know if it's what I want to do with my life, so I went to London to a music production school called Point Blank.
Were there any particular artists or styles of music that influenced you when you were younger?
My main influence is pop music. What I love about this kind of deep house music is that it's a mixture between pop and deep house, something brand new.
Was there anything special or meaningful to you about the saxophone in your life? Was there something that triggered it or was it mainly the artists that influenced you that were doing it?
Originally I was doing EDM kind of music, like Avicii's style. I had always wanted to make a song with saxophone. And after hearing Klangkarussell, it was like a revelation for me.
How does it feel to have 'Jubel' remixed and played on Pete Tong's radio show?
I'm really happy about the remixes. I wanted to have just official remixes, no remixes from other people. So I had remixes from Nora En Pure, Friend Within and Kant. The remixes cover a broad range of kinds of music. The Kant one is more club, the Nora En Pure one is a bit more chill, and the Friend Within one is more UK style. I'm really happy about them.
I also have lived in London and I loved it. How did living there impact your career, in terms of the clubs you were going to or the people you were meeting?
Yeah, I've thought about that. In my school I was with a lot of producers of different kinds of music and at the beginning I was very close-minded, and after that, when I finished school, my taste changed and I was open-minded to every kind of music, hip hop and everything. That had a big influence on me.
We've seen deep and tech house become more popular over the past few years. Do you see this trend continuing in electronic music?
Well the cool thing is that a lot of newcomers are into this style of music, so it's becoming very popular. Remember three years ago, it was nothing, you know. If there are a lot of good new songs coming out, of course it will get bigger. If not, it's not going to be. When you have good songs, they inspire other artists.
Are there any releases coming up that you want to talk about or anything you're working on in the studio?
Yeah, I have a lot of projects that I haven't finished because I don't have time because, you know, I'm always on tour. So I'm going to finish this summer, maybe I will go to LA to work for one or two months. And the next thing would be an album. I would like to do one. An album can be something different. You can show the people that you can do something else, maybe besides saxophone music.


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What will this mean for St. Ignace?
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In June 2015 the WCEO featured Amazech's CEO and founder Shanthi Rajaram in an article that highlighted upcoming women CEOs in 2015. Rajaram talked about growth, success and best business practices. When asked about the rewards and challenges that come with running an IT solutions company the president said, "We have managed to [exceed] the goals we set for ourselves. As we evolve and change in order to grow, we remain true to our original vision of where we want to go." Click here to view the detailed article.


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Manage a default
How does the judicial recovery work?
The objective of judicial recovery is to recover the outstanding debt with the power of Court. The judicial recovery process can last months and sometimes years. 2 factors are decisive: the solvency of the company and the Court's order (full payment, partial payment or non-payment).
A project is considered in judicial recovery when:
The amicable recovery has failed and October has taken judicial actions against the borrower.
The company is in insolvency proceedings.
Who is in charge of judicial recovery?
October's local recovery team (2 persons in 🇫🇷, 1 in 🇪🇸, 1 in 🇮🇹 and 1 in 🇳🇱) along with an external local recovery partner handle the judicial recovery process. Both teams work closely with the involved parties (receiver, attorneys, etc) and follow up with the process. They are also in charge of updating the activity page of the projects in default, giving information to lenders about the reason of the default and the recovery actions taken. You will receive an update by e-mail on the day of its publication.
If the amicable recovery procedure fails, October can decide to take legal actions against the borrowers to recover the outstanding debt. This is usually done with the help of an external recovery agency. Below, we present you with an overview of the different procedures in France, Spain and Italy.
🇫🇷 France
Legal actions that can be undertaken by October to reclaim the unpaid debt in France are:
1. A formal order to pay,
2. A judgment at the Commercial Court, which may be accepted or dismissed by a judge. If the judge rules in favor of lenders, there is a waiting period of one month after the judgment during which the borrower may appeal. After this period, the bailiff will execute the judgment by:
By sending a formal notice to the borrower claiming the payment,
Seizing the borrowers' receivables,
Immobilising the assets of the borrower and sell them in order to repay it.
If, despite these actions, the funds have still not been recovered, the bailiff may then decide to go as far as the summons for judicial liquidation. The borrower's assets are then liquidated to repay the debts.
🇪🇸 Spain
In Spain, the recovery team usually follows the process below:
1. A formal notice to claim the lenders' outstanding debt is sent to the borrower through registered mail.
2. If the company does not react to the formal notice, the Recovery team records the borrower's default on ASNEF. ASNEF stands for National Association of Financial Credit Institutions and is the most extensive register for debt defaults in Spain. Appearing in the register can make it more difficult for a borrower to be granted a next loan.
3. The next step is to notify the company of the early termination of the loan contract and claim the complete repayment of the outstanding capital and interests.
4. If these actions failed to bring results, the ultimate attempt to recover the debt is to file a lawsuit with the Commercial Court. After reviewing the case, the judge will have two options:
Convene a trial to find a resolution to the lawsuit. It is a long process that can last several months.
Declare the enforcement of the debt. In this case, the judge recognises the debt and orders the payment, by seizing the debtor's goods.
🇮🇹 Italy
Hereunder, we describe the judicial recovery process in Italy:
1. First, a letter with notice of default is sent to the debtor by registered mail.
2. If the company does not react, the second action is to demand for legal action or summary judgment ("Ricorso per decreto ingiuntivo"): October files a demand of payment to the Court. When the Court agrees to the decreto ingiuntivo, the borrower is notified by the creditor and has 40 days to contest this demand. If they do not contest, October can ask the judge for a confirmation of the decree, after which a writ ("Atto di precetto") can be applied for. Depending on the region, the court's confirmation can take 1 to 9 months.
3. The following action to be taken is to issue a writ ("Atto di precetto"). A writ can be issued when a creditor is in possession of a "decreto ingiuntivo". If the client fails to pay within 10 days after notification, a bailiff can be instructed to seize all assets of the debtor. The assets must be sold through a public offering to repay the creditor. This procedure can take up to several months.
4. Immediate request for bankruptcy ("Istanza di Fallimento"): it is also possible for a creditor to file an immediate request for bankruptcy proceedings against the debtor. An immediate request for bankruptcy is the starting point for an insolvency proceedings, which will be described below.
Insolvency proceedings
There is no one insolvency proceeding applying to all companies. It depends on the financial and operational situation and the country of origin. Financially troubled companies can voluntary request insolvency proceedings, by appointing an external administrator, or forced into receivership by its private or public creditors. During insolvency proceedings, repayments are frozen as the administrator take control of the borrower's accounts and expenses.
We detail hereunder the steps of the insolvency proceedings in the different countries where October operates.
There are three types of insolvency proceedings in France, depending of the solvency level of the company.
1. Safeguard proceedings ("Procédure de Sauvegarde"): the safeguard procedure takes place before the suspension of payments. It aims at restructuring the company facing financial difficulties in order to keep on with its economic activity, maintain jobs and pay its debts. This preventive procedure generally leads to the elaboration of a continuity plan.
2. Receivership ("Redressement Judiciaire"): the receivership procedure must be implemented by any French company in suspension of payments whose recovery is deemed possible. Likewise the safeguard proceedings, it allows the company to continue its activity and maintain jobs.
3. Liquidation proceedings ("Liquidation Judiciaire"): liquidation proceedings are intended to put an end to the company's activity or to liquidate the debtor's assets through a global or separate assignment of his rights and property.
These procedures begin with a 6-month observation period in which the administrator, along with the borrower, draw up an economic, social and environmental report of the company and prepare a recovery plan depending of the company's possibilities and the financial resources available. This observation period can be renewed twice by a judge if needed.
There are 2 possible outcomes to these procedures:
A continuation plan staggering the Lenders' debt,
The company's liquidation. The company's life is not viable and all of its assets are liquidated. The proceeds from the sale of assets is used to repay creditors, based on their order of priority*.
In Spain, the insolvency law contemplates two different procedures:
1. The pre-receivership ("Preconcurso de acreedores"): the borrower can request a 3-month protection period from the Commercial Court to start amicable negotiations with its creditors and reach a viability plan, aimed at maintaining business activity and meeting its obligations. If the company does not present a viability plan or it is not unanimously accepted by the creditors, the company has one month left before it enters receivership.
2. Receivership ("Concurso de acreedores"): contrary to the pre-receivership, the outcome of this procedure is handled by a judge. The judge appoints an administrator to manage the company, determine its viability, enable it to continue its activities and to look for ways to come back to solvency. By the end of the procedure, there are two possible outcomes:
Agreement: the company is considered viable. The judge can decide to cancel part of the company debt or delay the repayments to enable the firm to repay part of its debts, according to a repayment schedule agreed on by the involved parties.
Company liquidation: the company's life is not viable and all of its assets are liquidated. The proceeds from the sale of assets is used to repay creditors, based on their order of priority*.
In Italy, the law contemplates reorganisation and bankruptcy proceedings.
1. Insolvency proceedings:
Settlement with creditors ("Concordato preventivo"): procedure allowing a company in financial difficulty to propose a plan to restructure its debts. The debtor initiates the procedure by filing a petition with the Bankruptcy Court, with a proposed plan certified by an expert opinion confirming its feasibility and the truthfulness of the accounting data. If the Bankruptcy Court allows the registration of a settlement with creditors, it will issue an order appointing a judge to supervise the proceeding, as well as a judicial commissioner. The proceedings must be concluded within six months from the date of filing the petition. This period can be extended by the Bankruptcy Court for an additional two months. Once the plan has been approved by the creditors and the Bankruptcy Court, it is binding and must be fulfilled.
Debt restructuring agreement ("Accordi di ristrutturazione dei crediti"): this procedure is defined by the Bankruptcy law but is handled outside of the Court. This agreement by and between the company and its creditors (accepted by at least 60% of them) aims at restructuring the company's debts. The debtor can request a moratorium during the negotiations of a debt restructuring agreement and must file documents with the competent Court. The debtor must provide an expert report on its ability to pay the remaining creditors in full, who otherwise can challenge the agreement before the Bankruptcy Court by requiring verification that their claims will be paid as normal. There is no fixed time limit for this sort of proceeding, as the length depends on the duration of the negotiations with the creditors.
Certified rescue plans ("Piani di risanamento attestati"): this procedure is defined by the Bankruptcy law but is handled outside of the Court. The purpose of the procedure is to allow the restructuring of the company's debts to ensure rebalancing of its financial situation, without the intervention of the Courts. This type of agreement must be based on a plan prepared by the company. The proceedings end with the implementation of the contents of the expert's report and the fulfilment of the actions contained in the certified rescue plan.
2. Bankruptcy proceedings ("Fallimento"): it is initiated when the company is deemed to be insolvent, meaning it is no longer able to regularly meet its obligations and pay its debts. The procedure is started by an order of the bankruptcy Court and is carried out and supervised by a receiver, a deputy judge, and a creditors' committee representing all the creditors. The receiver has 60 days from the inventory date to deliver the proposed liquidation plan. Bankruptcy proceedings can last several years. The receiver must liquidate all the company's assets and distribute the proceeds to the creditors to have the proceedings formally concluded.
🇳🇱 The Netherlands
Also in The Netherlands, the law contemplates what happens in case of the inability of the borrower to repay debts.
Suspension of payments ("Surseance van Betaling"): The borrower can, proactively or in a reaction to the bankruptcy file, declare their inability to repay their creditors to the court. The borrower will then file for a suspension of payments. If the judge honours the request, the borrower will be placed under supervision of an administrator. During this suspension of payments, the borrower has the time to regularise their situation and reach an agreement with its creditors about a new payment schedule or a payment of part of the debt. When an agreement is reached, the borrower can resume activities as per the agreement and the suspension period ends.
Bankruptcy: October or another creditor (supplier, tax authority, etc.) have the ability to file for the bankruptcy of a company, when a borrower does not repay its debts. The judge has to determine the legitimacy of the request. For a request to be legitimate, at least 2 of the company's creditors have to file for bankruptcy. If the judge honours the request, the borrower will be declared bankrupt and a curator will be assigned to liquidate the borrower's assets to repay the creditors*.
The judge can also reject the bankruptcy of the borrower. October will then have to find another way to reclaim the money.
*Important note: lenders' repayments are conditioned by several factors, including the creditors' order of priority. The creditors to be paid first are the employees , then the State, then the secured creditors and finally the unsecured creditors (such as October lenders).
How is October involved in the process?
October declares the lenders' debt to the administrator. When a borrower is declared insolvent, all creditors must declare their debt to the administrator to be taken into account in the outcome of the insolvency proceedings.
To ease the process, October declares the outstanding debt on the October lenders' behalf to the receiver, in accordance with the loan agreement signed at the beginning of the project. Besides, October pays for the costs associated with the debt declaration.
Follow up with the administrator: October contacts the administrator to ensure that the outstanding debt has been taken into account and follows up with him. The administrator shall indicate the steps of the insolvency proceedings and the next contact date with October.
Confidentiality of recovery updates
Information about the recovery procedure is only addressed to the concerned lenders and is confidential.
To what extent can the diffusion of information from recovery e-mails be damaging for lenders?
Judicial procedures are based on the principles of fair trial, rationality and fairness in the debates. If lenders were to say defamatory statements in public, going against the presumption of innocence or belittling the borrower, he/she could turn against them before the competent judge. More generally, all information publicly diffused by lenders can be used by the other party during the procedure. It is not forbidden to discuss these subjects but one should bear in mind to stay factual and tempered in his/her sayings.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
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<!-- Please read: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ie/dn455106.aspx -->
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            <square70x70logo src="logo.png"/>
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            <square310x310logo src="logo.png"/>
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Practice for the Fall 2018 season will begin Monday August 27th, 2018. Please report to the front of the WREC no later than 8:00pm. Please bring a speedo, goggles, and a towel (The WREC is no longer providing towel service). Final cuts will be made by 2:00pm Friday August 31st.
Team Practices will be held from 8:30pm-10:30pm Monday-Thursday.
Chico State Water Polo (Chico Polo) is a competitive sports club belonging to the Sierra Pacific Division of the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA). Created in 1985, Chico Polo competes against schools such as, UC Davis, UC Berkely, UC Santa Cruz, Stanford, San Jose State and many more. The team has experienced overwhelming success in the past years, making appearances in 4 of the last 6 championship games (2010, 2011, 2013, 2014), and hopes to build on that success by making their first Men's national tournament appearance in November. Practices are held Monday - Thursday from 8:30pm - 10:30pm at the WREC. Although we do not have home games, our team is able to maintain an amazing fan base thanks to our unrivaled student and parent support. Please come support Chico at our next tournament! Tournament details can be found on our Orgsync calendar, or by contacting our Club President, Jacob Faulkender.
Use generic club email here, if applicable. If not, use the president's email. This email will be visible to the public.
This statement will be used to describe what the organization is about to those looking for or at student organizations to join or work with. This information will be public.
Chico State Water Polo (Chico Polo) is a competitive sports club open to all students. Practice for the CWPA season begin on the first day of the first semester of school and continues through Oct/Nov. Offseasons practices are held in the spring and are also open to all students.
If more than 21 individuals come out for the team, the first week fo practice will be treated tryouts. Tryouts will always begin the first Monday of school at the WREC. The team will be announced by that Friday.
All student organizations (sport clubs) must have a current constitution on file with the University.


text:
Following up Copyright Infringement
As usual, we've continued to be busy behind the scenes here at Mystical Life Publications, but we wanted to give you all a quick update on what we have been doing. We've made a renewed effort to deal with outstanding cases of copyright infringement of our published works, particularly from The Path of the Spiritual Sun by Belsebuub. For a few years now there was a big effort in finding instances of plagiarism across the net, which many people contributed to. We wanted to sincerely [...]
By Jon|2019-12-24T13:56:32+08:00May 4th, 2018|Blog|
Searching Within by Belsebuub Out Now in Paperback
Blog, Publications, Update, What we do
The long awaited day is finally here – Belsebuub's Self-Knowledge book is available again! This edition of Belsebuub's self-knowledge work is titled Searching Within: Taking the Way of Self-Discovery for the Journey to Source. Searching Within can be purchased from: Amazon.com Amazon.co.uk BookDepository.com (should be available on Book Depository in a few days) And many other worldwide online retailers https://www.mysticallifepublications.org/worldwide-retailers-searching-within-by-belsebuub Since Searching Within has just been released, it can take time before the book listing shows up on some online retailers' websites. Currently the book [...]
By Jenny|2019-12-24T13:32:41+08:00September 29th, 2017|Blog, Publications, Update, What we do|
Book Release Update
Hello! We just wanted to give a quick blog update on upcoming book releases. Over the past couple of months, we've been busy behind the scenes working on the release of Belsbuub's self-knowledge book in paperback! It's in the final stages of production and it should be out sometime next week. We'll be sure to let everyone know when the book has been released, so stay tuned to the MLP blog and/or the Belsebuub.com blog. Some months ago, we had started pre-production for the paperback [...]
By Jenny|2018-07-02T13:23:12+08:00September 22nd, 2017|Blog, Publications, Update, What we do|
Wishes for the Equinox
Blog, Solstice and Equinox
We've been very busy working on upcoming projects, but wanted to take some time out to wish everyone a very inspiring and meaningful equinox. Seven Moai statues at the Ahu Akivi site on Easter Island which face the sunset on the spring and autumn equinox. We hope people are inspired to connect to this special spiritual time of year, just as people in ancient times did. Here are some excerpts from The Path of the Spiritual Sun which explain about the spiritual significance [...]
By Jenny|2019-12-24T13:33:18+08:00March 20th, 2017|Blog, Solstice and Equinox|
Gazing into the Eternal by Belsebuub out now in Paperback
Blog, Publications, What we do
The day is finally here, Gazing into the Eternal by Belsebuub is out in paperback again! The book was originally released in 2009 and was a finalist in the Best Book Awards 2009 in Spirituality, was featured on the cover of Publishers Weekly, and received a 5 star review in Foreword Magazine. From the back cover: "Gazing into the Eternal is a collection of a number of Belsebuub's key talks that provide an introduction to spiritual knowledge. It takes a clear and easy-to-understand look at [...]
By Jenny|2016-12-14T12:03:05+08:00December 14th, 2016|Blog, Publications, What we do|
Update on Paperback Release of Gazing into the Eternal by Belsebuub
We just wanted to give a quick update on the paperback release of Gazing into the Eternal by Belsebuub. We got our proof of the book with the new font layout, and while we were happy with the new look, it needed a bit of tweaking to get things just right. Over the past few weeks, we've been busy working away on it - so busy that we haven't managed to post any updates :) We are expecting the final proof any day now, and [...]
By Jenny|2016-11-30T11:34:08+08:00November 30th, 2016|Blog|
Update on Upcoming Paperback Releases by Belsebuub
We've been quiet again here on the blog, but that's because we've been keeping busy as usual with work behind the scenes for MLP. One of the more exciting tasks has been Dara and I spending a lot of hours working on typography for the upcoming paperback releases by Belsebuub. There's a real art to choosing the right font, which we've both been exploring for the past couple of weeks. Each typeface has it's own feeling and personality, and are appropriate in different circumstances. And [...]
By Jenny|2016-11-21T21:37:56+08:00October 25th, 2016|Blog, Publications, Update, What we do|
A New Plan for Moving Forward – Update on the Office
It's been just over two years since we established the MLP office in July 2014. It's been great to have a dedicated space for the MLP team to come to and work together. It's facilitated projects like the updated websites, the books coming out in print, Total View episodes, working at combating plagiarism of our authors' works, and the day-to-day administrative work we have for the organization. Things are evolving for MLP and we have big plans and big ideas for the future. We've been [...]
By Jenny|2018-06-15T17:44:49+08:00September 17th, 2016|Blog|
The Path of the Spiritual Sun by Belsebuub Out Now in Paperback!
Finally the day has arrived, The Path of the Spiritual Sun by Belsebuub, is available in paperback! It's been quite a journey bringing this book to print, from Mark going through the book updating and adding new content, to the proofing, formatting, working with all the images and quotes, and getting the cover just right. This book is an amazing culmination of experience and research. You can read more about the journey to its creation here. There is a completely new chapter, and this edition [...]
By Jenny|2019-12-24T13:58:06+08:00September 8th, 2016|Blog|
Update on The Path of the Spiritual Sun by Belseuub
Just a quick update on The Path of the Spiritual Sun by Belsebuub. We've gotten delayed around a week with the release of the print book. We got our proofs back last week. While overall the book is looking very good, we've just needed to make a few more tweaks. The book should be available next week, we are thinking by Friday. We'll keep everyone update on its release!
By Jenny|2016-10-20T14:57:37+08:00August 29th, 2016|Blog|
Copyright © 2019 Mystical Life Publications | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy


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DC StingRays alleged to be Israeli devices. North Korea is slipping malware past defenses by putting it into old, obscure file formats. Ryuk ransomware gets some spyware functionality. Google has purged Joker-infested apps from the Play store. The US Defense Department explains its "multifaceted" approach to cyber deterrence. The FBI warns that business email compromise is on the upswing, and offers some advice on staying safe. Awais Rashid from Bristol University with warnings on accepting default settings on mobile devices. Guest is Bill Conner from SonicWall on side channel attacks.
Dave Bittner: [00:00:03] D.C. StingRays are alleged to be Israeli devices. North Korea is slipping past malware defenses by putting it into old, obscure file formats. Ryuk ransomware gets some spyware functionality. Google has purged Joker-infested apps from the Play store. The U.S. Defense Department explains its multifaceted approach to cyber deterrence, and the FBI warns that business email compromise is on the upswing and offers some advice on staying safe.
Dave Bittner: [00:00:37] It's time to take a moment to tell you about our sponsor Recorded Future. If you haven't already done so, take a look at Recorded Future's Cyber Daily. We look at it. The CyberWire staff subscribes and consults it daily. The web is rich with indicators and warnings, but it's nearly impossible to collect them by eyeballing the internet yourself, no matter how many analysts you might have on staff, and we're betting that however many you have, you haven't got enough. Recorded Future does the hard work for you by automatically collecting and organizing the entire web, identifying new vulnerabilities and emerging threat indicators. Sign up for the Cyber Daily email to get the top trending technical indicators crossing the web, cyber news, targeted industries, threat actors, exploited vulnerabilities, malware, suspicious IP addresses and much more. Subscribe today and stay ahead of the cyberattacks. Go to recordedfuture.com/cyberwire to subscribe for free threat intelligence updates from Recorded Future. That's recordedfuture.com/cyberwire, and we thank Recorded Future for sponsoring our show.
Dave Bittner: [00:01:44] Funding for this CyberWire podcast is made possible in part by Bugcrowd, connecting organizations with the top security researchers, pen testers and white hat hackers in the world to identify 10 times more vulnerabilities than scanners or traditional pen tests. Learn more about how their award-winning platform provides actionable insights like remediation advice to help fix faster while methodology-driven assessments ensure compliance needs are met at bugcrowd.com.
Dave Bittner: [00:02:11] From the CyberWire studios at DataTribe, I'm Dave Bittner with your CyberWire summary for Thursday, September 12, 2019. Politico says that three former senior officials with knowledge of the matter have told the publication that the U.S. government has concluded that StingRay cell monitoring devices found in Washington, D.C., were probably placed by Israeli operators. StingRays, which have been used by various law enforcement organizations, are more formally known as international mobile subscriber identity-catchers - IMSI-catchers. They can be used to intercept calls and monitor data use. Official U.S. response to the story has been muted. Politico dutifully reports the official Israeli denials of involvement.
Dave Bittner: [00:02:59] Researchers at the security firm Prevailion have disclosed a cyber scoop that North Korean hackers are turning to more obscure file formats like Kodak FlashPix in the hope that these will slide past antivirus screens. Prevailion's report calls the campaign Autumn Aperture. They view it as a move in the faltering nuclear talks the DPRK is conducting with the United States and its allies. Prevailion says, quote, "we hypothesize that these documents, sent via a socially engineered email, would have likely been anticipated by the intended victims, thus increasing the threat actor's chance of success," end quote.
Dave Bittner: [00:03:38] They offer examples of some of the documents being used in the campaign - Trojanized speaker's notes for a nuclear deterrence summit presentation, a similarly Trojanized report on North Korean ballistic missile submarine capabilities and a document impersonating a U.S. Department of the Treasury renewal notice for a sanctions license. The researchers associate the campaign with the Kimsuky or Smoke Screen threat group in turn associated with Pyongyang. They note that Autumn Aperture is part of a trend in which malicious code is hidden in image files.
Dave Bittner: [00:04:12] There seems to be a convergence between spyware and ransomware, as some ransomware may be acquiring information-stealing functionality. Bleeping Computer reports that MalwareHunterTeam has found that a strain of the widely used Ryuk ransomware appears to be exfiltrating files of interest to an FTP site. The malware is particularly interested in military, intelligence and law enforcement data.
Dave Bittner: [00:04:38] Back in 2017, the Spectre and Meltdown side-channel attacks gained notoriety for their ability to exploit vulnerabilities in modern CPUs to break down the isolation between programs running in the OS or between different applications running on the same processor. Since then, mitigations have been developed, as well as methods for detection. SonicWall is one of the companies who've been researching and providing mitigations to these types of side-channel attacks, and we checked in with Bill Conner, president and CEO at SonicWall, for an update.
Bill Conner: [00:05:11] It is very sophisticated. It actually goes right at the architecture of how memory and processing works, and basically, by side-channel, what it's talking about is - the malware comes in and it uses the cache of the processing. And it's a time sequence, so it takes those 256 bits, if you will, and turns them all off, and it looks to see which ones go to cache because if it goes to cache, guess what? It's repeatable one or zero. And that's how they decode what's happening on that chip, so whether it's encrypted or not, it doesn't matter. And so that becomes the real focus of a side-channel attack, so that is why it will be one of those big moments if and when they take a shot at that - either critical infrastructure or certain types of information.
Dave Bittner: [00:06:11] Now, to be clear, have you seen any cases of people using these attacks out there in the wild?
Bill Conner: [00:06:19] Really important - we have not seen it weaponized yet, Dave. That's the important part. Certainly, the researchers are increasingly showing how it can be used. Even knowing that, it's going to be - my view, our view, is it will be a country-state that has the expertise and resources to weaponize this exploit vector.
Bill Conner: [00:06:49] The problem is it will happen. If you think about - you know, when Meltdown and Spectre came in, they came in January of '18, so we're a year and a half of public available data. Clearly, China had it before that because it was Intel and they were working in China on their manufacturing and their architectures to do that. But, you know, it will happen at some point. The target will probably be public-private cloud - you know, data centers or, you know, virtualized data centers in a targeted company that could be a carrier provider or a high-net target to kind of - to disrupt.
Dave Bittner: [00:07:35] And so why the emphasis on artificial intelligence and machine learning? What does that bring to the table?
Bill Conner: [00:07:42] Really important question. Machine learning - deep learning, in our case - is really important because think about it. Just this year - and we'll release in a couple of weeks the first pass statistics. But last year, we had over 10 billion malware attacks. This year, it's down a little bit, but, you know, think of 5 billion. If you just take half of the year, 5 billion attacks - you have to find a way to process that very quickly and very effectively, and those things are really combining, as I said, in malware cocktails. People can't process that fast. Now, we use it - all machine learning is not equal. For those that are listening that understand deep learning and machine learning, it's about the amount of data you get. Well, we got lots of that, since we've been doing it for, you know, over 20 years, and we've just been doing it on network security.
Bill Conner: [00:08:38] The other thing - besides lots of data to improve your algorithm - you need is focus so you don't have as many false positives. As these guys recombine malware into different data structures, you need to really use not file-based but artifact-based machine learning. And just like we talked about this - these were never seen before, but in weeks or months, we're able to characterize the artifacts of all these attacks that they're attacking on the process or side-channel. Even on traditional technology - forget side-channel for a moment - this real-time deep memory inspection is a new mousetrap to catch some robo-mouses that are powering through traditional security techniques.
Dave Bittner: [00:09:26] Yeah.
Bill Conner: [00:09:27] And what was powering it in Q1 was Russia, and it was a financial spam. So that's when this becomes important because once you find a new attack vector, how you weaponize it and what you weaponize it with becomes kind of a choice of a country or a bad guy.
Dave Bittner: [00:09:46] That's Bill Conner from SonicWall.
Dave Bittner: [00:09:50] Google has now purged 24 apps infected with the Joker Trojan from the Play store. The Joker was discovered in the apps by researchers at the security firm CSIS Security Group. They describe the Trojan as both a spy that collects data and as software that subscribes you to unwanted premium subscription services. It does so silently, and you may not notice what's going on until the bill arrives - or, actually, when you realize that you've paid the bill. CSIS offers some good general advice. Pay close attention to the permissions apps ask for, and be stingy in granting them.
Dave Bittner: [00:10:28] U.S. federal agencies are working out roles and responsibilities in cyberspace during the course of war games. Breaking Defense describes the exercises as bringing together organizations from the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security. The U.S. Defense Department has also offered Congress a look at some of its current thinking on cyber deterrence. Deterrence is commonly thought of as involving the credible threat of retaliation, but the department calls its approach to deterrence multifaceted, with denial playing a significant part. An adversary can be deterred if they became convinced that their attacks would be futile. So sure, enemy state, maybe Cyber Command will go medieval on your networks if you, say, fiddle with an election, but on the other hand, it might be the case that you won't be able to accomplish what you'd hoped to do with your attack, so it might be better if you just forgot the whole thing.
Dave Bittner: [00:11:22] In the wake of the arrests made internationally in Operation reWired, the U.S. FBI reiterates warnings that business email compromise attacks remain a persistent danger. Much of the advice the bureau is distributing is a matter of generally applicable cyber hygiene - things like keeping your systems patched and up-to-date. Some of them are good advice for any form of social engineering, like ensure the URLs in emails is associated with the business it claims to be from, or be alert to hyperlinks that may contain misspellings of the actual domain name and, of course, refrain from supplying login credentials or PII in response to any emails. Business emails compromise is, at its core, a form of social engineering, and wise organizations take measures to harden themselves against online con jobs.
Dave Bittner: [00:12:11] But some of the FBI's advice is more specific to the risk of business email compromise, like use secondary channels or two-factor authentication to verify requests for changes in account information. And this one is really important, so for heaven's sake, don't wire a million dollars to some account just because you got an email from your CEO telling you to do so. And CEOs, don't do things that will accustom your people to responding to your bizarre whims. Maybe an email asking someone to go by your house to check on your pet iguana seems very far away from an email directing finance to send a quarter million to a vendor no one's ever heard of. But remember, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Dave Bittner: [00:13:01] And now a word from our sponsor, ObserveIT. The greatest threat to businesses today isn't the outsider trying to get in. It's the people you trust, the ones who already have the keys - your employees, contractors and privileged users. Sixty percent of online attacks are carried out by insiders. To stop these insider threats, you need to see what users are doing before an incident occurs. ObserveIT enables security teams to detect risky user activity, investigate incidents in minutes and effectively respond. With ObserveIT, you know the whole story. Get your free trial at observeit.com/cyberwire. That's observeit.com/cyberwire. And we thank ObserveIT for sponsoring our show.
Dave Bittner: [00:13:57] And joining me once again is professor Awais Rashid. He's a professor of cybersecurity at University of Bristol. Awais, it's great to have you back. We wanted to chat today about default features that come from manufacturers of devices and some of the cautions that folks should have when it comes to that.
Awais Rashid: [00:14:15] Absolutely. So, you know, we all bought that new mobile phone and new electronic device and are keen to use and enjoy the features of this new device. But you have to go through the setup phase where you have to basically enable or disable some settings as you're starting up your new device. And the natural tendency of a lot of people is to, you know, just skip, skip, skip and then move on so that they can actually start utilizing their new device.
Awais Rashid: [00:14:42] But implicitly, there are a number of the features that manufacturers provide that can potentially collect data on the users or encourage users potentially to participate in particular services that the manufacturers provide. And recent work that we have done actually shows that users have actually not a very good understanding of what these default features are and how they make up the data about the user.
Dave Bittner: [00:15:06] Is this on the manufacturers of the devices to revisit these sorts of things? Should there be nag screens that come on to remind folks to take a look at it?
Awais Rashid: [00:15:17] There is a lot of focus around third-party apps. So let's take mobile phones as an example. There has been a lot of work recently done on making users more aware as to what permissions those apps are requesting. This used to be a common feature on Apple's iOS, and Android now has a similar mechanism where it can show you what are the permissions the app is requesting and whether you are willing to give them or not - this is called Dynamic Permission setting - and so on.
Awais Rashid: [00:15:45] But manufacturer-provided features are a little bit different from that. And this is where, you know, the examples that I'm thinking of here are things like, you know, location services which come as part of the operating system on the device that you get or smart assistants like Siri and the Google smart assistant as well as other things like, you know, where - by the photo apps that come as default with the phone from the manufacturer but actually tag your location with the photos.
Awais Rashid: [00:16:11] And users actually often see them as part of the phone rather than as an application that comes from the manufacturer that is built into the phone. And as a result, they are much more likely to ignore the privacy implications of actually leaving some of these features enabled that they may not need in the first instance. There is perhaps some need for manufacturers to make users more aware that these applications actually collect their data in particular ways and utilize that data.
Dave Bittner: [00:16:41] Yeah. It seems to me like there's also a balance here between the ease of use and the amount of granularity that the providers give to the user.
Awais Rashid: [00:16:53] Yes. And there is always that balance because if you make things too complicated for users to configure, then, again, you know, the risk is that they would actually go on to ignoring those settings in the first instance. But equally, users often do not really see them as features that collect their data. So the awareness about applications tends to be there compared to what the manufacturers provide. And, of course, from a manufacturer perspective, they do want people to use Siri and the Google assistant and so on and so forth. They do want people to sign in to cloud services and so on. But implicit within that is the user then giving up data and information to the manufacturer, which users are not always fully aware that that's what's happening.
Dave Bittner: [00:17:35] Yeah. It seems like there's a lot of different forces that are sort of in tension with each other when it comes to these things.
Awais Rashid: [00:17:42] Yeah. And the key here is that, of course, you know, sharing drives, this kind of data-based economy in which we live, the question we have to ask is - and then it's not a simple answer here as to how to what extent users are really empowered to decide what they shared and what they don't share and to what extent, you know, there is this sort of tendency that is perhaps encouraged by the design of the various products and services for users to just quickly skip the setting that would get them to use the feature. Because ultimately, nobody wants to spend lots and lots of time configuring a lot of different settings. And in many cases, users do not really have a full understanding of what those settings mean.
Dave Bittner: [00:18:21] Well, professor Awais Rashid, thanks for joining us.
Dave Bittner: [00:18:28] And that's the CyberWire. Thanks to all of our sponsors for making the CyberWire possible, especially our supporting sponsor, ObserveIT, the leading insider threat management platform. Learn more at observeit.com.
Dave Bittner: [00:18:40] The CyberWire podcast is proudly produced in Maryland out of the startup studios of DataTribe, where they're co-building the next generation of cybersecurity teams and technology. Our amazing CyberWire team is Stefan Vaziri, Tamika Smith, Kelsea Bond, Tim Nodar, Joe Carrigan, Carole Theriault, Nick Veliky, Bennett Moe, Chris Russell, John Petrik, Jennifer Eiben, Peter Kilpe. And I'm Dave Bittner. Thanks for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.
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In his first full year at the helm, Hassane El-Khoury guides Cypress to 21 percent sales growth and says there's more growth on the way.
Renesas Electronics is pumped up. In store for its roadmap is a yet-to-be-announced next-generation R-CAR SoC, designed for deep learning. The new SoC, sampling next year, will deliver more than 5 trillion operations per second (TOPS) at one watt.


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Q: Symmetric and Asymmetric ciphers, non-repudiation? I have read on wikipedia "However, symmetric ciphers also can be used for non-repudiation purposes by ISO 13888-2 standard."
Then again and I read on another wiki page, "Non-repudiation, or more specifically non-repudiation of origin, is an important aspect of digital signatures. By this property an entity that has signed some information cannot at a later time deny having signed it. Similarly, access to the public key only does not enable a fraudulent party to fake a valid signature. This is in contrast to symmetric systems, where both sender and receiver share the same secret key, and thus in a dispute a third party cannot determine which entity was the true source of the information."
This means one page says symmetric algorithms have non-repudiation and another page says they don't have it and therefore they are not used for digital signatures. So do symmetric keys have non-repudiation or not? It makes sense that they can not be used for signatures and non-repudiation since symmetric keys are the same and thus the system can't distinguish which one belongs to which person and which one is first etc. In that case I think symmetric keys are only a tool for confidentiality and not used for non-repudiation or digital signatures.

A: As for non-repudiation, the tricky part is that it's not technical but rather legal term and it causes a lot of misunderstanding if placed in technical context. The thing is that you can always repudiate anything you have done. And that's why there are courts.
In the court two parties are confronted and try to prove each other wrong using evidence. Here's where technology comes, as it allows to collect sufficient electronic evidence to prove wrong the party that tries to deny a transaction, message etc.
And this is exactly what ISO 13888 series does in part 1: it provides guidelines on what evidence to collect and how to protect it to maximise your chances of countering a repudiation of electronic transaction. This standard talks about a number of tokens that serve this purpose. These tokens are for example: identifiers of both parties, timestamps, message hashes etc. Then it goes into details on how you should protect these tokens so that they retain their value as evidence.
The two other parts (2 and 3) describe specific cryptographic techniques that can be applied to obtain tokens. Symmetric ones are just keyed hashes if I remember correctly (such as HMAC), while assymetric is digital signature.

A: I think the answer depends on whether the shared key is public or not. If the parties agree to public source (third party) for their shared key there is non-repudiation of origin.

A: ISO 13888-2 introduces structures and protocols which can be used to introduce non-repudiation services, in the context of symmetric techniques.   However all these "tricks" rely on the existence of a Trusted Third Party.
The point of the second Wikipedia citation in the question is that asymmetric key systems intrinsically [and without the need of thrid parties] offer non-repudiation features  (specifically NRO i.e. non-repudation of the the Origin).

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The central theme of this collection of essays, first published in 1978, is the basic tension in Nietzsche, and so in his work, between the urge to weave a satisfying web out of reality and the equally strong compulsion to expose its painful truths. The book aims to stress, not to play down, the embarassing and fruitful fact that he cannot be neatly pigeonholed either as a literary figure or as a professional philosopher.
The book meets a long-felt need for a study in English of both the literary and the philosophical aspects of Nietzsche's work, based on his authentic texts, and will be welcomed by all students of modern European thought and Literature.


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Home » Lifestyle » Lars von Triers The Kingdom Exodus: New Images, Opening Sequence Released of Medical Horror Finale
Lars von Triers The Kingdom Exodus: New Images, Opening Sequence Released of Medical Horror Finale
MUBI has released new key artwork for Lars von Trier's hotly anticipated series "The Kingdom Exodus" ahead of its world premiere out of competition at the Venice Film Festival. The series will go on to play at Toronto and New York Film festival.
The third installment of The Kingdom trilogy, the medical horror finale marks MUBI's first series. It will roll out exclusively on the platform in the fall. TrustNordisk is handling international sales and has also unveiled the opening sequence of the series.
The five-part series, produced by Zentropa, follows the staff and patients of a neurosurgical ward in a Copenhagen hospital. In "The Kingdom Exodus," sleepwalker Karen will seek answers to the unresolved questions of the series in order to save the hospital from doom.
The new season features an ensemble cast, including Lars Mikkelsen ("The Killing"), Mikael Persbrandt ("Sex Education"), Nikolaj Lie Kaas ("Riders of Justice") and Tuva Novotny ("Bonus Family"), with Alexander Skarsgard ("Big Little Lies") and David Dencik ("Chernobyl") guest-starring.
Von Trier ("Nymphomaniac," "Melancholia") wrote the script in collaboration with Niels Vorsel, with whom he also wrote the previous seasons. Louise Vesth is producing for Zentropa Entertainments with NENT Group and DR as co-producers.
"MUBI is now home to 'The Kingdom' – an incredible show and the first television series released by MUBI ever," said MUBI founder and CEO Efe Cakarel.
"We want to bring more artistic visions to as many people as possible – whether that's through film or series," Carakel continued. The executive added that "The Kingdom" is the "perfect first show to introduce episodic storytelling to MUBI, and marks one of (the) biggest steps forward as a company."
MUBI has also acquired the first two seasons of "The Kingdom" which have been restored and will stream exclusively on the service ahead of the broadcast of "The Kingdom Exodus."
Besides MUBI which acquired the series for North America, the UK, Ireland, Latin America, Turkey and India, the full trilogy was also picked up for Benelux (September Films), Germany and Austria (Koch Films), Spain (Filmin), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Aerofilms), Japan (Synca Creations) and South Korea (AtNine).
Here are the new key assets:
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PolyOne Corporation has acquired Glasforms, Inc, a US manufacturer of glass and carbon fiber reinforced polymers and composite products.
As said, Glasforms manufactures advanced composite products for use in demanding applications across the electrical and telecom, energy, transportation, healthcare, and security & defense markets. End products include applications for endoscopy wands, wind turbine blade stiffening components, commercial truck floors and railcar doors for lightweight, composite utility poles to replace wood and metal, earthquake-proof bridge decks, and specialized rods used in the production of oil and gas.
With a purchase price of US$34 million, Glasforms will continue to operate from its Alabama campus. Its founder and president, Peter Pfaff, will continue in his role along with other members of the management team. The company has a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 36% since 2012 and achieved revenue of US$50 million in fiscal year 2012.
Glasforms will integrate as part of PolyOne's Specialty platform, under the direction of Craig Nikrant, Senior Vice President and President, Global Specialty Engineered Materials.


'The Forge Crucible' made from Mine Oak.
The slate industry had their own forges and blacksmiths in order to make and repair machinery. Molten iron was moved from the furness to fill moulds using a double-handed crucible. This jug is influenced by that process and made from Oak retrieved from deep in the slate mines of snowdonia. Food safe.


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Yushchenko Questioned Again
ReutersYushchenko approaching the media by the prosecutor's office on Tuesday.
KIEV -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko was summoned Tuesday for questioning into his nearly lethal poisoning four years ago, and he said the ongoing investigation would produce some "very unpleasant" surprises.
Yushchenko fell gravely ill during the 2004 presidential campaign while he was a leading opposition candidate. He was later diagnosed with a massive dioxin poisoning, which disfigured his face.
The probe has been under way since 2004, but no charges have been filed.
Yushchenko has claimed he knows who organized the crime, though he refuses to provide more detailed information.
"We should wait until the investigation is over," he told reporters before being questioned. "I am convinced that, based on the materials the prosecutor's office possesses, we will hear a lot of new reasons that will surprise citizens."
Yushchenko already testified in the case in 2005, and it was unclear why he was summoned again. Yushchenko told reporters that he was happy that prosecutors were now handling the investigation with renewed vigor and expressed hope the case would soon be solved.
The Prosecutor General's Office declined to comment, as the investigation was ongoing. A spokesman for prosecutors said Yushchenko was likely to be questioned by Halyna Klymovych, the senior investigator who is heading the case.
Many Ukrainians point the finger at Russia since Yushchenko was running against a Kremlin-backed candidate in the election and Russia is reportedly one of the few countries that produces dioxin of the formula with which he was poisoned.
Yushchenko has accused Moscow of stalling the probe by refusing to extradite key figures and provide samples of Russian-made dioxin for tests.
The president also suggested that some figures involved in the case have betrayed national interests.
"There will be very unpleasant things for specific people who, it seemed, were defending Ukraine's national interests, or at least were supposed to defend them," Yushchenko said.


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Olivier Pla (Toulouse, Francia; 22 de octubre de 1981) es un piloto francés de automovilismo.

Inicios
Participó en diferentes categorías y campeonatos de karting entre 1996 y 1999. Compitió por primera vez en una categoría de automovilismo importante cuando tenía 19 años, al participar en la Fórmula Campus de Francia. En 2001 pasa a la Fórmula 3 francesa con la escudería Saulnier terminando en la octava posición al finalizar el campeonato. Un año más tarde pasa al equipo ASM quedando en el tercer puesto. En 2003 llega al campeonato de Fórmula 3 europea con ASM y logra el  lugar en la tabla de pilotos. Para 2004 ingresa a la entonces llamada World Series by Nissan compitiendo en algunas carreras para RC Motorsport y el resto de la temporada para Carlin Motorsport, logró una victoria en Portugal y terminó el campeonato con 66 puntos para quedar en la novena posición.

En 2005 debuta en la GP2 Series en su primera temporada en el equipo David Price Racing (DPR); Pla consigue 2 victorias, un quinto puesto, y 2 pole position, de modo que termina en el puesto 13.º del campeonato. En la temporada siguiente no sumó ningún punto en 11 carreras. El año siguiente disputó solamente dos carreras en la categoría, sin resultados puntuables.

Gran turismos y sport prototipos
En 2007 disputó la Copa Porsche Carrera de Alemania como piloto titular, logrando un séptimo puesto y dos octavos. Al año siguiente, disputó la Le Mans Series con un Lola-AER de la clase LMP2 del equipo Quifel ASM; logró un tercer puesto y un quinto, finalizando 12.º en el campeonato de pilotos de dicha clase. Con el mismo equipo Pla disputó las 24 Horas de Le Mans terminando en el cuarto lugar en la clase LMP2. Pla junto con Miguel Amaral se consagraron campeones de piloto en la clase LMP2 de la Le Mans Series 2009 con un Ginetta-Zytek, con dos victorias y un segundo puesto de clase. Sin embargo, abandonaron en las 24 Horas de Le Mans.

En 2010, culminó 12.º en la Le Mans Series y séptimo en las 24 Horas de Le Mans. Al año siguiente, logró un tercer puesto en 3 carreras de la Le Mans Series y un retiro en Le Mans, pero en esta ocasión con un Zytek de la clase LMP1, Luego, Pla se unió a OAK Racing en las últimas tres fechas de la Copa Intercontinental Le Mans con un Pescarolo 01 de la misma clase, y obtuvo un tercer lugar, un cuarto y un quinto. También, disputó el Campeonato Francés GT con una Ferrari F458, cosechando dos podios, concluyendo 10.º en la tabla general.

Pla se convirtió en piloto titular de OAK Racing para la European Le Mans Series y el Campeonato Mundial de Resistencia con un Morgan LMP2 en 2012. En el campeonato europeo, logró un triunfo y un segundo puesto de clase, finalizando tercero en el campeonato de pilotos y segundo en la de equipos. En tanto que en el campeonato mundial, consiguió 4 podios, contribuyendo a que su equipo finalizará cuarto en su campeonato.

En el Campeonato Mundial de Resistencia 2013 junto con Alex Brundle y David Heinemeier Hansson lograron 5 segundo puestos y un tercero, y alcanzaron el subcampeonato.

En 2014, Pla pasó al equipo G-Drive para conducir un Morgan-Nissan en la clase LMP2. Formando equipo con Roman Rusinov y Julien Canal, ganó cuatro carreras, pero otra vez resultó subcampeón de clase. Por otra parte, Pla acompañó a Gustavo Yacamán en 6 de las 11 carreras del IMSA SportsCar Championship con un Morgan-Nissan de OAK, logrando una victoria, un tercer lugar y dos cuartos.

El francés fue contratado como piloto oficial de Nissan para disputar la clase LMP1 del Campeonato Mundial de Resistencia 2015 con Nissan GT-R LM Nismo. Sin embargo solo disputaron las 24 Horas de Le Mans, antes de que se cancelara el programa debido al flojo rendimiento del automóvil. Además, Pla, con un Ligier-Judd, pilotó para equipo Krohn, en las 24 Horas de Daytona y las 12 Horas de Daytona, fecha válidas por el IMSA SportsCar Championship, y las últimas dos carreras de la European Le Mans Series.

En 2016, Pla volvió a competir regularmente en el Mundial de Resistencia con un Ford GT oficial de la clase GTE-Pro. Formando dupla con Stefan Mücke, logró una victoria y tres podios, para acabar séptimo en la clasificación de pilotos en la clase GT. Además, resultó 23.º en la European Le Mans Series, logrando como resultado un cuarto lugar con el equipo Krohn. También, disputó las cuatro carreras más importantes del IMSA SportsCar Championship, como piloto invitado de Michael Shank Racing. Al volante de un prototipo Ligier-Honda, ganó en la Petit Le Mans, acabó tercero en las 6 Horas de Watkins Glen, séptimo en las 12 Horas de Sebring y se retiró en las 24 Horas de Daytona.

Resultados

GP2 Series

Campeonato Mundial de Resistencia de la FIA

Referencias

Enlaces externos

 Sitio oficial del piloto
 Olivier Pla en Driver Database

Pilotos de automovilismo de Francia
Pilotos de las 24 Horas de Le Mans
Pilotos de American Le Mans Series
Pilotos del Campeonato Mundial de Resistencia de la FIA
Pilotos de GP2 Series
Pilotos de Fórmula 3 Euroseries
Nacidos en Toulouse
Pilotos de WeatherTech SportsCar Championship

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As of July 1, 2010, a new set of Rules of Court will apply to Supreme Court proceedings in British Columbia. The new Rules will have a significant effect on litigation in this province and will apply to ongoing litigation commenced prior to July 1, 2010. To read a recent paper discussing some of the more significant changes to the Rules prepared by John Logan and David Mckenzie of JML for the Continuing Legal Education Society of BC, Click here.


Brickell Luxury Motors is honored to offer this terrific-looking and funto drive 2018 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe. White Exterior with Graphite Blue-Special Color Leather Seat Trim, 14-Way Power Sport Seats, ABS brakes, Adaptive suspension, AM/FM radio: SiriusXM, Auto-Dimming Mirrors, Automatic temperature control, BOSE Surround Sound System, DVD-Audio, Electric Slide/Tilt Sunroof in Glass, Electronic Stability Control, Exterior Parking Camera Rear, Four wheel independent suspension, Front Bucket Seats, Front dual zone A/C, Front Seat Heating, Fully automatic headlights, Garage door transmitter: HomeLink, Headlight cleaning, Heated door mirrors, Heated Multifunction Steering Wheel, High intensity discharge headlights: Bi-Xenon, Illuminated entry, Instrument Dials in White, Leather Interior Package, Leather steering wheel, Low tire pressure warning, Memory Package, Navigation System, Porsche Communication Management, Porsche Dynamic Light System (PDLS), Power driver seat, Power passenger seat, Power Steering Plus, Premium Package w/Power Sport Seats, Rain sensing wipers, Remote keyless entry, Special Color Leather Seat Trim, Speed-sensing steering, Spoiler, Sport steering wheel, Sports Tailpipes in Silver, Traction control, Wheels: 9J x 20 Fr/11.5J x 20 Rr 911 Turbo. 7-Speed Porsche Doppelkupplung (PDK) 3.0L H6 Turbocharged DOHC 24V LEV3-LEV160 370hpCARFAX One-Owner. Clean CARFAX.The Brickell Family of Automotive dealerships have been serving the Greater Miami and South Florida Marketplace for over 20 Years with pride. We work towards always filling your wants and needs with the best possible vehicle and do so always offering you the best possible value EVERYDAY! Please visit www.brickellmotors.com or call one of our well trained and skillful consultants and we will be to help with all your Automotive needs. Price plus $995 Dealer Fee And a $139.95 Electronic Filing Fee.


I have been using Pocket to clip articles and, from there, share to Evernote. Pocket's clipping is far more elegant and accurate than EN's. But lately I've noticed that Pocket only sends the link to EN, not the full clipping (iOS). Anyone else experiencing something different?


C) It's made with almond meal (which I like and the girls don't).
I foresee some challenges – namely, the blogger is Australian and I'm not sure that we're all talking about the same thing. I think she calls for the cake to be baked in a convection oven, which I don't have, so will need to account for that; my oven does not have dual temp settings (Celsius/Fahrenheit), so need to fiddle around here as well. I also should not assume that all ingredients are equal – as in size of eggs, granularity of sugar, etc. This should make for a fun exercise – hope to bake it this weekend and then post my success/lack thereof.


Jack Milner and Mark Stevenson's new comedy farce, Octopus Soup! arrived at Cardiff New Theatre on Tuesday evening and was greeted with abundant laughter from an audience consisting of late teens upwards.
Octopus Soup! follows Seymour (Nick Hancock)) an insurance consultant whose career rests on one important conference call. Unfortunately for Seymour, his plans are interrupted by bungling burglar Marvin (Paul Bradley). Chaos ensues as Marvin's criminally inclined plans clash with Seymour's conference call, resulting in an unlikely partnership sealing a deal between the pair coming to fruition thanks to the arrival of Seymour's neurotic actress wife, Gloria (Carolyn Backhouse).
Paul Bradley, Nick Hancock and Carolyn Backhouse in the comedy farce, Octopus Soup! which runs at Cardiff's New Theatre until April 13, 2019.
From the offset, Octopus Soup! is a study of the misunderstandings and misapprehensions that make classic farce so enjoyable. It even features a few visual trouser jokes (although these are quickly dispensed with in a trouser press to make way for a far more original twist).
Milner and Stevenson's script is delivered to perfection by Nick Hancock and Paul Bradley who both work together with expert comic timing, putting much in the way of fun and energy into the performance. Bradley's easy delivery of wordplay for a character who doesn't know his negligence from a negligee or Righteous Brothers from the Wright Brothers is great fun, while Nick Hancock's slow-burning meltdown as the scenario around him gets more impossible generates sympathy and hilarity from the audience.
Carolyn Backhouse in the comedy farce, Octopus Soup! which runs at Cardiff's New Theatre until April 13, 2019.
There is strong support from Carolyn Backhouse as Seymour's prosecco-sipping wife Gloria, who gets some wonderful moments on stage from displaying her characters method acting as a North East Crime Officer to having a major meltdown at the dinner table.
The arrival of Virginia Whale (Boss of GIT) played by Gillian Bevan and underworld boss, Alan (Eric Richard) both make room for further misunderstanding and misinterpretation, resulting in a sense of underlying menace as both of their characters agendas are exposed. Their power makes them the victims of the farce in the second half and both actors appear to lap up the fun with dialogue and slapstick. Richard is particularly fun to watch and his character here is a stark contrast to his much-loved portrayal of Sgt Cryer from the TV series, The Bill.
Gillian Bevan, Nick Hancock, Carolyn Backhouse and Eric Richard in the comedy farce, Octopus Soup! which runs at Cardiff's New Theatre until April 13, 2019.
Finally, there is Marvin's pet Octopus, Terry who adds a little more than a surrealistic edge to the unfolding plot. An Octopus certainly has the edge on a pair of trousers for this 21st Century farce! With meltdown's, madness and mayhem for its ingredients, Octopus Soup! has a recipe for deserved comedy success as it continues its UK tour. Octopus Soup! runs until April 13 at Cardiff's New Theatre.


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Podcasts related to Pensions & Retirement - Personal Pensions
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Genre: Pensions & Retirement / Topic: Personal Pensions
This is Money: Is this the answer to pension freedom without the pain?
More than five years since pension freedom arrived a solution to take the pain out of investing in retirement is being lined up. Before pension freedom many savers were locked into buying an annuity with their personal pensions or defined contribution work schemes – and a lot of them felt they were getting a raw deal. That's meant that keeping a pension invested and drawing on it as you choose in retirement has proved a very popular option. It is also a very tricky one to navigate – but now some simple help is at hand, so will it crack the conundrum of pension freedom without the pain? Tumbling annuity rates, an industry that failed to make sure people shopped around and the gamble on life expectancy that meant if you died early then you and your family would lose out, made annuities hugely unpopular. So, Chancellor George Osborne came up with a big bang approach that meant nobody had to if they didn't want to anymore. The problem is that many people had simply opted for a 'pay money into my pension while working and not think about it' approach and so had no real idea how to invest for retirement. Now the industry has come up with a solution that involves savers being offered four ready-made investment deals when they first dip into their pension pots, if they do so without financial advice. On this week's podcast George Frost, Tanya Jefferies and Simon Lambert, discuss whether this is the answer that savers need. They also look at the tsunami of pension and investment scams, what people can do to protect themselves and ask whether it's the FCA or Google and the social media companies that should be doing more to crack down on it. Simon outlines his theory on why just as we are about to be able to get out and enjoy ourselves again, some big ticket inflation might hit. And the team look at another Santander 123 account rate cut – is it time for customers to finally give up, or is it a deal still worth having?
Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce
Published: Sun 17 Jan 2021
This is Money: Do you know how your pension is invested – and what will happen to the triple lock?
A large chunk of workers are unaware that their pension savings are invested in the stock market. When asked in a recent survey what they think happens to their cash, the most common answer was that they had 'no idea.' It doesn't make for pretty reading – Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost look at why it matters, and what can be done to get people more interested in their retirement pots. It comes as a reported rift has broken out at the top of government over the state pension triple lock. A key election promise, but there is a problem: With it rising on whichever is highest: inflation, average earnings growth or 2.5 per cent, it could go up a huge 18 per cent in 2021 under those rules. What changes could happen?From next month, your teen could be much richer as the first Child Trust Funds mature. What can your 18 year-old do with the cash? One option is not to buy private flights. Lee puts his weekly Consumer Trends column in the spotlight to reveal how much it costs to charter a flight, after one company reports a surge of interest. And what on earth is a hard seltzer? Sales in the US are booming and they have now come to Britain, will they prove as popular this side of the Atlantic?
Published: Fri 28 Aug 2020
This is Money: How many state pensions have been underpaid?
A This is Money investigation has revealed a string of women who have been underpaid their state pension, but are they just the tip of an iceberg? On this week's podcast, our pensions agony uncle Steve Webb and pension and investing editor Tanya Jefferies tell the stories of the women paid thousands less in state pension over the years than they should have been - and discuss their probe into the matter. Steve estimates that there could be tens of thousands of women who have been underpaid state pension. This is Money has called for a full review, but the Department of Work and Pensions is reluctant to act other than on a case-by-case basis. Should more be done? Also, on this week's podcast Simon Lambert and Georgie Frost discuss the reopening of the property market, who might be brave enough to buy and sell now, and what the forecasts are for sales and house prices. Estate agents Knight Frank predict a 7 per cent drop, while the Bank of England says property prices may fall 16 per cent, but agents claim that lockdown has created pent-up demand. And, as the furlough scheme is extended, we look at the implications of 7.5million people having 80 per cent of their wages picked up by the state and how Britain weans itself off that.
Simon Lambert, Tanya Jefferies, Steve Webb
Published: Fri 15 May 2020
This is Money: How much do you need to save into a pension?
We are regularly told that we aren't saving enough into a pension, but how much is enough? A recent report suggested that while auto enrolment has dragged more people into saving for retirement, it has also lulled them into a false sense of security. Currently, the system means 8 per cent of a worker's salary must be going into a pension – unless they opt out – but that includes their contribution, basic rate tax relief and what their employer puts in. Experts suggest that depending on when you start that number needs to be more like a minimum of 12 per cent or even 15 per cent. So how can you make sure you are salting away enough to live in the style you'd like in retirement? On this week's episode Simon Lambert and Georgie Frost dive into the world of pension saving and the tricks you can use to get more going into your retirement pot. Also this week, they talk Brexit-proofing your pension, wills – and how to get one if you don't have one, and what you need to think about if you are moving house to try to get your kids into school.
Published: Sun 29 Sep 2019
This is Money: Those born in the 1980s are financially worse off than the generation before
This week, This is Money takes a look at a raft of inter-generation financial divide stories that have popped up in August. This includes why those born in the 1980s have less disposable income than those born in the 1970s according to the Office for National Statistics and why the Bank of Mum and Dad is creaking. Assistant editor Lee Boyce, reporter George Nixon and host Georgie Frost run the rule over these statistics, along with proposals to raise the state pension age to 75. This was from a right-wing think tank The Centre for Social Justice and has left many industry experts irate. We also discuss data showing that two thirds of older people say they feel hurt by the inter-generational financial criticism that they are lording it up at the expense of younger generations. We also talk metal bank cards – why on earth would you want one and who is offering them?
Lee Boyce, George Nixon
Motley Fool Answers: How Much Do You Need to Retire?
Saving, spending, planning — you've got money questions and we've got answers. Every week host Alison Southwick and personal finance expert Robert Brokamp challenge the conventional wisdom on life's biggest financial issues to reveal what you really need to know to make smart money moves. In this week's show, most of us have only a vague idea of how much we should be saving. Jeannie Thompson, Head of Workplace Solutions Thought Leadership at Fidelity Investments, explains the company's age-based savings guidelines, the cost of health care in retirement, and how retirement planning can present more challenges for women.
Alison Southwick, Robert Brokamp
Motley Fool Answers: Reindeer in July Mailbag
Saving, spending, planning — you've got money questions and we've got answers. Every week host Alison Southwick and personal finance expert Robert Brokamp challenge the conventional wisdom on life's biggest financial issues to reveal what you really need to know to make smart money moves. In this week's episode, it's the July Mailbag where we answer your questions about dividends, deciphering your ROTH/traditional 401k components, buying on margin, how to find a financial planner, and more.
Published: Thu 01 Aug 2019
This is Money: Getting in and Moving on
Georgie Frost and Editor Simon Lambert are joined by reporter Will Kirkman to talk property, getting in and moving on; living to 100 and whether your pension will last as long as you; Simon 'shares' his top tips that could bag you big and the trio don their flares and go back to the 70s.
Simon Lambert, Will Kirkman
Published: Fri 28 Jun 2019
This is Money: Will there be a mis-selling scandal over final salary pension advice?
Two-thirds of savers are being told to abandon final salary pensions - and this is despite the Financial Conduct Authority saying that advisers should start with the standpoint this is not a suitable option. That revelation arrived this week as the FCA said too much advice on valuable pensions is 'still not of an acceptable standard.' Are people getting the right advice about their gold-plated pensions, or are they right to jump ship? That's the question tackled by editor Simon Lambert, assistant editor Lee Boyce and host Georgie Frost this week. Meanwhile, a reader discovers an old Post Office Savings Bank book from the 1960s – but what is it worth now and can you even take the money out. Premium bonds – how do you really find out you've won the jackpot? Britain has a net zero emissions target for 2050, but what are the best electric cars to buy now? And forget fantasy football, we reveal the details of our fantasy share picking game where the winner will scoop a giant £20,000 grand prize.
Published: Mon 24 Jun 2019
This is Money: Going Green
Georgie Frost is joined by editor Simon Lambert and assistant editor Lee Boyce to talk about going green, giving you some useful tips and tricks that are good for the planet as well as your wallet. Also they'll be looking at why the hybrid car of choice, the Toyota Prius, isn't just for Uber drivers and eco-conscious celebs. Plus…the team look at where the 40 something year old business owner with no pension should invest; continue to puzzle over the baffling state pension top-up system and ask just how far over the limit CAN you drive in your area before being issued with a ticket?
Published: Fri 26 Apr 2019